For a few decades the Italian film industry had huge success making their own versions of popular Hollywood genre pictures. By the late Eighties this was winding down; the international markets and cinema distribution deals that had helped these films flourish dwindling as multiplexes took over. But there were still plenty of films being made, and Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare Beach (aka Welcome to Spring Break) from 1988 followed the prevailing popularity for slashers. In the entertainingly brutal interview by Eugenio Ercolani featured in the booklet provided with this new release, the frank Lenzi gives his version of production problems that affected a film he cares little for, calling it an opportunity for a Miami vacation above anything else. So, is Nightmare Beach really that bad? Yes, for the most part, but it still has its charms.
It’s spring break and an abundance of horny, booze and drug-addled students have arrived at the beach to party. Like Amity Island, there’s not really anything else that brings in the bucks like tourism, so when a brutal murder happens the corrupt council, police and local doctor (those last two represented by legends John Saxon and Michael Parks) get embroiled in a cover-up. Football players Skip and Ronnie show up to drown the former’s woes after blowing the big college game, and when Ronnie disappears, Skip’s DIY investigation into the local biker gang threatens to uncover everything. At the same time, a mysterious solo biker is electrocuting, strangling and bludgeoning people. It’s not exactly a mystery as despite attempts at a possibly-supernatural origin, the real killer is achingly obvious from the start. Nightmare Beach definitely isn’t a good film, but it is trashily entertaining and, with some agreeably gloopy kills and that cast of genre icons, it’s never boring.
It’s also never really had a proper UK-release and this 88 Films Blu-ray puts that right. The main draw for a film shot mostly in bright sunshine is a beautiful 2K scan from the original camera negative which displays the colourful, cheesy nonsense taking place with sharp clarity. There’s a nice interview (15 mins approx.) with composer Claudio Simonetti that covers his film career and an alternate 1:33 presentation of the film too. That booklet interview comes from Ercolani’s upcoming book The Devil’s Spectrum: The History of Italian genre and exploitation cinema told by its protagonists and is well worth a read. It’s hardly essential as a film, but if you’re an Italian genre release completist, a Lenzi fan or must have every slasher on disc, you’ll get something out of it, and the technical presentation is solid.
NIGHTMARE BEACH (1989) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTORS & SCREENPLAY: JAMES JUSTICE, UMBERTO LENZI / STARRING: NICOLAS DE TOTH, SARAH BUXTON, RAWLEY VALVERDE, LANCE LEGAULT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
