In WITHOUT SCRIPT, cult actor Al Cliver tells his colourful and often tormented life story against the backdrop of 1970s Italian film industry.

P. Conti/A. Cliver Without Script Ebook,  Publisher: Smashwords Language: English

Al Cliver needs no introduction. To Eurocult fans this name is synonymous with the zombies of Lucio Fulci, softcore erotica set in tropical climes, Jess Franco’s shabby cannibal adventure fare, cut-rate post-nuke action fests from Joe D’Amato. To any educated cult film fan, Al Cliver is a household name. But what about Pierluigi Conti? Without Script, the new ebook from one of european cinema’s most beloved 1980’s tough guys, aims to shed light on the cult star’s off-screen persona and reconcile the man and the myth that is Al Cliver.

A  word of warning to those hungry for exclusive anecdotes from behind the scenes of  ENDGAME, ZOMBIE or DEVIL HUNTER: while you will indeed find some tasty trivia in the book,the names of Fulci or D’Amato come up no more often than those of Mao Tse Tong or Giotto. Broad in scope, the autobiography covers most of Al’s life, from his humble beginnings to his challenging life and film work in the 1970s and 1980s, to present day. Cinema is only one facet of Al Cliver’s life. Indeed, genre film legend tells us his (colourful and tormented) life story in quite a detail before any film references start flowing. If you come to Without Script looking for more behind-the-scenes revelations, you won’t find much new beyond what Cliver himself has previously revelead in his video interviews.

Evidently a self-published product, Without Script could have done with another edit to wean out the typos and repetitions. This shouldn’t deter Al Cliver fans from buying a copy and learning about genre legend’s turbulent life.

Reviewed on July 26 2018 by Alex Bakshaev