Death Promise

Just the Discs podcast told me it's like Miami Connection & Ninja Busters. There are elements of Bruce Lee and blaxploitation as well as some weird plot involving landlords. Awkward dialogue even though nobody is dubbed. The Wu-Tang Clan would love this. Our hero has tight white pants with a front flap secured by snaps. Asian friend referring to Asian villain: "com on Charley, take that chop suey chump off." Fav scene: after defeating Shibata, Charley yeeted him off the fucking roof.

Laughably bad revenge B-movie full of cheesy 70's charms and hilariously awkward kung-fu. After taking its sweet time establishing the story and an arbitrary "training journey", our protagonist returns home to team up his his best-friend to avenge his father's death with a series of comical assassinations.

Kung-Fu. Throwing stars. Murderous landlords. Men wearing onesies. Shirtless men for no reason. This has it all.

This had similar energy as Miami Connection, but it's grittier - more grindhouse style film. There's plenty of goofy kung-fu battles, chases, laughable dialogue, training scenes and friendship. It's quite amateurish filmmaking and some scenes go on for far too long, but you can just taste the pure energy that was put into making this. It doesn't quite deliver, but I have a feeling that I might like it a bit more on a re-watch.

Viewed September 12, 2021. This is clunky and amateurish in many respects, but there’s a genuine anger to the class conflict here that makes it very likable, especially when the filmmakers flip the script around for gruesome moments like our heroes unleashing a bunch of rats on one of their enemies. I do have to wonder about the life choices that led me to watch this, a movie clearly inspired by Bruce Lee, before seeing any actual Bruce Lee movies.

This is awful, but it's also awesome.