It’s not often these days that I come across a low-budget 80s action film that I haven’t seen that catches my attention. I thought I’d pretty much seen them all. Today, while I was scrolling through the “This Week in Charles Bronson Podcast” Facebook page, I came across a post that was paying tribute to the recently deceased Gerrit Graham and a movie he appeared in called THE ANNIHILATORS (1985). The post made a direct comparison of the film to Charles Bronson’s DEATH WISH 3, also released in 1985, and mentioned that actor Paul Koslo was also in the movie. Paul Koslo has given very impressive “bad guy” performances in the Bronson films THE STONE KILLER and MR. MAJESTYK. That was all that I needed to read to get me to want to fire up the film immediately! Luckily for me, it’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

This film has a plot that should sound very familiar to anyone who’s watched many low-budget movies or TV shows from the 80s…. a group of Vietnam veterans (Christopher Stone, Gerrit Graham, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Andy Wood) reunite after one of their former comrades, the one who saved all their lives back in the jungle, is brutally murdered by a violent street gang in a rough section of Atlanta. The badasses decide to head to Georgia and get revenge for their friend. Once there, they learn that the street gangs are shaking down all the businesses and people in the neighborhood, so they decide to teach them to fight back. Unfortunately, the head street gang, led by the vicious Roy Boy Jagger (Paul Koslo), is also neck deep in a large heroin ring so taking them down and protecting the neighborhood will be far from easy.

THE ANNIHILATORS is not a great artistic success by any stretch of the imagination, but if you enjoy cheesy 80s action movies like I do, there’s a lot of fun to be had here. I think this film would be especially fun to watch as part of a group of like-minded movie lovers, and maybe while consuming a refreshing cold beverage. I think it could easily be described as a more adult version of something like “The A-Team.” The bad guys go much further than you might get on a TV show (attempted rape, cussing, more blood, etc.), but the camaraderie and hi-jinks of the good guys and the people of the neighborhood feel very similar. It also periodically tries to bring up some “serious issues” in typical 80s fashion, like the gang’s recruiting of some of the local, angelic-looking teenagers and one member of the team’s struggle with alcoholism, but these issues are quickly pushed aside for the low-budget action.

As far as I’m concerned, this film does have one great thing going for it, and that’s the incredible over-the-top performance of Paul Koslo as Roy Boy Jagger, the leader of the notorious Rollers. He’s just horrible on every level, which definitely includes his hair. There’s no possibility of Koslo attempting to give this character any redeemable qualities, as he enjoys torture and murder way too much. When he shows up with a flamethrower at the end, willing to burn up any elderly person or school child who gets in his way, the filmmakers had successfully led me to wish brutal vengeance upon the man and his mates.

Now back to that comparison my friend made to DEATH WISH 3. The cult Bronson film, as bonkers as it is, looks like a masterpiece in filmmaking compared to THE ANNIHILATORS. With that said, I’d still recommend this film to anyone who likes low-budget, 80’s action cheesefests. You know what you’re getting yourself into, and there are enough familiar faces and silly scenes that you just may have some nostalgia-laced fun!