Death Promise

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.