Raw Force (1982) American Panorama/Action-Horror RT: 86 minutes Rated R (lots of nudity including full frontal, sexual content, graphic bloody violence, cannibalism, language) Director: Edward D. Murphy Screenplay: Edward D. Murphy Music: Walter Murphy Cinematography: Frank E. Johnson Release date: July 9, 1982 (US) Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Geoffrey Binney, Hope Holiday, Jillian Kesner, John Dresden, Jennifer Holmes, Rey King, Carla Reynolds, Carl Anthony, John Locke, Mark Tanous, Ralph Lombardi, Vic Diaz, Jewel Shepard, Camille Keaton, Chanda Romero, Maggie Lee, Garry McClintic, John Rosselli, Joe Pagliuso, Robert Dennis, Tony Oliver, Robert MacKenzie, Steve Elmer, Michael P. Stone. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ****
I first saw the Filipino-American exploitation flick Raw Force in early ’98 when I found a used VHS copy for $3 at a video store about to close their doors for good. The box made it look and sound cool. It didn’t leave much of an impression when I finally watched it. In fact, it didn’t leave any at all. I honest can’t remember a single thing about it. I ended up banishing the tape to my video archives where it still collects dust to this day. This might appear to be the end of the story, but it’s actually one of those “To Be Continued” situations. It picks up 26 years later. Read on.
It should come as no surprise that I found Raw Force on Tubi, the go-to streaming service when you’re looking for obscure B-titles. It was a toss-up between that and Wonder Women. On impulse, I clicked on Raw Force. I feared for a moment that I’d come to regret it, then the movie started. Any and all doubts faded instantaneously with the realization I’d just entered exploitation movie heaven.
Written and directed by Edward D. Murphy (no, not that one!), Raw Force has everything- kung fu zombies, crazy cannibalistic monks, piranha, Cameron Mitchell, naked chicks, fighting with fists, feet and swords, a German villain with a Hitler mustache, jade smuggling, sexy Jillian Kesner, more naked chicks, mercenaries, dopey dialogue, bad acting, a nonsensical plot and the incomparable Vic Diaz. In other words, it’s completely INSANE! I can’t believe I dismissed this demented masterpiece all those years ago. What was I thinking?
The plot, such as it is, centers on Warrior’s Island, a place shrouded in myth and forbidden to outsiders. The inhabitants are a group of crazed cannibal monks, led by Vic Diaz (Vampire Hookers), who claim that eating the flesh of women gives them the power to raise the dead. Their food supply arrives regularly courtesy of the aforementioned German baddie Thomas Speer (Lombardi) who uses the kidnapped ladies to fund his jade smuggling operation. When the monks need back-up, they resurrect the martial arts masters buried in an old cemetery. There they are, those wacky kung fu zombies!
Believe it or not, there are those who’d want to visit a place like this. There’s enough of them that aging actress/entrepreneur Hazel Buck (Holiday, The Apartment) makes a pretty nice living arranging trips there on a small cruise ship captained by crusty sea dog Harry Dodds (Mitchell, Silent Scream). The latest (and likely last) excursion is a varied bunch of weirdos and not particularly smart individuals. The heroes-to-be are three members of the Burbank Karate Club- Mike (Binney, Hot Potato), John (Dresden, Commando Squad) and Gary (Locke). Girl power is provided by Cookie Winchell (Kesner, Firecracker), a tough but foxy L.A. cop on vacation with her equally hot cousin Eileen Fox (Reynolds, Maniac Cop). The other character of note is Go Chin (King, Firecracker), the ship cook who aspires to open his own Chinese restaurant. He’s also a kung fu expert, go figure.
The passenger manifest also includes a swinging couple, a third grade teacher, a murderess on the lam, a religious freak and a bartender who breaks blocks of ice with his head. And let’s not forget the bevy of busty babes whose sole function appears to be getting naked for the camera. BTW, two of those babes are Jewel Shepard (Hollywood Hot Tubs) and Camille Keaton (I Spit on Your Gave). It’s like a warped episode of The Love Boat with loads of nudity, sex and violence. All we need is a dorky ship purser and a cool bartender (still LOVE that double finger-point!).
Predictably, it’s only a matter of time before somebody crosses paths with Adolph…. I mean, Speer and gets him riled. It happens when the swinging husband (Anthony, Plan 9 from Outer Space) and Mike make an unscheduled visit to a local bordello. They’re there when Speer shows up with his goons (disguised as local cops) to collect more “food” for the mad monk and his followers. The guys manage to escape with their lives, but Speer tracks down their ship and sends his men to prevent it from reaching the island. The main characters manage to flee the burning boat in a leaky life raft. Guess where they land?
As you know, you can’t review an exploitation movie like you would a mainstream film. It must be taken on its own cheap, low-bar terms. I think that was where I erred the first time I saw Raw Force. Now I know better. This movie is freaking GREAT! Its greatness lies in how laughably bad it is. Let’s get real here, Murphy isn’t the least bit concerned about trivial things like acting, dialogue, editing, intelligence or even telling a coherent story. His screenplay is all over the place; nothing makes any sense. At the same time, it all comes together quite nicely. Still, you have to wonder about some of his creative choice. Take the scene in the bar. A big fight breaks out. The camera keeps cutting to a topless dancer who continues to wiggle and jiggle her boobs while the whole joint gets destroyed around her. Everybody has their own set of priorities, I guess.
To its immense credit, Raw Force has plenty of action and violence, some of it quite bloody. The kung fu zombies, played by stuntmen in zombie makeup, are surprisingly agile for walking corpses. The part where they come out of their graves is especially cool. What’s funny to me here is that none of the characters know how to properly deal with the undead. It’s like they’ve never seen a George Romero picture. GO FOR THE BRAIN, YOU BIG DUMMIES! Either shoot them in the head or chop their heads off. How hard is that? GOSH!
You want to see great acting? Go look someplace else. You won’t find it in Raw Force. What you will find is a lot of actors just trying to keep a straight face while being bombarded left and right by silliness of every kind. They succeed for the most part, but you can tell nobody is taking any of it seriously. Quite the opposite, everybody seems to be having fun, so who am I to rain on the festivities? It’s always great seeing Mitchell; he’s such a ham. Here, he gets to work with his real-life wife Holiday. That would explain why their characters sound like an old married couple. Kesner is a beautiful bad ass. Vic Diaz, he’s the man!
There is a lot of nudity in Raw Force, A LOT! Murphy uses any excuse (or none at all) to have his actresses lose their clothes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It just makes the movie all the funnier. Also, the girls are HOT! What guy wouldn’t mind looking at them naked?
There’s plenty to enjoy in Raw Force– wild overacting, daft dialogue, poorly executed action scenes and hideous early 80s fashions- but Murphy saves the best for last. At the end, just before the closing credits crawl, he promises us a sequel via titles reading “To Be Continued”. Just like Doctor Detroit II: The Wrath of Mom, it never materialized. Too bad, the world would have been a better place with a Raw Force 2 in it.
