Plot: Tiger (Michael Sopkiw) was once a revered police officer, but he has spent the last few years behind bars. He was locked up for the murder of a criminal who was known to be guilty, but would walk free on technicalities. Now after eight years in prison, Tiger is a free man and he returns to his childhood home in rural Georgia, to live off the land and lead a quiet life. But he quickly learns that won’t be the case, between the arrival of his estranged daughter Connie (Valentina Forte) and a group of boozed up, violent locals that terrorizes the woods. Tiger sees these rednecks kill and torture animals just for fun, not for food or survival, not to mention their over hunting and bullying ways toward anyone who crosses their path. After several run ins with the yokels, Tiger decides it would be best just to leave town, as he has no desire to fight or give in to violence. He just wants to be left alone, but of course, these rednecks refuse to let him be. When tensions reach a boiling point, will Tiger be forced to once again pick up his weapon to make things right and if so, can even he survive a horde of rednecks?

Entertainment Value: This movie has Michael Sopkiw, George Eastman, and a band of Italian rednecks, what else could you want? A blend of First Blood and Deliverance, Blastfighter is an interesting piece of hicksploitation, if for no other reason than the Italian slant to the experience. The story is basic, but sets up what needs to happen, as a man is pushed to the brink and has to fight, despite his strong desire to just be left alone to be in peace. Sopkiw is a solid b movie action star, but lacks the charisma of some of his brethren. His performance here is fine for what the movie asks though, while Eastman has a small role, but its always nice to see him around. The real stars here are the hicks, who are quite a humorous take on the redneck stereotype, made all the more ridiculous by the dubbed voices involved. The action scenes are limited, but the finale pulls out all the stops and gives us a fitting battle in the woods. Just don’t expect wall to wall, over the top action, as this is more of a drama with some action elements. Blastfighter is good fun though, even when the action is in a lull. Anyone who appreciates hicksploitation, 80s action, or just the idea of Italian rednecks should check it out.

No nakedness. This is a movie about rednecks, so there is an attempted gang rape, but luckily, Sopkiw breaks up the backwoods bukkake before it can happen. The blood side is more ample, but there’s not a ton of bloodshed in this one, either. A lot of the gun shots are bloodless, for example. The violence against animals is stock footage from what I’ve read, but its still hard to watch. One highlight in the gore area is a gun shot wound to the leg that forces Sopkiw to do some amateur surgery with a knife. He digs out the bullet and the effect looks good, so there’s that. There are some fun action scenes too, with the world’s coolest shotgun involved in most of them. This gun can explode entire vehicles, light men ablaze, and god knows what else. As I said, not a non stop action movie, but there’s solid action set pieces here. The dialogue here is outlandish and hilarious, especially from Connie and the various rednecks. Over the top stereotypes abound and that yields some entertaining lines. A touching father/daughter moment is captured with the line “You’re no horse’s ass,” so you know this is gold. Aside from the dialogue and insane shotgun, there’s not much insanity to be found here. But those elements alone earn a couple points, I think.

Nudity: 0/10

Blood: 2/10

Dialogue: 6/10

Overall Insanity: 2/10