Devil's Express (1976)

An undeservedly obscure Blaxploitation/Kung Fu/horror crossover, Devil's Express (1976) - also known by the more mundane title of Gang War - stars the magnificently named, (not to mention coiffured) War Hawk Tanzania as a Harlem martial arts guru who finds himself involved not just in gang warfare, but also tangling with an honest-to-goodness demon into the bargain.  In spite of a low budget, Devil's Express is a surprisingly slick looking production, shot on location in New York, giving it plenty of local atmosphere and a realistic sheen.  The effects are cheap,as to be expected, but reasonably effective - even the demon, when it is finally revealed, isn't too badly realised, looking a lot better than many other low budget movie monsters of the era.  The film's main problem is its lack of narrative focus as it meanders between the sub-plots, with the gang war aspect taking centre stage for large stretches of the narrative, with the police investigation into a series of gory murders on the subway pushed into the background until the latter stages of the film and star War Hawk Tanzania virtually vanishing for long stretches of the film.  

This meandering is characteristic of the film as a whole.  We kick off in ancient China with a group of monks sealing something into a well before killing themselves, before jumping forward to present day, (well, 1976), New York, where Tanzania's Luke Curtis is taking local cop Chris (Larry Fleischmann) through a martial arts lesson, vehemently resisting the latter's attempts to recruit his assistance in dealing with local gang violence.  Next thing, we're back in China, where Luke and another of his pupils, Rodan (Wilfredo Roldan), is attending some kind of martial arts training retreat.  Before you know it, Rodan has stumbled on the well and stolen an amulet buried there - inevitably, this reawakens the demon sealed in there, who follows them back to New York by taking over the body of a passenger about to board a US-bound ship.  Back in the Big Apple, Rodan and his gang get involved in a drug deal gone bad with some local Chinese guys, which erupts into full fledged gang warfare between black and Chinese gangs.  With the amulet in his possession, Rodan suddenly finds himself possessed of a new, murderous, power that allows him to brutally and bloodily dispatch opponents.  The demon, meanwhile, has decamped to the New York subway, gorily shedding his human host, where he starts tearing apart unwary victims as he searches for his amulet.  The police investigation, led by Chris, runs into a brick wall and Rodan, inevitably, ends up in the subway, facing the demon.  Luke, having learned from a Chinese priest that the demon needs the amulet in order to regain its full powers - without it, the demon couldn't stand daylight, hence the lurking in the subway - and goes into the tunnels to avenge Rodan and get the amulet back.

Incredibly, for such a crowded plot, the film clocks in at only eighty three minutes - at times it feels as if there are several different films playing out simultaneously, until it finally all comes together in the last act. Yet, despite all of the competing plot elements, Devil's Express could never really be described as 'fast paced'.  While it never really feels slow, the film is punctuated by sequences that feel like asides from its main thrust - a scene in a bar that culminates in a brawl  unrelated to the plot, or Chris' new partner's various ruminations on the nature of whatever is killing people on the subway, or even Luke's hook up with his woman, for instance - but they do add lots of pleasing local colour and character to the film.  Watching the film, one can't help but be struck by a persistent feeling that its loose structure is the result of the makers being unable, or unwilling, to properly flesh out its one original aspect: the demon on the subway.  As it stands its a slim idea that often feels at odds with the greater realism of the gang war sub-plot, the police investigation and the whole on-the-streets feel.  It might well be that the only way the film could be financed was by emphasising these aspects of the film, (indeed, the alternative title of Gang War and the associated trailer that doesn't even feature the demon, suggests the distributors had no faith in the supernatural aspect as a selling point), or it could be that the supernatural element was added in almost as an afterthought in order to try and distinguish what would otherwise have been a routine plot from countless similar low-budget pictures.

Barry Rosen's direction , if not inspired, is efficient, making excellent use of the New York locations and keeps things moving in the right direction, (he later found success as a TV producer).  Performances are highly variable, with the supporting players generally faring best: Wilfredo Roldan, for instance, is superbly scuzzy as Rodan, (to the point that you are left wondering just why Luke chose him, of all his pupils, to take to China), while Stephen DeFazio is memorable as Chris' sidekick, forever weaving bizarre theories about the subway killings.  Star War Hawk Tanzania is, it has to be said, fairly wooden in many scenes, (which is, perhaps, why his screen time is limited, despite his top billing).  What he does have, however, is an undeniable screen presence, cutting an imposing figure in every scene in which he appears.  Damn it, he even gets away with Kung Fu fighting while wearing the most amazing pair of gold flares.  Interestingly, although having screen presence and obvious martial arts prowess, I can find only one other screen credit for Tanzania, for 1975's Force Five.  He seems to have vanished from the scene after Devil's Express, perhaps a victim of the fact that his only two films came late in both the Blaxploitation and Kung Fu cycles, restricting further opportunities.

The film does have some negatives when seen from a modern perspective, principally the stereotypical portrayals of the Chinese characters.  But this aside, Devil's Express is actually a lot of fun to watch.  It might well meander all over the place at times, but often wanders into some pleasingly surprising developments.  The climactic confrontation between Luke and the demon, for instance, isn't simply the physical Kung Fu fight one might expect, instead encompassing the demon's use of illusion to give it a spiritual aspect as well.  If nothing else, the film captures something of the ambience of seventies New York, presenting the viewer with a satisfying time capsule of the era.  An eccentric piece that never quite settles into being truly Blaxploitation, martial arts or horror and never really completely combining these elements in an entirely satisfactory manner, Devil's Express is nonetheless well worth seeking out.  Its attempts to effectively juxtapose its main elements is ultimately what makes it so fascinating and enjoyable.  As a final thought, I was left wondering whether War Hawk Tanzania had originally been called War Hawk Tanganiyka-Zanzibar...