Born Killer (1990)

Born Killer (1990)- * * *

Directed by: Kimberley Casey

Starring: Ty Hardin, Fritz Matthews, James Tucker, Durrell Nelson, and Ted Prior










Spencer (Prior) and Anderson (Tucker) are two convicts breaking rocks in the hot sun as part of a prison chain gang. When Nick (Matthews), his buddy Trapper (Nelson), and a gaggle of their female friends get carried away with their paintball shenanigans, they accidentally drive into where the chain gang is. Spencer and Anderson see this as their chance to escape, so they do. Soon enough, the two criminal masterminds steal Nick and Trapper’s clothes, leaving the paintball enthusiasts with only prison duds to wear. 

This really sets off Nick’s ‘Nam flashbacks and he gears up for revenge. Meanwhile, Sheriff Stone (Hardin) is hot on the trail of the baddies - only he and his fellow law enforcement officers think Nick and Trapper are the culprits. As Spencer becomes more and more psychotic, and it’s getting harder and harder to tell which are paintball guns and which are real ones - this sets the stage for the final confrontation. Who is the real BORN KILLER? Find out today...

Here we have AIP’s entry into the then-popular PGW, or “Paintball Gone Wrong” sweepstakes. Director Kimberley Casey, who has served in various capacities on many AIP films, turns in a classic low-budget AIP entry. It helps if you know and already are a fan of that particular AIP style, but try to imagine a cross between a Hell on the Battleground (1989) or Jungle Assault (1989) crossed with the David Heavener vehicle Kill Crazy (1990), with a large helping of Fear (1988). It even starts out with some classic, Soultaker (1990)-style early ‘90s partiers driving. There’s a ton of shooting, usually ending up in that “blood mist” type of shot. Even though the plot is minimal, there still seems to be a bit of filler.

This is also one of those cases where the actors look like other people. Ted Prior really looks like Christian Bale here, and Matthews looks a lot like Roddy Piper, but the winner in the lookalike stakes is clearly Ty Hardin as Sheriff Stone, a dead ringer for Ted Turner. Are we really sure this isn’t Ted Turner under an assumed name? It’s amazing this movie never played on TNT. Or maybe CNN. Okay, maybe it’s not, but at any moment you think the proceedings will stop so he can get married to Jane Fonda and eat a “beefalo” sandwich. 

Even the songs resemble others - as much as we love Steve McClintock’s music, he is very adept at soundalikes, and here he turns in a very Bryan Adams-esque number with “Keep this Motor Runnin’”. Of course, there’s a montage to the music, whether it makes sense to do so or not.

It’s also nice to see Ted Prior as a baddie, and he takes full advantage of the opportunity with a twitchy, eye-rolling performance. And because the characters are playing “paint games”, as they’re called here, presumably that justifies the fact that for the last third of the movie, everyone is shirtless and covered in red paint.

Once you get into the AIP spirit, you’ll see that Born Killer is just entertaining enough for that sort of style.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Hell On The Battleground (1989)

Hell On The Battleground (1989)-* * *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Fritz Matthews, Ted Prior, William Smith, Johnnie Johnson III, Sean Holton, and Chet Hood





“This is war. There’s no time for love.” - Casey

Sgt. Bill Lance (Prior) and Sgt. Jack Casey (Matthews) are battle-hardened warriors who play by their own rules. While in the depths of the jungle fighting the Russians (is this Vietnam?), their superior officer, Col. Meredith (Smith) punishes them for their rogue ways by having them take some new recruits along with them on their patrols. Now outnumbered by the enemy and surrounded on all sides, Lance and Casey will have to use all their warlike ways to prevail. Will they do it?

Anyone who knows David Prior and the AIP style of filmmaking will appreciate this movie. It’s no Deadly Prey (1987), but what possibly could be? While Deadly Prey was Ted Prior’s movie, Hell On The Battleground is all about Fritz Matthews. Here Fritz gets his moment in the sun and he’s truly never been better. He’s a mulleted mega-meathead who literally spits his terse dialogue and it’s a lot of fun to watch. He even plays his own theme song on acoustic guitar, “Casey’s Bad Boys”. Truly mustaches and mullets are the order of the day here, as surely they were in Vietnam. Ironically, the great William Smith is ‘stache-less here, but he’s as gruff as ever.

Speaking of Smith, once we’re firmly into the movie, Smith - who sounds like a 45 of George C. Scott played on 33 1/3, breaks into a solemnly-spoken poem about Casey and Lance. Apropos of nothing, Smith intones this ballad of the two mighty heroes. Truly in a movie that is highly repetitive and contains shooting, shooting, maybe some grenade launchers and an exploding helicopter, some more shooting followed by maybe a little more shooting, this moment of poetry from an unlikely place stood out. Are Casey and Lance aware that Col. Meredith is writing poetry about them? And how would they feel about that? Those are the unanswered questions that are the food for thought here.

Apparently, since this was the 80’s, our heroes are fighting the Russians, and there’s even a guy that looks exactly like a Red Scorpion (1988)-era Dolph Lundgren. He even has the blonde brush-cut hairdo. The Prior brothers continued fighting the Russians in The Final Sanction (1990), and there they were represented by Robert Z’Dar. So who comes out on top? 

You’ll have to see for yourself. Also, we’re not sure if this was common practice or not, but Lance and Casey’s wives ( Alyson Davis and Ingrid Vold) are along with them, encamped on the battlefield. Both Davis and Vold were in the same year’s David Heavener vehicle Deadly Reactor (1989) together. Do they only come as a pair? But it just proves even further that 1989 was probably the top year for video stores in the U.S. Product was coming fast and furious, and only now are we beginning to sort it all out.

There’s the cross for good luck, and AIP staple Sean Holton is also on board, and this movie does probably top Jungle Assault (1989) and Operation Warzone (1988) for AIP war material, but the problem is there’s no one strong, central villain. There’s no baddie to boo and hiss at. It’s just the nebulous concept of “Russians”. 

But that aside, there are enough decent/funny/worthwhile moments to keep this one afloat, and it has a short running time, so it’s not a burden to watch like some of its more bloated competition. Yes, it’s very dumb, but it’s fun dumb. And it was all done on a tiny budget and released to video stores for the viewing public. It might not be to EVERYONE’s taste, but you have to respect their work ethic and the fact that they got it done.

Featuring yet another quality end-credits song by Steve McClintock, “I Believe In The Battle”, Hell On The Battleground, powered by the Prior-Fritz-Smith triumvirate, comes out as towards the top of the AIP war movie canon.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Killzone (1985)

Killzone (1985)-* * *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Fritz Matthews, Ted Prior, David Campbell, Simon Rhee, and William Zipp




 “Cut the chatter and listen hard”

Welcome to “Scare Camp”, a military training area designed in every detail to resemble the horrors of Vietnam-era POW camps. It even includes torture. All this to prepare the minds and bodies of soldiers for potential capture. The camp is run by Col. Crawford (Campbell), but Crawford gets a bit over-zealous, and one of the soldiers, McKenna (Matthews), finally snaps and totally flips out. He now thinks he’s actually back in ‘Nam and begins killing everyone in sight. Now Campbell has a big mess on his hands and he feels the best way to deal with it is to have McKenna eliminated. But one of McKenna’s buddies, Sgt. Mitchell (Prior) believes in him, and wants to bring him back to reality safely and not kill him. So now it’s a race against time between the two buddies and the people that want to destroy them. THIS military training exercise just got real.

This effort was only the second movie from the Prior brothers, and the first in a long line of jungle war tales. While resembling the same year’s Missing In Action II: The Beginning (1985), it couldn’t possibly be a knockoff, though Killzone has a much lower-budget feel to it because it didn’t have Cannon money financing it. Even AIP had technically yet to be born. But besides the Priors, it has other mainstays of their movies such as Fritz Matthews (who would really come into his own with Hell On The Battleground, 1989), William Zipp, and David Campbell. Even Simon Rhee is credited as being one of “Crawford’s Men”.

Combine the aforementioned MIA II with later Prior movie Deadly Prey (1987), and you have some idea of what’s going on here. Killzone is most definitely a dry run for the wonderful Deadly Prey, seeing as it has a similar cast, a similar plot, and some of the same silly violence. But DP is probably the pinnacle of the AIP/Prior canon, so it’s hard to compare anything to it, really. The first half-hour of Killzone is the Prerequisite Torture we’ve seen many times before, but here they get it all out of the way right off the bat. It makes sense, because we need to see what would make McKenna go nuts. Thanks to the way it was shot, Killzone has a more professional look than some of the later AIP output. And considering they were just starting out, this is a really great effort. Looking back today, you can see the direction they would later take, and that’s quite interesting.

Just check out that great cover art for the VHS release. How could you not want to rent that? And the icing on the cake is that it was released on one of our favorite labels, Vestron. To date it has not been released on DVD so if you see it anywhere, definitely pick it up. AIP fans or fans of low-budget action/war cinema also take note.

Killzone pointed the way forward for AIP so even as simply a historical lesson, it’s worth seeing. But put Ted Prior and Fritz Matthews in the woods with some machine guns, and there’s your movie right there.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Deadly Prey (1987)

Deadly Prey (1987)-* * * *

Directed by: David A. Prior 

Starring: Cameron Mitchell, Ted Prior, Troy Donahue, Fritz Matthews, Dawn Abraham, and William Zipp





A big thank you to Sutekh from Explosive Action for providing us a copy!

Night Of The Kickfighters (1988). Clash of the Ninjas (1986). American Kickboxer 2 (1993). Deadly Prey. The upper echelon of action movie insanity. If you’ve seen any or all of these movies, there’s no going back. You’re a changed person.

Mike Danton (Prior) is just an average guy, we think at first. He just wants to get five more minutes of sleep in his waterbed and take out the trash in the morning. Without warning, he is kidnapped by a team of mercenaries and driven 75 miles southeast of Los Angeles into the forest, where said Mercs hunt live prey as training exercises. The nefarious Col. Hogan (Campbell) just wants to drink his New York Seltzer and run the operation from behind his desk, but his corporate benefactor, Michaelson (Donahue) is breathing down his neck for results. So with the help of his right hand man, Lt. Thornton (Matthews) and right-hand woman Sybil (Abraham) he focuses all his energy on his former protege Danton, who is killing off his entire squad.

Released into the wild like an animal, with only his wits, his mullet and his undersized white shorts, Danton makes mincemeat of his fellow meatheads. But help is on the way in the form of his concerned wife Jaimy (Tara) and her Father (Mitchell). Jaimy’s Dad is a retired cop with somewhere between 27 and 30 years on the force. He infiltrates Hogan’s training camp to find out what’s going on with Danton. Additionally, his old ‘Nam buddy Jack Cooper (Zipp), a former worker for Hogan, switches sides to the good guys to help out Danton. Will Danton - or you - ever be the same?

Far from your average AIP jungle slog, this is far, far funnier. And better. There are at least three solid laughs in the first two minutes of the movie alone . The tone is then set for what has to be the best AIP movie. Why can’t they all be like this gem? Almost every line of dialogue (which is mostly in soundbite form) or even the faces the characters make are a “laff” riot. How did they not know it was this funny while they were filming it?

Far from just a “homage” to First Blood (1982) and The Most Dangerous Game (1932), Deadly Prey is an entirely different beast. We’re just sort of thrown in to the plot, seemingly as random as Danton is thrown into the forest. It is a pretty big coincidence that a guy the mercenaries chose at random just happens to be Hogan’s former student and “the best”. But it’s a joy to watch Danton turn the tables on the baddies, and, looking a lot like a caveman and basically in the nude, display his survivalist abilities. At least they must have saved on their wardrobe budget, as, even when he eventually gets the chance to, Danton still steadfastly refuses to wear a shirt.

Deadly Prey would make an interesting double feature with Masterblaster (1987). It also features one of Steve McClintock’s best scores, and his sensitive end-credits tune “Never Say Die” musically is antithetical to the violence that we just saw, but that’s all part of the illogical fun. We tried to avoid describing specific scenes because you must see them for yourself.

Silly, ridiculous, hilarious, and full of laughs and action, for an entertaining night of wildly fun viewing, it’s basically impossible to top the modern-day classic Deadly Prey. See it!

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Operation Warzone (1988)

Operation Warzone (1988)-* *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Joe Spinell, Fritz Matthews, William Zipp, Sean Holton, and Chet Hood



"They Told 'Em War Was Hell...They Were Right!"

Get ready for yet another romp in the jungle courtesy of  David Prior and AIP. In this particular Vietnam war scenario, Sgt. Holt (Matthews), Cpl. Butler (Zipp) and Cpl. Adams (Holton), among other soldiers, are bravely fighting in the impossible conditions of the ‘Nam jungles. During a firefight, they rescue two Tunnel Rats, Jenson (King) and Hawkins (Cianetti). It comes to light that there is a mysterious, unseen man, dubbed “The General” that has classified documents that could supposedly end the war. Much of the madness can be traced back to Washington and the corrupt George Delevane (Spinell). In a Firehawk-like situation, the soldiers don’t know who to trust, and there could be a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. Will Holt and the boys make it home alive? Or will the behind-the-scenes dealings get the better of everyone?

Mindless shooting. Exploding huts. Endless machine gun firefights. Uninteresting explosions. Brain-numbing stupidity. Inexcusable boredom. Zero character development. Unexplained Australians. Goofy chases. Prerequisite torture sequence. An unnecessary fistfight scene that is so absurdly extended it makes the “put on the glasses” scene from They Live (1988) look like a blip. These are some basic snapshots that should give you some idea of the “we have to sit through it” vibe of Operation Warzone.

Matthews, Zipp and Holton are all AIP regulars, doing many things both in front of and behind the camera. It seems, contractually, Zipp cannot be in a movie that doesn’t take place in a jungle. So he must have been right at home. Holton looks completely different that he did in White Fury (1990). In ‘Fury he’s a snot-nosed little punk, and here he has an adult mustache and appears at least ten years older - but ‘Warzone  came out two years BEFORE White Fury! How quickly they grow up...or something like that. The legendary and excellent actor Joe Spinell is on hand, and his presence is much appreciated, but it’s what we call a “sit-down” role. In other words, in many instances, from Mickey Rooney in Maximum Force (1992), to Henry Silva in The Violent Breed (1984), to Spinell here (just to name a few), the movie production will hire a name actor to do some scenes over the course of a day or two, give or take. But all the actor’s scenes are sitting down. They never leave their chair. It just kind of exposes the penury of a given production. Here Spinell gives his sit-down role, which is better than many of the other actors’ more action based scenes, but the bottom line is the movie definitely could have used much more Spinell.

Another thing worth mentioning is the highly inappropriate music. Although the movie is set in 1960’s Vietnam, a happy, upbeat, jaunty 80’s synthpop song that sounds exactly like Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” blasts onto the soundtrack. I know it seems incredible, but it’s true. What were they thinking? That being said, Steve McClintock’s closing credits dirge “Shadow Of A Doubt” is catchy and one of the best things about Operation Warzone. You gotta hand it to AIP. Almost all their movies have at least one catchy, memorable, original song. It’s really a fairly dependable thing. No matter how “bad” the movie is, at least there will be a song. When is someone going to release a CD, “AIP’s greatest hits”? It would be amazing!

Dumb on top of dumb on top of dumb, Operation Warzone is a misfire.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett