There are many categories of movies. I like to think of it as a four-square matrix. One axis is good/bad in terms of technical execution. The other axis is good/bad in terms of enjoyment. So, there are movies that are well executed and entertaining (good/good) and movies that are poorly made and boring (bad/bad). Occasionally, there are movies that are well made but just don’t hit right (good/bad). Then there’s poorly made movies that nevertheless keep us watching and loving every minute of it (bad/good). AGFA released a three-movie disc featuring the films of Rene Martinez, Jr. His blaxploitation films are squarely in the bad/good category.
Set deep in Florida, “Super Soul Brother” stars Steve Gallon, who is billed as “Wildman Steve”, as a bum who takes an experimental serum that turns him bullet-proof and super-strong. After the set-up and a display of his powers, the other shoe drops. It turns out that the men funding the experiment and the scientist are creating a superman for the purpose of becoming an unstoppable criminal. With the help of the mad scientist’s lovely assistant, Steve turns the tables and fights back against the gang that would seek to use him as a weapon. AGFA has preserved the only existing 35mm theatrical print. The picture quality is not the best, but I’ve seen worse transfers. Besides, this isn’t the kind of movie where the picture quality is all that important. It was a fun movie that does not take itself seriously and “Wildman” Steve’s over-the-top personality drives that home. I keep finding myself comparing the tone to that of “Dolemite”.
The second feature is “The Guy From Harlem” about the adventures of a private detective that sets up shop in Florida, despite constantly talking about how he’s from Harlem. Feeling like the character is definitely derivative of Shaft, Al Connors (the guy from Harlem) takes multiple cases that involve him sleeping with beautiful women and has him repeatedly clash with a mysterious figure known as “Big Daddy”. This is another cheaply made but fun movie that had me chuckling at some of the bizarre dialogue and ridiculous fight sequences. The movie was transferred from a 35mm theatrical print and looks fine enough on the TV.
The third feature is a seventy-minute biker movie called “Road of Death”. I specifically mention the run-time because the movie felt long even at that length. It contained two full songs from “The Joe Banana Thing”, a band that the director liked enough to have the lead singer play a large role in the film. Those two songs are almost immediately followed by a long scene of men and women dancing out in nature. The threadbare plot involves a biker gang that stumbles upon the two couples, then beats up the men and rapes the women. Joe Banana is hospitalized but his bandmate snaps and goes on a revenge fueled killing spree. Unfortunately, “Road of Death” does not have the sense of fun that the other two movies do. It drags, and when the action finally does kick in, it’s poorly executed. While I did not like this one, in the words of Meatloaf “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad”. This film was preserved by Something Weird’s 35mm print, the only known elements in existence. Unfortunately, there is some film damage that could not be cleaned up, leading to some artifacts appearing for an extended period during the movie.
The special features include a photo gallery of promotional materials for the movies and a fifteen-minute trailer reel that contains some wild looking films. The case came with two inserts. One was a card featuring a still from one of the movies on one side and a message about how AGFA has been preserving movies for fifteen years and that Super Soul Brother was their first DVD release. The second insert is a post card that features a reprint of a main order promotion that came with one of “Wildman” Steve Gallon’s LPs; it’s a certificate of membership in the “Tell it like it is Club”.
The audio in all three movies is really bad but I could understand the dialogue. All set in Florida, the three movies provided various levels of entertainment, two of them being fun watches and the other being tedious. With three full movies and fun extras, like the inserts and the trailer reel, this release is a recommend for those that like hilariously bad DIY films.