"Jungle Heat" is an extremely violent but pretty retarded exploitation film, supposedly set during the final months of the war in Vietnam. The American army commanders haven't got many motivated heroes left so they're training local soldiers to fight against the dangerous Vietcong. Three lousy weeks for training and then these men are sent into the jungle where sadistic Vietcong troops play torture games with their prisoners. There isn't the slightest bit of continuity in the screenplay and the only sequences that are remotely worth mentioning involve some ingenious killing methods. For example, one poor soldier is buried up to his neck in the sand, where his head is shaved and subsequently cut open with a nasty razor blade. If that's not enough yet, the sleazy Vietcong fatso pours pure acid on his exposed brains which causes the poor sucker to literally jump out of his skin. I never saw that before! In another sequence, which I'm sure will be appreciated by members of the Animal Liberation Front, a harmless rat is set on fire and set free amongst prisoners that were drenched in gasoline! However, don't get too enthusiast over the brief description of these two scenes, as there still remains 85 minutes of dull and completely inept footage to struggle yourself through. The choreography in the jungle scenes is awful, nobody bothered to hire any real actors (even Sam "Flash Gordon" Jones acts like a sock puppet) and the poor dubbing continued to hurt my ears long after the film was finished. Some of the exterior filming locations showed great potential for a compelling Vietnam story, but one-time director Jobic Wong totally doesn't know how to use them. If you ever come across this ultra-rare movie in a second-hand store, or something, put it right back on the shelf. I know it looks like a real treat for gorehounds and cult-fanatics, but it's pure garbage.
