Blood Debts

Ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you... Mr. Teddy Page! The name doesn't exactly sound like he's a cinematic genius, and you probably won't ever find the films he made on any best-of lists. Still, Teddy Page hasn't disappointed me yet, and the same cannot be said about his more famous compatriots from the Philippines, like Cirio H. Santiago and Eddie Romero.

Teddy non-stop made and released cheap and straightforward action/exploitation flicks during the 80s and early 90s. Obviously none of them reach a half-decent quality level in terms of plotting or continuity, and the acting performances and stunt work are often downright laughable. But our good friend Teddy did one thing extremely well, namely never wasting time on boring introductions or the overlong building up of tension. "Blood Debts", for instance, is basically a blatant imitation of the Charles Bronson classic "Death Wish", only ... faster! Within the first three minutes of the film, a bunch of idiotically laughing rednecks rape and murder the daughter (and her fiancé) of proud mustache-wearing Vietnam veteran Mark Collins. Barely another ten minutes later, Mark already finished avenging his daughter and single-handedly massacred the five culprits responsible. I'm not even sure if he really wanted revenge, or just needed an excuse to shoot up random thugs!

In case you wonder what else can happen throughout the remaining 70 minutes, don't worry! Mark joyously continues to play the angry vigilante and even shoots hoodlums in the head for stealing a miserable $200. The script loses its last little bit of sense when Mark's wife gets kidnapped, and he gets forced to work as a contract killer. Mark enjoys firing bullets into criminals so much that he doesn't realize he's doing the dirty work for a rivaling drug cartel, and he certainly doesn't seem in a hurry to rescue his wife. The police are also doing their part by sipping coffee around a desk and secretly rooting for the anonymous avenger. The climax is fabulous and legendary (within very secluded cult-cinema circles, at least), and involves homemade bazookas, flare guns and the most abrupt freeze-frame ending in history.

In case you and your friends like absurdly over-the-top exploitation from the Philippines, complete with atrocious acting from a washed-up American star (Richard Harrison) and dialogues so preposterous they make your head spin, this is your Saturday night main feature! Completely free of charge, we'll also throw in gratuitous nudity, cheesy romantic montages, musical scores shamelessly stolen from other films, and a goofball golfing incident. Final tip, make it a double-feature with Teddy Page's equally bonkers "Movie in Action"!

We need to know the answer. He had been fighting for vengeance for a long time only to be arrested.

A slice of b-movie heaven with ridiculous cheese, 'Blood Debts' is a gem of Philippine cinema. Funny bits come quick & often in an 80's number that looks, feels dated because of it's origins. Wacky sound effects, real ridiculous dialog fueled by crazy dubbing done after the fact. Plus a bare bones story that is equal parts 'Death Wish' & 'The Punisher' on the low end. This is not a good movie, but heck if I didn't have a killer time.

"He's a natural killing machine, Bill!"

A young couple in the park are preyed upon by a gang of "hunters" and shot dead. The father of the girl Mark (Richard Harrison) arrives too late and is shot too, but survives. He tracks down each man relatively easily and takes them out, but doesn't stop there. Kills more random criminals which draws the eye of Bill (Mike Monty) and his right hand man Peter (Jame Gaines) who try to control him. They get Mark to take out their criminal competition and he soon figures it out. Meaning there'll be one last ... Blood Debt ... to settle.

"We've taken over the territory. Recruit more pimps. More pushers."

Mark's skill makes for talk about a "killers instinct" while the actual moments he takes out trash - muggers, rapists, drug dealers - are fun. If you aren't smiling, laughing or grinning due to the action, you will be once the bizarre dubbing, hokey dialog kicks back in. A few scenes highlight the worthless police and more than a few for the Bill & Peter show as things deteriorate in hilarious fashion. Every role here is one note summed up by Mark's wife who's credited as ... "Mark's wife". Plus another lady who's sole reason for existing is too good to give away.

"Well how come he knew that we ... we were after ... his ass!?"

B-movie man "Dick" Harrison gets to be a one man wrecking crew in the Philippines. Short on story, intelligence, high on cheese, I had a great time with 'Blood Debts'. You get a few splashes of blood and one bit of gratuitous female nudity leading up to an ending and title card that has to be seen to be believed. It's somehow the best & worst thing I've ever had the pleasure to lock my eyes on (no joke).

Back in the magical 1980s the Filipino Silver Star Company had one big dream: making authentic American action flicks in their own neighbourhood. I mean, who's going to know? Just fly in some token American actors who peaked at least two decades ago, have them say any old action cliché that you can come up with in an afternoon and give it a violent title, it'll work. Unfortunately, the dirt cheap production values and clearly Asian surroundings can occasionally hurt the illusion. Silver Star's favorite token American was without a doubt Richard Harrison, this was the fifth movie he did for the company. By now unfortunately he has tremendous trouble hiding the boredom and disgust he feels for projects like these, which is sad because "Blood Debts" is by far the best Filipino movie he did (whatever that means).

What I love most about "Blood Debts" is that it doesn't take time explaining anything, because there's nothing to explain. You know from the first minute on that it's going to be a "Death Wish" rip-off, you know it will just be Harrison randomly blowing away scum for ninety minutes. Who cares where he went to high school or whether he likes long walks on the beach, it would just eat up murder time. His wife doesn't even have a name and she's in like six scenes. That's basically the main (only?) value these movies have. The makers know they don't have much skill in writing, directing or virtually any aspect of filmmaking, so they go for broke and give the audience exactly what it wants. I can respect that kind of attitude, it makes "Blood Debts" highly enjoyable. Bonus points for the "huh?" of an ending, it's less dumb than the ending to "Fireback" (another Silver Star production with Harrison in the lead) but definitely not by much.

The proper way to end a movie, 10/10. Funniest ending I've ever seen. This review needs at least 150 characters so Im just gonna type random stuff like this.