Tags:
Film: Angel of Death
Year: 1985
Director: Andrea Bianchi
Writers: Georges Friedland, Marius Lesoeur and Jesús Franco
Starring: Christopher Mitchum, Suzanne Andrews and Fernando Rey
Review:
Now this is a movie that I didn’t hear about until getting it in a box set for review from Full Moon thanks to Laura from Scandal Coactive. It is interesting that along with this, I got a borderline softcore porn that was directed by Jesús Franco and seeing that he started directing this, I thought this would be more graphic. Without playing my hand too much, let me get into this.
Synopsis: a Jewish commando unit hunting Nazi war criminals tracks down the infamous Dr. Mengele (Howard Vernon) in the jungle and find that he is torturing nubile young virgins and performing horrible medical experiments on the locals. They prepare to battle their way past Mengele’s hordes of fanatic Nazi bodyguards to get him.
We start this off with a vehicle leaving a compound a car tailing them. In the one car is Aaron Horner (Jack Taylor). He is a Nazi hunter and they believe that this guy is Mengele. He is working with Ohmei Felsberg (Fernando Rey) who is back in Europe. There is a showdown outside of town, leaving the guy dead. It doesn’t look like this is who they’re after though.
That is when we meet Marc Logan (Antonio Mayans) as he is hanging out with his girlfriend, Rachel (Annick Laine). They’re watching a television program about the Nazis and that they’re taking refuge in South America. It also refers to the murder that we started off with as well. It ends with the hunt for Mengele still ongoing.
There is a break though when Rachel gets a call at work from a former co-worker, Eva (Suzanne Andrews). She wants to meet with her friend. The first time she says that she believes the man she is living with is Mengele but going by the name Carl Hermann. This sparks interest to check out the compound from Marc. Rachel is killed in the process. He starts to recruit people around him. They relay what they believe to Ohmei and Aaron. They need proof though.
I should also say that we see within the compound. Josef’s right hand is Wolfgang von Backey (Christopher Mitchum) and there are terrible things being done here. Josef is aided there by Gertrud (Shirley Knight). This group from the village is up against a force stronger than they’re expecting as they try to start the 4th Reich.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction. Where I want to start is that the synopsis and concept are much better than what we get here. It is odd since the Franco films I’ve seen in the past tend to be more surreal, full of nudity or violence. This one doesn’t get much of any of that. There’s a good idea for the basis. The problem I feel is that from everything I’ve read, this was a troubled production to the point where Franco left the project before it was completed, having Bianchi to step in.
Now that I’ve set that up, I love the idea of these Jewish commandos looking for revenge and hunting Nazis. I believe that it is common knowledge now that the Nazis fled from Germany as things got bad. The majority went to South America. Using that as a basis is good. I thought that Vernon does good as Mengele. He doesn’t play it over the top. He seems like a nice, older gentleman hiding a secret. Having a compound where they’re training soldiers is believable. Trying to create the 4th Reich is also not out of the realm of possibilities.
The problem is that this is boring. It struggles to build any tension. I will credit this that they weren’t afraid to kill characters. During the climax, which piqued my interest with seeing that. The action sequences aren’t great though. There is a guy doing karate and they use slow-motion for him. There is a guy with a crossbow which was a good touch. We have where the good guys shoot someone and they die instantly. I could just tell that this wasn’t working with the biggest budget and it is during these that it shows. The cinematography was fine though. I don’t think this was shot poorly. There is a great ‘theme’ to when things get tense. It is a variation on synth-wave that would be prominent in the era. I did enjoy that. The rest of the score fit for what was needed.
Let’s then go to the acting, which should be the last thing to look at. It is interesting that I didn’t know until seeing this that Robert Mitchum had two sons. One of them is in this movie as Wolfgang. I thought he was solid as this henchmen, Nazi character. Vernon was a good Mengele. There are too many limitations but he was solid. He shifts to being downright evil as this goes on though. Andrews worked as Eva. Rey is in a limited role as this mastermind of the Nazi hunters. Taylor worked as the one who collaborated closely with him. I thought that Mayans was good as our lead. I’ll also credit Laine for her limited role. The rest of the cast was fine to round this out.
In conclusion, this isn’t a good movie. I’m not sure how much of that is budgetary and if the fact that Franco started this, then left before it was completed. There are good things here. I love exploring the ‘what-if’ Mengele escaped to South America to form the 4th Reich. This just didn’t have the resources to make it fully work. It isn’t a bad action film though. I will say that. The acting was solid. This was boring unfortunately. I’d only recommend this as a curiosity for Franco or Bianchi fans. Or if you enjoy low-budget action movies.
My Rating: 4.5 out of 10