Two military men are assigned to transport a chain gang through the harsh wilderness. Their stagecoach contains outlaws, rapists, and murderers. When a group of bandits receive a tip-off that the prison transport is carrying gold, they ambush the stagecoach. The startled horses guiding the stage coach lose control, and it rolls over. The military men are injured, but the prisoners are free. However, they can’t go anywhere because the convicts are chained together at the ankles. An Army Sergeant and his daughter traveling nearby come upon the scene. The Sergeant takes control of the chaingang at gunpoint, and forces them to begin the long trek to the prison. Along the way, the Sergeant brutalizes the convicts, and even goes so far as to jab one of them in the eye when he refuses to cooperate. The cold winter weather takes its toll on even the strongest people. The Sergeant eventually falters, and the prisoners are quick to overwhelm him. They burn him alive, and each take turns raping his daughter. Then they discover that the chain binding them together is made of gold. They realize they have duped, but vow to escape with the gold intact to split among them. Of course, as in any Western movie where gold is on the line, trust goes out the window. The convicts begin a deadly game where they attempt to form alliances and kill each other for the precious mineral. But its hard to trust your ally when he’s got a knife ready to stick you from behind!

CUT-THROATS 9 is essentially a tale of survival and greed. There are no heroes and no leaders-- it’s every man for himself. Alliances are forged, and then broken because none of these undesirables trust each other. Everyone conspires to kill the other to win the gold for himself. This makes for plenty of suspense as you await the next doublecross. Of course none of these characters are sympathetic, so you really do not form an attachment to anyone. Director Jose Hernandez works hard to give the film a cold, callous slant with a genuine sense of brutality and an aura of doom. Hernandez directs all the players exceptionally well. The convicts are all completely grimy, unshaven, with either crooked or missing teeth. Kudos to the Spanish make-up team who pulled this off, as they all looks so realistic (perhaps the actors are actual hill-dwellers?). The gore effects are also very realistically executed, that you’d think Giannetto Di Rossi himself had masterminded these make-up shots. People are roasted alive, stabbed, amputated, disemboweled, and strangled. Don’t forget about the few instances of eyeball violence.

What really makes CUT-THROATS 9 stand-out (besides the in-your-face gore), is that it is so different from it’s brethren. Most Spaghetti Westerns are essentially retreads of Sergio Leone’s films, or they are inspired by Sergio Corbucci’s DJANGO. These movies almost always depict a lone anti-hero on a quest of vengeance, as the result of wrongdoing on the part of the villain. But in CUT-THROATS 9, everyone is a villain. This motion picture is more like real-life because there are no heroes and everyone is out for themselves. There is no revenge motive in CUT-THROATS 9. Another distinguishing factor is the complete lack of gunplay. A Spaghetti Western without gunfights, you ask? This is another example of how CUT-THROATS 9 stands out in the genre.

From the Main Menu, you can select the Special Features and view the Still Gallery and Talent Bios. There is also a German language trailer for CUT-THROATS 9. The highlight of the extras is the English language trailer which boasts of the Terror Masks handed out to the audience before seeing the show. I didn’t know William Castle was into Spaghetti Westerns!

- Phil Chandler

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