User Reviews

Fifty years after the Nuclear holocaust of World War Three, New York is one of the few cities still intact. It survives in isolation catering to the craving of it's population for violence. There is live T.V. coverage of the 'Endgame Championship' that is based on the gladiator duels of ancient times. 'Endgame' began in 2012 and is now the most popular show on T.V. The show's host (David Brown) recaps the rules for the listening millions. Three 'hunters' are set loose to track down and kill the 'prey'. All the contestants receive one firearm and two additional weapons of their choice, if they are found with anymore the contestants are automatically disqualified. The 'prey' is given a 30 minute head start and is allowed to surrender but will lose points if he does so.. The 'zone' chosen to hold the contest lies between 22nd and 33rd Street. The hunters this time are Woody Smith (Bobby Rhodes), Kid Hitchkoc (Al Waterman) and Karnak (co-writer George Eastman). The prey is Shannon (Al Cliver). Shannon manages to kill both Woody and Kid. During a fight with Karnak a telepathic mutant named Lilith (Laura Gemser as Moira Chen) helps him to win. The films bad guy, Colonel Morgan (Gordon Mitchell) is a high ranking official in the SS which stands for security service. They see Shannon on T.V. with Lilith who he recognises as a telepathic mutant and wants them both, for some reason I really don't know as it's never explained properly. Lilith introduces Shannon to Professor Levin (Jack Davis) who asks Shannon to lead him, Lilith and a group of telepathic mutants out of New York City and to a rendezvous with a helicopter that will fly them to safety, in exchange for lots of gold. Shannon agrees and assembles a team of men to help. A guy with an eye-patch named Bull (Gabriele Tinti as Gus Stone), a ninja called, well Ninja (Al Yamanouchi), a big fat man named Kovack (Mario Pedone), a guy with really fast reflexes and is quite useful with a knife named Kijawa (Nello Pazzafini as Nat Williams) and lastly a driver called Stark (Franco Ukmar as Frank Ukmar), these guys wouldn't exactly fill me with confidence but there you go. The men and mutants set off. During their travels they come across blind telepathic monks, various general low-life's, deformed mutants, Shannon's old friend Karnak returns for seconds plus Colonel Morgan and his team of heavily armed SS troops! Will Shannon be able to lead the unfairly persecuted telepathic mutants and Professor Levin to safety? Will Shannon be able to stay alive long enough to collect his gold? You'll have to watch it if you want to find out. This Italian production was co-written and directed by Joe D'Amato under the rather unimaginative pseudonym of Steve Benson, and it's easy to see why he wanted his name off the credits as this film is consistently awful. The script by Amato and Eastman as Luigi Montefiori brings nothing new to the genre. It's tediously slow and dull as well as being very unambitious. The film as a whole left me with the impression no one associated with it was the least bit interested in creating a good film. The New York settings look like they were filmed under seedy railway bridges and in abandoned factory's. No effort is made to include any props or even make the locations look like a futuristic Manhattan, I'd be very surprised if this was actually filmed there. Once they leave Manhattan it's just fields and more industrial factory's that look very contemporary! The weapons, cars and costumes are bland and forgettable, once again I just felt very little effort or money was put into the look of this film. There isn't much gore or violence in it, a brief shot of an axe in someones head is about it. There is a sequence where a blue half man/half fish mutant (Pietro Ceccarelli as Peter Brighton) rapes Lilith, while doing so he says "look at me while I rape you damn it!", need I say more about how tacky and cheap this film is. The action scenes are poor to say the least. They basically consist of people shooting guns and then the camera cuts to stunt people falling off motorbikes or just falling over. There is little variety in them and they become extremely boring very quickly. There are a couple of fight scenes but they aren't that well choreographed or particularly exciting. Acting and dubbing is poor all round, Al Cliver makes for a very bland and uninteresting hero and Laura Gemser isn't much better as the leading lady. Big George Eastman is fun to watch though, as usual. And check the ending out, one helicopter lands and about 10 people get inside and take off, after the two pilot's it's a two seater at most and it's tiny! There's no way on Earth that all those people got into it and it took off, absolutely no way. Please do yourself a favour and avoid this, watch Sergio Martino's 2019-After the Fall of New York (1983) instead, believe me you'll be glad you did as it's far superior to this in every department possible. Total rubbish.

Endgame is set in a hollowed out metropolis of the year 2025. People are entertained by the ultimate reality show called Endgame. It's really what Survivor should be. Ron Shannon is Endgame's greatest champ. Kurt Karnak is his bitter rival. During the game a mutant helps Shannon to defeat Karnak but Shannon spares his life. Bad move? Shannon is then enlisted by a band of mutants attempting to escape the city. Of course, a suitcase full of gold sweetens the deal for Shannon, who then rounds up a band of cutthroats to help him, including Ninja, the coolest guy in the film. He bites it too quick. There are many great fight scenes in this movie, one involving blind monks and another with a gang led by a man who is half fish. The fish guy is involved in a very disturbing rape scene with Laura Gemsler. Eventually the number of the group is whittled down to Shannon but the mission gets accomplished anyway. Shannon is asked by Lilith(Gemsler) to join the mutants, which he doesn't. Not too smart because Lilith is pretty hot. Wouldn't you know it as the chopper flies off out comes Karnak to battle Shannon for the gold. The movie ends just as the battle starts, which actually is a cool way to go.

I love this movie a lot. The first third is a bit slow but once they leave the city the action is nonstop. The battle with the blind monks is amazing and exciting. Motorcycles and gun-play highlight the scene. The next battle with a group of mutants is just as cool, except Ninja dies here and I must say that just blows big time. But, oh well.

Endgame also has a very depressing feel to it. It really is very bleak. Man seems to be digressing by way of mutations and while Lilith's group seem to be advanced, they are hunted down out of fear. To be honest, the bleakness is what appeals to me.

Ron Shannon is played by Al Cliver and his performance is understated at best, but it works here. The real show stealer is George Eastman as Kurt Karnak. He dives into his role with flair. He's ruthless and amoral, just what the post-nuke world needs.

This movie is worth seeing and if you're a fan of the genre then it's a must see.

9/10

Endgame is an event where three guys hunt another guy in an urban environment. Ron Shannon (Al Cliver) is being hunted and wins. In this post atomic world, mutants are being killed. One such mutant has telepathic abilities and needs to leave the city. She hires Ron and his cohorts to get her party out as they enter a Mad Max type of world.

This is a me-too film and was not done well. Really could not get into it.

Guide: Rape and nudity (Laura Gemser + 3 uncredited)

ENDGAME is a highly entertaining slice of Italian cheese, served at least ten weeks past its sell by date. Just one of a rash of post-apocalyptic films which emerged from Italy (usually amid nuclear blasts) in the early '80s, it's a fun-filled action adventure film all the way. The Italians certainly had a sense of style - and fun - that their American counterparts lacked. Take the film's American version, for instance, Schwarzenegger's much better-known THE RUNNING MAN. Does it have innocent blind men being gunned down? The heck it does. America is too restricted to make really good films any more, but you can't say that about the Italians. They sure know how to make a film, and who cares who they offend?

It comes as no surprise that the film was directed by Joe D'Amato. Joe, God rest his soul, was never really renowned for making brilliant films. But whether his films were enjoyable… well, it depends on the viewer. I for one am impressed. What makes ENDGAME such a masterpiece - however odd that may seem - is the absurdity of it. It could have just been a typical gladiator film, but no. There are 'regressive mutants' who are supposed to have become half-fish (hmm, sounds like something Lovecraft might have thought of). To show this, they have those little shiny discs stuck all over their faces. And when they die they bleed water. Or blue paint in this case. The other 'regressive mutants' look very much like rejects from PLANET OF THE APES.

To add to the fun, mix in a cast of European 'stars' such as Laura Gemser (famed for her role in the BLACK EMANUELLE films of the 1970s) as the love interest who inevitably loses her top halfway through, George Eastman (ANTHROPOPHAGUS THE BEAST) as a psycho, shotgun-armed warrior (very good role here folks) and even Bobby Rhodes, the star of DEMONS and its sequel, wearing a robe and carrying a big spiked club thing! Rhodes is really the icing on the cake. Italian peplum fans will be delighted to spot former muscleman Gordon Mitchell in a small role as a baddie.

What else is there? An almost constant stream of action, from the single punch-ups in the first half to the full-scale wars in the second. People kick either other when they're down, punch, and there's even a warrior called Ninja (who breaks the neck of a poor guy asked to attack him in class) who jumps around and kicks people in the face (I thought that was just something Jean Claude Van Damme did). The action is very second rate but this makes it all the more entertaining. There's lots of gore around as well as plenty of nudity for enthusiasts of that variety. Cliver is excellent in his Mad Max type role. ENDGAME is not a well made film by any means but it's a heck of a lot of fun and highly entertaining. So much so that I'm giving it a high rating for effort. A highly underrated cheesy classic.

Yet another in a seemingly endless list of post nuke flicks to emerge from Italy during the 1980's, this effort brought to us by director Joe D'Amato is one of the better results.

Al Cliver of Lucio Fulci's 'Zombi 2' fame (a.k.a Zombie Flesh Eaters) headlines here as the current champion in a Running Man style TV show. Whilst evading his hunters in one such contest he is propositioned by Laura Gemser (no not in THAT way!) to undertake a dangerous mission to provide safe passage across the wastelands for a number of telepathic mutants, herself included.

D'Amato handles the action scenes fairly well throughout with a number of rather exciting chases and battle sequences including one cool scene where our heroes are attacked by a large number of creepy looking, blind, black robed assailants who are utilising a telepath to enable them to 'see' their prey. Also of note are the very welcome appearances of a number of Italian B-movie regulars including George Eastman (yep, playing a villain once again!), the aforementioned and very beautiful Laura Gemser and Al Yamanouchi.

I must say I especially liked the open ending in this to - great stuff!

For fans of the post nuke genre, this is definitely well worth a look.

In the year 2025, a reality competition show called Endgame is the hottest thing on TV. It's basically The Running Man (1987), where costumed characters chase and try to kill the reigning champion. In this case, that would be Ron Shannon (Cliver). The baddies out to get him are Kurt Karnak (Eastman), Woody Aldridge (Rhodes), and of course who could forget Gabe Mantrax (Dell'Acqua)? But the game of Endgame is just the beginning of the tale.

It turns out that in 2025, obviously now a post-apocalyptic world, there is a race of telepathic mutants that just want to live in peace. Seeing that he's the toughest guy around, a woman named Lilith (Gemser), hires Ron Shannon to lead a band of the telepathic people to an area of safety. Stormtroopers wearing gas masks with an "SS" logo are on an extermination campaign against them.

This roving caravan now includes such new characters as Martial Arts expert Ninja (Yamanouchi) and Bull (Tinti). Of course, the military higher-ups, led by Col. Morgan (Mitchell), are not happy about Shannon's defection from Endgame so he can help the downtrodden of our society find a better life. Morgan would rather he and the other warriors perform for his amusement. Will there be a better future for Shannon, Lilith, and the gang? Or have we finally reached ENDGAME?

Endgame is one of many Italian Post-Apocalyptic action films (or Post-Ap's, as we call them) that proliferated during the 80's. Coming hot on the heels of Enzo G. Castellari's 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982) and Escape From the Bronx (1983), Endgame even has a subtitle, Bronx Lotta Finale, which presumably is Italian for 'there is a lot of finale'. They must be talking about the end of the movie. While there are many more examples we can name, such as Sergio Martino's 2019: After the Fall of New York (1983), Endgame is one of two entries in the Post-Ap canon for Aristide Massaccesi (AKA Joe D'Amato), the other one being 2020 Texas Gladiators (1983). D'Amato assembles a stellar B-Movie cast with many names familiar to European exploitation fans.

The fact that Laura Gemser, her husband Gabriele Tinti (both of whom were D'Amato regulars), Al Cliver, George Eastman, Hal Yamanouchi, and Gordon Mitchell, among others, are all here, is cause for celebration. The movie around them, however, can get a bit staid and even boring at times. While the first third is certainly reminiscent of the aforementioned The Running Man - crossed with further Italian versions such as Castellari's Warriors of the Wasteland (1983) and Lucio Fulci's The New Gladiators (1984) (the latter of which also featured Cliver and Yamanouchi) - because of the 'game controlled by sinister overlords' plotline, Endgame dispenses with that after the first third and switches gears entirely to a more traditional Post-Ap scenario.

What's not so traditional is the idea of 'telepathic mutants', especially if the main two are Laura Gemser and a little boy. Some others call them "'mutes", for short (i.e., "let's go get those 'mutes!"). But because this is an Italian Post-Ap from 1983, which seemed to be the golden year for such things, we get the ragtag costumes, absurd makeup, and roughshod-slipshod vehicles driven by the crazy cast of characters. All the ingredients are there if you're a fan of this particular subgenre. Other ideas shine through as well, such as "Life Plus", a sponsor of the Endgame TV show and what would today be called an energy drink. Reality shows? Energy drinks? Mutants? Clearly D'Amato was well ahead of his time in 1983.

While we believe Endgame will satisfy Post-Ap fans, it can get a little slow and the pacing issues are exacerbated by the 97-minute running time. The budget does seem extra-low this time around, which isn't a problem for us but it may be for some people. But the cast and some of the crazier elements more or less paper over most of the flaws.

While it was originally released on the Media label on VHS, today it's streaming on Amazon Prime (as of this writing), so it can't hurt to check out Endgame. But you'd most likely have to already be a fan of the subgenre first before diving in.