Karate Ghost

Director - Bobby Canipe Jr. (Woke, Nundead)

Starring - Joe Borlik (Karate Cops, Hollywood Werewolf), James Balsamo (Milfs vs Zombies, Hanukkah), and Charles Wright (It Wants Blood 2, Killer Waves 2)

Release Date -2023

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     A year or so ago I came into contact with filmmaker Bobby Canipe Jr. when he was promoting his S.O.V. inspired slasher Grandma . I knew very little about this one but when I was able to check it out I fell in love with it. It's far from perfect and very rough around the edges but it's a lot of fun and did a great job at nailing that S.O.V. vibe and look. I haven't seen anything of his since but that recently changed when filmmaker Jame Balsamo reached out to me to review his film Karate Ghost 2. I had never seen the first Karate Ghost so when I mentioned this to James he was kind enough to send over a link to that film as well which just happened to be directed by Bobby. I want to thank James for sending over both of these films. 

      The film follows an aspiring karate instructor who purchases an old dojo with a reclusive janitor living in the back. The janitor is the legendary Nick Laser who brought an end to Black Belt Joe's reign when he trapped his soul in his belt many years ago. Now, with the dojo under new management, the soul of Black Belt Joe is released forcing Nick to once again stop him. 

      I knew very little about Karate Ghost before going into it but the artwork and title had me fucking pumped. However, once I was greeted with an introduction by the legendary Charles Wright as his Godfather character in what felt like a Cameo video, I knew this was going to be different and not necessarily in a good way. The acting in this one is very inconsistent. We have some performances where the cast is looking at the camera and just spitting their dialogue out. Then when have other scenes with a lot of energy and comedic timing. Director, producer, and actor James Balsamo carries the film with his exaggerated take on straight to video action films that many of us grew up on. The story for this one felt like it was meant to be something much different, and the direction was changed halfway through. I loved the over-the-top karate action, the exaggerated dialogue, and the crazy deaths but the film hits a huge lag where it slows down to crawl for a good bit before picking back up. The pacing is all over the place which is another reason why I suspect that it was written on the fly or had major elements of the story changed. Finally, the film has a lot of violent deaths with some decent, and some not so decent, practical effects. The deaths fit a karate centered film and some of the effects are great. However, some of the effects are very amateurish and just didn't fit that well. Overall, Karate Ghost is the kind of movie I could seriously get behind, but the awkward pacing and extremely cheap effects makes it feel like it was a film put together on the run or on a severe time crunch. I wanted to love it but I couldn't.