Flashback Friday

Avenging Force (1986)

Happy Friday once again my fellow Retronauts!  This week I've chosen a film to honor the late Menahem Golan who passed away last Friday.  Golan was a co-owner of Cannon Films who were responsible for a plethora of 80's B-film gems including the Death Wish series starring Charles Bronson, The Delta Force starring Chuck Norris, and both Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.  Not only is this film action packed, and features a great synth score but it also stars the American Ninja himself.

1986's Avenging Force, directed by Sam Firstenberg stars Michael Dudikoff as Matt Hunter, a highly trained former secret service agent who resigned to take care of his sister Sara following the murder of their parents.  While visiting his African American friend Larry Richards, a candidate for U.S. senate, he learns Larry has been receiving death threats.  Larry and his family are later attacked during a Mardis Gras party in New Orleans and his son is killed.  Matt contacts his former boss and learns the group responsible are known as The Pentangle, a racist right-wing paramilitary group led by Elliot Glastenbury, who enjoy a game of "hunting" men and are seeking revenge on Larry for foiling their plans in the past.

Matt moves Larry and his family to a farmhouse along with his sister Sara but The Pentangle attack again, this time torching the house and gunning down Larry and his family.  The Pentangle leave Matt unconscious and kidnap Sara, forcing him to participate in the "Big Game."  With no other choice Matt travels the backwoods of the bayou in search of Sara, finally finding her at a whorehouse in the middle of nowhere.  As Matt and Sara make their escape through the swamps of the bayou the members of The Pentangle set out to hunt them down. But can they outsmart and outskill the real Hunter? You'll definitely want to watch this one to find out!

As for the score, it's just what you'd expect from a Cannon Film.  Fast paced, adrenaline inducing synths perfectly suited for the exquisite over-the-top action featured in the film.  For a great accommodating synthwave album, check out the soundtrack for the short film RAGE, which features stellar tracks from various well known producers within the scene and is inspired by 80's action films and 90's beat-em-up video games.  An absolute must listen for you synthaholics out there!

So if you're jonesin' for some Dudikoff and pure B-movie gold then look no further! Till next Friday rockers, have a fun and safe week!

Magnum Crockett

Maintain The Rage, Support The Scene

The crossover that occurs between 80s inspired synth and visual and interactive mediums is something happening much more often. As film producers begin to look back to the 80s and 70s synth soundtracks that inspired so many a classic scene we find a great deal of producers of 80s inspired synth music gravitating towards this work.

This is something Synthetix.FM highly encourages and is behind 100%. I firmly believe this is going to happen much more often in the future and the opportunities afforded to the scene's producers will expand as their audiences grow and their music garners higher and higher demand in the film TV and video game industry. The momentum is already apparent as every other producer seems to have non-disclosure agreements in effect for their current projects, raising excitement levels even further.

Which brings us to the Rage project. Ryan 'Arcade High' Boosel is embarking and ambitious film project and is looking for support to make it a reality. This short film is in need of funds, specifically for effects shots, and have started an Indiegogo page in hope of raising the $5000 needed. To aid this endeavour, through the co-operation of  Telefuture Records, the soundtrack to Rage has gone on sale at the bargain price of $10 with the proceeds going to the Indiegogo project.

 

The soundtrack is loaded with a full magazine of 80s inspired synth firepower featuring the likes of Perturbator, Betamaxx, Tommy, DJ Ten, Highway Superstar, Protector 101, Silenx, Carpenter Brut, Final DJs, Swagbot, Monomer and of cours Arcade High offering explosive cuts that will be featured in the film. Such an outpouring of pure rockin goodness is sure to set screens afire, but if you need more convincing check out the video below for even more kick arse action.



Rage Indiegogo Campaign from Chris Cichra on Vimeo.

Theres also a test scene to display the feel and visceral nature of Rage's intentions, which is certainly a promising window into the thrills and chills in store for us in the full experience.





If ever there was something that spoke to me directly, as a part of this community this is it. The chance to see Ryan Boosel and Ben Boyle's vision come to life when it's so obviously coming from a passionately creative place and being able to help this come to life in such a direct manner is something I encourage all Synthetix.FM readers to support.

I can imagine this being the first of many such projects to happen in the scene in the future and with the accessibility of the crowdfunding model combined with unlimited talent in the 80s inspired synth scene there could be all manner of projects like this one that we as fans can support and bring into glorious reality. The sky, nay the stars are the limit.

Please head on over to Rage's Indiegogo page here for more information and be sure to pick up your copy of this totally kick arse soundtrack on Telefuture Records page here.