Raw Force (1982)

[scudwolf 10]

Bo-bo Charles Bronson

Bo-bo Bruce Lee

Bo-bo...Hitler?!

 

Raw Force (aka Kung Fu Cannibals) is one of the craziest and most thoroughly entertaining exploitation films ever made.

 

It concerns a group of martial artists from the "Burbank Kung Fu Club" who are taking a pleasure cruise to the mysterious Warriors Island, fabled to house the souls of dead martial artists who have lost their honor. Little do they now that a group of slave traders, lead by a man who looks like a chubby Adolf Hitler is in business with the monks of Warriors Island, selling them kidnapped women in exchange for jade. And once he finds out about their cruise's destination, he can't allow them to make it there.

 

This movie is absolute lunacy from beginning to end. It starts out promising an adventure story, but soon turns into an action brawler when there's a Roadhouse-esque bar fight, then turns into a bizarre sex comedy for about 20mins until it segues into a jarringly brutal siege on the cruise ship by fake Hitler's cronies who look like they were rejected from 'The Warriors' movie because they couldn't all agree on a theme for their gang. Finally our main characters make it to Warriors Island for a final showdown with the Hitler gang, come cannibal monks, and an army of zombie ninja and samurai.

 

I've never seen a true exploitation film covered on HDTGM before and it's understandable why. They're usually too easy targets, have too much boring filler between their awesome moments, and are sometimes hard to track down for viewing. But I think Raw Force is a special exception. The film at only 86 min in length is entertaining from start to finish. No boring moments. Even the filler is hilarious. There are so many bonkers moments in this movie, definitely enough to discuss for a full episode. There is dialogue and line delivery so bizarre and out-of-left-field that it breaks your brain. There are light-hearted attempts at comedy followed by scenes of brutal violence. Loads of casual racism and misogyny. And what appears to be a 16 year old kid made up to look like a balding, curly-haired, middle-aged biker (?).

 

Seriously. Watch the trailer, track down this film, and tell the HDTGM crew how incredible it is.

 

Trailer: https://www.youtube....h?v=ju27nZAeqjg

[MarcNado 28]

I had the pleasure of watching this strange film with a few friends over the weekend and whilst it is a b-movie I think much like some of the other 80s b-movies HDTGM have done it would provide so much to talk about and mock for all of the team.

 

Without even scratching the surface the plot of this film is about a forbidden island that hosts Kung Fu Cannibals that can bring fallen warriors back to life and a group of holiday makers who seem to be versed in the martial arts that want to stop off at that island on their cruise even though most of the boat dont know what the island is. An island that also has a brochure for itself!?!?

 

if that was not good enough we have a bad guy who speaks in a slight German accent and is a bit of a Hitler lookalike yet obviously is not German.

 

IMDB's summary is:

A group of martial arts students are en route to an island that supposedly is home to the ghosts of martial artists who have lost their honor. A Hitler lookalike and his gang are running a female slavery operation on the island as well. Soon, the two groups meet and all sorts of crazy things happen which include cannibal monks, piranhas, zombies, and more!

 

Trailer here:

[RyanSz 3140]

This is such a great bad movie because it tries to mix every 80s action trope to the most insane degree possible. You think one character is the main person but then that changes partway into the movie and then once again. The monk and zombie fights are nuts, and the fact that I think they just shot parts in a legit Vietnamese strip club/brothel just because they could makes this an ideal candidate for the show.

[MarcNado 28]

And were the bad guys actually the police?

 

He seemed to have a police badge and the van had police written on the side of it covered up with the removable logo for their shady company.

 

What about the cruise, was it a swingers or a sex cruise they were on because it seemed to be a party boat then at one point there are a load of old couples having a nice relaxed boring dinner.

 

What was with all the outfits the gang had on when they invaded the cruise ship, thats one hell of a weirdly dressed gang.

 

Did the captain kill most of the people on the boat? As he announces on the tannoy that people should stay in their rooms when the boat is under attack, then literally seconds later he is seen getting into the only life raft jettisoned just before the boat explodes.

 

I have so so many questions about this film as it just didn't answer them. Just when you think something is about to be explained everything changes.

[ol' eddy wrecks 212]

I'm going to bump this recommendation for throwing my support behind it because I enjoy the hell out of this movie.

If it's not my favorite martial-arts, action, horror, comedy with cannibals, then it's at least in my top 2 (of the two I've seen). And while the other one might have more adept martial arts and comedy, this this one has zombies*. And off-brand Adolf Hitler with his merry band of human traffickers who shop at the Warriors's/GI Joe clothing surplus stores.  And salt-water piranha.  And aggressive ADRing (or maybe it was just aggressive sound editing) a sex education of "what is a fetish". And Cameron Mitchel.

Sure, it tries to be intentionally campy sometimes, but that doesn't stop ineptness from being inept.