CUT-THROATS
NINE (1972)Director: Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent
EUROVISTA Digital Entertainment
CUT-THROATS
NINE (1972)In this Spanish-made western, a sergeant is escorting a gang of degenerate criminals through the snowy mountains, on their way to be executed. Their wagon is soon ambushed by road bandits, and the seven cut-throats (not nine as the American title implies), the sergeant, and his daughter have to now move on foot. The criminals are all chained together, and it is then discovered that the chains are actually made of gold.
Naturally, the criminals behave very rebellious, especially when they realize the heavy fortune that bounds them together. When one of them refuses to keep moving, he is shot right in the eye by the sergeant. The sergeant and his daughter begin to grow very weary during the trek, and in a moment of weakness, their prisoners overcome them. One of the criminals (the pretty boy) falls in love with the daughter and tries to protect her. She is raped, and the sergeant is tied up and burnt to a crisp. They continue on their journey with the father-less girl, deciding to evenly split the gold, but they get on each other's nerves and behave like animals every inch of the way.
CUT-THROATS NINE is positively one of the goriest westerns ever made. It's not heavy on gunfire in the Peckinpah sense, but it's packed with throat cuttings, charcoaled corpses, disembodiments, and a generous number of stomach stabbings, complete with blood flowing uncontrollably, and at one point you see mushy entrails leaking out! The characters and situations are very dark and gloomy, and the director uses slow motion photography to illustrate various traumatic or divergent past experiences of the cast members. Sergio Leone also employed this technique for several of his spaghetti westerns.
There's also a bizarre scene where one of the cut-throats--obviously going mad--envisions the sergeant coming back to life as a zombie and stalking him! Fans of Spanish horror will recognize many of the eccentric faces of familiar character actors, especially the late Alberto Dalbés who was the nutty doctor in THE HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE (1972). Pretty Emma Cohen plays the daughter, and she was also in lots of Spanish horror films, including CANNIBAL MAN (1971), HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (1972), and STRANGE LOVES OF THE VAMPIRE (1975).
Sure to please followers of spaghetti-type westerns and splatter films alike, EUROVISTA's DVD of CUT-THROATS NINE is another welcomed edition of an extremely rare title. This is the full uncut version, dubbed into English and letterboxed at 1.85:1. The picture is sharp with nice detail, and the colors look restrained but very stable. There is minor speckling at the reel changes of the source print, but the image is quite pristine throughout most of the entire feature. The sound is very clear and audible.
There are some extras on the disc, including the R-rated U.S. trailer that yells hype about "terror masks," a campaign gimmick given out to lucky theater patrons. There's also a German trailer (where it was supposedly banned), still gallery, and bios on several cast members. An insert card of the original one-sheet poster is also included in the packaging. Anyone interested in buying a copy can order directly from Luminous Video & Film Wurks by clicking HERE. (George R. Reis)