Mario Bava's viking epic Gli Invasori is rumoured to have been picked up by Anchor Bay for a digital overhaul sometime in 2007, and their disc can't arrive a moment too soon. Currently unavailable on home video, this film was granted a perfunctory video release by Panther Entertainment in the late 1980s, and that's the version this review is based upon. From the badly pan and scanned evidence displayed on the tape, it's a film that will benefit hugely from a correctly formatted, correctly colour coded, and complete widescreen print. Like many Bava films, Gli Invasori (re-titled The Invaders here) features magnificent action sequences, intense colours, and over the top art design--all of it badly compromised by careless telecine work on this tape. Though the film hews fairly closely to the narrative arc of most sword and sandal features, it also includes some spooky Bava touches, including an ominous tarantula (in Britain, no less!) and a crucifixion scene. Star Cameron Mitchell acquits himself well, though his close-cropped strawberry blonde locks seem somewhat out of place, and the Kessler sisters make for pleasant eye candy. All in all, it's an obscure treat that will, with any luck, get some mass market exposure in the not too distant future.
Review of Erik the Conqueror
