The New Gladiators

The year is 2072, and in an attempt to compete with a rival network based in America, an Italian network based in Rome decides to start a show where modern day gladiators on motorcycles battle to the death. 'When in Rome,' they say. Welcome to the world of Lucio Fulci's The New Gladiators, a hodgepodge of dystopian science fiction ideas coupled with some heavy flavoring of John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981) and George Miller's Mad Max (1979) for good measure. After the success of dystopian sci-fi flicks like those two, the Italian film industry looked to cash in on the trend and Lucio Fulci was called to action. From the opening shot of a futuristic environment borrowed heavily from Blade Runner (1982), the narrator informs the audience that in 2072, violence is a way of life and people are so hooked on it that shows like Kill Bike, an American show of bikers fighting to the death, is the number one rated show in the world, outdoing its closest rival, The Danger Game, an Italian production in which contestants are made to believe they are being killed in order to win prizes. It's doing well enough in the ratings but nowhere near where it should be. That's when the leader of the network decides to go all out: Modern day gladiators fighting to the death! Starring Jared Martin, Fred Williamson and Howard Ross, and produced in English, The New Gladiators exists in the great tradition of B movies cashing in on whatever trend is popular at the moment, or at least the previous five years. Often mixing in story and design elements from bigger budget hits with a quick, low-budget slapdash screenplay, these movies were never designed to win top awards but instead make a buck on the straight to video market. And Fulci was no slouch when it came to these things. By 1984, Fulci's reputation for giallo horror was well known. In fact, Fulci's films were considered so violent and gory that most countries required them to be severely edited before they could be released to the general public. In some cases, they were simply banned, but no matter what the case, it made them all the more desirable to the home video market once that came into play in the 1980s. So when Fulci co-wrote and directed The New Gladiators with that video market in mind, it was a surprisingly tepid affair. In fact, The New Gladiators must be one of Fulci's least gory movies in his entire catalogue. The film is little more than a footnote in Fulci's career today, but one that is more interesting than many of his better-known horror films. More interesting is how many source materials are combined and, to some degree, how well they work. For a knockoff sci-fi film, it manages to look at television of the future in a way that seems almost prescient, years before reality television became, well, a reality. Mainly though, it's just fun and silly schlock cinema, and whether it will one day be viewed as a masterpiece in the year 2072 remains to be seen. Directed by Lucio Fulci Written by Elisa Briganti , Cesare Frugoni , Lucio Fulci, Dardano Sacchetti Produced by Edmondo Amati, Maurizio Amati and Sandro Amati Music by Riz Ortolani Cinematography by Giuseppe Pinori Film Editing by Vincenzo Tomassi Production Design by Giacomo Calò Carducci, Franco Vanorio Costume Design by Mario Giorsi Cast: Jared Martin (Drake), Fred Williamson (Abdul), Howard Ross (Raven), Eleonora Brigliadori (Sarah), Cosimo Cinieri (Professor Towman), Claudio Cassinelli (Cortez), Valéria Cavalli (Susan), Donald O'Brien (Monk), Penny Brown (Sybil), Al Cliver (Kirk), Mario Novelli (Tango), Hal Yamanouchi (Akira) By Greg Ferrara