SFX Retaliator (1987) User Reviews (4)

Linda completists only

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 15 June 2019]

Take Chris Mitchum (son of Robert, star of The Day That Time Ended, Faceless, Bigfoot and, perhaps most astoundingly, Alejandro Jodorowsky's Tusk).

Add a bit of Gordon Mitchell, who played Colonel Morgan in Endgame, Dr. Frankenstein in Frankenstein '80 and Igor in Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks.

Grab a recipe for a movie already made. Let's say, FX. Make it in the Philippines with Jun Gallardo, using the American name John Gale.

Then - and most importantly - add some Linda Blair.

Mitchum plays Steve Baker, a special effects guy who gets drawn into the theft of a million dollars when he gives Doris, a prostitute/secretary for the mob a ride. If you are wonder, "Does Linda play the hooker?" then you've been paying attention to her roles in the late 1980's.

The mob is at war with another mob, with Mitchell's character Morgan in charge of it all. Well, sooner than you can say, "I saw this already with Bryan Brown," Steve is using his movie skills to fool the criminals.

Christine Landson (who was in two other movies, Blood Hands and Desert Warrior as Sterraz Amazon, a name which I'm going to scream out loud while I drive home tonight) is in this as Steve's wife, who gets kidnapped by the mob. They have an amazing sex scene that has her topless while buildings blow up real good all around them, which is pretty much the main reason I loved this movie so much.

There's also a snake that shoots bullets, a home security system that simulates a haunted house and a tank made out of plywood. The movie ends as it should, with people running around with machine guns killing everyone in sight. Is it spoiling the movie if I tell you it ends sadly, with uplifting synth, but the bad guy gets blown up with a missile? Would it upset you to know that Linda dies 48:10 in?

Pardon me, can you spare a script?

[allenk752 · 2 June 2008]

Christopher Mitchum is a guy who does effects for a movie company. He gets involved in a theft of a million dollars when he gives Linda Blair -- looking incredibly frumpy for a mob hooker -- a ride in his car. Then, well, one mob fights another, both are after Mitchum, they kidnap hiswife, he kidnaps Blair, they steal the money back . . . then Mitchum uses his effects "skills" to fight the mobs.

We're supposed to believe that Mitchum uses real bullets, rockets and bombs in his work and they can be bought at the local electronics store. He drives a truck outfitted with weaponry that would make James Bond drool. Yeah, right.

Mitchum and Blair fumble through their roles, but look great compared to the rest of the cast, who only have to utter "mob" phrases ("Get him!" "You go around that way!") and fall down when shot.

The only reason to watch this stinker is for the great Gordon Mitchell, who plays the mob boss. He seems embarrassed but gives it his all. Imagine the star of URSUS AGAINST THE CYCLOPS being embarrassed!

A Major Dissapointment For Z Movie Fans

[mikecanmaybee · 2/10 · 13 February 2022]

It appears Linda Blair (Doris) was only in town for a couple days which would explain why she is such a small part of the film. Anyway, Director (Jim Goldmam) must have spent the budget on her because there was not enough left over for the wimpiest action hero of all time (Christopher Mitchum) Steve Baker who does not have enough special effects to make the film interesting. Steve runs his own special effects company with his wife Kate (Cristina Landson) who is also (Kristin Erlandson) in other films and has a separate IMDB page but is the same actress. Steve uses these special effects to scare the bad guy's who are out to get always fully clothed but still looking hot Doris.

Back to SFX which rolls along with a number of plot twists and two separate army 's of bad guys one led by (Morgan) Gordon Mitchell who was over the hill although he tried and (David Light) Jerome Massini who was at least engaged and it was nice to see a veteran of Z movies get a shot with some real actors. No one else is any good and I had to force myself to keep watching to the end with a fake army tank as the big payoff. SFX Retaliator could have been something special in the Z movie hierarchy, but it turned out to be almost as bad as this review. It's a big no on SFX Retaliator.

SFX Retaliator is a lot of fun and well worth your time.

[tarbosh22000 · 7/10 · 27 September 2019]

Steve Baker (Mitchum) has anyone's dream job: he's a special effects technician on movie sets, specializing in pyro. In other words, he travels to jungles far and wide in his tricked-out van and sets up the controls that provide the explosions. When the director calls "action!", that's exactly what Baker provides. His life gets more complicated, however, when he has a chance meeting with a woman named Doris (Blair). It seems Doris is on the run from mobsters, the lead baddie being Morgan (Mitchell). So, Baker fights off the baddies the only way he knows how - using his bag of "SFX" tricks. You'd think the bad guys would learn not to mess with Steve Baker, but at least they get one valuable takeaway: don't upset his cobra.

The ever-reliable and ever-laconic Chris Mitchum teams up with The Firing Line (1988) director Gallardo to turn in this entertaining winner of a movie. There are some extremely cool sequences, and, speaking of cool, it's hard to get much cooler than Chris Mitchum, especially in this movie. His nonchalant attitude is a joy to watch. He's surrounded by a swirl of silly accents, sillier dialogue, and plenty of mindless shooting. That's what highlights the "SFX" scenes that much more; other exploding-hut-type movies don't have that type of innovation, so 'Retaliator stands out from the crowd. Much like how Steve Baker's awesome van would stand out in traffic.



Besides sporting a canny concept, SFX Retaliator boasts some other benefits as well. Firstly the cast, with the always-welcome Mitchum supported by fan favorites Linda Blair and Gordon Mitchell. Unfortunately, Blair doesn't get to do a heck of a lot, but Mitchell resembles an angrier Hugh Hefner as he barks orders to his underlings. Which is pretty much all he does here. On top of our three leads, another great aspect is the soundtrack. Not just the incidental music, which is quite enjoyable, but the main theme song heard during the opening credits as well. Featuring the lyrics "Retaliate, retaliate, retaliate...RETALIATE!!!" it's hard to go wrong.

The whole outing is like something Arizal would direct, and features a low-budget exploding helicopter. Criminally, SFX Retaliator has never been released on any format in the U.S. (or even in the U.K. as far as we know). This could have been, at the very least, a cult classic if someone like Vestron or Lightning Video had put it onto video store shelves in 1987. Sadly, that was not to be, and as of this writing, SFX Retaliator sits patiently waiting for rediscovery. A company like Roninflix or Vinegar Syndrome should release it on Blu-Ray. Until that happens, there's always YouTube.

SFX Retaliator is a lot of fun and well worth your time.