User reviews

As a citizen of the great city of Kokomo, Indiana, I found this film{?} to be more enjoyable as a travelogue of Kokomo in the 80's than as one of Chuck Connors better efforts. It is truly abysmal, but as the previous reviewer stated, in a good way. One of my favorite moments--check out Chuck Connor's reaction when he runs over a pedestrian downtown! Incidentally, Chuck's first scene was filmed at my cousin's drive in--The Cone Palace--but don't hold that against them: their burgers are the best in Kokomo, while this movie, is, well, something else...View this film with plenty of beer, and the knowledge that Citizen Kane it ain't! Too bad Mystery Science Theater 3000 is out of production--this would have been a prime candidate for their show. Enjoy, (but with plenty of beer)!

I remember catching this on some nondescript cable channel not long after it was made. Wasn't really looking for this movie, or anything in particular, and this caught me and my friends by surprise with its low budget ridiculousness and awesome badness. (You can tell it's low budget because they destroy the same 1971 Pontiac Le Mans about three times: once by crashing it, once by shooting it, then crashing it, and once by firing a rocket at it and blowing it up.)

First of all, the premise at its core is ridiculous. To wit, bad guy terrorists attack Indiana by sneaking over the Canadian border. Say what? And they pass by juicier targets to attack East Dirt, Indiana?

The endless chase scene is in fact a sight to behold. I do remember, some 20 years later, the scene after the chase is over, where the stone-faced Chuck Connors gets out of his police car, surveying the landscape of destruction that has just been wrought, and muttering with all the gravitas he can possibly muster, "Dear Jesus."

It seems like everybody and his uncle thought they could make an action movie in the Eighties, and this movie is the proof. Just get a few generic Arab terrorists (what country are they from? Who cares! They're dirty, and evil and unshaven! That's all the matters!), some blank ammunition, several tons of explosives, and a number of old sedans painted to look like police cars that can be wrecked/crashed/raced/chased/blown up. I guess they couldn't throw the police cars down the side of mountain while exploding, in a classic movie gambit, because they were in Indiana where the topography was completely flat.

The fact that they throw the classroom full of stereotyped high school students into the mix, in an effort to mix The Breakfast Club and Red Dawn together with the usual action movie shenanigans and explosions that makes this film oh so sublimely, transcendently BAD! Plus the fact they disappear for like HALF AN HOUR of the movie for the longest chase scene this side of the original Gone in Sixty Seconds, where we are treated to the destruction of the economically depressed downtown of Kokomo, Indiana (but my question is, how can you tell? It's like the old joke: terrorists attacked downtown Kokomo, Indiana today, causing 10 million dollars of improvements).

This may not be The Best Worst Movie, but it's getting close. The makers of Troll 2, acclaimed as probably the most sublime Badfilm of the 1990's, at least had an excuse: they couldn't speak English! What's the problem with the people who made this movie? They weren't aware that Indiana is not on the Canadian border? They had no problem with showing the good guy cop running over the corpse of a dead old man? They had to alternate comic relief with gratuitous violence (town drunk stumbling along downtown street avoids getting shot, then guy in phone booth gets his brains splattered all over the glass a second later).

Yes, this is prime Badfilm. Recommended to all Mystery Science Theater 3000 devotees. I've gotta get a VHS of this sucker! Or, check on the internet, you might just find a copy of it on there somewhere.

I lived in Kokomo when this was filmed. Yes the Temporary short bus was a classic. But let's not forget the others: The ever-full LAWS rocket, launching from inside the car(no damage to the inside of the junker).

and, during the wild shooting spree on courthouse square, the bullets bouncing off the comic book store sign's Superman Picture!!!

But, for such a LOW budget, the carnage of the courthouse shootings was very realistic(real world-not Hollyworld). Also, during the LONG car chase, the streets reported over the police radio during the chase match the locations on the screen.

This production ran out of money for FX for the last few explosions, so they recruited help from a local gun store to blow things up.

Four Arab terrorists, probably Libyans, sneak into the US through the Canadian border. They badly botch an attempt to blow up a nuclear power plant in Indiana. The four that survive are badly pursued by the police, who mostly crash their cars. The terrorists shoot up a town's main street and run down an old man with their car. The pursuing police chief then runs over the old man (a bad dummy).

Meanwhile, a bunch of actors apparently in their twenties are portraying high school students. One of them plays guitar with the janitor, except that on the soundtrack is bad synthesizer music, the same kind of bad synthesizer music that is on the soundtrack. Later, a bunch of the students are in detention. The guitarist plays some more synthesizer music in detention, even though he doesn't have an amp. A jock makes farting sounds with his armpit, except that it sounds more like a synthesizer playing fart sounds.

The now two surviving terrorists, apparently having evaded the police, burst into the detention room. Thus the stereotypical Arabs meet the stereotypical high school students. The police and SWAT surround the school, and miss dozens of opportunities to get into the school and/or shoot the terrorists. The students and their teacher frequently do things to make the terrorists nervous and angry (and one of them is quick to anger anyway), which only results in getting themselves injured or killed.

As others have noted, when the terrorists leave the school in a bus, they are very clearly in a full-length bus. At some point while the police are following them to the airport, it clearly turns into a short half-length bus. I'm at a loss to explain how the filmmakers thought they could get away with that, especially since there are lengthy shots of the bus both when it is long and when it is short.

I recently watched Terror Squad (1987) on Tubi. The storyline follows terrorists seeking revenge against the US, going on a killing spree, and then hiding out in a school. Local authorities strive to bring down the terrorists and save the children.

Directed by Peter Maris (Land of Doom), the film stars Chuck Connors (Tourist Trap), Kavi Raz (Pet Sematary), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), and Marco Kyris (Con Air).

This is a movie with a horrible concept and poor execution. The fear of terrorists was the premise, but the terrorists' points, method of communicating their stance, and overall objective were painful. Both the acting and writing for the villains were poor. While there were a few good shootouts and corpses, even those felt cheaply executed. This has a strong '80s feel in terms of characters, dialogue, and circumstances, with a few '70s-style car chase scenes sprinkled in. The finale was laughably bad, both the background music and overall conclusion were dreadful.

Overall, there's absolutely nothing to see here. I would score this a 2/10 and recommend skipping it.

An odd concept for a movie: in Kokomo, Indiana, a group of Libyan terrorists raise hell in the town. What follows is a lengthy car chase (clocking in at almost 30 minutes) involving the entire sheriff's department (led by Chuck Connors of all people). A slew of police cars are demolished, splashed, blown up, etc. Unfortunately, the movie then transitions to a low-rent version of The Breakfast Club (which sets up the rest of the plot) where we follow a group of misfit students who are under the watchful eye of a hateful teacher and they must band together when the terrorists hold them hostage. To be honest, the oddball plot doesn't really work and even with the great Ken Foree in a supporting role as Connors' loyal deputy, the movie still can't get up off the ground.

If you're making a low-budget film, and care about what you're doing, it shows. Peter Maris' low-budget shoot-em-up, on the other hand, shows just how bad the mixture of lack of money and total lack of interest in the quality of the finished product can be. If you enjoy watching movies for the sake of nit-picking, you can entertain yourself pretty well...there are enough goofy geographical errors alone to keep you busy. Never mind the just-plain-silly bits like the infamous shrinking school bus and the disappearing/reappearing windshield. If you can watch it through more than once, there might be some MST3K potential, but that's the only reason I can give you for watching this movie. Definitely a 1 on a 1-to-10-scale.

This is a tremendously bad thriller from the late 80s, and the dating shows. The bad guys are cartoon caricatures of Libyans. They cross the US-Canadian border into Indiana (think about it) and immediately fail to blow up a nuclear reactor in Kokomo. What follows is the longest sustained car chase I know of (35 minutes), with old cars, abandoned factories, and other unwanted props getting blown to hell with rocket launchers. Finally, they take over a high school during detention hours (described by one terrorist as a "steenky place!"). It's "Breakfast Club" meets "Die Hard" then, as jocks and nerds band together to defeat the baddies. Meanwhile, the police and SWAT teams led by Chuck Conners surround the school and proceed to do nothing, even when the terrorists' numbers are reduced to two and clear headshots present themselves repeatedly. Finally, it's a mad dash for freedom as the terrorists and their pretty-girl hostage board a Ford Bluebird school bus and head for the airport. But is it a big Bluebird after all? The final set of exciting stunts wouldn't work with a full-size bus, so it miraculously (and VERY clearly) transforms into a Hoekstra minibus halfway through the chase.

I've said enough -- this is an overlooked classic.

'Terror Squad' is a poor dtv take on 'Red Dawn' and if you're not here for unintentional laughs, cheese get ready for a world of hurt. An 80's mix of cliche high school kids, terrorism and the worst police response ever seen. Forget about the IMDb plot outline too. It's incorrect and makes the movie sound better than it actual is. Not only is this really bad, a bore at times but it's story is shot in hokey fashion lacking skill.

Libyan terrorists on a mission of death & destruction covertly cross over the US / Canada border by water ... and arrive in Indiana (!?). When their first priority to take out the nuclear power plant fails, a high speed chase takes place between them and the police lead by Chief Rawlings (Chuck Connors). Innocent people being killed as they swept thru town before taking refuge, hostages at the local high school where a misfit gang of teens are spending detention. Can this 'Breakfast Club' take down their captors and save the day?

See this for the inept chief of police. The SWAT team that never gets put to use. The extended middle that is one long chase that goes on forever. Some pieces of old property blown up are the only legit cool moments. Then it's back to cheeseville and way too many moments where people mouth off to bad men armed with guns. Lastly see this movie for Gus the janitor and the full sized school bus used at the end that magically turns into a short bus. 'Terror Squad' is a bad movie, but there's laughs if you're willing to suffer thru it.

For a low-budget regional production, they certainly managed to do a lot, particularly the endless action scene in the middle of the movie where an unbelievable amount of carnage is enacted. (Though the sluggish pacing at times makes the scene come across as too long, unfortunately.) The premise - terrorists in Indiana - is a hoot, and it helps to partially counteract the slow pacing, thin characters, and questionable writing at times. And there's a big laugh from how the school bus at the end of the movie keeps changing sizes! Not a great movie, but you can't help but admire what the filmmakers accomplished for so little. May very well have inspired the Dolph Lundgren movie DETENTION.

(1987) Terror Squad ACTION THRILLER

Produced and directed by Peter Maris opens with the Libyan army vowing vengeance I am assuming from their homeland, before the movie cuts toward a small group of students from "Hoosier High School" from Indiana. The next thing we know, four Libyan terrorists Moammar, Hassan and Gamal with Yassir as their leader, by boat landed on American soil attempting to sabotage a nuclear plant despite law enforcement being one step ahead of them. The next thing we know there's a long chase scene ensures after their plan to sabotage their nuclear facility did not go in accordingly, with several incompetent police cars either crash or blown up by the invaders. With Chief Rawlings (Chuck Conners) leading leading the way, in which they manage to kill one of them by bazooka (the only time throughout the entire movie they even used one as opposed to the other times). Throughout the entire time, the three terrorists appear to have an unending amount of supply of ammo, and seem to use their bazooka during the times it most counted, like they know the area more than the citizens do. Meanwhile, six students are put into detention including, the cheerleader, Mary Lynn (Jill Sanders); the jock, Doug (Nathan Dyer); the nerd, Dingle; Dubois; the star of the movie, aspired guitarist, Johnny Dylan (Bill Calvert) and his love interest Jennifer (Kerry Brennan).

When viewers do like this movie, it is as a result of nostalgia and nothing else, which one of the problems with using that to like something is usually the result of liking something if you've seen it when you are like 5 or 10 years old and then at the same time, not liking another movie of today that does the same thing. Anyways, I am not one of those people despite having a soft spot for Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood and Audie Murphy films because my dad was a fan of them.

Some of the dumbest and inconsistencies about this film is quite obvious, how did the two lone terrorists know exactly what room to go to throughout the entire school- that was kind of dumb! Besides the terrorists appear to know where they are escaping despite police live around the area. And then it is like, the school bus the terrorists demanded and end up getting went from being a long one to becoming a very small school bus as soon as, the train was about to collide into it- something perhaps Ed Wood would have done had he still be alive. The viewers standards who like this film must have very low standards whenever it comes to 1980 films. And that is sometimes can be misleading.

Wonderful, amazing schlock with a surprising gritty feel and some amazing stunts and effects. Surprisingly, nearly every security officer and cop in this movie isn't portrayed as a dolt, and there's a 30 minute stretch from minutes 15 through 46 that has one of the best, most exciting car chases ever - it has everything except a boat chase. The story is unimportant but, aside from the nerd's choice towards the end, and the finale action sequence, everybody's character arcs feel like they make sense and fit within the framework presented.

If you want cheese, schlock, silliness, action, shooting, and just plain ol' 1980s B-movie fun, you need to watch Terror Squad.

What can I say except that I am from Kokomo, Indiana, where this movie was filmed and I am a fan of the movie. I am only a fan because I was a T-Com student at Purdue and i like the movie for the way it exhibits all that is wrong with movie making.

First things first, don't watch this movie unless you are a film/T-Com student in search of what not to do when filming a movie. If you can suspend your disbelief then you well likely enjoy this movie. I know there are a lot of things wrong with this film but if you view it as a student film then you are cool. You just have to realize it is an attempt to show cool explosions on screen and get some recognition for a bunch of backwards rednecks in Kokomo, Indiana. ironically it is the Kokomo Police Department that does the best acting job as a SWAT team in the SWAT preparation sequence. I happen to know a couple fo the cops from the local police force that are in that scene and they too it as just a day at the office in filming it. it is the most realistic scene in the movie.

I guess the #1 obvious reason I like this movie is because I am from the town it was filmed it. it makes it an interesting study in continuity because if you are from Kokomo you know the obvious did not edit the shots together with where they are. None of the roads they edit the shots with follow each other as they jump all over town in each shot of the chase scene. I also find it amusing that they don't even bother to worry about continuity with the obvious end chase long bus/short bus scene.

In conclusion, this is a good movie if you want to just get drunk and laugh at a serious attempt to make a movie. One final note, in the "extremes of movie making" category, the main actor, Bill Calvert appears in the first Spiderman movie as a fireman. check his IMCD profile. Talk about going from one end of the spectrum to another.

I bought this movie because I wanted to see Ken Foree in another movie other than "Dawn of the Dead". What I discovered was pure hilarity! There are so many flaws in this film that it's impossible to recall them all. The movie opens in what's supposed to be Libya with a small, concentrated crowd of 20 arab stereotypes gathered in front of a podium holding up signs that read "DEATH TO THE GREAT SATAN" and "DOWN WITH AMERICA" as if that's what Libyans do all day is walk around with signs like that. You get the gist that they're sending over some terrorists to mess up the USA because that's what Libyans do according to this film. Then we're greeted to the teenage stereotypes that were a child's rendering of the "Breakfast Club" crowd in anytown,USA. The jock walks the halls in a letterman jacket holding a football, the geek is obsessed with sex and walks around with electronic implements, the cheerleadrer is aloof and too-good, but best of all is the rebel that hangs out with Sam, the old black janitor in the boiler room where they jam on their electric guitars (the rebel walks the hall with his guitar, of course). Then the terrorists begin their killing spree, packing themselves into a car and cruising around shooting people. They attack a nuclear power plant and liberally use a rocket launcher in doing so, blasting the chain off the lock of the gate and then blasting the gaurd tower without having to reload it. The gaurds at the plant are spraying the car with bullets at close range but somehow seem to miss. And it gets more fake as the plot goes on. I wont go into it. The part my roommate and I had to keep rewinding over and over was when ol' Sam the janitor haplessly wanders into the detention hall playing his harmonica and is immediatly shot by the spooked terrorists. It was just so silly. The whole movie was silly. And well worth watching if you're in for a good laugh. And don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for the magic bus scene!!!

My review was written in April 1988 after waching the film on Forum video cassette.

"Terror Squad" is an exciting B-actioner, despie its absurd premise of Libyan terrorists invading Kokomo, Indiana. Unluckily, pic failed to get a theatrical tryout, going directly to home video shelves.

Chuck Connors, back in his trademark Brooklyn Dodgers jacket, is tghe loal police chief when a commando squad from Khaddafy-land attacks a nuclear power plant. There ensues a spectacular car chase, the lengthiest and one of the best since the classic Barry Newman fpi "Vanishing Point" of 1971. Terrorists, led by Kavi Raz and hothead Joseph Nasser, kidnap a high school class and hold them hostage while Connors comically uses "Dog Day Afternoon" expicitly as his guidebook to negotiations.

Topnotch action directed by Peter Maris lifts this one out of the lookalike boredom of made-for-vid titlesl, and indicates he is ready for a theatrical assignment. Young cast, essaying stet roles in a "Breakfast Club" detention setting, is okay and tech credits are impressive.