User reviews

All the ingredients of low-brow b-movie cult cinema. Topless (and bottomless) girls, kung-fu kicking chefs, slave traders, evil Germans with mustaches, Cameron Mitchell and sword-wielding zombies.

And, of course the breasts of Camille Keaton, who's best known display occurs in the feminist exploitation classic I Spit on Your Grave. We also must mention the hooters of jewel Shepard, who play a hooker in the recent film The Cooler.

Lots of blood and action with knives and swords and martial arts among topless dancers in a bar, in a whorehouse, and on a boat load of martial artists heading to some zombie island where bad martial artists go to die or something like that.

Tops and bottoms come off easily and frequently as travelers are well lubricated thanks to the boat owner.

Then disaster strikes as their boat is destroyed and they land on the zombie island where mas monks sacrifice young girls to the dead martial artists to bring them back to life.

Just when you thought it had everything, there are piranhas in the water. Yum Yum A big fat German for dinner.

Just the thing for your next zombie fest.

Outrageously trashy karate/horror thriller with loads of graphically gory violence and gratuitous nudity, and a thoroughly preposterous and bizarre "plot". This is lowbrow and low-grade entertainment that will appeal only to viewers with particularly kinky tastes, but it's kind of cheerfully bad and I must admit that I wasn't actually bored while watching it.... (*1/2)

"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.

Yup, it played on the big screen with on a double bill with "Cannibal Ferox". There were some special guests who worked on this obscure film and they did not have much good to say about it. I guess the director was a big time sleaze and was also inexperienced. There is lots of nudity in this one. All the elements of exploitation are covered, including female slavery. It's actually a really hilarious movie which is probably partly intentional. The crowd loved it.

A cruise full of martial arts enthusiasts stops by Warriors Island, an island in the South China Sea rumored to be populated by disgraced martial artists raised from the dead by monks. Oh, and there is some other criminal activity going on, too.

Starring Cameron Mitchell (Blood and Black Lace) and written and directed by Edward Murphy (who has done little else, though he did appear in "Goodfellas"). Camille Keaton and Jewel Shepard also make small cameos.

The Fortune 5 DVD is apparently a VHS transfer, because not only is it fuzzy, but it jumps frames a lot and the sound cuts out. Some moments are pretty much completely unwatchable... not sure why they bothered unless there is just honestly no other way to present the film.

In the opening scene, a group of Vietnamese girls is stripped naked, sort of setting a tone for this film. Yes, it is an exploitation film. But if you want more of this sort of thing, look elsewhere. Plenty of nudity, but not what I would call exploitation.

Some weird party with a male stripper, a centerfold, a female cop and drunks. "what do you call that?" "fetishes." "that's really sick!" I don't know who the actor, Gary McClintic, is, but he is by far the highlight of the movie (and the girl he is with is not bad to look at, either.)

In short, the best samurai zombie movie I have seen to date.

I was going to give this one 9 out of 10 but had to knock it down because it quite simply wasted Jillian Kesner (RIP; you kicked my ass).

A nutty German who is apparently Hitler's younger brother, Chip, trades Philippine hookers for Jade to some weird monks ("Zey eat zem," Chip tells us) and uses a group of head-band-wearing Kung-fu thugs to protect the operation. If that sentence right there doesn't make you want to watch this film...

Zee chade mine must be kept a zeecret...sorry. Chip doesn't want anyone to know about the jade mine and when he finds out a low rent cruise ship is planning on making a tour of "Warrior Island" (dun dun duuun) he tells his thugs to take care of it. They fail of course, due to the First Commandment of Kung-fu: The good guy will always kick butt no matter how many bad guys attack him at once.

The thugs do manage to set the ship on fire and kill everyone on board except the plucky group of heroes. Their life raft beaches on the island and more Kung-fu ensues. The monks capture the group and tell them they may not leave until they have fought the monk's Kung-fu masters which is the queue for the Kung-fu ZOMBIES (!) to enter (I freaking love this film!).

The fight scenes were great, the over-acting was wonderful and the concept was so far out that it clicked like Fred Astaire in tap shoes. I can't end the review without a special shout out to Mitchell who was the ONLY man who could play the part of the captain. I laughed out loud every time he fired his pistol, especially when he tried to get the attention of a potential rescue plane by firing his pistol AT it! This film had it all and I can't do it justice here. Just see this film!

Things you didn't know: The South China Sea is loaded with piranha Asian chefs are ALWAYS Kung-fu masters Buddhist monks aren't always the peaceful guys they are rumored to be

This movie has everything a good exploitation movie should have: Zombies, cannibals, Nazis, naked chicks, blood, action, comedy, piranhas ...unfortunately this movie doesn't quite work as well as it should.

This is the story of a cruise ship that promises some people a trip to exotic locales one of which is Warrior Island where disgraced martial artists go to die. Also on the Island are a band of cannibalistic monks. Through a chain of events too complicated to explain the Nazi pilot who is trading kidnapped women to the monks for jade sinks the cruise ship so it can't go to the island and ruin his deal. The survivors end up on the island anyway and the monks let loose the zombified remains of all of the dead martial artists on the survivors.

At this point you're either intrigued or repelled by the nonsense you just read. If you're repelled move on to the next movie, if you're intrigued keep reading.

Lets be honest this isn't a good movie by any conventional standards. Its got bad acting, bad special effects and a dumb plot. But then again its got the spirit to go for it anyway and it almost manages to be one of the all time classics.

Unfortunately the film falls down in two key areas. First it doesn't know whether its serious or tongue in cheek. There are times when the cast seems to be playing it straight and times when they seem not. The unevenness of tone makes it hard to know how to take the movie so it ends up rubbing you the wrong way. The other problem is that the action sequences are filmed basically in a point and shoot style. There is no excitement generated from what we are seeing on screen because the camera man seems bored by it all. Its awful because this is often a really fun movie at times.

If you are an exploitation movie fan, or a fan of movies that are just out on another planet I'd give this movie a shot, because even with all of the bad in it there is just an incredible collection of wild and way out things going on that you're very likely to find something to love.

On the exploitation scale of 1 to 10- 6.5 rounded up to 7.

This was a horrible movie with bad acting. It could have been better but really....... Cheesy and barely watchable. I mean it really seemed like a bunch of friends at the local karate dojo in small town Oklahoma decided let's grab our camcorders and film a movie. It was that bad and I like b movies!

Zombies, cannibalistic monks, kung fu, gore and tons of hilariously exploitative and entirely gratuitous nudity?! - Hell yes! - this has all the intrinsic ingredients to make it surely every blokes dream movie! And you know what? This heady mix of sleaze and action very almost lives up to the accolade to!

Marvel at such scenes as one of our hero's performing a daring flying kick through a moving trucks window (and breaking his foot in the process!), a seeming army of zombie samurai and a couple of still very agile zombie ninja(!!!), some decidedly creepy monks who spend most of their time laughing like imbeciles(!!!), an hilarious bar fight, an evil white suit wearing Nazi (complete with Hitler style comb over and moustache!) and enough leering, lingering close up shots of female breasts to fill an average porno! Yes indeed, this is great fun from beginning to end although it does have to be said that the main action featuring our heroes vs zombies sadly doesn't kick in until the final third of the flick which is a bit of a shame.

Nonetheless, if it's purely raw action and sleaze you're after then Raw Force certainly delivers!

In a conventional sense, there really is no redeeming value in the film Raw Force. However, if you are willing to let go of your need for logic for ninety minutes, you will find Raw Force to be fun.

The story, such as it is, deals with the sale of nublile woman to monks on a small island. The monks believe that consuming the flesh of the woman will allow them to have the power to raise the dead. You can tell the monks are evil because they are always shown in slow motion!

Throw in a guy that looks like Hitler in a leisure suit and the beautiful Jewell Shepard and some American Bruce Lee wannabees and you have the ingredients for the perfect drive-in movie.

Oh, did I mention that Cameron Mitchell was in this. Some may say that his appearance in The Toolbox Murders was his low point (others might say The Demon). I think this is it.

Unscrupulous jade dealers (led by a German Hitler look-alike) abduct young women and take them to Warriors' Island, where the unfortunate prisoners are sold to extremely happy cannibalistic monks who operate a jade mine. By consuming the flesh of the captive women, the monks are able to resurrect the dead bodies of disgraced martial artists.

When a pleasure cruise sets sail for the island, its passengers including several karate experts keen to see the sights, the jade dealers decide to attack the boat and kill everyone on board. After a furious battle, the craft is set on fire, forcing the remaining passengers and crew to abandon ship in a life raft. No prizes for guessing that they wash up on the shores of Warriors' Island where they encounter the jade dealers, the monks, and their zombies.

Pure exploitation trash from start to finish, Raw Force is a cheap and cheesy martial arts horror movie that features equal amounts of ineptly choreographed bad-assery and extremely gratuitous female nudity. It's technically shoddy in most departments, but director Edward D. Murphy packs his film's 86 minutes with so much absurdity that its very hard not to enjoy.

Cameron Mitchell slums it as the ship's captain, Filipino exploitation regular Vic Diaz plays the leader of the cannibal monks, and I Spit On Your Grave actress Camille Keaton has a pointless (but welcome) cameo as a topless woman trying to have sex in a bathroom. Laughable chop socky aside, the plentiful violence includes samurai sword impalement, a hilarious zombie decapitation, an axe death, a drowning in a toilet bowl, and a piranha attack.

i was kinda interested in this movie as a trashy cannibal flick. i was thoroughly disappointed. it was the same kind of disappointment i felt watching 'friday the 13th: jason takes manhattan'. so much potential wasted!

the opening scene is a decent attention grabber. then it grinds to a halt. copious breasts and egregious 80s fashion cannot help this movie. the only things eating near this island of cannibal monks are the piranha! i'm not asking for 'cannibal holocaust' level of gore, but i was looking for cheap over-the-top exploitative gore. i got none of that.

i found a couple parts of the fight scenes somewhat intriguing, hence the 2 stars. i don't think its really worth the time it takes to watch it, though. i could see showing it at a party where nobody cares about what is going on and you just want something on in the background. but i would not tell anyone, "oh, dude, you GOTTA see this movie." it is neither good enough nor bad enough to warrant much attention.

Raw Force (1982)

** (out of 4)

A group of martial arts students are on a boat where the owner is allowing them to stop by a legendary island that is supposed to be haunted by the ghosts. Once on the island they run into a man who looks like Hitler, some strange monks and some cannibal zombies.

Edward D. Murphy's RAW FORCE isn't your typical horror film. It's actually a pretty wild movie that seems to have had the director just throwing anything into it hoping something would stick. It's certainly not what you'd consider a "good" movie but at the same time if you like low-budget non-sense then there's plenty of that here. What little gore the film might have is made up by the non-stop gratuitous nudity.

The film is really a madcap of non-sense as there are wild parties on the boat, plenty of martial arts action and then we even get some pretty wild stripper scenes. The Philippines locations are put to good use as several young ladies get nude on the screen as the American actors run around either screaming or kicking. Cameron Mitchell gets the top-billing as he plays the Captain of the boat and you can't help but feel that he's having a good time being on location, making a few bucks and not having a care in the world. Fans of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE will spot an unbilled Camille Keaton during a scene where she's in the bathroom with a guy trying to get her pants off. And yes, she's nude.

RAW FORCE needed a bit more gore to keep it more entertaining but at the same time it's nutty enough to make it worth viewing if you like these types of movies.

This late-comer into the multitude of American/Fillipino range of exploitation actioners falls into a category of the horror/kung- fu/adventure sub-genres prevalent at the time. It tells the story of a group of passengers on a ship heading to Warriors Island. A place where ancient, disgraced Asian martial artists have gone to meet their makers. An island where the ornamental stone, Jade is mined and sold onto Western interests. The majority of the film consists of various boat- party scenes, where 'weird' people inhabit, and the breast quoter is met easily, with the plenitude of naked, gyrating females paraded in front of camera for no apparent reason. These are intercut with random 'man- fights'; also filling a quoter for 'kung-fu' action. Two of the pre- requisites for exploitationers world-wide.

One of the boat parties is interrupted by a band of all-killing village people-a-likes; pirate and guerrilla in their approach. They invade the ship and kill anyone that gets in their way. This happens why? Well, we will never know. Eventually the ship catches fire, and the survivors set off in a dingy. They do reach their ultimate destination of Warrior Island, but want to leave immediately. Did they want to go there in the first place? And if so, what for? They certainly have no interest whilst they are there!

Well, once they have been given the option for escape from the island, they are given the chance, with a proposition of battle. The dead warriors are risen from eternal sleep. These beautifully blue-faced zombie Ninja/Samurai Warrior/Shaolin Monk forgotten combatants are set on the marooned gang. Not 100% sure what this film is trying to be. It is at once an Indiana jones-like adventure picture; a zombie infested nightmare; a kung-fu actioner. Well, it fails in being either an adventure, or a martial arts 'effort'. It even fails to create any scares in the horror department; the only frightening element being the ending threat title of: 'To be continued'. It does however, contain some brief moments of verbal joy. There are moments of dialogue that simply gives giggly pleasure. Momentary, forgettable, but a little bit of frivolous nonsense.

This is a movie that changes type and tone even ten minutes, is poorly shot, edited, acted, and staged, and makes no sense, BUT it's hilariously stupid, and so weird that you can't help but love it. Cameron Mitchell seemed drunk and/or confused the entire movie and the copious nudity doesn't hurt. Great midnight movie!

I recently watched Raw Force (aka Kung Fu Cannibals, 1982) on Tubi. The storyline follows a boatload of martial artists who arrive on an island run by a dictator with a Hitler-like persona, complete with slave girls and cannibal kung fu warriors. Can the martial artists survive the zombies, defeat the dictator, and rescue the captives?

Written and directed by Edward D. Murphy (Heated Vengeance), the film stars Cameron Mitchell (How to Marry a Millionaire), Geoffrey Binney (Hot Potato), Jillian Kesner (Firecracker), Hope Holiday (The Apartment), Camille Keaton (I Spit on Your Grave), and Vic Diaz (Black Mama White Mama).

This is one of those low-budget movies that wears its lack of resources on its sleeve. The costumes, action scenes, and choreography are rough, though the final shootout against the zombie ninjas is entertaining, but not exactly good. The acting, writing, and dialogue are all pretty terrible. The film leans heavily on gorgeous ladies and nudity, which is arguably the movie's only highlight. Even the explosion effects fall flat, which is rare for this era.

In conclusion, Raw Force aims for "so bad it's good" but misses the mark, ending up just bad. I'd rate it a 4/10 and recommend skipping it.

RAW FORCE was way more fun than I expected. It's darn campy, featuring ninja zombies, piranhas, cannibalistic monks and jade-dealing Nazis. This movie is also sometimes known as KUNG FU CANNIBALS ... which should tell you everything!

The plot is "simple": A group of kung fu aficionados is on a journey to a haunted island where the spirits of forsaken martial arts fighters are said to live. On their journey, the cruise is intercepted by a Hitleresque crime lord and his fellows. The nazi gang trades prostitutes for jade with the flesh-eating monks of the island, and neither monks nor Nazis wants their scheme to be tampered with by some kung-fu-loving tourists...

This short plot summary should say it all. You're not watching RAW FORCE for hoity-toity drama and high quality cinematography and plot development, but for its nonstop action and camp. What I really liked about the movie is that in contrast to some other B-movies, its pace never lets you down. The action is nonstop but not in a way that gets you bored. And you care for the characters just enough to watch this movie till the end. Definitely one of the more fun B-movies, although the gore factor could be amped up. Overall quite enjoyable, especially when with friends.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Raw Force; before launching into my critique, here's a breakdown of my ratings:

Story - 1.25 Direction - 1.00 Pace - 1.00 Acting - 0.75 Enjoyment - 1.25

TOTAL - 5.25 out of 10

The writer of this story must have been on the good stuff. I mean, how else can you dream-up cannibalistic monks bartering jade for beautiful female flesh, which they devour so they can reanimate the corpses of disgraced martial artists? Then throw into the mix, a bad guy sporting a Hilter-stach, a goofy philandering husband and his hard done to wife, a grumpy old sea captain who's relegated to ferrying people about for a woman he can't stand but secretly loves, a crewman who could be Bruce Lee's brother, a stereotypical biker gang - sans bikes, and a bunch of white martial arts experts. The strange thing about all this is that the simplistic story works well and is as enjoyable as hell.

The direction isn't anything special, though there are moments in the fight sequences where things gell better - provocative camera angles and faster cutting between shots. It's not as exciting as it could have been, but it does have its moments. Unfortunately, the comedic segments suffer a tad, and I believe it's down to the era: What we found humorous then is not that funny nowadays. Nevertheless, there are some laugh-out-loud occasions, and some are unintentional.

The cast is okay for this type of mad jape flick. A few of them are over-the-top - some gloriously so, others are wooden, and a few are semi-decent. This strange mix works excellently in this strange story. They congeal together, not to make a mess, but to form an alluring something.

Raw Force is a great B-Movie of a flick. And if all you want from a movie is silliness and entertainment, don't look any further - This has loads of both. Leave your brain by the door, pop open a cold one, and enjoy.

Please feel free to visit my Killer Thriller Chillers, Just For Laughs, Holding Out For A Hero, and Obsidian Dreams lists to see where I ranked Raw Force.

Take Care & Stay Well.

A group of martial arts students decides that they will visit the Asian island home of martial artists who have lost their honour. Well, not only will they have a nefarious jade dealer & white slave trader to deal with, but the resident mad monks as well.

"Raw Force" is short on sense and long on nonsense. If one is not partial to the charms of the silly side of B cinema, then stay away! Otherwise, this is great fun that writer / director Edward Murphy is wise to play tongue in cheek. You have to hand it to him for including so many exploitable elements in this wild and crazy flick: cannibalism, zombies, karate, etc. The dialogue and performances are often quite ridiculous, and while the actors stop short of winking at the camera, Murphy does keep that tone alive.

The special effects are lousy, the zombies are a rather sad lot sporting less than stellar grey makeup, the T & A quotient is high (at one point, a hero and villain have a fight in a room where a naked woman is tied up), and the gore is plentiful.

Ubiquitous Cameron Mitchell has the leading role of intrepid pleasure ship captain Harry Dodds. Co-starring are his real-life girlfriend Hope Holiday as Hazel, Geoffrey Binney ("Hot Potato") as Mike, Jillian Kesner ("Firecracker") as Cookie, John Dresden ("Not of This Earth" '88) as John, and Filipino icon Vic Diaz, rarely to be seen without a smile on his face, as one of the monks. Exploitation fanatics will dig the appearances by Camille Keaton ("I Spit on Your Grave" '78) and Jewel Shepard ("The Return of the Living Dead"). Ralph Lombardi hams it up, egregious accent and all, as the Hitler lookalike villain.

We even get a couple stock shots from the New World production "Piranha" '78 before this is over. "Raw Force" is unmistakably gutter trash, but is done with enough humour and spirit to make it engaging entertainment.

Eight out of 10.

If you're an "It's Always Sunny..." fan, just watch this under the mindset that Mac, Dennis, Frank, Charlie, and Bird made it and you'll have a blast.

A group of martial arts students on vacation get stranded on an island that is home to cannibal monks, zombie ninjas and hippie smugglers in an off beat and campy grindhouse experience (also known as Kung Fu Cannibals), that throws everything including the kitchen sink into a bats#!t insane mix that makes no sense whatsoever. Written and directed by Edward Murphy (his debut feature), it sees Cameron Mitchell along for the ride who looks as bemused by it all as you will be, but it is kinda watchable in a cheesy sort of way.

Three intrepid martial artists (Geoff Binney, John Dresden, John Locke) plan to relieve some stress and enjoy a jaunty vacation by joining a lovely singles cruise to the islands located by the South China Sea. Unwittingly, the crew aboard this luxurious liner manned by a loquacious skipper (Cameron Mitchell) and his strident, pessimistic wisecracking "partner," Hazel Buck (Hope Holiday) is lured into an oblivious locale known as the "Warriors Island." What's even worse, this seemingly taciturn location is inhabited by a sect of hungry monks who crave the flesh of the living virgins. As well, the Warriors Island contains the burial ground of many of history's most violent and notorious martial artists who have been condemned for their dearth of honor. To escalate the quandary even further, these avaricious monks, never satiated with enough fresh and blood, plan to use their black magic to raise the living dead and create an army of indomitable killing machines...

Besides encountering piranhas and zombies and maniacal, cannibalistic monks, Mitchell's crew must contend with yet another antagonist, Dr. Speer (Ralph Lombardi), who speaks with a very horrendous (and probably fabricated) German accent. The three main martial artists have only their wits (as always) and their athletic prowess against a multitude of flesh eating zombie martial arts experts. The distressed characters must escape this island before their nightmarish scenarios end with...just their deserts...

RAW FORCE was one of the stupidest films ever made! Atrociously stereotypical and misogynistic, RAW FORCE elicited a lot of repulsion out of the audience. This film contained pseudo-martial arts sequences and as same battle scenes were virtually reiterated throughout the film, an interesting premise eventually became worn out and tedious. The lighting effects were also unbearable. At times, the film was nearly impossible to watch for the darkness of nighttime background almost completely covered a few highlighted battles between the forces of good and evil. As for the performances, the novice thespians in this film were completely stagnant, lacking enthusiasm, and the humor failed most of the time.

That, having been said, RAW FORCE has its moments as a tongue-in-cheek superficial, cheaply made thriller. RAW FORCE was indeed a very, very bizarre motion picture. You want the quintessential cult film? Well, RAW FORCE has it all...from naked caged women and to undead martial artists, man-eating fish, a Bruce Lee (or Jackie Chan) impersonator (Rey King) and even including hordes of those diabolical monks who can manipulate the kung-fu fighting zombies. The odd assortment of goofy characters will stupefy even the most die hard exploitation fans.

RAW FORCE puts too much effort attempting to be funny. Instead, this film unwisely protrudes its roots of ineptitude. I giggled at the overall inanity of this dull production. Strange, perverted, and disgusting. This film is truly a gross out and not for all tastes.

Mark my words, I was rolling on the floor, laughing out loud by the time this film was finished. The director/screenwriter of RAW FORCE, Edward D. Murphy (HEATED VENGEANCE) couldn't decide if he wanted this flick to be a parody or a conventional gore movie. This flaw was evident as RAW FORCE was inconsistent of its structure. Perpetually corny, see this film only to laugh out loud at its amateurish style. DO NOT expect to see anything remotely erudite in this movie! Still...this film is fun...in a junky sort of way.

RATING: *1/2 out of ****.