Black Shampoo Torrent

A highly effective and satisfying western/crime-and-punishment hybrid, this super-stylishly choreographed, brightly lit, smooth and stylish film begins in a quiet, lonely Colorado town, where FBI agent Sam Malloy has come to investigate the apparently dastardly crime of a murderous serial killer known as The Wraith. Malloy probes the case with a peculiar intensity and persistence that verges on obsession, and before long he gets connected to the most bewilderingly bizarre case of his career: a seemingly unprecedented, downtown vigilante-style gang of criminals is violently retaliating against a corrupt sheriff's department by organizing a series of vicious mob-style hit-and-run killings! Yes, you read it right: in broad daylight, on none less than the main thoroughfares of the little mountain town in question, these brazen lowlife street punks are doing all manner of zany, madcap, evil and highly foolish things like drag the abducted young women of the town across the street, dismember them in a Cadillac dealership, slit the throats of various passers-by (including a good minister), and even kidnap and torture an apparently harmless plastic surgeon who's the sole possessor of a secret formula which can avert the Wraith's laundry list of bullet-riddled, torture-glue-smothered victims' deaths. The one-man-against-the-world confrontation between Malloy and the vigilante gang's leader brings to mind an odd mix of Tony Montana and Charles Bronson, and as for the final showdown between the two men -- well, it's grimly funny, sadistic, and satisfyingly bloodthirsty to the last! Yup, Reverend, you don't wanna mess with Malloy once a Wraith has been taken in by him, and, furthermore, we don't really care if this Capra-esque western/crime opus manages to save the heroine -- the always awesome Mimi Rogers -- or not. No, what makes this inspired sleazy little concoction of outrageous lunacy rock so hard right off the bat is simply the way it dares to take a very middle-of-the-road, Hollywood-happy-go-lucky look at crime in America and turns it into some truly outrageous and inventive extreme-violence/murder comedy, one that's also both wickedly funny and surprisingly effective. d2c66b5586