Kill And Kill Again (1981) April 29, 2007
Posted by Cal in : Action, Wacko, Bad Films , trackbackDirector: Ivan Hall Starring: James Ryan, Anneline Kriel, Bill Flynn, Norman Robinson, Ken Gampu Territory: South Africa
Eminent scientist Dr Horatio Kane has discovered a way to get fuel from potatoes. Unfortunately, a by-product of the process is a mind-control drug (how did they find out? – the mind boggles!) and it seems a megalomaniac named Marduk (Michael Mayer) has kidnapped the good doctor to work for him in his utopian state of New Babylonia. There, Marduk is training his army to take over the world for some reason or other. Head of the army is the Optimus, an impressive figure with a truly fearsome moustache. The authorities draft Steve Chase (James Ryan) to go in there, sort Marduk out and come back with Dr Kane. Steve starts assembling his crew for the mission: gadgets man Hot Dog (Bill Flynn), brawler Gypsy Billy (Norman Robinson), the mysterious Fly (Stan Schmidt), and wrestler Gorilla (the late Ken Gampu). Also insisting on coming along for the ride is Kandy Kane (with a “K”), daughter of Horatio. But the evil Marduk has one final knockout blow – he’s developed the mind-control drug further and is now planning to introduce is into the world’s water supply in a fiendish plan cryptically titled Operation Water Supply. Can Steve and his plucky bunch of underdogs stop him in time?
Admit it, you’ve never heard of Kill and Kill Again. It’s a little-known film from South Africa and follows very loosely on from Kill or be Killed. However, you don’t need to see that to enjoy Kill and Kill Again in its full glory. In fact, skip the original, it’s awful.
Kill and Kill Again is very much a family film (incidentally, the topless catfight scene on the back of the current DVD release of this film does NOT appear – that was a desperate attempt by the company to sell this film!) and they’ve clearly tried to tick every box possible. For dad, we have the Karate scenes and some gorgeous eye Kandy…er…candy in the shape of the female lead. Mom has the dreamy Steve Chase to drool over. Little Johnny has the cool moves he can practice in the school yard to get himself expelled while little Janet has a great role-model in Kandy Kane to look up to – hell, she’s almost as good as a man! And of course, everyone can laugh at the funny parrot and the group’s low-grade misogyny towards Kandy.
The film’s aim is clear. It’s basically James Bond meets Enter the Dragon. We have as many one-liners as you’d find in a Moore-era Bond movie – and every one of them falls hilariously flat. It’s so unfunny, it actually becomes funny – and this was years before Austin Powers shagged his way onto our screens.
The characters are bizarre (for example, Hot Dog is a gadgets expert, but his knowledge seems largely limited to scattering a few tacks across the floor or handing Steve his nunchaku) and the actions of the characters are often highly questionable (at one point, in a tender moment between Steve and Kandy, he inexplicably licks her shoulder). Plus, on the bad guy side, you have Marduk’s strange relationship with the pink-haired Minerva (Marlowe Scott Wilson) and a way too sentient parrot. And don’t get me started on the Fly…
All of this adds up to a whole bunch of fun. Kill And Kill Again is a film I simply cannot stop watching, simply because it is so well intentioned. All of the out-and-out wrongness is just the icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned. And in its own special way, was something of a trailblazer. The “crack team working together” angle pre-dates the A-Team by a number of years. And let’s not forget that this film invented Bullet Time. Yes, that’s right, the Wachowski Brothers learned everything they know from Kill And Kill Again.
Actually, I hate to piss on anybody’s chips, but this rumour (which is being circulated right now on the internet) is simply rubbish. The effect in question appears close to what passes for “Bullet Time”, but is simply a bit of slow-motion to try to eke some kind of tension out of the climax – which itself is hilarious. I mention this as I would hate anyone to watch this thing expecting to see movie history being made. Just watch it for what it is.
I found Bill Flynn’s website once (he’s still working!) and sent him an enthusiastic email gushing on about my love for the film. He didn’t reply. Maybe he’s not in the market for a new stalker right at the minute. Hot DOG!
Comments»
It’s hard to believe that anyone ever possessed the unique mental attributes to produce things like this - it’s not something we could create if we tried! Pity about the absence of that cat-fight though (I reckon it was originally shot but later excluded due to the sheer magnitude of its sexual brutality)…
The DVD cover has got to be seen. It screams “James Ryan is back” and “He isn’t one of the best, he IS the best!” And then the topless girl fight picture (complete with censored nipples). Either they were in on the joke and wanted to take the cheesiness further (which seems unlikely) or they knew it really wasn’t going to sell.