It must be at least a year or two since I last watched a ‘new’ Video Nasty for the first time. But tonight, I decided to break that streak by checking out a Nasty that, as of the time of writing STILL hasnt been given a re-release in the UK.
‘Fight for your Life’ was one of the initial 40 films that were used to define the type of film that could be considered a ‘Video Nasty’. But, out of all the nasties i’ve seen so far. I would argue that this one was a significantly milder entry.
The film DOES feature seriously strong racist rhetoric throughout, to a degree that I think would even make Tarantino blush, A brief scene of child abuse and an implied extended gang rape scene, I feel more than meets the criteria of the BBFCs ‘No violence towards children, or sexual violence towards women’ brief…some pretty decent (but spread out) gore sequences were likely the thing that really tipped this one over the edge.
The films plot is relatively straightforward, a police envoy containing 3 deadly murderers (Jessie, Geno and Chow) ends up in a collision with a thief attempting a getaway, forcing the police van off the road. The cops go to check on the prisoners, who promptly jump the cops, steal their guns and steal a pimps car in the space of a few minutes. While on their way to Canada to escape the law, they stop off at a gas station where they attempt a stick up to get some booze and cash to see them to the border.
But things dont quite go to plan, and they end up taking hostage the only witness to the robbery ‘Corrie’ the daughter of a minister called Ted. Now, at this point; its probably good to mention that Ted and the rest of the Turner family are a proud upstanding, hardcore christian black family, and Jessie is a racist redneck.
Corrie takes the gang back to the Turner household, where they shack up. hold the family hostage and attempt to break Teds ‘turn the other cheek’ mentality by increasingly and aggressively insulting the family and degrading them in ever increasingly violent ways. Meanwhile the cops are slowly in pursuit of the gang. Leading to a pressure cooker situation of what will give first, the gang in trying to lie low, the Turners in getting revenge, or the Cops in bringing them to justice.
And im not gonna lie, this one was a pretty open and shut case. I thought it was a solid enough little ‘home invasion’ thriller, with a slight blacksploitation edge that I appreciated.
I thought the script was simple, but effective, I liked the slow burn tension built up between the gang and the Turners. The pacing is just in that sweet spot where its giving you information quick enough to hold you, but slow enough to let your brain chew on it a bit. Theres some clean act structuring, most of the characters have a decent bit of backstory that helps to really flesh out the characters and world. The fact this films set at Halloween with absolutely NO mention of it being halloween anywhere in the film, but the sets being littered with skeletons and Jack ‘O lanterns was a nice thing.
I liked the tone, I liked the pacing, I liked the dialogue (for the most part) In fact, realistically I only had two issues with this film, and they kind of go hand in hand. One of which was the racist language. and more specifically how comfortable the film feels in using racist language. Jessie basically calls the Turners every possible racist name in the book, and its frankly relentless to the point that I began to feel less like this was a choice in production to really try and sell just how nasty Jessie was…and more a decision by the production to seize a once in a lifetime opportunity to drop the hard R as much as they could with some degree of immunity.
It gets to the point where I cant help but begin to wonder if the racism in this film is maybe sitting a little *too* comfortable with the people who wrote and directed it. In my opinion I hasten to add (I dont want a lawsuit)…Thing is, this film isnt really even trying to give the characters contrast, Jessies just shouting slurs and shooting folks…and the total ‘one note’-ness of it just left me kind of wondering what the film makers were really trying to say with his character…
NOT helped either by the fact that all the characters EXCEPT the Turner family (Ted omitted) get basically NO background. Ted gets a religious backstory to help justify his actions later in the film. But Louise? Well…her character is she’s Teds wife…thats about it, the grandma? nothing. Corrie? she gets nothign till the third act, and then gets given ‘traumatised’…and thats it. Everyone else gets a history, a life before, during and after this film. But the racist language coupled with the fact that the folks we’re supposed to be rooting for in this film having LITERALLY no back story or character shaping barring whats shown on screen. kind of makes me want to lean towards the film not *entirely* acting in good faith.
Beyond that however, its all pretty straightforward. I thought the direction and cine were rock solid with some decent scene structuring and even firmer cast direction, I thought sequences were well shot, utilized colour well and really helped amp up the tension. Given this was the second (and last) film made by the director, and only the second ever film written by Straw Weisman (of ‘Bikini Model Academy’ fame) Im honestly stunned this thing came out looking and feeling as good as it did. it shows WAY more than tells and it does so very effectively. I honestly had very little to complain about, other than some moments in the edit (which im not sure if they’re authoring errors or ACTUAL editing issues) where the film seems to judder, slow down and speed up unnaturally. there are some moments in this film where they go full ‘Benny Hill’ mode for ABSOLUTELY no reason which was quite jarring, and I still havent quite figured out why they did what they did.
The performances are stunning with Robert Judd and William Sanderson stealing the show as Ted and Jessie, they give realistic and lively performances, and the films subtext showing Jessie to in fact be incredibly jealous that Ted managed to have the life he wishes he had is played beautiofully with some real pathos. which again, is surprising given how early into the careers of all involved this film is.
The rest of the cast are all more or less to standard, theres no inherently ‘bad’ performances here. I honestly enjoyed everyone, and felt like, even if the script let them down a bit, they made sure to make up for it with a HELL of a performance.
Add in a funky soul-sensation of a soundtrack that slots into this film like a hand in a glove. and honestly? I found very little to dislike on this one. And im still really quite surprised its still banned in the UK, with no release on the horizon. This isnt a mindblowing movie by any measure…But its a solid thriller with action elements that absolutely held my attention for the full 86 minute runtime, its one i’d absolutely recommend. and it’s likely to go into rotation on my shelf imminantly! check it out!
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/fight-for-your-life/
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