DEATH SQUAD (1985)
aka BRIGADE OF DEATH
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 96 Minutes 59 Seconds
Audio: English or French DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English subtitles
Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Max Pecas
Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
The seedy French vigilante-cop thriller Death Squad (1985) aka Brigade of Death opens in the Bois de Boulogne Forest just outside Paris where a group of transsexual prostitutes are seen offering their their services to passing motorists when suddenly assassins on motorcycles emerge from the nearby woods and shotgun blast all of them to death. On the case is Inspector Gerard Lattuada (Thierry de Carbonnières, The Double Life of Véronique) of the Paris Vice Squad, who recognizes one of the corpses as an informant, a scene of him examining the corpses at the morgue luridly leering over the genitalia of the corpses of the dead she-males. It's an opening that really lets you know what you're in for from the get-go. The facts of the case lead back to crime local boss “The Greek” (Jean-Pierre Bernard, The Eiger Sanction), who remains just out of the reach of the law for most of the film. Soon after Lattuada's friend, a female undercover cop Lettellier (Brigitte Lahaie, Two Orphan Vampires) is killed by the Greek's thugs, who then later target his girlfriend (Gabrielle Forest) and another prostitute informer (Muriel Montossé, Jess Franco's Voodoo Passion) informer close to him. At that point with things spinning out of control and the Greek remaining just out of reach he becomes a vigilante cop, taking the law into his own hands and gunning after the criminal elements Death Wish style. He finds himself caught up in a war between the The Greek and a maniacal cutthroat hood Costa (Jean-Marc Maurel) and his grotesque sidekick Fat Louis (Phify, Corps z'à corps), all the while managing to evade his fellow cops while delivering his own violent brand of street justice.
Director: Max Pecas
Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
The seedy French vigilante-cop thriller Death Squad (1985) aka Brigade of Death opens in the Bois de Boulogne Forest just outside Paris where a group of transsexual prostitutes are seen offering their their services to passing motorists when suddenly assassins on motorcycles emerge from the nearby woods and shotgun blast all of them to death. On the case is Inspector Gerard Lattuada (Thierry de Carbonnières, The Double Life of Véronique) of the Paris Vice Squad, who recognizes one of the corpses as an informant, a scene of him examining the corpses at the morgue luridly leering over the genitalia of the corpses of the dead she-males. It's an opening that really lets you know what you're in for from the get-go. The facts of the case lead back to crime local boss “The Greek” (Jean-Pierre Bernard, The Eiger Sanction), who remains just out of the reach of the law for most of the film. Soon after Lattuada's friend, a female undercover cop Lettellier (Brigitte Lahaie, Two Orphan Vampires) is killed by the Greek's thugs, who then later target his girlfriend (Gabrielle Forest) and another prostitute informer (Muriel Montossé, Jess Franco's Voodoo Passion) informer close to him. At that point with things spinning out of control and the Greek remaining just out of reach he becomes a vigilante cop, taking the law into his own hands and gunning after the criminal elements Death Wish style. He finds himself caught up in a war between the The Greek and a maniacal cutthroat hood Costa (Jean-Marc Maurel) and his grotesque sidekick Fat Louis (Phify, Corps z'à corps), all the while managing to evade his fellow cops while delivering his own violent brand of street justice.
This is one heck of a depraved and mean-spirited vigilante flick, the sexual violence reminding me of other nasty pieces of kindred works like Thriller: A Cruel Picture, The Last House on the Left, House on the Edge of the Park, New York Ripper, and Vice Squad. We have powerless women cruelly tortured in numerous scenes, including an informant prostitute Veronica (Lillemour Jonsson, Dog Day) who gets a broken wine bottle shoved into her naughty bits! There's also loads of gun wounds, a dismembered hands, a hatchet to the face, and just a generally scuzzy vibe about this one that just leaves you feeling dirty.
I am not familiar with director Max Pecas career but the blurb on the wrap indicates he made quite a bit of softcore erotica in the 70's, so he was quite comfortable with nudity, and that facet of his career shows through here, there's a ton of nudity, including orgies in a sex club. That mixed with the amount of visceral savagery on display throughout might be a bit of a hurdle for some more sensitive viewers, but I found this to be a pretty engaging flick. The cop's vigilante spree leaves a trail of dead bodies riddled with bullets, he sets someone on fire, he threatens to OD a junkie, multiple perps fall from an upper story buildings to their death - oddly both by their own error, one of them The Greek's wife. It's a terrifically nasty and visceral cop thriller, mixing the grittiness of a standard police procedural with some eyebrow raising moments of sexualized violence, carnage and nudity that is sure to shock, but it's also wildly entertaining, and surprisingly well-made.
Audio/Video: Death Squad (1985) arrives on Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, sourced from a new 4K scan of the film negative. The source restoration looks fantastic, there's a filmic layer of film grain throughout, the colors are wonderful, skin tones look natural, black levels are deep and inky, and depth and clarity are quite pleasing. Audio comes by way of English or French DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. The original French track is the most robust and well-defined of the pair, but the English-dub does the job, but it doesn't do it as well, and has some background noise on it.
Mondo Macabro offer 80-min of New Interviews with lead actor Thierry de Carbonnières, actress Olivia Dutron, and director of photography Jean-Claude Couty - all of whom talk about their early careers, working with director Max Pecas. These interviews are all in French with English subtitles. We also get a 2-min Theatrical Trailer for the film plus the standard 13-min Mondo Macabro Preview Reel, which I almost always find myself sitting through. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork.
Special Features:
- Brand new 4k transfer from film negative, digitally restored.
- English/French audio choice, English subtitles.
- Shock Cop: Interview with Actor Thierry de Carbonnières. (33:51)
- Beautiful, Blonde, and Tanned: Interview with Actress Olivia Dutron (22:11)
- Photographer of Morala: Interview with director of photography Jean-Claude Couty (24:20)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:03)
Special Features:
- Brand new 4k transfer from film negative, digitally restored.
- English/French audio choice, English subtitles.
- Shock Cop: Interview with Actor Thierry de Carbonnières. (33:51)
- Beautiful, Blonde, and Tanned: Interview with Actress Olivia Dutron (22:11)
- Photographer of Morala: Interview with director of photography Jean-Claude Couty (24:20)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:03)
- Mondo Macabro Preview Reel (13:29)
Death Squad (1985) aka Brigade of Death is quite a sleazy treat for lovers of vicious exploitation flicks, it's a vigilante-cop revenger chock full of uncomfortable sexual violence and slimy characters who don't give a rat's ass about human life, and Mondo Macabro deliver it fully uncut in HD!
Screenshots from the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray:
