Death Promise

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.

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."

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.

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.

"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.