Italian exploitation cinema is supreme in knocking off successful genre films or particular scenes, and assembling the elements into a something… well, it’s not new… more like a mutant, the type of hybrid beast you might find one of these flicks. Raiders Of Atlantis (1983) – aka Atlantis Interceptors aka Atlantis Inferno on SBS – has Mad Max punker biker gang scenes, Assault On Precinct 13 siege action scenes, war movie in the jungle scenes, and a tiny sprinkling of Zardoz-ian mysticism.And what is the idea that brings all of these ripped-off elements to the party? Out from the coast of Miami, an accident involving a nuclear submarine disturbs the hidden civilisation of Atlantis, which arises from the ocean – a self-contained island within a dome, represented in a model special effect – and the invasion of Miami begins! The people of Atlantis aka “the Interceptors” are the Mad Max punker gangs crossed with The Warriors; their leader wears a crystal (plastic) skull and points a club when he orders an attack.

A military vet turned soldier of fortune (Christopher Connelly from 1990: The Bronx Warriors and Manhattan Baby) and his righteous ass-kicking buddy (Malik Farrakhan), are thrown together with the survivors of a scientific oceanic facility, which also includes Italian exploitation mainstays like Ivan Rassimov and George Hilton, and a glamorous scientist played by Gioia Scola. Out on a boat when the attack hits, these survivors explore the devastated streets, picking up a few more stragglers destined to become Atlantean punker fodder. With an awesome synth disco-rock score thanks to Guido and Maurizio De Angelis (the title track ‘Black Inferno’ is a huge vibe) pulsating under scenes of multiple explosions and shoot-outs within city ruins, you throw in a couple of stunts like people jumping off and onto helicopters and moving buses, and bits of weirdness like whenever an Atlantis “interceptor” bites the bullet, their cry is modulated with a Dalek-style vocoder sound effect (“Ahhhhhh”), and let me tell you, Raiders of Atlantis is a fun time at the movies.

Directed by Ruggero Deodato (of Cannibal Holocaust fame) who keeps things cooking, barely caring about if anything holds together logically. For example, on the island of Atlantis, one of our heroes fires a machine gun into the air a fit of grief and rage, and we cut to an Atlantean falling off the face of a cliff, without any pre-establishing shot relationship, so it just looks like they dropped out of nowhere and our hero just psychically knew a bad guy was hiding there. Shit just happens, okay? Entertaining trash that looks great in the remastered version.