REVIEW: ‘Angelfist’ (1993)

Take the Don Wilson film BLOODFIST (1989) and give it a dose of gender reversal and what you get is just another pointless remake that was only made after BLOODFIST IV: DIE TRYING (1992) in hope to launch the late Catya “Cat” Sassoon (daughter of hair stylist Vidal) as an action star.

When a young fighter, Christy Lang (Sibel Birzag) witnesses an assassination after competing in a local tournament in Manila, she is killed by a group of radicals who are intending to disrupt peace talks. Los Angeles police officer Katara “Kat” Lang (Sassoon) learns of her murder and heads to Manila.

There, she learns that Christy has entered an underground tournament and that current favorite Sulu (Sheila Lintan) may be involved with Christy’s death. Determined to enter the tournament, Kat enlists the aid of local con man Alcatraz (Michael Shaner) and martial arts coach Bayani (Roland Dantes). She eventually gets in the tournament, where she is somehow watched by fellow fighter Lorna (Melissa Moore). As Kat gets closer to the the truth, all she sees may not be as it seem.

One has to only image why Roger Corman not only get himself involved with pointless remakes to launch new action stars, but with the addition of Filipino filmmaker extraordinare Cirio H. Santiago, make an excuse at times just to show practically every woman in the cast naked at one point or another.

While the main plot was lifted from BLOODFIST (1989), which was remade as FULL CONTACT (1993), DRAGON FIRE (1993), and BLOODFIST 2050 (2006), the film also takes elements from another Santiago-helmed B-movie, the cult classic FIRECRACKER (1981), in which the late Jillian Kesner performed some of her fight scenes topless.

This film was made to launch Catya Sassoon as an action star after executive producer Roger Corman was impressed with her as a villain in BLOODFIST IV: DIE TRYING (1992) opposite Don “The Dragon” Wilson. While the credits list her as a martial arts champion, it turned out to be untrue. To prepare for her role in the film, Sassoon trained in taekwondo and the Filipino style of arnis. While not bad as a newly trained martial artist, the fact that her role required her to have a bunch of scenes, including one fight scene, topless, just didn’t give her the credibility necessary to become an action heroine.

Under the fight choreography of Ronald Asinas, a veteran Filipino stuntman whose worked with Don Wilson and Jerry Trimble, most of the fighters seemed to be untrained martial artists who have learned probably to execute the moves well. At times the fights suffer from close ups and quick edits to make the fighters look good.

As with the ending, it’s pretty predictable if you already have seen BLOODFIST and its remakes galore. So there’s basically nothing new here. Sadly, Sassoon would relegate to erotic thrillers yet would play a villain again in BLOODFIST VI: GROUND ZERO (1994) before passing away of a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 33.

While ANGELFIST has nothing new to offer, it would mark the only lead action role for someone who would have had the potential to possibly make it had she not left the world too soon.

Related Topics: Angelfist (1993), B-movie, Catya Sassoon, Cirio H. Santiago, Manila, revenge, sisters, tournament