mark.waltz As exciting as a marathon of news reels, this is a weak mixture of action, romance and anti-war sentiment during the Vietnam war, too cheaply done to get a theatrical release, and no evidence of a T.V. premiere in prime time. The plot is supposed to be about the efforts of American troops to get the last of the Nazi's out of Italy, yet more time is spent on the interactions of soldiers and Italian women, a boring romantic plot involving a commanding officer and a female reporter anxious to report from the front and repetitive stock footage of tanks and bombings. A long introductory sequence makes you think that this is so much more, but it ends up being so little. Former B movie leads John Agar and Richard Webb were obviously hard up for work. This ends up being a waste of time stinker with poor editing, horrid sound (often sounding tinny and warped) and an un-cohesive structure. The only scene worth remembering is the plight of a young soldier at the very beginning writing a letter to his father and having a heart to heart with an older soldier who seems touched over being compared to his dad. Other than that, it is a repetitive repeat over similar situations over and over. If only the hell raiders had raided the studio vault and destroyed this print.

Wizard-8 "Hell Raiders" was one of several movies American-International Pictures commissioned from low budget movie maker Larry Buchanan to be released on television. Having seen this film as well as a couple of others made from this agreement, I am not surprised that A.I.P. didn't put their name on the finished product. To call this a cheap movie would be a kindness; there is almost nothing in the way of "production values" on the screen. But the movie suffers from far more than a shabby look. Though the movie only runs 77 minutes long, it is relentlessly padded, such as with liberal use of stock footage, but also with nothing else of significance happening. The mission for the title squad doesn't start until about three-quarters of the movie has passed! And it's not worth the wait - the "action" sequences have absolutely no excitement or bite. Only for those who want to see John Agar at his lowest point in his career.

Scott LeBrun B movie director Larry Buchanans' made for TV remake of 1958's "Suicide Battalion" may be best left to Buchanan completists (if there is such a thing). Overall, it's too low budget to work, and Buchanan fails to ever make it genuinely interesting or exciting. Even the action scenes are nothing great. The running time is brief as it is (78 minutes), and would have been even shorter had there not been so much use of stock footage. This viewer would be hesitant to say that the film is actually worth sticking with, but helping somewhat is at least one colourful performance, by Texas native Bill Thurman (best known as Coach Popper in "The Last Picture Show") - playing, appropriately enough, a character named Tex.The story is about a squad of demolition experts sent on a volunteer WWII mission to ensure that the valuable documents left behind in an abandoned headquarters do not fall into enemy hands. That means blowing them up GOOD. Unfortunately, it takes over 55 minutes into this movie before the mission even begins! Until then, there's just too much talk and a needless romantic subplot between intrepid Ronald Paxton (47 year old John Agar, in what sadly turned out to be his last starring role) and a war correspondent named Laura Grant (played by gorgeous Joan Huntington). Richard Webb ("Out of the Past") co-stars. Lovers of schlock from this period will note the presence of Jeff Alexander ("Curse of the Swamp Creature", "Horror High") as a Nazi and Annabelle Weenick ("Don't Look in the Basement") as a goofy Italian madam who teaches her prostitutes how to speak English.If you're curious about this one, I would advise going in with VERY low expectations.Four out of 10.

georgegauthier This is a truly terrible movie. Because of the cast, I gave it a try but gave up after ten minutes. The principal cast including John Agar and Richard Webb were much too old for their roles, 47 and 53 respectively. The lengthy opening documentary about the course of the war was pointless and inaccurate. What did the war of the bombers flying from England have to do with EOD (explosives experts) fighting in Italy? EOD are often brave soldiers but who would ever call them Hell Raiders?I would have ended there, but IMDb wants ten lines. OK, I reiterate: This is a truly terrible movie. Because of the cast, I gave it a try but gave up after ten minutes. The principal cast including John Agar and Richard Webb were much too old for their roles, 47 and 53 respectively. The lengthy opening documentary about the course of the war was pointless and inaccurate. What did the war of the bombers flying from England have to do with EOD (explosives experts) fighting in Italy? EOD are often brave soldiers but who would ever call them Hell Raiders?