Fist of the North Star (1995)

Title: Fist of the North Star (1995)

Director: Tony Randel

Cast: Gary Daniels, Malcolm McDowell, Melvin Van Peebles, Clint Howard, Chris Penn, Downtown Julie Brown, Dante Basco

Review:

Was 1995 the year of the post apocalyptic movie and nobody told me? Let’s see…Tank Girl, Waterworld, 12 Monkeys and Fist of the North Star were all filmed that same year! Not only that, but Malcolm McDowell starred in two of these, Tank Girl and the film I’ll be reviewing today, Fist of the North Star, just don’t expect a mind blowing performance from McDowell on this film. He just cameos on this one. Now this here film is based on a Japanese anime series which I have never seen, so I wont be judging this film based on if it’s a good adaptation of said series or not, I’m going to be judging  Fist of the North Star on it’s own merits. Now how was it?

Fist of the North Star tells the tale of Kenshiro, the chosen one who carries the knowledge and the power of the ancient martial art known as ‘Fist of the North Star’. Kenshiro wanders the post apocalyptic wasteland looking for ‘Lord Shin’ the dictator who’s destroyed his school, killed his master and stole his woman; so revenge is certainly in the cards. The real problem is that Kenshiro doesn’t want to accept his fate, he doesn’t want to be The Fist of the North Star, he doesn’t want to save the people, he doesn’t want to be the hero. Will he accept his status as ‘the chosen one’? Along the way, Kenshiro befriends a blind girl known as Lynn and her brother Bat. Kenshiro’s mission is to rescue his beloved Julia from the clutches of Lord Shin, and release the people from Shin’s oppressive rule while at it.

In the world of post apocalyptic films, there are the really expensive ones like The Postman (1997), Waterworld (1995) and The Terminator and Mad Max movies, and then there’s the other half, which really composes the vast majority of these films, the low budget half. I was listening to the films audio commentary with director Tony Randel and on it he mentions that the films budget was something around the vicinity of 2.5 million dollars; but on the IMDB page it says 7 million dollars, so I don’t know who to trust, but ultimately be it 2.5 or 7, were talking about a low budget film here, the kind that really ha s to stretch those dollars! I’d say that the film looks pretty decent for such a low budget film. Director Tony Randel decided to shoot the film in soundstages, and not on the dessert. I guess that was a stylistic choice, he probably wanted to give the film a purposely campy look (achieved) while at the same time working in a more controlled environment. As a result, the film looks like those old Kung Fu movies with the fake sky backgrounds, not a bad look if you do it right. I think they did a good job with this film on that regard.

As a post apocalyptic film I’d say that Fist of the North Star works very well. The world created for this film looks old and filled with the remains of a previous civilization. We have people running from acid rain, people fighting over canned goods, little kids trying to survive amongst the chaos and a new yet oppressive form of government which is a recurring theme in most post apocalyptic films; someone is always trying to regain control over the world, someone is always hungry for that power and that someone is always evil incarnate. Following rule #557 of post apocalyptic films, we have a loner wandering the wastelands; he’s a mysterious figure who wears hooded shrouds and talks very little. Like Mad Max Rockatanski, this films protagonist is the reluctant hero. I also liked the look and feel they achieved for the film, especially when we take in consideration how little it cost. I’d say they achieved something of a miracle for the money they had to make it with. Still, a cramped atmosphere is felt through out the whole film. There’s lot’s of extreme close ups to hide the fact that they filmed in small sets.

This might be a low budget film, but there are all sorts of recognizable character actors on this film. First off we have Clint Howard who always manages to put a smile on my face, there’s just something about the way the dude looks that’s hilarious to me. On this one he doesn’t say much, but he sure shoots a lot of people! We also get Chris Penn as ‘Jackal’, one of those characters that does everything for the lead villain, basically, Penn plays the lead henchman. His character wears these restraints on his head that stops it from exploding. Dante Basco a.k.a. ‘Rufio’ from Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991) plays Bat, a sort of comedic sidekick for Kenshiro. Downtown Julie Brown and Melvin Van Peebles play the leaders of a small community of survivors of the apocalypse. We also get an actor called Tracey Walter whom some of you might remember as Conan’s comedic sidekick in Conan The Destroyer (1984), remember? The crazy little guy who swallowed diamonds? That’s the guy. So the film is peppered with actors who thrive on playing smaller roles and that you’ve probably seen in other movies.

But of course, the real star of the show is Gary Daniels as Kenshiro. Gary Daniels has a background in kickboxing, Taekwondo and other martial arts. He participated in various tournaments, at times being disqualified because his style was deemed too aggressive. He then took a stab at acting, where he has remained. He’s one of these actors whose career thrives on straight to dvd features like Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (1992) and American Streetfighter (1992). Every now and again a theatrical release comes his way like his appearances in The Expendables (2010) and Tekken (2010). In Fist of the North Star he displays some cool martial arts moves; you kind of get the idea that this guy could definitely kick Van Damme’s ass any day of the week, blind folded. He comes off as a likable hero on this film; he even heals little blind girls with his powers! Speaking of muscular oiled up dudes, this film is filled to the brim with them.

Ultimately, Fist of the North Star is a film with loads of ideas and an epic storyline that was obviously held back a bit by its limited budget. But it has style and attitude to spare. It’s a comic book of a movie loaded with everything from zombies to kung fu masters with the power to make your head explode by touching you in the right places of the body. The kung fu fighting in the film isn’t all that spectacular when compared to today’s films, but it isn’t bad either. I’ve also heard that the movie isn’t as gory as the anime, but still, there’s some blood spraying on the film, we’re talking about characters that can impale you with their own fingers! This film didn’t please fans of the anime, to them this film is a travesty, but it’s also a film that many like, and those that liked it never heard of the anime, I know cause I’m one of those. I dug the movie for what it ultimately achieved with so little and because it’s an entertaining post apocalyptic flick. Kudos go out to director Tony Randel, the guy behind Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) and  Amytiville 1992: It’s About Time (1992) for pulling off a better film than they had any right to, you can tell they did as much as they could with what they had. I am now interested in checking out the anime movie, which I will undoubtedly do, so expect a review for it in the near future.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5  

     

Evilspeak (1981)

Title: Evilspeak (1981)

Director: Eric Weston

Cast: Clint Howard, Richard Moll

Review:

Satanic themed movies where big during the 70’s and 80’s, but in my opinion they’ve kind of lost popularity, I guess because kids don’t find Satan scary anymore, but back in the 80’s Satan was the talk of the town, and religious horror was at its peak. Films like The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976) thrived on people’s fears of the old Father of Lies, The Prince of Darkness, Beelzebub himself. Right now, these types of movies are more likely to elicit laughs from audiences instead of scares; hell, I’ll be honest, Evil Speak got a couple of chuckles from this Film Connoisseur! Of course, Clint Howard’s funny looking face had a lot to do with that, but also the cheesiness of the whole satanic angle made me chuckle, I don’t know what it is but I can never take these Satanic worshipping movies seriously. As far as I’m concerned, Satanist are even lower in the religious echelon then all other religions, they are far sillier to me then all other branches of Christianity. But back in the 70’s and 80’s these satanic themed films really played with peoples heads.

Evil Speak is all about a young man named Stanley Coopersmith, a teenager who gets picked on all the time by his classmates. You know how that old storyline goes; Stanley’s peers make fun of him all the time and essentially make his life a living hell. Stanley goes to a military academy where only the richest families send their sons. But Stanley stands out like a cockroach in a chicken dance, because he isn’t rich, he isn’t good looking and he’s a major geek. You see, sometimes, as a service to society, this elite military school takes in ‘welfare cases’ like Stanley. Kid’s who have no parents and don’t come from a rich family. It’s the governments’ social service that’s always taken care of Stanley, a true product of ‘the system’. And so, even though he isn’t rich or anything he ends up going to this military school where they shape rich young men into fine killing machines for the U.S. government. It’s the kind of school where they program kids with Christianity and loyalty to your country.

Bullies: an essential part of any good 1980's teen horror flick!

But in this Christian military academy, no one gives Stanley the respect he deserves as a human being. He’s always seen as the ‘weirdo’ the proverbial outcast, so much so that not even the teachers give him the time of day. So he often times gets the jobs that no one likes to do like taking out the garbage, taking care of the schools pig sty (yup you read that right!) and doing hard labor like cleaning up the schools abandoned cellar. One day, while cleaning the cellar, Stanley discovers an entrance into an old catacomb! This new discovery grabs his attention so much that he begins to explore the old catacombs until he discovers an ancient library filled with books on occultism and Satanism. You see, this ancient library use to belong to the biggest devil worshipper to ever come out of the Spanish Inquisition, Father Esteban! So Stanley, intrigued by these ancient books takes the most Satanic one home: the one in which Father Esteban gives detailed instructions (in Latin no less!) on how to sell your soul to Satan himself! Stanley translates the diary into his computer and suddenly blamo! His computer is possessed! And so is he!

Before I go on, I need to mention a passage from the bible that is tied directly to this films plot. It’s the passage found in the book of Mark Chapter 5; in which Jesus meets up with a possessed man. When Jesus asks the man what is his name the demons inside of him reply “We are Legion, for we are many”. Then, then the demons frightened with the notion that the son of God might send them back to hell with his magic powers, beg him not to do so. Now, since Baby Jesus is such a nice guy, he doesn’t send them back to hell. Instead, he expels the demons from the man, and sends their spirits to posses a herd of pigs that happened to be close by; so the herd of pigs gets possessed by the legions of demons who end up running all crazy towards a cliff before jumping off and killing themselves. The reason why I mention this biblical passage is because Evilspeak might as well have been called Satan’s Killer Pigs! Or Night of the Possessed Boars or something!

Turns out wild man eating boars make up an important part of Evilspeak because every time somebody messes with the Satanic book, the boars that are held up in the military academies pig sty go crazy. Now if a military school having man eating boars isn’t strange enough for you, how’s about having these pigs become possessed by demons and eating people alive? Is that crazy enough for ya? Well, that’s exactly what happens. Problem is that if you have never read the bible, you’ll probably see the possessed pigs in Evilspeak and think “What the fuck!!??” But, now, thanks to this informative review you are reading right now, you wont have this problem. Thank me later. But speaking of killer pigs, these monstrous boars offer up one of the grizzliest moments in the film. Just remember in the world of Evilspeak; Pigs = Evil.

Evilspeak is a “the worm has turned” type of story where the nerdy guy that gets picked on by all the bullies suddenly finds himself in the position of having the power to get back at anybody whoever messed with him. In this sense Evilspeak reminded me of quite a few movies like for example Robert Englund’s 976-EVIL (1988), in which a nerdy young guy gets possessed by Satan. But on that film he gets possessed by calling a telephone hot line! He also gets revenge on all the buttholes whoever tortured him. Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976) has the same plot. Only in Carrie it’s a nerdy girl with telekinetic powers who gets sweet revenge. We could also mention that this one has a lot in common with Damien: Omen II (1978) as well, it deals with a military academy student, and with Satan. But ultimately, the film that has the most similarities with Evilspeak is a film called Fear No Evil (1981) and it’s about this nerdy high school kid who turns out to be Lucifer himself. Fear No Evil is actually a pretty decent horror film that tends to get ignored by most, but in my opinion is quite effective. Well, I remember it scaring the pants off of me when I was a kid, my father (god bless his soul) took me to see that one in theaters when I was about five years old. Fear No Evil has so much in common with Evilspeak its not even funny! It's the same exact premise! It even has a scene where a crucifix comes alive and kills someone; a similar scene can be found in Fear No Evil. But, ultimately, what separates Evilspeak from all those other films that I mentioned before is the computer angle.

You see in Evilspeak, Stanley translates this Satanic diary and types every word into his computer. Once the book has been typed into a computer program, the computer becomes possessed and an evil spirit speaks through it to Stanley helping him commit all sorts of vengeful and evil things, like killing off bullies and teachers. Now, computers in 1982 where in diapers, so it’s really funny to see the gigantic keyboard that Stanley uses to type onto his computer! The computer graphics themselves are really ancient, they reminded me of the kind of graphics we saw in films like Nightmares (1983) That film is an anthology that showcases various horror stories, but one of them (the one called ‘Bishop of Battle’) is about a video game that eats up this kid (a very young Emilio Estevez) who becomes obsessed with it. The graphics in that one are similar to the ones seen on Evilspeak. From what I heard in the audio commentary, this was one of the first films to use a computer as a major part of its plotline, so I guess it’s important for that alone. Kids using computers for evil, or becoming possessed by the use of computers have come along way since Evilspeak, the most recent one that comes to mind is Brainscan (1994) with Edward Furlong playing the computer geek who becomes possessed by a demonic video game character. Actually Brainscan is a pretty decent movie now that I recall!

Clint Howard's hair piece is possesed by the devil!

Another cool thing this movie has going for it is Clint Howard who’s become some kind horror movie icon over the years, specially when we take in consideration all the horror films and b-movies he has appeared in. Howard has a goofy looking face which lends itself perfectly for this type of nerdy character. Funny thing is that Howard wears a different hair piece in many of his films! I remember on The Wraith (1986), Howard wore a hair piece to play a character called ‘Rughead’, a character who was an obvious nudge to David Lynch’s Eraserhead (1976). On Evilspeak Howard’s hairpiece goes all crazy when he becomes fully possessed in the last frames of the film, it reminded me of one of those Japanese cartoons like Dragon Ball or Akira in which the characters hair goes all crazy when they get super powerful? That’s exactly what happens to Clint Howard on this movie. Basically, he gets pissed on by everyone during the first hour of the film so that he can go all crazy on their asses on the last half, when he becomes completely possessed.

Final word: Evilspeak actually surprised me with how good it was. I was expecting one of these movies that looked really low budget, but Evilspeak actually surprised me with how good it looked. It was well shot and it had decent art direction for the type of budget they were working with, which was a whopping 1 million dollars. The film also delivers on the gore as well! Evilspeak has got to have some kind of a record as far as decapitations go. I mean, they really chop off a lot of heads on this flick! I had fun with this movie, it is a film that was influenced by a couple of films that came before it (mainly The Omen and Carrie) and but judging by how many films that came after Evilspeak are similar to it, I’d say Evilspeak has been a quite influential film on its own right. And hey, Anton Lavey, the founder of the 'Church of Satan' thought this film was a 'very Satanic' film so that says something about Evilspeak's satanic edge. Then again, he said the samething about The Devils Rain (1975), a laugh inducing satanic film if their ever was one.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Wraith (1986)

Title: The Wraith (1986)

Director: Mike Marvin

Cast: Charlie Sheen, Randy Quaid, Clint Howard, Nick Cassavetes, Sherilyn Fenn

Review:

The Wraith was one of these 80’s teen flicks that I grew up with, the kind that I must have seen about five hundred times on HBO. I must have been about ten or eleven and back then, for my feeble little mind (its still kind of feeble actually) movies couldn’t get any cooler than this. I mean The Wraith had hot chicks, cool cars, fast chase sequences, a rocking soundtrack and huge explosions. It's also a film that borrowed heavily from films like High Plains Drifter (1973) and Mad Max (1979). What’s not to like in a movie with those qualities? I recently revisited this film for old time’s sake. Did it stand the test of time?

The story is a bit of a mess and often times confusing, but essentially, it’s about this kid named Jamie who gets stabbed to death by a local gang of thugs, while having sex with his girlfriend Keri. Talk about Coitus Interruptus! Anyway, what happens is that the leader of the pack falls for Katie and kills her boyfriend Jamie in order to be with her. After they kill Jamie, they burn his body. Time passes and the crime is never discovered, but the leader of the hoodlums keeps Katie to himself, obligating her to be his girlfriend, or else! One day shortly after that, a mysterious rider appears in town in a cool looking futuristic race car. The mysterious driver challenges each and every one of the thugs to a death race! One by one they will have to face him in the open road. Will this gang of hoodlums survive going up against this vengeful wraith?

This movie has a couple of things going for it and one of them is that it’s the quintessential eighties movie! Everything about it screams 80’s teen flick. We have the bully, we have the nerdy good guy, we have the bodaciously hot girlfriend. Plus, hey, it’s got Charlie Sheen, nothing says 1980’s like Charlie Sheen. I mean, Charlie Sheen was part of that group of young male actors that were considered a big deal back in the 80’s, along with guys like Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, River Phoenix, Michael J. Fox Keanu Reeves and Val Kilmer. This was the 80’s rat pack, the ‘it’ boys of their generation. You know, this was the time of ‘Top Gun’ and ‘21 Jump Street’ for crying out loud. It was the time of the mullet, jean jackets and bandanas. Oh and the time when dudes would wear these huge shades to look cool! It's the kind of film where all the kids hang out at the local Burger joint eating burgers and listening to music, come to think of it, since this movie was directed by Mike Marvin, the same guy who directed Hot Dog: The Movie (1984), that kind of makes sense!  To top things off, the soundtrack includes a plethora of eighties rock and roll songs from bands like Motley Crue, Ozzie Osbourne, Bonnie Tyler, Billy Idol and Robert Palmer. So yeah, The Wraith is pretty much a product of its time. You watch it, you travel back to 1986!

It's 1986 alright!

Another cool thing it has going for it is the smoking cool Turbo Interceptor that they used to make the film. This is one of those movies that is that much cooler simply because of the car they used. How cool is this car? Well, for starters it’s a freaking ghost car! Also, it can be blown up and smashed to smithereens, seconds later the sucker will just reconstruct itself as if nothing had ever happened to it! Also, its engine glows and is alive with electricity! Not enough for you? Well, how about the car separates into five different energy balls that disperse into the heavens!? Still not enough for ya? Well how about this: the turbo charger is driven by a vengeful ghost from another dimension! I know that doesn’t make a whole lotta sense, but hey, you ask the director, he’ll tell ya Charlie Sheen’s character doesn’t come from the after life but from another dimension! But isn’t he supposed to be the ghost of the dead Jamie? Oh whatever, this last point brings me to the films nonsensical plot. I’m gonna go into details about the film, so if you don’t want to read any spoilers, skip the next paragraph.

Smoking cool Interceptor!

Okay, so here’s the deal. The film has some cool things going for it, but whoever wrote the script was smoking some serious dope. First off, Jamie (the good guy) is killed off by the bad guys because the leader wants the girl for himself. Fine, then the boyfriend comes back to life to get revenge, only he doesn’t look like Jamie, he looks like Charlie Sheen! Why doesn’t the ghost look like the guy he used to be when he was alive? I don’t know! Certain things are never explained like for example, why do the bodies of the people the wraith kills not burned? And why do their eyes disappear? It’s never explained either. Why does a piece of The Wraith disappear every time he kills somebody? Don’t look for answers to that question in this movie! The police know this mysterious car is going around killing people, and yet at the end of the film, The Wraith gives the car to his brother as a gift! What? You want your brother to go to jail for owning the car with which all these teenagers have been killed by? And the plot holes and inconsistencies go on and on with this film, these are just some of them. So be ready for a film with plot holes galore, this to me is this films main problem.

Yet, in spite of all its flaws this film has managed to garner a cult following. I think it’s because people just love that cool looking car! Forget the unnatural dialog and the gaping plot holes, that car is just freaking awesome! Also, the guys making The Wraith must have done something right since The Crow (1994) pretty much stole it's whole plot from it. The folks at Lionsgate just put out a special edition dvd loaded with extras. They interview Mike Davis, the films director and he goes into details about how troublesome this movie was to make. Apparently, the producers were a bunch of assholes that wanted this film to be a rush job. As a result, one of the camera operators got killed while filming one of the intricate action sequences. Another crew member was left quadriplegic. As a result, the whole film was filmed with this death looming over their heads; not exactly the best working environment to make a good picture. Yet it’s commendable that the cast and crew carried on and finished the picture. The Wraith was also the film that launched Charlie Sheens cinematic career! It also stars Clint Howard who sports an Eraserhead type of hairdo that’s hilarious! Final word: the movie isn’t the best film in the world, but its cheesy 80’s nature can make it quite the enjoyable watch. Recommended for a night of silly fun.

Rating: 3 out of 5