10 Things You Didn’t Know About Red Scorpion

Dolph Lundgren burst upon the scene in Rocky IV and Hollywood could not help but take notice of the Swedish born hulk. Dolph’s first starring role came with 1987’s Masters of the Universe and it was an unfortunate box office bomb for all involved. 1988’s Red Scorpion was an attempt to hit the reset button and get Dolph Lundgren back on track to become Hollywood’s next big action star.

Red Scorpion received the special edition Blu-ray treatment from Synapse Films filled with special features including a digital restoration of the uncensored version of the film, a behind the scenes featurette, some video interviews and a commentary track hosted by Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson and the director of Red Scorpion, Joe Zito.

The commentary track was the source material for this post, 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Red Scorpion…

1. Red Scorpion was originally going to be a Warner Brothers production, but when filming had to be moved from the small country of Swaziland in southern Africa (the production was dis-invited by the King) and moved to Namibia, Warner Brothers had to pull out as they were forbidden to shoot in Namibia. 

2. All of the building structures seen in the film from the military base to the villages did not previously exist and had to be built for the movie. 

3. There was a traveling caravan of animals that accompanied the crew to all the locations in Namibia over the course of the 87 day shoot. The animals included hyenas, snakes, lizards, vultures and last but not least, scorpions. Dolph’s stunt double wanted $500 for every scorpion that bit him during the memorable scorpion scene. But Dolph ended up doing the scene with the scorpions himself after Director Joe Zito assured Dolph the scorpions were safe by holding one in his hand. Dolph was not bit… in fact, no animals were hurt or hurt anyone during production. 

4. M. Emmet Walsh, who played reporter Dewey Ferguson in the movie, had one complaint during the course of filming. Walsh did not want any part of the pond he had to jump in when Dewey, Kallunda (Al White) and Nikolai (Dolph Lundgren) find themselves under attack after surviving the truck chase… but being the pro he is Walsh did it anyway. 

5. Director Joe Zito and writer/producer Jack Abramoff were set to follow up Red Scorpion with Red Scorpion 2, but the movie never got past the talking stages and Zito moved on to other projects. Jack Abramoff would eventually produce the sequel, 1994’s Red Scorpion 2, but without Zito as the director and without Dolph Lundgren as the star.

6. Joe Zito has never seen Red Scorpion 2, but that is par for the course. Zito has not watched the sequels to any of the movies he has directed (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and Invasion U.S.A.) with the notable exception of Missing in Action 2: The Beginning, because that movie famously was actually shot BEFORE Joe Zito shot what would end up being the original Missing in Action. 

7. Much to his chagrin, Dolph Lundgren put an actual grub in his mouth during his “dinner scene” around the fire with the Bushman elder.

8. Speaking of the Bushmen, they were all actual African Bushmen and not actors. One of the assistant directors was tasked with rounding up the Bushmen for the film. This proved to be a bit of a challenge since the Bushmen refused to fly, so once they were found they had to take a truck to the location. Once they were on location, the Bushmen refused to stay in a hotel, so another set of huts had to be built for them to actually stay in, since the huts built for the production were going to be burned down in the flamethrower scene (a scene that was actually cut from some releases of the film over the years and one Zito almost cut himself). 

9. And speaking of the infamous flamethrower scene, that scene had been cut from many of the Red Scorpion releases over the years. Joe Zito contemplated cutting the scene from the movie himself, but ultimately left it in.

10. Legendary FX man, Tom Savini did the special effects makeup for Red Scorpion and it is in Zito’s opinion that the torture scene where Nikolai has needles jabbed into him is Tom Savini’s best work ever. Zito also cleared up a rumor that he wanted an exploding head in the movie but Savini didn’t want to do it. According to Zito, Savini had the exploding head already made but Zito didn’t want to use it.