Tagarchief: FilmDungeon

The Midnight Meat Train

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Ryûhei Kitamura
Written by: Jeff Buhler (screenplay), Clive Barker (short story)
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones, Leslie Bibb, Brooke Shields

Year / Country: 2008, USA
Running Time: 98 mins.

A big city is like a human body. The central train station is like the heart, the subway tunnels are the arteries and the trains themselves are blood cells. But just like a human body, a city can carry a disease through its blood vessels; a cancer or a deadly virus.

A struggling photographer (Cooper) wants to capture the real city as it has never been done before. He starts having horrible visions of a butcher (Jones), who slays people on the midnight subway. To impress an influential photo guru, a ridiculous role by Brooke Shields, he starts making more dangerous photos, including those of the butcher himself.

Movies based on Clive Barker novels are not guaranteed to be great films. In fact, only the original Hellraiser can be called great. The rest range from mediocre to poor. The Midnight Meat Train does a better job than most. Although it never becomes scary, it does have a sense of dread, something all novels by Barker definitely possess.

The signature of director Kitamura is very visible. The cleverly edited slayings are typical of Japanese horrors and make The Midnight Meat Train a purely graphical experience. It is hard to take it seriously; the hero jumps on a riding train in one scene. The cast is also not exactly grade A. Shields was already mentioned, Jones fits his role like a glove, but is not scary at all. Then there is the boring Cooper and his girlfriend Bibb, who is not the most convincing actress.

Apart from the images, what makes The Midnight Meat Train a worthy ride to take is where the train eventually comes to a halt. There is actually an ending to this tale that is Hellraiserishly fantastic. Better to watch it long after dinner though.

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Biography: Ryûhei Kitamura (1969, Osaka) briefly studied film making in Australia. The first ten years he spent in Japan making horror, action and monster movies, all starring Tak Sakaguchi. Well-known successes include Azumi and Versus. In 2008 he made his American debut with The Midnight Meat Train.

Filmography: Heat After Dark (1996), Down to Hell (1997), Versus (2000), Jam Films (2002, segment ‘The Messenger – Requiem for the Dead’), Sukai hai (2003, TV episodes), Azumi (2003), The Messenger (2003, short), Sakurajima (2004, doc), LoveDeath (2006), Romance Novel (2006, TV), The Midnight Meat Train (2008), Baton (2009)1

Trinity Is STILL My Name!

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


Director: Enzo Barboni
Written by: Enzo Barboni
Cast: Terence Hill, Bud Spencer, Yanti Somer, Enzo Tarascio

Year / Country: 1971, Italy
Running Time: 112 mins.

They Call Me Trinity, the first ‘Trinity’ film, was a major financial success and made Terence Hill and Bud Spencer international stars. This follow-up was an even greater success. It became the top-grossing Italian film of all time upon release.

In this sequel, Trinity (Hill) and his older brother Bambino (Spencer) want to make name for themselves as outlaws. This is the last wish of their dying father. They also promise him to work together from that point on.

Bambino takes the lead and the two brothers head north. Their plan to become outlaws doesn’t go too smoothly. They get mixed up in unsuccessful robbery’s, crooked card games and a massive scheme involving a monastery. They also pretend to be federal agents, which is not good for their outlaw status.

The first ‘Trinity’ film was no Citizen Kane, but for a comedy-western it was fair enough. Trinity Is STILL My Name! isn’t all that great honestly. While Hill and Spencer function better and better as a comic duo, it’s the writers that drop the ball here. There is no story and the dialogues are weak.

Mostly, the writers depend on running gags to raise a few laughs. Some are okay: ‘don’t call me Bambino’, but some – like the farting baby – are terrible. There are also fewer of the slapstick fights that made the first movie entertaining, although it ends similarly with a major brawl.

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Biography: Enzo Barboni (1922, Rome – 2002, Rome) was originally a cinematographer, but later turned to writing and directing as well. In 1966 he shot Django, which became one of the archetypes of the spaghetti western. His second film They Call Me Trinity was also a massive trendsetter for the comedy-western and launched the careers of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. He also directed the sequels Trinity Is STILL My Name! and Sons of Trinity, which was his final movie. Barboni is often credited under his pseudonym E.B. Clucher.

Filmography: The Unholy Four (1970), They Call Me Trinity (1970), Trinity is STILL My Name! (1971), A Man from the East (1972), Even Angels Eat Beans (1973), Charleston (1974), Crime Busters (1977), The Odd Squad (1982), Go for It (1983), Double Trouble (1984), They Call Me Renegade (1987), Speaking of the Devil (1991), Sons of Trinity (1995)

They Call Me Trinity

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Enzo Barboni
Written by: Enzo Barboni
Cast: 5, Farley Granger

Year / Country: 1970, Italy
Running Time: 106 mins.

A man on a stretcher is carried through the desert by his horse. He doesn’t get up until he reaches Wells Fargo. This lazy bum is called Trinity. There is more to him than meets the eye. He is also known as the Devil’s right hand and he has the fastest gun in the West.

After saving a Mexican’s life, he goes to meet his brother Bambino, who is pretending to be the local sheriff. Bambino is the Devil’s left hand with a gun as fast as Trinity’s. Together they take on a band of outlaws that, under command of a corrupt mayor, want to drive a community of Mormon farmers from their land.

They Call Me Trinity is a significant movie for two reasons. Firstly, it initiated the Western-Comedy craze that swept Italy for a while. Secondly, this is the film that turned the duo Hill / Spencer into international stars, especially in Europe.

It also set the tone for many future Hill / Spencer collaborations: many brawls (with extremely LOUD sound effects), humorous dialogues and slapstick action. For its genre, it is pretty violent (Hill shoots a man in his crotch in one scene) and there is plenty of obscenity in the dialogues.

All in all, They Call Me Trinity is a fair vehicle for Spencer and Hill to show off their considerable (comedic) talents. Also features a fitting musical score by Franco Micalizzi.

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Biography: Enzo Barboni (1922, Rome – 2002, Rome) was originally a cinematographer, but later turned to writing and directing as well. In 1966 he shot Django, which became one of the archetypes of the spaghetti western. His second film They Call Me Trinity was also a massive trendsetter for the comedy-western and launched the careers of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. He also directed the sequels Trinity is STILL My Name! and Sons of Trinity, which was his final movie. Barboni is often credited under his pseudonym E.B. Clucher.

Filmography: The Unholy Four (1970), They Call Me Trinity (1970), Trinity is STILL My Name! (1971), A Man from the East (1972), Even Angels Eat Beans (1973), Charleston (1974), Crime Busters (1977), The Odd Squad (1982), Go for It (1983), Double Trouble (1984), They Call Me Renegade (1987), Speaking of the Devil (1991), Sons of Trinity (1995)

My Name is Nobody

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Tonino Valerii
Written by: Fulvio Morsella, Ernesto Gastaldi
Cast: Henry Fonda, Terence Hill, Jean Martin, R.G. Armstrong

Year / Country: 1973, Italy, France, West Germany
Running Time: 111 mins.

New Mexico, 1898. The Legendary gunslinger Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda) wants to leave the Wild West behind him and retire to Europe. But the strange loner Nobody (Terence Hill) wants his personal hero to go out in style. He sets everything in motion, so Jack can take on the infamous Wild Bunch.

During the seventies, the Italian comedy-western became a way more popular genre than the more serious spaghetti’s. Master of the spaghetti western Sergio Leone and his team then decided to make the ultimate ‘joke’ western themselves. The casting of comedy man Hill and old westerner Ford, makes clear the contrast between the old dying West and the new West.

Although some of the slapstick comedy feels forced and somewhat copied from the ‘Trinity’ films, producer Leone and director Tonino Valerii still managed to create a successful homage to the genre. This is largely due to the excellent chemistry between the two leads and the classic musical score by Ennio Morricone. The brilliant composer parodies everything in his score, from Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries to his own Harmonica theme. It became one of his most popular scores.

There are also plenty of inside jokes; the bad guys are named ‘The Wild Bunch’; Sam Peckinpah’s name is on a tombstone; the excessive use of duster coats; etc. Leone also directed the opening scene himself, which is a direct homage to the famous opening scene of his classic Once Upon a Time in the West.

Altogether, My Name is Nobody is a fine testament to the glory of the spaghetti western as well as the Hill / Spencer comedy days of the Italian Wild West.

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Biography: Tonino Valerii (1934, Teramo, Italy) was born as Antonio Valerii. In 1964, he worked as an uncredited assistant director for Sergio Leone on A Fistful of Dollars. In 1966 he made his directorial debut with spaghetti western Taste For Killing. He would direct about fifteen films in his career, but will be most remembered for his westerns, including My Name is Nobody and A Reason To Live, A Reason To Die!.

Filmography (a selection): Taste for Killing (1966), Days of Wrath (1967), The Price of Power (1969), A Girl Called Jules (1970), My Dear Killer (1972), A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die! (1972), My Name is Nobody (1973), The Hired Gun (1976), Sahara Cross (1977), T.I.R. (1984, TV-episodes), Savage Attack (1986), Unscrupulous (1986), Sicilian Connection (1987), Vacation in Hell (1997)