Saturday, May 7, 2016

Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (1997)

aka Black Scorpion: Ground Zero

How bad is it? It's sort of Roger Corman's take on the 1960's Batman tv show (not good).
Should you see it? Nah.


I didn't see the original film, which I'm told was quite different and better. Joan Severance returns as the avenger-by-night. The bad guy, Prankster, is an obvious rip-off of Marvel's Joker and his busty sidekick Giggles adds little (though she does go topless); I looked her up online - she committed suicide a decade after this. The plot's hard to follow because it doesn't hold together, but there's an earthquake researcher who's creating earthquakes. There's a car that morphs from one type to another, though the chase scenes are done in close-up to hide their cheapness. There's an appearance by Garrett Morris, an exploding clown, Joan Severance proving she can neither do martial arts nor comedy, a squirt gun full of acid, cartoon sound effects (reminiscent of Three Stooges) and a little nudity to keep young male watchers' attention. This was followed by a TV series that lasted a season and a video, "Black Scorpion Returns," neither of which I feel compelled to see.

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