A Bunch of Bastards

Is a renaissance of Italian genre cinema really imminent? The production company Minerva Pictures seems to have decided to do so. After the original continuation of the Poliziottesco classic "Milano Caliber 9", Gabriele Albanesi now follows up with this mixture of home invasion, gangster film and revenge thriller.

Sergio (Marco Bocci) is moldering in a prison somewhere in Algeria. One day he is freed from this and is supposed to carry out a small assignment near Rome. It's about documents that are said to be buried in the greenhouse of a villa. Unfortunately, the villa is inhabited by the newly married couple Michele (Peppino Mazzotta) and Damiana (Maria Fernanda Candido). Damiana's daughter Fiore (Amanda Campana), who likes to share sexy pics on social media, is also there. Of course the situation escalates and of course things are different than expected. When old Caligola (Fortunato Cerlino) shows up, the hellish dance really begins...

The film is an announcement! The genre is not reinvented here, but it is a harmonious return to the heyday of Italian genre cinema in the 1970s. It's wonderfully brutal. Great actors who also knew how to impress in other roles round off the positive picture. Marco Bocci was also in "Calibro 9" (2020). Fortunato Cerlino is known from "Gomorra" (film and series). Peppino Mazzotta plays in the series about Commissario Montalbano, and the Brazilian actress Maria Fernanda Candido already impressed in the CosaNostra hit "Il traditore" (2019).

It will be interesting to see what else comes from Minerva Pictures. The time is ripe for the rebirth of Italian genre cinema!