Raw Force (1982) review

 

RAW FORCE 1982

Cameron Mitchell (Capt. Harry Dodds), Geoffrey Binney (Mike O'Malley), Jillian Kessner (Cookie Winchell), Hazel Buck (Hope Holiday), John Dresden (John Taylor), Jennifer Holmes (Ann Davis), Rey King (Go Chin), Carla Reynolds (Eilleen Fox), Ralph Lombardi (Thomas Speer), Vic Diaz (Monk)

Directed by Edward Murphy

The Short Version: Overrated exploitation cult item resembles an R rated version of THE LOVE BOAT produced by Troma and helmed by Andy Sidaris. It also boasts home movie level special effects and some of the worst kung fu fights ever put to screen. Unfortunately, Murphy's script gorges itself on so much comedy that it overpowers the outrageousness of the narrative. The bloody brawl with the Nazi Mexican is a highlight, but most of the time, RAW FORCE just isn't forceful enough. This kung fu and zombie combo is occasionally fun, but is sanitized sleaze at best.

***WARNING! This review contains nudity***

The Burbank Karate Club and various other characters end up stranded on the mysterious Warriors Island, a tropical burial place for disgraced fighters. The island's only inhabitants are Jade hunting mercenaries led by a Nazi reject and cannibalistic, women-hungry monks with the power to raise kung fu zombies from beyond the grave. The Karate chopping castaways must fight their way off the cursed island to avoid becoming a meal for the monks, or a victim of the sword-swinging living dead.

In the mid to late 1970s, kung fu movies were still a very popular attraction, and a number of independent companies made their own versions. These low budget North American interpretations were devoted to retaining the flavor of their Asian counterparts even if the budgets were as bare as the chests in a Chang Cheh macho showcase; and the choreography was about as believable as Bruce Lee lacking the confidence to kick your ass. This kitsch quality was turned up to 11 in movies like DEVIL'S EXPRESS (1976), DEATH MACHINES (1976), and DEATH PROMISE (1977) -- which had non-Asian guys running around imitating the way Asians were presented in the dubbed versions of the superior foreign imports.  That same quality is present in RAW FORCE (1982)... to a degree.

 
The Chuck Norris style of martial arts film would eventually take over, and his influence is evident in RAW FORCE. After Norris drop-kicked a car windshield in GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK (1978), this sort of stunt cropped up a few more times; only its usage in RAW FORCE isn't as exciting in execution. Strangely enough, as entertaining as it can be, there's not a whole lot to get excited about in this movie.

With a plot promising exploitation movie gold, Murphy's flick delivers mostly the Fool's sort due to a pervasive air of comedy that never lets up. All that's lacking is a laugh track. Speaking of which, RAW FORCE could be described as an R rated, two-part episode of THE LOVE BOAT produced by Troma and directed by skin action specialist, Andy Sidaris. So much time is spent on the cruise ship, one almost expects to hear Jack Jones sooth your senses with "Love, exciting and new...."

...But that background noise you're hearing turns out to be Cameron Mitchell mumbling, or arguing with various characters. Mitchell looks and acts like he's been on a booze binge, and he's one of the livelier things about RAW FORCE, making it a much better viewing experience. He gets some of the best lines, too, like when he gets on the ships intercom and remarks, "This goddamn ship is under siege! We've been boarded by a bunch of maniacs!" Another pearl is when the shipwrecked group stumble upon the Warriors Island graveyard and Mitchell grumpily says, "This must be the place where they buried the goddamn kung fu fighters!" Mitchell is more memorable here than he was in his "all in a day's work" role in the superior KILL SQUAD (1982), the holy grail of martial arts movie mediocrity. 

Speaking of martial arts, a slew of unintentional humor finds sanctuary in these kung fu fight sequences; the bulk of which are about as lifeless as the blue-faced zombies on Warriors Island. Only one battle has any real excitement about it -- between some unknown guy and a Nazi Mexican who has hogtied a naked woman in one of the cabins aboard the Love Boat. The subsequent balsa wood beat-down is the best fight in the entire movie. It's a shame the numerous other duels can't muster the same level of enthusiasm. Only Rey King (Rey Malonzo, a Filipino veteran of dozens of fight flicks) shows natural skill in his handful of punch and kick melees. Sadly, the rest of the fighters won't be snatching the pebble from Master Po's hand any time soon; nor will the kung fu-samurai-ninja zombies (that move in slow motion BLIND DEAD-7 GOLDEN VAMPIRE style) give Romero and the Italians any competition in a flesh-eating contest. 

Perennial Filipino favorite Vic Diaz (above in middle) leads the band of cannibal monks that love to dine on barbecued women; a delicacy that gives them the power to raise lousy martial artists from the dead. Unlike his past exploits in Roger Corman and Eddie Romero movies, Diaz isn't given much at all to do in RAW FORCE except utter a few lines, grin a lot, and laugh uncontrollably.

The stunning Jillian Kessner, master of the naked kung fu style seen in FIRECRACKER (1981), plays Cookie Winchell, a SWAT girl for the LAPD. Her bubbly demeanor (along with some of the other cast members) enlivens the proceedings, but she's virtually interchangeable with the rest of the cast. She keeps her clothes on, but does look tantalizing in a bikini before the action switches to GILLIGAN'S ISLAND with Kung Fu. She comes across as less impressive than she did in FIRECRACKER. Considering Mike Stone (ENTER THE NINJA) handled the choreography, the sloppiness of the action is surprising.

 
Camille Keaton (TRAGIC CEREMONY, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE) and Jewel Shepard (HOLLYWOOD HOT TUBS, THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD) have minor, incidental appearances during the lengthy cruise ship sequence where everybody hooks up; or tries to including a musclebound male stripper and a bartender who breaks blocks of ice with his forehead.

Among Filipino cult film fans, RAW FORCE (1982) has a bit of a reputation. Regrettably it only partially lives up to it. In addition to its middling mix of kung fu and zombies, there's dollops of boobs, bare chests, some mild gore, dummy deaths, glaring flubs, and even stock footage from PIRANHA (1978). Virtually everything on the fantastic poster art is in the movie, yet the film doesn't quite match the raucous exuberance of Kim Passey's brushstrokes. It's an entertaining ride, just this RAW trash might of tasted better had it been cooked a while longer.

This review is representative of the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray from the DVD/Blu combo. Extras & Specs: New 2k restoration from original 35mm negative; featurette with director Ed Murphy and DP Frank Johnson; audio interview with Jim Wynorski; original trailer; 86 minutes; 1.85:1; 1080p DTS-HD mono.

The Eerie Midnight Horror Show (1974) review

 

THE EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW 1974 aka L'OSSESSA (THE OBSESSED) aka THE TORMENTED aka ENTER THE DEVIL aka THE DEVIL OBSESSION aka THE SEXORCIST

Stella Carnacina (Danila), Chris Avram (Mario), Lucretia Love (Luisa), Ivan Rassimov (The Devil), Gabriele Tinti (Luisa's lover), Luigi Pistilli (Father Zeno)

Directed by Mario Gariazzo

The Short Version: Satan is a horny little devil in this epically trashy, psycho-sexual, satanic mess from Italy. Gariazzo wants to take his poke-n-puke fest seriously, but the power of perversion compels him to sell his cinematic soul to the devil for divine repugnance every few minutes. Even so, it's occasionally sprinkled with artistic flourishes, and a few surprisingly well-crafted scenes of tension. As far as EXORCIST clones go, this EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW regurgitates all of Friedkin's highlights in a greatest hits package like only the Italians could do back in the 1970s.

***WARNING! This review contains nudity***

 

Danila, a highly regarded, if very young art student becomes entranced with a mysterious, intricately detailed statue of a crucified criminal in a deconsecrated church awaiting demolition. Displayed opposite another crucified, if more Christ-like figure, Danila brings the ancient carving back to her studio. One night while working on a painting, Danila is violated by a malevolent presence that has laid dormant within the Olive Tree carved effigy for hundreds of years. Now possessed by the Devil himself, Danila becomes progressively worse. After science fails to cure the girl, her parents take her to a monastery out in the country in the hopes a well known exorcist can release their daughter from Satan's grasp.

Director Gariazzo's cheap, if wildly entertaining Devil movie crams a handful of famous genre faces in a chain-link of unsavory scenes with thought-provoking themes dangling from it. Gariazzo reportedly claimed he wrote his story some time before Friedkin made THE EXORCIST (1973), but the vast similarities (a title card even states 'This film is based on a true story'!), and heavy amount of cloned imagery is inescapable. Moreover, a scourge of Euro-copies xeroxed from one Italian production facility to another popped up throughout the decade like the recurring stigmata on Danila's (Carnacina) hands and feet. During this gloriously unrestrained time period, any film of US parentage with box office viability was open season to foreign filmmakers wishing to hitch a ride aboard that particular bandwagon. 

As far as THE EXORCIST al dente, the Devil made them do it with the likes of THE ANTICHRIST (1974), BEYOND THE DOOR (1974), and THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM (1975) -- films that tempted many a filmgoer during the 1970s when Italians couldn't compete with slick Hollywood product, so the next best thing was to rip them off, and do so in the most spectacularly offensive ways imaginable. Gariazzo tries to be serious at times, but succumbs to his fascination for feculence before thrusting a bit of expressive visuals in our faces; and then proceeding to lose control of himself all over again.

 
As this Eerie Midnight Horror Show proves, irony dwells within the framework of Italian exploitation cinema. There's occasionally the best of intentions (so the directors will tell us), but often said good intentions become mired in the violent miasma they portend to decry. L'OSSESSA is another such occasion; only Gariazzo isn't Deodato, and this isn't CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980). For every instance of naked flesh, blasphemy, and burning crosses, there's an insightful sequence about science vs. religion, the nature of man, good vs. evil, and the depiction of sex as a drug that leads to further corruption of the body. Gariazzo's little movie makes some provocative points, but then casts them aside for shock and prurience. Fans of this sort of thing don't come for the subtext, or underlying themes, they come for the lack of decency and expedience of deviancy; and Gariazzo delivers as much as his no doubt meager budget will allow.

"I need something that goes beyond the foolish bounds that you've set out."

The classic dichotomy and the related factors of good and evil, and pain and pleasure is a common thread in between sex and sleaze sessions. When it's not ripping off Friedkin's devil movie classic, the script attempts to exorcise its subtext in correlations of sexual and religious disciplines by way of flagellation. Flagellation is shown as a means to satisfy ones sexual proclivities; while at the same time, its purpose is used to wipe ones sins away. Luisa loves having rose petals gently caressing her body just prior to being savagely beaten with the thorns by her sex-hungry man-slave (played by prolific actor Gabriele Tinti). Meanwhile, Father Zeno nearly succumbs to the succulence of Danila's Satan-possessed flesh, later thrashing himself mightily with his own cleansing accessory.

"I think it's wise to have doubts when a scientist trespasses into the priesthood. I wouldn't dream of telling a physicist how to split an atom. Unfortunately, people doubt everything to do with religion today; laugh at it, even."

The pleasures of the flesh and its apparent ruination of society is probably the major selling point behind this movie -- on both an exploitation and a subtextual level. The script from Gariazzo and Ambrogio Molteni depicts religion in a balanced fashion, detailing its fallacies while using it as the tool to ones redemption. We hear about alleged orgies carried out in secret within sacred walls, and transformation from pagan to Christian iconography, and the redemption of some of the characters in the movie. The treatment of religion and its relationship with man and his inner demons is represented with the two statues seen at the beginning. One might surmise that -- once the evil effigy is removed from the company of the righteous sculpture (which Danila specifies its creator seemed less interested in its detail), only then is the evil let loose. Likewise, it's interesting to hear dialog from the 1970s regarding society's view of religion and its relationship with science, and how much it resembles sentiments of today (refer to the quotation above). 

The relationship between Mario and Luisa is obviously one that has lost its luster, if it were ever all that shiny to begin with. Mario is aware of his wife's trysts, but in one scene, he blames Luisa's sadomasochistic tendencies on his daughter's sudden debauched lifestyle. Later in the film, Luisa, after watching her daughter slowly lose her soul, decides to get away from her rapaciously lustful lover -- much to his chagrin. Both she and Mario seemingly re-establish their relationship; but again, this sort of exposition is glossed over in favor of lots of screaming and head-banging from Danila before her transformation to a red-eyed, chapped-lipped, chain-swinging, puke-slinging demon.

Italian singer Stella Carnacina gets many chances to work her vocal chords in the scream fest that is L'OSSESSA. Just shy of 20 when she did this picture, Carnacina channels a variety of emotions, spending most of the film being sexed up by Satan, nailed to a cross (by Satan!), seducing any number of male characters (including her father!), and momentarily putting the breaks on her demonic fits of vocal protestations by ripping out, and eating her hair. She also throws herself into a bit of energetic chunk-tossing business during the climax that ranks with the best of puking scenes.

Euro exploitation stalwart Ivan Rassimov plays the Devil. He pops in and out of the movie, and doesn't have a whole lot to say till the last 10 minutes. Prior to that he cackles a lot when he isn't penetrating Danila's body and soul. Rassimov is perfectly cast, too. Bearing a face suited for such roles, if ever there was an actor who would need little makeup for the classical depiction of Lucifer, it's Rassimov.

Luigi Pistilli appears during the last 25 minutes as the Obi Wan Kenobi-ish Father Zeno; apparently taking this role to pay penance for all the nasty villains he's played over the years. Pistilli is unusually solemn in this role and plays his priest like a man who has seen many terrible things, wearing his experiences like they were tattoos. His role feels like an afterthought, as he's never even mentioned till moments before we see him.

Both Lucretia Love and Gabriele Tinti defend their trash film titles with the greatest of aplomb. Spanning all manner of Euro-trash, the two appear together in one of the films highlights, the rose thorn whipping sex scene. Of the two, Tinti is particularly prolific, lending his swagger to dozens of Europe's top tier of its bottom of the barrel exploitation. TV show fanatics will recall his guest star turn on a season eight episode of THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW of all things. But don't get your hopes up, there was no Emmanuelle in Mayberry for Tinti's participation.

He's not credited, but Carlo Rambaldi built the ornate, Satan-housed statue that takes the form of Ivan Rassimov. He also cooked up some demonic special effects on Alberto De Martino's own EXORCIST clone, THE ANTICHRIST (1974), released here as THE TEMPTER. Rambaldi got his start building the dragon in the Italian peplum fantasy, SIEGFRIED (1956), and monsters in films like VENGEANCE OF HERCULES (1960), and PERSEUS THE INVINCIBLE (1962). He dabbled in every genre, and found his greatest fame on films like KING KONG (1976), E.T. (1982), CONAN THE DESTROYER (1984), and DUNE (1984).

It might be little more than a quick cash-in, but THE EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW complements its fleeting societal issues with some professional polish on a few occasions. The Devil's first appearance, and his subsequent sexual domination of Danila as the cross he was strapped to burns in the background; and a well directed sequence where Danila is stalked to her upstairs apartment by her Hell-dwelling consort -- invisible, but audible via echoing footsteps and heavy breathing. This scene recalls a similarly effective one in the recent devil doll flick ANNABELLE (2014).

If you're in the market for cheap thrills, you'll get quite a bargain with Mario Gariazzo's tale of demonic possession. It has some things to say, but puts its topical discussions behind loftier ambitions of the salacious sort. Definitely eerie, those who specialize in Italian horror movies should enjoy this horror show.

This review is representative of the Code Red Blu-ray. Specs and extras: Katarina Mode; 85 minutes; 1080p; anamorphic widescreen; 1.78:1. Limited to 1,000 copies.