When someone gets a credit for providing electroacoustic special effects, you know you're in for something different. Matalo is a very different type of Western. The hero doesn't even carry a gun. He carries boomerangs.
This whole heap of weirdness doesn't have much of a plot by the way. What we get is a dodgy character called Bart get saved from hanging by a bunch of laughing Mexicans. He then proceeds to steal a bunch of gold and after Bart and the Mexicans get out of town (to a soundtrack of psych-rock), Bart shoots every single one of them and ends up meeting his two friends. They all end up at a creepy ghost town where every grave has the name Benson, and every shot front also sports the name Benson. While a fourth bandit turns up in the form of sexy Claudia Gravy, the movie starts flashing subliminal shots of an eyeball while we realise that someone else is creeping about town. Plus, Claudia seems to be playing mind games with every one of these guys.
This is all told to the sound of howling wind and strange effects, whirling camera shots, acid rock, trippy editing and bizarre acting. When Bart is seemingly shot dead during another robbery, the other three start conspiring against each other while waiting to head to Mexico.
The hero take shapes in the form of Lou Castel and his boomerangs and he spends most of the film being held captive and getting tortured, especially by Claudia Gravy (she sits on a rope swing while threatening him with a knife in one of many strange scenes). There's also a scene where a horse decides to join a fight, and those boomerangs make for some groovy camera shots when we finally get to the weird showdown at the end.
Although not as satisfying as the similar Django Kill! If you live...shoot! or as goofy as Get Mean, this is still one weird-ass Western that should be tracked down. Just don't expect much action. Claudia Gravy has a great second name, doesn't she?
