Blood Beat

A samurai in Wisconsin, and not just any old samurai but a ghostly one with telekinetic powers. But what else would you expect from a film shot in Wisconsin by a French crew with American actors and edited in Paris? And did I mention the woman who spontaneously orgasms every time it claims a victim?

This oddity starts off cliched enough as as brother and sister Dolly and Ted come back from college for Christmas holidays. Ted's girlfriend Sarah is also along for the trip, which is a good thing since there is a present for her under the tree despite the fact Ted didn't tell anyone she was coming...

We quickly settle into the usual family drama set up Dolly upsets everyone with her plans to drop out of college. Mom and Dad are having issues because she would rather paint than be there for him. And to top it all off Mom and Sarah have this weird deja-vu thing followed by a staring contest

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The weird kicks into gear the next day when they all go deer hunting and Sarah freaks out at the thought of shooting Bambi. As all of this is going down a random hunter is meeting a nasty end at the hands of someone or something unseen, and of course our happy group stumble across the messy, (or as messy as the budget will allow), aftermath. That night Mother has an odd seizure like incident of guided painting while Sarah finds a chest with a samurai’s armor and weapons, a chest which of course vanishes when she tries to show the others.

And then all incomprehensible hell breaks loose. A samurai bathed in a ghostly blue light starts killing people. A kitchen comes to malevolent life. Sarah lies on the bed, apparently masturbating, body arching and sounding damn sure like she's cumming every time the samurai claims a victim. A fleeing victim leads the armored entity to the family's house and it all ends in a battle of psychic powers complete with animated rays shooting from people's hands...

  Now maybe it was the mix of French filmmakers and Midwestern talent or just good old 80's drugs but this film is just messed up. I mean after a night of terror do the main characters get out of Dodge? No they go deer hunting and run into the samurai in the woods, and still just go back home afterward. A gutted body in the woods and a man killed by an arrow on their doorstep don't scare them off either. And just how/why is a mystic Japanese warrior stalking the backwoods of Wisconsin?

This is one of those films where they tossed wild batch of ideas into a pot, heat till it boils, then toss the resulting stew against a wall and see what sticks. Everything from WW2 stock footage, (mushroom cloud included), to electronically processed voices and deer hunting, complete with real, gutted deer are part of the menu, and even if it doesn't all stick, it's an oddly tasty stew. Granted it's best served with a side order of hash, or at least a few beers, but it is oddly tasty.

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                                                          Blood Beat (1983) Trailer            

Dead End Drive-In

                                           

  In the near future, nuclear accidents, economic collapse and global riots have put the entire world in a state of chaos. Looting is widespread. Cities are wastelands. Violent thugs control the streets. But when working-class guy Jimmy Crabs, (Crabs to his friends) and his voluptuous girlfriend are accidentally trapped in a drive-in theater being used as a maximum-security youth prison, they discover a whole new society filled with brutality, racism and corruption. Now Jimmy has one desperate shot at escape, a last-chance high-speed plan that will blast him from one hell into another - the one that lies beyond the walls of Dead End Drive-In.

A post apocalyptic Australia. Gangs ruling the roads. A lone hero fighting for his survival and freedom. Has Mad Max: Thunder Road finally been released? No, it's the much lesser known but wonderfully entertaining Dead End Drive In. All our hero Jimmy Crabs wants is to work on the tow trucks scavenging parts from the wrecked cars on the highway like his older brother. That and get some from his girlfriend Carmen. But when he borrows his brother's car and takes her to the drive in things take a turn for the bizarre. The cars wheels are stolen, by the police no less.

Indeed it's actually a prison for the disaffected youth of the region. The cars become their homes, they're supplied with food, booze and movies. There's even birth control pills for the ladies. In fact it's a better deal than they had on the outside and the inmates don't want to leave their prison. Well none except for Crabs. When the authorities bring in a busload of Asian prisoners things come to a  head in violent race/gang warfare and Crabs decides it's time to make his move.

I remember catching this on VHS when it came out back in the 80s and being quite impressed with the action scenes but thinking there was a bit to much plot happening in between them. Now 23 years later I'm seeing it again. And now I see that the plot is actually pretty interesting. It's actually Mad Max meets 1984. There’s a good deal of political subtext in the script although thankfully it's not heavy handed and doesn't get in the way of the film being what it's intended to be, a good solid action film.

And action there is, fights, car chases, explosions and one hell of a stunt at the end that I won't give away if you haven't seen it. And when they're not happening in the film's story they're happening on the drive in's screen by way of excerpts from the films being shown most notably director Brian Trenchard-Smith's earlier films “Turkey Shoot”, ( “Escape 2000" in the US),  and  “The Man from Hong Kong”. There's also a good soundtrack and several of the scenes resemble music videos . The bands involved may be familiar to Australians but the only group I recognized was Hunters and Collectors.

The film looks very good with the drive in turned into an automotive shanty town and the weird garb the residents wear. The look is somewhere between old school punk and The Road Warrior. It's made to look real enough that it helps you to overcome the rather far fetched central concept and when you do start to question things there's a fight or chase to divert your attention.

The disc from Madman is light on the extras having just a trailer and commentary track by director Brian Trenchard-Smith. The commentary is interesting to listen to as he's pretty honest about the making of the film and how it turned out and not afraid to point out where something went wrong and to take the blame for it. It's sad currently all he can get for work is SyFy CGI fests.


                                                     Dead End Drive In 1986) Trailer