The Executioner, Part II

Not one of those grind-house flicks that are so cheesy that they are enjoyable; this one is so bad that it is painful to watch.

A take-off on Charles Bronson's Death Wish, but without the class. The "executioner" has flashbacks to Vietnam and runs around grunting and saying "I'm the Judge and Jury" before he puts a grenade in someones pants after some pitiful chop socky.

There is no blood even though he cuts the throats of some of his criminals and there is only one brief flash of nudity - someone must have screwed up there.

The crime lord just spends his time blowing on lit cigarettes and telling his lackey to bring him more young girls - not for sex mind you, but to use as an ashtray.

The teens remind me of Reefer Madness the way they carry on when they are smoking, and they are always asking for coke.

Of course, the Executioner is sent out of town instead of being arrested, maybe to do Executioner I, which doesn't exist.

I wasted my time so you don't have too.

Viet Nam vet with flashbacks goes around killing bad guys buy gun knife or grenade.

A PG rated low budget---er no budget action film. talky, poorly edited with action more laughable then exciting. The gangs are all the sort you only saw in bad Hollywood movies from the 1980's-over aged adults in colorful clothes inspired by the Warriors.

Its low rent all the way...and true grind house trash. I can only imagine how this must have played on 42nd Street in Times Square where its lurid poster and title promised so much more than it ever delivered. This really is a piece of trash to be thrown out.

Is it a sequel? Is it a rip-off? Is it the biggest pile of crap you've ever seen or the most entertaining Z-grade exploitation movie ever made? Well actually, the answer to all of these questions (except maybe the first one) is a straight and simple YES! This is clearly a part two to *something*, only nobody knows exactly what the original film was. It's also a shameless cash-in on the contemporary very popular vigilante action movies, like for example "Death Wish" or more particularly "The Exterminator". The film is also irredeemably bad, with a totally unoriginal screenplay, an incoherent structure and awful … AWFUL acting performances. But, and for the exact same reasons, "The Executioner Part II" is simultaneously one of the most hilariously entertaining movies of its type I've ever seen! The movie opens with vague and random footage of the war in Vietnam, trying to dramatically introduce buddy soldiers Mike and Roger nearly getting killed by friendly fire. Back at home in the big city, Mike works as a mechanic in his own garage and Roger suddenly became a prominent police inspector. The rotten, depressing and crime-infested city is ruled by a perverted gangster known as 'The Tattooed Man", who rapes under aged drug-addicted girls and bribes the local politicians. There's also a bloodthirsty avenging angel prowling the streets, and it takes Roger an awful long time before realizing his buddy Mike is the one executing all the criminals like they're Charlies. The film isn't too gory (they probably didn't have the budget for fake blood) but the overall atmosphere is raw and very aggressive. I mentioned it before, but I simply have to mention the acting performances again! They should have handed out Oscars to everyone involved in this laugh riot production, particularly to the woman who plays the journalist and to the dope-smoking teenage girls. The journalist can hardly pronounce a word correctly and the girls act like Beavis & Butt-Head. "The Executioner Part II" is deliciously rancid 80's cheese, impossible to reward with a rating higher than five because it truly really honestly is terrible, but nonetheless highly recommended.

The Executioner, Part II (1984)

* (out of 4)

Lieutenant O'Malley (Christopher Mitchum) must investigate a group of killings where it seems rapists and murderers are being executed by someone wearing a mask. Before long O'Malley starts to think that he might know who is behind it and there (shock) might be a connection to Vietnam.

THE EXECUTIONER, PART II is a really, really awful film. It's a really awful movie on just about every level but thankfully it starts off campy enough to where you'll be able to get a few laughs out of it. The opening sequences in Vietnam are just downright laughable as I'm going to guess that they were actually filmed in California. The film really picks up through the first twenty-minutes or so because we see the masked avenger beating thugs over the head and best of all putting grenades on them, which is followed by the same stock footage use of an explosion.

For some strange reason the movie really falls apart during the final hour. Whereas the opening moments were campy and funny, the rest of the film is pretty darn straight and extremely boring. I'm really not sure why they decided to focus more on the police and the investigation because this really slows the film down and brings it to a crashing halt. Yes, the entire movie is pretty bad on a technical level but at least you can have some fun and laugh at the opening stuff.

Mitchum is mildly entertaining in his role and we've also got Aldo Ray in a supporting bit. Getting to see these two actors is always a plus but they're sadly in a pretty limp movie that doesn't have much going for it.

My review was written in June 1984 after a Times Square screening.

"The Executioner Part II" is an incompetent, cheaply made action picture, dating from 1982. Its title seems intentionally designed to cause confusion, since the film has no relationship to several earlier pics called "The Executioner" ()including a 1970 Columbia British-made spy effort), but is imitative of the 1980 Rober Ginty vehicle "The Exterminator". Soon to add further confusion are two more Ginty vehicles yet to be released: "Exterminator II" and "The Executioner: The Mission".

Chris Mitchum toplines as L. A. Homicide Lt. Roger O'Malley, tracking down a vigilante killer who is blowing up street criminals with hand grenades (each explosion is an insert of grainy old stock footage). Sans suspense, the killer turns out to be Mike (Antoine John Mottet), O'Malley's old army buddy who saved O'Malley's life in Vietnam, as shown in prolog footage. Boh men are a war with a local gangster kingpin Antonio Casals, known as the Tattoo Man, who kidnaps O'Malley's daughter Laura and tortures her until a last minute rescue. Asinine ending has O'Malley letting his guilty buddy go, leaving town to set up a (shudder!) sequel.

Filmed silently on L. A. locations with a wobbly,k ofen out-of-focus handheld camera technique and seemingly 1:1 shooting ratio, "Part II" is way below current technical standards of wathaility. Dubbins is awful, with a maddening failure to put back footfalls or other appropriate background sound. Acting is generally below the level of a hardcore porn film. Mitchum fils is miscast, and his daughter looks old enough to be his elder sister. Aldo Ray is on screen for under a minute as Mitchum's blowhard boss, and producer Renee Harmon has herself written into the script as a most unlikely, matronly L. A. tv newscaster boasting a thick French accent. Her closeups ae lensed though a horse blanket.