Stryker (1983) New World/Action-Sci-Fi RT: 86 minutes Rated R (strong violence, rape, nudity) Director: Cirio H. Santiago Screenplay: Cirio H. Santiago Music: Ed Gatchalian Cinematography: Ricardo Remias Release date: September 2, 1983 (US) Cast: Steve Sandor, Andria Savio, William Ostrander, Julie Gray, Monique St. Pierre, Mike Lane, Jon Harris III, Ken Metcalfe, Joe Zucchero, Michael De Mesa, Catherine Schroeder, Tony Carreon, Pete Cooper, Corey Casey, Camille Ships. Box Office: N/A
Rating: *
A movie as monumentally bad as Stryker could only come from the Philippines. Such a blatant knock-off of The Road Warrior, one of several that came out in the early 80s, could only come from New World Pictures. Two things immediately come to mind when I think of Stryker. First, the poster was displayed in the foyer of one of my usual haunts (the City Line Theater) for several months yet never opened there. Second, one of the “stars” of the picture is Monique St. Pierre, the model featured in the centerfold of the Playboy magazine I had hidden under my mattress at the time (I was 15). Stryker didn’t play at any theaters near me. I didn’t get to see it until years later when I purchased a used copy from a video store going out of business. I think I paid three bucks for it; I still felt ripped-off.
Watching it again the other night (it’s on Blu-Ray, go figure), I was reminded of a couple of MTV videos from that period: Loverboy’s “Queen of the Broken Hearts” and Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky”, both of which had post-apocalyptic settings. Stryker looks like an extended music video. One of the characters even looks like a member of Loverboy with the way he dresses. I got a good laugh from that. In fact, I got several laughs out of Stryker. It’s so bad; it reaches the level of unintentional comedy. It just begs for the MST3K treatment.
A nuclear holocaust has turned the world into a barren wasteland where water is the most precious commodity. He who controls the water has all the power. That would be Kardis (Lane, Frankenstein 1970), an evil warlord whose leather-clad goons are looking for an idyllic place called “The Colony”. As the movie opens, they chase down Delha (Savio, Death Screams) in order to force her to reveal its location. She’s saved by Stryker (Sandor, Bonnie’s Kids) and his sidekick Bandit (Ostrander, Buddy Repperton from Christine) only to be recaptured a few minutes later. Stryker and Bandit hijack one of Kardis’ water tankers and use it to rescue Delha who’s being tortured. They manage to get to her mid-rape. It turns out she’s looking for a guy named Trun (Metcalfe, TNT Jackson) to help defend the Colony against Kardis and his army. Wouldn’t you know it, Trun happens to be Stryker’s brother. Are you ready for another surprise? Stryker has a personal vendetta against Kardis (he killed his wife). Kardis is pissed at Stryker for cutting off his hand in retaliation. You know how these things go, right?
WOW! There is just so much to mock Stryker about. Let’s start with the premise. Water may be scarce, but there doesn’t seem a shortage of petrol with the souped-up cars, motorcycles, jeeps and tanks the characters tool around in. Where does it come from? I didn’t see a single Texaco station. And there must be a Zipperhead or some fashionable boutique in the vicinity. The characters aren’t exactly dressed in dirty rags as you would expect from desert dwellers in a post-apocalyptic world. Hair and makeup doesn’t seem to be a problem either. Why let a little thing like the end of the world stop folks from looking their best?
At one point, Stryker encounters a band of gibberish-speaking midgets in the desert. I thought immediately of the Jawas from Star Wars; all that’s missing are the brown hooded robes. Sure enough, they show up again later wearing brown hooded robes! I damn near busted a gut laughing.
The acting in Stryker is terrible. Lead actor Sandor looks like he stepped off the cover of some goofy romance novel. The man is absolutely talentless. The difference between him and Mel Gibson is that Gibson didn’t speak much in The Road Warrior. Every time Sandor opens his mouth, we’re reminded he can’t act his way out of a paper bag. Ostrander, the guy who looks like a member of Loverboy, fares a little better despite not having much to do expect kill bad guys and make goo-goo eyes at one of the women in the Colony. That reminds me, there’s a gang of tough women (one of them St. Pierre) from the Colony riding around the desert looking to fight the bad guys. They’re deadly with their crossbows and arrows. They’re also HOT! Hmmm, I’m liking this end of the world thing better and better.
Stryker is a cheap-looking movie. Shot primarily in the Marinduque Mines, the action mainly takes place in the desert and dark caves. I doubt the makers spent a lot of money on building sets; they just used whatever was there. The synth-heavy score by Ed Gatchalian is just like any heard in any given Italian-made cheapo. That it rips off Italian-made knock-off flicks says very little about the Filipino film industry. The dialogue is horrendous. The plot makes no sense; there’s no logic to it. There’s zero character development. The romantic subplots, if you can call them that, feel shoehorned in. The action scenes are pretty good. In its defense, Stryker has plenty of action, violence and stunts. The vehicles are pretty cool. I already mentioned how hot the girls are. Delha looks mighty fine in those tight shorts.
No two ways about it, Stryker is a bad movie. Written and directed by Cirio H. Santiago (TNT Jackson), it’s absolute junk. BUT it’s the good kind of junk. It’s entertainingly bad. To be fair, it’s actually rather engaging. I had fun watching Stryker. There’s no reason this movie should be remembered but Movie Guy’s mind works in mysterious ways as you all know. I remember the poster from the City Line Theater. I liked the art. It looked like a cool savage action flick. Who knows? I might have loved it at 15. I probably would have thought it was cool. At 51, I know what Stryker is and I don’t care. Sometimes a bad movie can be a total guilty pleasure. That’s what this is. Please don’t think less of me.
