HAPPINESS IS A WARM FLAMETHROWER

We give three Bronx cheers for the special edition return of Enzo G. Castellari’s ultra-violent post-apocalypse trilogy

by ADAM CLARKE

Enzo G. Castellari experienced a late period re-evaluation when Quentin Tarantino cited the spaghetti exploitation director’s Dirty Dozen knock-off, The Inglorious Bastards, as a major influence on his similarly titled film. Castellari’s real legacy, however, is his future trilogy: 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Escape From the Bronx and The New Barbarians. Hot on the heels of Mad Max: Fury Road, Blue Underground has reissued these films, but what is to be gleaned from these glimpses of futures past and, uh, future? For starters, remember 1990, when the world marvelled at Mikhail Gorbachev’s birthmark, listened to Will Smith rap and just couldn’t stop doing The Bartman? Well, Castellari’s 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1983) is nothing like that. In proud Italian rip-off tradition, it pilfers from contemporary hits, particularly Escape From New York,…

You're reading a preview of

RUE MORGUE (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 160 October 2015 Halloween Special Issue

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.