REVIEW: Kill Squad (1981)

In the early 1980′s, American martial arts film slowly began to get its notice, after the likes of Chuck Norris and the Ninja genre began to take shape. During the slow rise of the genre, this tale of a group of ex-Vietnam vets using martial arts to avenge the maiming of their commander seems like a good idea. While the fights are not exactly the best as compared to the likes of Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan in Hong Kong, the film has gained a somewhat cult following in the years that came after its initial release in 1981.

The film opens up in Vietnam, during the War, where a group of soldiers save their commander from the Viet Cong and are able to return to America. Ten years later, the commander, Joseph Lawrence (Jeff Risk), is now a wealthy businessman who has been having problems with a rival businessman, Dutch (Cameron Mitchell). When Joseph’s family is assaulted and he ends up in a wheelchair after getting brutally attacked by a gang of thugs who are believed to be hired by Dutch, he decides he must do something about it.

Joseph recruits longtime friend and former soldier Larry Pearson (Jean Glaude) to assemble the former unit. Searching throughout the city, Larry finds his former friends K.C. (Jerry Johnson), Pete (Francisco Ramirez), Alan (Bill Cambra), Tommy (Gary Fung), and Arthur (Marc Sabin) as they are hired by Joseph to search for Dutch. The six soldiers are trained in martial arts and decide to use their skills to get information on Dutch.

However, something strange begins to occur when the members of the team attempt to get information on Dutch’s whereabouts. As members of the team take out Dutch’s thugs and get the information, a sniper shows up and shoots down the team, one-by-one. Now, the survivors not only must find Dutch, but find out who the mysterious sniper is and find out why he is killing the team. Is the sniper hired by Dutch or is he someone else?

Hollywood stuntman Patrick Donahue made his directorial debut with this martial arts action film that was made to capitalize on the American martial arts genre that started to make its mark in Hollywood during this time. Unlike the Hong Kong-style choreography of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung during this time, the action in American martial arts films were more slow-paced and there wasn’t much block and hit, as opposed to the “you hit me, I hit you” style of fighting. However, that doesn’t take away the fact that the titular “Kill Squad” are martial artists, most notably Jean Glaude and Gary Fung, the latter also serving as the fight choreographer.

What makes the film very interesting despite the lack of big-time filmmaking and the slow paced fight scenes is the twist in the plot where a mysterious sniper is killing off the members of the heroic team as they gather information on the whereabouts of their commander’s attacker. This poses as a surprise to the the plot of the film, which definitely seems more standard than any action film imaginable. The whole revenge theme is always a theme that tends to be “beaten like a dead horse”. However, the sniper twist makes for an interesting surprise.

After its initial release in 1981, it seems as if the film would disappear into obscurity after home video. However, in the late 1990′s, two events would bring the film to cult status. The National Network, which would later become Spike TV, began airing martial arts films and this film was one of the first low budgeted American martial arts films to air. Second, a fan of the film had created the now-defunct official Kill Squad website, which included recent interviews with cast members and even the director.

In the end, while it’s not exactly the best martial arts film to hit the early 80′s, KILL SQUAD still makes for some Saturday night viewing. That is, if you happen to have the home video of the film or taped it off one of its airings from TNN as the film has not received a DVD release as of this review. This film is definitely a martial arts cult film fan’s dream.

REVIEW: Kill Squad (1981), 10.0 out of 10 based on 2 ratings

by Albert Valentin

Related Topics:
cult movie  •  Jean Glaude  •  Kill Squad  •  Kill Squad (1981)  •  martial arts  •  sniper  •  Vietnam war