The Hallucination Strip [Blu-ray]

Hallucination Strip, from by first-and-only-time director Lucio Marcaccini, deals with "young" (the twenty -something actors are purportedly teenagers) are political "activists" slumming in Rome, but in doing so paints a picture of 70s Rome that’s different than the usual portrayal as a rough-and-tumble city of as in most poliziottesco films. Of course, Rome is still a place where amoral people do very bad things. Among them is a student named Massimo, played by Bud Cort (Harold and Maude, Brewster McCloud), whose petty thieving and dealing, while not a hardened criminal finds his comrades up against THE MAN. An odd, meandering narrative with no clear focus (what Fernando Di Leo could've done with this material!). It soon becomes obvious why Marcaccini would never direct another film after this schizophrenic piece of celluloid: part heist movie, love story, drug trip, gangster movie, police procedural And would-be counterculture statement (like, say, thd Bud Cort vehicle, The Strawberry Statement from 1970).Suddenly in the middle (not much preamble) is a lengthy psychedelic freak-out sequence, featuring nymphomaniacal lizard women and a paison turning into a plant, during an Avid Test (in 2975?!?!) Hallucination Strip may be as manic and misguided a film, but it does have an certain naive charm. And that charm’s amplified by the unlikely presence of Bud Cort, who’s certainly out of place amongst the rest of the cast, but that honestly only makes this film all the more bizarre.If you’re into psychedelic pictures or poliziottesco or both, you’ll might want to check this out. Typically, people who watch foreign films watch them in their original language and subtitled– rather than dubbed into English.  When it comes to Italian cinema (the "Bs" anyway), Keep in mind that even the Italian-language track is dubbed over, as those in the Italian film industry once dubbed all audio in post-production. This means that even Italian-speaking actors are dubbed into Italian in older Italian films. The problem with Hallucination Strip is that both the original Italian-language dub and the English-language dub are difficult to endure. Though I would typically say don’t even bother with the English dub, the actor they found to dub Bud Cort has a voice some two octaves lower (good for laffs, at least) than Cort. It might prove distracting - Cort was clearly speaking English on set and the English dub features Cort dubbing himself back into English. Got that? Good!Alas, the rest of the voice-over work on the English dub is incredibly stilted. So be aware that you’re going to have to choose the lesser of the two evils when deciding between language tracks.Raro Video seems to be defunct: an inactive website, fire-sales, etc. Raro's authorized vendor on Amazon, "Fictions" sent me this film (and another), priced at $2.99, described as "new" in a black DVD case. Smashed to bits (the case). No cover art, booklet. Beware.

Prior to purchasing this DVD, I have 2 other versions of this film--one was a VHS tape I received all in Italian, the second was from an eBay auction that was a of DVD with English subtitles. I received the DVD in a very timely manner AND when I put it in my DVD player, I was very happy to see the excellent quality of the film-to-DVD transfer and that the film not only had English subtitles, but was dubbed in English as well. However, I noted that a scene had been shortened from the original film, which was okay, but I was disappointed that the film had glitches where it froze throughout the last half of the film and the bonus features were not accessible. I ended up sending the DVD back to Amazon as being defective and requested another DVD. Unfortunately, I had the same problem with the replacement DVD and was about to send it back for a refund when, fortunately, my computer savvy son told me to play the DVD in my computer as some transfers don't play well in DVD players. When I did, I was VERY happy that the film played well throughout with no glitches AND I was able to view the bonus features!I would have given a much higher rating, were it not for the problem I had in watching it in my DVD player. In future, I would suggest that buyers be told that before they return a DVD, to make sure that they try to watch it in their computers if it doesn't play well in their DVD players to see if it works better there.

Weird Italian film with Bud Cort dubbed in Italian. Never heard of this film but I am a fan of the "Raro" releases. Since I got it so cheap it was worth the view. Can't recommended it to anyone one but hard core Italian 70s films. Not a "Gallio" not a "poliziotteschi" just a trippin' drug abuse film.

This movie was fun, goot goot to man who make fun movie!