Yesterday I reviewed here at Shuker In MovieLand Eliminators, one of two 1980s sci fi movies that I purchased in big box ex-rental VHS video format for my birthday in December 2021. Today, I'm reviewing the second of those two movies – The Atlantis Interceptors (aka Raiders of Atlantis aka Atlantis Inferno).
Directed by Ruggero Deodato (who also directed The Barbarians – click here for my review of it – as well as Cannibal Holocaust), released in 1983 by Indipendenti Regionali, and, as all three of its titles clearly indicate, directly related to the lost continent of Atlantis, The Atlantis Interceptors (its most commonly-used English-language title) is an English-Italian sci fi movie in which a gang of murderous Atlantean bikers appear out of the sea from the fabled sunken continent to wage war upon surface-dwelling humanity.
It all begins with a team of American scientists on an ocean platform sited off Miami, Florida, seeking to raise up a sunken Russian nuclear submarine before the Russians can locate its whereabouts. In so doing, however, they also retrieve off the seafloor a mysterious artifact bearing seemingly indecipherable inscriptions – until Dr Cathy Rollins (played by Gioia Scola), an iconographical expert, is brought in to decode them, and uncovers to everyone's astonishment a link to the legendary lost continent of Atlantis.
Moreover, following the team's clumsy attempts to raise the submarine resulting in radioactive leakage that induces the re-emergence of Atlantis and a devastating tidal wave that wipes out the platform, it falls to two Vietnam veterans, Mike Ross (Christopher Connelly) and Washington aka Mohammed (Tony King), relaxing in their small boat close by, to rescue the few surviving scientists, only for their boat to run aground shortly afterwards on a small Caribbean island.
Here they discover to their horror that a veritable posse of fierce, decidedly unfriendly Atlantean biker punks (whose enigmatic leader, played by Bruce Baron, wears a very impressive full-face crystal skull mask, no less!) have risen up through the waves on equally ferocious-looking spike-wheeled motorbikes, with their declared aim being to wipe the land of all surface-dwelling sea-polluting humans and then re-establish Atlantis there instead.
The remainder of the movie is a fast-moving, no-holds-barred battle between the implacable Atlantean bikers and a straggly group of terrified islanders who are led in their efforts to defend themselves by Mike and Washington plus a bold if youthful vigilante. Initially they all flee from the fiery remorseless destruction of homes on the island and the bloodthirsty murder of their owners, wrought with sadistic glee by the vicious, all-conquering biker gang, before arming themselves with guns and all manner of improvised weaponry as they swiftly realize that their only chance of survival is to take on and beat the brutal bikers at their own deadly game of assault and annihilation.
In addition, it falls once again to Mike and Washington to be the ones who set out to rescue Dr Rollins. Her specialized knowledge is key to the Atlanteans' sought-after supremacy, as a result of which she has been abducted by them and taken to a secret high-tech undersea laboratory where their sinister plan is to transform her – but how, and into what?
The Atlantis Interceptors is one of those movies that strives to provide something for every taste, and in so doing has sampled from a wide range of different movies that were around back then – indeed, it is as much a movie mélange as a movie in its own right. The same applies regarding different styles. Thus, it features some very ethereal underwater Atlantean scenes that are beautifully shot, and very imaginative in design. Equally, there is a fair amount of amusing banter and quips tossed around at one another by the lead characters. And it goes without saying that it contains plenty of action and thrills.
Yet it is also an indisputably savage flick at times, the bikers emulating the violent, mindless excesses seen in Mad Max and other flicks of this genre, with one biker losing his head entirely – and literally! Then again, just like the late great UK DJ/comedian Kenny Everett's Cupid Stunt actress character always used to say: "And don't worry, the decapitation scene is all done in the best possible taste!"
Not a film to be taken even remotely seriously, The Atlantis Interceptors' sole purpose is to entertain – not to educate, not to inspire, not to pose lofty questions.
So just sit back, suspend disbelief, disengage quality control, and allow it to steal 90-odd minutes of your time that could otherwise be spent mowing the lawn yet again, holding on for a call back from a firm who repeatedly tells you how important your call is to them but never gets around to answering it, standing in a queue for something that you neither want nor need, and listening to someone you don't really like regaling you with tedious recollections that are of zero interest to you. You've pressed the Play button to watch The Atlantis Interceptors? I thought so.
And to experience a blistering taste of what to expect when the belligerent biker punks from beneath the waves come calling, be sure to click here to view an official trailer for The Atlantis Interceptors.
Finally: To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
