Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

GazerRise Fantastic!

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

BA_Harrison Of the nine films directed by Marcello Avallone, only two were horrors: the first was an unremarkable demonic movie by the name of Specters, which not only suffered from a dull and utterly nonsensical plot, but offered little in the way of genuine scares, and even failed to compensate with that staple of 80s Italian horror, OTT gore. That film was followed two years later by Maya, which was just as incomprehensible, if not more-so (that ending! WTF?), but at least presented viewers with a unique setting, a reasonable amount of atmosphere, and more than enough nasty violence to satisfy the gore-hounds (along with plenty of gratuitous female nudity for thems that like it).Mariella Valentini plays Lisa Slivak, who travels to Venezuela to identify the body of her father, who has died in mysterious circumstances. As Lisa investigates, with the help of rather unlikeable local lothario Peter (Peter Phelps), numerous people begin to die in unusual and gruesome ways. Quite who or what is behind these bizarre deaths is beyond me—the plot is kinda hard to fathom out—but the killings are both creative and sadistic: a would-be rapist has his leg crushed by a truck before getting his head impaled by a metal pole, a naked Latino hottie gets her face bashed in by unseen forces while in the bath (her nose splitting open as it hits the edge of the tub), and another victim is suspended by fishing hooks in her neck. To add to the nastiness, there's also a stomach churning scene where a 'finger-wrestler' has his fighting digit snapped in two (blood spurting from the messy wound), and a strange ritual that sees a man vomiting up live snakes (similar to those weird Hong Kong black magic movies of the early 80s).5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Bezenby More late eighties Italian horror from the director of Spectres! This time, absolute jerk Peter is some American ex-pat slob working in a bar, sleeping with a local gas station attendant, and gambling his money away on some strange finger wrestling matches (where one guy gets his finger torn off!) when his mate Solomon (600 year old William Berger) gets mysteriously murdered at some Mayan temple. Solomon's daughter turns up looking for answers and Peter gives it about five minutes for her to mourn before he starts hitting on her, the douchebag.Just in case you don't think he's an a**hole, Peter also hits on his bosses wife (the stunning Mirrela D'Angelo) who's having an affair with some guy, and goes deep sea diving while wearing headphones and chewing gum. Two redneck muppets turn up to get drunk and try and rape Peter's girlfriend, which results in some supernatural force turning up and killing both of them in typical twilight era Italian horror film style.Solomon's daughter's a bit curious as to why these two guys have the same wounds as her Dad, but the local doctor's giving her the brush off. Around this time she finds out the local legend of some spirit who tried to wipe out the local tribe with the help of the God of death, but got thwarted and vowed to come back. Has this demon returned? Peter's girlfriend catches Peter (the fud) getting lovey-dubby with Solomon's daughter and goes a bit mental, trashing Peter's apartment but then getting herself killed rather graphically in her bath. The local police don't seem to be too bothered though as Peter isn't even a suspect and just goes about his daily business. Oh – I forgot to mention the creepy kid that turns up to frighten the crap out of people, and that looking in a mirror in this film means death. And that guy that pukes up snakes.It takes about an hour of the film before anybody starts trying to unravel the mystery, but you won't be bored as the demon works it's way through the cast, where people are pierced through the mouth with steel poles, have their faces torn to shreds, have their nose split open (eww), get lifted of the ground by hooks and generally meet fates that anyone appearing in a late eighties Italian film generally meet. There's also plenty of female flesh on display, but I could have done without the two attempted rapes, thanks.So, yet another late eighties gore/boobs film that's pretty good. Nice, non-sensical ending too, as per the norm for this kind of film.

clenchedbrain I concur with the other posters who enjoyed this film. It probably helps if you are a general fan of horror films from all eras, as this is pure 80s. It has none of the superficial and formulaic surface noise that constitutes the cinematic vernacular of the modern 'horror' blockbuster. No back-lit trees; dry ice; or glossy, glamorous young leads screaming their pretty heads off. Instead, you get a fairly gritty and atmospheric offering based on a relatively original premise. Yes, there is the classic 80s/horror staple of the obnoxious pair of punks who are just begging to be killed off. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a bigger dick, more deserving of supernatural death, than the leader of this punk duo. He is hilarious, and probably the weakest part of the film; although 80s afficionados can certainly enjoy his character for what it is. Also, there is suspect dubbing and acting, but that's just par for the course. I was never bored during this film, and I think a main factor in this is that there are many characters involved in the plot, and the director has done a very economical job of providing just enough involvement and back-story for each to move the film along nicely, yet still involve them in the narrative. Not hugely gory, but there are some good set pieces; and some foxy (in my book) women half naked. This is never a bad thing. Overall, a decent flick - I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. If you are a genre fan, and especially like 80s horror, then seek this out.

Mikel3 Don't waste your time on this Turkey. The only thing I can figure is that the previous user comments calling this a "horror gem" must have been written by someone in the cast or their moms. Unfortunately I fell for it, don't make the same mistake. This is nothing more than a bunch of silly killings and a few bad sweaty sex scenes that use a Mayan curse as an excuse for a plot. They even include the standard "Just when you think the hero is safe it's not really over yet" ending {yawn}. The only reason I give it a two out of ten is because I've seen worse and reserve the one ratings for those "gems". I wouldn't have even wasted ten lines to comment on this except it's the required minimum to post here.