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[Jonny]

Watched this film this afternoon via 23rd Century's DVD, bought it for 50p and I guess I got what I paid for as regards image quality is concerned! Definitely mastered from a VHS tape, the picture is soft, rolls frequently and at one point looks like someone's playing with the tracking... Plus the sound went about 2 seconds out of sync about 30 minutes in and stayed like that for the rest of the duration.



THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!

Shot in sunny Puerto Rico this concerns the plight of a ruthless gang of criminals who rob a casino and then split into small groups, each making separate getaway. Most of the gang are caught by the police, mainly because they're stupid and can't keep their cool in public insisting on spraying the surroundings with gunfire at the slightest hint of a policeman. One faction do make it to the suburbs but after their car breaks down they find they need to take shelter in the nearest house, which as usual has a family at home.

The usual home invasion scenario follows with the women of the house being leered at by the hostage takers, in this case some really old looking Mexicans who sweat a lot. Demands are given to the police, the women try to escape and as per usual the husband just sits in the corner telling everyone to be calm and do as they're asked.

Of course it all goes wrong and would you believe the film ends with Marisa Mell's character landing a small aircraft, being talked down by a policeman as she cannot fly planes...

Stuart Whitman gets top billing but is only seen sharing the screen with Hugo Stiglitz and that's inside an office, maybe those two filmed their scenes in a different country to the rest of the cast? Besides all Whitman does is say lines like "Cover all the escape routes!" or "What's the report so far?"

Not the best film ever made, not quite nasty enough to get into peoples top 10 home invasion movies, but diverting enough for 90 minutes. Does anyone know of any VHS releases, this version looked like it might be a cut version.

[Mart85]

I've got a fullscreen NTSC DVDR of HOSTAGES sourced from some VHS.  Never watched it but I just gave it a quick spin and the run time is 94mins.

[Jonny]

I've got a fullscreen NTSC DVDR of HOSTAGES sourced from some VHS.  Never watched it but I just gave it a quick spin and the run time is 94mins.

Interesting, the one I have clocks in at around 90 minutes. I'm assuming it's PAL.

[Mart85]

Guess my DVDR is the same version then.

[IL COMMISSARIO]

This one sounds kind of interesting. Jonny, have you seen Cardona's TREASURE OF THE AMAZON (1984)? Probably the best movie I've seen from the man. Stuart Whitman, Donald Pleasance, Stiglitz, Bradford Dillman, Pedro Armendariz Jr., John Ireland...great exploitation adventure with a bombastic score. Lots of gore, piranha attacks, a gory crab attack, headhunters, people hung by their tongues with meathooks, crocodiles, it's got it all.

[Jonny]

This one sounds kind of interesting. Jonny, have you seen Cardona's TREASURE OF THE AMAZON (1984)? Probably the best movie I've seen from the man. Stuart Whitman, Donald Pleasance, Stiglitz, Bradford Dillman, Pedro Armendariz Jr., John Ireland...great exploitation adventure with a bombastic score. Lots of gore, piranha attacks, a gory crab attack, headhunters, people hung by their tongues with meathooks, crocodiles, it's got it all.

Not seen any of Cardone jnr's other films. I've got 'Cyclone' on order, the NoShame Italy DVD that's due out any day, which I'm looking forward to seeing.

[IL COMMISSARIO]

CYCLONE, IMO, was very, very slow and boring especially at 2 hours. It has its moments. Some nice bloody bits, though. The acting is really bad. Maybe if it was cut down a bit it would be better. The synopsis is way better than the movie. NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES (1968) from Cardona Jr. is really crazy. A lot of nudity and gore and also female wrestling. An amalgamation of exploitation and the Lucha Libre movies.

[Jonny]

CYCLONE, IMO, was very, very slow and boring especially at 2 hours. It has its moments. Some nice bloody bits, though. The acting is really bad. Maybe if it was cut down a bit it would be better. The synopsis is way better than the movie'

I don't know... Ian at DVD Maniacs gave it a pretty decent write up, he points a few things in 'Cyclone' that I like in a movie.

In addition to the cast the film also offers some fairly intense moments of brutal violence in addition to some fairly grisly shark attack sequences.

Cyclone  is a fun disaster movie with some really wonderfully tasteless exploitative elements thrown in to keep things interesting

Ian's 'Cyclone' review

I guess I'll mak my own mind up when it arrives! 

[IL COMMISSARIO]

I mentioned it had some moments, just at 2 hours, there wasn't enough. For $10 bucks, it's fine. I read a rave review about it a long time ago then when I bought Jay's EATEN ALIVE book, the review was not so kind and I agree with the review in there. Again, it they cut about 40 minutes out, it would probably be better...for me anyways. I won't spoil it for you by telling you anything about it.

[vigilanteforce]

The Cardonas are incredibly trashy filmmakers. They are so trashy that even I hesitate to watch their stuff.  I have only seen NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES and it wasn't too bad. I also have TINTORERA TIGER SHARK. Cannot tell who is the father and who is the son though.

[IL COMMISSARIO]

VF, you must see TREASURE OF THE AMAZON. It's right up your alley. Great movie and you can get it for like $5-9. TINTORERA was really bad. The incredible scene where the stunt guy actually lets the shark "bite" him was awesome. The rest was crap...save for all the gratuitous Susan George nudity.

[pogotheklown]

I enjoyed CYCLONE myself, but like you said IL COMMISSARIO it was a little long and would be a bit better if it was cut down a bit.  It also made me want to check out some more of Jr's stuff.  I recently bought TREASURE OF THE AMAZON, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.  As for this HOSTAGES movie I might have to check it out sometime if I can find it cheap enough...

[IL COMMISSARIO]

Hopefully you'll enjoy it pogo, it's got lots of great sleazy moments and lots of nudity, too. Pleasance is a Nazi in the film as well, in TREASURE...

[Inspector Tanzi]

VF, you must see TREASURE OF THE AMAZON.

Is that the Stuart Whitman one with the crab attack?

[IL COMMISSARIO]

Yeah.