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I pity the video rental store customers who, looking for something fun to watch on a slow night in the mid 80s, saw this sexy box cover with Sybil Danning holding a machine gun, got excited, read on the back that "the Panther Squad gives you non-stop action", and believed it.

Even connoisseurs of trash are likely to feel let down by this one. After a promising opening credits target practice montage set to a fun rock song called "Tough and Tender", Panther Squad goes limp and lazily smirks its way through a series of lame gags, sub-Dolemite fight choreography, and lifeless acting to a mildly amusing end sequence involving an easily whipped world takeover attempt and a cheesy laser that makes a Jeep disappear. A chintzy flick like this one really needs to slather on the exploitative elements in order to hold a viewer's interest, but Panther Squad is sadly and uninterestingly barren of any gore or nudity.

Danning lacks the charisma to carry such lackluster material, and Jack Taylor, a familiar face from European horror films like The Vampires Night Orgy and Pieces, looks bored throughout - though this is apparently intentional and supposed to be humorous - and his absentminded spy character effectively sums up the film's merits when he observes, "Things move pretty slowly around here." Panther Squad is clearly intended as camp, but at times one wonders where the winking, unfunny play ineptitude ends and the real lack of behind-the-camera talent takes over. Case in point: the villains are supposed to be wacko anti-pollution terrorists, but in one scene we see a group of them riding in a car that's putting out blasts of thick, black smoke. Is this a joke, or was the production just that cheap and shoddy? I'm still not sure.

Fans of filmmaking on the Mikels or Sloane level might be able to tolerate this, but all others are advised to avoid. As of writing, unloved VHS copies of Panther Squad are cheaply available.

The Green Jade Statuette, plotwise, seems to be a loose kung fu take on The Maltese Falcon, with various villains and fighters vying for the titular object. I'm only a casual martial arts fan, didn't know any of the actors going into this film, and wasn't initially excited, but found it rewarding viewing in the end.

Stylistically, The Green Jade Statuette is typical of old school kung fu films, but the more substantial plotting and character development distinguishes it somewhat from the run of the mill, with mysteries running the course of the film and enigmatic characters whose motives take shape only gradually.

While too many kung fu films feature fairly generic battles between hotheaded men who seem to break into furious violence for no particular reason, The Green Jade Statuette boasts fights which will increasingly matter to the viewer, rather than simply being gratuitous. The final three-way duel at the Buddhist temple is especially involving and picturesque.

The previous reviewer's complaint about the merciless cropping at the sides of the Ocean Shores video also goes for Tai Seng's DVD release, unfortunately. Still, I would recommend this film to old school kung fu fans who are willing to sit through a little more plot than usual.

Kung Fu Executioner is one I sought out after seeing two other Billy Chong vehicles, the must-be-seen-to-be-believed gonzo horror oddities Kung Fu Zombie and Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave. Kung Fu Executioner is much more conventional and has nothing of the insane feeling of those, but remains a decent showcase for Chong's boyish charm.

In some ways, this is a silly chop socky remake of The Godfather, with a family receiving an unwelcome offer to buy into a drug importation scheme and suffering the consequences of refusal. Other parallels include an attack on the elderly patriarch in an open market, followed by a further attempt on his life in a hospital.

This family, however, instead of an Irish consigliere, has adopted a black kung fu fighter, played by the able Carl Scott. Also, while all of this is apparently supposed to be taking place in the 30s or 40s, any illusion of this is destroyed from the outset by the 70s flare collars and other anachronistic fashions.

Fans of schlocky martial arts films of this period will no doubt find themselves at home. Men get angry and punch and kick at the drop of a hat or sometimes even fight with their friends for fun. I don't know the name of the man playing Shima, but he seems to be the villain in almost every kung fu movie I see. There's also a fair amount of gore for this genre, though it looks more like the sweet and sour sauce at your local Chinese buffet than anything that would ooze out of a human being.