American Rampage

Director - David DeCoteau (Dr. Alien, Deadly Embrace)

Starring - Kary Jane, Thomas Elliott (American Strays, Riptide), and Troy Donahue (Cry-Baby, The Godfather Part II)

Release Date - 1989

Genre - Action

Tagline - "In America, there is only one form of justice and justice is another form of revenge"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     I'm on my last Massacre Video release in my marathon which just happens to be an 80s action double feature.  When I first started writing reviews my goal was to dig into old action and exploitation movies but my love of horror knocked me off course.  That's why I always jump at the chance to watch these releases whenever I can.  I know most of you bitch and moan that I'm reviewing a non-horror release on a horror oriented site but I don't give a shit.  I love shitty 80s action flicks and I refuse to apologize for it.  The first one in this double feature is the 1989 David DeCoteau film American Rampage.

     The film follows a female cop who has a knack for getting into gunfights and getting her partner killed.  After losing one she was extremely close to she vows to get revenge and take out the drug lord responsible for his death.  

     David DeCoteau was a big part of my childhood with his work with Full Moon and Moonbeam.  I loved a lot of his films but I never actively went looking for his other releases so I was pretty excited when I saw that Massacre was putting this one on blu.  The film was far from perfect but it was just the right amount of cheese and 80s action that I was looking for.  The acting in this one is extremely campy.  The cast hams it up so much and they try to act as bad ass as possible which fails.  It results in some unintentional humor and unforgettable dialogue.  The cheesy dialogue was so much fun and I could see myself randomly quoting some of those lines at inappropriate times.  The story for this one is your standard 80s action movie centered around a cop.  Regardless if the lead is male or female, we have seen dozens, if not hundreds, of action movies following a cop looking to avenge his fallen partner's death.  Nothing new or original.  Hell, even the action scenes are rather dull.  However, the nudity, cheesy dialogue, and campy acting make up for the story.  Finally, the film has several death scenes with some pretty horrific gunshot wounds.  In fact, one shot gun death really caught me off guard.  It looked absolutely amazing.  I would recommend this film for that death scene alone.  Overall, American Rampage was a fun time and would be even more fun with some drinks.  It's extremely campy and the acting made this one as fun as it was.  It was well worth the price of this release alone.