Bloodfist (1989)

“The Greatest Kickboxer of All Time”, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, jump starts his career as the King of the B-grade American martial arts film with this standard action film produced by the legendary indie producer Roger Corman under his Concorde banner.

The film opens at an underground martial arts tournament in Manila. Michael Raye (Ned Hourani) has just won the finals in the tournament. However, on his way home, he is attacked by a mystery man and is eventually killed by the attacker. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Jake Raye (Wilson) is a former boxer who gave up competing to donate a kidney to Mike when they were both young. Jake has settled for becoming a boxing coach at a local gym he co-owns. When he gets the call about Michael’s death, Jake flies to Manila.

Jake gets himself in a world of trouble when he is forced into duping a band of gamblers when compulsive gambler and kickboxer Baby (Michael Shaner) promises to split the winnings with Jake. It is not long before Jake and Baby become friends and Jake is offered a place to stay when Baby takes him in. Jake soon learns about Michael competing in the tournament and was killed after he won. Jake soon finds himself meeting Kwong (Joe Mari Avellana), a man who knows the tournament inside out and offers to train Jake in the martial arts so he can compete in the tournament in hopes of finding his brother’s killer.

Jake soon finds himself in the tournament and the competition is some of its finest yet. The top competitors of the tournament include Raton (Dutch kickboxing champion Rob Kaman), who listens to music to get his adrenaline pumping; Black Rose (Billy Blanks), a high-kicking powerhouse; and Chin Woo (Kris Aguilar), a monster fighter who uses his brute strength to take out his opponents.

As Jake makes his way through the tournament, his investigation for Michael’s killer begins to go through twists. Jake hears one side of the story as to who may be responsible for killing Michael. However, Jake soon learns that all may not seem as it is. Who did kill Michael and what will Jake do when he learns the identity of the killer?

Schlock producer extraordinare Roger Corman has had his share of films. He was the man responsible for the original LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960) and has dabbled with all genres from sex comedies to slasher film to B-movie fantasy flicks like the DEATHSTALKER films. In 1988, Corman decided to take the route of the popular genre of martial arts films. He found his lead actor in kickboxing champion Don “The Dragon” Wilson, who made his film debut in a small role opposite John Cusack in the romantic comedy SAY ANYTHING (1989).

Screenwriter Robert King took an all too familiar territory and an all too familiar location. Corman had worked well with the Filipino film industry and its pioneering filmmaker, Cirio H. Santiago (who co-produced the film with Corman) and shot many of his early films there, from NAKED VENGEANCE (1985) to SAIGON COMMANDOS (1987). So, as part of the storyline, the film is mainly set in the capital city of Manila.

The tournament film genre became a staple genre after ENTER THE DRAGON (1973), but it became very popular in the United States after the success of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s breakthrough film BLOODSPORT (1987). In fact, the title, BLOODFIST, makes the film look like a BLOODSPORT rip-off and in some aspects, that can be true. However, King upped the ante by making it about a boxer who must learn martial arts and enter the tournament to find out who killed his brother, a former champion of the tournament.

Corman didn’t want to cast any true unknowns, yet with the exception of kickboxing fans during that period, no one may have heard of Don “The Dragon” Wilson prior to the film. Corman came up with a concept to prove his case of casting real martial arts fighters. He would include their credited accomplishments with their names. The official credit for Wilson in the film reads “Don Wilson, World Kickboxing Association Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion”.

To round out the cast, Corman casted Dutch-born Muay Thai champion Rob Kaman, Filipino martial artist and veteran B-movie villain actor Cris Aguilar, and a pre-KING OF THE KICKBOXERS Billy Blanks. Filipino veteran actor Joe Mari Avellana helps bring the film a more subtle tone as Kwong, the man who would become Jake’s mentor in martial arts. Avellana doubled as the production designer of the film as well.

Fight choreography was done by veteran Filipino martial artist and stuntman Ronald Asinas. The fights were edited not too bad, yet they definitely do not compare to a Chuck Norris film or even BLOODSPORT. Even the best fight of the film, pitting Wilson and Blanks, seemed too short. Thankfully, Asinas would redeem himself with the sequel, BLOODFIST II (1990) as well as working with Jerry Trimble on LIVE BY THE FIST (1993) and ONE MAN ARMY (1994), where the fights were more fast and furious when compared to this film.

Don “The Dragon” Wilson would return in not one, but seven sequels to the film, although only the first sequel was related to this film as he returns as Jake. Meanwhile, Corman would recycle the plot of this film over and over again. First, using L.A.’s alleyways as the setting, FULL CONTACT (1993) with Jerry Trimble in the Wilson role was released. Then, a futuristic setting of L.A. would be the setting for DRAGON FIRE (1993) starring one hit wonder Dominic La Banca in the Wilson role. Most recently, KAMEN RIDER: DRAGON KNIGHT co-star and XTreme Martial Arts champion Matt Mullins took the Wilson role in BLOODFIST 2050 (2005).

In the end, BLOODFIST would be the first in a series of films that made Don “The Dragon” Wilson make the smooth transition from world champion kickboxer to biggest B-movie martial arts action star of the 1990’s. Despite its lack of good fighting sequences, practically everyone involved would go on to bigger and better things, both in and out of the film industry.