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Christopher Lee returns as the titular evil Asian, who is up to his wicked ways again, this time holding the world to ransom by threatening to freeze the planet's oceans. Mwahhahhahhaaa!
Of Jess Franco's 204 directorial credits, this is the 23rd that I have seen, with only a handful of those being worth the time and effort. Castle of Fu Manchu, Franco's follow up to his abysmal Blood of Fu Manchu, is - surprise, surprise - another complete stinker.
From the get go this is film-making at its most inept: the movie opens with Fu Manchu demonstrating his power by sinking a cruise ship, the director blatantly lifting footage from British Titanic movie A NIght To Remember (1958). A later scene showing a dam bursting borrows footage from Dirk Bogarde film Campbell's Kingdom (1957). These two scenes only serve to illustrate just how lame everything else is. Franco botches numerous fight scenes (rubber bayonets bending as the men do battle), stages the most boring heart transplant imaginable, and commands dreadful performances from all involved, while the use of strong coloured lighting throughout makes the whole thing look incredibly tacky. Worse still, there's none of Franco's trademark sleaze to keep things interesting; what's the point of casting giallo hottie Rosalba Neri and keeping her fully clothed throughout? It's like he couldn't be bothered...
score 2/10
BA_Harrison 3 June 2018
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4189573/ |
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25-2-2021 12:05:09