INFERNO (1998) ***

This week, I had the pleasure of being on The Direct to Video Connoisseur Podcast discussing two of my favorite directors, Jim Wynorski and Fred Olen Ray.  The two main features up for discussion were Wynorksi’s The Return of Swamp Thing and Ray’s Don “The Dragon” Wilson actioner, Inferno.  Our chat can be found here:  DTVC Podcast 94 "Inferno" and "The Return of Swamp Thing" (talkshoe.com)

Inferno has the distinction of being the first American movie filmed exclusively in India.  Thanks to the local color, it looks a little bit classier than your typical Don “The Dragon” Wilson actioner produced by Roger Corman.  It also helps that it was directed in a no-nonsense manner by Fred Olen Ray, who keeps the action moving along at a steady clip.  

Wilson stars as a cop whose partner (Rick Hill) gets blown up by bad guy Evan Lurie.  The fact that Wilson is taken off the case doesn’t stop him from going all the way to India to track Lurie down.  Don eventually learns his partner faked his death to steal a computer program he can use to rip off banks for millions of dollars.  It’s then up to “The Dragon” to get payback and kick some ass.  

Inferno is in that classic Stranger in a Strange Land mold of action flick where the hero finds himself in another country, thumbs his nose at the local cops, and sets out to exact his very American idea of justice.  You know, the kind where the hero gets picked up by the cops after a major fight scene and is set down in front of the Yelling Police Captain who says stuff like, “I want you on the first plane back to America!”  You know, the whole Final Justice sort of thing.

Wilson does what he does best, namely kick fools in the face.  Evan Lurie is entertaining as the slimy villain.  I’m used to seeing him play loveable lunkhead kinds of roles, so it was a nice surprise to see him pull off such a villainous character with ease.  It’s also fun seeing Ray drawing from his usual pool of talent, as he was able to secure the presence of such beauties as Jillian Kesner and Tane McClure, who is involved in the Skinamax-style gratuitous sex scenes.  (This is a Fred Olen Ray picture, after all.)  I also got a kick out of seeing cinematographer Gary Graver and even Ray himself, popping up in incidental roles.  

The action is staged solidly for the most part.  What the fights and shootout lack in panache, they more than make up for in frequency.  I also liked the way it incorporated many plot elements from several Bond movies.  There’s a kingpin with a wild child daughter who falls for the hero (like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), the hero performing a fake-out assassination (like The Living Daylights), the hero’s best friend faking his own death and becoming the main villain (like Goldeneye), and big fight scenes that take place in Indian marketplaces (like Octopussy).  

Overall, it’s a shade better than your average Bloodfist movie.  

AKA:  Operation Cobra.  AKA:  Indian Ninja.