Blood Ring (1991) User Reviews (2)

Decent BLOODSPORT wannabe

[udar55 · 5/10 · 12 June 2011]

Drunk kickboxing hustler Max Rivers (Dale "Apollo" Cook) finds himself up against a crime syndicate when his ex-girlfriend Susan (Andrea Lamatsch) asks for help in locating her missing boyfriend. After all, that is what drunk kickboxing ex-boyfriends are for. Seems said boyfriend was doing illegal underground fights for crime boss Don Carlio (Don Nakaya Neilsen) and got killed when he tried to run out. Naturally, this all leads to Max being forced to fight in the next tournament.

Believe it or not, this is my first "Apollo" Cook movie and, for a BLOODSPORT ripoff, it was pretty entertaining. Of course, most of that entertainment comes from the budget starved production and brain dead direction. For example, Max and Susan escape and he decides the best place to get sober and train is in the forest. He literally stops their truck and says, "This will be a good place." Later, his plan to get revenge on Carlio is to sneak into the illegal fights and sit in the crowd in a hat and sunglasses, where he is spotted immediately and forced to fight again. Cook is a former WKA kickboxing champ so he definitely has the fighting skills and he is okay as an actor. There was this one small bit I thought was pretty good where he was fighting a guy and would do all these different styles. Like he would say, "Bruce Lee!" and imitate him and then say, "How about a little Steven Seagal?" and do him. Anyway, it was funny because he named all these famous fighters and then ended it by kicking the guy in the head and says, "And now some "Apollo" Cook!" So his character referenced his real life self. Awesome. Love interest Lamatsch has one hell of an accent (German I think). Look for Filipino action staples Jim Gaines and Nick Nicholson in supporting roles.

Blood Ring is fun entertainment!

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 16 March 2011]

Max Rivers (Cook) is an underground kickboxer with a drinking problem. His former girlfriend Susan (Lamatsch) is now with fellow kick-fighter Philip (Tartalia). When evil gangsters kidnap (or possibly kill) Philip, Susan runs back to her former love, Max, for help. Unfortunately, Max doesn't realize the caliber of what he's getting himself into, as this army of punks is led by the sinister fighter Don Carlio (Neilsen).

Caught and imprisoned by Carlio, they force Max to fight for them in order to save Susan. Upon escaping their clutches, Max and Susan head out to the woods so Max can train for the final battle with Carlio. Will love and kickboxing prowess conquer all? Released by AIP but produced by Davian International, the company behind the majority of Dale "Apollo" Cook's career, "Blood Ring" was directed by the infamous Teddy Page. Besides Cook, it also features Nick Nicholson, a man fast becoming a familiar face around the Comeuppance Reviews headquarters for his bad guy roles. Cook continues his penchant for pink and/or purple tank tops and shorts, while the cute Lamatsch has an extremely thick German accent which is never explained plot-wise. Neilsen isn't much in the acting department but you can tell he's a fighter in real life because his moves are well-executed. The plot all comes to a head with one of the bloodiest final fights in recent memory in a barbed wire ring and there's even a pre-Mike Tyson ear bite.

Max has some stupid one-liners, the "punch" sound effects sound like some dude hitting a snare drum, and the plot is pretty minimal. Additionally, seeing as there are many kicks and punches to the crotch in the film, it seems like they spent more energy on the genital trauma than on the storyline. Nevertheless, there are some cool camera moves and some good energy overall. There's also some decent humor, such as the big opponent with the executioner's mask that yells continuously, and the fact that it really seems like the main bad guy's name is "Garulio". When we found out it was not, in fact, "Garulio", we were disappointed. But on the bright side, that name is now usable for someone else...

All told, Blood Ring is a decently entertaining movie that gets better as it goes along.

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