'Disco Rojo' (1973) – Rafael R. Marchent.

 

While, perhaps, one of the mercurial horror stars less documented works, his intriguing Gialli/Euro-crime hybrid has much to recommend it to avid Euro-cult fans, not least being the beautiful sun-hazed Portuguese setting, its surprisingly serviceable plot proving quite absorbing and the inimitable Naschy creates another memorably nefarious villain in the menacing, barrel-chested guise of drug-trafficking Henchmen Sergio Meleter who is tasked to oversee and forcibly increase the volume of narcotics sold, covertly utilizing the plentiful bars and nightclubs to proliferate the iniquitous trade of his mercenary boss.

The sudden, tragic overdose of a young playboy dilettante racecar driver draws the hard-nosed investigative journalist Enrique (Antonio Vilar) into this altogether murky milieu of murderous drug barons, vulpine femme fatales and the mucho-macho world of motor racing, and he very soon finds himself gruesomely embroiled with Meleter's rather unsubtle approach to brusquely deterring his investigations!

 

Rafael Marchent's boisterous B-Movie 'Disco Rojo' isn't as gratuitously violent or sleazy as a Sergio Martino/ Umberto Lenzi offering from the same era, yet the capable director credibly maintains the intrigue to the film's not unexciting, twist-laden conclusion. It would nonetheless be fair to say that Disco Rojo's greatest appeal would lie in macabre maestro Paul Naschy's more ardent fans keen to see his brooding, sinister charm being utilized so splendidly by director Rafael, who seems aware of the actor's myriad strengths and cannily makes notable usage of them! 'Disco Rojo' is an above average 70s Grindhouse thriller with some wickedly groovy sounds by master music-maker Antón García Abril and once again the luminous presence of Iberian icon Paul Naschy adds some not inconsiderable lustre to this undeservedly neglected celluloid obscurity.