Mad Dog Killer is a gritty/ at points fairly nasty Poliziottesco/ Italian crime thriller from the late 1970’s. It regards the escape from prison of sadistic killer Nanni Vitali played by Helmut Berger (The Dammed, The Godfather Part III), who with his goons carry out revenge on those who put him away. The film landed up on the video nasty list in the 1980’s, and as far as I can gather this Cheezy Movies DVD release features a fully uncut version of the film.

Mad Dog Killer (aka Beast with a Gun, Ferocious Beast with a Gun, The Human Beast, Street Killers) is from the year 1977. It was directed/co-written by Codevigo, Veneto, Italy Sergio Grieco- he had thirty-nine directors’ credits to his name, and this was his final film. His other output went from 16th century set adventure The Violent Patriot (1956), onto James Bound knock off Mission Bloody Mary (1965), ultra camp superhero/ sci-fi action film Argoman The Fantastic Superman (1967), and Nunsploitation The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine(1974).

The film opens with the prison breakout- with Nanni (Berger) and his men taking a guard hostage as they jump into the getaway car.  The car driver fairly soon gets shot in the head by the pursuing authorities- who fairly soon give up the chase, as they crash in flames on a hairpin bend.  

As the film unfolds, they steal another car roughing up its owners. They Kidnap the informer who put him away- first raping his girlfriend, then beating him before throwing him in a pit with quick lime. There are a fair few bloody punch-ups in the film, as well as female manhandling/ misogyny- with the most unpleasant of this side of things, occurring towards the end of the film as Nanni slashes at a woman’s chest.

On the side of the law/ tracking down Nanni & his men, is the moustached & shirt open cop Comm. Giulio Santini (Richard Harrison)- he’s ok, but rather felt like a budget Franco Nero- with not much conviction, aside from the films punch up finale.

The highlight here is Berger- who really sells well been an unpredictable nasty piece of work- though considering the film’s title/ notoriety it’s not as extreme as some Poliziottesco I’ve seen. From what I’d read I was expecting something like the Italian Last House On The Left knockoff Night Train Murders, and while Berger certainly is threatening- it never goes too nasty.

The film runs at the one hour and thirty-five-minute mark, and I think there could have been a little bit of tightening up here & there. Firstly, after the breakout, we have a rather bland credit reel of a road POV, and on a few occasions we get overlong shots of Berger walking- if these had been trimmed up/ removed I feel the whole thing would have played a lot better/ more intense. But on the whole, as Poliziottesco go Mad Dog Killer is a gritty, at points nastily entertaining ride.

This region-free DVD is a barebones affair- with only a trailer as an extra. The print we get here is English subtitled- with the usual unintentionally amusing results. The print looks fair good/well-defined, though I don’t think it’s been given an HD scan- I just think it’s one of the better prints Cheezy Movies has released. 

So, if you are either a fan of 70’s Poliziottesco, or want to see all of the video nasties Mad Dog Killer is well worth a look. Though as mentioned earlier, it’s not as extreme as I was expecting.