Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990)


At one point it looked like Troma Studios, the film company founded in 1974 by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, was going to play with the big boys.  The Toxic Avenger was a major cult hit and they followed it up with the Class of Nuke 'Em High franchise, which did well on video.  Unfortunately, Kaufman's attempts to get on the big screen and have major distribution failed, most spectacularly with Troma's War, which was released in severely butchered form in the studios to appease the MPAA and promptly flopped.

Financially strapped and hoping to get another hit in theaters Kaufman and Herz made two sequels to The Toxic Avenger and attempted to start another mock superhero franchise with Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.  It barely received any release and remained one of the company's more obscure offerings until 1996 when Tromeo and Juliet lifted car chase footage from the film.  Since then it has become a minor cult film, but nowhere near the success that Troma was hoping for.

Harry Griswold (Rick Gianasi) is a New York police detective who, while investigating the death of a woman thrown out of a building, is asked to follow up a lead by attending a kabuki performance put on by billionaire Reginald Stuart (Bill Weeden).  When thugs shoot up the performance Griswold tries to do his job, only to be attacked by a woman named Lotus (Susan Byun).  He is knocked down next to her grandfather who, while dying, transfers the spirit of the Kabukiman into Griswold.  He suddenly finds himself wearing a kimono and face paint, much to the chagrin of Capt. Bender (Noble Lee Lester).  

It turns out the power he has been given is to help him fight crime.  However, in order to do so, he requires training.  With Lotus's help he learns to control his powers, using them to bring down a corrupt preacher (Larry Robinson) who is in cahoots with Stuart, as well as the latter's band of evildoers.  His time is limited, however, as within days a series of events will lead to the Evil One ruling the Earth forever. 

Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. suffers from something a lot of Troma films have as time has drifted on, which is length.  A movie like this has no reason to be over 90 minutes, and this goes on 15 minutes too long.  It needed quite a bit of trimming.  However, it never drags like the Toxic Avenger sequels. It pretty much stays on plot and that allows for a number of great set pieces, including a parody of the flying sequences from Superman II as well as some imaginative comedy bits that, unlike a lot of Troma films around the time, work.  The entire chase after Griswold turns into a circus clown rather than Kabukiman is one of the best things Kaufman ever filmed. 

The acting is what could be expected, although this time around Kaufman's filming is a bit less hokey.  He doesn't pick on the blind in this one like he seems to do in many of his '80s films, but there are still quite a number of gay and trans jokes that, although not meant to be malicious at the time, come across much different now.  

Ultimately the movie did not do what it was supposed to do.  The result was future Troma films, if they got a theatrical release at all, were at events or private premieres.  Troma still managed to carve out its own place with a unique style and universe that its movies take place in and were eventually able to come back in many ways with movies like Tromeo and Juliet, Terror Firmer and Poultrygeist: Night of the Living Chicken Dead, but maybe it's best that they remain doing what they are best at.  No major studio would have ever had the guts to do a movie like Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. and, silly as it is, the world is much better with it existing. 

Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990)
Time: 105 minutes
Starring: Rick Gianasi, Susan Byun, Bill Weeden
Directors: Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz

 

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