Filippino Post Nuke Pretender ...

W is War

(1983/Philippines)

‘‘With or without a badge I’ll find a way’’

Filippino Action fury with an anachronistic feel of a futuristic post apocalyptic movie, yet set in its contemporary time line of production in the early Eighties !?. A bizarre combination of Mad Max (1979) and The Warriors (1979).

Law enforcer Sergeant W2 heads up his team of fellow enforcers against the scourge of Asia. Their greatest concern is the ever burgeoning manufacturing and distribution of drugs. The continents largest cartel is The End Of The World Organisation, and they have a centre of operations right on Sergeant W2’s patch. Headed up by the garish, fanatical Jim Jones type guru, Nosfero, and his legion of loyal acolytes. A small army of shaven headed thugs, garbed in minimalist fetish leather, bonded together like a futuristic variant of the Hell’s Angel’s. Nosfero leads them with a iron grip and the steely facial intensity of Jack Palance, set apart from his bald followers by a side set pigtail and one mean manicured uni-brow !.

Sergeant W2 and two of his men get into a scrape with a rowdy bunch of Nosfero’s men outside of a club. When a knife is pulled W2 instinctively reacts by pulling out his gun. In the line of duty, and deemed in self defence, W2 shoots and kills his attacker, the brother of Nosfero !. Back at enforcer HQ W2’s superior officer informs him that he is suspended from duty, and told to take some time off. Whilst away W2 marries his sweetheart, but during their honeymoon period W2 is attacked by Nosfero’s men in an act of retribution. W2 is beaten and eternally branded by an act of castration upon his person !.

W2 is a broken man, and with no job, and a wife he can no longer satisfy, he fully channels his frustrations towards Nosfero and his illegal operations. As a renegade though he is outnumbered and outclassed. Falling into the hands of Nosfero once again W2 is tortured and made an example of. Coming to W2’s aid is a female member of the Nosfero cult, a reluctant submissive soldier seeking a way out, she frees W2, and together they formulate a way to strike at the heart of Nosfero and The End Of The World Organisation’s operations.

Even in castrated form W2 has the balls to bring down the rebel force, but not with a solo hand, as his loyal enforcers become his wing men once more, and aided by his new found princess this alliance is readied to bring Nosfero’s evil empire down !. W is war up against Nosfero’s camp clan of Frankie Goes To Hollywood look alike bandits, and what is it good for ?, absolutely nothing but big bang, all out explosive fun for the finale.

The closure is the meat and two veg of the piece that W2 longs for, and gets with the assistance of his trusted cohorts, and a customised assault vehicle that is most definitely straight out of a Euro Post Nuke movie from the Eighties. Armour plated and replete with weapons of mass destruction. W is war for sure at this juncture, and raises the films fun factor several notches. Three wheeled super charged motorbike riding villains against the Philippines version of Mad Max, in an off road warrior warpath of wanton death and destruction. Deliriously delivered ‘Pines on toast whole hearted ‘B’ movie goodness.

Movie Rating: 5/10

Review Paul Cooke / Source Japanese NTSC VHS

W is War (1983)
Directed by Willie Milan
With Anthony Alonzo, Paul Vance,
Joonee Gamboa, Alicia Alonzo & Ada Hubert

Filipino Jungle Fare

Death Raiders

(1984 / Philippines)

‘‘For those who disobey, punishment. That is the way it is !’’

The governor of the province has his home invaded by the rebels whilst holding a private function. Along with his two adult daughters the governor is forcibly taken away and delivered before the rebel force leader. Held to ransom for the Filipino government to concede to their demands, it is up to the military forces to initiate a counter strike in order to safely retrieve those abducted. Time to call up the Death Raiders !.
Rebellious Filipino jungle war fare in which a governor and his two daughters are taken hostage. An explosive opening montage of stock footage and pretty well staged pyrotechnics open proceedings on a high. Jungle combat dominates the screen with a glut of gun power and explosive grenade pitching. Watch towers explode, and a bridge is obliterated, as the Filipino national military corps take on the rebels in an ongoing plight for democracy.
The military big wigs assign a special rescue team, a unit of crack commandos called the Death Raiders. Given two weeks in order to seek out and rescue the governor and daughters before the rebels designated demands deadline comes to be.
Death Raiders is not the greatest example of low budget ‘B’ movie jungle goodness produced in the Philippines, and indeed for the greater part is a flaccid affair. There is neither a great bad guy to goad, nor any particular good guy to steal the show. The movie goes about its business pretty much by the numbers, plodding through a basic plot until its inevitable climax. There are though enough moments of explosive Action and hand to hand combat scenes to see the viewer through the entirety, if only to leave a feeling of being left under whelmed. It’s a one time drink from the trough for this pony, but the sub stallion ride isn’t completely without its giddy up moments.
Throwing the members of the Death Raiders together again serves up some fun as each of the main players gets his own moment of introduction. A minor play on the bringing together of The Magnificent Seven (1960). Tough guy Ray busts some nifty kung fu moves at a disco, as a local thug with his lackey’s foolishly pick a fight. Freddie sends a low life man handler, holding a young woman at gun point, to his final resting place as he acrobatically leaps through the air, deftly delivering a bullet directly to the forehead of the scumbag.
As the team of specialist comes together there is also a rewarding full on fist fight, and more martial arts mastery played out in a whorehouse, as Ray and Freddie help out their buddy Elmer rescue his girlfriend from a prostitution racket.
Proceedings are often peppered with Action scene moments akin to the old Harold Lloyd silent movie styled set up sequences. Well done, but somewhat odd in what is a movie portraying itself as a tough Actioner !?.
Following a fast track training camp, to make sure that the teams working parts are well tuned and their mental application is readjusted, the Death Raiders are back in tandem.
The team is helicopter parachute dropped into the general region of rebel activism within the Filipino jungle with orders to retrieve the governor and his two daughters with all due prejudice to any aggressors.
Arriving under cover of night the commandos soon uncover and surreptitiously sneak into the rebel leaders camp. They take out the perimeter guards using knives to keep things quiet, and bust a few heads with the butts of their guns for any others in their path. The alarm is inevitably raised though and it soon becomes open season, with guns and grenades fuelling a fight for freedom.
With an unexpected assist from within the rebel ranks, Ray and Freddie, along with their fellow Death Raiders, round up the governor and his daughters, and make an immediate play to escape the enemy. It’s a frenzied fight to the finish line here on in as the rebel leader rounds up his own troops to stop the commando corps. Some furtively futile sequences of stupidity ensue as the audience is treated to formation death tolls, dutifully dollied up by rebels lining up in bunches of three to fives for some synchronised kills by the commandos. Just like shooting sitting ducks at a fairground these hapless rebels run out into the Death Raiders gun sights, like multiple swim teams, soon drowning in their own blood !.
Heavy artillery support brings wanton annihilation to multiples of straw huts, enveloped in explosive flames, and the destruction of innocent trees alike. An all out war that brings proceedings to a welcome Action ending.

Movie Rating: 4/10

Review Paul Cooke / Source Japanese NTSC VHS

Death Raiders (1984)
Director Segundo Ramos
With Johnny Wilson, George Pallance, George Estragan,
Ramon Zamora, Robert Lee, June Ariston,

Rodolfo Boy Garcia, Renato del Prado, Joel Alano,

Raquel Montesa & Nina Sarah

Teddy Chiu's Up The Scenery

Movie In Action

(1987/Philippines)

‘‘What kind of excitement are you looking for, real war !?’’

An Action packed opening explodes across the screen as an incoming helicopter drops a commando unit into a war zone. Before these tough troopers feet even hit the ground they are putting tags to toes, as enemy foot soldiers onslaught a barrage of bullets upon them. It’s shoot and run, pursued by roving tanks and targeted by mortar shells reigning down at them from all around. The American commandos target, a fortified hill. Their objective … ‘‘Cut’’ shouts Bo Svenson !. This is a precursor prologue to what in actuality is a movie within a movie. Star Bo Svenson is Frank, and walks tall in his star billing as The Director. He and his film crew are in fact on set, shooting the latest Action flick for producer Bill, played by the ubiquitous Mike Monty. The location for this war movie is the middle of Thailand.


An unusual premise but one that works remarkably well as the story provides boundless entertainment, along with some refreshing turns from the expected Action genus. Regular followers of this genre will be initially thrown by seeing the usual array of stars playing completely against character, but will soon embrace the idea as it is the off the wall performances that make this a winning concoction. Watching regular tough guy Jim Gaines flounce around as jittery sound engineer Brian, caught up in a world of guns and explosions, is as camp as a prisoner of war internment run by Liberace !. Hitting the hard notes is of course Bo Svenson, who when his leading lady Susan Jackson gets kidnapped by real soldiers of the Khmer Rouge calls upon his earlier experience in the military to organise a bodacious plan to rescue her.
Frank ‘The Director’ proposes that members of his film crew have all the right attributes to get the job done. Is he insane ?, maybe so but this is the movies !. Headed up by lead actor Mike Connery, he and five other members of the film crew, including the make up effects girl, prepare for some real Action. With starlet Susan Jackson still wearing her on set audio microphone, sound guy Brian requires a field extension receiver to enhance the range of reception in order to aid them in picking up her signal. The nearby military base has one, and so Mike along with Brian and the special effects man use their ingenuity to stage a break in and acquire what they need. The Fun begins as the use of gadgetry and movie magic, smoke and mirrors, brings about an infectious level of entertainment. In ’B’ movie Action lore, one that is perhaps topped only in sheer outlandish brilliance by the Fabrizio De Angelis barnstorming epic ‘The Last Match’ (1990).

Wounded in the leg by one of the Khmer rebels at the time of his leading ladies abduction, Frank stays behind to run the operation and keep in contact with team leader Mike by radio. Their call signs are Limping Snake and Movie Warriors.
The Movie Warriors head on into Cambodia with immediate use of combined movie trickery catching out the border guard. The minimal use of camouflage to make their jeep look like a horse drawn straw cart is classic, along with the misdirection of an explosive dummy body. Their trek through the Cambodian jungle is beset by chasing soldiers but their use of movie ingenuity and smart savvy makes for continued rewarding viewing. They steal military uniforms, along with required transportation, working together as a specialised team, achieving their objectives and uncovering where Susan Jackson is being held captive. The hijacks along the way are in equal measure with gun play and many an impressive explosion. This is some serious crazy arsed Action Fun, with the added bonus of constantly seeing Jim Gaines camp it up big time.

Huts explode all around as the Movie Warriors mow down the Khmer rebels, only to be blown away themselves when the true reason behind the abduction reveals itself !. Time still though for Bo Svenson to attempt to steal the show, storming right on in as a knight with his shinning white helicopter steed, big gun a blazing.


With the teams camera man not only part of the rescue team, but also still managing to shoot the entire escapade, this truly turns out to be one heck of a great ‘Movie In Action’.

Review: Paul Cooke / Source: Japanese VHS (NTSC)
Movie In Action
1987 Silver Star Film Company
Director Ted Johnson
With Bo Svenson, Robert Mason, Jim Gaines,
Don Holden, David Brass, Liza Hutton, Peter King,
Chantal Mansfield & Mike Monty