Country: United States/Phillipines
Genre: Action/Horror/Martial Arts/Comedy
Director: Edward D. Murphy
Year: 1982
Rating: 
WORTH A LOOK
I recently caught Raw Force in a quadrupal feature of 35 mm trash cinema in my local independent movie palace, the Castro theater. Full disclosure — it’s not really my kind of flick.
I think there are two basic kinds of trash cinema aficionados. There are those who enjoy these movies because they’re campy. They laugh at the horrible acting, horrendous dialog, crappy special effects, and all-around ineptitude of the filmmakers. The second group actually likes these movies. If a movie is a thriller, they expect to be thrilled. If it’s a horror movie, they expect to be horrified. If it’s a comedy, they expect to be genuinely amused, rather than simply feel superior to the filmmakers.
The second group likes trash cinema because this is where the real experimentation goes on, the real urge to push the boundaries of what is acceptable, because in terms of conventional production values, the filmmakers know full well that they can’t hope to compete with a high budget Hollywood film. That’s the kind of trash cinema fan I am.
Which brings us back to Raw Force.
Raw Force is about a group of young people from L.A. who take a cruise to an island which is home to cannabilistic monks and undead martial arts warriors. As it happens, some of the tourists are from a karate school and others are policewomen on vacation.
That’s pretty silly, but that’s okay. It would still be possible to make a thriller with some laughs from this material.
The only trouble is, the fight choreography is laughable, even by 70s kung fu standards. The special effects are a joke, the acting would be sub-par on The Love Boat, and the music is by Walter Murphy (yes, the Walter Murphy responsible for the 70s novelty hit “A Fifth Of Beethoven”).
The funny thing is, it’s deliberate. The filmmakers are trying to be funny. If you had any doubts, here’s a little dialog exchange for your delectation:
Religious Freak: Tell me about the centerfold you’re doing.
Betty: The centerfold? Well, it’s really not for positive sure yet. Well, we still have to…
Religious Freak: [interrupting her] Why are you doing it? For the money?
Betty: Well, like I said, I don’t even know if I…
Religious Freak: [interrupting her again] For the publicity?
Betty: Well, sure, I guess you could say that I…
Religious Freak: [interrupting her yet again] You’re not doing it for the publicity. I know why you’re doing it.
Betty: Why am I doing it then?
Religious Freak: For the devil.
Betty: The devil?
Religious Freak: Yeah. Look around this place. It’s the devil’s den.
Betty: [chuckles] Are you joking?
Religious Freak: [seriously] No Betty, the devil’s no joke.
Yes, I appreciate the gratuitous nudity, but if you’re going to make a kung fu cannibal flick, it had better have some thrills in it, and there are none to be had in Raw Force. The only possible source of enjoyment is to laugh at it.
If you really want to see this sort of thing done correctly, check out some of the Hong Kong horror movies from the late 80s and early 90s. They’re plenty silly, too, but at least there’s some decent action and a sense of peril. Those movies are campy, too, but they legitimately work as thrillers, even while you’re laughing at the hokier elements.
I realize that some of my readers probably enjoy intentionally campy movies. If so, you’ll get a kick out of Raw Force. It throws in everything plus the kitchen sink, including beheadings with arterial spurting, women in cages, pirahnas, Cameron Mitchell, disco dancing, arrows in the back, and the fakest fireball you’ll ever see. There’s something to mock every minute or so.
So, I’ll hold my nose and give Raw Force 2 1/2 stars.
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