Bullet Points: Blood Debts

No one can accuse Richard Harrison of being afraid to reinvent himself. Starting his Hollywood career in the 1950’s, the Salt Lake City native had hit a wall in the United States so he ventured to Italy where he found himself as the leading man in multiple gladiator themed movies.

After Harrison’s sword and sandals days in Italy were behind him, Harrison found himself working in places like Taiwan and Hong Kong making ninja movies with Godfrey Ho. But around that same time Harrison was also making a variety action movies in the Philippines for the Silver Star Film Company, including the topic of this edition of Bullet Points, 1985’s vigilante flick, Blood Debts…

• It’s No Picnic: Question, what can ruin a picnic in the park more than pesky insects or even rain? Sarah Collins found out the answer to that question the hard way as she and her fiance were having a nice romantic picnic in the park… and that’s about the time the bullets started flying and five armed guys crashed their picnic. 3 of the 5 guys dragged Sarah into the bushes and raped her. The other 2 guys decided to play a deadly round of “The Most Dangerous Game” with Sarah’s unnamed fiance. Once the scum bags were finished with Sarah, they send her on her way. A hysterical Sarah took off running towards her nearby home shouting for help… and that’s about the time Sarah took a bullet to the back and her father, Mark Collins (Richard Harrison, Challenge of the Tiger) who came outside to see what all the commotion was, ended up taking a bullet himself… but unlike in his daughter’s case, the bullet that hit Mark was not fatal.

• A Few Months Later: Blood Debts does not waste time on things like funerals, the mourning process or convalescing in a hospital, instead the movies skips ahead a few months and we pick up a conversation with the five guys who assaulted and killed Sarah and her fiance and put a bullet in Mark Collins. The unnamed quintet (they are credited as “Hunters”) are talking about how they know Mark Collins was looking to avenge the death of his daughter, most of them blow it off… but one of the five is really squeamish about the whole thing. As luck would have it Mark Collins happens upon the weak link first and that guy spills his guts and gives up his friends. By the time the 30 minute mark hits, all five of the men who attacked Mark’s daughter in the park are dead… including one guy getting taken out by an exploding golf ball.

• Six Minutes Later: Mark makes a promise to his wife, Yvette, that the killing is now over… this leads into a romantic montage that features a stroll in the park, dinner, dancing and love making. But what Mark didn’t know is that while his revenge filled rampage may have gone undetected by the local police force, it did not go undetected by a guy named Bill (Mark Monty, Strike Commando) and his right hand man Peter (Jim Gaines, Black Fire). Bill has a great deal of interest in Mark’s particular set of skills, so he sends some guys to pick Mark up and bring him in for a conversation… what ends up happening is Mark kills all three guys… his promise that he would never kill again lasted all of six minutes.

• The Marksman: Bill desperately wants to be in the Mark business so he goes to desperate measures and has Bill’s wife kidnapped. This forces Mark to go meet with the mysterious Bill, who tells him he is the head of group of concerned citizens that is sick and tired of the ineptitude of the police and the legal loopholes that get criminals back on the streets. Bill then cuts a deal with Mark, if Mark kills a bunch of bad guys for Bill, Bill will then pay Mark quite handsomely and return his wife to him so they can begin a new life together. Bill also pairs Mark up with a female partner, Liza (Ann Milhench, 9 Deaths of the Ninja). Liza was a former hit woman for the mob, who turned tate’s evidence and also finds herself forced to work for Bill as Bill is holding her daughter. How pissed do you think Mark and Liza are going to be when they find out that Bill is a master criminal and he is merely using them to eliminate his competition so he can control all the underworld activities in the territory?

Blood Debts was the Silver Star Film Company’s answer to the Charles Bronson classic, Death Wish. Interestingly enough some of the plot elements of Blood Debts ended up in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, Tit for tat or coincidence?

If I am being generous, I would give Blood Debts 2 3/4 (silver) stars out of 5. The obvious low budget, the lack of logic and a cast filled with shallow characters are counterbalanced by the fact that something is always happening. There is very little downtime between action sequences and the loose story keeps on trucking… plus there is a high quality final kill, which never hurts a movie.

Some quality Bonus Bullet Points never hurts a review…

• The Name Game: Blood Debts was released as Eliminator in France and despite there being a total lack of ninjas in this film, Blood Debts was released as Ninja Jäger in Germany.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see Jim Gaines shove a guy’s head into a urinal and flush, then Blood Debts is the movie for you.
• Reunited: Director Teddy Page and Richard Harrison had previously worked together on Teddy’s first film, Fireback. As well as Teddy’s second film, Hunter’s Crossing.