Kill Squad

One of those 80's low budget B-movies I remember watching on VHS back in its glory days. All the cast are unknown except for Cameron Mitchell. A lot of the scenes in this hilariously bad American karate-fu flick make you howl, here are a few I have spotted:

1. Whenever the fighting kicks in, jazzy background music starts playing.

2. The blows and kicks all have "whack" and "yap" sounds like those heard in badly dubbed kung fu films.

3. There is one scene when one of the kill squad members is pushed by two goons from the roof of a four-storey building and falls dead on top of a parked car. When the goons reach said car to get rid of the body, it is missing. The man (who is supposed to be dead) suddenly appears unscathed and says "Looking for me?"

4. In every scene where one or more of the kill squad members get into trouble, the random people they meet seem to have an appetite for destruction, even the women. Everybody in this film is kung fu fighting!

5. The film climax has an utterly ridiculous twist!

6. During the final fight when the mysterious bad guy's face is revealed, his face is shown black and blue and three of his teeth are impressed on his lips without any rhyme or reason. The problem is that these are done by bad make-up!

7. The one-liners and dialogues are equally bad. In one scene:

Joseph: I realize the police are not going to help. We gonna have to take these matters into our own hands. Assemble the squad.

Larry (Joseph's Vietnam War buddy, chuckling): Alright, now you're talking Joe… They owe you, I owe you. Hell, we all owe you!

And in every scene when each of the kill squad members is being summoned, this line is repeated: "Joseph needs you!"

If you need a good laugh, KILL SQUAD comes recommended to relieve your stress!

And with these immortal words,The trio of Vietnam vets aptly named "The Kill Squad" are reborn to gain vengeance for the crippling of their friend.

As other comments have stated,This is absolute rubbish in the first degree.Whilst i agree totally with this remark in terms of acting,story,Cinematography,Choreography ETC..ETC..It's just so enjoyable and entertaining to view.Don't ask me why i can enjoy a film where a guy falls from a five story building onto a car only to jump off,brush off the dust and annihilate his would be assailants,or why sound effects from the original Bruce Lee movies including his trademark "Yap" sound are incorporated here or why a man with prosthetic legs can run faster then anyone else,The best is a scene where all the Kill Squad members demonstrate there aptitude with various deadly weapons to their mentor only to never use them once.

Jammin along to that saxaphone rang a dang every time a fight begins just makes me wish i had a huge afro and a camouflage suit...I Could become a member too.If i was to describe every other inept aspect of this film this summary would be as long as the Great Wall of China.

I won this video on ebay for $0.06cents.It was worth every cent i paid for it.

This is cheesy fun with a not so bad story with a twist as well. A wealthy businessman, once a vet is viciously attacked while his wife is raped and murdered by these thugs. Now wheelchair bound, he enlists the help of six of his old buddies, vets too, who all have their own fighting style. We see examples of their work in their early scenes, one involving a disgruntled employee who shoots his own toe off. One of the squad, an Asian, shows his employee what happens when he refuses to pay him. Another one of the squad is thrown off the scaffolding of a building, hitting a mound of sand below, and amazingly doesn't die. When the guilty co workers run down to check that's he's kaput, he's vanished. But the kill squad become the death squad, where one by one they're taken out, til only one's left standing, who finds out the real truth, heartbreaking and horrifying as it is as it's motives are revealed. This movie I saw back in 86' was a fun watch, though again it lacks in the brain department, but what brains it lacks here certainly makes up with the action which karate action fans will as well as it's golden twist.

My review was written in June 1982 after a Times Square screening: "Kiil Squad" is a very low-budget action picture which should do okay with fans of chopsocky films, even though it features a more down to earth U. S. brand of martial arts (as opposed to the wacky, trampoline-assisted Hong Kong versions currently prevalent).

Filmmaker Patrick G. Donahue has opted for a format consisting of numerous quick fight scenes, strung together by a minimal plotline. Unconvincing story has a squad of Vietnam vets rounded up to go after Dutch (guest actor Cameron Mitchell in yet another slumming role) after he has paralyzed the squad's commander in a night raid on his house linked to an attempt to takeover his electronics busine--= With very flat acting by a cast chosen for fighting prowess alone, episodic structure quickly becomes silly, as each of the six-man squad is seen fighting some baddies before our recruiter arrives and says "Joseph needs you", cuing a typical "Let's go" response. Once the sexter is finally in place, each one shows off his weapons prowess for the camera.

Ensuing manhunt is played mainly straight and dull, with the twist of an unknown black-masked sniper picking off our heroes one by one at five minute intervals about half way through the picture. Final twist of who the sniper is getsspoiled by lapses in logic along the way.

Martial arts scenes are unexciting here, though sheer quantity may please undemanding fans. Pic's best sequence comes in some hair-raising car stunts staged during a chase near the end. Tech credits are acceptable for a cheapie, though sound is quite variable.

Well, one things for sure, they certainly don't make 'em like this anymore!

This is a joyously carefree kung-fu fest from an all but forgotten era when martial arts films didn't actually take themselves so deadly serious as the stoic, wire fu/fast edited ordure that represents a large portion of the industry these days.

OK, so the transpiring on screen events in this are formulaic at best i.e. good guys seek out bad guy for questioning, bad guy denies any knowledge of requisite info, bad guys mates turn up (often brandishing iron pipes etc) and a fight ensues after which a mysterious sniper in black (whose identity I guessed straight away!!!) wastes one of the heroes, but frankly who gives a shi- um....damn, when this is just so much fun! Just check out such scenes as one guy accidentally blowing a bloody great hole in his own foot(!), another guy getting pushed off of what must have been an eight story building, landing on a car and immediately getting back up for a fight without a scratch(!!), a kid riding his bike into the side of a car and flying over the back of it onto the ground......and his subsequent priceless response? - 'Oh sh*t!' (!!!), plus a plethora of highly amusing kung fu fights that break out literally every few minutes(!!!!!). I mean seriously, how can anyone not love this movie?!

But if the above wasn't enough, just check out the groovy soundtrack that backs all this action up - hell it's enough to make me want to don camouflage togs, get some buddies together and kick some miscreant butt!

I've also just got to add (and no serious review of this movie would be complete without) mention of the utterly hilarious manner in which each of our protagonists are introduced and subsequently recalled into the squad. Suffice to say, it just has to be seen to be believed!

Finally, to all those who view this film and indeed others of it's ilk negatively I have but one thing to say.....which would you rather sit through; this innocent, nostalgic knock about or else the latest CGI saturated, big screen faecal pile to emerge from Hollywood? If you've just answered the latter then truly, I pity you.