Review: NIGHT WARS

Directed by David A. Prior
1988
Color.  88 mins.
Sony VHS release

Rambo: First Blood Part II was a big deal.  Released in 1985, it made hundreds of millions of dollars both domestically and internationally.  Americans had lost their first war in history (if you don't count the war of 1812).  The film was a major part of regaining the American narrative of victory culture in the 1980s.  It was about winning the war this time.  It was about liberal Washington bureaucrats not allowing the soldiers to win.  It was about Americans feeling pride again.

David A. Prior was greatly influenced by this shift.  You can see it in Deadly Prey, Kill Zone and Operation War Zone.  However, by 1988 Reagan was leaving office and George H.W. Bush was taking over.  The narrative of regaining that victory culture was getting more complicated.  Prior wanted to make the war movies of his youth and include new dimensions.
He creatively combines Rambo, post tramautic stress disorder and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The result: Night Wars!

Night Wars isn't a pilthy little forgettable film.  It's incredibly entertaining, while being insightful at the same time.  Where Sylvestor Stallone and Chuck Norris were doing their best to win back America's pride by pretending that we can go back and win the war that got away, Prior is pointing out that it's just that, a dream.  Sure, American soldiers get to go back, get their friend they left behind, and beat those commie bastards.  But, at the end, it's all in their dreams.

The Rundown:

McGregor is a douche (and an incredible actor).  He's working with Charlie and he likes to torment and torture American POWs.  Specifically Trent Matthews and Jim Lowery.

Jim lies awake at night, back home in the states reliving the horrors of his time at war.  He sits in his apartment with a pistol in his mouth.  Trent is having similar nightmares and sees Johnny (their friend who was killed in the POW camp) driving a car.  My favorite character is the car salesman.  He is probably one of the greatest geniuses ever.  My only regret with this film is that there isn't more of him.

Flashbacks and nightmares merge, red moonlight and lots of explosions lighting the scenes.  Nightmare Vietnamese soldiers cannot be injured and Trent and Jim watch Johnny die again and again.  Trent wakes up with a real injury from his dream.  On his way to work, he hears Vietnamese propaganda over his car radio and McGregor shows up in his passenger seat.
"You were a traitor!"
"I still am!"
Trent steps out of the car to see he's in Vietnam again.  Johnny cries out for help.  Shit literally just got real, well, dreams really, but you get it.  In the dream a soldier puts his machete up to Trent's neck and he awakens with a cut across his neck.

Trent heads to Jim's house and Jim is dressed in fatigues looking like Bill S. Preston esquire.  They drink lots of beer and discuss how to deal with this "whole damned thing... We were all meant to come home together or all meant to stay there.  We've got to go back in."  A large number of alarm clocks are purchased and guns are procured.

The most amazing sequences in this film are when Jim and Trent are in the dream warzone.  The actual Vietnam sets are impressive for low budget fare, but what's really awesome are the scenes in Jim's apartment.  They lay on the couch or bed, together and yell and shoot guns.  It's totally incredible.  I'm not sure if we're meant to believe that the bullets they are shooting are dream bullets, but if not, I think Jim's apartment has hundreds of bullet holes in it.  I'm also pretty sure they killed any neighbors who live upstairs.

Trent goes home to buy supplies.  "Where's the checkbook?  WHERE?  HOW MUCH?  THERE'S NO TIME!"  They buy guns from a sweet arms dealer and then return to find Trent's friend who is a doctor with a sweet beard (Dan Haggerty, who was also apparently in the war with them).  He thinks they're crazy and puts them at gun point to go to the hospital with him.

Lots of cool yelling and then Haggerty puts them under with sleep medication.  Ah, hell no.  But, wait, Trent is also at home with his wife, getting busy.  That can't also be Trent.  WHAT'S HAPPENING?!  It's not really clear, but I believe dream McGregor is posing as Trent in the real world.  Yeah, I don't know either.  Awkward sex / rape / murder scene to follow.  Haggerty feels pretty bad.  Jim and Trent get their gear together, put on camouflage makeup, fatigues and go to sleep.  The finale gunfights are pretty superb.

"Let's do it!"

The Evaluation:
This is the thing about Night Wars, it's amazing.  The action is legitimately entertaining, and the acting is hilarious.  As I mentioned before, the scenes in the apartment are brilliant.  Sometimes I think of them when I'm just sitting there and start laughing.  The ideas behind it are really fun and creative.  What really makes it stand out, though, is the sheer enjoyment I get out of watching it.  The film quality has a great grain to it, and the music is an awesome blend of Casio keyboard presets and wailing electric guitars.  I had a smile on my face pretty much the whole time I was watching it.  There really isn't a dead moment in it.

And, Trent throws a rock at some dude's head and then runs over real fast to stab him a bunch of times.

Wake up!

• Start this late at night when you're tired.  Put on fatigues, paint your face camouflauged and crawl into bed.
• Royal Crown cola.  Just seems right.  And, probably Tab.  
• I couldn't see what kind of beer Jim prefers, but I'm hoping it's something awesome like High Life.

The Goods:
Similar to the Mankillers VHS, this is bare bones, but perfect.  The cover is a totally sweet painting that I wish was on my basement wall.  On the back you get a picture of McGregor looking evil and Haggerty holding a pistol.
The tagline: "Where dreams turn to deadly nightmares... NIGHT WARS"

- J. Moret

Review: KILLER WORKOUT (aka AEROBICIDE)

Directed by David A. Prior
1987
85 mins.  Color.
Mom N Pop Video Shop edition.

Killer Workout is David Prior’s third film, and it’s hilarious. I am finding it incredibly difficult to not tell you this is the best movie ever made in the history of film, so I won’t even try. This is is the best movie in the history of film.

It’s his first film shot on 35mm, but the only way to watch it is on VHS, Youtube or buying it on DVD from “Mom N Pop Video Shop,” a little public domain operation that most likely transferred the movie from the VHS tape. They have a “David A. Prior Collection!”

With Killer Workout, Prior does away with plausibility, continuity, and characters. He goes right to the jugular: Girls doing aerobics in weird 80s leotards, the best fight scenes ever caught on film, a great synth-pop soundtrack, awkward nudity, and a serial killer with the worst weapon I’ve ever seen. But, that doesn’t mean it’s poorly made or fails to entertain. Prior was a young man learning the craft, and this gem captures the spontaneity of non-professionalism so perfectly.

The film opens with a young lady (we don't see her face) coming home to an answering machine message saying that she will be on the cover of Cosmopolitan, but that she needs to be tan because the agent said she would be. She ends up at Second Sun Tanning Salon to brown down. While inside the tanning bed, something goes horribly wrong and flames begin to shoot out. It’s pretty awesome. Years later Final Destination 3 would totally rip this off.

Rather than give you a full rundown of the film, here are three sequences in the middle that exemplify the reasons you should watch it.
Chuck (the amazing Ted Prior) is taking out garbage behind Rhonda’s Workout (where most of the movie takes place) and a Camaro aggressively stops right in front of him. Chuck angrily throws the garbage to the side and out steps Jimmy. This being their first time meeting, this is their exchange:

Chuck, “Hey, what’s your problem?”
Jimmy, “Problem? I don’t have a problem. New around here?”
Chuck, “First day. Who’s asking?"
Jimmy, “Someone who’s going to give you some real good advice. Stay away from Rhonda.”
Chuck, “Get out of here.”
Jimmy, “Stay away or I’ll take you apart, piece by piece.”

Then, Jimmy throws a punch, and they have a sweet fight. Jimmy attempts a spin kick (!) and Chuck shoves him against the wall. Meanwhile, busty babe Deb comes out in a pink leotard with a strange mesh covering and a MASSIVE golf visor. She watches for a moment and then asks Chuck if he’d like to go for a ride. He replies, “That’s the best offer I’ve had all day.”  - But, isn't he at work?

From there, they go to Deb’s house and sit in the front yard. Deb goes inside to change. Chuck picks up the phone (yep, they are outside on the front lawn and inexplicably there is a phone on a little table), he proceeds to dial:

Chuck, “Mr. Erickson, yep, I know all about that. I haven’t done that yet. Don’t worry about it. I gotta go.” Deb comes out in a robe.
Deb, “You aren’t leaving are you?”
Chuck, “I need to get back to Rhonda’s. I’ve got a lot to do.”
Deb, “You have a lot to do right here.”
Chuck, “Is that right?”
She then drops the robe to reveal she is now in a bikini and they make out. End scene.

Well, that's awkward.

Prior’s depiction of women here is absolutely appalling and hilarious. Every female shown in the film has the exact same body type (giant boobs, super small waist). The entire wardrobe for the women consists of workout leotards that show too much skin. In-between every wildly entertaining moment of dialogue (I am quite convinced there was no “script” per se, just a basic outline) there are close-ups of women doing aerobics, which are obviously very sexually suggestive. If twerking had been a thing then...

Somewhere in the back of his mind, I think Prior was attempting to make a point about how image obsessed the aerobics world is (this actually sort of comes through and isn’t just me trying to give him credit, but I won’t reveal how). However, what really comes across is that this dude loves watching hot ladies gyrate and thrust.

Most surprising thing about this movie:
Not very much nudity. Sure, you get a little, but by the amount of time that the camera is directly focused on women’s breasts, surprisingly sparse.

The Hype:
In order to convince your friends to watch it with you, tell them this: “Someone is murdered for vandalism.”

Needless Trivia:
- Prior hated working with the cinematographer because he didn’t respect his opinion. Apparently that cinematographer hadn’t seen Sledgehammer, or didn’t enjoy close up shots of spandex clad breasts.
- Chuck is also the name of Ted Prior’s character in Sledgehammer. Not sure if this means that this is a spin-off from that movie or perhaps an inside joke between Ted and David.

Set Yourself Up:
Gather two or three friends in a dark basement. There are some movies you should watch alone and some you shouldn’t. If you’re a weirdo (like us), you can probably have a good time with this one on your own, but it’s best with friends. Purchase some sweet alcoholic beverages. You’re probably best off with Coors, Schlitz or Pabst. If you’re going to make a night of it, go Karkov. Cocktail Weenies, BBQ sauce, taco flavored Doritos.

You can buy it on Amazon from the Mom N Pop Video Shop. It is a print on demand DVD with no special features whatsoever. All of their releases are based on getting films in the public domain. However, if you buy this DVD you are treated to a great german poster on the front, pretty sweet neon lines and four outstanding stills from the film.
You also get this fantastic description on the back of the DVD:
"Two Years ago, a young woman named Valerie was burned after entering a tanning salon. Now, her twin sister, Rhonda runs a local gym where all of a sudden, people are being murdered."


-J. Moret

Review: KILLZONE (1985)

Director: David A. Prior
89 Minutes
Spartan Films/Vestron Video
Not Rated

Proudly displayed in a video store window.

Killzone marks David A. Prior's first foray into action films. While Prior's first film, Sledgehammer is a horror film, Prior was very well aware that horror movies had a limited market internationally. From this point forward, most of Prior's work lies more heavily in the action genre.

Killzone is a lot like many mid-eighties action movies. It revolves around the only American defeat in large scale military combat: Vietnam. The trend began with  Ted Kotcheff's First Blood. First Blood attempted (and failed in many ways) to examine the psychological state of American soldiers returning from a war of attrition.

Killzone examines this idea with more of an in your face approach.

The film starts with Jason McKenna (Fritz Matthews) and Mitchell (Ted Prior) with their platoon captured by Vietcong and an American Vietcong sympathizer, Col. Crawford (David Campbell).  They are beaten, tortured, and threatened for the first 30 minutes of the movie.  (A very common sight in Prior's work around Vietnam.  Nearly every one of them has a torture scene)

McKenna starts losing his mind and having flashbacks and saying weird things. Mitchell has a brawl with Crawford and takes his knife. The rest of the platoon doesn't seem to like Mitchell or McKenna. In the middle of the night, the two buddies escape their poorly constructed pen and plan an ambush on the Vietcong and that dirty bastard Crawford. McKenna kills a patrol by strangulation. Crawford catches them. McKenna spin kicks (!) and stabs the shit out of all of them.

It's revealed at this point that this a very elaborate military exercise. This isn't Vietnam and the exercise has driven McKenna to flashback to 'Nam, where he apparently snapped a lot of necks and spin kicked (!) a lot of Vietcong.

At this point, the film becomes much more than I ever expected. It's hyperbolic sensibilities work almost too perfectly and form a film that is highly entertaining and blunt with it's possibly unintentional message.

The P.O.W. resistance training is called off. The camp is torn down and Mitchell tries to bargain with Crawford to let him capture McKenna alive. Crawford wants him dead. The manhunt begins and the body counts rises.  Mitchell sets out to find his friend.

McKenna sticks up some hikers and gets some sweet supplies to set booby traps.

Mitchell finds McKenna. He says, "Give it up Jas! You can't win!" The rest of the movie is essentially a shitstorm of Mitchell and McKenna taking dudes out. It's awesome.

Evaluation:
In the canon of David A. Prior's works, this is one of my favorites. Killzone is very similar to Deadly Prey in a lot of ways. Many of the same actors and a similar premise. Killzone feels less restrained (Although, Deadly Prey isn't exactly an exercise in restraint. . .) and has more of a serious undertone.

And I swear to God the music was stolen from the Rambo series.

Set Yourself Up:

- Take some hallucinogens and try to pretend you are in a P.O.W. Camp
- Make a corrugated metal box and lock yourself inside a little slit cut out so you can see your tv.
- Stash some sloppy joes and Vanilla (piss water) Coke in the box before getting in.

- M. McSlam

Podcast: SLEDGEHAMMER

This week, Matt and I discuss the immeasurable SLEDGEHAMMER.  David A. Prior's debut film is one of the most enjoyable films we had ever seen, and is one of the primary reasons that we started spending more time together and started All-Star Video.

You can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or you can listen here:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/allstarvideo/SLEDGEHAMMER_podcast.mp3

Thanks for listening!
-J. Moret

DAVID A. PRIOR MONTH

October is DAVID A. PRIOR month at All-Star Video

David A. Prior was born in New Jersey, grew up in Baltimore, started his career in California and now produces most of his films in Mobile, Alabama.  His newest film, Deadliest Prey comes out in November.  You can check it out at www.deadliestprey.com

He is a low budget straight to video guru.  And, does everything we appreciate in a filmmaker.  His first film, Sledgehammer, is a large part of what finally caused us to start this site.  It's one of the first SOV (Shot-On-Video) horror films ever made.  It was a production of friends just doing what they want to do.  It's brilliant.  It feels like an extremely ambitious home movie trash / art film.  It is, at times, completely hypnotic.  At other times, laughably confusing.  And, yet, it is completely charming and engrossing.  I screened it for some friends one night about a year ago.  As we came out of the theater, both of my friends Andy and Joel discussed how it was hard to tell if they had just watched an absolutely brilliant art film or a completely trashy disaster.  Exactly.

From there on, Prior worked continuously for the next twenty years.  He would help create a distribution company called Action International Pictures, release over thirty films and continue to be outside the studio system his entire career.

His second film, KILLZONE, is a bit more forgettable, but still wonderfully enjoyable.  It sets the tone for what would be Prior's international market... crazy action films.

His films vary wildly in theme and genre, as he worked at a break-neck pace.  Of his thirty-some films, twenty-four of them came between the years 1987 and 1995.  At that speed, he worked completely on instinct.  Never looking back or having the time to be insightful, his films emerge as subconscious nightmares or dreams brought to life.  Especially during what we term as his "golden age," (1983 - 1990), everything he worked on was produced from the hip.  Characters seem to repeat over and over, lives mingling with one another.  His brother Ted, extremely charismatic and constant collaborator, plays Chuck in Sledgehammer and then again in Killer Workout.  His character from Deadly Prey seems to be reminiscent of the main character in Night Wars.  The anger caused by Mickland in Mankillers seems residual from his time as the villain in Deadly Prey and so on.

Likewise, themes tend to repeat and change and mutate into other things.  There is a deep ambivalence that resides in Prior's position on these topics.  In 1987, he put out both Killer Workout and Mankillers.  Both films contain extremely strong female characters, and both have those same characters dressed scantily clad.  One film is about an image-obsessed society that puts women at the mercy of their appearance for their success while the other is about a male-dominated culture that literally sells women as slaves.  In the end, both films end with women taking over and getting their revenge, in one she is the villain and the other a hero.

At the same time, Deadly Prey is about an unstoppable American hero who was unable to beat the Vietnamese single-handedly in the war, but manages to stop an entire platoon of mercenaries.  Night Wars, on the other hand, is about the unseen wounds that veterans carried home with them.  Two veterans are plagued by nightmares about leaving behind a comrade, and relive those nightmares over and over until they start realizing they are actually being injured in their dreams.  They fight these nightmare villains and win the day changing the place of two veterans, but in the end, it's just a dream.

That deep ambivalence carries with it a complex political backdrop rooted deep in the 1980s.  The fight for the American soul, which continues today, is so visibly and honestly portrayed in these little exploitation films it causes you, in-between gasps of laughter and joy, to think a little bit about the situation in which they were created.

There are, of course, plenty of duds when doing as many films as Prior has.  However, he has more than his fair share of absolutely wonderful hits.  Sledgehammer has become notorious now, due to Cinefamily's midnight screening and Intervision's wonderful DVD release.  Likewise, Deadly Prey is renowned and loved for it's unabashed and shocking violent conclusion.  Mankillers has become a cult favorite in the "women in prison" and "female revenge" genres..  The list goes on.

And, so we come to October 2013.  This month we will be doing reviews, commentaries, interviews and podcasts about David Prior's career.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  For us, this is a dream we had from the beginning.

-J. Moret