Devil's Dynamite (1987)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Well, if the above sounds confusing to read then believe me, it's nothing compared to the actual film! Great Scott! - This is a completely hat-stand flick to put it as mildly as possible, but with the name Tomas Tang attached, it comes as frankly little surprise. OK, so let me try to shed some light on what this is broadly about; An evil American working alongside the queen of the underworld (who appears courtesy of a completely different film of course!) hires a possessed Taoist priest to summon vampires in order to wipe out those who presumably oppose them. Okay.....but hold on; there's more! - You see, the forces of good are represented by a chap called Alex who when ever in danger transforms into - Tin Foil Wrapped, Silver Motorbike Helmet Wearing Warrior!......Well, OK, he isn't actually referred to as such, but the description is entirely apt nonetheless! Now throw into this mix a gambling champion called Steven and his buried gold, some ninja.....who are killed and then resurrected as vampire ninja and a completely odd series of scenes featuring a little boy who has an odd proclivity to dress up as a vampire and subsequently scare a little girl ghost (at least I think she was a ghost!). Yes, as you can well imagine, this is one hell of a bloody mess! On the other hand, much like the rest of Tomas Tang's/Filmark International's insane output, it is nonetheless strangely compelling in a manner not entirely dissimilar to that morbid curiosity one feels to have a gawp when passing a road accident in fact.

"Devil Dynamite" looked like it would be a harmless, silly Asian film...but it was much much more, or in this case less. Though this part obviously only pertains to the American dubbed version, the dubbing sounds really bad. Little kids sound like grown men playing cartoon characters, and the other dubbing doesn't fit either.The action scenes are simply amazing. You really can't top 4 hopping vampires attacking a weird, parachute pants wearing robo-man. Sounds pretty good, huh!? Well the whole movie is pretty much just a bunch of poorly filmed and put together action scenes, where continuity does not exist. Let me try to piece the plot together. There's some guy controlling vampires with pieces of paper and a bell, while an android saves the day. Meanwhile some people are digging for gold because some guy named Cox told them about hidden treasure.Add many strange subplots, and odd cuts and you have what quite probably is the worst and most bizarre foreign film of all time. It's a perfect example of how not to make a film, and it's quite funny too. Check it out if you like bad cinema, otherwise avoid it at all costs.

This is another Eastern Horrors DVD from the Brentwood bargain basement (Amazon.com still has some VHS tapes of it and the picture is of that quality - full screen and English dubbed). It seems that Angela Mao is Mary the former lover of Koch (I'm not sure the sound is bad and sometimes it sounds like Kok)who has a treasure chest(!) of gold buried about 10 inches down in the sand on a beach that a hefty gangster with an eye patch wants badly. Mary is actually the boss of the underworld (Angela doesn't do any of her famous kung fu fighting she just stands around with her glitter eye shadow looking mean) and she's about to marry a much younger guy than Koch. There's an English guy with a beard (I think this is Richard Phillips) who has an evil priest using hopping vampires to keep his mob in power (I also think he works for Angela but the connection between the gangsters isn't really made clear. There's also a guy named Alex who has a good priest on his side and he turns into a guy in a cheesy tin foil sort of space suit with a matching silver helmet who battles the hopping vampires. The eye patch gangster gets Koch's gold but is killed soon afterward. The spacesuit guy defeats the hopping vampires. Koch kills Mary in revenge then is trapped in a beach house that is blown up and he appears to die in the flaming house. If this was Super Inframan it would rate an 8 or 9 but as a somewhat juvenile action movie for me it gets a 5. There's also a little chunky boy hopping vampire for the kids. No nudity no sex some fighting but not so great.

the only review I've seen hailed it as being better than its sister film robovampire. if you loved the hopping vampires, firearms/fireworks madness, gorilla-vampire/ghost love story, crappy explosions, and random storyline of robovampire you will be disappointed by this film. the final scenes are robovampire worthy material but otherwise its just a big melodramatic, badly written film. If your looking for something like robovampire look for catman:lethal track, its almost as good. catman: boxers blow is also a little better than this film but not much. I don't really know what else to say, I just want to warn others that its not worth purchasing. if you were to buy this film, i would suggest watching this film first then robovampire. otherwise this film will just be a big let down.