sleepwaking

I've never been fooled before. This film has the distinguishing characteristic of being the only time I've mistakenly rented the wrong film. The entire budget for this film was put into the cover art and the rest was probably spent on catering donuts to the worst set of actors and the most ridiculous make-up effects I've seen in many many years.

It's a terrible terrible film for the first five minutes. I wouldn't know about the rest because it's simply inexcusable. I don't know how anyone could watch this entire movie unless cheap, stupid gore with broad satanic strokes appeals to them like pornography. And clearly the number of people who would rent the film on its own merits are few enough that cheap, rip-off packaging tactics are required to eke out a few more dollars from an unsuspecting public.

Wow! Man, is this documentary dated. Lips out of sych, horrible voice-over, senseless editing . . . just actually pretty terrible. HOWEVER, if you are a karateka, it will be of immense historical interest. I found that the quality of the copy I obtained is poor enough that I can't get much information watching the styles. But, as a martial art snapshot that captures the beginning of open-hand international karate tournaments it is priceless.

I am biased because I study Enshin Karate with Joko Ninomiya (3rd place in this tournament), so I clearly had a vested interest in the video.