The 1970s is known as the era of disaster movies, but the Me Decade also saw Italy release some of its greatest exploitation flicks. One example is Joe D'Amato's "Eva nera" ("Black Cobra Woman" in English). Laura Gemser plays a snake dancer who hooks up with some strange people in Hong Kong. Jack Palance has a great time playing a snake aficionado. But I'd say that the movie's main purpose is to show Laura Gemser's naked body (and she DOES have a fine one). The movie contains just about every guilty pleasure imaginable. The movie makes no pretense about what it is. It might make you want to go to Hong Kong, but more than anything it'll make you wonder why Laura Gemser stopped acting. Maybe Quentin Tarantino will give her a bit part in a movie one day.Anyway, a really fun movie, especially a certain shower scene (every exploitation flick's gotta have one of those). Among D'Amato's lesser movies was "The Blade Master" - aka "Cave Dwellers" - which got riffed on "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

At first I thought it would be a nice change-of-pace to see Laura Gemser in something other than a "Black Emanuelle" film, but "Black Cobra" is not really all THAT different from those: lots of nudity, little plot. It's actually pretty tame in terms of sex and violence; its only real claims to infamy are probably two scenes of real animal deaths (a snake being skinned alive and cooked, and a rat being crushed to death and swallowed by another snake). Speaking of snakes and rats, Laura Gemser definitely proves in this film that she's not squeamish, handling them with apparent ease! She's a bit too thin for my tastes here, but her face is magically beautiful. I always enjoy seeing Hong Kong as a film setting, but the story, what little there is, moves sluggishly and the motivation for the first murder is suspect to say the least (if it was jealousy, how could Tinti have known that the snake wouldn't kill the object of his affection instead? If it was just a joke gone wrong, then he's an idiot). Perhaps the biggest surprise in "Black Cobra" is that Jack Palance plays an (eccentric but) non-malicious character! *1/2 out of 4.

When Laura Gemser and Joe D'Amato team up to make a movie; you can bet that no matter what the movie is about or what character Gemser is playing that some of the alternate titles will include the word 'Emanuelle'. And this film is no exception, as it got branded with the unimaginative title 'Emmanuelle Goes Japanese'. Naturally, the film has nothing to do with Gemser's most famous character and thankfully the title Black Cobra Woman is generally the more accepted one - and the one that I saw the film under. From the plot description I was actually thinking that this film might be half decent...and it does at least get off to a decent start. The film focuses on Judas; a rich man who surrounds himself with exotic snakes but has little contact with people. One night, Judas goes with his brother to see an act at a nightclub that involves a beautiful woman dancing with a snake. Naturally, he is immediately taken in by this woman (she's played by Laura Gemser so this part of the film is quite realistic) and decides to take her back to his home...Laura Gemser takes the lead role and spends most of the film either naked, getting it on with other women or both; which is all well and good, but anyone familiar with Gemser's filmography will have seen it all so many times before and it's particularly disappointing in this film as we actually have the basis for a decent plot here. One of the more bizarre casting decisions is represented by Jack Palance, who I guess was either not getting a lot of work around the time or just couldn't resist a starring role alongside the beautiful Laura Gemser. Naturally for a Joe D'Amato flick, it features plenty of sleaze and it's really all encompassing so there wouldn't really have been room to flesh out the story even if the director wanted to. The film does at least deliver on the title's implied promise of featuring snakes; and seeing Gemser dance with a big Cobra is worthwhile. A scene that sees a snake skinned alive and cooked was a bit needless, though. Overall, however, this film is not really worthwhile; it's better than some of the lesser Emanuelle flicks, but that's not really saying anything. I can't recommend tracking Black Cobra Woman down.

Black Cobra (1976) * 1/2 (out of 4) Joe D'Amato directed film about a shy, lonely man (Jack Palance) living in Hong Kong where his only friends are his pet snakes. One night his brother takes him to a strip joint where he sees a beautiful woman (Laura Gemser) putting on a dance with a snake. He moves the woman in but soon someone starts killing off her lesbian friends. The killer doesn't know the woman is a Goddess to snakes. Like many other D'Amato/Gemser films, this one here basically leaves the plot behind in favor of the beautiful actress walking around in the nude and carrying out various lesbian scenes. Gemser is also fun to watch (when she's naked) but the story here is pretty dull and lifeless. Palance must have really been down on his luck at the time.