Exploitation film has reached a point where there are just too many subgenres to count, or to care about for that matter. This film combines three of the subgenres into one incoherent amalgamation of boredom: Blaxploitation, Kung Fu flicks, and “Brucesploitation.” While the two former concepts should be familiar outside of the realm of cinephilia, Brucesploitation may be a little more difficult to grasp. Basically, after the death of Bruce Lee, filmmakers began to capitalize on Lee’s image posthumously, by using barely passable lookalikes such as Bruce Le or Bruce Li as lead martial artists. In the case of The Black Dragon’s Revenge, only Bruce Lee’s name was used, but he was an important concept to the ideas given by the plot of the film. However, with the three subgenres combined, a paper-thin plot, and abnormally slow pacing, The Black Dragon’s Revenge manages to transcend the concept of “leaving much to be desired.”

The film’s protagonist, Ron Van Clief, or The Black Dragon, plays himself in a plot that suggests a quasi-reality in which Bruce Lee had written a secret martial arts style before he was killed. It is up to The Black Dragon to find this manuscript and discover the reason that Bruce Lee was killed. That is what the film’s box and other reviews suggest to be the story’s plot. However, when watching, it is incredibly easy to get lost, considering each character has an insanely limited agency. As the film progresses, you are introduced to more characters that don’t have a perceived logical contribution to the advancement of the story, yet they stick around, and you are expected to understand why. Unfortunately, the poorly written plot is the first step towards a very unbalanced ratio concerning bad to good.

When it comes to having a serial killer being used as the main character or used as the anti-hero, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.  Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and of course Dexter are titles that first come to mind.  The difference between these two titles is that we understand their code, or see the lack of code, when it comes to whom they choose to kill.  It’s escapist entertainment, and I appreciate the morbidity of rooting for such deplorable characters, but that’s what cinema and television do; they take us along for a ride that reality cannot.  When it comes to Dead West, we’re on board for a cross-country trip with a serial killer, but sadly this is a trip that had me reaching for the door handle before arriving at our destination.

When we first meet “The Ladykiller” (Brian Sutherland), he’s at a honkytonk bar in Texas and has his eye on one of the patrons who seems to have an eye on him as well.  After a little small talk, he leads her behind the bar, and after he decides she’s not to his liking, he kills her.  Apparently this is the M.O. for the killer, killing pretty young blondes, except this blonde has a brother Tony (Jeffrey Arrington) who wants revenge for his sister’s death.  It’s a simple setup to get the story rolling, but the problem is there is nothing much else on display.