Chances are you have probably seen clips from The Story of Ricky either as a viral video or from the Daily Show’s old ‘5 Questions’ segment. The video I’m mentioning is a shot of a huge guy in leather crushing the head of a small man like a *cough* melon. My first exposure to this movie was during pre-viral video days when I was often downloading martial arts videos from Morpheus/Kazaa. After seeing the aforementioned clip I discovered all I needed to know about this movie over at www.badmovies.org. However, I wouldn’t check that site’s review if you are really interested in seeing the film as it reveals many of the surprises you will experience.

The opening sequence ends by setting up the movie saying:
“By 2001 A.D. capitalistic countries have privatized all government organizations. Prisons, like car-parks, have become franchised business…..”
To follow that, Ricky has been sentenced to 10 years in one of these prisons for manslaughter and assault. The jail is controlled by a very powerful warden, who has more ‘power’ than you expect. Next is the assistant warden who has 2 hooks for one of his hands and a glass eye that doubles as a breath-mint container (yes, you read correctly…). The jail is divided into four sections conveniently named the North block, South block etc. etc. Each of these blocks is controlled by a super-tough guy and these men (one of whom is played by a woman) are called the Gang of Four. Yes this movie does have a knack for creative nomenclature.

The plot gets rolling when Ricky defends an old man in a shower room. From then on he fights and endures various tortures until the tremendous climax which bares a significant resemblance to that of Braindead (Dead Alive), complete with a massive polyurethane body-suit and a deluge of fake blood.

There are 2 key features of The Story of Ricky that make it a ‘Must-See-DVD’. The obvious first element is the gore. Imagine a Bruce Lee film in which the blows delivered by the star dismember or cause their targets to explode. Sonny Chiba would be proud. In fact, there is a shot that pays homage to Chiba and his violent Street Fighter movies, however this film goes 10 steps further than any of those. The second element is the complete random timing of the violence. The majority of the bloody shots come without notice, even when Ricky is in the middle of kicking ass. What I mean is that there are certain moments when Ricky is fighting and you can’t help but say ‘Whoa!!! That was fucking crazy!!!’.

The violence in this film is very unrealistic, but to the point that it’s hilarious. Dummies are used a number of times and it is always obvious. Many people are dismembered, have holes punched in them and have parts of their bodies sliced open and quite often they are able to continue fighting afterwards. Any man who can tie the two ends of a severed tendon together and continue fighting must have some real cojones.

As for the story, this film does a pretty decent job of not getting too slow. Movies like this can get boring as soon as the fighting stops but The Story of Ricky has enough bad acting that you’ll want to pay attention to what is being said. The amount of speaking in between fighting is cut pretty short. Some of the slower flashback sequences have fight scenes in them to make sure you don’t lose interest, and random acts of violence against people and animals (the best moment in the film involves a guard dog and a well placed kick) are stuck into speaking scenes.

This film may not be found in the big blue and yellow box stores but it can easily be found online. I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of splatter, martial arts or straight-up cheesy films. I hold this on the same level as Dead Alive, Bad Taste, Return of the Living Dead and the Sleepaway Camp movies.

And I mustn’t forget, for all of you who want the same power as Ricky you must remember one thing, Chi-Gong is best practiced with a crazy, cackling uncle at night in a graveyard. The greater amount of desecration to the headstones, the better you will be!

Feel free to enjoy the famous ‘head-crushing’ video clip. Warning: The following footage contains graphic depictions of justice being served.

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