Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except or Beyond Biloxi Blues, On Blu Ray/DVD Combo

This sucker's confirmed! Synapse does it again with a damn fine Blu Ray/DVD release of Thou Shalt Not Kill Except. It's everything you might remember from earlier viewing with some excellent special features and nice transfer. It's not the best transfer Synapse has put out, but the quality of the initial release didn't leave much to work with. It saw a VHS release in the 80's from Starmaker Video (for all you VHS heads) and then Anchor Bay had a go. Welcome to the version you want to own. Exploitation Action cinema retrospective starts... NOW.

Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except follows a group of ex military that return home to find an outlandish, damn near crazy cult leader (played by Sam Raimi) in dire need of the kind of therapy only the military can provide. It's been called the military vs. the Manson family, and Sam Raimi plays an excellent Manson-esque cult leader. It's made by the group of friends who are behind The Intruder not limited to but including Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Scott Spiegel and Sam Raimi.

fI like to think of Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except as a spin off the movie the A-Team only completely different. Each character sorta matches up with an A-Team character, especially the B.A. Baracus type character; that "rip off" is confirmed in the making of feature. Mr. Rickman didn't use the Mohawk, but he didn't need to. Bad ass. The music is that same military staccato that you might find in the theme song of the A-Team (even though its just standard military action movie music). I suppose all military flicks carry similarities to the A-Team, but considering it's the first thing to came to mind when watching it this time around I think it's worth noting.

When you watch this movie you need to revel in the special effects. There are sequences that come straight out Evil Dead only on a seemingly lower budget. That makes them pretty bad effects from a realistic stand point, but they are absolutely fun. It's the reason you would watch a movie like this to begin with. Why'd you think you'd be watching it, for the love story?



It's a cult classic, and you've been waiting for it for some time. Why not pick it up? The making of extra is in depthy, full of interviews with all the people you love. It even features an alternate title sequence for the other title, Stryker's War. There are shots of Bruce Campbell in the Super 8 version that are borderline hysterical. You'd like to see him in that role. What a versatile performer. The Super 8 version is actually on the disk as is an interview with Mr. Campbell. This team of filmmakers was the 80's equivalent of the team behind the Ed Wood pictures.



Enjoy the movie because it's over the top, stars the nobody you know of (just think of Spiderman when you see Sam Raimi in this one) and because the violence is fake but refreshing. Stay for the special features because you'll learn something. Indy filmmakers take friggin' note. April 10th, you know what to do... go to Synapse Films HERE and introduce this to a new generation.