Raw Force (1982)

Director:

Edward D. Murphy

Writer:

Edward D. Murphy (writer)

Release Date:

July 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror | Action | Comedy

Tagline:

...Invaders of the Jade Tombs!

Plot:

A group of martial arts students are en route to an island that supposedly is home to the ghosts of martial artists who have lost their honor...

Plot Keywords:

Island | Martial Arts | Monk | Slavery | Violence

Cast

Cameron Mitchell	...	Captain Harry Dodds
Geoffrey Binney	...	Mike O'Malley
Hope Holiday	...	Hazel Buck
Jillian Kesner	...	Cookie Winchell
John Dresden	...	John Taylor
Jennifer Holmes	...	Ann Davis
Rey King	...	Go Chin
Carla Reynolds	...	Eilleen Fox
Carl Anthony	...	Lloyd Davis
John Locke	...	Gary Schwartz
Mark Tanous	...	Cooper
Ralph Lombardi	...	Thomas Speer
Chanda Romero	...	Mayloo
Camille Keaton	...	Girl In Toilet
Lin Lin Li	...	Gun Moll (as Maggie Lee)

Also Known As:

Kung Fu Cannibals (USA)
Shogun Island

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA | Philippines

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1989) | Iceland:16 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Australia:M | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Philippines

Company:

Ansor International

Goofs:

Continuity: The driver backs the truck into a metal awning in front of the building, even going so far as to shake the awning, but in the next scene the truck is several feet away from it.

Quotes:

Bartender: [breaks a block of ice with his head, hands the girl her drink and asks] Wanna have dinner tonight, babycakes?

Movie Connections:

References "The Love Boat" (1977)

Putrid film, but VERY entertaining!

"Raw Force" is like an ultra-sleazy and perverted version of Love Boat, with additional Kung Fu fights, demented cannibalistic monks, white slaves trade, energetic zombies and a whole lot of lousy acting performances. No wonder this movie was included in the recently released "Grindhouse Experience 20 movie box-set". It's got everything exploitation fanatics are looking for, blend in a totally incoherent and seemingly improvised script! The production values are extremely poor and the technical aspects are pathetic, but the amounts of gratuitous violence & sex can hardly be described. The film opens at a tropically sunny location called Warriors Island, where a troop of sneering monks raise the dead for no apparent reason other than to turn them into Kung Fu fighters. The monks also buy sexy slaves from a sleazy Hitler look-alike businessman, supposedly because the women's flesh supplies them with the required powers to increase their zombie army. Tourists on a passing cruise ship, among them three martial arts fighters, a female LA cop and a whole bunch of ravishing but dim-witted ladies, are attacked by the Hitler guy's goons because they were planning an excursion to Warriors Island. Their lifeboat washes ashore the island anyway, and the monks challenge the survivors to a fighting test with their zombies. Okay, how does that sound for a crazy midnight horror movie mess? It's not over yet, because "Raw Force" also has piranhas, wild boat orgies, Cameron Mitchell in yet another embarrassing lead role and 70's exploitation duchess Camille Keaton ("I spit on your Grave") in an utterly insignificant cameo appearance. There's loads of badly realized gore, including axe massacres and decapitations, hammy jokes and bad taste romance. The trash-value of this movie will literally leave you speechless. The evil monks' background remains, naturally, unexplained and they don't even become punished for their questionable hobbies. Maybe that's why the movie stops with "To Be Continued", instead of with "The End". The sequel never came, unless it's so obscure IMDb doesn't even list it.