Contraband (1980) User Reviews

Gruesome Crime Flick From The Godfather Of Gore

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 6/10 · 29 August 2007]

Although no highlight of the Italian Crime genre, Lucio Fulci's "Luca Il Contrabbandiere" aka "Contraband" is a rough, tough-minded and ultra-violent Gangster flick that certainly delivers, especially for a Fulci fan. Lucio Fulci is widely renowned as the 'Godfather Of Gore', and "Contraband" is a movie that is certainly not going to deprive him of this well-deserved reputation. Although the plot may not be as original as it was the case with many other of the (generally violent) Italian Crime Thrillers of the 70s and early 80s, "Contraband" scores in means of roughness, intransigence and gruesome, gory violence.

Luca Di Angelo (Fabio Testi) and many of his friends make a living as cigarette smugglers in Naples. After their refusal to deal with drugs instead of cigarettes, ruthless drug dealers, amongst them a sadistic gangster from Marseille start to target the cigarette smugglers' families. Luca, however, is not the kind of man who gives in to threats...

Fabio Testi, who had already worked with Lucio Fulci in "Four Of The Apocalypse" in 1975 (aside Tomas Milian and Lynne Frederick), delivers a good leading performance as Luca, and Marcel Bozzuffi is wonderfully evil in his role of the villain. I also found several of the supporting actors, such as Guido Alberti (who only has a very small role) very good. Some other supporting cast members deliver rather bad performances. The violence is pretty brutal and includes several very nasty scenes of torture and sexual violence. There are some scenes that don't really fit in, such as some cheesy looking and kitschy slow-mo sequences of horses at a racecourse, and the music is sometimes out of place, but all in all, the movie's qualities come up for its flaws. "Contraband" is certainly no highlight of Italian crime cinema, but a brutal and uncompromising flick that highly entertains. Fans of Lucio Fulci and Crime thrillers of the rough kind should be pleased.

A routine crime thriller made more entertaining by graphic gore.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 8 April 2007]

Nasty French drug dealer, the Marsigliese (Marcel Bozzuffi), is trying to take control of the crime scene in Naples; unable to convince the Neapolitan 'capo's (Mafia crime bosses) to deal in his narcotics (they prefer to smuggle harmless cigarettes instead), he has them bumped off one by one.

Eventually, only family guy smuggler Luca Di Angelo (Fabio Testi) stands between the Marsigliese and his total domination of the Naples underworld. But Luca's wife is kidnapped by the megalomaniacal mobster, and it looks as though all is lost—until help arrives in the form of several retired Mafia leaders who do not wish to see the Marsigliese succeed.

Taking a break from the horror scene for which he is better known, director Lucio Fulci has a go at a different genre, but still manages to gross out the audience with the high level of violence and gore he delivers. In order to make up for what is a pretty routine tale, he throws in loads of bloody bullet hits, mutilation, a smidgen of rape, and other assorted graphic nastiness. And when he's not trying to turn your stomach with blowtorches to the face, bullets through the throat or shotgun blasts to the abdomen, he chucks in some gratuitous nudity for good measure.

It is this sleaziness that makes Contraband watchable despite its mundane story, and even more enjoyable than quite a few of his horror films. 6.5 out of 10 (rounded up to 7 for IMDb).

Ahh, sunny Napoli...with gore, guns & guts...

[macabro357 · 7/10 · 29 June 2003]

(aka: CONTRABAND)

Normally I don't comment on non-horror or mondo films but since Fulci directed it, and since there's enough gore splatter in here to finance a small horror film, I'm gonna put my two cents in.

Fabio Testi plays a Neapolitan cigarette smuggler who's territory is being muscled in on by the Margliese (Marcel Bozzuffi) who wants a clear way to smuggle heroin into Italy using Naples as an entry point.

One by one, Testi's comrades are being killed off in many different gruesome ways, including the backs of heads being blown off, a rotting cadaver thrown through a window, blood bags exploding in stomachs with intestines flying out, and a pretty female drug courier getting half her face burned off by one of the Margilese's henchman.

This has to be one of the goriest crime thrillers I have seen so far. Fulci pulls no stops here and the bad guys are truly gonna get what they deserve. The ending shootout in the street between the Margilese's men and the retired Camorra bosses is classic Fulci.

The Blue Underground DVD uses an excellent widescreen print that is only marred in a couple of places by bad splicing. The only extras that come with it are a couple of bios (Fulci and Testi) and an American trailer.

If you want to see violent crime thriller that doesn't pull any stops like the American ones do, then go see this one!

Recommended! 7 out of 10

Viciously nasty and bloody Lucio Fulci's crime thriller.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 30 July 2009]

"Contraband" is Lucio Fulci's sleazy and gloriously violent gangster flick that tells the story of how cigarette smuggler and gangster Luca Di Angelo played by Fabio Testi overcomes the threat of violent cocaine smugglers attempting to muscle in on his operation and overturning the existing order.Being a fan of Lucio Fulci's uncompromising gory mayhem I always wanted to see "Contraband",which is his mix of mafia and poliziotteschi genre.It's undoubtedly the goriest gangster film ever made with its scenes of rape,the brain blow-outs,burn victims and shotgun blasts to the throat.The film has some dull spots and lifeless sequences,the cast is mediocre,but if you are a fan of sadistic Italian gore "Contraband" certainly delivers.Still I prefer early 80's horror movies of maestro Fulci.7 out of 10.

A vendetta of blood and guts.

[lost-in-limbo · 6/10 · 8 March 2008]

Here's another one outside the horror genre for director Lucio Fulci. He crafts a brutally biting, if disjointed Italian crime melodrama that serves to make you squirm in it gratuitous acts of extremely depraved violence and sleaziness. Fulci definitely left his calling card on this one, with many unforgettably unflinching nasty moments (like an uncomfortable face-melting scene). The superfluous gore and mean-spirited nature is great, but a lack of any real tension-building does hurt it. The twisty story is frank and unspectacular even with its shifty chain of bleak events and the script is weakly penned (the unsuitable humour when included falling flat), but being broken up by its impulsively vivid action stunts (nice use of slow-motion too) and gorgeous Naples' backdrop, leaves quite a hypnotic imprint. Sergio Salvati's brashly sharp and tight camera-work, interlocks with Fulci's kinetic visual bursts and rounding it off nicely is composer Fabio Frizzi's ever-changing, saucy music score that doesn't lye down. Performances are workably tailored. There's a humanely chiselled and honest performance by Fabio Testi. Marcel Bozuffi makes for a great smarmy, calculating French Mafia Don trying to take over Testi's character's turf. Ivana Monti, Ferdinand Murolo, Saverio Marconi and Guido Alberti provide able support. Quite an edgy, blunt and vicious crime joint that basically gets it kicks off its effectively rousing, if scandalous violence than anything more.

Effectively brutal.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 7 August 2015]

Lucio Fulci brings his unique brand of sadism to this okay entry into the Eurocrime genre. Fabio Testi stars as Luca Di Angelo, a cigarette smuggler / family man who does have some principles. His organization is now constantly being threatened by rival outfits who want to control the drug traffic in the area. Luca is ready for revenge when one of the first victims is his brother Mickey (Enrico Maisto), but the bad guys, led by the power hungry Marsigliese (Marcel Bozzuffi) up their game when they decide to kidnap Lucas' wife and son.

The script, credited to four people (including Fulci) is ultimately very routine. There's nothing special about any of the characters, even if they are entertainingly played. Testi, as always, is a rugged and studly "hero". The joy here lies in the fact that the movie is so utterly violent. A face is burned to a crisp with a torch, a throat is torn open, a head is shot apart, and bodies are continuously riddled with bullet holes.

Supporting Mr. Testi are Ivana Monti as Lucas' wife, Saverio Marconi as the cocky young mafia man Perlante, Fabrizio Jovine as a police chief, and Ajita Wilson as Luisa. The actors are fine, especially Mr. Bozzuffi as a thoroughly nasty and despicable villain.

The action set pieces are not spectacular, but they are fun, and Fulci gives this trashy story (complete with full frontal female nudity as well as gore) decent pacing and a visceral appeal.

Fans of Fulcis' bloody horror films from this period may also like this feature.

Look for Fulci near the end in a cameo as one of the gunmen.

Seven out of 10.

On a blood and guts level, the film satisfies

[fertilecelluloid · 6/10 · 14 December 2005]

On a blood and guts level, Fucli's "Contraband" fires up. The squib hits are extreme, giant chunks of flesh are shot out of necks, bad guys die in glorious slomo, and one woman has has face melted for attempting to sell a drug dealer cut coke.

On another level, the film is ponderous, the plot is predictable, and the performances are anemic. Fabio Testi, who was solid in "Revolver", plays a very weak character here and I didn't buy his campaign to wage revenge one little bit.

The action has a muscular quality to it and Fulci makes the most of his access to half a dozen boats. A funeral on the boats is a poetic touch, too. The film is not a bad one, but it misses being great because the script is feeble. You can spot the bad guy a mile off and the dubbing, as usual, is terrible.

The Fabio Frizzi score is memorable but used inappropriately and too often.

One of the best stunt sequences involves an assassinated man rolling down an embankment. There is a worthwhile killing at a racetrack involving a gun shoved a throat.

"Contraband" is a fast-forward job for viewers, and on that level, it offers some satisfaction.

A sensationalistic and extremely violent gangster movie by the famous gore-meister Lucio Fulci

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 15 November 2021]

A really explicit , disagreeable and twisted thriller with lots of murders committed by heinous mobsters and their hoodlums . It delas with Luca Di Angelo (Fabio Testi) is the leader of a smuggling gang , one member of an organized team trafficking cigarettes and booze up and down the coast off Naples , Italy . After a run-in with the coast guards in which the smugglers get escaped by faking a boat explosion resulting in the police motorboats responding to the false emergency . Then , Luca and his brother Mickey (Enrico Maisto) believe the head of a rival gang of smugglers , Scherino (Ferdinand Murolo) is the mole who's informing to Police on their illegal activities. Lucia and Mickey tell their accusations to their boss Perlante (Saverio Marconi) a sleazy playboy who has his own agend and he agrees to look into it . After an intentional fire at Mickey's racing stables kills a valued racehorse , he and Luca drive over to inspect the damage . On the way, they are stopped at a fake police roadblock , as Luca gets away but his brother is murdered . Luca searches for a haven of safety , while his cronies seek revenge . Things go wrong when a number of fellow smugglers are murdered by a kingpin smuggler from France, known as the Marsigliese (Marcel Bozuffi of French Connection) with numerous Mafia connections , being assisted by his sadist henchman (Romano Puppo) , as he's determined to become the Italian main ringmaster by smuggling drug from Naples ,Italy , to other countries .

Average crime yarn lacks much excitement , filled with sleaziness and non-sense of style . A really brutal thriller with full of killings , sexual violence including rape , red herrings , grisly murders by means of slashing , machine-gun shooting to death , killings in cold blood executed by ominous sicarios , a women's face being burned off with a blow torch , loathsome and lots of blood and gore . A mysoginist gangster movie with plenty of nudism , sadistic frames , graphic violation , explicit scenes of violence and extremely violent style , no for squeamish . Stars the italian idol Fabio Testi who gives a so-so but passable acting as the idealistic family man and dockside worker who actually works for a shady underworld smuggler . He's well acoompanied by a long plethora of familiar faces of the Seventies and Eighties , who participated in all kinds of genres , Spaghetti Western , Peplum , Eurospy , softcore , Poliziesco , such as : Venantino Venantini , Ajita Wilson, Luciano Rossi, Guido Alberti , Romano Puppo , Nello Pazzafini , and brief appearance by Lucio Fulci himself as an Old Boss.

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Lucio Fulci , and being entertaining enough. Fulci was one of the most controversial filmmakers in terror genre , though frequently derided as sheer sensationalism and commerciality , scathing commentary on social themes and state , and at times giving voice to its director's passionate hatred of the Catholic Church . Here Lucio Fulci directs in his usual style filled with flaws , failures and gaps , but professionally made because being a nice artisan . Critics are divided over both the moral and talents of Fulci (1927-1996), who sometimes directed under the alias Louis Fuller . For some reviewers many of his flicks are extremely cruel , grim and savage , yet their gory surface often concealing social , religious , or provoking commentaries or other thoughful , intelligent issues . Nevertheless , most of them considering his works have undeniably provided a considerable influence on the terror genre , creating decent efforts on low-medium budget flicks . Standing out his and ¨A Lizard in a Woman's Skin¨ (1971) and ¨Don't Torture a Duckling¨(1972) deemed to be two of his best pictures . And in the adventure genre with two financially successful Jack London 'White Fang' adventure movies in 1973 and 1974 which were ¨Zanna Bianca¨, and ¨Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca¨. Also during the mid and late 1970s, Fulci directed two 'Spaghetti Westerns' : ¨Four of Apocalypse¨ (1975) and ¨Sella d'argento¨ or ¨Silver Saddle¨(1978), and another good 'giallo' ; ¨The Psychic¨ (1977) with Jennifer O'Neill , as well as a few sex-comedies which include the political spoof : ¨The Eroticist¨(1972) , and the vampire comedy ¨Young Dracula¨ (1975) , and this violent Mafia crime-drama ¨Luca the smuggler¨ (1979) . In 1979, Fulci's film making career successfully another high point with him, breaking into the international market with ¨Zombi 2¨ (1979), an in-name-only sequel to George A. Romero's Zombi : Night of the Living Dead (1978), which had been released in Italy as 'Zombi'. And his big hit ¨New York Ripper¨ , at the time rated as a video nasty , due to it and why the excessive extra violence was heavily cut or prohibited in a large number of countries . With this film established Fulci as a gore director par excellence . Over the next three years , Fulci plied his trade with finesse and flair-play , rivaling even the popularity of his "opponent" the great Dario Argento, with such sanguine classics as ¨City of the Living Dead¨ (1980) and ¨Beyond¨ (1981). These films, as well as the reviled "New York Ripper" (1982) are actually intelligently crafted , with thorny commentaries on everything from American life to religion. Later on , he went on his fall with lousy movies, but eventually Fulci at least found work in television . Rating : 5/10 . Average , only for Lucio Fulci completists .

Awesome gory and violent crime thriller from the Italian master of gore

[Viva_Chiba · 10/10 · 30 September 2010]

When it comes to gore, Lucio Fulci knows how to deliver, even if this is not a horror movie. There are many scenes of brutal gun blasting, it will make gore hounds happy (with really well made special effects), also the soundtrack is amazing. Good performance of Fabio Testi, in the role of "Luca"

"Contraband" was made after the success of Zombie 2, another Fulci masterpiece.

Plot: Luca is a cigarette smuggler, "working" in Naples, Italy. After a boat chase with the police, Luca suspects that someone is trying to frame him. A group of Cocaine Smugglers are trying to "replace" the Cigarette smuggling by killing and threating all the cigarette smugglers that will go against them.....

Trivia: Fulci makes a cameo in the final shootout as: a old man with the glasses shooting with a machine gun.

Fulci should stick to the bizarre

[dopefishie · 3/10 · 13 December 2021]

Fulci should stick to the bizarre.

The dialogue is impossibly bad. I see why Fulci really excels at horror films with little dialogue. I saw an English dub so that may be part of the problem. The direction is poor here - particularly with the action sequences. It's like someone gave Fulci a helicopter, and he decided to include everything he shot from his new toy! There was little regard for logic... or even suspense.

Bottomline is that if you give Fulci a dark house and a knife you'll be fine. But give the man helicopter and it all flies into the toilet.

Intestines and Testi

[Samoan Bob · 29 March 2003]

Lucio Fulci's ultraviolent crime film is an enjoyable and unintentionally hilarious action flick with the requisite amount of gore one expects from a Fulci film. Fabio Testi (tee-hee!) plays a cigarette smuggler who gets entangled in a bunch of gang-land shootings. Melting corpses, burning skin, shot-open necks, repeatedly shot paper mache heads, shotgun blasted intestines (that seem to be made out of foam) ensue. In addition to that, there's a decent shootout or punch-up here and there. The highlight is some nerdy guy getting massive breasts shoved in his face. Well, at least for me.

I liked "Revolver" better

[movieman_kev · 7/10 · 26 September 2005]

Fabio Testi ("What Have They Done to Solange?" and "Revolver") is Luca, a cigarette smuggler who is part of a deal that got botched. When his brother gets killed, Luca and other fellow smugglers are being killed in overly violent ways by a rival smuggler from France, known simply as the Marsigliese (the late Marcel Bozzuffi of "Countdown" and "The French Connection"), naturally he wants some good old fashion revenge. Lucio Fulci ultra-violent touch is here, the misogyny is here, but it all feels too long, the story seems stretched out somehow. It's still watchable, don't get me wrong. Just not top tier Fulci.

Eye Candy: Cintia Lodetti shows all; Ivana Monti gets topless; Ofelia Meyer shows slight bush

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Talent Bios; and Theatrical Trailer

Fun, yet uneven swan-song to the Italian Crime genre

[Aylmer · 7/10 · 10 December 2000]

Gotta love this movie. It comes right at the end of the Italian crime movie phase and is probably the most violent of the lot, right up there with Ruggero Deodato's LIVE LIKE A COP DIE LIKE A MAN. THE SMUGGLER is at times a wonderful combination of the genre, with all the usual gang dropping by from Romano Puppo and Nello Pazzafini as hitmen to Luciano Rossi as a hunchback drug taster! This flick's got it all: loads of violence, some imaginitive photography, and two of the coolest leads in history: Fabio Testi as the good guy and Marcel Bozzuffi as basically the same guy he was in THE FRENCH CONNECTION, a greasy slimeball. After all the violence and mayhem, this flick isn't exactly perfect. Where at times it rolls by smoothly, quite often the flick gets bogged down in confusing narrative and a lot of pointless characters. It's not atypical for Fulci, even if it is his only pure crime movie, complete with wanton and gratuitous gore. Faces are melted, heads are blown off, and guts are shot out of Romano Puppo's belly in glorious slow motion much like his very similar death at the end of STREET LAW.

Watch for the running in-joke with Guido Alberti (who looks no less than a million years old) flipping through channels, always skipping the crime flicks and erotic thrillers in favor of the good old Spaghetti Westerns. These scenes don't really ever fit in with the rest of the film, but it's all good fun nonetheless. Certainly Lucio Fulci is no Enzo G. Castellari or Umberto Lenzi when it comes to directing crime movies, but he injects this film with enough of his own touch that it becomes a lot of fun. Definitely not one to miss, and it certainly is a delight to learn it's finally coming to DVD.

Nice and gory Fulci crime flick

[The_Void · 6/10 · 29 May 2006]

Contraband is one of the films that helps to show that Lucio Fulci was not merely a director of horror splatter films. Fulci directed this film after his controversial Dawn of the Dead rip-off, Zombie Flesh-Eaters proved to be a big hit. As you may expect from a man who became famous for gore, this film features more bloody murders than the average Giallo, and most of them are bloodier than those found in Fulci's zombie films! You've got to love Lucio Fulci, and scenes that see a woman have her face burnt away with a Bunsen burner, as well as someone else being smashed through a greenhouse show why! And then, of course, we've got all the blood and guts in the shootouts that you'd expect, and it's obvious that Fulci enjoys his gore, as most of it is overly gratuitous considering that this isn't even supposed to be a horror film. The film follows smuggling in Italy. We follow a smuggler named Luca Di Angelo, a man that works for an underground smuggling operation. His life turns sour when his brother is killed, and pretty soon after more smugglers move in on his territory...

It has to be said that this film is rather uneven, and at times the plot is difficult to follow. Of course, Fulci never lets this downtime last for long as there's always another brutal and bloody murder just around the corner, and the action scenes are genuinely exciting and well filmed. The lead performance courtesy of Fabio Testi is good and as was the case in What Have They Done to Solange and The Big Racket, his performance suits the movie's look and feel. He looks strong enough to be believable in the lead role, while simultaneously looking believable as a family man. Fulci's direction is good enough, and while the film is never as gritty and sleazy as it could have been; Contraband still benefits from a nice atmosphere. As ever with this sort of film, it all boils down to a big shootout, and the one here even features someone's guts falling out! I'm a big fan of Italian Giallo's, but to be honest; I haven't seen many of the Poliziotteschi sub-genre of which this movie is a part of. Therefore it is difficult for me to say whether or not this is one of the best, but as a fan of Italian cinema; I can tell you that Contraband is worth seeing.

Great Fulci action flick

[ericdetrick2002 · 8/10 · 22 June 2004]

I wish Fulci made more films like this. I think part of my liking it is that it has a lot of elements that I love about 70s Italian horror films- gore, funky soundtrack, dubbed in english, and did I mention gore?

This actually had a pretty decent crime family story line to it too, and it was set in Italy. So much of the Italian crime family movies are set in New York, this takes us back to the homeland. You probably won't find this in Blockbuster or

Hollywood Video. I had to buy myself a copy online, but I am a collector of Fulci films. Blue Underground has a really nice quality print out on DVD- check it out!

Not the average cop movie

[henriqueac-62783 · 7/10 · 20 November 2023]

This movie sure as hell is full of graphic and sexual violence. But this we all knew before watching it. It is really redundant to say that a Lucio Fulci's movie is full of gore and may contain some rape scenes.

Luca and his brother are two smugglers who got deceived during an operation. As story unfolds, we watch a sort of gang dispute full of killings. Despite all we can say about the plot not being very interesting, Fulci manages to make the whole movie seem to last "only 10 minutes".

Alright, it is not remarkable to say that we've liked this movie due to it's gory death scenes, nudity, shootings and so on so forth. But I mean, thruth be told: it is what it is. Let's just not stick to the plot simplicity and moral values this time and say that it was good because of all that things which are actually bad.

It wasn't Fulci's best effort, but I will give it seven out of ten for being a so-called "eurocrime" movie so "out of the box".

Bad Ol' Boys

[radiobirdma · 2/10 · 1 March 2011]

NOPE, capital letters. While Signore Fulci once had some not-too-big ambitions ("Paperino", "Lizard in a Woman's Skin"), this less than mediocre mafia/ poliziotto mix has one okay scene that maybe lasts a bit more than a minute: when the bad ol' boys of the Camorra, all withered pensioner consiglieres with pale moustaches and spectacles, settle the accounts with their tommy guns, including Non-Maestro Fulci in a cameo role. Apart from that, you get a nonsensical script, probably the worst and already then totally outdated disco soundtrack of the early 80s, highly unattractive Italian housewives plus a black transvestite in the females roles, hairy vaginas, a bit of zombie make-up, a bunsen burner held to a lady's face, an anal rape Napoli style ... a bag of guilty pleasure goodies, some might think, but it's all as gritty and shocking as the spaghetti bolognese at Luigi's grimy restaurant next door. Even the (Danish) DVDs extras don't tease afterwards. Here, you won't stay for dessert.

Contrabandits

[seveb-25179 · 7/10 · 10 December 2020]

Arguably, the 1970s produced the nastiest action movies ever, and the Italians might possibly edge out the Americans and the Japanese for the depths of depravity reached. Fabio Testi's movies are certainly among the most brutal of the Italian "Poliziotteschi" films and Contraband is definitely the most brutal of the Fabio Testi movies I have seen. Exhibit One - the blowtorch scene. Exhibit Two - the rape scene. In both cases, the "action" goes on far longer than it needs to for the purpose of dramatic impact and well into the realms of sadistic voyeurism. The plot involves an attempt by hard drug dealers to take over the transport infrastructure of the general contraband smugglers (cigarettes, liquor etc.) who use a flotilla of fast speedboats to circumvent Italian customs and excise. Apparently, the filmmakers ran out of money part way through and actual smugglers agreed to provide additional finance, as well as their boats, their services as extras and "suggestions" as to how the script might be improved. Authentic stuff then!

Mediocre euro-crime flick, but Fulci's gore is exhilarating!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 18 March 2007]

The legendary and beloved (to some) Italian demigod Lucio Fulci usually was one of the first directors to quickly cash in on temporarily popular trends in cinema but, for some reason, it took him until the early 80's to participate in the giant success of explicitly violent and relentless crime-thrillers. Fellow director-friends like Umberto Lenzi ("Almost Human"), Ruggero Deodato ("Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man"), Sergio Martino ("Violent Professionals") and Enzo Castellari ("Street Law") had been making loads of money with their outrageous cop-thrillers since the early 70's already, but Fulci didn't benefice from the profitable sub genre until the release of "Contraband". Arguably the best years of the trend were already over when Fulci came along or maybe the script just isn't strong enough, but "Contraband" is one of the director's most uneven accomplishments; do I even daresay a minor disappointment. Luca Di Angelo has a loving wife and son, and along with his brother Mickey he's the most successful cigarette-smuggler in the whole of Naples. The two brothers live in perfect harmony and understanding with the other eminent mafia clans in town and not even the police bothers them too much. When first his brother Mickey, and subsequently all the other befriended mafia leaders are barbarically slaughtered, Luca swears to avenge them. He quickly discovers the French immigrant smuggler "Il Marsigliesi" is responsible for the murders, as he intends to forcefully take over the entire smuggling business in Naples. The story can be summarized really quickly, and yet usually the story lines of these euro-crime films are extremely convoluted and full of far-fetched twists. Fulci's script is rather rudimentary, with either no red herring or very predictable ones and no sudden surprises or genuine shock-revelations. But there's some good news as well! Whatever "Contraband" lacks in originality, Fulci compensates in excessive amounts of outrageous violence and totally gratuitous gore! These criminals don't just shoot each other with one bullet, no, they keep firing until either the intestines fall out, or the faces are transformed into nasty piles of rotten meat-leftovers. The methods of torturing used by the malevolent French gangsters include horrible face-burnings and sadistic anal rapes. It actually looks like Lucio was once again more interested in making another gross horror movie, and who the hell are we to complain about that? The acting performances are all below average, even crime/giallo regular Fabio Testi is out of shape, and even the use of music and photography aren't at all spectacular. Recommended to trained fans of Italian crime thrillers and Lucio Fulci, newcomers to either of them are advised to postpone their viewing of "Contraband" until you've seen some of the aforementioned titles.

The Maestro does it Again!!!

[Jerry-93 · 2 August 1999]

Fulci's movies tend to be a mixed: they're either terribly good or terribly bad. This one is terribly good. The plot is simple: Testi plays Luca, a cigarette smuggler who is reluctant to go into business with a powerful gangster. When Luca refuses, the gangster gets mad, and makes Luca's life a Hell, namely by killing his friends and abducting his wife.

Like all Fulci movies, this one is pretty slow going some of the time, but wait til the gang war gets started!!! We got heads blowing off, faces burned off, throats and stomachs blown out, and all the nudity you could ever ask for. Even has a happy ending (or what passes for a happy ending in these films). Fans of the crime genre will not be disappointed.

Gangsters, guns and gore galore

[Stevieboy666 · 7/10 · 17 August 2022]

Infamous film director Lucio Fulci was known as the Godfather of Italian Gore and it is his horror and giallo movies that most people associate him with, however he did also make films of other genres including comedy and westerns. Contraband aka The Naples Connection is a violent and fairly stylish thriller about rival gangsters in Naples, Italy. The plot is basic and easy to follow, what sets this apart is its level of violence and gore. There is a fairly high body count with very gory deaths that should please most splatter fans. And as it's a Fulci movie there is also some full frontal female nudity, one of these scenes has a woman getting raped, very uncomfortable viewing. Essential viewing for fans of Fulci, gore and European exploitation.

Bloody good mob action from gorelord Lucio Fulci!

[dworldeater · 8/10 · 7 January 2018]

Not to be confused with Mark Walberg's recent action flick of the same name. This is a tough and gritty Italian crime thriller from legendary director Lucio Fulci. Although best known for his gut churning work in the horror genre, Lucio has a diverse filmography of various genres he made. Contraband will surely please fans of his work in the horror genre as this film delivers big time on extreme violence and gore. Blood and guts splatter across the screen when bullet ridden bodies are filled with lead, Heads and body parts get blown off with sheer brutality from gunfire. While the action is not as abundant or crazy as a John Woo film, the aftermath of these gun battles is much more messy and sadistic in its execution. This film is centered around Luca(Fabio Testi), a cigarette smuggler who is at odds with a ruthless French gangster that is into selling narcotics and looking to dominate the underworld in Naples at any cost. This triggers a series of tragic events that have our hero Luca ready for all out revenge. In this brutal and depraved mob flick, the violence is very extreme and sadistic including scenes of torture and rape. The film is some pretty solid piece of gangster action, with great direction acting and sick gore f/x. Contraband is quite under rated in my opinion and is a great mob flick.

Sleazy crime thriller by Lucio Fulci

[Camera-Obscura · 11 October 2006]

CONTRABAND (Lucio Fulci - Italy 1980).

It's great to see all the familiar faces from the heydays of European bad cinema together again. Bad film-making without the slightest wit or irony. Those were the days... They all lined up for this very sleazy and sadistic "Poliziottesco" by Lucio Fulci, his only foray into the crime genre, and I'm glad it was the only one he made. Fabio Testi is the focal point as Luca Di Angelo, an idealistic family man and cigarette smuggler in this tale of mob warfare in economically depressed Naples. When a rival gang massacres his brother and abducts his wife, Luca goes berserk and triggers an all-out mob war, with virtually every Don in town getting involved.

Testi is OK in the lead and Marcel Bozzufi (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) makes quite an impact as "The Margliese", a Frenchman who tries to muscle his way into the Neapolitan crime world. He really is the most sadistic and ruthless crime figure you'll ever see. I figure this film would satisfy most Fulci fans. Torture, rape, bare flesh, endless shoot-outs and plenty of sleaze and violence make this slightly entertaining. I could sit through this because there's quite a lot of action and it's never really dull, but otherwise beware. This film has some of the most atrocious English dubbing I know , real bad, only made worse by the already howlingly awful dialog and some wooden acting. What about that club scene? I think they took some dialog from a totally different movie there (Blue Underground's release didn't include an Italian audiotrack), it didn't make sense whatsoever. Even by grade-Z poliziotteschi standards, this was pretty mystifying.

The film also features a soundtrack with some Italian pseudo-rock 1980 style. I can't really describe it, but it was annoying and totally inappropriate for the scenes. Fulci does show some of his earlier cinematic flair in some (especially interior) scenes, but then ruins it all in the next with bad lighting and bad editing, like showing somebody's head blown off, before the actual shot is being fired. In an earlier comment someone remarked the gore was very realistic. Well, what can I say? If you think blood looks like strawberry juice, I guess it does.

Camera Obscura --- 4/10

Bloody violence does not a movie make

[Wizard-8 · 3/10 · 4 March 2018]

Lucio Fulci is not among my favorite Italian directors, but he did make a few movies that were entertaining and/or interesting to watch. And his penchant for extreme violence and gore is a definite plus in my book, so you may understand why I was pumped to see "Contraband", after reading reports stating it was full of bloody and brutal violence. Well, that report is true - there is some serious violence and bloody splatter to be found here, and those moments are quite entertaining. But I wish I could say that about the rest of the movie. Personally, I was quite bored with most of the movie, especially the first third. It's slow moving, and really dull at times. And I didn't really care about any of the characters at all, so it was really hard to get involved in the story. It doesn't help that the movie is more often than not shoddily photographed, sometimes resembling a black and white movie, but more often having a sickly green pea soup coloring. I know I am in the minority here, and I did want to enjoy the movie much more than I did. But as a whole, the movie just didn't do that much for me.

Stunningly brutal and effective

[Killogic · 9/10 · 27 March 1999]

Lucio Fulci's "The Smuggler" is a potent and brutal text of violence and mysoginism taking place in a world where these are the laws of the land. Although the violence in this film is characteristically extreme, Fulci distinguishes this from his more exploitive efforts by providing a smart, moving and sometimes funny script coupled with solid and inobtrusive direction.