An outlaw known only as The Stranger is shot and left for dead by his compatriots following a successful gold robbery. He is found by two Indians who tend his wounds but in the meantime his compadres have made their way to an eerie town known only as "The Unhappy Place". Their gold attracts the unwanted attention of the "justice loving" townsfolk who turn vigilante and proceed to lynch the outlaws. Zorro the landowner and his army of black-clad cowboys want their share of the loot, as does Templar the corrupt hotel owner and Hagerman the crazed storekeeper. It isn't long before The Stranger arrives and the townsfolk turn against each other.
Making his big screen debut, Giulio Questi's bizarre western is essentially an extension of the "greed corrupts" angle. Questi peppers his narrative with acts of vicious brutality, relishing his characters engaging in animalistic forms of barbarism. One of the bandits is gorily cut apart whilst wounded and another unfortunate character is brutally scalped whilst still alive and breathing. Most critics will describe Django Kill as surreal, however I wouldn't even call it surreal. Baroque would be more fitting, or Gothic would be even better. Furthermore it contains one of the weirdest torture scenes ever committed to film in which The Stranger is locked in a cell with an Iguana, an Armadillo and a creepy Vampire Bat. Yes you read that right, and his painful facial expressions are even more odd as the creatures seem to be doing him no harm whatsoever. Maybe he just had a phobia of exotic creatures, although that Bat did look rather evil. This scene alone will leave you truly bewildered. As a movie it gets off to a brilliant start and the story is set up excellently, but it's not long before it starts dragging it's heels. There were too many subplots for my liking which bogged the film down horribly. The performances were decent, with Robert Camardiel, Piero Lulli and Marilu Tolo worthy of mention. The soundtrack from an unknown Ivan Landor was also superb.
Django Kill is a refreshingly unique but flawed Spaghetti Western. However aside from the grotesque violence and aforementioned torture scene, you won't remember much about this movie after it's over. 7/10
Making his big screen debut, Giulio Questi's bizarre western is essentially an extension of the "greed corrupts" angle. Questi peppers his narrative with acts of vicious brutality, relishing his characters engaging in animalistic forms of barbarism. One of the bandits is gorily cut apart whilst wounded and another unfortunate character is brutally scalped whilst still alive and breathing. Most critics will describe Django Kill as surreal, however I wouldn't even call it surreal. Baroque would be more fitting, or Gothic would be even better. Furthermore it contains one of the weirdest torture scenes ever committed to film in which The Stranger is locked in a cell with an Iguana, an Armadillo and a creepy Vampire Bat. Yes you read that right, and his painful facial expressions are even more odd as the creatures seem to be doing him no harm whatsoever. Maybe he just had a phobia of exotic creatures, although that Bat did look rather evil. This scene alone will leave you truly bewildered. As a movie it gets off to a brilliant start and the story is set up excellently, but it's not long before it starts dragging it's heels. There were too many subplots for my liking which bogged the film down horribly. The performances were decent, with Robert Camardiel, Piero Lulli and Marilu Tolo worthy of mention. The soundtrack from an unknown Ivan Landor was also superb.
Django Kill is a refreshingly unique but flawed Spaghetti Western. However aside from the grotesque violence and aforementioned torture scene, you won't remember much about this movie after it's over. 7/10