Streets Of Darkness — Streets Of Darkness(DVD)

Here from the fine folks at SRS Cinema is a region-free DVD release of Streets Of Darkness- a mid-90s SOV mafia crime film. And it’s fair to say we’re in entertaining, at points, cringe-inducing bad-film territory here- as we follow tank-topped T-wearing, and at points oiled up, and hair-gelled Carlo(Vincent LaRusso- who also wrote the film) just out of prison,  going back into  Miami’s criminal underground. The film features a host of macho-at-times nonsensical dialogue, a selection of older vaguely looking Italian men hamming it up as crime bosses, bumbled line delivery, slow-mo/ bloodless action scenes, general messy editing, and mawkish romances/ bromances. The DVD takes in a commentary track, a few interviews, and a short pre-sequel- also with commentary.

Released in 1995 Streets Of Darkness was the third & final film from James Ingrassia. His other two films were Hot Splash (1988) which is a comedy action film regarding surfer buddies getting tied up with a drug dealer. And Kiss Of The Serpent (1988) which appears to be an island set slasher with a snake face killer(!). Streets Of Darkness looks like it’s one of the better-funded SOV films- with a fair few cast members, and some(at points) component shot set-ups…but this is very much firmly in bad film land.

We kick off with our first example of bad editing, as we get a brief snippet of our lead Carlo (Vincent LaRusso) in a bedroom scene, all glistening hair chested, putting ammo in a handgun, and saying ‘I’m a dangerous man’. We then jump cut to a mix of Carlo walking through a prison, and bland overhead stock footage of summertime Miami- with him doing a brief voice-over. We then jump to a local convenience store- where a wheel-chaired woman is buying two coconuts, before getting hassled by two bikers, and then getting saved by a local priest. We then switch to a man asking to come into a woman’s apartment, then he mockingly throws her down- with dub over slap sounds on. We find out soon enough the wheelchaired woman is Carlo’s sister, and the woman is his mother- after a brief interaction, and him promising vengeance for his mother…we don’t see either character again!.

As the film unfolds Carlo meets a selection of ageing trying-to-be tough older men- who hamming-it-up the mafia boss thing. He first gets with one of the bosses’ younger girlfriends, then one of the other bosses' daughters. He tracks down the drug dealer that mockingly rough up Mum- takes revenge while a large-breasted woman is tied to a bed. We get montages of Carlo taking out folks(with zero blood), and Carlo getting freaky/ romantic with one of his lovers- on the beach, in the shower, etc.  With the whole thing being soundtracked by a throbbing, though wavering synth score.

LaRusso is a decidedly vapid & flat lead- and he clearly loves himself, as he’s either in tank topped T, a muscle shirt, or in bear chested (at one point in a white suit jacket). I’m guessing as he wrote the script- he also penned the dialogue, which is full of macho posturing, and corny one-liners- making him look good. And we do get more than a few memorable great bad scenes- there's when the bikers threaten Carlo's sister, with neither having an ounce of threat to them, as they & the cliched priest bumble out the lines. We have truly cringe including meant to close ‘n’ sexy dancing sequence, which just comes off as amusingly sleazy. We get a plainly ridiculous slow-mo poolside rope kill, there’s a mulleted Spanish guitar player doing lots of posing, and much more.

Streets Of Darkness runs at one hour and thirty-seven minutes, and largely remains entertaining, and (unintentionally) amusing throughout. I’d say if you enjoy ‘bad’ crime thrillers/ 90’s macho action films you’ll enjoy what we have here. I do hope we get to see a reissue of Ingrassia’s other two films.

On the extras side, we get a fair bit of stuff. First up we have a commentary track with lead actor LaRusso and low-budget/ SOV legend Tim Ritter- and this is rather good- though he seemingly sees little or no humour/ badness in the film.  They begin by talking about the opening aerial shots- which he says he got for a good price from a friend. We find out the film came about due to Just The Deal- this appeared a  few years beforehand & also featured the Carlo character- it was sold to both Blockbuster & the Christian network. We find out that LaRusso was in his mid-30s when he was in Streets Of Darkness, and the film's budget was around $40,000.  He talks about how after both of these films a LA agent was interested in signing him- but he didn’t want to move from Florida- he also thinks if he had, he would have been offered a part in The Sopranos. We find out how the new scan was taken from VHS tapes- with new music/sound effects added. Later he talks about how he likes to make his characters- complex, dynamic & deep(!), we get details of some of the film's locations and much more. Otherwise, we get a filmed three-way interview from 2022 with LaRusso, Ritter, and Larry Joe Treadway- who has produced/ acted in a few Ritter projects(45.16). There’s also a trailer for the film.

Next, we get the early mentioned pre-sequel Just A Chance (1993)- this was written, produced and starred Vincent LaRusso. The film runs just over the thirty-four-minute mark, and was directed by none other than Florida shlock meister William Grefé( Sting Of Death, The Naked Zoo, Mako: The Jaws of Death, etc). The film starts off with Carlo being in the slammer- he goes to meet a meek, mild & geeky journalist who is interviewing inmates about their life of crime. So, we go into flashback mode- first showing in yellowed stock Carlo as a kid getting into crime, then him as a drug dealer, before we find out how he landed up in the slammer. Tonally this is a lot more serious/ trying to have message affair than Streets Of Darkness- and it’s shot fairly competently/ straight for a Grefé film.  LaRusso does do some fairly decent acting here- though he does get a little hammy/ shouty in places. Just A Chance is ok I guess, as it’s nice to see where the character started- though I’d say for me personally it’s a one-watch.

Once again for this film, we get a commentary track with Ritter & LaRusso. As well as another three-way interview between LaRusso, Ritter, and Treadway(35.35). Plus a trailer for this film too. So all in all- a nice selection of extras.

With this release, it’s certainly wonderful to see SRS Cinema digging into other areas of the 90’s Shot-On-Video genre. And I do hope we get some more SOV action/ thrillers down the line from the label. If you like so-bad-their-great action/ crime thrillers like Miami Connection, Savage Harbor, The Executioner Part II,  and Dangerous Men- then Streets Of Darkness will most certainly appeal!