''Thou Shalt Not Kill ... Except'', also known as ''Stryker's War'', is a 1985 American

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

directed by Josh Becker and starring Robert Rickman, John Manfredi, Tim Quill, Cheryl Hausen, Perry Mallette and

Sam Raimi Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the '' Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1990 superhero film ''Darkman' ...

. It was written by Becker and

Scott Spiegel Scott Spiegel (born December 10, 1957) is an American screenwriter, film director, producer and actor. He co-wrote the screenplay for the movie ''Evil Dead II'' with longtime friend, film director Sam Raimi, with whom he attended Wylie E. Grove ...

from a story by Becker, actor

Bruce Campbell Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film '' Within the Woods''. He has starred in many low- ...

, and

Sheldon Lettich Sheldon Lettich ( ; born January 14, 1951) is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is best known for his collaborations with Jean-Claude Van Damme and his work in the action film genre. Early life He was born in New York City ...

. The cast of the film consists largely of unknowns, because most of the smaller roles are filled by Becker's friends and relatives. Some, however, have been featured in other films, largely those produced by Renaissance Pictures or otherwise involving Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell or Josh Becker. The film held its premiere in

Warren, Michigan Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2020 Census places the city's population at 139,387, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb. ...

on October 13, 1985, and was later released to video in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and Japan on 21 May 1987, followed by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

on March 31, 1999. The

low budget film A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

is fairly obscure, but maintains a small following as an

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ( ...

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

Plot

Having come home after half of his squadron was killed during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, Sergeant Jack Stryker (portrayed by Brian Schulz), given an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

due to his injuries, attempts to get his life back together. Finding himself reunited with an old girlfriend, Sally (Cheryl Hausen) and his war buddies, he feels he may have successfully re-established his life. However, this happiness is quickly cut short when a murderous cult led by an enigmatic but unnamed

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

-like figure, portrayed by director and writer

, comes into town to continue their rampage. After Sally is tortured and Stryker and his compatriots find the cult torturing police officers near his house, they arm themselves up and decide to - as the trailer puts it - "break the laws of both God (the title is a reference to one of the Biblical

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments ( Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

) and man" and fight back. What follows is a war between the two groups, ending in numerous deaths, including the cult leader's; the exchange between the cult leader and Stryker is as follows: Upon which Stryker shoots Raimi's character in the chest, and he careens into a river, eventually being impaled on a motorcycle, and their brutal war is ended.

Cast

Stryker's group

* Brian Schulz as Sergeant Jack Stryker * Robert Rickman as Sgt. Walker J. Jackson * John Manfredi as 2nd Lt. David Miller * Tim Quill as Lt. Cpt. Tim Tyler * Cheryl Hausen as Sally * Perry Mallette as Otis * Pam Lewis as Mom * Jim Griffen as Dad

Cult Members

as cult leader * Connie Craig as bald cult girl * Ivitch Fraser as young cult girl * Terry-Lynn Brumfield as sleazy cult girl *

Ted Raimi Theodore "Ted" Raimi (born December 14, 1965) is an American character actor, director, comedian, and writer. He is known for his roles in the works of his brother Sam Raimi, including a fake Shemp in ''The Evil Dead'', possessed Henrietta in ' ...

as Chain Man * Kirk Haas as the Stabber * Al Johnston as big biker * Chuck Morris as puke biker * Scott Mitchell as Mad Hatter *

as Pincushion * Glenn Barr as Archer * Marek Pacholec as Bat Man

Others/Uncredited

* David Kelly * Gary Jones * Josh Becker as hood crushed under the car/shot cult leader (uncredited) *

as video newscaster (uncredited) * Don Campbell as Marine (uncredited)

Production

''Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except'' was originally produced in 1980 as a

Super-8 Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted ...

film entitled ''Stryker's War'', designed to get interest from investors; Campbell and Becker drafted the story ideas while returning home from the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

set of ''

The Evil Dead ''The Evil Dead'' is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Robert Tapert and executive produced by Raimi, Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, who also starred alongside Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeMan ...

''. The interior sets were primarily Bruce Campbell's garage in suburban

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, dressed up as either a military base or Stryker's house. The Vietnam scenes were filmed in Hartland, though the overhead shots consist solely of

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stoc ...

. Bruce Campbell also served as assistant sound editor on the film, where he re-used many of the

Foley Foley may refer to: Places United States * Foley, Alabama * Foley, Florida, a community in Taylor County, Florida *Foley, Minnesota *Foley, Missouri *Foley Field, baseball stadium in Athens, Georgia *Foley Square in Manhattan Canada *Foley Island ...

effects created for ''The Evil Dead''. The film's release was, like ''The Evil Dead'', handled primarily by press agent

Irvin Shapiro Irvin Shapiro (August 6, 1906 – January 1, 1989) was an American producer, film importer and distributor who was responsible for introducing a number of influential foreign films to the United States, as well as handling the early work of some ...

. Shapiro suggested the final title, over Becker's objections; this is similar to Shapiro's summary retitling of ''The Book of the Dead'' to ''The Evil Dead''.

Release

''Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except'' was given a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

theatrically in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

by Film World Distributors in 1985. The film was released on VHS by Starmaker Video in the late 1980s. It was later released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

in the

Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television se ...

in 2002. This version is currently

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a boo ...

. On April 10, 2012 Synapse released a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack of the film containing a new transfer and extras.

Legacy

Following

A small but devoted

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic ...

has arisen around this film. Josh Becker's website is notable for comments of some fans of the film, who hail it as one of the great works in American filmography. Some groups have even devoted significant new artwork to the film, including reimaging the soundtrack, re-editing the film and other "tributes". One of the best known fans group, based in Stockton, California, have commemorated the film through communal art projects, featuring extravagant parties to debut their creations; a tradition that has now lasted over 15 years.

In popular culture

The dialogue between Stryker and the cult leader - where the latter declares: "I am Jesus Christ", and Stryker retorts: "No you're not...you're dead" - is sampled at the beginning of the Entombed song ''Out of Hand'', from the album ''

Wolverine Blues ''Wolverine Blues'' is the third studio album by Swedish death metal band Entombed, released on 4 October 1993 by Earache Records. The album displays a completely different sound from previous releases, combining elements of hard rock, heav ...

''.

References

External links

* * * Becker, Josh. Campbell, Bruce: ''Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except'' DVD audio commentary. {{Josh Becker 1985 films American horror thriller films American action thriller films 1985 horror films Vietnam War films Films directed by Josh Becker 1980s action thriller films American action horror films American exploitation films 1980s exploitation films American films about revenge Films about cults American vigilante films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films Films with screenplays by Scott Spiegel Films produced by Scott Spiegel Films with screenplays by Sam Raimi Films produced by Sam Raimi