Los Angeles gym owner Jake Raye is shocked to receive a phone call from police in Manila stating that his brother has been found dead in an alley after being savagely beaten. Arriving in the Philippines, Jake stumbles upon a clue that suggests the murderer is a contestant in the Ta-Chang, an underground freestyle fighting ring that his brother also fought in. With the help of his late brother's trainer, the mysterious Kwong, & a fellow contestant named Baby Davies & his stripper sister Nancy, Jake agrees to take his brother's place in the Ta-Chang & try to uncover the killer. But as he fights his way through the opponents, Jake begins to suspect that Kwong might not be telling the truth about his brother's death & that he might have an ulterior motive in the fight.
Bloodfist is one of the martial arts genre's most well-known cult films – the start of a franchise that at time of writing this numbers at nine films long. It is also the film that brought the world's attention to a kickboxing champion named Don "The Dragon" Wilson. The film was initially meant as a cheap knock-off of the Van Damme classic BLOODSPORT, but made a surprisingly large amount of money in its limited theatrical release that Corman promptly turned it into a franchise.
For a film that makes no pretence other than to rip off the films of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bloodfist is largely successful in delivering on its promise. It might not be a particularly good film – the bad acting & predictable plot (I personally managed to correctly guess the entire story by the fifteen-minute mark, including the revelation that Kwong is responsible for the murder) conspire to rob the film of much of its impact – but it does feature a lot of martial arts combat, which will be quite entertaining for martial arts fans despite the fact that the fights are often poorly choreographed.
The film tries hard to get by on some of its stunt casting – Corman had the bright idea of putting in a lot of real-life martial arts champions (Billy Blanks, Rob Kaman, Kris Aguilar & Don Wilson himself) into the film in order to prop up the film's martial arts pedigree. But most of these people are not decent actors. Still, if you want something to pass the time & you're not picky about the film you're watching, then Bloodfist might fit the bill.
On the acting front, Don Wilson (later to add the nickname "The Dragon" to his name around the time of his third film FUTURE KICK) is just starting his acting career here & has almost no acting skills except for an annoyed attitude that makes watching the film a laugh riot. On the other hand, the rest of the cast are clearly not in the same league as Wilson, their performances (especially that of Kris Aguilar, whose performance entirely consists of him walking around beating the crap out of his opponents in a poor characterisation of a character who's supposed to be a napalm survivor of the Vietnam Conflict despite having no scars on his body) being very poor. The writing is also quite slack – the characters are slimly drawn to the point that they resemble clichés & cardboard cutouts.
If you want a quick recommendation, Bloodfist might make a good beer-&-pizza film for you & your friends to sit around at night & laugh at the various martial arts mayhem but as a serious martial arts film, it disappoints somewhat. You might do better with Van Damme's early work.
Bloodfist is one of the martial arts genre's most well-known cult films – the start of a franchise that at time of writing this numbers at nine films long. It is also the film that brought the world's attention to a kickboxing champion named Don "The Dragon" Wilson. The film was initially meant as a cheap knock-off of the Van Damme classic BLOODSPORT, but made a surprisingly large amount of money in its limited theatrical release that Corman promptly turned it into a franchise.
For a film that makes no pretence other than to rip off the films of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bloodfist is largely successful in delivering on its promise. It might not be a particularly good film – the bad acting & predictable plot (I personally managed to correctly guess the entire story by the fifteen-minute mark, including the revelation that Kwong is responsible for the murder) conspire to rob the film of much of its impact – but it does feature a lot of martial arts combat, which will be quite entertaining for martial arts fans despite the fact that the fights are often poorly choreographed.
The film tries hard to get by on some of its stunt casting – Corman had the bright idea of putting in a lot of real-life martial arts champions (Billy Blanks, Rob Kaman, Kris Aguilar & Don Wilson himself) into the film in order to prop up the film's martial arts pedigree. But most of these people are not decent actors. Still, if you want something to pass the time & you're not picky about the film you're watching, then Bloodfist might fit the bill.
On the acting front, Don Wilson (later to add the nickname "The Dragon" to his name around the time of his third film FUTURE KICK) is just starting his acting career here & has almost no acting skills except for an annoyed attitude that makes watching the film a laugh riot. On the other hand, the rest of the cast are clearly not in the same league as Wilson, their performances (especially that of Kris Aguilar, whose performance entirely consists of him walking around beating the crap out of his opponents in a poor characterisation of a character who's supposed to be a napalm survivor of the Vietnam Conflict despite having no scars on his body) being very poor. The writing is also quite slack – the characters are slimly drawn to the point that they resemble clichés & cardboard cutouts.
If you want a quick recommendation, Bloodfist might make a good beer-&-pizza film for you & your friends to sit around at night & laugh at the various martial arts mayhem but as a serious martial arts film, it disappoints somewhat. You might do better with Van Damme's early work.