1988
– Robowar (Flora Film)
[Italian
production shot in the Philippines; original Italian title “Robowar
- Robot Da Guerra”, also released on German DVD as “Robo Man”]
Director
Bruno Mattei Story Rossella Drudi, Claudio Fragasso Screenplay
Rossella Drudi Producer Franco Gaudenzi Cinematography
Richard Grassetti Music Al Festa Editor Daniele Alabiso Production
Supervisor Rick Hasserot Production Manager Giovanni Paolucci
Art
Direction Vic Dabao, “Bart”/Mimmo Scavia Assistant Production Manager Luciano Pigozzi Sound Tom Morgan Special Effects Francesco
Paolocci, Gaetano Paolocci, Rodolfo Torrente Stunt Co-ordinator
Massimo Vanni Assistant Stunt Co-ordinator Dante Abadessa Makeup Artist Franco Di Girolamo Wardrobe Julie De Guzman
Set Decoration Jun
Carlos, Don Reganit Camera Assistants Arturo Barredo, Orly
Bombay, “Raul Mattews”/Raul Filippo Mattei, “Ruben
Hundit”/Mauro Di Croce Camera Operator “Al Hessar”/Aldo Chessari
Key Grips “Alvit Hessar”/Victorio
Cessari, Fred Maequez Gaffers “Bart Hessar”/Umberto Chessari, Mario Ponce Casting "Joe Collins" Continuity “Liliane Hann”/Liliana Ginanneschi Tailor Lito Mozol
Location
Manager Arnel Abaneilla Transportation Manager Nelson Palma Post-Production Dialogue
Editor Eugine Luotto Stills Billy
Ruello
Cast
Reb Brown (Major Murphy "Killzone" Black), Catherine
Hickland (Virgin), Mel Davidson (Nascher), Max Laurel (Quang), John
P. Dulaney (Arthur "Papa Doc" Bray), Jim Gaines Jr (Sonny
"Blood" Peel), “Alex McBride”/Massimo Vanni (Larry
Guarino), Romano Puppo (Corporal Corey), “Clyde Anderson”/Claudio
Fragasso (The Hunter), [uncredited] Michael Welborn (Helicopter
Pilot) [“Alan Collins”/Luciano Pigozzi ended up on the cutting
room floor]
Mini-review
by Andrew Leavold
It's
a cliche to describe Bruno Mattei's Robowar (1988) as a
"Predator-meets-Robocop in the Philippines jungle", but as
a pitch it's perfect in describing one of B-master Bruno's most
outrageous Filipino-shot conceits. The Robocop part is Omega One, a
bionic killing machine pieced together from the remains of an
American soldier, in black suit and helmet and strapped up with
unlimited firepower - seemingly indestructible and unstoppable, and
programmed to KILL, KILL, KILL. The Predator part: Omega One, also
known simply as the Hunter, is on a killing rampage on a small
unnamed island, and the US military send in a six-man specialist
squad known as BAM - Big Ass Motherfuckers - along with the Hunter's
creator Nascher (Mel Davidson) as "technical adviser", to
clean up the mess. Team leader Murphy "Killzone" Black
(Strike Commando's Reb Brown) has been given no specific orders, but
quickly finds the jungle filled with rapidly putrefying bodies,
massacres, a scorched earth, and a prey that melts into the
undergrowth only to pick off the six men one by one: Sonny "Blood"
Peel (Jim Gaines Jr) looks stunned as his face is peeled off
mid-joint, we see Guarino (“Alex McBride”/Massimo Vanni)
vaporized via the Hunter's unnerving pixel-vision, and Papa Doc (John
P. Dulaney) is dragged through the jungle via the Hunter's
extendo-arm, only to end up a sizzling skeleton. This leaves Black,
the girl medic they rescue known in the credits as "Virgin"
(Catherine Hickland), and the man-mountain tracker named Quang
(Zuma's Max Laurel) to face off - again, the "face"
references make sense in context - against their vaguely familiar
adversary, and the Pagsanjan jungles ignite once more in an inferno
of blasting caps and home-made napalm. Here Mattei achieves the
almost impossible, making an entertaining and compulsively watchable
song-and-dance number from so many scattered body parts, and out of
his long Dr Moreau-like career in splicing together mutant creatures
for the B market, this Robo-Monster from the Islands of Mr Mattei
could be one of his greatest creations…
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