‘Who Dares Wins’ (1982) - Ian Sharp.

One of the more remarkable aspects about director Ian Sharp’s sterling, garrote-taut hostage thriller is not only how well the gritty, flint-edged film holds up, but in today’s divided world of political ferment, with clearly so little altered in the higher echelon’s continued abuses of power, the crass media obfuscation, ‘Who Dares Wins’ (1982) continued relevance is additionally damning! Reginald Rose’s lean, perfectly paced screenplay places our uncommonly heroic he-man Captain Peter Skellen (Lewis Collins) at the fulminating centre of a well-funded, far from slumbering anti-nuclear terrorist cell, imperiously masterminded by intractable zealot Frankie Leith (Judy Collins) the unrelenting tension increases as Skellen embeds himself ever deeper into this murderous conspiracy, his covert solo mission fraught with myriad dangers, not only to himself, his lovely wife Jenny (Rosalind Lloyd) and newborn baby Samantha but, perhaps, the continued stability of the western world!

 
All too few action thrillers are both intelligent and unflinchingly bellicose, the exciting, well-mounted action is breathlessly swift and brutal, no slow-motion languor, precise, surgical, expeditious, kill or be killed, every retaliatory action timed to the millisecond, and it is this coolly pragmatic take on violence that is so frequently fetishized today which not only proves immediately striking but exhilarating, while you are well aware this is merely splendidly made escapist entertainment, there is a glacial verisimilitude to the characters steadfast actions, and the morally ‘grey’ areas of both parties are expertly factored in, this isn’t merely just another prosaic, spoon-fed, unquestionably good surmounting Evil, as both protagonist's relentless appropriation of extreme measures to justify their disparate means expose where such terrible power can be abused to suit secret, destructive agendas.

‘Who Dares Wins’ is a genuinely thrilling film and its classic status is greatly deserved, enlivened by a magnificently propulsive score by the inimitable genius Roy Budd, and never again will we enjoy such an exemplary cast assembled for our sublime cinematic edification: Judy Davis, Edward Woodward, Richard Widmark, with especially refined work by Tony Doyle as bluff, no nonsense Colonel Hadley (SAS), Ingrid Pitt as the terrifyingly tenacious Helga and a truly commanding performance by Lewis Collins who is extraordinarily vivid as indomitable SAS Captain Peter Skellen, effortlessly exuding the fascinating kind of steely integrity one only rarely sees today. 

 

 

 

 

'The Minion' (1998) - Jean-Marc Piche.

Two metropolitan transport Workers accidentally tumble into a subterranean, long-forgotten, body-strewn burial chamber hidden deep beneath the bustling streets of New York which leads to the extraordinarily macabre discovery of the upright, partially garbed skeleton of a sword-bearing monk, a Templar Knight. Karen Goodleaf (Francoise Robertson) a keen young archaeologist discovers an ancient key hidden in a sealed locket around the dead monk's neck which living warrior monk Lukas Sadorov (Dolph Lundgren), just flown in from the Holy land, has come to collect, armed only with a killer dentine smile and a pretty gnarly looking spiked gauntlet! This exquisitely handsome pugilist priest being tasked to destroy the various minions that would no less zealously try to reclaim said key for the nefarious purposes of their infernal master! In the conspiracy-laden tumult running giddily up to the millennium the trapped, hateful Antichrist seething sulphurous in his prison pit craves release from his living tomb in order to seek dominion upon the earth with only the pretty archaeologist Goodleaf and Dolph's exceptionally brawny spiked fist to prevent this most nightmarish Armageddon!

While Jean-Marc Piche's 'The Minion' is pure B-movie gobbledygook all the way it's also a lot of fun to watch, and as always, the enigmatic, heroically handsome Dolph makes for an engaging champion and there's also a super ballistic gonzo Terminator-style massacre in the cop shop that's pretty righteous to behold, and it all races along with pleasing alacrity to a substantial evil vs. Lundgren showdown, which bloodily ends in the only righteous way such an altercation should ever end! If it should ever become mandatory to see at least one splendidly screwball, theologically dense fantasy action movie with the mighty, steel-thewed Swede efficiently crushing the errant skulls of myriad doom-heralding, black-eyed demon-possessed minions, this one is eerily appropriate!

'The luxuriously looming, lantern-jawed action icon Dolph Lundgren's entertainingly hokey, late 90s monster vs martial monk DTV mash-up  'The Minion' would make an especially boisterous B-Movie double thrill with JCVD's equally evangelical fists-of-faith actioner 'The Order'. - Tor Bronson @ The Heroic Bloodshed.

 

 

'Overkill' (1987) - Ulli Lommel.

Beloved B-Movie impresario Ulli Lommel had a terrific run in the 80s with his independently produced, highly regarded cult classics, the iconic 'Bogeyman' and one of his most atmospheric works of celluloid terror 'The Devonsville Terror' are both well documented, but how often do far out film fans get to hear about his street tough, hard-nosed, knuckle-bustin' Yakuza action fest 'Overkill'? 

With maverick, moustachioed undercover cop Mickey Delano (Steve Ralley) losing his partner in a grisly gangland shoot-out, he is now doubly convinced that there will soon be a major increase in Yakuza-fronted crime in the sunshine state, and as the macho man said; 'He was born in California, and he's gonna defend it!!!!!' Hellz yeah!!!! And limber, sleek-chested Delano 'ain't kiddin' around folks! Soon the dutiful, hard bodied detective Delano unpleasantly discovers just how deeply the organized crime corruption has spread in his beloved Los Angeles, and with bullet-ridden bodies stinking up the sweltering side walks of Little Tokyo like spoiled garbage it's down to courageous, frequently shirtless, infrequently cautious Delano and new Japanese detective partner Akashi (John Nishio) to administer some serious street-level justice to the increasingly lawless Yakuza, since they are not afraid of death, only the 'way' of death, these two vengeance-seeking cops have to get a little medieval to gain some hard-earned respect.

 Maestro B-movie Maven Ulli Lommel's violent gangster thriller is certainly aptly named as the blood-soaked, pathos packed, Samurai Sword slashing finale is one for 80s VHS action hounds to savour! Time to say 'Sayonara' to B-Movie boredom and lovingly embrace the outrageous oriental murder madness of Lommel's anything but lacklustre 'Overkill'. Keeping this dirigible of death afloat is the delightfully animated electronic score by composer Bill Roebuck & Robert J. Walsh. Hey!!!! The only hackwork here is the unerring savagery of righteous dude Akashi's limb-lopping Samurai sword! Right on! 

 '...the body count is overwhelming!' - Tor Bronson @ The Heroic Bloodshed.

 

 

 

'Kiss of The Damned' (2012) - Xan Cassavetes.

One of my favourite modern sexy/slinky modern vampire movies, deliciously decadent, and très Jean Rollin! - 'Love IS stranger than death!'

'I would have done anything to be with you, however insane!!!!!'

 

'Ghosts That Still Walk' (1977) - James T. Flocker.

James T. Flocker's unfairly derided, amusingly creaky creepshow is a benign, family friendly 1970s spooky-kooky fright flick that all too rarely get mentioned without pronounced sarcasm, so I'm giving it some belated, but wholly deserved B-Movie love, so screw the naysayers! While the plot is looser than the evil-eyed Mummy's shroud, it has an appealing, weirdly off-centre atmosphere which gives Flocker's mobile home haunting, desert-set yarn about a lad's increasingly troublesome possession by malign medicine man some additional paranormal pep! One doesn't need ESP to divine that these genteel supernatural shenanigans are manifestly not suitable for all terror-seeking tastes, but in our increasingly agist era where fright fans all too rarely see octogenarians portrayed as proactive protagonists, the refreshingly senior cast of 'Ghosts That Still Walk' provides a welcome tonic against the teenaged hegemony of contemporary Jump-scare horror, and, besides, I've always had a soft spot for Anne 'Airplane' Nelson, who remains as charmingly watchable as ever, with handsome Matt Boston delivering an equally credible performance!