That’s very kind. Thanks Sebastian. 
I had one order on ebay and one on Amazon Germany.
Thats quite strange. In over a decade of being a spag fan and buying a load of DVD’s/Blu ray’s from Germany (especcially Koch releases) I don’t think I’ve had an issue once.
Trust me to have bad the luck!
Another rewatch of Massacre Time, and by checking an earlier review, it appears that the film stays where it was. So a few unsorted thoughts from 10 years ago with only a few additions:
The plot has indeed as much holes as Blackburn Lancashire.
Not a greater problem in some films, but here are a lot of unanswered “Why”? questions which could have deepened the relationships between the characters and which could have made several parts work.
Strange that the man hunt of the first scene isn’t used again.
The locations are often poor, as was the production design.
There are several funny continuity errors, most amazing is the (supposed) big ranch of the baddies, which is at first only a small building (one particular house you can find in many, many of the Spags shot in Italy), which then turns magically into a big hacienda style estate.
Fulci, who spent nearly the whole 60s with comedies, made with this film quite a change and presented here for the first time his cinema of cruelty. He maybe wasn’t the greatest talent in the SW genre, as his 2 other westerns also show, but he was competent enough.
The most memorable scenes and shots are not necessarily the typically western ones. Especially the first and the last shots of the movie.
The final shoot-out is ok but not great, but there was a frenetic presentation of violence which was quite unique for its time.
Nero looks younger and not as Djangoish as in Django and Texas addio. Sometimes he wears a Djangolike black cape, and then he’s closer in his looks to Eastwood with a sheepskin vest.
Hilton is not too believable as drunk, but he has his moments. It’s one of the plot holes that he should be a drunk, but in the next scene he shows that he could have erased the whole countryside single handedly.
Nino Castelnuovo is an impressive maniac, and I especially like him smirking with his head cocked.
The film was marketed as a Django sequel in Germany (a “true Django”), and was a similar success here like the Corbucci film and Texas Adios (another “true Django”). Directly compared with Django Fulci never reaches the brilliance of Corbucci at his best.
None the less an entertaining enough yet flawed flic which has its moments. 6/10
My second watch of the Vengeance Trails set. Kinda disappointed in this one. Not really much action until the final 20 or so mins, but even then it felt quite lacklustre and generic (although I did get a chuckle when Nero does a backflip off a moving wagon). I was hoping there would at least be some juicy gore seen as though it’s a Fulci film. The plot doesn’t save the film either and felt equally generic. Nero is fine but George Hilton’s character was really annoying and can magically swap from being drunk to a sharpshooter in every scene. Overall, it’s not the worst SW I’ve watched but I had much higher expectations considering the director and the cast.
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You are correct, it is not Fulci at his finest. Of course, the PG White Fang films aren’t great either. The only way I see things differently is that I believe without Hilton’s character, either for better or worse, this film would be completely unmemorable.
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Generally I am no big fan of Franco Nero nor so much in this case, and George Hilton often is too excaggerated in his characters and he was better in Any Gun Can Play IMO even if that SW is a bit lighhearted.
I still consider these two as in the middle field of my 6/10-rated SWs. They have a sufficient entertainment value for me but with some faults,
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I like Nero but I’m really not a fan of Hilton. Most of the SWs he’s in like Sartana Trade your Coffin and Last of the Badmen I find really mediocre.
I personally like his character in Massacre Time. I think he steals the show totally from Nero.
I think his finest role in any SW though is in A Bullet for Sandoval. That performance stands out from any other SW that he did.
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Glad to say that watching this in the new Vengeance Trails set has changed my view of it for the better, by a long way.
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Haven’t watched any of my Vengeance Trails blus yet but, generally speaking, a decent blu-ray release of a spag almost always propels that spag up my personal list of favourites*. The Eureka blu of A Fistful of Dynamite almost felt like a new movie! I’ve no doubt that Massacre Time and indeed the other three will all get bumped up my chart when I get around to watching them.
*The sole exception for me so far has been with Eureka’s presentation of The Specialists. I didn’t especially rate it when I first saw it, I bought the blu anyway hoping I’d see it in a better light, but when I watched the blu I still didn’t rate it, alas. I’ll try it again one day though, for sure.
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Has anyone yet checked out the Franco Nero interview that is included as a bonus? It would be fun to see what he has to say on Fulci.
Gonna watch it now. Wonder if knows about Fulci calling him a piece of shit. Classic.
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Haha that Fulci interview is gold.
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Okay just watched it, and he actually speaks very highly of Lucio. So does George Hilton, but comments on his temper and personality of course.
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I imagined that he would have some kind of beef with him. Perhaps like Millian, Nero had the ability to oversee Fulci’s bad sides.
Just re-watched this, probably prompted by the recent news of Castelnuovo’s death.
Despite some of the flaws noted above, Massacre Time has always been one of my favourite SWs. I particularly like its gothic overtones - the madness, the psychodrama, the menacing night-time scenes - and the stylish reverse symbolism (black-cloaked hero vs. white-clad villain), plus the excessive violence and some great music. Castelnuovo resembles the young Oliver Reed and I was reminded of the Hammer thriller Paranoiac (made three years earlier) in which Reed is the organ-playing psychopath. I wonder if that was an inspiration for Fulci? And Massacre Time was clearly an inspiration for director Michael Reeve, who worked in Italy during the 60s - his classic Witchfinder General contains some obvious references to it.
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Just watched it this evening, after watching Fulci’s Four of the Apocalypse the night before (VZM blu ray edition).
Hard to believe they’re from the same director, the rhythm and general execution are so different. The later film is far more competent in just about every aspect, also more complex and tonally distinct from just about every other Spaghetti Western.
Massacre Time is quite bonkers, with some less than credible performances and clunky dialogue and directing. Cinematography is decent though and the stunt work is creative and cleverly orchestrated.
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Alright, I’ve avoided this one for some time mainly because of the title (Massacre Time doesn’t give the impression of a very interesting or meaningful film, does it?), but I thought I mustn’t judge the book by its cover, as Willie Dixon put it, and a western starring Franco Nero can’t be unwatchable. So I put the disc in the machine this evening expecting an overtly bloody venture which would eventually become rather boring, but you know what? I was right!
First off, I should mention that I’m probably alone among SW fans in my distaste for exaggerated amounts of violence. My fascination for the genre heirs from the music, cinematography, Almería landscapes, lack of true heroes or villains, historical interest, and the offbeat concepts, among many other things. Blood and gore just disgusts me. Second, I watched it on the heels of Bandidos and And God said to Cain. After two such classics my expectations had probably risen to an unfairly high level.
The main problem is the overuse of establishing moments. We know from the opening scene that Junior is an absolute psycho, that would have been enough. Do they really need to remind the viewer over and over and over again how vile he is, like the scene where he shoots the boy upon Tom’s entrance in Laramie? Major Jackson, Angel Eyes, El Indio and Frank were such effective villains because they got one shown instance of extreme villainy, while Junior gets three of them. By the time he does something truly crucial for the plot (namely, the murder of Mercedes), his effectiveness is already consumed. Overall, I think there’s too many action sequences which doesn’t really lead anywhere until the last third or so, because if the plot doesn’t move on, the repeated instances of murder, near-lethal bar fights, blooded faces and general misery just turns you off instead of keeping you interested (I was more like “ok, next” after awhile). It all leads to such a high bodycount that you can’t really take it seriously anymore after the eighty-tenth old friend of the Corbetts gets shot in the back.
Maybe all this sounds a bit too harsh on the film, so I should move on to the positive aspects of it; Junior is a good villain, well acted, even though I find him a little bit overused. By the time of the final showdown, it’s your longing to see him go down for all he’s done that keeps your investment in the film up. I found myself growing really fond of the Chinese fellow as well, he brought an excellent comic relief aspect to the grim atmosphere (“Confucius said X. But he was wrong!”). George Hilton’s portrayal of the drunkard Jeffrey is really good, too. His character development from an apathetic alcoholic to a committed avenger makes for what is probably the strongest part of the film. It’s beautifully shot, too; the prospecting scenes at the beginning and Tom’s return to Laramie Town are the best. And all this is not to mention the tremendously catchy theme song, You´ll come back home someday… You’ll come back home someday…
So, I’d give it a solid 5/10 for now. There is a chance it might grow into a 6/10 if I revisit it, but I have no greater desire to do so for the time being. An OK film with some good elements, but overall doesn’t really float my boat. Then again, I might’ve gone in with unfair comparisons.
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