Shameless Self Expression

Mathew Karedas (credited as Matt Hannon) stars as the title San Diego cop now transferred to Los Angeles to tackle a Japanese drug syndicate called The Katana Clan (headed by Cranston Komuro). Mark Frazer plays Karedas’ partner on the force, whilst Gerald Okamura and Robert Z’Dar play Komuro’s subordinates. Melissa Moore plays a fellow cop Karedas beds down with at one point, Jannis Farley plays Karedas’ chief love interest (a restaurant owner), and an actress simply credited as ‘Cameron’ plays Z’Dar’s girlfriend…whom Kaderas also seduces. Nearly every review of Amir Shervan’s cheap and dull “Killing American Style” seemed to suggest I perhaps had started with the wrong Shervan film. So here I am having now seen his 1991 ‘magnum opus’ of crap. Indeed this is the Armin Shervan film to see for those of a certain deranged cinematic mindset like me. Sadly, it was his last directorial effort even though he didn’t pass away until 2006. Apparently he just couldn’t get financing for anything ...

Mad scientist Richard Brake and his hunchbacked assistant Jorge Garcia rob graves for body parts to create what is ultimately named Herman Munster. Lily is a 100+ year-old vampire who falls in love with the big lug. Daniel Roebuck plays Lily’s father The Count (later to be known as Grandpa Munster, even though he’s Lily’s father, not Herman’s), who does not approve of Lily’s choice of mate. I wouldn’t say I was a devotee of the TV show, but I definitely watched re-runs of “The Munsters” (and “The Addams Family” for that matter) from time to time as a kid and enjoyed them well enough. Rob Zombie ( “Halloween” , “The Devil’s Rejects” ) is yet to make a film I can wholeheartedly embrace but I was at least mildly intrigued to see what he could do with the project. Then I saw the first trailer for this 2022 big-screen adaptation and my heart sank. I honestly thought I was watching something from not even Zombie, not even a Troma movie, but one of those E.I. Independent/Seduction Cinema c...