Monday, March 21, 2016

Movie Review: Hands of Steel

Hands of Steel (Vendetta dal futuro) a.k.a Atomic Cyborg a.k.a Fists of Steel a.k.a Hands of Stone a.k.a Return to the Terminator a.k.a Return of the Terminator a.k.a Cyborg a.k.a Destroyer 
National Cinematografica, Dania Film, Medusa Distribuzione, Italy, 1986. 
Hands of Steel title
Part of the Mill Creek Sci-fi Invasion 50 movie box. 

In the future radiation disease is spreading. Environmentalist Reverend Mosley (Franco Fantasia) is holding a rally against polluting but industrialists Francis Turner (John Saxon), Cooper (Roberto Bisacco) and Hunt (Sergio Testori) send programmed cyborg assassin Paco Queruak (Daniel Greene) to kill him. The human side of Paco intervenes and he only wounds Mosley. Paco escapes to desert where acid rain almost melts his car and lowers the resale value.
Daniel Greene
Paco Queruak
Franco Fantasia
Reverend Mosley
John Saxon
Francis Turner
In a desert motel he gets a temporary job as handyman from Linda (Janet Agren). Cyborg's muscles are useful for chopping wood. Also arm wrestling is easy and he beats dirtbag champion Raul (star of Italian cult-trash films George Eastman). Raul is a sore loser and arranges nasty surprise to Paco. Also another challenger Anatola Blanco (Darwyn Swalve) appears. 
Janet Agren
Linda
George Eastman
Raul Morales
Darwyn Swalve
Anatola Blanco
Saxon sends European hitman Peter Howell (Claudio Cassinelli, who died during the filming in helicopter accident) after Paco. Cops Bakey (unknown actor) and Dr. Peckinpah (Amy Werba) try to find out who was behind the assassination attempt. Howell sends Eddie (Andrea Coppola) and female cyborg Susie (again uncredited actress who looks like Daria Nicolodi, these Italian B-films sure are badly documented!) to kill Paco. This leads to the best action scenes of the movie.
Amy Werba
Dr. Peckinpah and Bakey
Claudio Cassinelli
Peter Howell
Susie
This is quite fun cheapo Eurotrash action film, set in "twenty Minutes into the Future." Lots of macho action, pulp violence and some arm wrestling. Okay, it looks very cheap and the fight choreography is that Paco hits enemies with his cyborg hands and the bad guys hit the floor. Still the testosterone-fueled movie is fun to watch and never gets boring. It has also quite good synth score by Claudio Simonetti, keyboard player of Goblin. Set in the future that looks just like the 1980s!
Possible weapons
Laser gun goons

Rating: Good

Starring: Daniel Greene, Janet Agren, Claudio Cassinelli, George Eastman, Roberto Bisacco (as Robert Ben), Pat Monti, Andrea Coppola (as Andrew Louis Coppola), Donald O'Brien, Frank Walden, Darwyn Swalve, Amy Werba, John Saxon, Bruno Bilotta, Franco Fantasia, Edward Mannix, Dean Ricca, Ted Rusoff, Susan Spafford, Sergio Testori, Alex Vitale, Frank von Kuegelgen
Director: Sergio Martino (as Martin Dolman)

9 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Laadukasta sontaa tosiaankin.

      Delete
    2. Sekin oli hauskaa että muutamia näistä julkaistiin Suomessakin DVD:nä, 2019 After the Fall of New York oli myös mainio.

      Delete
    3. Kulttuuritekoja, joita soisi näkevän enemmältikin.

      Delete
  2. A bit boring B-flick, great Finnish name.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The female blonde cyborg Susie has very very close facial features to Daria Nicolodi. I'm positive it's her.

    ReplyDelete

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