Directed by actor David Hemmings and written by Everett De Roche (Patrick, Harlequin, Link), Race for the Yankee Zephyr is the tale of a World War II-era plane found in the mountains of New Zealand by Gilbert Carson (Donald Pleasence), who runs the hunting lodge with his daughter Sally (Lesley Ann Warren) where Barney Whitaker (Ken Wahl) is visiting.

Once the locals learn that there could be money in the plane, Theo Brown (George Peppard) leads a gang of men who want to take the treasure and get rid of Carson. The money they are after includes a shipment of gold war medals, Christmas mail correspondence, a crate of 100 bottles of Kentucky-made Old Crow bourbon whiskey, 1000 gold-bars in gold bullion and the entire payroll in cash for the American South Pacific Fleet which adds up to $15 million in the film and adjusted for inflation, that would be $50 million in 2024.

Richard Franklin was the original director, but after the cast didn’t have enough Australia actors — three Americans and a British one had the lead roles — it couldn’t get a permit to be shot there. The producers took the film to New Zealand and Hemmings came on. After he was behind schedule directing, Brian Trenchard-Smith was brought in as a potential second unit director. As this was an implied threat of replacement, Hemmings finished the movie on time. He also directed The Survivor that same year.

It’s also the reason why Donald Pleasence wasn’t in The Thing as this went over schedule.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Kill and Kill Again is a sequel to the film Kill or Be Killed and tells another adventure of Steve Chase (James Ryan), a secret agent martial artist who has been hired by Kandy Kane (Anneline Kriel, whose life should be a movie, between having singer Richard Loring writing the song “Sweet Anneline” about her, followed by nude photos she took for his friend Roy Hilligenn being leaked — in 1977 — as well as being present when boyfriend Henke Pistorius — father of Oscar Pistorius, the legless South African athlete who would shoot and kill his girlfriend — shot himself while cleaning his pistol, as well as a singer and Playboy South Africa cover girl, as well as Miss South Africa 1974 and was later crowned Miss World 1974) to find her father Dr. Horatio Kane (John Ramsbottom), a scientist who has learned how to control minds while trying to turn potatoes into an energy source.

Yes, if you thought Kill and Kill Again would be normal, oh no. Oh no.

The government gives Steve $5 million dollars to pick his own team of super agents, which includes former martial arts champion Gypsy Billy (Norman Robinson), the mystic mystery man who only answers to The Fly (Stan Schmidt, a South African master of Shotokan karate), the goofball Hot Dog (Bill Flynn) who when we first meet him is challenging men to stand in a room while he shoots bullets at them and the former pro wrestler and now construction worker gorilla (Ken Gampu, King Solomon’s Mines).

They’re sent to stop Wellington Forsyth III, a billionaire who has now become Marduk (Michael Mayer), who has taken over the town of Ironville and is looking to create an army of warriors to take over the world. He has wanted Steve to come to challenge his champion, The Optimus (Eddie Dori), an unstoppable fighter.

Yes, in the world of South African martial arts, white men are the greatest fighters in the world.

In the commentary track for this movie, James Ryan said that the third film would have been called Most Dangerous Man and had him appear opposite Sharon Stone. However, FVI went out of business and he headed back to South Africa.

This comes from the same director, Ivan Hall, and was written by John Crowther, who also wrote The Evil That Men Do, Missing In Action and Hands of Steel.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Appearing under a variety of titles, like Great White, The Last Jaws, Jaws Returns and L’ultimo Squalo, this movie made $18 million in its first month of U.S. release. Universal Pictures had been trying to block Film Ventures International from even releasing the film in America, but the request was denied in U.S. District Court. However, about a month into the film’s run, federal judge David V. Kenyon ruled that it was too similar to Jaws and the film was banned from theaters. Guess what? He was totally right.

After watching a windsurfer surf his little heart out over the opening credits, we get to watch a Great White Shark ruin his fun by eating him. That’s when we make our way to the resort town of Amity — I mean, Port Harbor — where Mayor Larry Vaughn — sorry, I meant to say governor William Wells (Joshua Sinclair, Ice from 1990: The Bronx Warriors) — refuses to believe that a shark is attacking his beach.

That’s when horror writer Peter Benton (James Franciscus, Butterfly and the voice of Jonathan Livingston Seagull) and shark hunter Ron Hamer (Vic Morrow, who has delighted us in so many movies, such as Message from Space) realize they gotta do something. In my wildest dreams, Hamer’s son will grow up to be the evil Hammer from 1990: The Bronx Warriors, another Morrow role.

The governor refuses to cancel the windsurfing regatta (you gotta regatta!) because he feels like that will hurt his political ambitions. Yes, in the bizarre universe of Italian shark movies, the windsurfing lobby is incredibly powerful. That said, Wells did put in shark nets, but all the splashing around makes the shark nuts, so it tears through the nets. The next day, as the windsurfers line up to compete, the shark appears to the sounds of the guitar from the Torso trailer and treats all these teens on their boards as if I’d treat a sushi buffet. And for dessert, may we recommend the governor’s aide? Mmm.

Benton and Hamer head out to sea with some dynamite, but the shark goes off Spielberg’s shooting script and traps them in a cave. While they’re figuring out why the shark would go into business for itself, Benton’s daughter Jenny (Stefania Girolami Goodwin, who is Ann in 1990: The Bronx Warriors, a radio operator in Moses’ group in Warriors of the Wasteland and would go on to be an assistant director on Empire Records and Super Mario Brothers) and her friends head out on a yacht with some steaks and a shotgun, which seems like the worst plan ever. The shark also stops the boat by using its own body to jam the motor of the boat, which seems patently ridiculous.

Of course, the shark yanks her off the boat and ends up eating her leg, which is done as tastefully as Italian scum cinema will allow. In the hospital, she screams at their father to kill the shark. In an attempt to finally get something right and make it up to Benton — his son was the reason why Benton’s daughter was out there in the first place — Governor Welles grabs more steak (was this movie endorsed by Italy’s beef council, who remind you “Manzo è quello che è per cena”?) and heads out on a helicopter with dynamite to blow up the shark real good. Of course, the shark messes up the best plans and drags the governor into the ocean, biting him in half and dragging his helicopter into the unforgiving ocean. This scene is both astoundingly satisfying and completely stupid, which is what I demand from every movie that I love.

Benton and Hamer try one more time to blow the shark up, because much like pro wrestling, Italian ripoff shark fighting also works in threes. This fails — this shark will not get any memos — and Hamer is killed.

There’s another shark hunter who decides to change the game by using spare ribs (the Italian National Pork Board would like to remind you “carne di maiale l’altra carne bianca”) and chaining them to the dock, but of course the shark won’t listen to reason and decides to drag every single person into the ocean and make a meal of the hunter, a cameraman and assorted rubbernecking beachcombers.

While all these shenanigans are going on, Hamer’s dead body floats on by and Benton (who is wearing a jaunty red wetsuit that seems like it would only enrage a crazed shark further and yes, sharks can see tones of colors depending on their species, I looked this up on Google because I really do care about the facts, dear reader) remembers that he has the detonator, so he blows his friend’s body up and takes the shark’s head with it. He then walks over and punches out a reporter played by Giancarlo Prete, who we all know and love as the hapless Scorpion from Warriors of the Wasteland!

It took four writers — Ramón Bravo (who also wrote Tintorera: Killer Shark), Vincenzo Mannino (who helped write Devil Fish, Miami Golem, Murder Rock and The New York Ripper), Marc Princi and Ugo Tucci — to completely rip off the first two Jaws films. But it only took one director to create this carbon copy carnage. That man was Enzo G. Castellari and if you can’t guess by the related credits of the crew, he’s the man who brought us such magic as 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Warriors of the Wasteland, Escape from the Bronx and the original The Inglorious Bastards. He’s brought me such joy in my life and if IMDB is to be believed, he’s ready to bring even more, as he has a film called The Fourth Horseman in pre-production. This thing has to be a fever dream or a made up story, because it has Sid Haig, Michael Berryman, Bill Moseley, Kane Hodder, Franco Nero (as Keoma!), Fabio Testi, George Hilton and Gianni Garko (as Sartana!) in it. Sometimes, life can surprise you.

No matter what you call it, The Last Shark is anything but boring. You’re not going to see anything you haven’t seen before, but if you want to see b-roll footage, model helicopters and a shark that honestly may be better than Bruce was in the first movie (also it’s a shark smart enough to stop boats and grab ropes in its teeth so it can take out docks full of people), then this is the movie for you.

My only issue with this film: Castellari had not yet met Mark Gregory yet. If Mark was in this movie, I may have lost my mind. I mean, even more than I already have.

Directed by Manuel Esteba (El E.T.E. y el Oto), who wrote the story with Xavier Flores, Sexo Sangriento is about the home of María Domènech (Mirta Miller), a place where she lives with her strange son (Ovidi Montllor). Psychology student Norma (Rosa Romero) convinces her friends Laura (Diana Conca) and Andrea (Viki Palma) to go to that house, thinking that it has been empty since the end of the Second World War. They have the plan to do a seance there before breaking down — bad omen — and having María, a painter, offer to host them in her ancient manor — even worse omen — for the evening.

Shot mostly handheld, this feels a bit Italian gothic as well as giallo what with the ghost in the basement. Then again, it also has someone wandering around before death with a knife stuck in their stomach, strange bloody paintings and a tomb beneath it all. This has the reputation for being sleazy but it’s actually a decent movie. Maybe because it has a lead lesbian couple? Then again, one of the murders does get rather rough.

A lot of the music in Bloody Sex comes from the CAM Music Library, selecting some of the same songs that are in Pieces and Ring of Darkness. And you’ll recognize Goblin’s “L’alba dei morti vivirti” from Dawn of the Dead/Zombi, which Mattei reused for Virus – l’inferno dei morti viventi.

The only copy I can find of Screams In the Night is, as nicely as I can put it, beat to shit. Whole sections of it turn into static and digital noise, the quality is at least fifth generation and the sound is barely listenable. There are no subtitles, either. And yet, in a world of 4K everything, I appreciate these analog moments when a movie looks bad and you need to fit to make it matter.

Nino (Marcello Mastroianni) is a married man who does taxes. His life is, well, quiet and somewhat boring. And then one day he sees Anna (Romy Schneider), a woman he was in love with decades ago. Time has not been kind to her. He pays for her busfare and she disappears, only to call him that night and offers to repay him. He meets her at her dilapidated apartment, only to learn that she has died three years ago.

His wife Teresa (Eva Maria Meineke) is growing upset with his obsession with the past. Despite him being sure that she is gone, she calls again and asks him to visit her mansion. When she answers the door, she is the same woman he knew years ago, young and vital. She tells him that she still loves him, but can’t make love to him, as she is married to the man who owns this gigantic home, Conte Zighi (Wolfgang Preiss). She changes her mind and says that they should take a boat to where they once would get away to be with one another, except that she disappears by falling into the water. When Nino informs the police, his wife leaves him and a tearful Conte Zighi tells him that his wife died three years before. His servant even takes him to see her gravestone.

At the end, Nino is in a wheelchair in his senior home, watching the sun set. A gorgeous woman comes to bring him inside. It is Anna.

Directed by Dino Risi (Anima persa), who wrote the script with Bernardino Zapponi based on the book by Mino Milani, Fantasma d’amore is about a man who has no passion left, a life which has no joy and only memories, which have become colored by the idea that they are the past, of a great love lost for good to keep him warm in the dark nights of the soul. Yet Anna says to him, “You really believe time exists…time which makes us age, which consumes us, that indeed exists. But inside of me, I’m not aged at all.” The fact that this woman, for a time, loved him is enough to sustain him all the way to the loneliness of the grave.

Speaking of age and remaining young through memory, the Riz Ortolani score features a 72-year-old Benny Goodman playing clarinet.

There Is a Ghost in My Bed was directed by Claudio Giorgi, who worked as an actor in fotoromanzi or photo comic books. It was written by Luis Maria Delgado and Jesus Rodriguez Folga and it’s in the genre of both Italian Gothic and commedia sexy all’italiana.

Camillo (Vincenzo Crocitti) and Adelaide (Lilli Carati) are on their honeymoon in Scotland. They can’t find a place to stay and get lost in the fog, finally finding the ancient castle of the Baron of Black Castle (Renzo Montagnani) and his servant Angus (Guerrino Crivello). Despite being a ghost, the Baron still wants to make love to Adelaide and I mean, have you seen Lilli Carati? Can you blame him? How did Camillo keep from sleeping with her during their five-year engagement?

Carati started her career as the runner-up for the 1975 Miss Italy contest. She started work as a fashion model before starting her career with La professoressa di scienze naturali. Her work was mainly in “school” movies where she was a young teacher or a student who was often nude. She also starred with Tomas Milan in Squadra antifurto and had her biggest success in the film Avere vent’anni (To Be Twenty). She was in four Joe D’Amato movies —  La Alcova, Christina, The Pleasure and A Lustful Mind — before acting in adult films in the late 80s. At that point, she was addicted to cocaine and heroin. She retired from public life in 1990 but returned to acting to play an occultist in Violent Shit: The Movie, which was dedicated to her as she died before it was released.