Meurtres à l'américaine

Swings wildly from so bad it's good to horrifyingly uncomfortable without blinking; "plot" is as ridiculous & unbelievable as Robert Z'Dar's immense jaw; "Of Mice And Men" meets "Straw Dogs" by way of The Three Stooges.

SAMURAI COP's director Amir Shervan reunited with heavy Robert Z'Dar in this variation of DESPERATE HOURS. Tony Stone (Z'Dar) and some of his thug cohorts rob a payroll and he and his buddy Lynch (John Lynch) are quickly arrested by Lt. Sunset (Jim Brown). On the way to prison, Stone and Lynch escape thanks to the help of Jesse Stone (not to be confused with the Tom Selleck character) who distracts the prison bus driver by faking a car accident and dressing like a woman (he's not that attractive). Jesse is shot in the escape and the crooks decide to hide out in a nearby ranch. Bad move as this place is owned by kickboxing John Morgan (kickboxer Howard "Diamond" Roth). With his family being held hostage, Morgan is forced to go find a doctor and pick up the stolen loot. Naturally, he decides to fight back with his fists and feet.

If you've marveled at Shervan's SAMURAI COP or Hollywood COP, you'll know what to expect here. This is another in his action flicks that features terrible dialog and poorly staged fights. Roth, previously seen in a few Andy Sidaris flicks, wears some of the gaudiest outfits that a man could get away with (those shoulder pads!) and sports Branscombe Richmond style hair. To his credit, he is a good kickboxer and throws some decent kicks here and there. The real star of the show is the always entertaining Z'Dar, who get some memorable lines like yelling "What do you want from me?" after blasting a few cops. Uh, maybe it is that whole crime thing you're into that has cops pounding on your door. As a entry in the Shervan's oeuvre, this has been pretty hard-to- find (the only available version looks awful). Thankfully, Cinema Epoch is going to be releasing it on DVD next month in a special edition. Definitely worth seeing if you are a fan of Shervan's bad movie cinema.

The first half of this starts out about how you figure it would goofy and fun with some bad acting and nutty performances you would come to expect from a Amir Shervan flick. Then there's a pretty uncomfortable rape about mid film and from there it gets a little mean spirited, it does pull itself together to wrap up fairly nicely, with a gun battle on a ranch and a martial arts fight between our hero and Z'Dar. Oh and Jim Brown is also here not giving a crap about anything at all. I'm hoping for a little less rape in these next three upcoming Shervan flicks tho.

I had high hopes for this film, having found Samurai Cop to be hilarious in its ineptitude. Unfortunately, director Amir Shervan seems to have learned a few things about film-making since then, and that's a bad thing. What I was hoping would be an incompetently funny movie is instead just plain boring. It does contain Shervan's usual tropes - big beefy men, hot 80's chicks, crappy fight scenes - but lacks the corniness of Samurai Cop.

There are a few things recycled over from Samurai Cop; some locations seem familiar and one song was straight from the last movie. But the biggest letdowns in the film are what's not in it. Everyone in this film who has long hair keeps it - there are no wigs that are in danger of falling off. Every reverse shot in a conversation takes place in the same location, unlike in Samurai Cop where actors are in obviously different rooms. And there are no bad pontificating speeches, reuse of locations (like the parking lot in Samurai Cop), or senseless stunts like Robert Z'Dar hiding in a laundry basket for no apparent reason. The result is just a bad movie that makes me want to fall asleep. A complete letdown.

KILLING American STYLE is a hilariously awful B-movie from Iranian born director Amir Shervan, who previously helmed SAMURAI COP which also starred the huge-jawed Robert Z'Dar (MANIAC COP). Shervan's filmography has recently been given a new lease of life thanks to some high definition releases around the globe, allowing a new legion of fans to appreciate some genuine so-bad-it's-good entertainment.

This film looks and feels just like other Shervan movies such as THE YOUNG REBELS, GYPSY, and of course SAMURAI COP. The stories are concerned with gangs of long-haired and hulking muscle guys who go around and abuse people. The heroes look just like the villains and these movies work via action narratives with plenty of shoot-outs and ineptly-staged fights to recommend them.

KILLING American STYLE adopts a home invasion template as a group of vicious robbers invade an everyday household and hold a family hostage. One of the hostages is an annoyingly bratty kid which adds some humour to the thing. There's plenty of gratuitous nudity and rape threats here, alongside some awful acting which takes wooden to whole new levels. The large-scale shoot-out at the climax has to be seen to be believed, and yet you know what? I enjoyed this. Classic so-bad-it's-good style entertainment.