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.

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.

This "kung-fu"-movie from the seventies is a pretty interesting piece of work. It features all the classic themes of such a movie; revenge, corny acting, weird sound-effects and a complete in-comprehensive final scene - fighting on the roof tops.

Basically it's about Charlie Bone (or Charles Bonet, it's never really clear - the actors name is also Charles Bone) who's feisty father gets killed by hoodlums hired by a rich landlord who wishes to tear one of his skid-row houses down. So Charlie goes out on a rampage to revenge his father and stop the evil doers. Together with his friend Speedy Little (or Speedy Leacock, it's never quite clear either...) they go around kicking a** and, one by one, expedite the bad guy's henchmen.

This would be an OK film to watch. To seriously watch. As a kung-fu movie. But there's so many errors and weird stuff going on here that it actually turns into a comedy. For example: dead guy shrieks when thrown off a building and so on.

The high vote is cast because it's great comical value and also the movie's high entertainment rate. A must see!!! You'll laugh your a** off!

"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.

Mindless fun guaranteed with this low-budgeted & trashy Kung-Fu exploitation flick set in NYC. Back in the mid-to-late 70s, martial arts movies were so popular that they didn't even need to come from the East, or star Bruce Lee clones, as long as they were featuring sufficient violent drop-kicks and hard random battle-shrieks. The plot of "Death Promise" sees a bunch of rich and obnoxious apartment block proprietors bundling their forces - and their wallets - to chase the "poor" tenants out of their ramshackle buildings, so that they can invest in more prestigious projects. The tenants, led by Roman Sr., refuse to leave, even when the power or water is cut or when rats are deliberately unleashed in the hallways. When Roman Sr. Is killed in a cowardly attack, his young fighting-talent son Charley promises to avenge his father's death, but first he must complete a long and intense spiritual training.

Admittedly "Death Promise" is mostly very entertaining because it's so bad. The script appears to have been improvised whilst shooting, with lots of random stuff happening and a twist-ending that everyone - literally everyone - is able to predict. The "landlords" are delightfully stereotypical villains, including a mafia-type Italian, a corrupt judge, and a drug-dealing black guy. Director Richard Warmflash (with such a name, he ought to direct adult flicks) keeps it amusing and fast-paced thanks to inventive killing methods, a groovy soundtrack, wildly choreographed Kung-Fu sequences, an authentic chemistry between all the bad actors. Not for everyone, but good fun for trash/exploitation fanatics.