Hes in the film for barely ten minutes, spends most of his screen time listening to Clifford Worley (Dennis Hopper) explain how Sicilians were spawned by the Moors and subsequently disappears from the narrative altogether (a later scene hit the cutting room floor), yet Vincenzo Coccotti still makes an indelible impression. For one thing, hes played by Christopher Walken, so all he has to do in order to dominate a scene is enter it. For another, he gets a terrific opening speech: You know who I am, Mr Worley? I am the Antichrist, and you got me in a vendetta kind of mood. You tell the angels in Heaven youve never seen evil so singularly personified as you did on the face of the man who killed you. He even has a sense of humour, laughing along as Worley tells his story. Then Coccotti shoots him, point blank. I havent killed anyone since 1984, he roars. Goddamn his soul to burn for eternity in f**king hell for making me get my hands dirty!
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
