Too much of everything

Fresh and Exciting

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A simple grade C Italian thriller with sex and violence becomes an A-picture thanks to an excellent script, strong acting and fine direction by Bruno Fontana, who also wrote the novel on which the film is based. At first glance the plot seems to be nothing new and the presence of Laura Gemser seems to indicate another EMMANUELLE-type adventure, set this time in the desert. Fans looking for cheap exploitation will find themselves with a whole lot more, as this gripping psychological study of the mental deterioration of a group of stranded soldiers is an excellent little movie and one of the best of its type I've seen. In fact it owes more to the gruelling Italian war epics of the '60s such as THE RED BERETS than the sleazy sexploitation drama into which it has been slotted. Despite lacking a budget, any stars (aside from Gemser in a relatively small role), gore, or special effects, this is a uniquely-crafted and utterly engrossing story of the lowest depths to which mankind will fall.Things begin rather predictably with a team of soldiers infiltrating an enemy base and shooting dead a wanted man. Unfortunately they are double-crossed by their contact and their captain is fatally wounded. Lost in a country they have no knowledge of and worn down by a lack of provisions and the searing heat of the desert, the group quickly descends into mindless bickering, and power struggles for the leadership emerge when the captain dies. Along their journey they pick up a mysterious guide known as Bony and rest at a remote house. At this point the film hits us with a nasty gang-rape sequence which is pretty brutal and nihilistic, seeing as the girl commits bloody suicide as a result of the violation. After this nothing stays the same and one realises that this will be an intense, downbeat, and definitely adult film.As more members of the party die and spirits dwindle, into the picture steps Laura Gemser as a mysterious sexual traveller who lures one man to his doom. What follows is a chronicle of sexual jealousy, leadership rivalry, and lots of violent murder as the remaining soldiers struggle to contain their feelings and eventually lose the remnants of their consciences. The outcome is predictable but oddly unmissable and its difficult to turn the film off once you've started watching. One thing it has in spades is atmosphere, with the sweaty Cyprus locations adding to the strong realism of the production and a lack of noticeable music/directorial flourishes adding to the feel of the film, making it seem almost documentary-like.The acting is very good from just about the entire cast; of course the strongest and most interesting characters last the longest. Angelo Infanti (a George Eastman lookalike) is particularly good as the hateful brutish rapist who takes over leading the soldiers when the rightful captain dies. Giovanni Brusadori also excels as the innocent soldier who struggles to cope when his companions turn to rape and violent murder and who eventually descends into madness. Genre regular Gabriele Tinti deserves mention as the cool, mysterious "Bony" character, whilst Laura Gemser has a great role and gets to act for a change as well as shedding all of her clothes when necessary. The action sequences are well-staged and generally exciting but it's the human drama which makes this so watchable. Despite an element of predictably to the narrative (you can see pretty much from the start where its going) this remains a strong, challenging and important little movie and surprisingly better than you would imagine.

Once again we have a case of a random Laura Gemser movie being retitled to cash in on the success of the 'unofficial' Emanuelle series, although whoever gave this film the AKA 'Emanuelle Queen of the Desert' was clearly having a bit of a laugh: the film is not set in a desert (it looks hot, but is obviously Mediterranean countryside); and Gemser's character is quite clearly named Sheila (and judging by her unladylike behaviour, she's definitely not royalty).La belva dalle calda pelle AKA The Dirty Seven AKA Emanuelle Queen of the Desert is essentially a revenge drama, with Gemser avenging the rape and murder of a young woman by a team of soldiers who have become stranded in the *ahem* desert after their mission goes awry; as things go from bad to worse for the mercenaries, the men begin to fight among themselves, giving Sheila the opportunity to exploit their weaknesses (usually starting by flashing her goods at them).And speaking of exploitation and weaknesses, this film has its fair share of both: there is some of nudity (of course), a smattering of sex, and plenty of violence, but also lots of poorly executed action, dreadful dialogue, tiresome drama, and laughable plot development—and with Gemser not even making an appearance until halfway though the film, I imagine that even the most ardent fans of the lovely lady will find this film a struggle to sit through.

The Emanuelle franchise was obviously very popular in Italy during the seventies and eighties; and as a result of that, just about every film that Laura Gemser has been involved in since bears the Emanuelle name, even if the films actually have nothing to do with earlier entries in the series. Emanuelle: Queen of the Desert is yet another example of an annoying Emanuelle cash-in, although to be fair; this film actually isn't all that bad. The plot is rather simple and focuses on a bunch of red blooded soldiers that rape a girl before having her thrown out of the window. They then go on the run in the desert; before running into Gemser's 'Tigress' character who takes revenge on them all. So we've basically just a rape and revenge set in the desert with Laura Gemser starring. The plot is rather well done and the characters are interesting enough to hold the audience's attention for at least a little while. Laura Gemser gets top billing but isn't really the star of the film; despite stealing it once she does arrive. She gets naked a couple of times and her revenge on the soldiers is fun enough. Naturally, the film doesn't give the audience anything to come away with; but it's a decent hour and a half of sex, violence and Laura Gemser and better than most of the other fake Emanuelle films.

In the 569th case of misleading marketing I've come across, the DVD version of this movie is called "Emanuelle, Queen of the Desert" even though the only thing it has in common with the Emanuelle movies is that Laura Gemser stars, and she gets naked; however she plays a totally different character. There is the germ of an interesting story here - Gemser as a mysterious, almost ghost-like avenger - but the film is too badly made to have much impact. The flashback in the middle serves a purpose - it shows you what pigs some of these characters are and why they deserve what they get - but it shouldn't have gone on for so long (35 minutes). When it's over, the movie has only 10 minutes left! Also, beware of the DVD picture and sound quality, it's pretty poor. (*)