When a monk is killed for the titular object, he vows revenge on the entire bloodline of the man who did it. Centuries later in the Philippines, a series of ritualistic murders begin taking place in Manila and a Marine named McKee stationed there becomes a suspect when he is found incoherent at the latest murder scene. Investigating it are ex-Marine Andy Buck (Jan-Michael Vincent), his former CO Colonel Joe Haines (R. Lee Ermey), and reporter Sharon Gale (Nancy Everhard).
Director Andrew Prowse appears to be Australian and got his start as an editor on documentaries before doing films like Midnight Spares (1983) and Brian Trenchard-Smith's The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989), which also had Ermey. He handles the proceedings well, although most of the action is relegated to the last half hour. There is an excellent car chase where it appears a car flip goes very, very wrong that they kept in. He handles the horror elements well too and doesn't skimp on the blood squibs during shootouts. Lead Vincent isn't at his worst (he would routinely be drunk in movies around this time) and he and Ermey have a good on screen chemistry. Naturally, Ermey gets some very Ermey-esque dialogue in there. My favorite line was probably after the car crash where he tells Vincent, "You drive like old people f@#k." What??? Another great exchange:
Ermey: His girlfriend's name is Julie. Well that narrows it down.
Vincent: I thought you knew half the whores in Manila.
Ermey: I support half the whores in Manila. I KNOW them all.
Director Andrew Prowse appears to be Australian and got his start as an editor on documentaries before doing films like Midnight Spares (1983) and Brian Trenchard-Smith's The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989), which also had Ermey. He handles the proceedings well, although most of the action is relegated to the last half hour. There is an excellent car chase where it appears a car flip goes very, very wrong that they kept in. He handles the horror elements well too and doesn't skimp on the blood squibs during shootouts. Lead Vincent isn't at his worst (he would routinely be drunk in movies around this time) and he and Ermey have a good on screen chemistry. Naturally, Ermey gets some very Ermey-esque dialogue in there. My favorite line was probably after the car crash where he tells Vincent, "You drive like old people f@#k." What??? Another great exchange:
Ermey: His girlfriend's name is Julie. Well that narrows it down.
Vincent: I thought you knew half the whores in Manila.
Ermey: I support half the whores in Manila. I KNOW them all.