Raw Force (1982)
7/10
A hilariously bad but highly entertaining trash classic.
24 June 2017
Unscrupulous jade dealers (led by a German Hitler look-alike) abduct young women and take them to Warriors' Island, where the unfortunate prisoners are sold to extremely happy cannibalistic monks who operate a jade mine. By consuming the flesh of the captive women, the monks are able to resurrect the dead bodies of disgraced martial artists.

When a pleasure cruise sets sail for the island, its passengers including several karate experts keen to see the sights, the jade dealers decide to attack the boat and kill everyone on board. After a furious battle, the craft is set on fire, forcing the remaining passengers and crew to abandon ship in a life raft. No prizes for guessing that they wash up on the shores of Warriors' Island where they encounter the jade dealers, the monks, and their zombies.

Pure exploitation trash from start to finish, Raw Force is a cheap and cheesy martial arts horror movie that features equal amounts of ineptly choreographed bad-assery and extremely gratuitous female nudity. It's technically shoddy in most departments, but director Edward D. Murphy packs his film's 86 minutes with so much absurdity that its very hard not to enjoy.

Cameron Mitchell slums it as the ship's captain, Filipino exploitation regular Vic Diaz plays the leader of the cannibal monks, and I Spit On Your Grave actress Camille Keaton has a pointless (but welcome) cameo as a topless woman trying to have sex in a bathroom. Laughable chop socky aside, the plentiful violence includes samurai sword impalement, a hilarious zombie decapitation, an axe death, a drowning in a toilet bowl, and a piranha attack.
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