Fight For Your Life

Fight For Your Life (1977)
Director: Robert A. Endelson
Starring: William Sanderson
Personal Rating: 3/5

"This outrageous sleazefest released by exploitation maven William Mishkin may be the least politically correct film ever seen in American theaters. Thug Jessie Lee Kane (William Sanderson) and two of his flunkies shoot a number of people and go on the lam to upstate New York. They hide out at the home of a black minister and his family, whom they torture, rape, and intimidate for much of the film. Sanderson's dialogue is amazingly racist, and one wonders if it caused any riots at the inner-city grindhouses where this film played. Any examples would be unprintable, and this is definitely not a film for sensitive viewers. Not only does Sanderson manage to shock with epithets, but he makes the minister dance a jig and refers to his elderly mother as "Aunt Jemima." If that wasn't enough, a small white boy has his head beaten to a pulp with a stone in a rather graphic scene cut from some prints. Director Robert A. Endelson also includes a gang rape and some anti-Hispanic sentiment. This film is for extreme tastes only, though some may find the sheer exuberance of Sanderson's performance good for a few laughs." -© Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

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Police Story

Police Story (1985)
Director: Jackie Chan
Starring: Jackie Chan
Personal Rating: 5/5

"This was internationally famous Jackie Chans breakthrough action film, the work that got him past the ethnic boundaries of Hong Kong and into competition at the New York Film Festival in 1986. It also got him into the hospital after performing a stunt in which he fell through a glass canopy -- and stopped breathing. The story itself is not particularly profound. Ka Kui (Jackie Chan) is an honest, self-effacing cop who manages to capture drug lord Cho (Cho Leung) almost single-handedly. A reluctant Kevin is then assigned the job of protecting Cho's secretary Selena (Brigitte Lin) who is going to testify against him. Sure enough, the trial date comes, and Selena disappears, while Cho has to be set free for lack of evidence. The next thing he knows, Kevin is framed by Cho for the murder of a fellow (dirty) cop and is running from the bad guys as well as the police. Some incredible stunts in this film include Chan being dragged behind a double-decker bus. One of Jackie Chan's trademarks are hilarious outtakes shown during the end credits, and they are among the best here. Police Story picked up "Best Picture" and "Best Action Choreography" at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Festival and was nominated for several other awards that year." -© Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist (1976)
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa
Starring: Etsuko Shihomi
Personal Rating: 2/5

"Kiku (Etsuko Shihomi) is the only child and her parents run a kimono shop in Kyoto. Her parents desperately want her to find a man and settle down while she is more interested in practicing her marital arts. Drugs are being smuggled into Japan and then sent out of the country via Buddha statues. After her friend Michi’s brother Jim is killed because of this drug trafficking Kiku decides to help Michi avenge her brothers death."

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Born To Fight

Born To Fight (2004)
Director: Panna Rittikrai
Starring: Dan Chupong
Personal Rating: 3.5/5

"Deaw (Dan Chupong), an undercover cop, having just lost his mentor in a raid on an arch-criminal's hideout, decides to take a trip with his sister Nui – a national taekwondo champion – to a rural village with a group of other national athletes of various sports. The bucolic retreat turns ugly when the athletes and villagers are taken hostage by the brutal, heavily armed militia of a drug lord. After learning of the criminals' shocking plans, the cop, the athletes and villagers of all ages resolve to fight back using their unique skills."

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The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor and Humanity

The Yakuza Papers, Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973)
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Staring: Bunta Sugawara, Tatsuo Umemiya
Personal Rating: 5/5

"Kinji Fukasaku directed this powerful and uncompromising look at the deadly stakes of life among the Yakuza. Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara) is a former Japanese soldier who, following his nation's defeat in World War II, finds himself in a prison cell in Hiroshima on a murder charge. While behind bars, Hirono gains a loyal friend in fellow criminal Wagasugi (Tatsuo Umemiya), and upon his release Hirono joins Wagasugi in an underworld gang. What starts as a seemingly easy way to earn some quick money becomes something darker and bloodier as Wagasugi and his comrades fall into a violent street war against another mob faction that grows into a long-standing feud." -© Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom

Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom (1973)
Director: Norifumi Suzuki
Starring: Miki Sugimoto, Reiko Ike
Personal Rating: 4.5/5

"The second episode in the Terrifying Girls High School series, Lynch Law Classroom, is the best, a lunatic erotic/grotesque sleaze fest that remains one of director Norifumi Suzuki’s wildest movies. Miki Sugimoto is the leader of a trio of underdog delinquents at a superstrict girls’ school. Independent yakuza biker chick and all-round free spirit, Reiko Ike arrives midway to assist Sugimoto and her pals in fighting a homicidally fascist band of schoolgirls whom the principal (Kenji Imai) has recruited to keep the rowdier misfits cowed. These neo-nazi types are merciless sadists who love to drain their victims’ blood, burn them with hot lightbulbs and generally make their lives miserable enough that they’ll commit suicide. Ike, in turn, is helped by her yakuza pal, the suave but somewhat klutzy Tsunehiko Watase. Watase engineers blackmail scenarios by setting up sex stings on various hypocritical school staff and a corrupt member of the Diet (Nobuo Kaneko), a bunch unable to put the brakes on their voracious appetite for underage poontang. The climax sees a full-scale riot at the school, with the girls keeping the hordes of cops at bay with rocks and firehoses. Supremely anarchic entertainment." -© Chris D.

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Zombie Holocaust

Zombie Holocaust (1979)
Director: Marino Girolami
Starring: Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli
Personal Rating: 5/5

"Following the success of Zombie (aka. Zombi 2) and Cannibal Holocaust in 1979, producer Fabrizio De Angelis came up with the idea of cashing in on the subjects at the same time. By taking the basic plot of Zombi 2 and adding elements of cannibal films, Zombie Holocaust was born. The film starts off in New York, where a hospital worker is found to have been devouring bodies in the morgue. It turns out that he was originally a native of one of the Moluccan Islands, and similar corpse mutilations have occurred in other city hospitals, where immigrants from this region are also working. Led by Dr. Peter Chandler (Ian McCulloch), an expedition is organized to the islands to find out the reason behind the terrible happenings. However, on the Moluccas the crew are soon hunted by cannibals and zombies, the latter being created by the sinister Dr. Obrero who is experimenting with corpses. Lori (Alexandra Delli Colli), an attractive lady in the expedition team, is accepted as queen of the cannibals, and sends them off against the mad scientist and his zombie army."

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Deep Red

Deep Red (1975)
Director: Dario Argento
Starring: David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi
Personal Rating: 3/5

"The film that has become the master work in Italian horror maestro Dario Argento's canon, Deep Red holds up brilliantly despite the plethora of copycat slasher films it inspired in the years to follow. The film opens with a flashback murder shown from the perspective of a child while an eerie nursery rhyme plays. Cut to the present, pianist Marc Daly (David Hemmings) witnesses the murder of a psychic while chatting with his drunken pal, Carlo (Gabriele Lavia). While the police investigate, Marc joins forces with attractive reporter Gianna (Daria Nicolodi). Once Marc realizes that he is a target for the killer, he seeks help from Giordani (Glauco Mauri), a professor of the paranormal, who soon becomes one of the killer's victims. Marc's research leads him to an abandoned house where he discovers a secret room that hides a corpse. Before he can call the cops, he is knocked out and awakens to find the place in flames while Gianna holds him. Racing to the neighbors to call for help, Marc discovers an important clue that leads him to a nearby school where he finally finds the killer's identity. The madman attacks him, but the police arrive to save Marc. Though the case appears to be solved, Marc comes to the disturbing realization that one piece of the puzzle remains." -© Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide

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Phantasm

Phantasm (1979)
Director: Don Coscarelli
Starring: Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury
Personal Rating: 4/5

"Phantasm is a surprisingly artful and imaginative horror film, an impressive film for 23-year-old director Don Coscarelli who worked with a miniscule budget to create a small masterpiece. When Mike (Michael Baldwin) spies some sinister Jawa-like creatures stealing corpses from the local cemetery, he and his older brother Jody (Bill Thornbury) explore the mausoleum, where they find that the mortician (Angus Scrimm), a towering, emaciated figure with superhuman strength, has somehow bridged the gap between Earth and the afterworld and needs fresh corpses. Among the tools of his trade is a flying Swiss army pinball that bores into the skulls of its hapless victims then extracts their brains. Their allies die off one by one, until only the brothers are left to defend humankind against the nefarious "Tall Man" and his army of shrouded dwarves. While the film does contain a fair amount of graphic violence, the gore is never gratuitous and, relative to other movies of its day, is used rather sparingly. The effects are fantastic as is the highly stylized direction; the result is a memorable chiller with more than its share of genuine shocks." -© Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

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Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition & Torture

Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition & Torture (1973)
Director: Teruo Ishii
Starring: Reiko Ike
Personal Rating: 4/5

"In Meiji-era Tokyo there are no rules, and Ocho (Reiko Ike) is back, reprising her role from the notorious film Sex & Fury. Ocho is a dangerous fighter, gambler, and thief whose clothing is often in danger of falling off, and this film is equal to its predecessor in the sheer volume of its blood, sex, and mayhem. When Ocho is kidnapped by a drug trafficking ring, she plans a dangerous escape, and aided by a mysterious loner (Ryohei Uchida), she investigates the gang's activities. They are engaged in smuggling heroin into the country by using women forced into prostitution. Inevitably, Ocho must face off with the brutal Yakuzas and their equally deadly swordswomen."

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Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977)
Director: Yukio Noda
Starring: Sonny Chiba, Callan Leung, Etsuko Shihomi
Personal Rating: 4/5

"Yukio Noda directs action superstars Sonny Chiba and Callan in the thriller Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon. Chiba portrays Goglo 13, the most feared and respected hitman alive. Goglo is hired to assassinate the most powerful gangster in Hong Kong. Callan plays the police officer who has made it his mission to prevent Goglo from ever succeeding in another job." -©Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

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Bad Taste

Bad Taste (1987)
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Pete O'Herne, Peter Jackson
Personal Rating: 5/5

"Extraterrestrial fast-food franchisers come to earth to pick up food supplies-in this case, human flesh. After wiping out a few small towns, the aliens must contend with a team of government assassins, headed by Pete O'Herne. As the plot rolls on, O'Herne's crew is decimated in as gory a manner as possible, and innocent bystander Craig Smith ends up being marinated (and a darned good job it is). Turns out that the space folks are running on a timetable; they've got to return to their home planet with their human-hash cargo before a rival franchise puts them out of business." -© Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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