Illustration : Unknown

Occupational Killer
 

Gilberto De Anda Serrano | Mexico | 1985

Opening to a montage of film clips punctuated with a brassy theme tune, you could be lulled into thinking that this was nothing more than a run-of-the-mill 80’s American TV actioner. On the contrary, it’s an ultra-violent down and dirty Mexican drug thriller, which sets the tone from the off: a young boy is abducted from a supermarket, rendered unconscious, eviscerated — his innards being replaced by packets of cocaine and his stomach sewn back together! Later, as the boy’s guts are being fed to some kennelled dogs, a murky figure bursts in and dispatches the abductor’s accomplices with a pump-action shotgun, Sam Peckinpah style.

The abduction was orchestrated by a nefarious drug cartel, led by ‘the snow king of the south’ Antonio Farkas (Rodolfo De Anda) and his sadistic female lover La Albina (Angelica Chain). Two local police officers Carrera (Valentin Trujillo) and Rojas (Sergio Goyri) are assigned to bring in Farkas, but further compounding the case is a one-man vigilante death squad, determined to bring the cartel down via the barrel of a gun.

The trench coat garbed killer is always one step ahead of the two officers, leading them to suspect that the merciless executioner is high up in their own police force, with open access to confidential information. Meanwhile, with his drug empire collapsing around him, an enraged Farkas sets his sights on taking out the two police officers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This incredibly violent, hard-as-nails film plays like a 70s Italo-crime thriller, with a blood-spattered body count well into the thirties. Acquired by VPD (Video Program Distributors) for release in the autumn of 1987, the BBFC asked for 29s of cuts before awarding it with an ‘18’ certificate. Cuts were made to the vigilante’s attack of a boozy party where almost all images of semi-naked prostitutes being bloodily gunned down were removed (the opening titles contained a portion of this sequence and were substituted with other less contentious footage; curiously this opening credit roll contains sequences not in the final film — quite possibly taken from another feature). Additionally, the stabbing of La Albina has been reduced from six knife thrusts down to two.

Packaged with a vivid sleeve design featuring an array of action sequences, the artwork is very reminiscent of one of the late Geoff Holt’s pieces for the MPV (Motion Pictures on Video) label. Especially noteworthy is the fact that each individual scene in the montage is mirrored directly from one in the film — a rare occurrence in the world of illustrated video covers.

Featured trailer :

Black Eagle (1988); Dir: Eric Karson
 

A sequel was made in 1999.

 

aka : Policia De Narcoticos

cast : Valentín Trujillo, Rodolfo de Anda, Angélica Chain, Sergio Goyri, Julio Alemán, Bruno Rey, Rojo Grau, Arturo Alegro, José Chávez, Isaura Espinoza, Ramiro Ramírez, Marcelo Villamil, Emmanuel Haro Villa, Luis Guevara, Héctor Reynoso