Comeuppance Reviews
In the future, two TV networks, Seven Seas and WBS (World Broadcasting System) are vying for ever higher ratings. Seven Seas' hottest show is "Killbike", where, you guessed it, dudes on strange looking, tricked-out motorcycles beat, slay and decapitate each other, assuming one of them doesn't blow up in the process. WBS' competition to that is "The Danger Game", in which contestants think they are facing scary and gruesome situations, but it's all a carefully manufactured hallucination. However, Station Manager Of the Future Cortez (Cassinelli) wants to trump his rivals once and for all, and, because he's based in Rome, decides on a fight-to-the-death biker romp in the coliseum featuring death row criminals sentenced to die, calling it "The Battle of the Damned". (Noteworthy cons include Williamson as Abdul and Cliver as Kirk). But, despite their cynicism, in order for this to be a ratings bonanza, they still need a hero. And in order to get a hero, he has to be on death row. So popular good guy Drake (Martin) is framed for his wife's death. With all the pieces seemingly in place, only Drake - perhaps with the help of Sarah (Brigliadori) - can stop the madness and end the ratings wars for good. But can he survive? Not since the late night wars of the early 90's has TV competition been this fierce...say what you want about The New Gladiators, the movie was definitely ahead of its time. It predated the proliferation of reality shows, especially the ones that feed off your fear, such as Fear Factor. (That's all "The Danger Game" really is). It predicted the ever-more-vicious competition between networks that leads to the lowest common denominator being aired. It predicted companies conglomerated only in the hands of a few huge concerns. It even predicted reality shows such as "Full Metal Jousting". In the movie world, ideas and concepts included in this movie predate Robocop (1987), The Running Man (1987), Strange Days (1995), and Fatal Combat (1995). It even predicted GPS, especially having it on a bracelet you cannot take off, just as criminals have today. All that being said, Rollerball (1975) and Blade Runner (1982) seem to be the major influences. Jared Martin even resembles James Caan. But Fulci and his team deserve a lot of credit for being so forward thinking.Of course, this is Fulci's entry in the Italian post-apocalyptic sweepstakes (technically we don't know if an apocalypse happened this time around, so let's just say "futuristic"). It has the touches of gore Fulci is synonymous with, but there are plenty of impressive stunts as well, especially the motorbike extravaganzas. Working on a low budget, it's pretty evident all the capital in this movie is conceptual and idea-based, not so much budgetary. But, as ever, the Italians are wizards at getting the most out of a little, and the sets look amazing, the outfits and cycles impressively decked out, and we'd rather see meticulously-built miniatures than gag-inducing CGI any day of the week. And what would a movie of this era be like without the sax on the soundtrack and the prerequisite torture scene? So everything is present and accounted for, and Fulci makes it all work.There's so much we didn't even mention, like the mysterious network boss "Sam", an evil dude named Raven (Ross) who is part of a "Pretorian guard", and on and on. Even the ultra-modern furniture is at least a little interesting. Needless to say, the presence of Fred Williamson livens things up, and he has an impressive cast to back him that fans of Italian genre cinema will certainly recognize. Not to be outdone, the movie even predates seizure-inducing strobe effects that wouldn't hit big until Pokemon. We applaud Fulci and the gang for approaching this subject matter differently than his peers. It's not just a bunch of cars crashing in the Italian countryside, there are actually some interesting ideas going on here. But any viewer could miss them if they're not paying attention.Because of the typically lame Troma DVD, Fulci will yet again not get the credit he deserves for making ingeniously put together, even thought-provoking movies. But we're pretty sure you'll have a wheelie-popping' good time when you watch The New Gladiators.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com
Michael_Elliott
New Gladiators (1983) 1/2 (out of 4)Italian apocalyptic film is set during 2073 when TV audiences have been turned onto violence after years of war. Normal television isn't accepted anymore so two rival networks have to come up with shows that feature real people facing real death. The latest game show is to have gladiator battle, which with Fulci directing, leads to countless death scenes. This is an incredibly cheap sci-fi film that might be called an early version of what would become The Running Man but this thing here is so cheap that it should get on your last nerve after the ten-minute mark. The only thing going for this film happens in the first five minutes where there's a rather nice throat slashing but after this the film offers nothing except a couple laughs from the cheap production. Even though there are a lot of deaths in the film, if you're expecting classic Fulci gore then you're going to be highly disappointed as there is very little outside the previous mentioned throat slash. Fred Williamson of Black Caesar fame gets the main role but does very little with it. There were a lot of these films made in Italy around this time but this is the first I've seen and I really hope it's the worst of the bunch because if there is one out there worse than this then I'm somewhat scared to see it.
HaemovoreRex
Well with Lucio Fulci in the directors chair you can count on two things straight away; Excellent visuals including an inordinate amount of Fulci's trademark extreme facial close ups (especially the eyes) and a confused story that will leave you scratching your head. You can also count on a third staple present in most of Fulci's work and the factor for which he is probably best remembered; His predilection for incorporating extreme gore scenes into his films (even his non horror efforts such as the film in question) In relation to all of the above, sure enough and true to form, Fulci yet again delivers the goods.The story set in the future, depicts a world where deadly gladiatorial contests take place for the TV viewing audiences' pleasure. The said contests take place on motorcycles whereby the combatants are required to batter their opponents off of their bikes with the last man standing being declared the winner.Jared Martin (Yes Dusty Farlow from Dallas!) plays Drake, the Kill Bike champion who along with the likes of B-movie regulars Fred Williamson, Al Yamanouchi and Al Cliver must fight for their lives in this cruel sport.Sadly it has to be said however, that there are far too few scenes of the sport in question with the vast majority of the films running time being squandered on a boring conspiracy storyline (and lots and lots of shots of peoples eyes!). Luckily things do pick up commendably in the final 30 or so minutes though and we get to see some admittedly excellent battle scenes involving motorbikes and sidecars in a futuristic take on the famous chariot sequence from Ben Hur.Overall, whilst not one of Fulci's best works, this is certainly far from his worst and provides a fairly entertaining watch. It's just such a pity that the sheer energy of the final third couldn't have been more abundant throughout.
Dario Fulci
There's some decent ideas in Lucio Fulci's contribution to the Italian post-nuke sci-fi action sweepstakes of the early '80s, but they're rendered somewhat inert thanks to the wooden acting of the Americans, and the horrid dubbing of the Italians. The Lego-Land-with-Xmas-Lights miniatures don't help, either.And is it me, or did Fred Williamson just disappear from the final scene? He just vanishes. Where did he go? Was he called for reshoots for "1990: The Bronx Warriors?" Was there a summons to loop his dialogue for "Warriors of the Wasteland?" Did he need to attend a Kansas City Chiefs benefit dinner? Who knows?
