Fortress of Amerikkka

Nearly incomprehensible and total garbage, this Troma produced vehicle is so bad it hurts. The only redeeming quality is that it sets up a good drinking/smoking/whatever-helps-you-get-through-this-mess game every time the title is referenced. When you black out and forget this experience you'll thank me later. Watch the first 15 minutes to get a very good taste as to how bad this film is in nearly every single aspect possible. And it never gets better. Proof that ANYone can make a movie. The director has made other bad films so you can understand what you're getting yourself into, but Troma usually has much more entertaining (albeit usually bad) fare than this turd.

The threadbare aimless 'plot' has some sort of militia camping out in a park & killing anyone and everyone they come across for no reason what so ever. Meanwhile, John Whitecloud, an ex- con, has a grudge with the racist sheriff who had killed his brother. Meanwhile John's ex-lover fights with her current lover. Do any of these plots come together? Not really in any coherent way. In fact I feel that I'm less intelligent for having watched this mind-numbing 'thing', (i hesitate to even call it a movie for fear of sullying that word) And don't even get me started on the seldom periodic awful 'dubbing'. I know Troma films are to be judged on the lowest end of the bell curve and are an acquired taste, but this has to be among the worst of the products that they have put out.

My Grade: F

Eye Candy: Alley Kane, Lisa Star, Alison LePriol, and Karen Michaels get topless (as does Lori Anne Trezzo, but her character is dead at the time)

This really is bad Troma. Just silly action scenes, a plot that doesn't make any sense, hammy acting, and no laughs. Some significant T&A, but Troma can do better than this.

If anyone can understand just what those mercenaries were supposed to be doing out in the middle of a national park, and how they could attract no ATF attention in spite of numerous firearms regulations, tell me immediately. I watched the movie, and their motives are never clear. Just run around killing people?

The plot is convoluted - the mercenaries are out murdering beautiful girls in the forest (and any other civilians they can lay their hands on) while the sheriff and the ex-con hero duke it out over past wrongs. Somehow it feels like they could have made three Steven Seagal movies out of pieces of this plot.

The only thing special about this film is the inclusion of gorgeous porno star Kascha in what could best be considered a cameo. Anyone who was fond of her exotic looks should consider watching this film, as it captures her beauty before she put on weight and tattoos. She made relatively few films that were non-porn, so that makes this one an oddity and worth a look. Troma should have signed her to a contract and launched a series of horror movies with her. She couldn't act, but it really didn't matter.

Also of interest is the most motley bunch of extras ever recruited for a battle scene. It looks like a year's worth of guests on Jerry Springer. I mean, there's something to be said for cinema verite and portraying common folk as being common, but this is barrel scraping. The only thumbs up in the acting come from the ham who played the sheriff. His portrayal as a cop who really is a "pig" was effective.

Can't even be enjoyed as Troma material. Would make Roger Corman leave the theater.

My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Fortress of Amerikkka", a/k/a "The Mercenaries", is an old-fashioned sexploitaton film that will appeal to that fringe which enjoys truly bad acting, t&a and gore effects.

Second Troma release from filmmaker Eric Louzil, pic is a slight step from his "Lust for Freedom", but still suffers from awkward direction and the annoying Troma practice of adding hokey dialog and sound effects to fill up dead air.

Handsome, low-key Gene LeBrok (he looks like Christopher Reeve playing Superman) plays an Indian halfbreed fesh out of prison who has a score to settle with the Georgia County, California, sheriff (stolid David Crane) who killed his brother in cold blood.

Personal grudges soon take a backseat to the main problem: a band of mercenary soldiers calling themselves "Fortress of Amerikkka", led by evil William J. Kulzer, is camped nearby. Instead of mere survivalist wargames, this coed bunch is killing folks right and left. Pic's anticlimax -coming after the sheriff is wiped out -is the townsfolk and cops banding together to fight the mercenaries.

Until then, Louzil contrives to include as many scenes of women going topless as time will permit. Heroine Kellee Bradley abstains, but exotic porno star Kascha shows off her surgical implants memoably, given a run for he money by busty blonde Karen Michaels. Oddly enough, the statuesque blond featured on the film's poster doesn't show up in the film; she's the same model who was postergirl for anothr recent pic, "Shotgun", without appearing on screen int that one either.

While LeBrok glides theough the picture without losing his cool, there is hysterically bad acting provided by Kulzer (a regular in Louzil films who also handles the stuntwork). Crane and especially Michaels, who smiles (unintentionally) in the face of danger. Pic's campiest scene occurs when Kascha and her boyfriend recite patriotic sentiments, echoed by th foolish narration.

Apart from scenic views of forests and mountains, film's technical credits are weak. The background score is extremely poor.

A vigilante group form a military camp called the Fortress of Amerikkka. They terrorise a small town (presumably Tromaville). A wrongly convicted criminal, John Whitecloud and a band of townsfolk try to put a stop to them.

I've been a Troma fan since the early 00s when the films used to be shown on Channel 4 in the UK as part of 4Later. Fortress of Amerikkka is bad even by Troma standards. Bad acting, bad script and cheap production values. Even the nudity is lacking compared to some of their films. The gore effects are on point, with a knife in the throat looking particularly good. The plot should be a lot more interesting than it is. Uninspired dialogue delivered badly ruins it and the climax of the film fails to impress with poor stunts. The voiceover is excellent making it feel like a 1960s exploitation film. The gung-ho tongue-in-cheek patriotism doesn't go far enough; it took something like "Team America" to absolutely nail it.

Versions: I saw the Blu-Ray from Vinegar Syndrome which features an absolute superb print struck from 35mm negative, 100% accurate subtitles and sound about as good as it gets without it being remixed to 5.1. The UK VHS version is cut, but it's unclear what has been cut. Earlier VHS versions are washed out and most likely from a second or third generation print.

Director Eric Louzil went on to direct the sequels to Class of Nuke 'Em High which are truly terrible, even worse than Fortress of Amerikkka which is at least watchable trash.