Rating: 3/5
Cult Movie Challenge 2016 | 23/52 | Eurocrime
Four men in masks hold up a vehicle carrying company wages just outside Giboni Pharmaceutical Company. A witness calls the cops. The guard tries to close the gates, but the thieves shoot him. One man stabs one carrier, grabs the bag, and then runs off. A guard’s bullet hits their gas tank, causing a leak.
The cops chase the men, but they celebrate the massive haul they took. The car runs out of gas from the leak, so they run on foot into a parking garage. They take a couple of women hostage, holding them at knife and gunpoint. Blade accidentally stabs one woman in the neck. It benefits them, as the police back off while they steal a car. They take the other woman, Maria, with them.
They know the cops see their stolen vehicle, so they take the car of a man, Ricardo, and his sick son, Tino. Tino needs surgery, but the thieves force Ricardo to drive them out of town to their hideout.
The movie follows the tense journey and the perils along the way.
Mario Bava, once given creative control over his movies, had difficulty drawing in audiences and profits.
Production difficulties plagued this movie as the production company went bankrupt, the crew stopped working, and actors were fired and recast mid-shoot.
This movie sat on the shelf for years until actress Lea Lander, who played Maria, acquired the rights.
Several versions of the movie with edits exist, but the easiest to access is the version Lamberto Bava oversaw, called Kidnapped.
This movie was an attempt to jump on the Poliziotteschi trend. As a result, the film lacks most of Bava’s signature visual style, going for a neutral realism instead of a colorful hyperreality.
In addition, the movie lacks Poliziotteschi’s nuanced social commentary, landing somewhere around “men are inherently evil.”
That mentality works in Giallo because we must believe anyone is capable of terrible murders. Here, it keeps the tension going but prevents the audience from connecting to what’s happening. It’s crucial since we’re in a car with these characters throughout the movie.
Still, this is a solid movie if you forget it’s a Mario Bava project — the pacing is brisk, and the problems are unrelenting.
This will be a revelation for people who rarely connect to Bava’s films. Bava fans might find this sterile and impersonal.
That ending, though.