Almost Human (1974) ****

I can’t help but admire a film where the main character is this scuzzy, the kind where the filmmakers aren’t afraid to "go there" every time, the kind where the protagonist has literally no redeeming qualities whatsoever, the kind where you feel like you need a cold shower afterward. Almost Human (1974) is that film.

Tomas Milian plays the scummiest of scumbags and he’s uncomfortably good at it—he kills literally anyone who’s unfortunate enough to cross his path. If director Umberto Lenzi and writer Ernesto Gastaldi intended for the audience to feel anything besides utter contempt for Milian’s Giulio it would come as a shock. I can’t understand why his accomplices (Ray Lovelock and Gino Santercole) stick around for as long as they do and continue to go along with every heinous act that Giulio commits.

Stone-faced Henry Silva is the inspector investigating the trail of bodies that Giulio leaves behind and the daughter of a rich man that he and his thugs kidnapped for ransom. Ennio Morricone provides a pulsing, swaggering score to this nasty little poliziottesco, which features a perfect and appropriate denouement.

Umberto Lenzi Films Ranked