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Raiders of Atlantis aka "Atlantis Interceptors" (1983)

Dir: Ruggero Deodato

Mike (Christopher "Bronx Warriors" Connelly) and his fellow Vietnam vet adventure seeker/gun for hire Washington (Tony "Cannibal Apocalypse" King) are taking a break from a recent shadowy mission by cruising around Florida.

Meanwhile a Government group on an oil rig are trying to raise a floundered Russian submarine from the seabed. As the sub rises there is a sudden violent shaking and the sea churns with huge waves.
The rig is destroyed as a crystal domed island raises from the ocean. The island it turns out is all that remains of the mythical Atlantis!

Mike and chums pick up 5 survivors from the oil rig.
They are James (horror director Michele Soavi), Frank (Giancarlo Prati), ancient civilisations expert Dr. Cathy Rollins (Gioia Scola), Bill Cook, helicopter pilot and old friend of Mike and Washington's (Ivan "Jungle Holocaust" Rassimov, with a dub job from 80's Italian movie dubbing maestro Nick Alexander) and Professor Peter Saunders (Euro veteran George Hilton).

They head ashore to discover that the local town has been attacked, with only strung up bodies and burning vehicles left behind.
It turns out a cult of machine gun toting Atlantean descendants, who have been living amongst us, has now awakened (all for some reason dressed in very dubious punk and leather gear with a bit of Disco face paint thrown in and driving souped up motorbikes and 50's cars with blades on the wheels!) and are, with their crystal skull wearing leader, wiping out mankind to clear the way for the Atlanteans to reclaim their kingdom!

The unlikely group of survivors (picking up the odd straggler along the way) now have to fight for their lives, try to save mankind and find out why the Atlantean's want to capture Dr Rollins…..

Yes. This is indeed a mad plot! Full of holes and general nonsensical events. But hey, it's the 80's, it's Italian Trash cinema...all is well.

Opening with a pretty dire, but fun, slice of Euro electro-funk called 'Black Inferno' (scored by Italian Trash composer Maurizio De Angelis, billed under his delightful 'Oliver Onions' pseudonym, and sung by something called 'The Inferno Group') Ruggero Deodato's entry into the wonderful Euro 'Post Apocalypse' sub genre is most certainly a far cry from his infamous classic "Cannibal Holocaust".
And although it's not up to the standards of the movies from regular 'Post Apoc' director Enzo G. Castellari ("Bronx Warriors") it's still a fun, cheesy romp.

The budget is suitably low (as witnessed by the laughable miniatures used in the destruction of the oil rig, which make TV's "Thunderbirds" look like "Independence Day") but most of the cracks are papered over with almost non-stop action.
As many shoot-outs, stunts and fiery explosions are thrown into the viewer's face as possible and there is a charm to these action scenes that make Euro Sci-Fi films the joy they are.

Gore wise it's pretty tame, though as with all these films it has its moments.
Highlight is a great decapitation via a wire stretched across the street, which leads to the headless motorbike rider wobbling his machine down the road.
Other, lesser, deaths include an arrow in the mouth (very obvious dummy head), a cleaved skull, and demise by flame-thrower.
All these scenes are crafted in that cheap 'n' cheerful way familiar to fans of this sub genre and if they were created any other way…we'd feel cheated.

Weird Sci-Fi audio styling are also utilised with a statue firing 'whoosh whoosh' lasers, various electronic whirring on seemingly normal looking devices (always a favourite) and the highlight here, a very odd electro-distortion on the death cries of the Atlantean's for no logical reason.

Performances are pretty much invisible, with only Nick Alexander's iconic dubbing voice on Rassimov sticking out due to its familiarity.
The main exception to this though is Tony King, simply because he's such a scary guy! Although this is not up to the truly deranged, ranting performance in "Cannibal Apocalypse", it's still a fun, over the top turn with a teeth gnashing delivery by King of such lines as; "Way to go baby! Alright! Alright ! Alright!" and "Son of a bitch! You want me, here I am"!
His character also has a nice ongoing joke about his taking up of Islam and wanting to be called Mohammed…but no one takes any notice. There is a fun exchange with Mike though;
Washington: "This place gives me the creeps".
Mike: "Why? You have Allah on your side".

Characters in general are pretty much there to be killed off and the late in the day arrival of a group of stragglers and a European, happy go lucky criminal make sure the possible cannon fodder is kept topped up.
There is nothing deep and meaningful here, no real 'relationships', but at least we have a varied group of would be body count providers and an enjoyable 'all manly chums together' attitude between Mike, Washington and Rassimov's chopper pilot.

The budget is stretched to provide a helicopter/bus/car chase scene that includes some effective stunts as the crazy Atlanteans climb over our heroes speeding bus, engage in gun battles and generally blow things up. A groovy time is had by all.

Sadly though it all ends in rather lacklustre fashion as our heroes storm the Atlantean island.
There is some "Dirty Dozen" style fun to be had here with a lot of shooting of guys up trees and hand held weapon fights, but it's not as fun as what has gone before.
And it most certainly delivers a very weird and low key finale, with unexplained strangeness indeed as far as Dr Rollins is concerned, that screams out 'Oh no! We ran out of time and budget'.

Overall then we have a very Italian, very 80's, very cheesy Sci-Fi actioner, with lots of violent(ish) action, a welcome cast of American B actors and Euro Trash vets, crazy costumes, stupid plotting, cheesy male bonding, funky and fun synth score and entertainingly cheap attempts at not so special effects.
Not Deodato's best by any stretch of the imagination…but mostly certainly fun.