John Carl Buechler’s special effects work can be seen in so many movies, including Ghoulies, Sorceress, Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype, TerrorVision, Dolls, and Hatchet amongst others, while he also directed Troll, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College, Deep Freeze and Under ConTroll.

Colin Childress (Jeffrey Combs) is a Johnny Craig or Reed Crandall E.C. Comics-style artist who is inspired by a book that he found of evil artwork called the Book of the Ancient Dead, which says “To contemplate evil, is to ask evil home.” By the way, the artwork of Childress was created by Frank Brunner, who is best-known for his Dr. Strange artwork. He also designed the characters for Fox’s X-Men cartoon. Ironically, as the book in this movie is kind of like the Necronomicon, he did the artwork for the metal band Necronomicon’s Escalation album cover.

Back to Childress. Somehow, while drawing one rainy and foreboding evening, he conjures up one of those spirits and disappears. Years later, his home has become an art school run by Mrs. Briggs (Yvonne De Carlo) and where Whitney Taylor (Debrah Farentino) comes to continue working on her comic book art, which is influenced by Childress.

The other artists at the school include love interest Philip (Brian Robbins, Head of the Class), performance artist Lisa (Miranda Wilson), detective fiction writer — huh? — who likes to fire guns and act out his stories named Norman (Vince Edwards) and Whitney’s art school rival Amanda (Pamela Bellwood), who conspires with Mrs. Briggs to ruin our heroine’s life. Whitney finds the book in the basement — get the title now? — and unleashes it on the school. At first, it only kills her rivals, but soon it starts taking out all of her friends.

It’s silly, but in the best of ways, and looks great thanks to it being shot by Sergio Salvati, who was also the cinematographer or director of photography on Puppet Master, Zombi, The House by the Cemetery, The Beyond and so many more. And its writer, listed as Kit DuBois, is really Child’s Play creator Don Mancini.

In summation, though, I love any movie that has a giant wolf monkey creature with a pentagram sliced into its chest that lives as long as creativity does.

Robot Jox is part of the Enter the Video Store — Empire of Screams box set. Extras include new audio commentary by special make-up effects artist Michael Dea, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain from The Schlock Pit, a video appreciation of special make-up effects artist John Carl Buechler, a new interview with special make-up effects artist Michael Deak, the original sales sheet and production notes, a VHS trailer, an Empire Pictures trailer reel and image galleries, including behind-the-scenes photos courtesy of special make-up effects artist Michael Deak. You can get this set from MVD.

There are six Karate Warrior movies and for me, that’s about ten too few as I could watch these all day every day. This time, Anthony Scott has left Miami and given his golden gi to a martial arts school that his friend Greg (Timothy Smith) runs. That’s where the new Karate Warrior comes to learn, a man known as Larry Jones (Ron Williams, who was in Beyond the Door III). He’s in love with a girl named Betty, but as a poor kid, her father wants him to stay out of the picture. He pays him off — well, he helps his mother financially — if he leaves his daughter alone.

The bad guy this time is Joe Carson (Christopher Alan, who played the evil Dick Anderson in the last film), a bully who beats up Greg and sets him up for a hit and run before he steals the golden gi. Larry smashes Joe’s boom box and soon finds a sensei of his own, Mr. Masura (Richard Goon), to learn how to fight back. A friend of Kimura, he teaches Joe the The Dragon Strike, which is different than Anthony’s Stroke of the Dragon as it’s a ridge hand strike — done with the thumb side of the hand — instead of an open palm shotei.

Maybe if our new Karate Warrior wins the big match against Joe, he can keep the house that his alcoholic mother (Lauren Russel) is losing, keep his sister Julie (Katy Johnson) in school and maybe, just maybe, win over Sammy’s dad. By the way, Sammy is played by Dorian D. Field and she was also the love interest in another Fabrizio De Angelis shot in the Southern U.S. movie — Savannah, Georgia — Karate Rock. Do you even understand how many Italian karate movies I have seen when I can recognize girlfriends from them?

Not only are there three more movies, there was also a TV series, Golden Kimono Warrior, which had the same cast as this movie, as well as David Warbeck as Larry’s dad and Marty “Boogeyman” Wright as a fighter named Alabama Bull.

After defeating his opponent Quino in the Philippines, Anthony Scott (Kim Rossi Stuart) returns to America for college. He makes friends with Luke (Winston Haynes) and tries to remember his promise to Master Kimura (now played by Leon Elalout) to not fight ever again. That doesn’t stop the Tigers — a martial arts gang so bad ass that they have their own mascot wearing a suit — and their leader Dick (Christopher Alan) from living up to his name and making Anthony’s life rough. Well, Anthony always kind of brings these things on himself, as he has his choice of, you know, thousands of girls at college and picks Dick’s ex-girlfriend Patty (Amy Lynn Baxter, who was Penthouse magazine’s Pet of the Month for June 1990 and the woman Ed Begley Jr. left Annette Benning for).

Obviously, Anthony has forgotten his girlfriend in the Philippines, Maria, in days.

Maybe having a gang of toughs ruin your new car and needing to be rescued by a fan boat will do that to you.

Finally, after an entire movie of haranguing, Anthony and Dick battle. This is a fight that’s been brewing for over twenty years, as Anthony’s father stopped Dick’s dad and his friends from assaulting a woman, which got them all expelled. Anthony will only fight in a real match with scoring and officials, so Luke and his friends put on a show and get an entire audience to show up and I wonder, “Are they the good guys?” They certainly are industrious for neighborhood toughs.

Dick nearly beats Anthony when he pays off his corner man and has him spray some kind of chemical into his eyes and blinding him. He didn’t count on the Stroke of the Dragon, which Anthony uses to win the match. He gets the girl, he wins over the crowd and…we have thirty minute left?

Yep. That’s because Dick seeks out the man who started the Tigers, Mark Sanders (Ted Prior, Deadly Prey) and gives him five grand to beat his enemy senseless in front of the high school. For being a ripoff of The Karate Kid, this kind of goes backward, with Johnny finding Kreese in the sequel. It’s kind of a Cannon movie.

Master Kimura comes to town and teaches Anthony some new moves. The same Anthony who, when asked what he wants to eat, says “Hot dogs, hamburgers or rib food.” The bad guys also use a Ben & Jerry’s location as their hangout, which seems to be a strange place for “karate fanatics” to congregate. This movie is in some strange universe where college classes have bells for classes, an idea that I believed was true when I was 12.

It’s hard to be on Anthony’s side. He’s a rich kid who lives on his own yacht and seems to be getting a free ride to college, as well as the gift of a car. The Tiger, while rude and kind of bullies, are also middle to lower class kids who have the gumption to put on a karate show even with no ring and just throw it up on a stage like it’s a class play. I cheered when they beat up Anthony’s friend Luke, because all these dudes do is drink champagne and caviar. The Tigers are lucky to get government cheese and off-brand Mountain Dew.

That said, I love the ending where yet another fighter shows up spoiling for a fight and our hero, his sensei and the girl he stole drive off laughing.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Also known as Fist of Power or Il Ragazzo Dal Kimono D’oro ( The Boy in the Golden Kimono), Karate Warrior was directed by Larry Ludman, who is really Fabrizio De Angelis. He also wrote this along with Dardano Sacchetti, using The Karate Kid as the obvious playbook but taking the Italian exploitation way of going harder and weirder.

Anthony Scott (Kim Rossi Stuart, who was in Lamberto Bava’s Fantaghiro series of made for TV movies) is in the Philippines visiting his estranged father Paul (Jared Martin, Steve Farlow from Dallas) against the wishes of his mother Juliet (Janet Agren, who got so much work in the 80s and 90s). While there, he falls for Maria (Jannelle Barretto), a girl whose father is being shaken down by a gang led by Quino (Enrico Torralba). Quino was once the student of Miyagi figure Master Kimura (Ken Watanabe), who may as well be Yoda the way the locals speak of him in hushed tones, but now he loves to hurt people. He’s won the local karate tournament five times in a row, a fact that Anthony gets to see for himself.

He can’t keep his mouth shut and the white savior flashbulbs the karate master with his camera and then spin kicks him, leading to a chase all across the Manilla scenery, ending with Anthony getting the beating of his life. Or death, just about. Luckily, he’s nursed back to health by Kimura.

When Anthony recovers, Kimura teaches him how to defend himself in Drunken Master training style, ending with giving him the Stroke of the Dragon, a special martial arts strike that should only be used when he has to defend his life.

This training involves punching cows with karate magic and finding a jungle cat and staring it directly in the eyes. This is way more intense than painting a fence or waxing a car, as Daniel-San will not be able to tell you.

Also in true Italian style, we are asked to believe that Anthony is a true blue American citizen who loves the American football. Except that he’s always wearing a Jacksonville Bulls jersey from the USFL, a team that played their last game two years before this movie was made. And yes, Kim Rossi Stuart is from Rome.

It takes decades to learn martial arts and a lifetime to master them, much less be able to fight blindfolded and throw magic fireballs. Somehow, Karate Warrior does it in ten days and is able to defeat the outfight a killing machine. Cool story, dude.

That said, I totally love that every time Anthony gets beat up, it’s the most violent beatdown you’ve ever seen. I never feared for Daniel’s life in The Karate Kid but in this, I am sure every time that Karate Warrior is about to die. And how about the ending, where his dad tells his ex-wife that yes, their son is going to an expensive Ivy League school, but now he has to prove himself as a man and in the very next scene he gets beaten so badly that he bleeds out of his eyeballs and needs to go into the last round blindfolded.

This was so successful that there are six of these movies, which is way more than The Karate Kid got before Cobra Kai started. I am probably the only person demanding a new Karate Warrior series.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was first on the site on September 25, 2017. It’s back as it’s now part of the Enter the Video Store — Empire of Screams box set. Extras include new audio commentary by David Decoteau, an archive audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon and writer Ed Naha and a third archive audio commentary with cast members Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Stephen Lee, Carrie Lorraine, and Ian Patrick Williams. There’s also a new interview with editor Lee Percy, a making-of, film-to-storyboard comparisons, trailers and an image gallery. You can get this set from MVD.

Six people are stranded at a mansion in the English countryside — David Bower and Rosemary Bower (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, wife of Stuart Gordon), two totally selfish and uncaring parents, and their daughter Judy. Plus, we have nice guy Ralph and two British punk rock hitchhikers, Isabel (played by Bunty Bailey, who starred in two landmark music videos for the band A-Ha) and Enid.

The mansion is owned by Gabriel and Hilary Hartwicke (Hilary Mason, the blind psychic from Don’t Look Now), toy makers who fill their home with their creations. As Judy had to give up her old teddy bear by her evil stepmother, they give her a new doll, Mr. Punch.

We soon discover that the dolls are alive and love to destroy humans — the eviler the better. The two girls try to steal antiques and get their faces smashed in and shot by toy soldiers before becoming dolls themselves. Rosemary is attacked by the dolls, then leaps out a window to her death. Her body is brought back to the house, leading David to believe Ralph is a killer.

Meanwhile, Judy reveals to Ralph that the dolls are alive and talks them into saving his life. David attacks, knocking out his daughter and the man he blames for his wife’s death, but the dolls save them. Mr. Punch battles David but is destroyed.

The old owners of the house reveal themselves and explain that the house tests people. Either they pass — like Ralph and Judy. Or they fail, like everyone else, and are turned into dolls. It just depends on who believes in the power of childhood. David now becomes Judy’s new doll, Judy picks Ralph to be her new dad and she leaves for home.

Meanwhile, we see all the evil folks as dolls on the shelf as new people get stuck outside the house and the cycle begins again.

Dolls is a Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Castle Freak) film and feels like a test run for the Demonic Toys movies. There are some moments of great invention, like the giant evil teddy bear and the eyeballs popping out of the punk girl. It was a theatrical release that actually didn’t do well, but found new life on video — where a young version of my wife found it and rented it just about every day.

Interestingly enough, the house where the movie was filmed once belonged to Dino De Laurentiis. It was an actual two-story house, but the outside of the house featured remnants of other De Laurentiis films, including Barbarella!

You can listen to us discuss this film on our podcast right here!

The Italian exploitation industry is one of the joys of my life because just when it feels like you’re running out of films from one genre, you find another one to fall in love with, often with many of the same directors, writers and actors. Can’t find any new poliziotteschi you love? Get back into giallo. Nothing in peplum for you? Dive into post-apocalyptic or Westerns or commedia sexy all’italiana.

Or how about a war movie, much less one influenced by what’s been happening in Hollywood, like The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now?

Antonio Margheriti (AKA Anthony Dawson) started his directing career making science fiction films like Space-Men and Battle of the Worlds before moving on to what was hot next. Peplum, with The Golden Arrow, The Fall of Rome and Giants of Rome made over the next three years. If there’s a genre, Margheriti worked in it, like horror (Castle of Blood, The Long Hair of Death, The Virgin of Nuremberg, The Unnaturals), Eurospy (Bob Fleming… Mission Casablanca, Operazione Goldman), Western (Take a Hard Ride, And God Said to Cain), more science fiction (Wild, Wild Planet; War of the Planets, Alien from the Abyss), giallo (The Young, the Evil and the Savage; Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye), comic books (Mr. Superinvisible, Yor Hunter from the Future), cannibals (Cannibal Apocalypse) and even Raiders of the Lost Ark remake remix ripoffs (Hunters of the Golden Cobra, The Ark of the Sun God).

If you could shoot it, Margheriti did it. He was quick, he was cheap and often, he’s pretty incredible. Not always, but more often than not.

And this is one of his war pictures.

Saigon isn’t a fun time to be alive for an American soldier. Captain Henry Morris (David Warbeck) is introduced in this film when he watches his friend shoot another soldier in a brother and then turn the gun on himself. After that, Captain Henry is given a mission. Fly into Cambodia and shut down a radicalized radio station broadcasting Viet Cong messages. He’ll have nearly no help other than a few soldiers. And after years at war, does he even care anymore?

The soldiers under his command include Sgt. George Washington (Tony King) and Carlos (Bobby Rhodes). They barely make it into the jungle when traps shred one of the men nearly in half and later, water snakes emerge and make a meal of another. Italian wartime isn’t pretty. That’s why this movie is on Section 3 of the video nasties list.

As the men make their way through the jungles of the Philippines, they’re joined by a photojournalist named Jane Foster, played by Tisa Farrow. Remember what I said earlier about finding people across genre? Ms. Farrow showed up in just a few Italian movies, but all are memorable and each is in its own genre: slasher (Antropophagus), zombies (Zombi), this war film and one that crosses into both giallo and the poliziotteschi (Strange Shadows In an Empty Room).

There are also some crazy moments along the way, including Major William Cash (John Steiner) having a secret cave base that has a full bar staffed by Luciano Pigozzi, as well as an array of porn mags and working pinball machines. Cash’s favorite music is the sound of gunfire and he barely stops his men from assaulting Foster when she tries to get a beer. His quick thinking is to send one of them across enemy lines to steal a coconut from a tree while being shot at.

There’s a reason for scenes like that. According to the documentary Margheriti and The Last Hunter, the man known in America as Anthony Dawson didn’t want to make a political film for or against the Vietnam War. He just wanted to make a movie that was 100% behind one thing: being entertaining.

In Italy, this was released as Cacciatore 2, as The Deer Hunter was called Il Cacciatore. The only thing this movie has in common with its inspiration is Vietnam and it’s more of a ripoff of Apocalypse Now as it was shot in the exact same locations and dealt with the same issues that Coppola dealt with except with a much, much smaller budget.

Throughout the movie, Morris keeps thinking back to New York City and that girl back home, who is played by Margie Newton (Aphrodite from The Adventures of Hercules, the painted-up Lia Rousseau from Mattei’s Hell of the Living Dead). As they get closer to that anti-American radio tower and the voice of the Tokyo Rose-style woman telling the U.S. soldiers just to lie down their arms as we hear easy listening tunes and Viet Cong kill the drugged out and hazed American boys, we come to realize that this love waiting at home and the one Morris has to kill are one and the same, which is an astounding coincidence but says a lot about the end of U.S. innocence in the 1970s.

Over the score by Franco Micalizzi, whose song “The Puzzle” will be familiar to fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm, we get a great ending, as Morris gets Foster on the last helicopter out of Hell and just kneels as the napalm starts to rain down, a visual similar to Platoon six years before that movie would be made.

Known as Fuga dall’arcipelago maledetto (Escape from the Cursed Archipelago) in Italy, this Antonio Margheriti-directed and Tito Capri-written film stars David Warbeck as Tiger Joe, a former US Army Special Forces Vietnam Veteran who works with “Midnight” Washington (Tony King, Atlantis Interceptors) and Lenny (Luciano Pigozzi) to airlift all sorts of cargo but mostly guns.

When he gets shot down, he joins up with Kia (Annie Belle, who started her acting career appearing in Jean Rollin’s Lips of Blood and Bacchanales Sexuelles; she’s in so many movies by directors and personalities I’m obsessed with: Deodato’s House On the Edge of the Park, D’Amato’s Absurd and L’alcova, the supposed Emmanuelle Arsan-directed Forever Emmanuelle, Marco Antonio Andolfi’s Cross of the Seven Jewels and the Cannon film Nana) and her companion Datu (Abadeza) to get out of the jungle alive.

This has a lot of cast, crew and shots from the much better The Last Hunter, but I just love Antonio Margheriti. He brings something extra to every movie. Sadly, cinematographer Riccardo Pallottini lost his life in a plane crash while filming the final shot of the film.

May I never ever get tired of seeing bamboo huts in the Philippines blow up. If you want more Margherti in the jungle, check out Tornado: The Last Blood, Code Name: Wild Geese, The Last Hunter, Commando Leopard, The Commander, Indio and Indio 2: The Revolt.