SHOCKING DARK: Hate to say it, but this is Bruno Mattei's best.

Well, last Wednesday my copy of the rare 1989 Bruno Mattei flick SHOCKING DARK arrived. At that time, I was packing up my suitcase to go with my mom to attend a wedding (which was a lot of fun). So rather than waiting to return on Sunday, I watched it during the late Wednesday night (and a perfect viewing night I must say).

SHOCKING DARK begins in the post-apocalyptic future when Venice is besieged via nuclear pollution. The city is completely contaminated with radiation poisoning and cannot be inhabited. So, the population is forced to live underground. Yet another problem arises as mutated monsters are also popping up under the millitary zones of the underground. The millitary sends out the trained group called 'Mega-Force' (I know, I know. It's a stupid name, but that's how it was called and I'm not the writer of this flick so what can I do?) to check out what's going on. The 'Mega-Force' also has an outsider with them named Samuel Fuller from the 'Tubular Corporation' (I know, another dumbass name.). They arrive at a special lab and discover that the 'Tubular Corporation' has been experimenting with mutating the DNA of humans to create a new race of monsters. As if that's not enough bad news, the 'Tubular Corporation' is also responsible for putting nuclear pollution in Venice and that Samuel Fuller is a Cyborg! Add time travel, crazed action, and some freaky cheapo monsters and this is pure Italian sci-fi/horror cinema at it's wildist.

I hate to say it but SHOCKING DARK is Bruno Mattei's best film, and folks that is saying alot. Mattei knows that his name strikes fear in those who are looking for a good Italian horror film and that his reputation as a director is defined as a "rip-off artist". And looking at his films such as ZOMBI 3 (1988), CRUEL JAWS (1994), and ROBOWAR (1989) I would say he comes pretty close to that definition. Yet, SHOCKING DARK shows some promise than his other flicks. The creature effects created by his associate Franco Di Girolamo are quite good, the camerawork is also a huge plus, and the pacing is quick enough to get on with it's crazy plot and out-of-left-field twists.

Yet once again, SHOCKING DARK does display Mattei's talents as a rip-off master. Here, Mattei and his writer Claudio Fragasso (credited as 'Clayde Anderson') steal a few bits from James Cameron's ALIENS (1986). Remember the scene in which the character Ripley and the soldiers chase the girl Newt in the colonists building? Expect that in SHOCKING DARK. Remember when the soldier tried to grab Newt and she bit his arm? That's also in SHOCKING DARK. Remember the moment when Ripley and Newt are attacked by that pesky alien in the room? That's also in SHOCKING DARK. Remember when the group blocks off the enterenceway from the aliens, only to have the beasties able to break in the perimeter via cealing? Also in SHOCKING DARK. And all the dialouge in these scenes I mentioned are copied almost word for word in SHOCKING DARK! Yet when Fragasso is all out of steam, he pulls a fast one on us when he brings in a Cyborg that is directly influenced from Cameron's THE TERMINATOR (1984). Yet, Fragasso doesn't copy THE TERMINATOR at all. Yet I give Fragasso a lot of credit: he sure had the balls to pull this stuff off and make it quite entertaining (and Fragasso has gone on record saying that his producer demanded him to copy ALIENS and THE TERMINATOR, so I'll cut this guy some slack).

Producer Franco Gaudenzi, the man responsible for ZOMBI 3 and AFTER DEATH (1989), sold SHOCKING DARK to international release (What's funny about the film is that it's shot with an all English speaking cast. Most Italian features that have English speaking performers usually shoot the film without sound and then have it dubbed in English with different vocal performers. In SHOCKING DARK, the sound is recorded live and not dubbed over by another vocalist.). In Japan the film is known as ALIENATORS and ALIEN 3 (sound familiar?), while in Italy it was released on video as TERMINATOR II. Why James Cameron didn't sue I'll never know, yet SHOCKING DARK never saw a theatrical or video release here in the United States so I guess Cameron had nothing to worry about since the real, but far less superior sequel TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991) made it's way in theatres. The question is, can SHOCKING DARK be released on DVD here in the U.S. with no problems from Cameron? If it can, I hope Shriek Show get's it.

So while it's nowhere near as better than ALIENS, SHOCKING DARK is in my opinion way better than TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY and the real ALIEN 3. There I said it.

Next up, Bruno Mattei's HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD. I don't think I can make it out alive, but I'll try.