Avis des utilisateurs

This "kung-fu"-movie from the seventies is a pretty interesting piece of work. It features all the classic themes of such a movie; revenge, corny acting, weird sound-effects and a complete in-comprehensive final scene - fighting on the roof tops.

Basically it's about Charlie Bone (or Charles Bonet, it's never really clear - the actors name is also Charles Bone) who's feisty father gets killed by hoodlums hired by a rich landlord who wishes to tear one of his skid-row houses down. So Charlie goes out on a rampage to revenge his father and stop the evil doers. Together with his friend Speedy Little (or Speedy Leacock, it's never quite clear either...) they go around kicking a** and, one by one, expedite the bad guy's henchmen.

This would be an OK film to watch. To seriously watch. As a kung-fu movie. But there's so many errors and weird stuff going on here that it actually turns into a comedy. For example: dead guy shrieks when thrown off a building and so on.

The high vote is cast because it's great comical value and also the movie's high entertainment rate. A must see!!! You'll laugh your a** off!

I always keep my promises on writing about movies like this, and it pays off. Usually, there isn't much specific detail I can give you because it's your basic low-budget format containing elements tried before. This one is pure 70s as it gets! DEATH PROMISE is a grade-Z actioner that has a few things going for it. Sort of like THE KARATE KID being ahead of its time. While typical, it sets in an urbanized locality that perfectly explains the nature of it all. The sensai can't act very well, and sounding almost like Mr. Rogers. A couple of infamous, shocking moments may give you severe bullemia, including a bag full of hungry RATS tied onto a guy's head! Other times, you will be truly amazed by how often a microphone hangs on the top of your TV screen! You can see it jerking and moving, and it's highly noticeable! It also has the downright FUNKIEST sounding opening-closing theme music in movie history, thanks to a soul group named Opus! Not many of you will be able to look for this movie. If you do, I hope you're not lying and saying to everybody that you have! That's a promise.

A group of Fat Cats has their eye on a couple of buildings that they'd like to level and redevelop. The problem is that the buildings are home to several dozen people. The Fat Cats decide to do what they can to force the tenants to leave - turn off the water, attack residents, release a box of rats, etc. When everything else fails, the Fat Cats approve the murder of the tenants' leader. But Charley Roman isn't going to sit by and let his father's murderers go unpunished. He takes the law into his own hands and uses his martial arts skills to exact revenge.

How can one movie be so bad, yet so watchable at the same time? Death Promise really tests my notion that I rate films primarily on entertainment value, because everything else you can name about Death Promise is bottom-of-the-barrel. Pathetic acting, horrible lighting, lazy one-take direction, ridiculous plot, bad make-up, silly dialogue, "stagey" fight choreography, a "twist" ending that should surprise no one, incomprehensible lapses in logic (more on that later) - Death Promise has it all. One of the more annoying facets of the film is how the title - Death Promise - actually relates to the film. After his father's death, Charley Roman engages in an ongoing conversation with his dead father where he "promises" to avenge his "death". This monologue happens at regular intervals for at least half the film. Silly doesn't begin to describe this plot device.

However, despite all the flaws, Death Promise still manages to be surprisingly watchable - if not entertaining at times. What's Death Promise got going for it? First, they may not be real actors, but Charles Bonet and Speedy Leacock seem to know their martial arts. Their kicks, jumps, and punches look authentic. Second, I know it's unintentional, but the bad guys are so clichéd, they end up being a real hoot. I had more fun watching this group than I could have ever hoped. Third, Death Promise has a really cool bow-chicka-wow-wow soundtrack that worked on me. Gotta love these 70s films. Finally, Death Promise falls solidly into that "so bad it's good" category. I never like using the phrase, but it applies here. Considering the good and the bad, I think my 5/10 rating seems about right.

I previously mentioned incomprehensible logic. Well, here's what I mean. BIG TIME SPOILER Charley Roman wants revenge for his father's death. His martial arts instructor, Master Shibata, advises him to seek out some special training from another martial arts master. Charley Roman returns home more ready than ever to face his father's killers. How absolutely illogical is it when we discover (and it's no real surprise) that Shibata is the head baddie? So, Shibata sends Charley Roman for more training so that he can return to face him. What? How does that make any sense in the slightest? END BIG TIME SPOILER

This is a spectacular crappy movie that I saw back in the early 80's on a double feature with a Jim Kelly film called Death Dimension. The song has stayed in my head for over 25 years. Something like "Death Promise, I'm gonna get you ,Death Promise..." 6 months ago I'm looking around in a video rental place and they have a bin full of movies for 75 cents, a buck, a buck 25. I saw it and couldn't believe it. Bought it and showed it to my wife saying to her that it is part of my childhood. She almost passes out from laughing out loud. Her favorite scene is the bag full of rats and the sucker put behind the bull's eye. PFFFFFFFFFFT!!! If I see this on DVD I'll pass out from shock. Notice the people looking straight at the camera, totally unprofessional, but heartwarming to me.

Death Promise is a 1977 action film starring Charles Bonet as Charley Roman. Charlie and his best friend Speedy (played by Speedy Leacock) live in a slum where the landlords are trying to force the residents to move out. They use methods that progress as the movie moves forward ending in a tragedy. This cause Charlie and Speedy to see revenge on everyone who was involved. The movie is very low budget and has crazy plot twists and turns. Many of the actors are not the greatest but this movie will make you laugh. There are fight sequences at the end which i could not stop laughing at the "martial arts" sound the fighter were making. This film has been released by Vinegar Syndrome in 2021 with a very nice transfer. Also the title track is pretty cool.

I really like the energy put into this movie from the principal actors! Charles Bonet and Speedy Leacock play "brothers," best friends who are championed by the father of Bonet's character, Bob O'Connell. They band together to battle the greedy landlords, who are intent on evicting their poor tenants in favor of cashing in on a real estate development deal. Before long, things go awry and Bonet embarks on a personal vendetta to avenge his father. Some of the story is ridiculous, much of it is incompetently made and the acting ranges from nearly adequate to downright agonizing. (Check out that somnambulism on display from Thompson Kao Kang.) Nonetheless, I enjoyed nearly every minute of this! Bonet and Leacock come across with chemistry that makes their friendship seem genuine and by the time they team up with Sup Kim (Bill Louie), I was full of warm fuzzies for all the diverse, Enterprise-style humanity going down. If you want to watch some exciting and impressive displays of martial arts, check out Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or Jimmy Wang Yu. If you want to watch some feel-good, American chop socky, you won't do much better than "Death Promise."

Mindless fun guaranteed with this low-budgeted & trashy Kung-Fu exploitation flick set in NYC. Back in the mid-to-late 70s, martial arts movies were so popular that they didn't even need to come from the East, or star Bruce Lee clones, as long as they were featuring sufficient violent drop-kicks and hard random battle-shrieks. The plot of "Death Promise" sees a bunch of rich and obnoxious apartment block proprietors bundling their forces - and their wallets - to chase the "poor" tenants out of their ramshackle buildings, so that they can invest in more prestigious projects. The tenants, led by Roman Sr., refuse to leave, even when the power or water is cut or when rats are deliberately unleashed in the hallways. When Roman Sr. Is killed in a cowardly attack, his young fighting-talent son Charley promises to avenge his father's death, but first he must complete a long and intense spiritual training.

Admittedly "Death Promise" is mostly very entertaining because it's so bad. The script appears to have been improvised whilst shooting, with lots of random stuff happening and a twist-ending that everyone - literally everyone - is able to predict. The "landlords" are delightfully stereotypical villains, including a mafia-type Italian, a corrupt judge, and a drug-dealing black guy. Director Richard Warmflash (with such a name, he ought to direct adult flicks) keeps it amusing and fast-paced thanks to inventive killing methods, a groovy soundtrack, wildly choreographed Kung-Fu sequences, an authentic chemistry between all the bad actors. Not for everyone, but good fun for trash/exploitation fanatics.

I was a bit disappointed with this film. I love the revenge films of the 70's, but this one just didn't do it for me. Stilted dialog made it feel like a student project. Unrealistic cast of characters, especially the corporate types in the film. The "outrage" of the tenants got a groan from me. I know it's low budget, Grindhouse, but it just didn't deliver for me. Just not enough here for me to recommend.

One of the classic low budget 70's movies, this film was found in a bargain video shop in London for only 50p. (interestingly, the package lists the star of the film as 'Charles Bone', who sounds like a porn star, but once the credits role it's obvious that the picture is aligned to far the right of the TV screen, so that all the cast members have the last letter missing from their names)

From the moment the narrator lamely introduces us to the situation that the desperate tenants of a grimy New York City apartment block, you know you're in for a rollercoaster ride of fromage. The direction is from the 'Ed Wood one-take' school - if one or two extras were looking at the camera crew, then what the hell?

The films finishes with a plot twist that puts The Usual Suspects to shame. Buy it now.

.....so to will you be bemoaning the same auric pain if you sit through the final 20 or so minutes of this enjoyable martial arts knock about. In fact, said final minutes are amongst the noisiest I have ever sat through in a movie as a series of vicious fights ensue with the combatants yelling madly at the top of their voices before and as they pummel the crap out of each other with lethal blows.

Yes, as other reviewers have quite rightly noted, this my friends is a gloriously bad movie boasting some pretty terrible performances throughout by everyone concerned in addition to a threadbare plot, more clichés than I care to mention and a somewhat predictable 'twist' ending. HOWEVER......it is just so much damn fun! From the funky soundtrack to the cool seventies fashions and of course the plethora of fights that break out virtually every few minutes, there is certainly never a dull moment.

Best scene? Well for me it has to be a fight near the end wherein two of our heroes tackle some of the bad guys in an office including a mad blonde geezer called Mike who proceeds to scream like a banshee as he fights and another frizzy haired guy who, after taking off his shirt in a decidedly macho gesture, puts a knife between his teeth and starts flexing his pecs whilst yelling at the top of his lungs(!) Why was he doing this? - Who the hell knows but it certainly made me laugh like hell.

Great fun and dig that cool title song! Groovy!!!!

"Death Promise" is a lost 70's exploitation gem and deserves to be seen. Technically somewhat of a mess and boasting a stock of amateur New Yawk types, this film never bores. I highly recommend tracking this down. It's a hoot and a half.

March 11th, 1946-January 28th, 2020. United States Marine and Vietnam Veteran-a true man of action in real life. If you have not seen his skills on display in his additional films, you are missing out on seeing a true master at work!!! Rest in peace Hanshi Charles Bonet.

First time I ever saw this was at a friends house. It ended up in his parents hands by a fluke; some videostore/bicycle repair shop!! went bankrupt and treats like this was up for grabs. We saw it two times in a row and almost wet are pants how hard we laughed.

I've seen historical documents like Ninja Mission and Plan 9 from Outer Space, and they still remain good runners-up in comparison to this one.

Almost 15 years after first contact it is now considered the best cult movie of all times (in my circles); I've showed it to all my friends... We now have a tradition of searching for movies in the same category: the un-rateable one.

It can't be explained or reviewed in any normal way because every scene, every take, every move, contains at least one mistake regarding editing, dialouge, directing etc.

For any cult-movie buff this is the ultimate prize, the gem of all gems.

Raiting: As for craft it can't be rated, because it would even be an insult to homemade videos of birthdays and weddings.

As for pure amusement it is the funniest movie I have ever seen; funnier than any comedy ever made past or present. Anything less than a 10/10 should be regarded as an insult to good sense of hum our.

This movie stands for entertanment. Its the funniest movie I have ever seen. The lines, the acting. And the clothes, wow, talk about 70:s. If you ever see this little gem, buy it. Its worth every penny. By the way, the opening song is awsome. If anyone know where I can find it. Plese, send me an E-mail.

New York City, the 70's. Corrupt landlords run the city, kicking out the poor and driving up prices in their buildings. Those who won't leave are forced out, either by turning the water and gas off, or by much rougher means. When Charlie's father is killed while defending his turf, he sets out on a quest to murder the landlords one by one...but who's really pulling the strings?

This is everything I want from a Vinegar Syndrome release. This is a C-level action film and everything is bottom of the barrel except for the fun factor. The acting is wooden and stiff. The dialogue is laughable. The fight scenes are slow and amateurish. A man tosses a dead guy from a rooftop (which is clearly a badly made dummy) but it still screams all the way down. There's a training montage. Terrible 70's clothing. I loved every second of Death Promise.

It tells the tale of a man on a revenge mission against those who killed his father. In what could have been inspiration for Kill Bill, Charlie works from a list, crossing the names out as he knocks them off in incredibly satisfying and unbelievable ways...like tying someone up and putting them behind a bow and arrow target with the hope that someone actually shoots an arrow at it before the guy just gets up and leaves. Before he has access to the list, of course he has to go train with a 'Big Master' in order to get his karate up to snuff. The training doesn't appear to actually do anything, but I'm a sucker for a good training montage.

Death Promise also has one of the coolest theme songs of all time. "That's a proooooomise!" It belts out over the opening credits as Charlie and his best friend/sparring partner Speedy run through 70's NYC decked out in velour jumpsuits. It's glorious.

All of those things that would be considered 'bad' in this film turn it from a serious, city-hopping actioneer into a straight up unintentional comedy. From technical snafus like boom mics bobbing in and out of frame to background extras staring straight into the camera, this film has it all. If you're a fan of the so-bad-it's-good genre, Death Promise has you covered in spades. This was Robert Warmflash's only film, so I guess he got it out of his system.

Most of the bad guys aren't really interesting, a bunch of old white men in suits, but there's one - "Mr. Big" - who pulls his weight. The film is also full of Asian stereotypes, which seems to be par for the course in late 70's films.

This film has one of the most gnarly deaths that I can remember seeing in a picture like this. It involves some hungry rats, and I'll be damned if it didn't make me get up out of my seat because I was so uncomfortable. I didn't see that coming.

As a social commentary, like many films from the 70's and 80's, the themes are still relevant today (even if the wardrobe isn't).

Death Promise is a blast. It's horribly executed schlock, but it's action packed and fun as heck. Get your velour jumpsuit, pop that collar, and prepare to have your ass kicked in the grungiest part of 1970's New York.

The Vinegar Syndrome disc looks great - the first time I saw this was on Amazon Prime and the print just looked like it had been put through the ringer, but they really cleaned this up. Unfortunately, the only extra is an interview with Jim Markovic, the editor of the film.

This heap of cheap thrills pits a young martial arts student against a group of evil corporate suits who are responsible for his father's death.

DEATH PROMISE is a yummy little bonne-bouche for anyone drawn to the 70s-era grindhouse ethos...a heapin' helping of no frills, mean-spirited testosteroni and cheese, generously garnished with obligatory "wakka-wakka-waa" guitar. Along with the tired clichés and ham-fisted performances, you'll find some almost-impressive fight scenes and a few gratis gore moments.

Not everyone will find this chewable, but if you're down for some funky, old-school action smack, this one delivers the goods.

4.5/10.

Pretty sweet rom com. I like the bit where he kills all them ruthless landlords.

A group of evil businessmen need to knock down a building to build a huge complex, but they can't remove the tenants. The tenants and businessmen with their hired thugs clash until the film ends with one of the funniest fights ever! The guy with the ginger hair who goes 'eeeeehhhh' every time he throws a punch and the other guy who poses with a knife in his mouth instead of fighting, only to be beaten off camera, make this essential viewing if you like to laugh at films rather than with them.