Cover Art

Credits

Director: Ruggero Deodato Starring: Lisa Blount, Leonard Mann, Willie Aames, Richard Lynch, Michael Berryman Screenplay: Dardano Sacchetti, Cesare Frugone Country: Italy/USA

Cut and Run is an important picture for two reasons. Firstly, it was one of the last Italian exploitation films from the old guard. Secondly and more vitally, it was one of Deodato's, and the Italotrash genre's, only Americanised films. Originally a Wes Craven project (he certainly would have done better directing this than the tripe that was The Hills Have Eyes II), Deodato came aboard only after Craven backed out. The film also starred a number of notable American B actors, including perennial freakazoid villain Berryman, best known for playing the deranged Pluto in Craven's original The Hills Have Eyes eight years earlier. It's interesting to see how Deodato handles this picture – the excesses of Cannibal Holocaust and his rape-and-revenge classic House on the Edge of the Park have been discarded, save for a few delightfully nasty scenes of grue in which Deodato harks enjoyably back to the glory days of the seventies. One scene in particular, inspired by a Viet Cong trap, is incredibly effective and among the best set pieces the director has fashioned. Despite this, there certainly isn't the grime and decay that was ever-present in Deodato's past work, and it's clear that the director isn't entirely comfortable with his changed subject matter.

A welcome omission to Cut and Run, however, is the animal cruelty. Arguably, this was one of the things that made Deodato's former films so powerful, in that the juxtaposition of real animal violence with fake human violence made the actions seem oh-so-real, and added the director's typical, almost gleeful, sucker-punch to the audience. It was a cruel gimmick though and had even the most jaded of audience members up in arms. The graphic sexual violence prevalent in Holocaust and House is also almost entirely removed and the absence of both Deodato trademarks results in a lighter, more sit-back-and-enjoy type film. There's nothing really nasty or overbearing here, and Cut and Run could be best described as Deodato-lite. Thing is, Deodato-lite is often synonymous with the director's lesser work, and Cut and Run is no exception.

Cut and Run may be a fun movie but like all popcorn flicks it begins to wear thin after a while. Deodato isn't really on serious territory here and aside from a horrific, galvanising prologue, Cut and Run is only really a typical eighties action vehicle. The acting, particularly by Lynch channelling Captain Kurtz, isn't atrocious, but it's by no means praise-worthy. The script is the biggest downfall, and screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti expresses some reservations as to the storyline and conflicting desires of Cut and Run's key crew members – Sacchetti's intentions were to create a glossy, Hollywoodised action-adventure, co-writer Cesare Frugoni wanted to display the downside to human relationships (in a Eurotrash flick? Nice going, you pretentious cock) and Deodato wanted a cinema verite encore of Cannibal Holocaust. None of them really hit the mark. Lisa's news broadcasts adopt a Cannibal Holocaust feel but never does Deodato manage to re-tap Holocaust's raw, visceral vein. It's a shame, because if you watch Deodato's films chronologically (Jungle to House, especially), you can see the general progression of talent that works its way up to Cannibal Holocaust. Holocaust is an absolute masterpiece, and one of the finest works of horror cinema ever committed to celluloid. It's a disappointment then, that the director's follow-up is essentially a shadow of his former work. He directs well, but the material just isn't there – and in that respect, only Sacchetti and Frugoni can be held to blame. Deodato only plummeted downwards after Cut and Run, directing a formulaic American slasher Body Count starring genre icon and House villain David Hess, before gradually fading into obscurity.