Contraband (1980) User Reviews

Gruesome Crime Flick From The Godfather Of Gore

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 6/10 · 29 August 2007]

Although no highlight of the Italian Crime genre, Lucio Fulci's "Luca Il Contrabbandiere" aka "Contraband" is a rough, tough-minded and ultra-violent Gangster flick that certainly delivers, especially for a Fulci fan. Lucio Fulci is widely renowned as the 'Godfather Of Gore', and "Contraband" is a movie that is certainly not going to deprive him of this well-deserved reputation. Although the plot may not be as original as it was the case with many other of the (generally violent) Italian Crime Thrillers of the 70s and early 80s, "Contraband" scores in means of roughness, intransigence and gruesome, gory violence.

Luca Di Angelo (Fabio Testi) and many of his friends make a living as cigarette smugglers in Naples. After their refusal to deal with drugs instead of cigarettes, ruthless drug dealers, amongst them a sadistic gangster from Marseille start to target the cigarette smugglers' families. Luca, however, is not the kind of man who gives in to threats...

Fabio Testi, who had already worked with Lucio Fulci in "Four Of The Apocalypse" in 1975 (aside Tomas Milian and Lynne Frederick), delivers a good leading performance as Luca, and Marcel Bozzuffi is wonderfully evil in his role of the villain. I also found several of the supporting actors, such as Guido Alberti (who only has a very small role) very good. Some other supporting cast members deliver rather bad performances. The violence is pretty brutal and includes several very nasty scenes of torture and sexual violence. There are some scenes that don't really fit in, such as some cheesy looking and kitschy slow-mo sequences of horses at a racecourse, and the music is sometimes out of place, but all in all, the movie's qualities come up for its flaws. "Contraband" is certainly no highlight of Italian crime cinema, but a brutal and uncompromising flick that highly entertains. Fans of Lucio Fulci and Crime thrillers of the rough kind should be pleased.

A routine crime thriller made more entertaining by graphic gore.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 8 April 2007]

Nasty French drug dealer, the Marsigliese (Marcel Bozzuffi), is trying to take control of the crime scene in Naples; unable to convince the Neapolitan 'capo's (Mafia crime bosses) to deal in his narcotics (they prefer to smuggle harmless cigarettes instead), he has them bumped off one by one.

Eventually, only family guy smuggler Luca Di Angelo (Fabio Testi) stands between the Marsigliese and his total domination of the Naples underworld. But Luca's wife is kidnapped by the megalomaniacal mobster, and it looks as though all is lost—until help arrives in the form of several retired Mafia leaders who do not wish to see the Marsigliese succeed.

Taking a break from the horror scene for which he is better known, director Lucio Fulci has a go at a different genre, but still manages to gross out the audience with the high level of violence and gore he delivers. In order to make up for what is a pretty routine tale, he throws in loads of bloody bullet hits, mutilation, a smidgen of rape, and other assorted graphic nastiness. And when he's not trying to turn your stomach with blowtorches to the face, bullets through the throat or shotgun blasts to the abdomen, he chucks in some gratuitous nudity for good measure.

It is this sleaziness that makes Contraband watchable despite its mundane story, and even more enjoyable than quite a few of his horror films. 6.5 out of 10 (rounded up to 7 for IMDb).

Ahh, sunny Napoli...with gore, guns & guts...

[macabro357 · 7/10 · 29 June 2003]

(aka: CONTRABAND)

Normally I don't comment on non-horror or mondo films but since Fulci directed it, and since there's enough gore splatter in here to finance a small horror film, I'm gonna put my two cents in.

Fabio Testi plays a Neapolitan cigarette smuggler who's territory is being muscled in on by the Margliese (Marcel Bozzuffi) who wants a clear way to smuggle heroin into Italy using Naples as an entry point.

One by one, Testi's comrades are being killed off in many different gruesome ways, including the backs of heads being blown off, a rotting cadaver thrown through a window, blood bags exploding in stomachs with intestines flying out, and a pretty female drug courier getting half her face burned off by one of the Margilese's henchman.

This has to be one of the goriest crime thrillers I have seen so far. Fulci pulls no stops here and the bad guys are truly gonna get what they deserve. The ending shootout in the street between the Margilese's men and the retired Camorra bosses is classic Fulci.

The Blue Underground DVD uses an excellent widescreen print that is only marred in a couple of places by bad splicing. The only extras that come with it are a couple of bios (Fulci and Testi) and an American trailer.

If you want to see violent crime thriller that doesn't pull any stops like the American ones do, then go see this one!

Recommended! 7 out of 10

Viciously nasty and bloody Lucio Fulci's crime thriller.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 30 July 2009]

"Contraband" is Lucio Fulci's sleazy and gloriously violent gangster flick that tells the story of how cigarette smuggler and gangster Luca Di Angelo played by Fabio Testi overcomes the threat of violent cocaine smugglers attempting to muscle in on his operation and overturning the existing order.Being a fan of Lucio Fulci's uncompromising gory mayhem I always wanted to see "Contraband",which is his mix of mafia and poliziotteschi genre.It's undoubtedly the goriest gangster film ever made with its scenes of rape,the brain blow-outs,burn victims and shotgun blasts to the throat.The film has some dull spots and lifeless sequences,the cast is mediocre,but if you are a fan of sadistic Italian gore "Contraband" certainly delivers.Still I prefer early 80's horror movies of maestro Fulci.7 out of 10.

A vendetta of blood and guts.

[lost-in-limbo · 6/10 · 8 March 2008]

Here's another one outside the horror genre for director Lucio Fulci. He crafts a brutally biting, if disjointed Italian crime melodrama that serves to make you squirm in it gratuitous acts of extremely depraved violence and sleaziness. Fulci definitely left his calling card on this one, with many unforgettably unflinching nasty moments (like an uncomfortable face-melting scene). The superfluous gore and mean-spirited nature is great, but a lack of any real tension-building does hurt it. The twisty story is frank and unspectacular even with its shifty chain of bleak events and the script is weakly penned (the unsuitable humour when included falling flat), but being broken up by its impulsively vivid action stunts (nice use of slow-motion too) and gorgeous Naples' backdrop, leaves quite a hypnotic imprint. Sergio Salvati's brashly sharp and tight camera-work, interlocks with Fulci's kinetic visual bursts and rounding it off nicely is composer Fabio Frizzi's ever-changing, saucy music score that doesn't lye down. Performances are workably tailored. There's a humanely chiselled and honest performance by Fabio Testi. Marcel Bozuffi makes for a great smarmy, calculating French Mafia Don trying to take over Testi's character's turf. Ivana Monti, Ferdinand Murolo, Saverio Marconi and Guido Alberti provide able support. Quite an edgy, blunt and vicious crime joint that basically gets it kicks off its effectively rousing, if scandalous violence than anything more.

Underrated

[eibon09 · 3 November 2000]

Luca il Contrabbandiere/The Smuggler(1980) is a very good Italian mafia flick that is overlooked by the gothic films of Lucio Fulci from that period. Its a transitional film that is the middle film between Zombie(1979) and The City of the Living Dead(1980). Its about a group of smugglers led by Fabio Testi who battles with drug dealers who want a piece of the action. The Smuggler(1980) is an anti Delitto film because the police do not take part in the violence. It was the only gangster flick in Fulci's resume.

The scene at an industrial limepit site has a dimension of horror. Not just a Godfather ripoff, The Smuggler is quite convincing at showing the brutal nature of the drug dealers. The movie at times becomes boring and slow moving. As good as the best of Fernando Di Leo and Umberto Lenzi. Its a shame that Fulci didn't do many more action films then this.

Fans of Lucio Fulci were turned off the this because the violence is played in a realistic enviroment instead of the fantasy format that many fans were accustom to. There are two scenes of violence that many people found repulsive. One, the torture of a female drug runner(in lingering detail no less) by way of burning from blowtouch. Two, the vicious rape and sodomy of Adele Di Angelo(tension builder). The murders of Perlante's sidekick and female companion has a suspenseful build up to it.

Fulci does a good job in portraying the violent nature of the characters. He directs the action of the picture with flair. Fulci appears as a gun toting assassin. The death of Perlante is one of the major pluses for the picture. The Smuggler(1980), I think is one of Lucio Fulci's top motion pictures.

Fabio Testi is good as the head smuggler, Luca Di Angelo. Very similar in plot to Four of the Apocalypse(1974). Deserves the attention of being released on Home Video by Anchor Bay. Some of the action resembles the style of "Heroic Bloodshed" films in Hong Kong during the mid 80's. Fabio Frizzi's score is both offbeat and weird.

The special effects are at times gruesomely realistic. The old members of the Mob spent much of the film sitting and watching Italian Westerns on television at home. Its only near the end that they decide to take on the French gangster. The ending is the weakest part of the film. The murder of Mickey Di Angelo is done wonderfully with different camera shots.

A grotesque mise en scene includes a man who loses his stomach to a shotgun blast. Sergio Salvati's camera gives the film a stylized appearence. One of The Smuggler's main strength is the smooth editing. Contains almost the same flaws that made the Hong Kong flicks, Rich & Famous + Tragic Hero very good but inconsistent films. Good as part of a triple bill with Massacre Time(1965) and Four of the Apocalypse(1974).

Effectively brutal.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 7 August 2015]

Lucio Fulci brings his unique brand of sadism to this okay entry into the Eurocrime genre. Fabio Testi stars as Luca Di Angelo, a cigarette smuggler / family man who does have some principles. His organization is now constantly being threatened by rival outfits who want to control the drug traffic in the area. Luca is ready for revenge when one of the first victims is his brother Mickey (Enrico Maisto), but the bad guys, led by the power hungry Marsigliese (Marcel Bozzuffi) up their game when they decide to kidnap Lucas' wife and son.

The script, credited to four people (including Fulci) is ultimately very routine. There's nothing special about any of the characters, even if they are entertainingly played. Testi, as always, is a rugged and studly "hero". The joy here lies in the fact that the movie is so utterly violent. A face is burned to a crisp with a torch, a throat is torn open, a head is shot apart, and bodies are continuously riddled with bullet holes.

Supporting Mr. Testi are Ivana Monti as Lucas' wife, Saverio Marconi as the cocky young mafia man Perlante, Fabrizio Jovine as a police chief, and Ajita Wilson as Luisa. The actors are fine, especially Mr. Bozzuffi as a thoroughly nasty and despicable villain.

The action set pieces are not spectacular, but they are fun, and Fulci gives this trashy story (complete with full frontal female nudity as well as gore) decent pacing and a visceral appeal.

Fans of Fulcis' bloody horror films from this period may also like this feature.

Look for Fulci near the end in a cameo as one of the gunmen.

Seven out of 10.

On a blood and guts level, the film satisfies

[fertilecelluloid · 6/10 · 14 December 2005]

On a blood and guts level, Fucli's "Contraband" fires up. The squib hits are extreme, giant chunks of flesh are shot out of necks, bad guys die in glorious slomo, and one woman has has face melted for attempting to sell a drug dealer cut coke.

On another level, the film is ponderous, the plot is predictable, and the performances are anemic. Fabio Testi, who was solid in "Revolver", plays a very weak character here and I didn't buy his campaign to wage revenge one little bit.

The action has a muscular quality to it and Fulci makes the most of his access to half a dozen boats. A funeral on the boats is a poetic touch, too. The film is not a bad one, but it misses being great because the script is feeble. You can spot the bad guy a mile off and the dubbing, as usual, is terrible.

The Fabio Frizzi score is memorable but used inappropriately and too often.

One of the best stunt sequences involves an assassinated man rolling down an embankment. There is a worthwhile killing at a racetrack involving a gun shoved a throat.

"Contraband" is a fast-forward job for viewers, and on that level, it offers some satisfaction.

Lucio Fulci's extremely brutal, gritty and violent crime Mafia action flick

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 30 March 2006]

Easygoing Naples cigarette contraband smuggler Luca Di Angelo (a solid performance by the handsome and charismatic Fabio Testi) ain't having an easy time of it: his beautiful, but fed-up wife (the luscious Ivana Monti) can't stand his law-breaking lifestyle, the zealous local police are closing in for an arrest, and ruthless narcotics baron the Marsiguese (a splendidly hateful'n'heinous villainous turn by Marcel Bozzufi of "The French Connection") wants Luca and his fellow smugglers to start peddling hard drugs. Things go from bad to worse after Luca's brother gets rubbed out, leading to an all-out ferocious turf war in which various criminals gets bumped off in assorted grisly ways.

Lucio Fulci compensates for the occasionally poky pacing, a rather tedious opening third and the grinding predictability of the standard crime/action thriller scenario by pouring on the excessively gory and gruesome graphic carnage with his customary rough and lingering aplomb: One guy gets tossed into a pit of sulfuric acid, another dude has his brains blown out, a lovely lady courier has her face viciously disfigured with a Bunsen burner, yet another fellow has his stomach blasted wide open, and countless crooks bleed several pints worth of blood when they get filled full of bullets. In a particularly nasty scene Luca is forced to helplessly listen over the phone as the Marsiguese's brutish goons savagely rape and defile his screaming'n'squirming abducted wife. It's these foul, harsh, exceedingly gritty and unflinchingly nihilistic touches that distinguish this hard-hitting feature and lift it well out of the rut of your run-of-the-mill generic crime opus. Topped off with a rousing climax and a perfectly bleak bummer ending (Luca gets his revenge, but it comes at a horrible and substantial personal price), this no-holds-barred cruel and wicked film rates as one of Fulci's most unjustly neglected and underrated movies.

Fulci does crime!

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 1 March 2018]

Imagine Fulci making a cop movie. Imagine that the budget ran out two weeks in. Imagine that real mobsters paid for the film, asking for a title change and for more violence (like Fulci was going to say no). Don't imagine. All of these things are wonderfully true and make Contraband such a weird addition to your Fulci collection.

Luca Di Angelo smuggles near Naples with his brother Mickey. They have a close call with the police and suspect a rival gangster, Scherino, of turning them in. After sharing their concerns with their boss Perlante, oen of Mickey's prize horses is killed and a fake police roadblock leads to Fulci paying homage (or straight up ripping off, depending on your perspective) to the scene where Sonny dies in The Godfather. Luca escapes death while his brother is not so lucky. Despite warnings that he should leave town, he has a speedboat funeral for his brother and vows revenge. Breaking into Scherino's house, he almost kills the man before running into his henchmen. He gets his ass kicked, but his life is spared after the boss tells him he had no part in the death of his brother.

Adele, Luca's wife, wants him to forget this life. But he's in deep after discovering that a vicious French criminal named The Marsigliese is responsible. We meet this criminal during a drug deal, where he responds to a bad batch of heroin by burning a woman's face with a blowtorch. If you haven't realized that you are watching a Lucio Fulci movie, this would be the point in the film where you realize that fact.

The Marsigliese starts killing all of the Mafia leaders so that he can become the sole boss of Naples. Even Perlante is nearly killed, only being saved by the fact that his chief capo was having sex with his mistress and triggered a bomb under the bed. After a meeting between Luca, Perlante and The Marsigliese, where they discuss working together, Luca warns his fellow smugglers that if the French boss has his way, there will be more drugs, more overdoses and more problems - with less money for all of them.

The police are using all of the intercine battling to round up smugglers, but Scherino saves Luca and suggests they work together. They meet at Perlante's house, but Luca smells The Marsigliese's cologne. That's when gunmen bust in and shoot everyone but Luca, who escapes by crashing through a window. Scherino is mortally wounded, but not before shooting Perlante in the neck, killing him.

Again, in case you wonder who directed this film, The Marsigliese kidnaps Adele and demands Luca turn over his smuggling operation over the phone...and then plays him the sounds of our hero's wife being beaten and gang-raped. Luca unites all of the retired mob bosses and old guard bosses, who are sick of hearing about the Frenchman taking over. They take out most of his men and Luca guns him down in a garbage-strewn alley in a scene packed with blood spraying everywhere.

Adele and rescued and Morrone, the leader of the old school mob guys, tells the police that he has no idea who Luca is.

Contraband was made as Fulci was starting to claim his gore crown. It's his only crime movie, but it's not a bad effort. And if you're looking for his trademark tics, as you've read above, this film is full of them. It has way more blood and guts than any film of this type and subverts the genre it should be in, so it's quite similar to how Fulci treated sword and sorcery with Conquest. This may not be one of his best-known films, but it's worth checking out.

A sensationalistic and extremely violent gangster movie by the famous gore-meister Lucio Fulci

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 15 November 2021]

A really explicit , disagreeable and twisted thriller with lots of murders committed by heinous mobsters and their hoodlums . It delas with Luca Di Angelo (Fabio Testi) is the leader of a smuggling gang , one member of an organized team trafficking cigarettes and booze up and down the coast off Naples , Italy . After a run-in with the coast guards in which the smugglers get escaped by faking a boat explosion resulting in the police motorboats responding to the false emergency . Then , Luca and his brother Mickey (Enrico Maisto) believe the head of a rival gang of smugglers , Scherino (Ferdinand Murolo) is the mole who's informing to Police on their illegal activities. Lucia and Mickey tell their accusations to their boss Perlante (Saverio Marconi) a sleazy playboy who has his own agend and he agrees to look into it . After an intentional fire at Mickey's racing stables kills a valued racehorse , he and Luca drive over to inspect the damage . On the way, they are stopped at a fake police roadblock , as Luca gets away but his brother is murdered . Luca searches for a haven of safety , while his cronies seek revenge . Things go wrong when a number of fellow smugglers are murdered by a kingpin smuggler from France, known as the Marsigliese (Marcel Bozuffi of French Connection) with numerous Mafia connections , being assisted by his sadist henchman (Romano Puppo) , as he's determined to become the Italian main ringmaster by smuggling drug from Naples ,Italy , to other countries .

Average crime yarn lacks much excitement , filled with sleaziness and non-sense of style . A really brutal thriller with full of killings , sexual violence including rape , red herrings , grisly murders by means of slashing , machine-gun shooting to death , killings in cold blood executed by ominous sicarios , a women's face being burned off with a blow torch , loathsome and lots of blood and gore . A mysoginist gangster movie with plenty of nudism , sadistic frames , graphic violation , explicit scenes of violence and extremely violent style , no for squeamish . Stars the italian idol Fabio Testi who gives a so-so but passable acting as the idealistic family man and dockside worker who actually works for a shady underworld smuggler . He's well acoompanied by a long plethora of familiar faces of the Seventies and Eighties , who participated in all kinds of genres , Spaghetti Western , Peplum , Eurospy , softcore , Poliziesco , such as : Venantino Venantini , Ajita Wilson, Luciano Rossi, Guido Alberti , Romano Puppo , Nello Pazzafini , and brief appearance by Lucio Fulci himself as an Old Boss.

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Lucio Fulci , and being entertaining enough. Fulci was one of the most controversial filmmakers in terror genre , though frequently derided as sheer sensationalism and commerciality , scathing commentary on social themes and state , and at times giving voice to its director's passionate hatred of the Catholic Church . Here Lucio Fulci directs in his usual style filled with flaws , failures and gaps , but professionally made because being a nice artisan . Critics are divided over both the moral and talents of Fulci (1927-1996), who sometimes directed under the alias Louis Fuller . For some reviewers many of his flicks are extremely cruel , grim and savage , yet their gory surface often concealing social , religious , or provoking commentaries or other thoughful , intelligent issues . Nevertheless , most of them considering his works have undeniably provided a considerable influence on the terror genre , creating decent efforts on low-medium budget flicks . Standing out his and ¨A Lizard in a Woman's Skin¨ (1971) and ¨Don't Torture a Duckling¨(1972) deemed to be two of his best pictures . And in the adventure genre with two financially successful Jack London 'White Fang' adventure movies in 1973 and 1974 which were ¨Zanna Bianca¨, and ¨Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca¨. Also during the mid and late 1970s, Fulci directed two 'Spaghetti Westerns' : ¨Four of Apocalypse¨ (1975) and ¨Sella d'argento¨ or ¨Silver Saddle¨(1978), and another good 'giallo' ; ¨The Psychic¨ (1977) with Jennifer O'Neill , as well as a few sex-comedies which include the political spoof : ¨The Eroticist¨(1972) , and the vampire comedy ¨Young Dracula¨ (1975) , and this violent Mafia crime-drama ¨Luca the smuggler¨ (1979) . In 1979, Fulci's film making career successfully another high point with him, breaking into the international market with ¨Zombi 2¨ (1979), an in-name-only sequel to George A. Romero's Zombi : Night of the Living Dead (1978), which had been released in Italy as 'Zombi'. And his big hit ¨New York Ripper¨ , at the time rated as a video nasty , due to it and why the excessive extra violence was heavily cut or prohibited in a large number of countries . With this film established Fulci as a gore director par excellence . Over the next three years , Fulci plied his trade with finesse and flair-play , rivaling even the popularity of his "opponent" the great Dario Argento, with such sanguine classics as ¨City of the Living Dead¨ (1980) and ¨Beyond¨ (1981). These films, as well as the reviled "New York Ripper" (1982) are actually intelligently crafted , with thorny commentaries on everything from American life to religion. Later on , he went on his fall with lousy movies, but eventually Fulci at least found work in television . Rating : 5/10 . Average , only for Lucio Fulci completists .

Great Fulci action flick

[ericdetrick2002 · 8/10 · 22 June 2004]

I wish Fulci made more films like this. I think part of my liking it is that it has a lot of elements that I love about 70s Italian horror films- gore, funky soundtrack, dubbed in english, and did I mention gore?

This actually had a pretty decent crime family story line to it too, and it was set in Italy. So much of the Italian crime family movies are set in New York, this takes us back to the homeland. You probably won't find this in Blockbuster or

Hollywood Video. I had to buy myself a copy online, but I am a collector of Fulci films. Blue Underground has a really nice quality print out on DVD- check it out!

I liked "Revolver" better

[movieman_kev · 7/10 · 26 September 2005]

Fabio Testi ("What Have They Done to Solange?" and "Revolver") is Luca, a cigarette smuggler who is part of a deal that got botched. When his brother gets killed, Luca and other fellow smugglers are being killed in overly violent ways by a rival smuggler from France, known simply as the Marsigliese (the late Marcel Bozzuffi of "Countdown" and "The French Connection"), naturally he wants some good old fashion revenge. Lucio Fulci ultra-violent touch is here, the misogyny is here, but it all feels too long, the story seems stretched out somehow. It's still watchable, don't get me wrong. Just not top tier Fulci.

Eye Candy: Cintia Lodetti shows all; Ivana Monti gets topless; Ofelia Meyer shows slight bush

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Talent Bios; and Theatrical Trailer

Fulci should stick to the bizarre

[dopefishie · 3/10 · 13 December 2021]

Fulci should stick to the bizarre.

The dialogue is impossibly bad. I see why Fulci really excels at horror films with little dialogue. I saw an English dub so that may be part of the problem. The direction is poor here - particularly with the action sequences. It's like someone gave Fulci a helicopter, and he decided to include everything he shot from his new toy! There was little regard for logic... or even suspense.

Bottomline is that if you give Fulci a dark house and a knife you'll be fine. But give the man helicopter and it all flies into the toilet.

Intestines and Testi

[Samoan Bob · 29 March 2003]

Lucio Fulci's ultraviolent crime film is an enjoyable and unintentionally hilarious action flick with the requisite amount of gore one expects from a Fulci film. Fabio Testi (tee-hee!) plays a cigarette smuggler who gets entangled in a bunch of gang-land shootings. Melting corpses, burning skin, shot-open necks, repeatedly shot paper mache heads, shotgun blasted intestines (that seem to be made out of foam) ensue. In addition to that, there's a decent shootout or punch-up here and there. The highlight is some nerdy guy getting massive breasts shoved in his face. Well, at least for me.

Contraband

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 22 April 2009]

Lucio Fulci's lone foray into the Euro-crime genre stars Fabio Testi as Luca Di Angelo, the brother of a slain mobster who must somehow survive the mafioso takeover of the sadistic Marsigliese(Marcel Bozzuffi)in Naples, Italy, also vowing revenge against him and his sleazy gun-toting henchman. The Marsigliese is targeting all the mob gangs who run illegal smuggling operations, wishing to take over the whole city as chief crime-lord, but the thorn in his side is Luca, who is willing to do whatever it takes to avenge his brother's murder(..which, adding to the agony, happened not far from him).

My very first Poliziotteschi was entertaining for it's graphic blood-letting and enthusiastic staging of gangsters and hoods being killed/beaten in ultra-violent ways(..I do wonder if the slow motion action set-pieces, where characters fall from great heights or through windows, was inspired by Bloody Sam). Bodies riddled by bullets, with lots of blood squibs. A woman's face is viciously scorched. Brains shot out the back of a mobster's skull. A spike stabbed into a hood's chest as blood slowly leaks out. A throat is blown apart. Even though Fulci wasn't directing a horror flick, he could still serve up the blood shed unrestrained within a serviceable plot dealing with a criminal world wrought with violence and corruption.

The cast and story are quite familiar to what you often associate with mafioso tales featuring betrayal, revenge, & violent methods at securing power, prestige, and wealth. A shared empire is desired by a mafioso boss with a grand scheme to run coke through Naples without the trouble of other mobs dealing in lesser "risky" criminal ventures. Interesting enough, we are taken right into the criminal underworld as investigators attempt to solve the string of murders occurring across the city. But, we see how crime doesn't always pay and if you are immersed in this culture, as Luca is(..pulled into assisting a smuggling empire with his slain brother and other capos), there's a possibility that you endanger those you love. In CONTRABAND, Luca's wife is kidnapped, badly beaten, and anally raped as the Marsigliese demands a partnership(..it's all a set-up to finish off the last, remaining capo left in the city)in his drug-running operation. Nifty climactic showdown with old retired dons helping out Luca against Marsigliese and his thugs with even Fulci getting to fire a machine gun! Composer Fabio Frizzi provides a rather disco-funkadelic type of score coexisting within a brutal crime story. Saverio Marconi has a memorable role as a trusted mobster, Luigi Perlante, who is in cahoots with the Marsigliese, Ajita Wilson(Macumba sexual)has a minor role as part of Luigi's entourage, and Romano Puppo is the Marsigliese's cold-blooded trigger man. Venantino Venantini is Captain Tarantino and Fabrizio Jovine is the Chief of Police, trying to end the smuggling operations plaguing their economy-deprived city. The film's bread-n-butter are the shoot-outs and assassinations, with Fulci trying to cover up the story's inadequacies with lots of action. The film does suffer some pacing issues with an on-going gag involving Guido Alberti, as the powerful Don Morrone, watching television, with only an appetite for spaghetti westerns. Photographed by the great Sergio Salvati, Fulci's long time cinematographer(..and a staple for Charles Band productions as well). Special effects from Germano Natali, a long time collaborator with Fulci and Argento, whose work here is satisfactory(..the stand-out, besides the brains exploding from a skull, being a henchman's stomach exploding from a shot-gun blast, with his intestines spilling out on the street;the weakest effect showing the obvious fake head of a mafioso being blown apart by a machine gun).

Fulci makes the most violent Italian crime film ever

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 21 September 2016]

A typically intense police thriller from gore meister Lucio Fulci which has recently enjoyed its first uncut UK release thanks to the guys at Shameless. All of the cheesy gore effects are now present and correct allowing British viewers to see the movie as it was intended. As for the film itself, we're in familiar territory here with a good-hearted petty criminal caught up in a world of Mafia killers, vengeful assassins, and the like. A big influence is inevitably THE GODFATHER although it's definitely a Fulci film in look and style.

The first third of the film is a little slow as it sets up the plot. I've always found Fabio Testi a second-tier actor and it's hard to really like him here as he does dither around a lot. However, things pick up with the first fight scene at the sulphur pits and remain above average from there. THE SMUGGLER features more death and destruction than in a dozen American crime films put together. Fulci, best known for his gory horror films like ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS, inserts plenty of his trademark excessive violence into his film with people being shot and hit and spraying blood all over the place.

Things really get going with a choppily-edited series of murders, where we get to see people machine gunned for what seems like an endless time - they even turn around halfway through in order to get the full treatment. An assassin goes on a rampage of murder for about twenty minutes of screen time and the level of on screen violence is just outrageous. However, the worst violence is meted out to female characters, with a horrendous rape scene and a bit involving a Bunsen burner that'll have your eyes watering. Then there's a predictable but nonetheless exciting shootout at the end, with loads of people biting the bullet, as it were.

Fun, yet uneven swan-song to the Italian Crime genre

[Aylmer · 7/10 · 10 December 2000]

Gotta love this movie. It comes right at the end of the Italian crime movie phase and is probably the most violent of the lot, right up there with Ruggero Deodato's LIVE LIKE A COP DIE LIKE A MAN. THE SMUGGLER is at times a wonderful combination of the genre, with all the usual gang dropping by from Romano Puppo and Nello Pazzafini as hitmen to Luciano Rossi as a hunchback drug taster! This flick's got it all: loads of violence, some imaginitive photography, and two of the coolest leads in history: Fabio Testi as the good guy and Marcel Bozzuffi as basically the same guy he was in THE FRENCH CONNECTION, a greasy slimeball. After all the violence and mayhem, this flick isn't exactly perfect. Where at times it rolls by smoothly, quite often the flick gets bogged down in confusing narrative and a lot of pointless characters. It's not atypical for Fulci, even if it is his only pure crime movie, complete with wanton and gratuitous gore. Faces are melted, heads are blown off, and guts are shot out of Romano Puppo's belly in glorious slow motion much like his very similar death at the end of STREET LAW.

Watch for the running in-joke with Guido Alberti (who looks no less than a million years old) flipping through channels, always skipping the crime flicks and erotic thrillers in favor of the good old Spaghetti Westerns. These scenes don't really ever fit in with the rest of the film, but it's all good fun nonetheless. Certainly Lucio Fulci is no Enzo G. Castellari or Umberto Lenzi when it comes to directing crime movies, but he injects this film with enough of his own touch that it becomes a lot of fun. Definitely not one to miss, and it certainly is a delight to learn it's finally coming to DVD.

Nice and gory Fulci crime flick

[The_Void · 6/10 · 29 May 2006]

Contraband is one of the films that helps to show that Lucio Fulci was not merely a director of horror splatter films. Fulci directed this film after his controversial Dawn of the Dead rip-off, Zombie Flesh-Eaters proved to be a big hit. As you may expect from a man who became famous for gore, this film features more bloody murders than the average Giallo, and most of them are bloodier than those found in Fulci's zombie films! You've got to love Lucio Fulci, and scenes that see a woman have her face burnt away with a Bunsen burner, as well as someone else being smashed through a greenhouse show why! And then, of course, we've got all the blood and guts in the shootouts that you'd expect, and it's obvious that Fulci enjoys his gore, as most of it is overly gratuitous considering that this isn't even supposed to be a horror film. The film follows smuggling in Italy. We follow a smuggler named Luca Di Angelo, a man that works for an underground smuggling operation. His life turns sour when his brother is killed, and pretty soon after more smugglers move in on his territory...

It has to be said that this film is rather uneven, and at times the plot is difficult to follow. Of course, Fulci never lets this downtime last for long as there's always another brutal and bloody murder just around the corner, and the action scenes are genuinely exciting and well filmed. The lead performance courtesy of Fabio Testi is good and as was the case in What Have They Done to Solange and The Big Racket, his performance suits the movie's look and feel. He looks strong enough to be believable in the lead role, while simultaneously looking believable as a family man. Fulci's direction is good enough, and while the film is never as gritty and sleazy as it could have been; Contraband still benefits from a nice atmosphere. As ever with this sort of film, it all boils down to a big shootout, and the one here even features someone's guts falling out! I'm a big fan of Italian Giallo's, but to be honest; I haven't seen many of the Poliziotteschi sub-genre of which this movie is a part of. Therefore it is difficult for me to say whether or not this is one of the best, but as a fan of Italian cinema; I can tell you that Contraband is worth seeing.

Awesome gory and violent crime thriller from the Italian master of gore

[Viva_Chiba · 10/10 · 30 September 2010]

When it comes to gore, Lucio Fulci knows how to deliver, even if this is not a horror movie. There are many scenes of brutal gun blasting, it will make gore hounds happy (with really well made special effects), also the soundtrack is amazing. Good performance of Fabio Testi, in the role of "Luca"

"Contraband" was made after the success of Zombie 2, another Fulci masterpiece.

Plot: Luca is a cigarette smuggler, "working" in Naples, Italy. After a boat chase with the police, Luca suspects that someone is trying to frame him. A group of Cocaine Smugglers are trying to "replace" the Cigarette smuggling by killing and threating all the cigarette smugglers that will go against them.....

Trivia: Fulci makes a cameo in the final shootout as: a old man with the glasses shooting with a machine gun.

Not the average cop movie

[henriqueac-62783 · 7/10 · 20 November 2023]

This movie sure as hell is full of graphic and sexual violence. But this we all knew before watching it. It is really redundant to say that a Lucio Fulci's movie is full of gore and may contain some rape scenes.

Luca and his brother are two smugglers who got deceived during an operation. As story unfolds, we watch a sort of gang dispute full of killings. Despite all we can say about the plot not being very interesting, Fulci manages to make the whole movie seem to last "only 10 minutes".

Alright, it is not remarkable to say that we've liked this movie due to it's gory death scenes, nudity, shootings and so on so forth. But I mean, thruth be told: it is what it is. Let's just not stick to the plot simplicity and moral values this time and say that it was good because of all that things which are actually bad.

It wasn't Fulci's best effort, but I will give it seven out of ten for being a so-called "eurocrime" movie so "out of the box".

Bad Ol' Boys

[radiobirdma · 2/10 · 1 March 2011]

NOPE, capital letters. While Signore Fulci once had some not-too-big ambitions ("Paperino", "Lizard in a Woman's Skin"), this less than mediocre mafia/ poliziotto mix has one okay scene that maybe lasts a bit more than a minute: when the bad ol' boys of the Camorra, all withered pensioner consiglieres with pale moustaches and spectacles, settle the accounts with their tommy guns, including Non-Maestro Fulci in a cameo role. Apart from that, you get a nonsensical script, probably the worst and already then totally outdated disco soundtrack of the early 80s, highly unattractive Italian housewives plus a black transvestite in the females roles, hairy vaginas, a bit of zombie make-up, a bunsen burner held to a lady's face, an anal rape Napoli style ... a bag of guilty pleasure goodies, some might think, but it's all as gritty and shocking as the spaghetti bolognese at Luigi's grimy restaurant next door. Even the (Danish) DVDs extras don't tease afterwards. Here, you won't stay for dessert.

An Iron Fist...Without the velvet glove.

[Bezenby · 9/10 · 24 March 2009]

At least that what I think he says.

Contraband is Lucio Fulci trying his hand at the Italian Crime genre, adding his very own touch to the proceedings, and producing what results in a very gory thriller with all his eccentricities intact.

Set in Naples, it involves small time crooks Luca and his brother Mickey, who are heavily involved in the smuggling of cigarettes. After a raid on their operations, they both seek to find the grass who's been trying to mess things up for them. But who is it? After much accusation and conspiring, it turns out there's a new boss on the street, wanting to flood Naples with drugs and willing to wipe out the competition at any cost.

Contraband is a very slow moving film at first, but in a good way. Luca doesn't even start getting payback until the half hour mark, and there's a definite lack of car chases and gun battles that we've enjoyed before in films like The Big Racket and Violent Professionals. Fulci approaches the story from a different angle, showing us the various levels of the criminal hierarchy in Naples, introducing us to a myriad of characters, and then, basically, killing them all off in a very gory fashion. It's not action packed, but when the violence happens on screen it's extremely gory. This film ain't for the kids!

There's gore here to rival The Beyond and Zombie Flesh Eaters. Throats and stomachs are blown out, someone has their face burned off, and a man is very graphically shown having the back of his head blown off. Add to that the very cool scene in the disco (You can see it on YouTube), Fabio Testi's presence, and the overall laid back atmosphere, and you've got a great film right here.

There's a good few cameos from Italian Movie land - Romano Puppo, Venantini Venantino and Fulci himself. The Region 0 Blue Underground version is the one to have.

Contrabandits

[seveb-25179 · 7/10 · 10 December 2020]

Arguably, the 1970s produced the nastiest action movies ever, and the Italians might possibly edge out the Americans and the Japanese for the depths of depravity reached. Fabio Testi's movies are certainly among the most brutal of the Italian "Poliziotteschi" films and Contraband is definitely the most brutal of the Fabio Testi movies I have seen. Exhibit One - the blowtorch scene. Exhibit Two - the rape scene. In both cases, the "action" goes on far longer than it needs to for the purpose of dramatic impact and well into the realms of sadistic voyeurism. The plot involves an attempt by hard drug dealers to take over the transport infrastructure of the general contraband smugglers (cigarettes, liquor etc.) who use a flotilla of fast speedboats to circumvent Italian customs and excise. Apparently, the filmmakers ran out of money part way through and actual smugglers agreed to provide additional finance, as well as their boats, their services as extras and "suggestions" as to how the script might be improved. Authentic stuff then!

Mediocre euro-crime flick, but Fulci's gore is exhilarating!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 18 March 2007]

The legendary and beloved (to some) Italian demigod Lucio Fulci usually was one of the first directors to quickly cash in on temporarily popular trends in cinema but, for some reason, it took him until the early 80's to participate in the giant success of explicitly violent and relentless crime-thrillers. Fellow director-friends like Umberto Lenzi ("Almost Human"), Ruggero Deodato ("Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man"), Sergio Martino ("Violent Professionals") and Enzo Castellari ("Street Law") had been making loads of money with their outrageous cop-thrillers since the early 70's already, but Fulci didn't benefice from the profitable sub genre until the release of "Contraband". Arguably the best years of the trend were already over when Fulci came along or maybe the script just isn't strong enough, but "Contraband" is one of the director's most uneven accomplishments; do I even daresay a minor disappointment. Luca Di Angelo has a loving wife and son, and along with his brother Mickey he's the most successful cigarette-smuggler in the whole of Naples. The two brothers live in perfect harmony and understanding with the other eminent mafia clans in town and not even the police bothers them too much. When first his brother Mickey, and subsequently all the other befriended mafia leaders are barbarically slaughtered, Luca swears to avenge them. He quickly discovers the French immigrant smuggler "Il Marsigliesi" is responsible for the murders, as he intends to forcefully take over the entire smuggling business in Naples. The story can be summarized really quickly, and yet usually the story lines of these euro-crime films are extremely convoluted and full of far-fetched twists. Fulci's script is rather rudimentary, with either no red herring or very predictable ones and no sudden surprises or genuine shock-revelations. But there's some good news as well! Whatever "Contraband" lacks in originality, Fulci compensates in excessive amounts of outrageous violence and totally gratuitous gore! These criminals don't just shoot each other with one bullet, no, they keep firing until either the intestines fall out, or the faces are transformed into nasty piles of rotten meat-leftovers. The methods of torturing used by the malevolent French gangsters include horrible face-burnings and sadistic anal rapes. It actually looks like Lucio was once again more interested in making another gross horror movie, and who the hell are we to complain about that? The acting performances are all below average, even crime/giallo regular Fabio Testi is out of shape, and even the use of music and photography aren't at all spectacular. Recommended to trained fans of Italian crime thrillers and Lucio Fulci, newcomers to either of them are advised to postpone their viewing of "Contraband" until you've seen some of the aforementioned titles.