City of Fear

I wish to preface these comments by saying that I don't usually like to criticise the efforts of other Directors. That being said however, this is positively the worst film I have ever seen in my life. I have had the misfortune of being witness to some absolute travesties of cinema in my time but this must be right up there with "Scorpio Rising" in my opinion as an example of the worst possible waste of time, money, effort, and attention I can ever claim to have been associated with. From the very moment the titles began, I was dubious. This was followed by a wave of disbelief, a hope that this was a spoof, then the fits of embarrassed laughter took over and I can honestly say that every film-making mistake and cliche that I could think of at the time was being paraded on screen before my very eyes. The acting was non-existent, the lead actor was tragically mannered, wooden, and frighteningly bad. So bad that i could only imagine he was there for the "Fight sequences" if you could call them that. They too were cliched, pointless and boring. I'm not even going to comment on the other 1 dimensional jokes of characters that are thrown in there. Every possible stereotype and cliche you could imagine. As soon as you thought that they were all used up, there would be one more you had forgotten about being thrust at you. The directing was woeful, the pace mind numbing, the writing abysmal. I had to wonder how the Director managed to decipher the bar napkins the script must have come off through the obvious state he must have been in to bother to make such drivel. The financiers mustn't have even read anything, and it is a insulting piece of garbage that quite frankly saddens me. To think that there are so many deserving film makers all around the world that struggle to even get the necessary equipment and film stock to make their pictures, and here we see it squandered on what any deranged monkey could see was a piece of rubbish. If i could give it minus stars I would. But for comedy value, or for a lesson on what not to do, it can have it's one star.

Gary Daniels (SUBMERGED) is the star of the show in this low-rent C-grade thriller that eschews action for plot, and comes off all the worse because of that. The story is a convoluted mystery involving Daniels as a reporter investigating the death of an old buddy. Cops, robbers and the Russian mafia are inevitably involved and repeatedly try to kill Daniels before he finds out too much. Sigh.

Yep, it's a story as old as the hills and portrayed particularly badly here, with sloppy, nonsensical editing and a real 'cheap' feel to it in every aspect of the production. Like many modern B-movies this was filmed in Bulgaria, and the producers actually deserve kudos for setting their film in Bulgaria rather than pretending that Eastern Europe looks like America.

Otherwise things are strictly routine and the film follows the tired formula of plot, action, plot action ad infinitum. The bad news for action fans is that it isn't even very good. A car chase plays it safe all the while, offering nothing new or unseen to the genre, and the martial arts fights are few and far between. The shoot-outs are cheesy beyond belief. There are probably about half a dozen spread out throughout the film which is just not enough.

Now, Daniels is a great martial artist, and when he does get to fight, he does a damn good job. So it's bizarre that they didn't let him do it more often! Daniels is a better fighter than he is an actor but he does a good job here compared to others in the cast. He's one of those actors that are impossible to dislike. As for the rest of the cast, they're instantly forgettable. One guy does a poor Jim Carrey impersonation while the love interest is played by the particularly bland and unattractive Carol Campbell.

Things begin to make more sense when you realise this was written and produced by none other than notorious exploitation legend Harry Alan Towers under his 'Peter Welbeck' pseudonym. CITY OF FEAR carries on in Towers' cheap, anything-for-a-buck tradition that the 81 year old shows no signs of stopping just yet.

I rented this movie because it had the Nu Image brand on it. (Nu Image usually makes better-than-average direct-to-DVD movies.) However, when I started to watch it I discovered that it was a coproduction with producer Harry Alan Towers, who has made a number of turkeys in the past. It looks like Towers had more control over this movie, which would explain why the end results are unsatisfying. It's somewhat cheap-looking, and while its laid back style is refreshing at first, it soon becomes so laid back in whatever it does - including action sequences - that you'll wish they'd liven things up significantly. The martial arts aren't spectacular, being both poorly directed and choreographed, and the gunplay is pretty pathetic. There are also a few times when it seems that important footage is missing, leaving some questions hanging in the air. On the other hand, this is one of the rare times where a shot in Bulgaria movie is actually taking place in Bulgaria, and the ending for a change is not 100% happy. This isn't one of the worst movies ever made, but it would probably land on a list of the most mediocre movies ever made because it doesn't seem to be trying that hard in any way you can think of.

Just about everyone on here is correct – this is strictly a lower tier Gary Daniels film that suffers from a lacklustre script, disinterested direction, and many, many mistakes. Daniels deserves more than this, I mean come on! One time me and Gary were out on a shoot in South Africa, and were boozed up on the local hooch, and I swear he somehow managed to roundhouse kick a giraffe right in the jaw! But here he is, running around Sofia in Bulgaria, trying to get to the bottom of something or other.

You see Gary is a reporter travelling to Bulgaria to see his scientist mate, and see him he does, getting carried out of his house in a coffin. Before you can say "Riot and Epicentre are much better films that this" Gary's got a seven foot tall stripper sidekick and is up against the Russian mafia and the Bulgarian military! Plus, everyone's got a secret and you can't help but think that Daniels should have just got the first flight home to blighty or Australia or America or wherever he's supposed to be from this time.

There's a staggering amount of continuity errors in this film (microphones, camera shadows, extras grinning at the camera), and too many 'wait a minute…how?' moments for anything to be believable, but Daniels is likable enough (although he adopts a strange stance throughout this film…you'd have to see it to know what I mean)…there's plenty of other Daniels films out there before you should try this one.

The main problem with this movie is that it had a overall cheap look and feel to it. It also had long periods where nothing exciting really happened. But, Daniels fans will be happy to know that the man gets to show off his awesome fighting skills in some good fight sequences. Too bad there weren't more of them. Average overall, 5 out of 10. To see Daniels in top form, check out Recoil or Cold Harvest.