The Executioner - Ich, der Vollstrecker

A Vietnam vet turned vigilante, called 'The Executioner' (oh, brother) is taking it upon himself to, well, to execute the scum and the vermin of LA while apparently under some type of hypnosis, or during flashbacks. Okay, well, that is mostly a subplot, as two thirds of the film seems to be taken up by moronic teenagers getting stoned and pressuring a girl to go into prostitution, and more Vietnam flashbacks.

Horrendous acting by a cast of mostly (deservedly) unknown actors, fight scenes seemingly choreographed by junior high school students, and awful dubbing dominate this zero budget Z-movie.

A slightly amusing exploitation flick with hilarious dialogue, but even with a run-time of one hour and twenty minutes, it goes on far too long.

If a sequel had ever been made, it probably would have been titled Executioner, Part I.

Made in 1982 (not be confused with Sonny Chiba's 1974/1975 two part film saga), James Bryant directs this loud, cheezy actioner that features a nutty Vietnam vet (who goes in a trance with a cheap music) who goes after the tattooed man who is pushing drugs and molesting girls in the city. Chris Mitchum plays his vietnam vet friend who is now a police detective who doesn't know that his best nutty friend is the executioner. Famous 21st century pictures stock music (that usually in the movie trailer) is used in the action scenes. Many funny moments like a guy getting stabbed by a samurai sword and getting impaled on a couch, as the executioner keep kicking the couch as the bad guy keeps moving towards him with a couch on his back(!). Also the Executioner shoves handgrenade on bad guys pants, and the same cheap stock footage explosion appears. Aldo Ray only appears in two location so he probably only had a day on this film. Harmon who starred in Bryant other films is terrible with English and has a thick Germany accent. The film looks like it was shot without sound. The producer was trying to cash in on the 1981 film THE EXTERMINATOR (which was about a vietnam vet who takes on bad guys) and release this turkey at New York theatres in 1983. The films video release runs a few minutes short and only a minor scene is missing. Should be a cult classic.

It seems to me that the majority of "bad movies" are pretty boring. Too often we bust a gut laughing when a critic shreds a lousy flick, but we then find that actually watching the movie is a grim experience with few laughs. Fortunately, Executioner 2 is a clunker that delivers.

In the early 80s James Bryan wowed the bad film community with Don't Go In the Woods. I found another movie of his, Hellriders, terribly dull. But with Executioner 2 he's back on track. It's your basic vigilante movie, with bad guys running scared and cops embarrassed at the public's support for the vigilante. As was the case in Woods, the dialogue was dubbed (even though the characters were speaking English to begin with). Some not so good acting, a pair of stoner high school girls who are constantly laughing ("oh, heavenly coke!"), and Aldo Ray (of the movie "Bog") make Executioner part 2 a must-see. Sure, some parts are boring, but overall it's worth it. Watch this movie, it will justify your having searched through dozens of other lousy films in your quest for B-Movie Nirvana.

My review was written in June 1984 after a Times Square screening.

"The Executioner Part II" is an incompetent, cheaply made action picture, dating from 1982. Its title seems intentionally designed to cause confusion, since the film has no relationship to several earlier pics called "The Executioner" ()including a 1970 Columbia British-made spy effort), but is imitative of the 1980 Rober Ginty vehicle "The Exterminator". Soon to add further confusion are two more Ginty vehicles yet to be released: "Exterminator II" and "The Executioner: The Mission".

Chris Mitchum toplines as L. A. Homicide Lt. Roger O'Malley, tracking down a vigilante killer who is blowing up street criminals with hand grenades (each explosion is an insert of grainy old stock footage). Sans suspense, the killer turns out to be Mike (Antoine John Mottet), O'Malley's old army buddy who saved O'Malley's life in Vietnam, as shown in prolog footage. Boh men are a war with a local gangster kingpin Antonio Casals, known as the Tattoo Man, who kidnaps O'Malley's daughter Laura and tortures her until a last minute rescue. Asinine ending has O'Malley letting his guilty buddy go, leaving town to set up a (shudder!) sequel.

Filmed silently on L. A. locations with a wobbly,k ofen out-of-focus handheld camera technique and seemingly 1:1 shooting ratio, "Part II" is way below current technical standards of wathaility. Dubbins is awful, with a maddening failure to put back footfalls or other appropriate background sound. Acting is generally below the level of a hardcore porn film. Mitchum fils is miscast, and his daughter looks old enough to be his elder sister. Aldo Ray is on screen for under a minute as Mitchum's blowhard boss, and producer Renee Harmon has herself written into the script as a most unlikely, matronly L. A. tv newscaster boasting a thick French accent. Her closeups ae lensed though a horse blanket.

The Executioner, Part II (1984)

* (out of 4)

Lieutenant O'Malley (Christopher Mitchum) must investigate a group of killings where it seems rapists and murderers are being executed by someone wearing a mask. Before long O'Malley starts to think that he might know who is behind it and there (shock) might be a connection to Vietnam.

THE EXECUTIONER, PART II is a really, really awful film. It's a really awful movie on just about every level but thankfully it starts off campy enough to where you'll be able to get a few laughs out of it. The opening sequences in Vietnam are just downright laughable as I'm going to guess that they were actually filmed in California. The film really picks up through the first twenty-minutes or so because we see the masked avenger beating thugs over the head and best of all putting grenades on them, which is followed by the same stock footage use of an explosion.

For some strange reason the movie really falls apart during the final hour. Whereas the opening moments were campy and funny, the rest of the film is pretty darn straight and extremely boring. I'm really not sure why they decided to focus more on the police and the investigation because this really slows the film down and brings it to a crashing halt. Yes, the entire movie is pretty bad on a technical level but at least you can have some fun and laugh at the opening stuff.

Mitchum is mildly entertaining in his role and we've also got Aldo Ray in a supporting bit. Getting to see these two actors is always a plus but they're sadly in a pretty limp movie that doesn't have much going for it.