red scorpion
the film poster for red scorpion. (photo: courtesy shapiro - glickenhaus )
with the headline: review / film; dolph lundgren in' red scorpion' .
the savoy hotel, on site scorpion diving centre and red sea... . bliss
joseph zito, who directed norris in missing in action, brought red scorpion to the screen .
there are no critic reviews yet for red scorpion 2. keep checking rotten tomatoes for updates !
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing red scorpion near you .
dolph: : dolph lundgren delivers the sting of the red scorpion... on location in africa! (from prevue magazine )
e heart so that the red scorpion finally see the death. remember, brother called. cold road. bang when the sound, red scorpion kneeling knees, directly fell to the ground, motionless. he knew he was completely defeated. yin and yang p .
i found red scorpion to be a mildly entertaining action flick with a few good fight scenes, but nothing more. then a couple days after i saw the first red scorpion, i saw red scorpion 2 on cable. to my surprise, red scorpion 2 was a lot better than the first. the action scenes were better, the acting was an improvement over the acting the first film [ though it still wasn' t very good ], and the movie was actually clever. what i also like about it was you wouldn' t have to see the first red scorpion to understand this one. i think that should be true with all sequels .
red scorpion by joseph zito | dolph lundgren, m. emmet walsh, al white | 654930313893 | blu - ray | barnes & noble®
as a cultural document, red scorpion is definitely a film that shows its age, one whose geopolitical conflicts have long been lost to history .
the indian red scorpion is considered the most lethal of all scorpions. but despite its reputation, it only stings as a last resort. and rather …
despite all the political controversy red scorpion is a highly entertaining eighties action movie. with great stunts, a stellar cast and a ridiculous amount of explosions .
the savoy hotel, on site scorpion... - savoy sharm el sheikh
comic book fans will know his character becomes the villain known as the scorpion .
while vulture knows spider - man is peter parker, he won’t let scorpion know .
john carmen, ms. jones' s new york agent, said in a telephone interview this week that he had never heard of'' red scorpion.''
the savoy hotel, on site scorpion diving centre and red sea... . bliss - review of savoy sharm el sheikh, sharm el sheikh, egypt - tripadvisor
defying a boycott of south africa by many united states artists, americans wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film,'' red scorpion,'' the reports said .
'' red scorpion'' is loosely based on the life of jonas savimbi, the leader of a pro - western guerrilla movement in angola and a key regional ally of south africa .
but one part of the abramoff story that is rarely told is the period of his career where he was a hollywood film producer. a standout from that period was 1989’s red scorpion, starring dolph lundgren as a soviet - trained super killer. somewhere in between 1980s shlock and 1980s awesomeness, the controversial red scorpion has gone on to become a cult classic of sorts. but t
hesitating in the moment he is about to kill the rebel leader, nikolai fails and is captured. rather than being killed outright, he is forced to undergo a shamanic initiation ritual. the ingestion of the poison of a local scorpion, and his initiation ceremony, including scarification (a scorpion), give him a new identity and role in the world - - the red scorpion .
of that 1500, only a few dozen are potentially lethal to human beings. and of those, this one, the indian red scorpion, takes the prize as the most lethal of all .
with a body count that leaves jaws firmly on the floor and a healthy disregard for troublesome logic, red scorpion is a classic 80s action spectacular that doesn t let up for a second ...
hesitating in the moment he is about to kill the rebel leader, nikolai fails and is captured. rather than being killed outright, he is forced to undergo a shamanic initiation ritual. the ingestion of the poison of a local scorpion, and his initiation ceremony, including scarification (a scorpion), give him a new identity and role in the world - - the red scorpion. written by phillip batz
the indian red scorpion is considered the most lethal of all scorpions. but despite its reputation, it only stings as a last resort. and rather than humans, it prefers to feast on insects, like roaches .
spider - man homecoming end credits scene teases the scorpion as the next villain and maybe even the sinister six .
but abramoff' s plan backfired: it was not long before anti - apartheid activists were protesting at the
red scorpion
set, and warner brothers, who had signed on to distribute the film, pulled out .
oh crap: nikolai' s face when sundata catches him red handed during his assassination attempt says it all .
asked by newsday about the south african government' s connections to the iff and
red scorpion
in 1995, the last time he seems to have entertained questions on the subject, abramoff called the allegations
outrageous .
sadly a few cool effects sequences and two solid action sequences aren' t enough to keep red scorpion from being a dud. it just doesn' t have the same flare as zito' s previous action outings and sadly this film
red scare: bonus points for having the distinction of being a cold war movie made by a future government official .
it deals about a recently formed elite commando team (lead by matt mccolm and including jennifer rubin) trying to destroy a neo - nazi army (lead by john savage), after having been trained by an old russian soldier telling about his mentor nikolaï, who formed the
red scorpion
squads, known with their scorpion tattoo on the arm .
actor michael mando, who played the baddie, revealed he would be playing scorpion before spider - man homecoming was released .
the story of a russian special forces operative (lundgren) brought in to assassinate an anti - communist military leader, only to switch sides and join a group of freedom fighters in beating down the soviets, red scorpion definitely hits on all the plot points designed to make red - blooded americans cheer. (watch the trailer here, if you' d like. )
red scorpion [ blu - ray ] [ region free ]: urltoken dolph lundgren, m. emmett walsh, al white, brion james, carmen argenziano, t. p. mckenna, joseph zito, jack abramoff, arne olsen: dvd & blu - ray
'' red scorpion'' has already drawn criticism from anti - apartheid organizations in the united states and abroad. [ in new york, arthur ashe, a co - chairman of artists and athletes against apartheid, was asked about the film. the tennis star said :
the package – synapse have presented red scorpion with a beautiful 2k transfer that is crisp and blemish free. there are some scenes, especially the darker ones, where heavy noise can become a little bothersome, but that’s about as far as anything negative goes. 9 / 10
with all the news about the various upcoming international releases of red scorpion on blu - ray (uk, france, germany, etc .), i just wanted to take a few moments to let you know what’s happening with our version, which should be announced soon .
this is a classic
so bad it' s good
movie. terrible acting, incomprehensible plot, and everything explodes. vehicles, bad guys, straw huts - - everything detonates upon impact. so why just 1 star? are you serious? have you seen red scorpion ?
in'' red scorpion,'' dolph lundgren plays the part of a soviet agent sent to assassinate'' an african resistance leader'' named sundata, according to jack abramoff, the film' s american producer, who was quoted in an interview published dec. 4 in the namibian .
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the 1989 dolph lundgren vehicle “red scorpion” is the sort of movie you’d channel surf to at 2am and flip away from instantly. at first glance, it looks like any other mindless action film. you’d never give it a second thought, unless you happened stumble on it as this credit appears on the screen: “a jack abramoff production”
projects links action in the red sea / alien agent / the amber room / beowulf / captured / code blue / cover up 2 / dark angel 2 / duke nukem / frogs for snakes / inside man out / interstate 10 / it waits / ivory city / le tigre / legion / masters of the universe 2 / meltdown / nightclubbing / the peacekeeper 2 / pit bulls / the punisher 2 / r. p. m. / red dawn / red scorpion 2 / revenge / rewind / rocky vi / running man / starlight murders / still the drums / straight blast / the threat / trooper / unknown project / vampires / venom / warrant / the watchmen / swedish projects /
dolph lundgren, the man responsible for single handedly making every american male question their masculinity in rocky iv. easily one of the most iconic classic action stars of all time, when you hear his name you expect a towering, european dose of fucking shit up on a massive scale. red scorpion delivers these goods and more. with a controversial production, overt tones of a mccarthy - istic red scare, and enough ‘splosions and action to choke a walrus, this is easily one of the coolest movies of all time .
in the scene with vulture (aka adrian toomes), scorpion asks him for the true identity of the web slinger – as he wants revenge for spidey’s involvement in his arrest .
the indian red is tiny…it’s no bigger than a cigarette lighter. but it possesses a potent elixir. and when it lives near people, it often takes shelter where they do .
red scorpion is also being digitally restored by the same folks who did the indiana jones films, once upon a time in the west, the godfather trilogy, the alien films and, most recently, the all - new 4k 3d restoration on titantic. we are thrilled to be working with them on this, as well as many future releases for synapse films .
the story is a little different from other red scare films, because instead of america being invaded by commies or involved in some communist conflict, red scorpion focuses on the redemption of a soviet soldier when he comes face to face with the horrors of war. instead of the atypical american hero, here we have the “enemy of america”, in africa, and he decided to turn the tables on his controllers and snap back. it’s unique and really a breath of fresh air in a fairly mundane genre. it also has a lot of shit blowing up .
eventually, nikolai begins to side with the locals, has a red scorpion tattooed on his chest by a shaman, and helps fight against the cubans and the soviets. horror fans should note tom savini' s expert gore effects during a torture scene, while others will be pleased with a fine supporting cast including m. emmet walsh, carmen argenziano, and brion james .
glickenhaus, who knew of crew and cast going unpaid, claimed that despite its poor box office receipts ,
red scorpion
did well in video, television and foreign sales. nonetheless, at some point prior to its release in april 1989, the abramoffs and regency found themselves in enough debt that the film went into the possession of performance guarantees, a completion bond company .
after jack returned to washington, robert abramoff stayed in los angeles and continued to produce films. he is now a full - time lawyer. reached at the offices of burgee & abramoff in woodland hills, he refused to speak about his brother or
red scorpion .
it' s a family matter and i prefer not to comment on anything ,
he said .
the sinister six are a group of super - villains which has included both scorpion and vulture in the past as well as spider - man baddie favourites such as doctor octopus, electro and sandman .
other trivia: lundgren is such a generous and kind raconteur that it' s pretty funny listening to him reflexively trying to defend some things that any other star else would either conveniently gloss over or dismiss. he praises sylvester stallone' s detail - oriented direction of rocky iv but also commends red scorpion director zito for his zeal :
zito was very postitive and had full momentum all the time rather than focussing on the individual scenes .
furthermore, lundgren' s not even sure why he did some of the stunts that he did for red scorpion, saying about a stunt where he jumps onto a speeding motorbike :
i don' t know if i was just stupid or if zito wanted it .
he added ,
crazy! i would never do that today .
urltoken red scorpion: dolph lundgren, m. emmet walsh, al white, t. p. mckenna, carmen argenziano, alex colon, brion james, ruben nthodi, vuzi dibukwana, james mthoba, dinky motsemme, ernest ndhlovu, thapelo mofokeng, mxolisi hulana, nicky rebello, drummond marais, charles comyn, tullio moneta, jurgen hellberg, graham clarke, joseph zito, jack abramoff: movies & tv
we’ve been working on our release of red scorpion for almost a year now. we want ours to be the best version available in any country, on any format, and we have been taking our time putting together the ultimate version of the film for our audience. not only in compiling some amazing supplements, but also working on a restoration of the original materials to make ours the best looking version released .
in the scene, lundgren goes into a drunken rage and breaks a man' s nose with one punch. it' s easy to think that is drago struggling with the loss. the problem is that it is not a scene from rocky iv but from 1998 action film red scorpion, where lundgren plays a soviet spetsnaz operative. hopefully millions of people scroll far enough into the comments section to learn that .
even as propaganda, “red scorpion” is a bit confused. every single russian and cuban soldier in the film is portrayed as being pure, uncomplicated, hitler - doesn’t - look - so - bad - in - comparison evil; every one, that is except lundgren, whose heroism dilutes the intended message that the only good soviet is a dead one. then again, by the end of the film, the only russian who’s
before fallen lobbyist jack abramoff assumed his role as the most scrutinized man in washington, he had a brief career as a budding hollywood producer. he made just one movie, the 1989 cold war bomb
red scorpion .
with its blatant propaganda, its collaboration with the apartheid south african government, and financial misdealing, it' s notable, even for hollywood, for being one of the seamiest productions in recent memory .
if only things were as jovial off the set. they weren' t. actors went unpaid; argenziano said that although he was paid his initial salary, he has never received a residuals check for
red scorpion .
the manager of one of the major cast members, who did not want to be named, said that, according to her client, many of the actors and crew were never paid at all .
in countries like india, scorpion stings are a serous public health issue, particularly among children, where the unclad foot of an unwary youngster can lead to a painful and in some cases if left untreated deadly sting .
but the story behind
red scorpion
is far more captivating. the film was to be a manifesto for abramoff; a rambo - like morality tale and a grand indictment of communism - - his reagan doctrine parable in action - packed technicolor. and in the process of conceiving of and making it, abramoff helped groom an african despot, rose to high levels in the k street food chain, and got to play international spy .
one thing to understand about abramoff was that his hollywood career and his lobbying career weren' t separate—they were like a giant melting pot of influence and propaganda. in fact, red scorpion was effectively funded by the south african military, thanks to the fact that the country was abramoff' s primary client at the time. if you watch the movie, in fact, you' ll notice that the tanks being driven throughout are south african .
with citizens for america disbanded, and law school done, abramoff moved to los angeles. he came up with the premise for
red scorpion
and hired arne olsen, a young screenwriter with no credits to his name, to write it. the abramoffs told olson they wanted to base the fictional african country in the film, mombaka, directly on angola, and the rebel leader on savimbi. olsen said he churned out a baldly propagandistic script .
lundgren is the
red scorpion
of the title (like you couldn' t figure that out !). the russian government sends lundgren, their top soldier, to africa to hunt down and kill a rebel leader that is giving russian bases some flak. lundgren infiltrates the group by look like a deserter but along the way ends up becoming empathetic towards the rebels views. his government in turn tries to exterminate lundgren so lundgren gets angry and bullets begin to fly .
how the dvd / blu ray makes the case for the film: in his liner note, damoiseu gives a stirring and comprehensive history of red scorpion that reveals how the film' s freaky production history helped to make it a memorable role for the charismatic - - look at him pout! - - athletic - - thighs as big as a rob liefeld comic book character! - - and smart - - has a master' s degree in chemical engineering! - - swede .
since recently, dolph lundgren owns the privilege to weight on a film' s orientation and his character' s contruction. without the ex - punisher signature, a project can stay a treatment for eventual buyer. masters of the universe, red scorpion 2, the punisher 2 and even the sequel of cover up... the list of sequels projects on dolph' s agent desk is long .
from impact, # 30, december 1990 (translated from french )
james glickenhaus, whose company, schapiro glickenhaus entertainment, ended up distributing
red scorpion
after warner brothers jumped ship, said he was not aware of the help provided by the sadf, but he was aware of the controversy over the location .
look, had the film been made in nazi germany, i wouldn' t have distributed it ,
he said .
but i personally felt upon investigating that the namibian government was more simpatico than the south african government .
and once their victim is captured –either clasped in the scorpions’ pincers, or poisoned by a deadly sting, like this roach - digestive fluids turn the meal to liquid, that can be sucked into the scorpion’s stomach. and what’s left, is cast aside .
i won' t lie, i came out of red scorpion extremely disappointed. it starts off all right but quickly degrades into a nearly actionless display of lundgren living with some natives. it does have two good action sequences, especially the climax but that comes an hour and a half too late. the production values are also rather flat and the lighting for one thing looks really cheap. it' s nice to see lovable character actors m. emmet walsh and brion james present but they are in mostly thankless roles
— dolph lundgren, reflecting on the production of red scorpion in a 2011 interview with the now - defunct site mondo video. the swedish actor did a number of his own stunts in the film, including a scene in which he had scorpions walking on him .
jesus, i did so many crazy stunts on that film ,
he recalled .
it' s unbelievable when i think back about it. it would never happen today. nobody would ever let you do any of that stuff now .
while these trends ensured red scorpion could be made and would have an audience, it also meant that it was far from unique in the market. cannon films, another independent filmmaker of the era, was making dozens of films just like this one every year, relying on a stable of well - remembered b - list action heroes like chuck norris, charles bronson, and jean claude van - damme. (side note: this documentary about cannon is an amazing document of this era and its impact on filmmaking. )
directed by joe zito, who i’m sure everyone remembers as the director behind the prowler, friday the 13th: the final chapter, and the chuck norris vehicles invasion u. s. a. and missing in action. another factor in red scorpion and the films mentioned, with the exception of missing in action, is legendary effects master tom savini. instead of machetes and pitchforks severing limbs this outing, its machine gun fire, so expect some gore in these firefights. this is way more than bond style action here .
pandin recalled that abramoff enlisted russell crystal, the head of the iff' s johannesburg office and an advisor to f. w. deklerk, to be an informal producer on
red scorpion
( whether this meant crystal helped fund the film, pandin did not remember). but pandin says abramoff refused to compensate crystal afterward .
it wasn' t a good experience ,
pandin said of the film .
a lot of people didn' t get paid. russell wasn' t entirely enamored of jack after that .
this action - packed controversial cult classic is now available from synapse films in a brand - new 2k high - definition transfer of the uncensored version, containing footage never before seen in the u. s. featuring amazing performances from dolph lundgren, m. emmet walsh (blood simple) and the late brion james (blade runner), red scorpion contains bloody special effects from the legendary tom savini (dawn of the dead, friday the 13th). loaded with interviews and other amazing special features, this disc will blow you away !
red in the qiu yan who, qiu yan fourth step into the fifth order to spend enough of two years, and now the mood of the year no progress. qianfeng into the sixth order has also been a year s time, he is still relatively high quality roo .
considering the budget and target audience, red scorpion pretty much achieves its modest goals. draggy patches notwithstanding, this is an entertaining action movie featuring dolph lundgren at the peak of his physical form along with a healthy dosage of one - liners. in the end, however, the film offers nothing new, and the twist of making the hero a russian is hardly enough to extend the film' s appeal beyond the audience of hardcore action fans or loyal dolph lundgren followers. if you do not fall into any of the abovementioned categories, give it a miss .
in the mid eighties when dolph lundgren was picked out of the five thousand men who auditioned for the role of the almost super human russian boxer ivan drago in rocky 4. it was assumed that he’d been marked for stardom, but lundgren was never able to the right role. his first staring role as he - man in the highly anticipated masters of the universe (also known as the movie that sank cannon pictures) wasn’t the blockbuster that it was expected to be. although when he was cast as the lead in red scorpion a year later it seemed like a sure thing .
dolph lundgren' s pectorals are the real stars of'' red scorpion,'' an action - adventure movie set in the fictional african country of mombaka. filmed from below so that one has the sense of peering up at a massive kinetic sculpture, his glistening torso, which over the course of the film is subjected to assorted tortures, is the movie' s primary visual focus whenever the action slows down. and since mr. lundgren remains stone - faced, rarely speaking except to issue commands in a surprisingly hesitant monotone, his heaving chest actually communicates more emotion than his mumbling lips .
disc # 1 - - red scorpion 1. the mission [ 8: 12 ] 2. getting in trouble [ 10: 59 ] 3. escape [ 11: 16 ] 4. traveling home [ 12: 05 ] 5. homecoming [ 8: 04 ] 6. left for dead [ 8: 36 ] 7. desert wandering [ 9: 20 ] 8. training [ 5: 15 ] 9. final test [: 56 ] 10. unwelcome reception [ 4: 02 ] 11. kicking some ass [ 8: 33 ] 12. end credits [ 7: 22 ]
the film – ah the soviet super - solider, the biggest threat to the american way of life right under marijuana and civil rights. ever since the end of wwii (and that one little incident where we killed the rosenberg’s for espionage, but we don’t like to talk about it), america has hated the idea of those godless commies gaining power. so, um, they just went out and gained a shitload of power - most notably cuba and vietnam, but even in south africa russian influence took root (by force, but again shhhhhhhh). this brings us to red scorpion .
now to the smaller, more rapid explosions that produce little lead balls of instant kill. i’m talking about gunfights, and there are plenty of them. of course since there’s soviets, you’ve got ak - 47’s out the ass, but some odd choices too. like the rpk lmg (which i only recognized from black ops, so thumbs up for violent video games on the learning scale), which dolph uses in an odd way, holding the bi - pod instead of the grips when firing. it’s small things like that that make red scorpion stand out, just those little deviations to action stereotypes that stick with you .
peter roff, who is listed as abramoff' s personal assistant in the credits of
red scorpion ,
said he worked for abramoff out of the latter' s washington office during the time of the production in 1987 and' 88. roff, however, recalled doing more work for the iff than for the film. indeed, he only vaguely remembered the name regency entertainment. he never went to l. a. or to the set in africa. but roff, who worked on george h. w. bush' s' 88 campaign, claimed he too was unaware of the source of the iff' s funding .
designed to make red - blooded americans cheer. lundgren plays a russian special forces operative brought to an unnamed african nation, ordered to assassinate an anti - communist military leader. instead, he switches sides and joins a group of freedom fighters in beating down the soviets. it’s the cold war in desert heat, essentially .
the thing about red scorpion is that it' s not a great movie by traditional critical standards. it' s from an era of filmmaking when auteurs weren' t the driving force behind independent filmmaking in hollywood. the auteurs never really went away, of course—john waters and david lynch made some of their best films during this period—but a lot of low - budget action movies being made in this era were trying to riff off the reagan - era republicanism of the rambo series. as abramoff was both a reagan - era republican and a guy who grew up in beverly hills, he was pretty much the perfect person to take advantage of this b - movie trend .
the iff, however, could not claim impartiality on the subject. it was, in fact, clandestinely funded by the sadf' s military intelligence arm, according to former u. s. officials, anc documents, and reports published in u. s. and u. k. according to a 1995 newsday report, the iff received up to $ 1. 5 million a year from the sadf from 1986 through 1992, as a part of operation babushka, a smear campaign meant to discredit mandela and the anc by portraying them as allied with communist regimes. an sadf intelligence chief also told the newsday reporters that the sadf helped fund
red scorpion .
screenwriter andrew lemay did an interview with the
boxing with the truth
blog has written a screenplay and said he' s discussed the idea with people tied to the rocky series. a synopsis of the screenplay was shared with si. the characters in the proposed drago movie are owned by mgm. lemay adapted the drago film from his original screenplay titled red glove .
'' a south african defense force spokesman in pretoria has confirmed that vehicles, weaponry and other military equipment has been made available to the film makers,'' said an article published under the headline'' scorpion sting.'''' this is equipment that could not be provided by the private sector. the film makers are paying for this assistance.''
in'' red scorpion,'' which is now playing at the criterion and other theaters, mr. lundgren portrays nikolai, a one - man, soviet - trained killing machine assigned to assassinate a rebel leader who is fighting the mombakan communist regime. attaching himself to the rebels' second - in - command (al white) and a wild - eyed american journalist (m. emmet walsh), he crashes their stronghold but fails to kill their leader. discarded by his nasty communist bosses for failing in his mission, he is rescued in the desert by a kindly tribe of bushmen who nurse him back to health and initiate him into the tribe. once restored to fighting condition he is ready for battle, this time on the side of the oppressed rebels .
abramoff' s last gasp as a producer came thanks to austin st. john, a. k. a. the original red ranger from the power rangers. after st. john left the show, he created an instructional martial arts video, which you can watch here in full, because austin uploads his stuff to youtube. abramoff has just three imdb credits as a producer. somehow, this is the third .
the house of the scorpion is a dark, twisted, but ultimately hopeful story about a young clone named matt who grows up in a dystopian world under the control of a drug lord. oh, and this drug lord happens to be the man from whom he was cloned. as it turns out, this guy, called el patrón, cloned our protagonist so that he might harvest matt' s organs to keep himself alive later in life .
but at the same time, what makes red scorpion so fun is the fact that everyone was clearly throwing caution to the wind when they made it. the film could have been shot anywhere but instead it was shot in the desert, causing the film' s shooting schedule to distend from its original 2 1 / 2 months to 4 1 / 2 months. the film' s crew similarly used real guns and real dynamite for stunt - work. and while tom savini' s make - up effects certainly wasn' t real, lundgren did many of his own stunts. several live black scorpions were let loose on his back in one scene (their stingers had rubber tips put on them) while a p. o. ed hyena took a bite out of lundgren after the filmmakers shot a deleted scene that' s not featured in synapse' s release but is alluded to in damoiseau' s essay .
' the wolverine' − hugh jackman sees more of jean grey & the silver… after the initial trailers for the wolverine depicted our favorite stogie - smoking x - man in a vulnerable state, his adamantium… - frank digiacomo watch: shot - for - shot' iron man 3' parody kicks shiny metal ass from thailand, by way of the website kotaku, comes this sweded shot - for - shot remake of the iron man 3 trailer that, frankly would… - frank digiacomo' aftershock' red - band trailer: a body count the deaths keep coming in the red - band trailer for eli roth' s earthquake gorefest aftershock. i count seven distinct deaths in… - frank digiacomo watch:' iron man 3' − a closer look at shellhead' s dramatic air rescue… my palms get sweaty just watching this extended clip of what i hear is one of the most riveting sequences in iron man 3. tony… - frank digiacomo
we worked closely with two companies to help us with extras for our release. both red shirt pictures and ballyhoo motion pictures have put together some great stuff. and a big congratulations goes to tom savini who not only gave us an interview, but raided his footage archive to give us some great behind - the - scenes “on the set” footage that no one has seen in 14 years. and big thanks to dolph lundgren for allowing us into his home for a great retrospective / interview about his career .
loudmouthed, arrogant, commie hating, 100% american (that’s for goddamn sure) reporter and supporter of the rebellion, dewey ferguson (played by the legendary m. emmet walsh) was caught by the red army snooping around the base. insulting nikolai beyond any and all comprehension, especially when you consider he could easily tear him in half, his blabbering draws the guard into the cell. when you have soviet soldiers in your jail cell and you piss them off, and you’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, that’s not exactly a good thing .
his soviet will represses these thoughts, and he progresses with his assassination mission. nikolai is caught red handed (i think i’m getting good at this pun business) trying to carve up sundata, who leaves him unconscious for his fellow soldiers to find, still thankful for his assistance in the escape. vortek is furious with his failure, casts him out of the spetsnaz, and sentences him to death at the hands of the cuban occupiers. since russia pretty much used cuba as a whipping boy, they decide to torture him for soviet secrets before the execution .
so since all three are on the run from a triple force of red army destruction, kintash decided to head to his home village where they can rendezvous with sundata (which in case you forgot is the prime target of nikolai). upon arrival, they realize that general vortek has obliterated the village with his hind helicopter. men, women, and children have been mercilessly gunned down, bombed, and burnt. not everyone has been executed though, and the survivors receive sundata as he arrives at the graveyard of a village. nikolai sees the horrors of his faction, and begins to question who is really on the right side of the conflict .
indian red scorpions, contrary to popular belief, only use their stinger as a last resort. at night they go hunting. they wait for their prey (insects) to come and when they do, the scorpions grab their prey with their pincers. then, without even taking the insect inside their mouth, they produce digestive juices from their preoral gut and digest it slightly. then, the setae takes out the part of the insect that they can' t eat, press it together and get rid of it. the food is then brought into the body by the muscular pharynx. next, food goes through the pharynx, the esophagus, the mid gut, the hind gut, and is then released in the form of feces from the anus. [ 1 ]
dolph lundgren rules. i can' t say that i' ve seen a lot of his work, since the' 90s most of it has gone straight to video, but the guy knows exactly who he is and where he fits, and that is a blessing. joe zito' s
was lundgren' s third feature film in a prominent role and he certainly made the most of it. the story is a ludicrous, flag - waving, jingoistic mess, but the execution is actually pretty damned decent, and lundgren' s presence on screen plays no small part in its success .
nikolai (lundgren) is a highly trained spetsnaz agent sent into africa to assassinate a rebel leader. he has known nothing in his life but following orders, and these orders are clear. he has to befriend a rebel in order to get close enough to snuff out the leader, but when he realizes the conditions against which these men are fighting and who is the cause, he has a change of heart and becomes a commie - killing machine .
redsploitation film was a very popular action genre in the' 80s, thanks in large part to the cold war and reagan' s xenophobic ranting. just as the' 70s gave us a healthy portion of nazi - hunting flicks, the' 80s was brimming with films about the evil empire, which was of course, the communist ussr. dolph lundgren, for some reason, was the go - to guy for imposing russian characters in action films. his breakout role as ivan
i must break you
drago in
certainly primed that pump. even though lundgren' s looks are clearly scandinavian, his blond hair and blue eyes still managed to convey aryan evil to american filmgoers. whatever the reason, it worked, and dolph quickly became a second tier action icon .
) was a real director who had some skills and took a very difficult shoot in namibia and made it work surprisingly well. the dialogue wasn' t going to set the world on fire, but we go into these movies expecting shit to blow up, and blow up it does .
films, but it certainly keeps the action moving at a quick pace. if you throw in a little bit of comic relief from m. emmet walsh, you' ve got all the ingredients for a good time .
, dolph lundgren never quite made the a - list. that strata was saved for men like arnold, sly, and bruce, though i think that is a bit of a shame. lundgren clearly had the chops, and i think with the right choices he could have been a bigger star. it was nice to see him on the big screen again in
certainly does encourage me to dig through some of his dtv work in search of gems. this film is a lot of fun, if a little bit long at around 105 minutes, and deserves a second chance, definitely check it out .
this is another of the glickenhaus films coming to us from arrow video and synapse films. this time around, it looks like arrow video got the jump, and their disc is very solid. the image quality is very good, though' 80s action films will probably never look great. there is abundant fine detail and a noticeable lack of intrusive grain, probably due to the fact that the vast majority of the film is shot in very bright lighting, thus allowing the filmmaker to use slower film speeds and reduced grain naturally. the audio is pretty good as well, there isn' t a whole lot of directionality to the mix, but the explosions do manage to pack a punch and i found no major faults with the dialogue .
is really great. on the disc we have a commentary from zito moderated by howard s berger, which is okay, though zito seems a bit laconic on the track and needs prompting often. there is also a great interview with dolph, which is sadly only about 20 minutes, because i could listen to him all day. dolph is incredibly endearing and intelligent and understands his place in cinema history better than anyone. a true gentleman. rounding out the video extras is a brief interview with the composer, which is kind of a throw away, but is made up for by the fantastic lundgren stuff .
also included in this package is the awesome custom art from the dude designs' tom hodge, 3 additional cover options, a fold out power, a very in depth interview and essay on zito and the film by calum waddell, and the super neat arrow video catalog. this is a very impressive region free package, and we definitely recommend it. there is a blu - ray coming soon from synapse, also, so be aware of that, and we promise to review and compare when we get out hands on that one as well, but i think you can feel confident in picking this one up, it' s a winner !
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loved this one as kid. thanks for the review and for liking this movie .
one good dolph movie from 2005 is the mechanik (aka
the russian specialist
). dolph also directed this one. he' s actually a pretty decent director. could definitely teach stallone a thing or two about putting together a coherent action scene .
todd brown, toronto, canada founder and editor peter martin, dallas, texas, usa managing editor ryland aldrich, los angeles, california festivals editor james marsh, hong kong, china asian editor ben umstead, los angeles, california u. s. editor more ...
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nikolai rachenko. less a man than a soulless instrument of war, rachenko is dispatched to assassinate the fiercely anti - communist leader of a rebel group in south africa. infiltrating the rebels is easy enough: gargle some vodka, get tossed in the clink, bust out the leader' s right - hand
, and earn enough of his trust to get up close and personal with the big man himself. actually
the guy... ? well, that proves to be a little more problematic. rachenko' s handlers don' t take the news of his failure all that well, torturing him in the hopes of learning whatever rebel secrets he' s keeping squirreled away in that tightly - cropped head of his. after pulling off another daring escape and being taken under the wing of an elderly african bushman, rachenko witnesses first - hand the horrors his former comrades have been inflicting on the proud people of this country. rachenko signs up with the rebel forces, cocks a shotgun, and steels himself for some steamy, blood - spattered commie - on - commie action .
. i mean, it' s comfort food, and part of that' s playing exactly like a big stack of the action movies that cannon was churning out in those days. hell, they even got
' s joseph zito to hop into the director' s chair. there' s not a whole lot to separate
from the rest of that one - man - army - for - truth - justice - and - the - not - communist - way bunch. sure, the couple of standout action sequences are more than a little bit badass. the african backdrop makes for some pretty spectacular visuals at times. the plight of the tormented africans themselves packs more of a sincere emotional wallop than these sorts of action flicks usually do. tom savini contributes a couple of grisly make - up effects pieces that make for some of
' s most brilliantly cringing moments. plus you score dolph lundgren in the lead, and you' re never gonna hear me complain about
field so much of his own stuntwork, leaping off a motorcycle onto a speeding truck or marching just a few feet away from another colossal explosion. no cheating with cgi
' s good enough, but if i didn' t have to sit down and hammer out this write - up after seeing it again for the first time in however many years, it' d be a distant memory about twenty seconds after the fact. i
, but it' s really, really, really routine. because his character is a coldly manufactured weapon whose heart is only just now starting to beat, dolph lundgren can' t exude the sort of personality or charisma that usually draws you in with' 80s action flicks. m. emmett walsh' s grating comic relief journalist scores nothing but groans throughout just about every last frame of screentime he gets. the movie kinda takes a while to get going - -
starts not with a bang but with a conference room - - and the pace has a tendency to sputter once the adrenaline rush of its action sequences has worn off. it' s beyond awesome that synapse films has restored an uncensored version of
is an okay - to - pretty - good action flick from the tail - end of the' 80s. i mean, it' s not the sort of movie you' re likely to speak about with hushed awe like
. it' s not the sort of movie you' re likely to speak about, period. still, there' s just something about these cannon - inspired shitkickers that i can' t get enough of, and i' m always game to pal around with dolph lundgren in 1080p. even if you' re not all that bowled over by
itself, the story behind the movie - - a 19 - year - old king giving the production the boot a week before cameras were slated to roll, the looming spectre of apartheid stomping all over distribution, and disgraced lobbyist jack abramoff having conceived and produced the whole thing in his earlier years - - is pretty damned impressive, and all of that' s covered in great detail throughout the extras on this blu - ray disc. the movie itself is nothing all that great or noteworthy or whatever, but you know if you' re a sucker for this flavor of action flick, and if you are,
red scorpion is a 1988 american action film starring dolph lundgren and directed by joseph zito . the film was released in the us on april 21 , 1989 . 
red scorpion is a 1988 american action film starring dolph lundgren and directed by joseph zito. the film was released in the us on april 21, 1989.
red scorpion is a 1988 american action film starring dolph lundgren and directed by joseph zito. the film was released in the us on april 21, 1989.