Name: Rome, 2072 A.D.: The New Gladiators
Genre: Sci-Fi
Rating: 20
Cast: Jared Martin, Fred Williamson, Howard Ross, Eleanor Gold, Cosimo Cinieri

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The opening scenes (the flyover of a cardboard "futuristic" Rome) will be enough for most viewers to decide how much to imbibe before watching such cheese or to flip it off and find another movie. I don't know why I stuck around for the entire show outside the fact that it was oddly compelling to see a once great C-movie gore maestro Lucio Fulci (THE BEYOND; CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD; ZOMBIE) try out a sci-fi picture. He's obviously out of his element and/or didn't give one shit. Many Fulci fans point to MANHATTAN BABY as his worst film, and I'd almost agree. However, this one is so insulting and cheesy that it's a very close call.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

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Audience Member

Most reviews of this have been negative. Being a true fan of Fulci, I say this movie totally rocks. Just imagine if the Maestro had a huge budget to work with. Yeah, the miniatures, sets, battle hardware and graphics ARE cheap. That's besides the point. Fulci was clearly in total control of this production and knew what he wanted. This was a colorful sci-fi romp that demonstrated Fulci and crew in top form. Did anyone notice the house used for the murder set-up was also seen in Argento's Tenebrae. What about Reb Brown in the lead role of Drake!!!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

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Audience Member

Prisoners in 2072 try to escape modern televised gladiator games they are forced to fight. Network ratings have sagged for shows like Kill Bike and The Danger Game where torture endurance can earn you a dream vacation. Full of Fulci trademarks.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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Audience Member

Prisoners in 2072 try to escape modern televised gladiator games they are forced to fight. Network ratings have sagged for shows like Kill Bike and The Danger Game where torture endurance can earn you a dream vacation. Full of Fulci trademarks.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Audience Member

Pretty lousy Lucio Fulci film. I've never though much of Fulci. Other than a handful of his films, he's not much more than a gorehound, which isn't bad if you're in the right mood, but he's far from being an Bava or Argento. This film does get credit for telling the story of convicted criminals in the future going on TV to fight, kill, and die for the masses, ala "The Running Man", three years before "The Running Man" came out (but two years after the book was published under Richard Bachman (the book wasn't published under Stephen King's name until much later). I did kind of dig cheezy miniature shots of the futuristic Rome cityscape that really wanted to be "Blade Runner".

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Audience Member

It takes a little while to get rolling but once it does it is pure gold.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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Lucio Fulci

Director

Jared Martin

Drake

Fred Williamson

Abdul

Howard Ross

Raven

Eleanor Gold

Sarah

Cosimo Cinieri

Professor Towman

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Synopsis

A global TV network of the future tops its rival's hit, "Kill Bike," with the gladiator-type game show "Battle of the Damned."

Director: Lucio Fulci
Screenwriter: Elisa Briganti, Cesare Frugoni, Lucio Fulci, Dardano Sacchetti
Genre: Sci-Fi
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (DVD): Aug 28, 2001
Runtime: 1h 30m

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