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Angel Of Death
AKA Commando Mengele
Directed By Andrea Bianchi
Released: 1986
Starring: Antonio Mayans, Suzan Andrews, Christopher Mitchum, Howard
Vernon, and Fernando Rey.
Running Time: 92 minutes
Marc Logan (Antonio Mayans) works for a group of Nazi hunters looking for
Dr. Mengele (Howard Vernon). When Marc discovers Mengele in South America
he forms a team to try and capture the notorious Nazi doctor. His team is
comprised of Mr. Agility AKA Jose, the acrobat, Garcia, driver and
demolitions expert, David, technology wizard, and Roger, martial arts
expert. Marc also teams up with Eva (Suzan Andrews), the doctor’s
ex-mistress, who goes undercover inside Mengele’s Nazi fortress. Once
inside, Marc’s team discovers, to their horror, just what Dr. Joseph
Mengele has been working on all these years.
The Odessa File?
No. Marathon Man?
Uh uh. Boys From Brazil?
Not even close! Filmed in Uruguay by Andrea Bianichi (credited here as A.
Frank Drew White) and written by Jess Franco (Oasis
Of The Zombies,
Vampyros Lesbos),
Angel Of Death
entertains a part of your brain that modern science hasn’t even discovered
yet. Jump cuts and post dubbing loops abound in this fast paced junky
action classic. The off camera Nazi commanding the training soldiers to:
“Try harder! Harder! Move it! Move it! Get the lead out!” and “Shuffle!
Shuffle! Move around!” is looped four or five times in the same scene. The
plot is a maze with no twists or turns (okay so maybe it’s more like a
hallway) and the dialogue will induce both giggly hysteria and ennui
equally. Rarely has a synthesizer pummeled the ears of viewers quite like
Norbert Verrone’s score for Angel Of Death.
He composed at least 3 pieces of nearly distinct music for the movie:
attack synth, there’s no evil synth, and carnival music thing.
Antonio Mayans (Revenge In The House Of
Usher) has this concerned/bewildered look
stapled to his mug throughout the movie even while riding dirt-bike #27.
Marc's brief grieving when his girlfriend, Rachel, is killed by the Nazis
gave me one of those "oh snap, it's on now!" chills up my spine. Jess
Franco regular, Howard Vernon, makes some impressive faces while playing
Dr. Mengele and Fernando Rey (Companeros)
spends a great deal of time on the phone as the leader of the Nazi
hunters. And of course, you can’t f with the g-damn Jack Taylor (Eugenie,
The Ghost Galleon).
Christopher Mitchum (Faceless)
is here as well playing Dr. Mengele's right hand man, Wolfgang von Backey,
with slow mo ferocity. The rest of the cast are either a million miles
away from the script during their screentime or trying to tear apart the
rift between themselves and the audience watching at home. This film is
not safe.
I need to stop and talk about Suzan Andrews before my heart bursts out of
my chest and blows up a helicopter. Andrews (whose comeback as an actress
is still marked on my calendar) plays Eva, a fiery phoenix pregnant with
Nazi hormones. Not only does she risk her life by using her feminine wiles
to trick Dr. Mengele into taking her back but she also uses her face to
make me forget all of my troubles. Who can do that? Damn you, Wolfgang von
Backey for stealing Eva’s heart with your fabulous sports car and fancy
friends!
Oh, you have to watch Angel Of Death;
it is so goddamn important. Once you see Roger and Mr. Agility AKA Jose in
action you’ll probably join the simple circus or start your own ADD dojo.
You’ll never be the same once Eva’s face enters your life. It doesn’t
matter that they reuse the same footage of her emoting to the camera in
completely unrelated scenes three or four times, you’ll be shaken to the
core. Dr. Mengele’s experiments turning people into half-monkey creatures
will have you running to the mirror to check your unibrow. Do I have a
monkey ear? Oh, don’t look at me. Don’t look at me!
Quotes:
Mr. Agility AKA Jose: “Listen, I’m an acrobat. Might come in handy. And a
gypsy. The Nazis gassed my father. If you need any help with those
bastards, count me in.”
David: “I see now. You’re after those bastards. I get it. That’s why you
need my telemike. It’s a strange looking contraption but it’ll work real
miracles for us.”
More
screenshots here
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