'Fighting Mad' aka 'Death Force' (1978) - Cirio H. Santiago.

With the belated rise in popularity of Asian exploitation, groovy Grindhouse icon, Cirio H. Santiago, has become somewhat of a bona fide underground cinematic hero; this is due in no small part to his electrifying series of low-budget, high-octane, Post-Apocalyptic actioners that proved so exceptionally popular during home video boom of the 80s. The doyen of Post-Holocaust automotive Armageddon, Santiago noisily perfected the machismo-soaked iconography of swarthy, leather-clad heroics, wherein dusty, embattled muscle cars, festooned with gaudy Motley Crue accoutrements blazed a furious trail of calamitous carnage across a noxiously corrupted landscape, whereby brutality and automotive prowess were the only viable remaining currency! Santiago directed these dystopian vistas with their crimson-hued skyline, mottled by the choking dust of deathly radioactivity with great gusto; so it came as no great surprise to discover that his earlier exploitation winner, the wildly entertaining revenger, 'Fighting Mad' (aka) 'Death Force' was by no means an impoverished backwoods cousin to his better known PA extravaganzas!

Brawny charismatic actor, James Iglehart, is part of a roguish trio of opportunistic thugs, and after completing a particularly frantic blag upon a yacht, things go rapidly pear shaped, as he is left to rot in the midst of the pitiless expanses briny sea. Being a pure bred Grindhouse classic, Death Force's unerring goal is unrelenting, blood-thirsty revenge; and after washing up upon a deserted island he is trained by two Japanese soldiers fortuitously stranded there since the end of WW2. Naturally, we have to endure a little ham-fisted cross-cultural observations, but Santiago ably constructs some tasty training vignettes, while certainly NOT on par with '36 Chambers of Shaolin', they prove to be an excellent aperitif before our vengeful black samurai, (fortunately not the insipid, Al Adamson interpretation) armed with his trusty quicksilver Katana blade proceeds to bloodily exact a most furious and dreadful revenge! Ostensibly, Santiago's Gorgonzola garlanded Grindhouse gem, 'Fighting Mad' is the durable fists of fury fable of a hypertrophically muscular, gangster goring, powerhouse African American badass, vengefully decapitating multitudinous dumbbell Mafiosi with a diamond edged katana blade! So, what's not to like, dude?

 

 

'If you ran at me and tried to funk up my sword with that pork rind belly it'd look pretty gnarly, dude!'

'Just cuz I was born with a crucifix in my head don't mean I'm any closer to Jesus, mom!