EROTIC ESCAPE (1985)
aka FUGA SCABROSAMENTO PERCICOLOSA
LABEL: One 7 Movies
RELEASE DATE: October 25th, 2011
REGION CODE: 0 NTSC
RATING Unrated
DURATION: 90 mins
AUDIO: Italian Dolby Digital Mono with English Subtitles
VIDEO: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
DIRECTOR: Nello Rossati
CAST: Rodrigo Obregon, Eleonora Vallone, Franbky Liner, Roberto Reyes, Humberto Arango
TAGLINE: She went all the way to be free!
EROTIC ESCAPE aka FUGA SCABROSAMENTE PERICOLOSA comes to us from Nello Rossati, director of THE SENSUAL NURSE (1975). Set in the year 1951 it follows the depraved exploits of Manuel (Rodrigo Obregón, HARD TICKET TO HAWAII), a political prisoner forced into hard labor at a high security penitentiary somewhere in the Colombian jungle. When offered to partake in a daring daytime prison break Manuel takes his chances and with the luck of the draw turns out to be the only one to escape alive. With the prison authorities in pursuit he finds himself on the estate of a wealthy businessman where he takes the entrepreneur's daughter Amparo (Eleonora Vallone) hostage, steals a car, and makes a mad dash for the border where he hopes to claim political asylum. Eleonora's father, desperate to recover his beloved daughter, sets out in search of the escapee with the assistance of heavily armed authorities.
Manuels drags his pretty captive through the jungles, up a mountain and through the parched desert enroute to his freedom occassionally taking a break from verbally degrading and slapping around the woman to beat-off to the sleeping beauty and occasionally rape her. Amparo portrayed by Playboy Playmate Eleonora Vallone is a stunning woman but her beauty ill equips her to deal with the forced sojourn frought with near starvation, abuse and rape.
Manuel is most certainly not a man wrongly imprisoned, this guy's a murderous sonofabitch with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. As a character he's a convincing scumbag and for her part Vallone's portrayal of the attractive and helpless Amparo is decent enough though her character's motivations prove puzzling.
The film is a rough assembly of barely coherent plot that struggles to move forward without aid of a proper storyline or character development though there are about 10 minutes of redeeming film here when Manuel is taken prisoner and taunted by the semi-erotic teasings of Amparo that at least offers some sleazy titillation if only briefly.
One 7 Movie's have turned me onto a few rare Italian films recently like SEX, DEMONS AND DEATH, ALIEN FROM THE DEEP and TRANSGRESSION but this was a miss for me at least.
DVD: Distributor of rare Italian cult and exploitation cinema One 7 Movies have recsued another sleazy flick from the vaults of obscurity. When I last visited the One 7 Movies catalog it was the rather enjoyable SEX, DEATH AND DEMONS which despite it's schlocky sexcorcist origins proved rather fun. Here we have another film made available for the first time ever on DVD. Presented in 16:9 widescreen (1.85:1) the film looks like a VHS tape rescued from the trashbin and is possibly one of the worst looking prints I've seen on DVD with every assortment of nicks, scratches, dirt and washed-out colors you could ever hope for, it definitely had the look of a well worn public domain print. The transfer is marred with artifacting and the presentation is generally fuzzy, overly dark and soft. It's not unwatcheable but it ain't no picnic either. More pleasing but not stellar either is the Dolby Digital mono audio with optional English subtitles with many grammatical errors.
VERDICT: Not near sleazy enough to be the "steamy women on the run classic" it purports to be this is more an uninspired, mean-spirited schlockfest that's not even schlocky enough to be a guilty pleasure, just kinda distastefully boring. This warrants a borrow at best, you would have to be quite the collector of Italian exploitation or a huge Nello Rossati enthusiast to splurge on this one and not regret your decision.
