Garras de Tigre

The 90s proved to be a pretty schweet decade for bodaciously Block Rockin' actioners and the ill tempered, razor sharp 'Tiger Claws' remains beloved by DTV Kung Fu cognoscenti and B-movie maniacs alike. This high octane example of backstreets butt-kicking is a winning martial arts hybrid of gritty serial killer shocker and full-tilt, Berretta-blasting, skin flaying, bone-crunchingly brutal martial arts mania! Double trouble, Cynthia Rothrock and Jalal Merhi certainly prove their mettle tracking down their elusive, outsized quarry, as any lesser ranked pugilists wouldn't have a snowball's chance against the mercilessly steel-fingered onslaught of killer Chong's (Bolo Yeung)vicious Kung Fu massacre!

Deep in the seamy midnight city of New York, there's a sinister new breed of maniac bloodily stalking the streets, a living, breathing nightmare, a peerless master of death, a singularly twisted, tiger-clawed executioner, hell bent on the bodily destruction of any martial artist this demented death dealer sets his cold, unwaveringly cruel eyes upon! This seemingly unstoppable campaign of inhuman spite and meat-shredding malevolence compels the Street tough cops, Linda Masterson (Rothrock) and Tarek Richards (Merhi) to resourcefully combine their majestic martial artistry in order to match the maniacal bellicosity of this bestial behemoth, Tiger Claw killer Chong! Kelly Makin's rip-roaring 'Tiger Claws' remains a bona fide VHS-era cult classic, a relentless, bloody-knuckled bonanza of killer Kung Fu Clawesomeness!

This movie, starring Cynthia Rothrock, Jalal Merhi, and especially Bolo Yeung, showcases everything that's wrong with martial arts movies.

I still don't know why, but since it's inception, this genre is plagued by production values, acting and direction, which put it only one peg above porn, if that.

Jalal Merhi especially talks like Serge the art dealer from Beverly Hills Cop. Cynthia Rothrock's abilities are accomplished, but her acting is limited. Bolo Yeung still doesn't seem to have mastered English, although I always enjoy his performances.

My review was written in October 1992 after watching the movie on MCA video cassette.

This formula martial arts actioner is a lesser effort featuring the reigning queen of the genre, Cynthia Rothrock. Video release will please diehard fans.

Pic poses a serial killer who preys on martial artists, leaving a telltale "tiger claws" mark of death. Early on the audience discovers Bolo Yeung's the renegade killer, who works at a martial arts studio.

Cops Rothrock and Jalal Merhi infiltrated the world of karate and kickboxing. Both have ample opportunities for action scenes, but it's all strictly formula.

Filming in Toronto and Vancouver subs unconvincingly for the New York setting, though the pic is technically well-made. Merhi, who also produced, is a cold fish of a hero while Rothrock is stuck in a sidekick role.

Predictable highlights include the massive, perennial genre villain Yeung whipping into action. He's left alive at the finale, setting up sequel potential.

When I sat down in 2022 to watch the 1991 action movie "Tiger Claws", I can't really claim that I was expecting a whole lot from writer J. Stephen Maunder. Yet, as I hadn't already seen "Tiger Claws", of course I opted to do so.

And just as I figured, then "Tiger Claws" was a very generic early 1990s action movie, with way too much showcasing of martial arts moves by solo performers, so a lot of the movie was actually just solo montages. The storyline was every bit as archetypical and generic as you would think a martial arts movie from the early 1990s to be, so no surprises there.

Now, I never have been a fan of Cynthia Rothrock, so she was not really a reason for why I sat down to watch "Tiger Claws". But I saw that the movie had Bolo Yeung on the cast list, and that was actually the main reason for why I watch this movie from director Kelly Makin.

There is a good amount of action and fighting throughout the course of this movie, so that was definitely something that kept the movie afloat, because the storyline itself wasn't really doing that.

Something I just can't comprehend were the amount of bullets shot from those police revolvers. It should be six shots, then reload, but no, not here, not in this movie. And also the fact that people would die from having their cheeks scratched was just beyond my level of comprehension.

"Tiger Claws" is a very mediocre early 1990s action movie, cheesy and campy enough for a single viewing. But you are not in for a grand movie experience.

My rating of the 1991 movie "Tiger Claws" lands on a very bland and less than mediocre four out of ten stars.

Rothrock was the best in this with her fights,acting and outfit alongside with Bolo Yeung , but she wasn't the lead, Merhi was. The problem with that was, Rothrock had all the experience and was better equipped to lead a movie and at the end of the movie it was more than OK if Rothrock had been finished Bolo in a combat fight.If Jean-Claude van Damme or even Richard Norton had been the lead male in this movie then this film had been a classic.Jalal Merhi was very awful in this unfortunately but the movie was enjoyable enough though but would have been a lot better. So i recommend you this film and if you are a Cynthia Rothrock fan you'll not be disappointed.