Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except

This is for those who have followed the career of Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead trilogy and also the Spider-Man trilogy.

Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except (also called Stryer's War) is a perfect example of the saying, "everybody's gotta start somewhere." But that's not to say that this isn't entertaining.

This flick is about a Vietnam vet, Jack Stryker, who gets injured and gets discharged to come back to his hometown. Meanwhile, there's a crazy cult of killers roaming the town, inflicting random murders at their whim (led by Sam himself). So, while Stryker's army buddies are in town, the killers have circled around Stryker's girlfriend. The result is Stryker and his army buddies taking on the entire cult of killers.

I have to say, it's a fun flick to watch. It's low budget and it's got lots of fake blood in it - an equation that almost always attracts me. The performances aren't the best, but they're believable enough not to take away from the film. The strongest, I'd say, is Raimi's cult leader. (While watching it, I point to him on the screen and go, "Amy - you see that guy right there with the hippie wig, the blacked-out tooth and the crazy eyes cutting his had with his sword and smearing his blood on that tied-up guy's face?" "Yeah..." "That's the guy that directed Spider-Man!")

At a short 82 minutes, it's time enough to watch it without feel you're wasting any time on it. It's a fun, guilt-free flick for people interested in seeing the path a now-famous director took to get where he is today. Definitely rent it.