COMIN’ AT YA! is a 1981 Euro-Western originally called YENDO HACIA TI. The producers decided to film their picture in 3-D to make it stand out in the crowded genre market. A now-defunct American company called Filmways picked up YENDO HACIA TI for North American distribution, and re-named it COMIN’ AT YA! (with a large ad campaign that focused more on the 3-D aspect than the film itself). COMIN’ AT YA! went on to become a modest hit, and single-handedly spurred a short 3-D revival with films like AMITYVILLE 3-D, PARASITE, METALSTORM, and SPACEHUNTER. This trend didn’t last long, however, because these ensuing films were terrible. Now Rhino plumbs the depths of eighties nostalgia with a DVD that attempts to revive those old matinee memories.

COMIN’ AT YA! was co-produced by an American actor, Tony Anthony, who went to Europe and become a star in genre films like THE SILENT STRANGER, SHOOT FIRST LAUGH LAST, and TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS. Here, Anthony also stars as the protagonist, H.H. Hart. His wife, Abilene, is played by the gorgeous Victoria (TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN!) Abril. Gene (TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS) Quintano plays the sleazy leader of the bad guys, Pike. Quintano also had a hand in the script. Pike’s disgustingly fat brother, Polk, is played by Ricardo (ARK OF THE SUN GOD) Palacios.

Two sleazy Brothers, Pike (Quintano) and Polk (Palacios) kick in the doors of a church and ruin a wedding ceremony by shooting the Priest. In front of the shocked couple, they shoot the groom, H.H. Hart (Anthony) and then kidnap his bride, Abilene. They put her with other women they have ‘collected’, to be sold into prostitution, or to the rich as servants. What the brothers don’t know however, is that the groom only suffered a flesh wound. He is very much alive, and very angry.

Hart hunts down the fat brother, Polk, and catches him with a whore. After beating the living crap out of Polk, Hart gleans the whereabouts of his wife. Hart travels to Pike’s villa and surprises Pike and his gang while they are attempting to auction off the women, including Abilene. Hart reclaims his wife, and sets free the other young women that the brothers have captured. He tells the women to flee the area, while he holds Pike’s gang at gunpoint. Unfortunately, one of Pike’s gang members manages to slip behind Hart, and attacks him with a whip. Pike’s gang quickly overpowers Hart, and the only thing keeping Hart alive is his refusal to tell Pike the location of his overweight brother.

Pike orders his gang to catch up with the women on horseback. He tells his men to kill the women, but to recapture Abilene if possible. Pike learns the whereabouts of his brother, and sets out to find him. Pike discovers his brother alive in a ghost town; half-eaten by rats. When Pike tells his brother that Hart is his prisoner back at the villa, Poke smiles at the thought of revenge. When they return to the villa, Polk starts beating up Hart who is tied down. Polk sets Hart free so he can finish him off, only Hart has other ideas. After beating up Polk and his gang, he escapes.

Meanwhile, Pike’s posse has caught up with the women and executed them. They return with to the villa with the recaptured Abilene. Pike keeps her alive because he wants to use her against her husband. Hart heads for a nearby ghost town and begins laying out a plan to reclaim his bride and kill her captors. Pike finds his brother’s dead body and is furious with rage. He assembles his posse and heads for the ghost town, with Abilene in tow. When Pike and his gang get face-to-face with Hart, he pulls out his gun and shoots her in the back. Now, a fighting-mad Hart must go up against an entire gang of gunslingers for his own revenge and survival!

There is no shortage of violence and mayhem in COMIN’ AT YA! :

 COMIN AT YA! has the most 3-D effects of any 3-D movie, ever. Arrows shoot out into the audience, hands reach out at the camera, snakes uncoil before your eyes, bats fly around you, bullets shoot at you, beans are poured on you, cowboys leap at you through windows, people fall down flights of stairs, yo-yos leap off the screen, rats come crawling at you, explosions throw debris at you, and soap bubbles drift off the screen. At the end of the film, there is a five-minute segment compiled together from the best 3-D effects scenes of the movie, which (for some reason) is interspersed together with a 3-D spinning pinwheel.

SIGHT

Rhino presents COMIN’ AT YA! in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35.1. The framing appears to be just a tad overscanned, but this is a pleasing widescreen presentation. There are some problems though, and most of them are 3-D related. The image is in color, with a red and green haze that provides the depth once the viewer dons the included 3-D glasses. The 3-D works most of the time, but a side effect to the process is that all trace of color is removed; everything turns a muddy shade of brown. It’s like watching a black and white movie through a brown tint. While the stationary 3-D objects (like a cactus) look great in the background, the moving 3-D elements in the foreground tend to produce a "ghosting" effect, which ruins the overall illusion of depth in the image. The end result is a huge headache, so keep the aspirin bottle handy. Much of Fernando Arribas’ gorgeous cinematography is lost in the translation to 3-D (much like the color), and one wishes Rhino would have included a normal, flat version of the film on the other side of the DVD. The art direction is great, and the movie has a gritty tone that matches the ugly characters. The deserted ghost town, villas, and other structures look sublimely authentic, though the detail level is affected by the 3-D process.

SOUND

One of highlights of this DVD is Rhino’s Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. They could have easily released this with mono sound, and no one would have complained. But the strong stereo mix adds another dimension of sound to the 3-D effects. For example, in the scene where bats attack the frightened women, besides the bats coming at you in imperfect 3-D, you hear their wings fluttering around behind you! Same for the rat attack scene; only this time you hear the chattering of the vermin, as they crawl out of the screen and into your lap. The sound field is very clear and natural. There is no hiss, distortion, or audio dropouts. The bass is perfect without too much overkill. The gunshots and explosions have just the right kick to them. The dialog is minimal, but emanates cleanly from the center channel. The actors appear to be speaking English, but still sound like they are dubbed. This movie just wouldn’t be the same without Carlo Savina’s excellent scoring. His compositions are worthy of a CD soundtrack purchase. Savina’s music helps create the tone and ambiance that only a Spaghetti Western can provide. Savina’s score includes some operatic female vocal chants that will send chills down the spines of Euro-Western fans everywhere. Rhino’s Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack perfectly combines the sound effects, score, and dialog for a mix with CD-like fidelity (which is surprising considering the 20+ year age of the film elements).

FEATURES

CONCLUSION

COMIN’ AT YA! is a gimmicky 3-D movie, but it also has everything that makes for an entertaining Spaghetti Western. Since the genre of Spaghetti Westerns dried up (in the mid-seventies), and Tony Anthony did not put the film into production until 1980, COMIN’ AT YA! benefits from a bigger budget and higher production values than previous films. Tony Anthony is no Clint Eastwood or Franco Nero, but Anthony has that ‘everyman’ quality which makes for a memorable central character. Rhino’s DVD is a little like a double-edged sword; the scope transfer is very good and the soundtrack is superb, but the 3-D effects actually hurt the presentation. If you want to pick up COMIN’ AT YA! just to see to see the 3-D effects, I’d say save your money. If you want to pick it up because you enjoy Spaghetti Westerns, then by all means grab it. I saw COMIN AT YA! when it first played in theaters (my first 3-D movie) and I can tell you, except for the muddy 3-D effects, Rhino faithfully recreates the experience. Too bad they didn’t include a normal non 3-D version on the DVD.

COMIN' AT YA! is available from DVDEmpire.com

                                                  Rating (out of 5):