Terror Squad

I recently watched Terror Squad (1987) on Tubi. The storyline follows terrorists seeking revenge against the US, going on a killing spree, and then hiding out in a school. Local authorities strive to bring down the terrorists and save the children.

Directed by Peter Maris (Land of Doom), the film stars Chuck Connors (Tourist Trap), Kavi Raz (Pet Sematary), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), and Marco Kyris (Con Air).

This is a movie with a horrible concept and poor execution. The fear of terrorists was the premise, but the terrorists' points, method of communicating their stance, and overall objective were painful. Both the acting and writing for the villains were poor. While there were a few good shootouts and corpses, even those felt cheaply executed. This has a strong '80s feel in terms of characters, dialogue, and circumstances, with a few '70s-style car chase scenes sprinkled in. The finale was laughably bad, both the background music and overall conclusion were dreadful.

Overall, there's absolutely nothing to see here. I would score this a 2/10 and recommend skipping it.

My review was written in April 1988 after waching the film on Forum video cassette.

"Terror Squad" is an exciting B-actioner, despie its absurd premise of Libyan terrorists invading Kokomo, Indiana. Unluckily, pic failed to get a theatrical tryout, going directly to home video shelves.

Chuck Connors, back in his trademark Brooklyn Dodgers jacket, is tghe loal police chief when a commando squad from Khaddafy-land attacks a nuclear power plant. There ensues a spectacular car chase, the lengthiest and one of the best since the classic Barry Newman fpi "Vanishing Point" of 1971. Terrorists, led by Kavi Raz and hothead Joseph Nasser, kidnap a high school class and hold them hostage while Connors comically uses "Dog Day Afternoon" expicitly as his guidebook to negotiations.

Topnotch action directed by Peter Maris lifts this one out of the lookalike boredom of made-for-vid titlesl, and indicates he is ready for a theatrical assignment. Young cast, essaying stet roles in a "Breakfast Club" detention setting, is okay and tech credits are impressive.

I lived in Kokomo when this was filmed. Yes the Temporary short bus was a classic. But let's not forget the others: The ever-full LAWS rocket, launching from inside the car(no damage to the inside of the junker).

and, during the wild shooting spree on courthouse square, the bullets bouncing off the comic book store sign's Superman Picture!!!

But, for such a LOW budget, the carnage of the courthouse shootings was very realistic(real world-not Hollyworld). Also, during the LONG car chase, the streets reported over the police radio during the chase match the locations on the screen.

This production ran out of money for FX for the last few explosions, so they recruited help from a local gun store to blow things up.

An odd concept for a movie: in Kokomo, Indiana, a group of Libyan terrorists raise hell in the town. What follows is a lengthy car chase (clocking in at almost 30 minutes) involving the entire sheriff's department (led by Chuck Connors of all people). A slew of police cars are demolished, splashed, blown up, etc. Unfortunately, the movie then transitions to a low-rent version of The Breakfast Club (which sets up the rest of the plot) where we follow a group of misfit students who are under the watchful eye of a hateful teacher and they must band together when the terrorists hold them hostage. To be honest, the oddball plot doesn't really work and even with the great Ken Foree in a supporting role as Connors' loyal deputy, the movie still can't get up off the ground.

I bought this movie because I wanted to see Ken Foree in another movie other than "Dawn of the Dead". What I discovered was pure hilarity! There are so many flaws in this film that it's impossible to recall them all. The movie opens in what's supposed to be Libya with a small, concentrated crowd of 20 arab stereotypes gathered in front of a podium holding up signs that read "DEATH TO THE GREAT SATAN" and "DOWN WITH AMERICA" as if that's what Libyans do all day is walk around with signs like that. You get the gist that they're sending over some terrorists to mess up the USA because that's what Libyans do according to this film. Then we're greeted to the teenage stereotypes that were a child's rendering of the "Breakfast Club" crowd in anytown,USA. The jock walks the halls in a letterman jacket holding a football, the geek is obsessed with sex and walks around with electronic implements, the cheerleadrer is aloof and too-good, but best of all is the rebel that hangs out with Sam, the old black janitor in the boiler room where they jam on their electric guitars (the rebel walks the hall with his guitar, of course). Then the terrorists begin their killing spree, packing themselves into a car and cruising around shooting people. They attack a nuclear power plant and liberally use a rocket launcher in doing so, blasting the chain off the lock of the gate and then blasting the gaurd tower without having to reload it. The gaurds at the plant are spraying the car with bullets at close range but somehow seem to miss. And it gets more fake as the plot goes on. I wont go into it. The part my roommate and I had to keep rewinding over and over was when ol' Sam the janitor haplessly wanders into the detention hall playing his harmonica and is immediatly shot by the spooked terrorists. It was just so silly. The whole movie was silly. And well worth watching if you're in for a good laugh. And don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for the magic bus scene!!!