The Executioner Part II /Frozen Scream — The Executioner Part II /Frozen Scream(DVD)
The DVD is region free, and the cases artwork features the house style of the Drive-In Series- taking in on the front both releases poster artwork, and on the back, a picture a piece from each film & a small write up on each. Extras wise – we a get a short interview with the director of The Execution part II, and its trailer. Plus both films have been given a 2k transfer from their original negatives, so both look fairly good by DVD standards.
Released in 1984 The Executioner, Part II is on par with other so-bad-they're-great action classics like Dangerous Men, Miami Connection, and Samurai Cop. It was directed(in the loosest sense of the word) by James Bryan, who will be known to bad- movie fans for his lo-fi & quirky Wildman slasher 1981’s Don't Go in the Woods. The Executioner, Part II was really an attempt to cash in on both the vigilante & unbalanced Vietnam vet genres. The film is based in Los Angeles & its main plot follows the search for a masked vigilante dubbed The Executioner, who is either stabbing his victims or blowing them up with grenades (!). Det. Roger O'Malle (Chris Mitchum) is in charge of the case, and he begins to suspect his best friend and fellow Vietnam vet Mike (Antoine John Mottet) is The Executioner. We also get a subplot involving a gangster nicked named ‘The Tattoo Man’( who only has seemingly two clearly fake tattoos)- who has lured Det. O'Malle's drug-addicted daughter into the world of prostitution.
By any formal cinematic terms The Executioner, Part II is terrible- it’s edited badly & confusingly plotted. The acting goes from disinterest to over the top, the fight/ action scenes are pitiful & badly staged, and the same cheap stock footage of an explosion( when The Executioner grenades his victims) is used over & over again. But for bad movie fans, there is a lot to cherish & enjoy- you have the random & tacky voice-over man, the female clothes ripping & cigarette burning gangsters/pimps, inane dialogue that often makes no sense, amusingly bumbling fight scenes, and OTT gun in mouth breakdowns. At every twist of the film, you can revel in the pure shoddiness & 80’s action clichés of it all. Yet throughout it remains so, so entertaining & watch-able as it unfolds- all the way through to the What-The-Hell ending.
The only extras here are connected with The Executioner, Part II- and these take in a ten or so minute interview with the director- this is both informative & amusing. You also get the films original trailer, which comes off as almost a parody of 80’s vigilante film- with Mr voice-over man coming up with some chuckle-inducing taglines.
The second film here is 1975’s Frozen Scream- and this was the directorial debut of one Frank Roach(!), who has only one other directorial credit to his name 1984’s Nomad Riders. Frozen Scream is really a whole new level of cinematic incompetence & often crazed puzzlement. The film's plot features a group of scientists & their bulbous-eyed & black monk gown wearing henchmen- who are collecting people & trying to make them immortal but instead create zombies. The film is full of either completely emotionless acting or bug-eyed over the top-ness. With a host of badly/ awkwardly cut scenes, & voice-overs suddenly appearing while the actors are still talking. The plot & the characters are very ill-defined, and most of the time you wonder what the hell is going on. To add to the confusion we get sudden arty dream sequence of kissing skeletons & the like.
Compared with the shoddy haphazard-ness of The Executioner, Part II, Frozen Scream is a much dreamier & puzzling example of bad filmmaking. And along the way we do get some very red & OTT murders, a fleeting glance of female flesh, and one or two rather creepy & unsettling moments. At times it does drift close to boredom but hang in there, as fairly soon you get something chuckle-worthy, jarring, or odd popping up.
All told this a great double bill of film-badness & low-budget cinematic disasters from Vinegar Syndrome. I guess if pushed I’d say The Executioner, Part II, stands as my favorite of the two here, but Frozen Scream is also very appealing in its dreamy bewilderment. If you a fan of so-bad-they're-great - this release really is a no-brainer.