Here's another good one that never got the attention it deserves.

Uncle Sam reunites the winning team of writer Larry Cohen and director William Lustig. They previously collaborated on the beloved Maniac Cop movies.

It's a good pairing. Cohen's eccentric blend of satire and horror with Lustig's action-exploitation roots make for a fun, even thoughtful motion picture experience.

Friendly fire in Kuwait kills a gung ho soldier. His widow is glad to be free of his violent temperament, but his nephew is enraptured by the idea of soldiers serving their country. The dead soldier comes to life for his hometown Fourth of July celebration to inflict death upon those who desecrate his country.

Uncle Sam is kind of a zombie slasher, rather like Jason from Friday the 13th: Part VI onward. Uncle Sam dishes out patriotic retribution on flag burning punks, a crooked politician, a tax-cheating businessman, and other miscreants. It's all lively fun, with pointed barbs from Cohen giving viewers more than the average killfest.

Cohen usually gets a lot of fairly big names for his movies. Here we have Robert Forster, P.J. Soles, William Smith, Timothy Bottoms, and Bo Hopkins, but Isaac Hayes as a one-legged Korea vet steals the show.

Everyone knows a movie is really made in the editing room. Bob Murawski, who formed Grindhouse Releasing (with the late Sage Stallone) served as editor. He later went on to cut movies like Sam Raimi's Spider Man trilogy and The Hurt Locker.

Larry Cohen. William Lustig. Bob Murawski. No one knows horror and exploitation better than these guys, and it shows in Uncle Sam. Unfortunately it was the last movie directed by Lustig. He was already working for Anchor Bay Entertainment and he was about to launch his own Blue Underground distribution label.

Uncle Sam is beautifully shot. It's far to superior to most exploitation movies of the time. It also touches on elements of patriotism, civil disobedience, and PTSD that are still relevant today. But Lustig and his crew weren't trying to make Gardens of Stone or Coming Home. This is a real action-horror spectacle.

If all that isn't enough, William Smith reads his own stirring poem, "Desert Storm", over the end credits. An epitaph, "For Fulci", closes out the movie. Father Lucio died the previous year. That alone should warm the heart of any patriotic genre novice or veteran.

Written by Mark Sieber

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