Silent Rage

The idea of pitting karate champion Norris against a virtually indestructible psychopath is intriguing, but the resulting confusion of clichés proves disappointingly incompetent. Itching to try out his new drug, one of a trio of Frankenstein doctors fastens upon a mad axeman who has been shot to pieces (Libby), and revives him with startling effectiveness. Norris, as a small-town sheriff lumbered with a comic teddy-bear of a deputy and a posse of suspiciously well-scrubbed Hell's Angels, has to take time off to deal with the problem. The doctors bumble through their moral dilemmas, the biologically reinforced monster expresses his silent rage, and a bemused Norris wanders through the Halloween-ish landscape unsure whether he's playing Clint Eastwood or Hopalong Cassidy. Still, his jodan mawashi geri (a swivelling kick to the head) is a joy to behold.