The VHS Archives: Umberto Lenzi's THUNDER SQUAD (1985)

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Thunder Squad

Umberto Lenzi's I cinque del Condor (1985)

The VHS Archives Factsheet

Label: Mogul Communications, Inc.

Catalog: MOG1021

Box Type: Clamshell

Year of Release: 1987

Runtime: 82:53

Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs

Extras: None

About the Film

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Year of Release: 1985

Country of Origin: Italy

Stars: Antonio Sabato, Ivan Rassimov, Werner Pochath, Sal Borghese, Julya Fursich, Gustavo Adolfo Matos

AKAs: The Wild Team, The Condor Five, Five Amazon Bastards

Verbatim Box Synopsis

A South American rebel leader in exile in Miami, Florida, is given one last chance to overthrow his successor, a bloody and ferocious dictator, by a multi-national mining group out to exploit his country's mineral resources.

PROBLEM: The leader's only son is held hostage by the dictator, and will be executed at the first signal of an invasion. 

SOLUTION: Recruit a team of deadly mercenaries, all experts in guerilla warfare, to free the boy and eliminate local resistance ... thus the THUNDER SQUAD is born, a dirty dozen, trained to the limit and armed to the teeth. Parachuted into the jungle, they launch a sudden successful attack. 

The THUNDER SQUAD are betrayed by the multinational executives, who have switched sides to protect their interests. Hunted by government troops, the THUNDER SQUAD must battle for survival in the jungle ... Call it guts, courage, bravery ... whatever you call it, they've got it.

U.S. Mogul Commincations sleeve!

(The cover is actually a pretty cool foil-embossed sleeve which unfortunately doesn't scan very well. I'm unsure if a non-foil printing exists.)

Danish A-B-Collection Videofilm sleeve, courtesy of Hans-Jorn Reimer and his Danish Ex-Rental VHS Appreciation Group! 

German Starlight Video sleeve! 

Dutch Video for Pleasure sleeve!

French Prime Time Video sleeve!

Argentinean Lucian Films Video sleeve, courtesy of Raro VHS!

Argentinian Lucian Films VHS advertisement, also courtesy Cristian from Raro VHS!

Norwegian VCM sleeve, courtesy of Dag-Johnny Elnes!

Greek Rex Films Home Video sleeve, courtesy of Jack Jensen's When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines. 

Japanese Columbia Video sleeve, also courtesy of Jack Jensen!

If you feel like spending 90 minutes in front of your computer, The Giallo Grindhouse have uploaded the entire film to Youtube!

Looking for Thunder Squad? It's not readily available on VHS, but if you just want to see it there's a crummy DVD from VideoAsia as part of their Expendables 2: Zero Heroes set.

Investigate more titles with Project: MOGUL!

For a look at other labels, check out The VHS Archives!

© 2012 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

The Return of Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #19!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #19 here at the ol' Arcana! Can you identify this week's mystery photo, scanned direct from The Holecheck Archives? If you think you recognize it, post a comment below. As the week goes on, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding some pretty useless hints. Easy, right?

Here ya' go -- good luck!
 

 
UPDATE:

The Swedish shinobi strikes again!  Fred Anderson (Ninja Dixon) plucks his second win by identifying Umberto Lenzi's Eyeball (1975).  Unjustly maligned by most, I think the film serves as one of the director's most enjoyable romps; it's a sleazy, slash-happy giallo concerning a ragtag group of tourists -- a lesbian photographer, a shady priest, a cheating wife, a slutty schoolgirl, and more! -- having their numbers trimmed by an ocular-obsessed psycho in a red rain slicker.  And, of course, it's all set to an infectious Bruno Nicolai score.  What's not to like?  Snobs, I tell you.  

Eyeball received its belated Stateside release in 1978 courtesy of exploitation magnates Joseph Brenner Associates, Inc., who saw fit (as usual) to rework the title sequence and speed up the tempo by deleting some extraneous investigation footage.  It was a badly cropped version of this edit that hit the VHS scene in 1985, adorned with some of the most boring cover art you're likely to see, from JBA's usual standby, Prism Entertainment.  (My first knowledge of the film actually came from the cross-promo inclusion of its awesomely trashy trailer on the Prism tape of Pete Walker's Frightmare II.) 

 

 

The earliest DVD on the scene was the 2002 Labyrinth des Schreckens (Labyrinth of Fright) disc from Germany's Marketing Film, which featured an anamorphic transfer of the original European version in its full 2.35:1 ratio, along with some stills and a trailer.  (Seeing the film properly presented definitely boosts one's opinion!)  This print was later recycled for the 2004 rerelease from X-Rated Kult Video.  There's also a 2007 Italian disc from Pulp Video, though I'm unsure if this offers an upgrade or not.  For some inexcusable reason, there hasn't been a domestic DVD release to date, a situation that desperately needs to be remedied. (Severin? Midnight Legacy? Synapse? Anybody?!  Somebody start a petition!)

As always, the poster image comes courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.  The newspaper ad was swiped from Fred Adelman's highly recommended Critical Condition.

For a look at our last entry, click here. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is constantly updated, so stop by and preorder some cool stuff!

 
© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.