Director -Andreas Marfori (Desperate Crimes)
Starring - Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni (Demons 2), Deigo Ribon (August), and Luciano Crovato (Heat in the Suburbs)
Release Date - 1988
Genre - Italian/Horror
Tagline - "The nightmare that grabs you where you least expect it"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Troma's Toxie's Blood Bank)
Rating (out of 5):
Over the summer I was on a huge Troma kick. I started ordering everything I could find on amazon.com that was released by this small indie company. I grabbed the Class of Nuke em High trilogy, The Toxic Avenger collection, Toxie's Top Ten set, and Toxie's Blood Bank set. I came across on film called Evil Clutch and the DVD artwork looked cool as hell (the picture at the top on the right). I am a sucker for artwork and Italian films and wanted to own this little gem. Lucky for me this film was in one of the box sets I had recently ordered. After having it collect dust for a few months, I decided to throw it in to see if the film was as good as the DVD cover.
The film follows an Italian and his American girlfriend as they travel the Italian countryside. While driving along they find a woman on the side of the road. She starts screaming that she was attacked. The couple take her with them to the nearest town where she runs away the second someone else arrives. A man riding a scooter approaches the couple and tells them a story about a creature preying on the locals. The couple is disgusted by the man's story and leave him. The pair head off to spend a day or two hiking where they cross paths with the woman once again. She tells them of a nearby house they can stay in for the night before it is dark. The two decide that would be the best course of action and follow her. Once there, the young American girl goes outside to clear her head and the woman pulls some drugs from her cleavage to snort. Before the man is able to snort it he accidentally gets some sort of sticky substance on his face. The substance makes the man feel ill. His girlfriend is worried for his welfare and tries to take him to safety. While in the woods, the pair crosses paths with an undead minion of the woman they have been protecting. She is actually a monster that sprouts a giant claw from her vagina and uses it to rip the peckers from her male victims. They tie him to an old wagon wheel and make their way through the woods, that is until the Italian changes and attacks the young girl. She runs for her life and he makes his way to the woman. The woman then attacks him with her tentacles and he snaps out of it and flees. The undead minion breaks his chains and smashes the young man's hands with a rock and then rips his head off with the same wagon wheel he was chained to. The man on the scooter arrives and cuts the hand protruding from her vagina with an axe. She then kills him and turns him in to another undead minion. The American girl is now forced to face off against both undead minions and is able to defeat them with a mirror and reflecting light on them. After a lengthy walking scene, the American girl walks to her safety.
This movie had everything going for it and fell short of being a great film. The acting is actually pretty decent when compared to other Troma films. I assumed the acting would be very bad like the films found in the Toxie's Top Ten set, but it was not. Also, the special effects were great. This movie demonstrates some great 80's practical effects. In my opinion, the 80's had some of the greatest practical effects and this is just another example. Though the effects are good, some scenes were utterly stupid. At one points, when the creature has her vagina claw cut off, her eyes bulge out of her head. This was completely ridiculous and reminded me a lot of the scene in Total Recall when Arnold's eyes were bulging out of his head. That could have been done a different way. From all the other special effects, the talent was obviously there just no thought was placed behind it. I also thought the story was original. I, personally, did not like it, but it was original none-the-less. After all that is said, I have some major problems with the film. The first is the scenes with gratuitous amounts of walking. Just hear me out before you start laughing. In many of the scenes people are walking long distances...and that is all they are doing. There is no dialogue, character interaction, or plot details. It was just a cheap way to throw in filler. I'd rather watch a short film that was done correctly than watch a longer film that is filled with pointless scenes of people walking through the woods. Another problem I had with the film was the last 15 to 20 minutes. Most of the action was good, however, some things made no sense. The creature gets her gina claw cut off, kills the man responsible, and then nonchalantly goes and has a seat. She then closes her eyes and after the American girl walks to safety, her eyes pop open before heading to the ending credits. What the hell kind of ending is that? It does not provide any closure for the film or answer any questions. A better ending could have improved the film slightly. Overall, this movie is just shit Troma has purchased in order to grow their catalog. I love the Troma films that were actually created by Troma, and after watching this shit. I now know that all other films, that are not produced by Troma and are simply distributed by Troma, are utter pieces of shit. Watch Class of Nuke em High instead of this.
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