Misteraser Critics,are you kidding us

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Red-Barracuda Cirio H. Santiago seems to have been a bit of a legendary Filipino director from the period when many cheap and cheerful genre flicks were being knocked out in the Philippines. From the little that I have seen, his output seems to be a guarantee of a good time on at least some level. One thing I have noticed is that he is fond of throwing everything at the screen no matter how disparate, with Future Hunters (1986) for instance he combined a post-apocalypse, time-travel, religious artefacts, Shaolin monks, neo-Nazis, dwarfs and Amazonian women. With the earlier TNT Jackson (1974) he simply combined martial arts with Blaxploitation, which was a tactic he returned to with Fighting Mad, with the added bonus of a vigilante revenge story and Hell in the Pacific thrown into the mix as well. The story itself has a lot going on in it. Three Vietnam veterans steal a cache of gold and then two of them double-cross the third by killing him and throwing him in the sea. Trouble is he doesn't die and winds up on a tropical island inhabited by two Japanese soldiers who are still fighting World War II in the late 70's. They nurse him back to health and train him to be a martial arts expert and samurai sword master. He eventually ends up back home in L.A. and seeks out his ex-buddies - who are now crime lords - for a slice of violent revenge.It would be churlish to complain too much against a movie which has a synopsis like the above. In true Santiago style its attempt to mash genres up does result in something a little bit different for sure. It's full to the brim with fighting, training montages, heads and ears being lopped off, soul singing, 70's hats and Afros. So while it's not always entirely engaging stuff it tries its best to deliver a bit of stupid fun and you really can't argue with that too much.

Coventry Like the case with so many "notoriously awful" Z-grade exploitation directors, I have a love/hate relationship with Cirio H. Santiago. Of all that movies that I have seen of him, I honestly couldn't award any with a rating higher than 3 out of 10, but at the same time I certainly don't regret having seen them! Some of his works are just plain terrible ("Demon of Paradise", "TNT Jackson") while others are hilariously inept but non-stop entertaining trash hits ("Equalizer 2000", "Future Hunters", "Caged Fury"…). With "Death Force" Santiago delivers one of the better titles of his impressive repertoire; a vigorous and raw action picture with a couple of ludicrous plot ideas, flamboyant characters and – especially when approaching the finale – a bunch of cheap but gory massacres! Lots of bad muthas losing their heads in the final act, I guarantee you! But the thing that makes "Death Force" particularly unique is that it can be categorized in no less than three different exploitation sub genres. With its many story lines and colorful cast of characters, the film qualifies simultaneously as Kung-Fu/Samurai action, Blaxploitation and revenge thriller! And what's really funny is that there are also enough alternative titles to fit the different categories, as the film is also known as "The Black Samurai", "Fighting Mad" and "Vengeance is Mine". At the end of their tour of duty in 'Nam, three buddies named Morelli, McGee and Doug (the former a white boy, the other two black guys) have smuggled a fair stash of gold. Morelli and McGee have the ambitious plan to become the mob bosses of Los Angeles, but they righteously fear that Doug is too much of a soft family man that will hinder them. Morelli comes with the idea of killing Doug and McGee immediately agrees, also because he's always been jealous of Doug for having such a beautiful wife. They cut Doug's throat and throw him off a yacht, but apparently they didn't properly lean to kill in Vietnam, because Doug survives and washes ashore a small island. Seriously, how do you fail slicing somebody's throat? The plot gets even more deranged when the little island turns out to be inhabited by two ancient Japanese samurai warriors that still believe WWII hasn't finished and refuse to surrender. While Doug receives a full samurai training on the island, Morelli and McGee work themselves up to fearsome LA crime lords (illustrated through dozens of shootout sequences) and McGee also aggressively stalks Doug's wife. Dough eventually leaves the island - though not before a cheesy and fake-sentimental farewell to the 2 samurais - and head backs home with only vengeance on his mind. You can say a lot about our pal Cirio H. Santiago, but not that he didn't do his homework and carefully studied action blockbusters of the 70s decade! "Death Force" is a typical product of its time, stuffed with redundant romantic interludes, wannabe groovy music and costumes martial arts. Bad blokes Carmen Argenziano and Leon Isaac are the most familiar faces in the cast, and it shouldn't come too much as a surprise to learn that Q. Tarantino is a big fan of this junk as well.

Woodyanders American soldier Doug Russell (a solid and likable performance by James Iglehart) gets betrayed and left for dead by his two buddies while stationed in the Philippines. After washing up on a remote island and being taught in the ways of the samurai by a Japanese soldier, Russell returns to America to exact a harsh revenge on the two guys who double crossed him.Director Cirio H. Santiago, working from a tight and involving script by Howard R. Cohen, keeps the engrossing and enjoyable story moving along at a brisk pace, maintains a tough gritty tone throughout, stages the exciting action set pieces with skill and aplomb, delivers a few nice dollops of bloody gore, and caps everything off with a genuinely startling surprise bummer ending. Leon Isaac Kennedy as slick operator McGee and Carmen Argenziano as hard-nosed cynic Morelli make for perfectly hateful and ruthless villains, the ravishing Jayne Kennedy adds some real class as Russell's loyal singer wife Maria, and the ubiquitous Vic Diaz pops up in a nifty cameo as an oily Chinese hood. The get-down funky score by Jaime Mendoza-Nava and Eddie Villaneuva hits the right-on groovy spot. A worthwhile exploitation item.

Bezenby My first Cirio H Santiago film! This one has a brain-meltingly random premise, Afros, cool music, is choppy as hell and even throws in a bit of gore at the end there.Russell is a Vietnam vet who's smuggled some gold with his mates Morrello and McGhee, who of course double cross him, slit his throat, throw him in the sea and head off to L.A to waste the mob there and become crime lords (as we see them blast their way through many gangs). McGhee also has the hots for Russell's wife, and periodically turns up to try and woo her (getting more aggressive with every visit).Russell, however, washes up on a desert island, where he meets two Japanese soldiers who have never surrendered (and never will). After becoming friends and indulging in some funny banter ("You should see Japan now!"), the ranking officer (great character) teaches Russell how to slice things up good with a samurai sword, which as you know will lead Russell back to LA where he can chop his buddies, and their hired goons (Hired goons?) into little pieces.Full of ridiculous situations, action scenes and funky music, Fighting Mad is a good bet for an exploitation fan. There's a good relationship between Russell and the Japanese officer, and just when I thought Russel would never get off that damn island, he does in a rather sad scene and the film picks up from there. Whenever the film bogs down in training sequences, Santiago just switches to L.A to show McGhee and Morrello taking on rival mobs.Once Russell arrives in LA, he becomes an unstoppable killing machine to get to his enemies. It looked like some of the violence had been cut from the version I watched (a leg being severed), but as there were several graphic decapitations at the end, who knows? This is good for a watch if you're like me, and just switch your brain off before hitting 'play' and just go with the flow. It's cheap and cheerful and action packed – what else do you want?