Blu-ray Review: Vengeance Trails Collection (1966 – 1970)

Saddle up to this new collection of cowpokes wanderin’ Revenge Road; Vengeance Trails, which comes our way courtesy of Arrow Video (along with MVD Entertainment) and contains four big features for us to slap our putrid peepers on!
Kicking things off we have 1966’s Massacre Time; which tells the tale of ol’ prospectin’ man Tom (Franco Nero, Django himself) who heads home to peep that tyrannical douche Scott (Giuseppe Addobbati) has taken over his land, along with a gang of hench-type folks lead by Scott’s son; the diabolical… Jason ((Nino Castelnuovo)… the evil names could admittedly use a bit of a punch in this one cats n’ creeps…
Adding to Tom’s static is some additional family trouble in the form of his brother Jeff (George Hilton), a drunken lout who blames Tom for all their woes… though to be fair, that kinda goes both ways. The problem is, Tom will need Jeff’s help if they are to overthrow Scott and Jason, who’s relationship is also faltering.
One of a handful of Westerns directed by horror maestro Lucio Fulci (Zombi, The House by the Cemetery, The Beyond… and oh so many more!), Massacre Time is a gritty, fast-moving western that manages to be both violent and rather grim, so you know there is fun for everyone on hand here!
And, because this is a Fulci joint, you can be sure you’re going to get some horror biz up in this dusty trail funk, along with some hard murder seasoning and visual panache aplenty… and the script courtesy of Fernando di Leo (himself a director of crime flicks) is packed with brutality, and surprising flourishes of humor, mostly courtesy of the “drunken” Hilton and his quips.
And while Hilton is makin’ with the funny, Nero provides the perfect contrast in the quiet, sullen portrayal of Tom; it’s a great dichotomy, and makes their journey engaging to follow, no matter how unpleasant things can become for our heroes.
Speaking of unpleasant, here’s something a tad more light… this Blu-ray has some solid bonus material which includes: a breezy and informative audio commentary by authors and critics C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke, an alternate dub of the film, a new documentary featuring interviews with Nero and Hilton, an interview with film historian Fabio Melelli concerning the spaghetti western genre and this film’s place within it, the film’s original Italian theatrical trailer, and a collection of promotional images from Massacre Time’s German release.
Moving on to disc two we have My Name is Pecos, also from 1966.
In a true reversal of spaghetti western tropes. This here flick features a Mexican hero, the eponymous Pecos (Robert Woods), who walks a path of gunglingin’ violence as he sets out to rid the town of Huston of the villainous Clane (Pier Paolo Capponi) and his band of desperate men (who’s ranks include big George Eastman… Anthropophagus himself!) who have popped a squat in the town in order to get their hands on some of that sweet, sweet robbery loot that is all the rage in these types of pictures.
As stated, the most fascinating, and ultimately effective element of My Name is Pecos is it’s role reversal of a Mexican (anti) hero taking on the ol’ white evil-doers. This is a bold choice, and heed must be paid to screenwriter Adriano Bolzoni who delivers the goods with this tale of gritty vengeance that not only brings on the action, but manages to deliver some light anti-religious social commentary.
It should be said that while Woods definitely makes for an engaging lead, the make-up used to make him look the part is dodgy and would never fly in this day and age, so there’s that… oh, and this film’s theme song is definitely not in any way like The Animals’ 1964 recording of The House of the Rising Sun…
As for special features on this go around, we get: another great audio commentary from Joyner (joined by Woods), interviews with Eastman and actress Lucia Modungo, a documentary about the film, the film’s original Italian theatrical trailer, and a collection of promotional images from the film’s German release.
Disc three contains 1967’s Bandidos…
Shootin’ man Richard Martin (Enrico Maria Salerno) takes a train ride, but that joltin’ journey gets the brakes put on by a gang of bandits who rob the train and kill everyone on board… save for Martin, though his hands are completely destroyed by a former student of his who now rides for evil!
Leaving him alive was dumb as shit, because soon Martin is training a new protege, the aptly named Ricky Shot (Terry Jenkins), and before long, the Rickster is good enough to face that putrid posse as bullets go a-flyin’!
While the story of Bandidos is a solid enough revenge pot-boiler, the real winner in this film is it’s visual panache. Bandidos‘ director, Massimo Dallamano, served as cinematographer on Sergio Leone’s Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For A Few Dollars More (1965) and he brings the tricks he learned on those productions to this film making it every bit as stylistically impressive with apocalyptic vistas, creative shootouts, and oh so much more!
As before, disc three contains plenty of bonus material, including: a typically excellent, ultra-informative audio commentary from author Kat Ellinger, interviews with assistant director Luigi Perelli and actor Gino Barbacane, more from film historian Melelli, an alternate end title sequence, and as always, a collection of promotional images from the film’s German release.
Lastly comes And God Said to Cain from 1970…
Our dude Gary Hamilton (full-time lunatic… and actor Klaus Kinski… seriously, Google his ass kids) has cooled his jets in the hoosegow for a decade thanks to being framed by his ex-partner, the ludicrously named Acombar (Peter Carsten)… who by-the-by is also in cahoots with Gary’s now-ex Maria (Marcella Michelangeli)… for a robbery that took place at the ass-end of the Civil War.
Speaking of that robbery, ol’ Acky-baby ended up with all of the loot from that bit of thievery… and with when you get the money, you get the power, then when you get the power, then you get Maria… so yeah, Gary is having a rather shitty time of it… until he takes the beastly bull by the horns and strides Revenge Road to lay  a lil’ violence upon Acombar with the help of the townsfolk that have suffered since our antagonist blew into town.
Directed by Antonio Margheriti (who also helmed one of my favs, 1983’s Yor: the Hunter From the Future), And God Said to Cain is easily my favorite flick in this collection. Why? Because this thing wants to be a horror movie so fuckin’ bad it can taste it, that’s why!
We get scads of Gothic ambience; a big ol’ spooky mansion, howling winds, tolling bells, and birds screamin’ their avian asses off whenever Hamilton’s name is uttered… this is horror tropes 101, and it’s awesome as all hell to see it applied to the tried and true spaghetti western revenge yarn… there’s also a fair share of gnarly violence on display as well!
Adding to the terror is a strong performance from Kinski (a.k.a., he gave a damn about being in this one for whatever reason) who becomes a ghoulish figure the further he travels the road to vengeance. It’s riveting to behold!
As for special features we get the usual; an excellent audio commentary (this time courtesy of author and critic Howard Hughes), another insightful look at the film at hand by Melelli, an interview with actor Antonio Cantafora, and that hoary ol’ chestnut… a collection of promotional images from the film’s German release.
Also included in this collection are an illustrated collector’s booklet and a fold-out double-sided poster.
Worth it for And God Said to Cain alone, this set thankfully contains three additional fantastic tales of wild west revenge and is an absolute must have for fans of spaghetti westerns!