RAW FORCE (1982)
aka Kung Fu Cannibals
Article 4679 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 11-12-2014
Directed by Edward D. Murphy
Featuring Cameron Mitchell, Geoffrey Binney, Hope Holiday
Country: USA / Philippines
What it is: Action movie

Vacationers hope to visit an island that is rumored to be the place where disgraced martial artists go to die. The island is inhabited by monks that can revive the corpses of the dead martial artists by cannibalizing women. The vacationers run afoul of criminals who sell women to the monks in return for large jade deposits on the island.

I usually don’t go into all that much detail on my plot descriptions, but there are times when a more elaborate list of the various plot elements can tell you a lot more than I can do in my commentary. Be aware that the movie features lots of gratuitous nudity and violence, zombie martial arts masters, sinister monks, cannibalism, white slavery and Cameron Mitchell. All of this together in one movie just screams “grindhouse” to me, and it’s a warning that the movie isn’t to be taken very seriously. For that matter, nobody on hand seems to be really taking it seriously either, and perhaps that’s for the best; it’s silly and dumb but free from any pretensions, and if you watch it on that level, it’s passable enough. I am a bit disappointed that the zombies are a pretty anemic bunch, but I do find it hilarious that the vacationers are actually drawn to this island by a travel brochure on it. It’s one of those movies where you just shake your head and take it all in.