Death Promise

Death Promise (1977)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Robert Warmflash

Starring: Charles Bonet, Speedy Leacock, Thompson Kao Kang, Bill Louie, Bob O'Connell

From: Howard Mahler Films

This is a movie I can thank Letterboxd for discovering. Someone I follow reviewed this movie. I hadn't heard of it before so I checked out the review and it sounded like something I should see AND it was on YouTube for free so I had to watch it.

To steal the plot description from the IMDb: “An apartment dweller goes on a search-and-destroy mission to kill the ruthless landlords who murdered his father.” It's more than that. It's a film set in the slums of New York City (those people who love looking at New York City in the 70's, or marvel at how sleazy it used to be before it got cleaned up, they'll enjoy the time capsule that this film presents of how things looked way back when) in an awful apartment building. Several landlords who own the area in secret want to clear everyone out but an old man (O'Connell) is the de facto leader of the people leading there and refuse, which makes the landlords mad; it's never fully explained but it can be presumed that once they clear the area something will be built there which will make them a lot of cash. They kill the old man, which upsets his son, who happens to be a karate expert; he and his fellow karate expert pal Speedy are looking for revenge; their karate master Shibata (Kang)-who can be hard to make out due to his strong Japanese accent-also figures into things.

The movie is real low-budget. That has to be said right away. A few times you see the boom mic. Yet, it's directed by a guy who would end up being a post-production supervisor on feature films and documentaries, such as Capturing the Friedmans and The Cove. Some things don't make a lot of sense if you put some thought into it. Overall, though, the movie is very entertaining, both to enjoy seriously and ironically. The action is fun to watch and there are plenty of fights and other things that happen during some cool setpieces. There are some downright awesome deaths. You can laugh at such things as the awesome 1970's clothing, some of the acting, and the funky soundtrack.

The movie's definitely rough around the edges but you can see everyone tried their best to make something enjoyable for action fans and that is what they did, in my opinion, whether it's those fans enjoying it seriously or humorously... or both. What a grindhouse experience it was. There is also a surprise plot twist near the end; it was telegraphed earlier but in not the most obvious way and once you have everything explained, I thought it was a pretty cool twist and it's not one of those nonsensical ridiculous plot twists you commonly get in recent years, but instead is pretty clever, which I appreciate, especially in something like this.

I'll be back Friday night.