ANIMAL PROTECTOR (dir. Mats Helge, 1988)

Trailer for Spectacle Theater ANIMAL PROTECTOR Dir. Mats Helge, 1988 Sweden, USA, 96 min. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21 MIDNIGHT Like Spectacle afterdark idols Godfrey Ho (HARD BASTARD) and Arizal (AMERICAN HUNTER), Swedish filmmaker Mats Helge singlehandedly helmed dozens of corneacrushing Zgrade action pictures in the 70s and 80s, only a fistful of which are accounted for today. Perhaps secondfamous after his muchwhisperedabout THE NINJA MISSION, ANIMAL PROTECTOR sees Helge standing at the cynosure of 80s latenight movie financing. Shooting in and around a Scottish castle, Helge s camera betrays a magnetic pull towards David Carradine s demented hardass Colonel Whitlock. Lording over an operation guarded by special ops, infantrymen and nonAmerican Green Berets, Whitlock is no mere animalexperimenting megavillain but a damn Reaganera Doctor Moreau. For a time, Helge s bleak vision is like watching a powerful Bond villain with no comeuppance anywhere near to the horizon. But