VHS Cover Of The Day - Never Too Young To Die

Image courtesy of robotGEEK'SCultCinema.blogspot.com

This was one I received in the mail yesterday and one I reviewed back in July of this year (for a recap check out my review here), but I still feel this is a grossly overlooked gem in the 80's Trash Cinema genre. 

Truth be told though, I don't think that was the genre they were aiming for. I have a strong suspicion they were going more for a young James Bond kind of a vibe, but with some of the most WTF? creative decisions I've ever seen put to film, I don't think this film really had a chance for mainstream success. 

I love this film with a passion. It's definitely a product of it's time but it's so much more than that. First off you have original James Bond George Lazenby playing the dad of John Stamos's character, Lance Stargrove (if that's not a spy name, I don't know what is). By the way, both father and son are always referred to only as Stargrove, you know, like James Bond. But you also have Gene Simmons playing a hermaphrodite cult leader/lounge singer who, by the way, does a song and dance number so disturbing, the images will be burned in your brain forever. Also, you've got a frequently nude Vanity doing what she does best, looking good naked and often, and trying her best to deliver her ridiculous lines with a straight face. John Stamos is the perfect embodiment of 80's cheese and with him as the glue, it all comes together so horribly perfect. This film is so bad in the "awfully good" sense because of almost every single creative decision that went into making this from the casting, story, direction, editing and right down to the music and absurd script.....and I loved every second of it. If you've never seen this or haven't seen it since it's original release on VHS back in 1986, I strongly suggest asking a buddy for a copy or getting your own VHS copy since it's never had a DVD release or even a Laserdisc release if i'm not mistaken. I myself hadn't seen it since it's original release until I reviewed it back in July and I had such a blast with it. 

VHS Cover Of The Day - Dark Angel AKA I Come In Peace

Being as I'm in kind of on a Dolph Lundgren kick right now after just revisiting one of my favorite comic book films of all time and one of my favorite all around Dolph Lundgren films The Punisher and just seeing the totally badass Army of One for the very first time I thought I'd post this sweet U.K. PAL VHS cover of one of my favorite Dolph films ever, I Come In Peace (as it's known in the states) AKA Dark Angel. 

I just recently snagged this sucker on eBay a few weeks ago and it makes a nice addition to my collection. I'm  quickly preferring the PAL VHS cassettes to the U.S. versions as they always seem to have way better covers than ours, and they always come in clamshell cases, a plus in my book. 

Review: Army of One

1993
Directed by: Vic Armstrong
Category: Badass Cinema

As much as I love me some Dolph Lundgren, I'm shocked that I've never seen this film until now. I only recently heard of it maybe in the last year or so and like a lot of films on my radar, I just never got around to watching it.

Army of One aka Joshua Tree is such an interesting film. First of all, let me get right to the point. As an action film starring the great Dolph, this film kicks some serious ass. I just needed to get that out of the way so you knew where I stood on it before I got into all the boring statistics and stuff. This came out when he had started coming out in direct to VHS stuff, but to where it wasn't yet his mainstay. Up to this point, he had still come out with I Come In Peace, Showdown in Little Tokyo and Universal Soldier, but it seems with this and almost all of them after it was all for the home video market. But I'm telling you, I'm shocked this didn't make it to the theaters because this is a pretty badass straight up action flick and to be honest, better than most of the stuff he has come out with in the last 15 years or so.

Wellman Santee (Dolph Lundgren), along with his partner, is transporting stolen sports cars when he's pulled over by a state trooper. When the trooper sees that Santee's partner is carrying a weapon a shootout occurs where both the deputy and Santee's partner are killed. Framed for both murders Santee is sent to prison where he escapes a few months later after he realizes he's about to get murdered by the guards who he feels were paid off. In escaping he kidnaps a girl at a gas station so he can steal her truck and is on the run with his hostage as a manhunt ensues led by the totally weird Lt. Severance who seems to have his own hidden agenda as to why he wants to stop Santee. 
Meanwhile, Santee is out for revenge as well as trying to clear his name and for a good portion of the film is unaware that the girl he kidnapped is actually a Deputy Sheriff. Lots of shootouts, car chases, fist fights and of course, romance ensues for one bloody, violent and exciting straight up action flick. 


I think the thing that surprises me most about this is that it's the only "film" directed by legendary Hollywood stuntman, stunt coordinator and second unit director Vic Armstrong, and it looks so good! It seriously reminded me of an amateurish Craig R. Baxley, another legendary stunt coordinator and second unit director who ventured into feature film directing for a very brief period and ended up directing 3 of my most favorite action films ever with Action Jackson, I Come In Peace and Stone Cold.  But this is the only film Armstrong did before going back to TV work. I don't know why because it looks great with plenty of stunts, blood and violence with style to burn.
One standout sequence is when Santee takes out an entire fleet of bad guys in a warehouse full of Ferrari's and Lamborghini's reminiscent of something out of a John Woo film, only less polished. I'm telling you, this sequence is insanely awesome and long, violent, brilliantly choreographed, shot, edited and bloody as hell.
If you were ever unsure of Vic Armstrong's talent as an action director, all you need to see is that one sequence to calm your fears. But that's just one, because this film is filled with so many badass car chases and shootouts. And one of the things I love also is that when somebody gets shot, which is often, you're always going to see the shot land and an actual squib involved. A technique often practiced back in the day but not so much anymore as most of the time they'll just digitally render bullet wounds and impact shots. Such a lazy way of doing it now.

Lundgren gives a really solid performance as the guy on the lam with a really bad attitude out to clear his name. But the dude is not a nice guy by any means. He's mean, tough and has no problems hitting a woman or even a kid in one scene. That scene kinda blew my mind a little. He meets up with the widow of his old partner who died in the beginning of the film and her son so they can give him some guns and a vehicle. When Santee (Lundgren) finds out the kid, who is maybe 13 or so, stole the vehicle in a fit of anger Santee punches the kid in the chest as if to say "What the hell are you doing with your life? Do you want to be like me? I'll be dead by Saturday!". Which he does in fact tell him in a speech a few minutes later but I was kinda blown away at how hard he hits this kid square in the chest. Seriously, you can see it all over the kids face.

If I had any complaints it would be that I felt George Segal as Lt. Severance was a little miscast. I don't know, I just could't buy him as a tough cop, especially with that ridiculous bush mustache. He played him a little crazy and constantly on edge, but I know him mostly for comedy and I just couldn't get past that anytime he was on screen.
Also the name Joshua Tree. I know it's known under this title mostly and is only known as Army of One for it's video release in the U.S., but I hate that Joshua Tree title. It makes it sound like a drama or something and this is anything but. Joshua Tree refers to a location in the film that's mentioned maybe twice, but not enough to call an action film starring Dolph Lundgren. Really glad they changed it for it's U.S. release. Army of One sounds much tougher and cooler for this kinda flick.

This is a great all around straight up action flick and definitely ranks as one of my favorite all time Dolph Lundgren films. It does slow down from time to time but never long enough where you get bored because director Vic Armstrong spices this film with so much action and violence (all done extremely well I might add) that it's definitely a ride worth taking.

Review: Friday the 13th (1980)

1980
Directed by: Sean S. Cunningham
Category: Horror

One of the things I love most about October, besides the fact that Count Chocula (my favorite cereal) is easily available again, is the fact that you can get classic horror films pretty cheap. Speaking of Count Chocula, I think it sucks that I have to wait till October to be able to eat easily one of the best cereals ever made. What's with that?! Who does't love Count Chocula? Make it available all year round people!
Sigh, but anyway. All the major labels either repackage standard horror DVD's from there library and make them really cheap, like $5 to $10 or if it's a title that's been out for a little while, they'll simply mark them down considerably. I love that. So as I was browsing my local Wal-mart I couldn't pass up the chance to snag the first 4 films of this series in one awesome DVD set for a mere $10.

I'm going to be completely honest here, and I might lose a little of your respect in the process. Up until last night, I have never seen this film all the way through. Honest to God. You know how it is? Sometimes there's just a film or two that no matter how big or how important they are, simply escape your viewing experience. This is that film for me. I've seen it in parts, but never completely or all the way through. I don't know, it's just one of those things. Like with Jaws. I only barely saw that from beginning to end just about 6 months ago. What a great film. But I never felt the need to seek this one out. I certainly knew the story already and how it all unfolds. I think it might be the fact that I knew it wasn't really about Jason and it wasn't this big scary guy with a hockey mask running around butchering over-sexed teenagers. Instead it's about his psycho mom who just can't let shit go.

But it being Halloween and all, it gets me in the mood to get more into the horror genre, more than usual anyway. This was a pretty great little slasher film. It's solidly directed by Sean S. Cunningham and has a pretty decent cast to boot. Tom Savini's makeup effects are of course awesome but there was something that I couldn't help but notice as I was watching it. Even with all the suspense, camera tricks and makeup effects, the movie really wouldn't have worked at all if not for the incredible score by composer Harry Manfredini. I'm sorry, but the music made the movie for me. I know I might get some flack for that, but come on. You don't see who the killer is until the very end of the movie. It's all first person point of view shots whenever the killer is out murdering the teenagers. A lot of what makes the movie works is what you don't see. It could be anyone or anything out there in the dark knocking off these kids one by one because when you don't see the killer, your mind can run wild with possibilities. But in this case, it's a little old lady with a split personality who turned psycho when her son drowned at Camp Crystal Lake. And you know the deal with psychos. They have twice the strength as mere mortals when they're crazy. She blames the counselors for not being there to save him, but come on, if the kid knew he couldn't swim why the hell did he go all the way out there in the lake by himself. But if you don't have a great score to create that sense of dread and suspense, then it's just not gonna work. And for me, it was the music that stood out more than anything as I was watching this. To be honest, it reminded me a lot of the Jaws theme and it worked beautifully.

There's really not much else to go into. You know the story and you know how it ultimately plays out. It was a nice little horror film made all the better by Tom Savini's makeup effects and Harry Manfredini's score. I found the first person point of view a bit tedious after the first 4 or 5 deaths, but what else are they gonna do to keep the identity of the killer secret until the very end. It was a gimmick that needed to be implemented in order for the big reveal at the end to pay off, and for the most part it worked. One thing that drove me nuts though was in the finale when Alice and Jason's mom were battling it out in the end, Alice always seemed to get the better of Mrs. Voorhees as she's obviously like 30 years younger and faster. But she'd always just get like one good hit in and she'd just stop, stare at Mrs. Voorhees thinking she's dead and walk away. Except the super human psycho mom gets right up and goes at her again when she turns her back time after time. I swear, this must have happened like 5 times in that final fight and I kept screaming at the television "Stab that bitch in the heart or something!". It would have saved her a whole lot of more fighting and physical pain if she had just finished the job and made sure she was dead the first 2 or 3 times she came right back at her.

I'm glad I finally got to see this completely and am now on a quest to see every single one in there proper order this month. So far part 4 still seems to be my favorite, but I'm eager to see all of them again and see if my favoritism still holds up. There are parts or ideas that I like in almost every single one of them, except part 5: The New Beginning. Sadly that's another one I've still never seen. Again, I think it was because I knew it had nothing to do with Jason Voorhees. Why do they do that? Remember Halloween III?

Review: Ninja III: The Domination

VHS cover scan courtesy of VHSwasteland.com

1984

Directed by:
Sam Firstenberg
Category: Exploitation

I have to be honest, this ninja series is quickly becoming one of my favorite film trilogies ever. The names alone are awesome but add in the fact that cult film legend Sho Kosugi appears in each one, well that's just extra awesome. I need to be upfront because so far, as of this posting I still haven't seen the first entry, Enter The Ninja (1981). 
But if Revenge Of The Ninja (1983) and now Ninja III: The Domination (1984) are any indication, then I'm sure I'm in for a blast.

First off, I gotta give a shout out to two of my fellow bloggers, A Hero Never Dies and Comueppance Reviews, who both recently did badass reviews on this wonderful gem. Check out A Hero Never Dies review here and Comueppance Review's here. Both really great reviews and worth checking out where we pretty much all agree that we seriously love this ridiculous film.

One of the things that makes this film series unique is that all three films seem to have nothing to do with the other, other than the fact that the awesome Sho Kosugi appears in each one, but as a different character in all of them. I only recently saw the second in the series, Revenge of the Ninja (click the link for a recap), back in August of this year and for the first 30 minutes or so I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. I had in my mind a completely different kind of film that I was about to see and when I finally sat down to watch it, something totally different was transpiring. Basically I thought I was going to see a badass revenge type of film with ninjas. What I got instead was an Asian film about ninjas directed by a white guy who clearly didn't know how to handle the material. It was ridiculous, horribly executed and with the exception of but a few, horribly acted. But once I got past the fact that I was not going to be seeing a badass ninja flick from 1983 starring the awesome Sho Kosugi, then I had a blast with it for all the reasons that made it a bad film. Because it is indeed a really bad film in almost every aspect except for maybe 2 reasons. 1) Sho Kosugi kicking all kinds of serious ass and 2) for casting that hot chick who double crosses him but then sides with him at the end who always seems to wear the skimpiest outfits as well as for that sequence where she decides to train with Cho in the studio with only the top half of her karate outfit on without any underwear. But in the end it ended up being one of my favorite "so bad it's good" films for all the reasons that make it a ridiculous film.

Same thing applies here. Ninja III: The Domination was made exactly a year after Revenge of the Ninja and by the same director, Sam Firstenberg who also directed Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo the same year he made this film. Such a weird filmography from one guy. But anyway, this film rules on so many different kinds of levels. I mean, it's seriously preposterous from beginning to end and I honestly couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous it all was. I don't know if they intended for this film to be so cheesy and corny or if it just suffers from being a product of it's time, but Ninja III: The Domination just might be the absolute "best" example of the "It's so bad, it's good" film genre in the American film market of the 1980's. Sure, the Italian films were knocking them out left and right about this time but how many American films can you say successfully produced them as good as this. Maybe Never Too Young To Die, but I can't think of many. I don't know a single person who has seen Ninja III and didn't have a great time. Mad props needs to go to writer James R. Silke for having the genius and balls to come up with the insane combination of pairing a ninja film with an exorcist film while throwing in some Poltergeist nods, a zombie ninja, the indelible talents of the one and only Sho Kosugi and for thinking V8 juice is sexy and having it set in the good ol' 1980's. Pure genius I tell you!

He's the ultimate killer. She's the perfect weapon.

So here's my attempt at a synopsis for a totally strange film:
A deadly ninja sneaks into a mountain and dresses in secret ninja garb complete with weapons he has hidden in a glowing box. Are they his? Does he do this kind of thing often? Never explained. So he heads out to a golf course where he kills a guy and his girl who are playing golf but is fired upon by the guy's bodyguards, who he also kills. Only now the cops are involved and in one bloody, long and ridiculous sequence he's outrunning the cops on foot while they're in cars, motorcycles and helicopters as he kills a whole mess of them until being outnumbered and seemingly killed in a barrage of gunfire. Except he seems to be semi-invincible as he still has the strength (after about several hundred bullets) to throw a smoke bomb as a diversion and disappear under the dirt. The cops think he vanished and after they've left he resurfaces and comes across Christie (Lucinda Dickey) a utility worker and part-time aerobics instructor who just happens to be working in the area but apparently never heard or saw the insane battle between the evil ninja and the entire police force nearby, even though she was at the top of a utility pole. Only in this kind of film can a hot aerobics instructor also be a utility worker. 

When the evil ninja comes across Christie he transfer's his evil soul to Christie. Only he's not always present and doesn't make his presence known for a while afterwards until Christie comes across cops that were part of the massacre of the ninja and the soul of the ninja recognizes them as the ones who shot and killed him. That's when the evil side starts to come out of Christie. One by one she singles out the cops that killed the ninja and kills them in deadly fashion. In the meantime, a local cop has taken a liking to her and through strange and almost "stalkish" circumstances has almost forcibly inserted himself into her life and the two become lovers. Enter Yamada (Sho Kosugi), a ninja who seems to show up out of nowhere who somehow knows the evil ninja has transferred his soul to another person and is hell bent on destroying it at any cost.  


So I could be wrong, but I don't ever remember there ever being an explanation as to why the evil ninja killed that couple in the golf course that started this whole series of events. Or who Yamada is and why he knows almost everything there is to know about the evil ninja and how he transferred his soul to somebody else. Maybe there was and just wasn't paying attention because I was laughing so hard. But you know what? None of it really makes any sense. Like why she uses V8 juice during sex with her new boyfriend (huh?), or why she's even attracted to this guy who is scary hairy and tries a little too hard to be with her. Seriously, the guy should never be allowed to wear wife-beaters....ever. Keep that shit covered up man! Or why, when the ninja transferred his soul to her body, she took his ninja sword with her home. She seemed kind of disoriented and certainly didn't know she was possessed by him yet, so why take the sword and hide it in her closet?

This film is hilarious in almost every scene. That V8 juice sequence was completely baffling for one. But there's a scene where her apartment goes all Poltergeist and stuff starts flying around and weird scary sounds and all that. What would you do? Probably run out the door or something like that right? Instead Christie turns on her stereo full blast and starts dancing. I shit you not, she starts dancing! WTF?

And speaking of Poltergeist, there's another full on and shameless ripoff of Poltergeist scene where the evil spirit of the ninja is in the closet and sucks everything from the bedroom into the shining light in the closet, complete with Christie holding on for dear life to her bed before being sucked into the closet; just like Carol Ann did in Poltergeist. I couldn't believe how completely identical that sequence was in both films. And don't even get me started on all The Exorcist references, there really are too many to name. You also gotta love the scene where she just so happens to have a classic stand up arcade system called Bouncer sitting in her living room, which the evil ninja just so happens to use to program her into the evil ninja at his beckoning by shooting lasers at her head. Who knew ghost ninja's also mastered the art of electronics?! A truly strange and unbelievably awesome sequence that screams 80's cheese. It really needs to be seen to be believed.

Sho Kosugi is of course awesome and owns every single frame he's in. Especially cool is that badass eye patch which he uses to hide weapons in. Awesome. And though his name appears first in the credits and on the box art, he's really a secondary character and doesn't show up until 30 minutes into the film because in this film, it's all about Lucinda Dickey. I have to admit, she was impossibly cute in this and took everything so seriously that you just gotta love her for it. When she wasn't wearing her jumpsuit for her day job, she was pretty much always in some kind of skimpy outfit or something. I never really took much notice of her in the Breakin' films, but here she's pretty damn hot. I think the longer hair works for her.
Just to add another bit of awesome in the mix they also added legendary character actor James Hong (yes, Lo Pan himself from Big Trouble in Little China) to play the Asian Exorcist who tries to free the demon from Chirstie's body in another god awful and hilarious Exorcist ripoff sequence.

As with Revenge of the Ninja, director Sam Firstenberg just does not know how to film an action sequence. I know I beat that topic to death with my review for Revenge of the Ninja, but I'm sorry, he just doesn't. Any fight sequence without Kosugi is executed pretty horribly with bad angles where you can clearly see the punches and kicks are not landing, bad editing and fighting altogether as with in the case of Chirstie and the scenes with the evil ninja from the beginning there's just no force behind any of the moves. They looked more like a choreographed dance than anything else. Now Sho Kosugi is another thing. The guy can fight like nobodies business and his fights are the best of the bunch, even with only one eye in this film. Though you can tell it's clearly not him doing the flips and summer salts (again bad camera angles), it's still hilariously awesome to see the next cut when he's improvising a land with the full on facial expressions to match. Classic. He also has an awesome killer fight sequence with a zombie ninja at the end after the evil ninja's body gets resurrected for one last fight. I'm telling you man, classic stuff here.

This  has got to be one of my absolute favorite 80's flicks ever. You will have such a good time watching this, but trust me, it deserves to be seen with friends to fully appreciate it. Of course, 27 years later we still do not have a U.S. DVD release. I still can't understand why to be honest. Revenge of the Ninja is available and so is Breakin' 2, so why not this one? I'm not even sure if it ever made it to Laserdisc either, so VHS is going to be your best bet, which looks amazingly well since there are hardly any night sequences in the entire film. With VHS that makes a big difference in picture quality. Ninja III: The Domination deserves an official and proper DVD and Blu ray release and I hope that one day soon a genius will buy the rights and make that a reality, because I'd be all over that.

Review: Extreme Prejudice

Image courtesy of Elwood & Jen Collier and VHSwasteland.com

1987
Directed by: Walter Hill
Category:
Badass Cinema

If you've read any number of my posts in the past, then you know my love for director Walter Hill. Let's face it, the guy knows how to direct a tough action picture. He makes them bloody, sweaty and with a "no fluff" approach to filmmaking. I think that's what I like most about the way he makes films. He doesn't try to over-stylize them in any way.

Extreme Prejudice is no different. This modern day western is about as tough as they come in the world of action cinema. You've got probably one of the best "tough guy" ensemble casts next to Predator and a tale about drug running, bank robberies, loyalty and a Texas Ranger out for revenge in one of the best endings I've ever seen in an action film. The final 30 minutes of this film rules and at least in my mind, is pretty fucking legendary!

Texas Ranger Jack Benteen (Nick Nolte) used to be childhood friends with local drug kingpin Cash Bailey (Powers Boothe). Though at complete opposite sides of the law, the two have a mutual respect for one another because of there past friendship. But there relationship has been even more strained lately since Sarita (Maria Conchita Alanso) used to be with Cash but is now with Jack. With jealousy and tension between the two growing more and more because of Sarita, inevitably a rift is created and loyalty no longer seems to be there bond. Meanwhile Major Paul Hackett (Michael Ironside) and his band of rogue mercenaries have rolled into town meticulously planning and executing a series of bank robberies until one of the robberies goes awry and Major Hackett, his band of mercenaries and Jack and Cash's long feud culminate in one bloody finale made for the ages.


What makes this film really work well is 1.) you have Walter Hill at the helm, and 2.) this film has such an amazing ensemble cast. I mean, next to Predator, you really can't get any better than this. Besides Nick Nolte and Powers Boothe, you've also got Michael Ironside, Clancy Brown, William Forsythe, Rip Torn, Tiny Lister Jr. and a whole lot of noticeable character actors. I've always liked Nolte, but the man seriously delivers the goods here. As Texas Ranger Jack Benteen, he is one tough son of a bitch. Even when it comes to quiet conversations with his lady Sarita, the guy just can't help but being tough, stern and usually pissed off.

The film slows down from time to time, but only long enough to build tension and story as the subplot involving Major Hackett and his team gets pretty complicated. But with a cast of this caliber, you never get bored. It all works and let's face it, you're really just waiting till you get to that showdown between Nolte and Boothe. It's classic. A Mexican standoff in the middle of all hell breaking loose in a fierce gun battle between Major Hackett's men and Cash Bailey's Mexican army. I loved this ending. Honestly, if the rest of the movie was boring, I'd still love it for that incredible ending. But lucky for us, the whole movie rules. There's plenty of car chases and shootouts to satisfy any true fan of badass cinema.

This is 80's action cinema at it's best. Walter Hill delivered a one-two punch with this and then Red Heat the following year, followed by the equally awesome Johnny Handsome and Another 48 Hours the next two years after that. The guy was on a serious role for me around this time and could do no wrong. Though his last big screen effort was the lackluster Undisputed in 2002, he's now making a comeback with A Bullet in the Head with Sly Stallone as we speak. Let's hope the guy still has it in him to deliver the same kind of throwback to badass action 80's style cinema that we came to love.

Hands of Steel VHS Cover

Image courtesy of robotGEEKSCultCinema.blogspot.com

1986 Lightning Video release of director Sergio Martino's Italian Trash Cinema epic. 

I seriously love this film. To me, it represents the best of the

 Italian Trash Cinema craze of the 1980's. 

I reviewed this way back in August, so for a recap you can check it out here.

As I said before, it's the best 

low budget-futuristic-cyborg in a post apocalyptic land-arm wrestling-Italian Trash Cinema 

of it's kind. Gotta love it!

Review: Captain America (1990) Extended Director's Cut

Director Albert Pyun with star Matt Salinger

This one has been a long time coming. I purchased this director's cut directly through director Albert Pyun's website months ago along with his Cyborg: Director's Cut and only now was finally able to sit down and take it all in. One of the best things about this DVD set is that it comes with it's own separate commentary disc with Pyun giving you a scene for scene play over the entire movie. It's really great stuff for a filmgeek as he goes into the whole backstory on how the Captain America film came to fruition as a concept and how he initially wanted nothing to do with it as he felt the original idea was to make it really "hammy" and how once writer Stephen Tolkien came into the project how he really liked his take on the story. He also goes into the mess with the character rights, the Golan/Globus partnership as well as every aspect involving casting, finances, budget, stunts, effects and all that good stuff. 

I should start off by saying that this "director's cut" is off of a workprint given to Pyun when he left or was let go of the project, depending on how you look at it. This workprint consists of Telecined tapes as well as the 35 millimeter workprint, so the picture quality is pretty low, several levels below VHS. But with this workprint were given a better look at the vision Albert Pyun had in mind when agreeing to sign on as director of this big undertaking. At the time, it was supposed to be a much bigger film than what eventually transpired, and as evident in the final product, he worked with what he had and with the budget he was given (or not given I should say). During production, funding ceased and the producers were left scrambling trying to secure funding to at least "finish" the picture. So imagine being a director hired to make a big budget film based on one of the most well known comic book characters of all time only to be told smack in the middle of filming that we've lost all our money? Inevitably you're left with having to improvise "everything", set pieces, action, effects, locations, etc.

I always knew that Pyun wasn't 100% completely to blame for what ultimately became Captain America. He had big ambitions for the character and the film and after several artistic failures like Cyborg, he wanted to go more mainstream and shoot the film much more straight forward and less artsy like his previous recent attempts that left no impact at the box office. Only what else can you do when your financer's back out and don't follow through with funding? You're left with no other choice "but" to be creative so you can finish the film you were hired to do but only now, with no money. So that's basically what happened with Captain America in a nutshell. Funding fell through which left no money for effects, stunts and most importantly the action. There is "some" action for sure, but in all honesty not nearly enough to satisfy a comic book geek or an action film fan. While some of them were pretty cool, they always felt so brief and I always felt short changed. 

So how do I feel about this "extended director's cut"? 

It's hard, because on one hand with Pyun's own constructed version of the film you see what film he was "trying" to make. But on the other hand it doesn't erase the fact that there was still zero budget to work with when he filmed it. So even though he's added a few new scenes and changed things around slightly, it doesn't really deliver a totally different impact than the film we got on VHS back in 1990. The film still looks cheap and there's still barely any action and the red skull still only looks like the red skull for a mere 2 minutes of screen time, and the red skull still talks with that ridiculous  Italian accent. If anything, Pyun showed us how he was trying to go more into the melodrama aspect of it with his cut. I don't know, but for me I'd much rather have it be as campy as hell and with lots of ridiculous action as opposed to a more drama filled story about Steve Rogers not fitting in modern society and grieving the loss of his true love. Look at one of Pyun's later films for example, the awesome cyborg actioner Nemesis. I know it has to do with cyborgs and double crosses and stuff like that, but I honestly couldn't tell you what the entire story was about because it was filled with so much insane action and violence that I really didn't give a shit. A plethora of blood, bullets and boobs is what made Nemesis work. I think it would've been a great idea that, once the funding disappeared and they couldn't make the film they initially set out to make, to just go the complete opposite direction and throw in as much ridiculous action as possible so that we could at least say "well it wasn't the Captain America film we wanted, but man the action kicked ass!". 

After seeing this cut twice in the last few days I've grown more forgiving to some of the things that drove me nuts before. Like Matt Salinger for one. I still don't think he looked like a good Cap, but I gotta give it to the guy, he gave it his all and put his heart into it, and you really couldn't ask for more. You wonder why he just didn't physically bulk up for the role after they shot his Steve Rogers scenes. Budget reasons I guess. But it's still so painfully obvious he's got some kind of padding or whatever he's got going on underneath his oversized  long sleeved clothes and Captain America outfit. But this time around I was really able to see Matt Salinger the actor really delivering the goods. I might as well just give that credit to the entire cast as well because they were all pretty great in this. Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon, Michael Nouri and even Scott Paulin really do there best with what they're given. 

Another is the action. Yea, there's not much of it in here but what there is, is put together really well under the budget constraints. The editing and multiple camera angles really give it a much broader feel than what there actually is. Inventive filmmaking to say the least. 

The biggest problem that you feel throughout though is that you just want "more". More, more, more of everything and there just isn't any there because there was no money so it was never filmed. The workprint is a nice addition to your Captain America viewing experience and give great insight to the hellish conditions with which director Albert Pyun had to work under, but it won't win over any new fans or change your overall view of the film in general. It's a low-budget film that looks cheaper than what was envisioned on an already modest budget. No matter how hard it tries, it will never escape the camp factor because of this. Which is why I feel they should've embraced that aspect of it long ago and went full throttle with it. Raise the camp factor and just have fun with it. It's pretty interesting listening to director Pyun talk during the commentary about how bad a lot of it looks and as he repeatedly says, "he did the best he could with what he was given". The guy flat out admits that, for the most part, a lot of it doesn't look very good. That's what I respect the most about him I think, the honesty. 

Director Albert Pyun has always been a "you either love him or you hate him" filmmaker. The guy has certainly delivered some gems in the past; some I even consider to be my favorite films of all time, but he's also given us some pretty terrible pictures as well. But here, I see talent in a man who wanted to make a name for himself and make something he had never done before in a way he had never tried. Who knows what kind of film he would have given us had he had the money to do so. The fault clearly lies on the studio producing the film. Giving the go-ahead on a film with a certain budget and then losing that money after filming had already begun is not good movie-making practice. So as with The Punisher, it never got a U.S. theatrical release and only got released on VHS after being shelved for 2 years because the studio still had no faith in the project and had no money to release it. So it's safe to say the poor guy had almost all the cards stacked against him. 

If you would like to purchase this DVD, you can do so directly through Albert Pyun's website @ Albert Pyun Movies or by emailing your order to CurnanPictures@gmail.com. 

For the technical specs on the 3 disc DVD set, check out my previous post here. 

VHS Cover Of The Day - The Hitcher

Image courtesy of robotGEEK'S Cult Cinema.

Original THORN EMI/HBO VHS Video Release in white clamshell case.

I know I just did a review on this, which you can find here, but it's such a badass cover and I'm just happy that I was able to get my hands on a copy of the original. Easily one of my absolute favorite thrillers of all time and one of my favorite Rutger Hauer performances ever.