War Camp (1988)

War Camp (1988)- * * *

Directed by: Jett Espiritu

Starring: Rey Malonzo

In the jungles of Vietnam, a group of mercenaries is on a rescue mission to save some captive American prisoners. One of which, a guy named James Brook, may have secret plans to annihilate Hanoi with an atomic bomb. Led by Aviles (Malonzo), he leads his compatriots Jo Lin, Robert Jason, Fernando, and Singh Su through many, many machine gun fights and chases. Eventually they end up at the dreaded WAR CAMP, where prisoners are kept in cages and held captive by not one, but two evil baddies. Lem Jing is the evil guy with the oversized 80’s glasses, and Minh Dem is the evil guy who takes dramatic pauses in his speech, making him the Vietcong William Shatner. Will our heroes survive to shoot and stab another day?

The Vietnam War continues to rage in the Philippines in WAR CAMP, yet another addition to the waterfall of late 80’s jungle shoot-em-ups. If you like lots of machine-gun shooting amidst verdant, tree-filled locations, this is the movie for you. Lots of faceless guys in those conical rice-paddy hats get filled full of lead and fall into shallow pools of water. Strangely, there are no guard-tower falls on show, but there is a lengthy (and prerequisite) torture scene that apparently tries to outdo The Deer Hunter (1978) at its own game. Literally.

Here, arm wrestling takes an even more sinister turn than it did in Over The Top (1987), wherein the competitors’ wrists are each bound to a wire of some sort, and it’s attached to yet another machine gun, so when the loser goes down, it yanks the cord and he goes down permanently. It really takes all the joy out of the term wrist wrasslin'. A lot of time is spent in and around this device. Obviously, the filmmakers were really proud of it. On top of that, there are plenty of booby traps in the jungle, and we are informed one of them is called a “punji stick”. You learn something new every day.

The movie is clearly influenced by other “war camp” movies such as Missing In Action (1984), Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), and P.O.W. The Escape (1986). But director Jett Espiritu, as cool as his name is, did not have the resources those comparatively bigger movies had. So here we get the rough film stock, choppy editing, and funny dubbing those “third-world”-style movies all have, but it is somewhat charming. They used what they had to the best of their ability, and you can see that. Rey Malonzo from Search For Vengeance (1984) is on board, so that’s something.

There’s next-to-nil character development, but in place of that, lots and lots of people get shot with a machine gun, or, barring that, stabbed, tortured, or beaten up. But it’s all in fairly good fun and the synthy score helps. That and the fact that it’s 84 minutes. So, if you just can’t get enough jungle-shootin’ action, War Camp can stand alongside others in that illustrious canon.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Search for Vengeance (1984)

Search for Vengeance (1984)-* * *

Directed By: Rey Malonzo

Starring: Rey Malonzo












Vito (Malonzo) is the number-one cop on the beat. He wears a cool denim jacket and REO Speedwagon shirt (which would go for big bucks on Ebay if he sold it today) and is handy with a high-powered assault rifle. He's a tough guy but with loving heart for his wife and young son. Vito meets his match when he stumbles upon a crime ring smuggling illegal goods. He shoots and kills the son of the ringleader (the ringleader and main baddie's name is Bono) in self-defense. The gang doesn't take too kindly to this and they kill Vito's wife and later on they shoot his son in the arm. Vito gets suspended from the force, then goes off on his own "Search for Vengeance"!

In this Phillipines-lensed actioner, The dubbing alone is uproarious and fully entertaining in its own right. A night of entertainment could be had if you pop in "Search for Vengeance", crank up the sound, and close your eyes. But add to the amazing dub-job a competent action thriller, and you get a great time! Some highlights of the dubbing include: "Rot in Heck!" (we rewound this to make sure), "Dumbbell!", "I'll see you in court - or in hell - either way you lose!", and Vito's son, who appears to be ten years old or less, has a voice like a chain-smoking forty-year-old and gravelly proclaims "I don't like candy". Those are just a few choice examples. All the voices are great.

In an interesting subplot, Vito becomes a "Filipino Robin Hood", and local folk hero, when he steals from the syndicate and gives to the poor. When the syndicate lies to the townsfolk and tells them Vito has betrayed them, they do the most natural thing: they crucify him and throw stones at him. His son intervenes, showcasing his inner-forty-year-old, and gives a mature speech decrying what they are doing.

A movie highlight takes place at the "Ginza Super Club" when a brawl breaks out. A guy at the club has a jacket from "Zale University", and presumably illegally, the song "Beat It" plays, but just the main riff of the song over and over, with no vocals. They must have seen the music video. Can they do that?

The signs on the doors at the police station are crudely written, and it shows that this is a police drama from another culture. We see many people that are poor and destitute and living in huts. But Vito is a hot-shot cop and rises above all of this to beat up all the baddies with his cool karate moves.

Go back to a more innocent time, when you could get a ticking package and no one thought anything of it with this action classic tonight!

Comeuppance review by: Brett and Ty