Zapper’s Blade of Vengeance (1974)

The sequel to Big Zapper sees private eye Harriet Zapper (Linda Marlowe) hired by Karel Duval (Jason Kemp) to uncover the truth about his parentage. After the murder of his father Christian Duval seemingly reveals that Karel was adopted, leaving his fencing teacher brother Reynaud Duval (Alan Lake) in control of their father's estate. Earning her pay as a private eye, Zapper soon uncovers that all is not as it seems in the Duval dynasty. Reynaud is in fact the adopted son, and Karel the true heir. A fact that Reynaud is keen to conceal by having his fencing students, his crossbow wielding second in command Guy (Edina Ronay) and a bunch of musclemen attempt to do away with Zapper and Karel.

Let's face it, Zapper's Blade of Vengeance can't quite measure up to the original film but in fairness to director Lindsay Shonteff this sequel does look to have had a far more difficult birth than its predecessor. The original Big Zapper was distributed by Miracle Films, an unabashed exploitation film outfit, while for the sequel Shonteff struck up a deal with the Rank Organisation, and Shonteff striking up deals with big studios was a story that rarely ended well. Reportedly Rank wanted to re-cast the lead role, and when Shonteff insisted on keeping Linda Marlowe as his leading lady, the distributor was accused of scuppering the film. Shot towards the end of 1973, Zapper's Blade of Vengeance sat on the shelf until 1976. Rank finally released it as 'The Swordsman' (not even tipping off audiences that it was a Big Zapper sequel) putting the film out as a second feature to The Human Factor (1975) starring George Kennedy. Since the main feature was AA rated, Zapper's Blade of Vengeance too had to be trimmed down to get the same certificate. Regrettably it is this censored version that was later released on video in the UK and most other territories. 

The full version was screened at 'Britfest' a 1995 festival of British exploitation film screenings, and was released on video in France (as 'La Vengeance De Zapper') in 1984. The uncut version reveals plentiful amounts of violent swordplay, taking the bloodshed up to an almost Shogun Assassin level at times, which the film had to forfeit for the lower rating. Rapier swords are twisted about in chests, and in one sadistic instance forced right through an unfortunate man's neck. There is also an outrageous extension of the 'erotic fencing' scene between Reynaud and his second in command Guy. In the cut version, Reynaud demonstrates his rapier skills by using his sword to cut the top of her dress off, causing her breasts to fall out (Ronay was definitely body doubled for this scene). In the uncut version, this sex game goes on a bit further as the kinky Reynaud uses his sword to masturbate Guy and trim her pubic hair, somehow managing to shave the letter 'Z' into her bush. An effect achieved by having Ronay's body double model a very obvious merkin with a Z shape cut into it. Arguably the most perverse sight gag of either Zapper movie, I doubt either Shonteff or the notoriously volatile Alan Lake would have been pleased at its deletion from the UK version. Ditto Lake's final sword fight with Zapper in which Lake overacts so much he is practically pirouetting around the screen as Zapper slices him up good, little of which survives in the AA version. The casting of Alan Lake was another likely bone of contention between the director and the distributor. Not long released from jail for his part in a pub brawl, and having recently received injuries from a horse riding accident that nearly put him into a wheelchair for life, it is understandable why some involved in the production regarded the hiring of Lake as a risky prospect. Perhaps sensing that his career and reputation was on the line, Lake was said to have been well behaved on set and "generous" to the other actors. All sideburns, slimy smiles and wild eyed acting, Zapper's Blade of Vengeance captures Alan Lake in all his 1970s medallion man glory. A keen fencer and progressively out of control hellraiser in real life, Lake was certainly an apt piece of casting here. I've often considered Lake to be the British equivalent of David Carradine. If only in the sense that everyone who worked with him is usually good for at least one anecdote about how crazy he was. By the end of the 1970s, Lake was a man who you wouldn't want in close proximity to a sword.

Even without the distributor and censor meddling, Zapper's Blade of Vengeance still has its fair share of problems. Shonteff might have stood his ground on the casting of Linda Marlowe and Alan Lake but there signs of compromises in other respects. The comic book absurdity and sex comedy leanings of Big Zapper are largely put aside in favour of a more straightforward action film. In an intended attempt to add a slice of international glamour to the film, the low-budget even stretches to a brief but rather pointless sojourn to the South of France. Zapper is denied much of an adventurous sex life this time round too. Finding herself acting as protector to the teenage Karel, Zapper takes on more of a substitute aunt role for this film. The casting of an Asian actor, Tony Then as Zapper's co-worker/boyfriend Hock, is the kind of progressive aspect that people into trashing British exploitation films tend to overlook. That the first film apparently did good business in the Far East, may have factored into the casting of the Singapore born Then (1944-1995) probably best remembered as one of the Transylvanians in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. However Zapper's Blade of Vengeance can't seem to decide if Hock should be the film's comic relief or an action hero in his own right. Hock plays the fool in scenes where he is meant to be imitating Humphrey Bogart and Bruce Lee, but comes into his own when called upon to deal with a gang of musclemen (headed by Howard 'Vanderhorn' Nelson in an uncharacteristically malevolent role). Saying that Then and Marlowe do have an undeniable chemistry, lending their final scene together and the Casablanca quoted line "here's looking at you, kid", an unexpected poignancy.

gore cut from most versions of Zapper's Blade of Vengeance 

The two Zapper films weren't easy to find in the 1990s, and decades on the situation hasn't changed a great deal. On account of it being the first of the two films that I saw (picking up a pre-cert VHS of it for £4.50 in 1995) I do have a soft spot for Zapper's Blade of Vengeance. It was, after all, my first introduction to the Zapper character, who remains one of the great, forgotten action heroines of the 1970s. Zap's Blade was also one of my earliest encounters with Shonteff's films. Which by this point were absorbing influences from sword fighting and Kung-Fu movies. As well as owing a debt to The Avengers, while anticipating the iconic TV show's own 1970s revamp The New Avengers.

For all its faults, I'm glad we did get a second Zapper adventure, and still feel there was more mileage that could have been had out of the character. Marlowe is her usual charismatic self, Alan Lake is well...Alan Lake, and 1960s glamour puss Edina Ronay, in her penultimate role, gets as close as she ever came to playing a Bond villainess. Quitting acting not long after, and now better known as a fashion designer, Ronay was apparently so smitten by her Zapper's Blade of Vengeance outfit that she kept hold of it and still owns it to this day.

Unfortunately, rights issues and arguments over ownership have currently left Shonteff's self-produced movies in a Russ Meyer-type limbo, and vital chunks of his filmography are now completely unknown to people who don't search for movies outside of Blu-Ray and streaming avenues. Miss Zapper herself, Linda Marlowe did tweet in 2017 that the BFI were working on a release of Big Zapper and Zapper's Blade of Vengeance, but that tweet was soon deleted and nothing has been heard since.