As a collective whole, the cast of Power Rangers RPM is undoubtedly one of the most talented ensembles ever to be squeezed into butt-hugging spandex. From Eka Darville’s recurring stint on shows like “Empire” and “Marvel’s Jessica Jones” to Rose McIver’s starring role as the title hero in “iZombie”, this bunch has talent for days. It was this thought that took me into Blood Punch, the decidedly not-suitable-for-Nickelodeon horror comedy about a love triangle gone cray-cray in the woods.

Filled to the brim with RPM alums, would my affection for these young adults with attitude be affirmed through this twisted affair, or would it prove to be, as with the film’s central characters, a seemingly endless nightmare? Climb aboard the dimension-hopping train as we chug along through a spoiler-filled review, and pray that our sanity doesn’t get off at the wrong stop.

When I mention those RPM connections, I’m really not kidding. Not only are we treated to castmembers who played heroes and villains alike, but the film is written by RPM showrunner Eddie Guzelian (a fact I was unaware of until the end credits) and directed by Madellaine Paxson, who herself penned the episodes “Ranger Blue” and “Prisoners”. Ranger alums congregating for a feature project is nothing new, but it’s certainly the highest concentration of talent gathered from a single season up to the point of its release. And what luck, I actually loved all their work unironically!

Our story featuring children’s TV castmembers begins in rehab (where else?), where struggling college student Milton (Milo Cawthorne) is distracted by the alarmingly blunt new girl sitting in on his regular meetings with a group of addicts. After lighting a ciggy and cussing out the whole room, she just outright states that she’s looking for someone to cook a truckload of crystal meth for her. And, because I wasn’t already having “Breaking Bad” flashbacks, she’s introduced with the name Skyler (Olivia Tennet).

Being the rational guy we soon learn he is, Milton immediately sleeps with Skyler and agrees to help, only to discover post-coitus that he has just bumped uglies with a taken woman. Enter Skyler’s crazy partner-in-crime Russell (Ari Boyland), who appears in a bewildering police uniform after apparently killing the heck out of at least one poor dude at the facility before retrieving the duo. What has Milton gotten himself into?

The bulk of the story takes place at a cabin in the woods built upon sacred Native American land where nothing bad ever happens in any movie, especially in the horror genre. Despite his homicidal tendencies, Russell proves he’s not such a bad guy by assuring Milt that it’s okay that he and Skyler made whoopee. This was all part of the plan to manipulate him into helping, so it’s cool! But Milton is not permitted, under any circumstances, to fall in love with his girl. It seems Russell is a bit late with that warning, because in the long five seconds of knowing her, our intrepid meth cook is smitten with the enigmatic chain-smoker. During a night of drug-addled bonding, Milt learns about the history of these strange lands. The whole area was cursed back in olden times after a huge battle that seemed to go on for days, leaving only one survivor. Gee, I wonder if this random story, complete with hallucinated flashback animation, will become a centerpiece of the plot going forward?

Milton experiences a Movie Awakening, in which he quickly sits upright, disoriented about what may or may not have happened in the hours prior. Between turns on the merry-go-round of mental and psychological abuse that Russell forced Skyler into without resistance, he’s found the time to meddle in Milton’s activity. They meet downstairs, where the previously-believed-kinda-dumb Russell seems to know absolutely everything about Milton’s science-y meth work and decides to cut his losses and just kill Milton now. Before Milt can have his WTF-face shot off, Skyler enters, just in time to reveal that she’s already removed the bullets from Russell’s gun, as his psychotic ways have finally gotten old even for her.

Before they know it, the three are fighting for their lives and the struggle concludes with an arrow stuck through Russell’s back. As darkness falls over Russell’s body, he rudely interrupts Milton while trying to bury him, demanding that Milton ask Skyler how he could possibly know about all that science-y stuff when he was normally such a dunce. Good question, Milt. Better shovel more dirt onto the dying man and hurry off to sleep so it won’t bother you later. Sadly, it takes Milton a while to catch onto what’s happening, as he has another Movie Awakening. The same Movie Awakening, in fact, that he’d experienced the previous morning. In the same spot. Wearing the same clothes… WAIT A MINUTE!

After being greeted by an extremely living Russell, exactly like the morning before, Milt finds himself rushing down to the burial site, shocked to find that Russell’s body remains lifeless, right where he’d left it. But if Russell’s still taking a dirt nap, who’s in the cabin shouting obscenities at poor, messed-up Skyler right now? Bill Murray never had to deal with clones when they did this plot with him!

And so begins a long and bloody gauntlet, in which the heroic Milton and his darling Skyler attempt, ad nauseam, to murder her beau in increasingly gross ways over the course of a good 45 minutes, scrambling as they go to figure out why the day keeps resetting after each traumatizing turn. I especially enjoy the one with the meat cleaver, tossed casually past his throat without looking from across the room, in the middle of a conversation.

It’s interesting to watch Milton’s slow transition from wide-eyed concern over his situation to desensitized boredom at having to blow Russell up with grenades or brain him with a baseball bat. Despite his background, Milton’s not the sharpest of tools, and we did meet him at a point where he had been trying to get help for his issues. A never-ending killfest is probably going to set back his recovery a bit. Even after trying to leave this place, he just wakes up again in the same spot, back in the cabin with Skyler.

Finally, it hits him. This place was cursed after a bloody battle in which there was only one survivor. Even if they keep killing Russell, filling up a pit with his many bodies as they try a thousand different ways to loop a hole out of this scenario, they’ll be no closer to escaping, because Russell alone just isn’t enough. This tale didn’t end last time until all but one was killed. No matter what, poor Milton won’t get the girl, because one of them has to die so the other can live.

Now, you’d think that his choice is pretty clear here. Especially after Skyler takes him deeper into the woods to show him a whole field full of Milton corpses, proving that, in addition to super-killing Russell with him, she’s also been super-killing Milton with Russell too. He just didn’t realize it because his memory always dies with the rest of him and then he wakes up fresh, like it never happened. Alas, young Milt still has a thing or two left to learn.

Skyler’s told him that her feelings have changed and she really does want to be with him, and maybe this is an opportunity for them as a couple. They can just live in the cabin, under a weirdly specific curse that gives them new food and supplies every morning but copies their dead selves into extra living bodies with which to eat, drink, and bang as eternal millennials… K.

Somewhere around here, there’s a plot about Skyler attempting to meet with Russell’s old contacts and sell the drugs they’d been cooking, but honestly, this is where the movie starts getting a little long for me, and I start wondering about random things. Like, if there’s an afterlife, right, with pearly gates and clouds and stuff, does that mean that there’s seven dozen Russells floating around heaven right now because they keep killing him? Do they gather together to welcome their new brother to the fold every time the day resets? I guess he probably wouldn’t be in the “pearly gates” aisle anyway, but by this point in my musings, I’m distracted by the sudden appearance of Nabiki (Adelaide Kane) as one of the cranky goons Skyler and Milton attempt to sell the meth to.

After blithely implying they’ve shared a sexy backstory, to Nabiki’s enragement, Skyler realizes too late that these crooks aren’t letting them leave with the money. More carnage and Movie Awakenings ensue, until it’s finally clear that these two crazy kids just aren’t good for each other. After agreeing to stay at the cabin with Skyler forever, Milton pretends to follow through with his daily Russell-murder to test her loyalty. And Skyler even hangs in there for a millisecond or two as if eternal vacationing with Milt could actually be a thing. Unfortunately, she’s not as pure and holy as Milton hoped she’d be. She shoots him to death to free herself from the curse, assuming that this one will be permanent. When they all wake up and she realizes Milton’s deception, it’s a shock and a half. Guys, this movie is actually pretty clever.

Itching for some righteous payback after overhearing their argument, Russell takes advantage of the lovers spat and knocks them out, chaining them all together in the cellar with a gun. He decides they’re going to play a game of Russian Roulette to decide their ultimate fates. Whoever doesn’t paint the walls with their brains after passing the gun around a few times wins. Despite the fact that whoever has the gun could possibly just shoot someone else, including Russell, this sounds like a good plan to him. And since he’s got the gun, they’re in no position to disagree! It works out for them since he also decides to go first, and promptly kills himself for the last time.

The moment of truth arrives after a fight for the remaining loaded weapon ends with Milton aiming at Skyler. She makes a tearful claim that she knows he loves her, and because he’s a hopeless dope, he agrees, then turns the gun on himself. She tries to stop him, but it’s too late. Over his final, lifeless body, she cries. It’s all over now…

PSYCH! Here comes Adelaide’s Goon Squad, here to collect their bounty and send Skyler to sleep with the fishes. They’ve stepped onto the same soil that had trapped our witless trio for who-knows-how-long, so now they’re about to get stuck too! Skyler can only look at them and laugh, as the nightmare begins anew.

That… was actually kinda awesome. I knew it was a low-budget flick with a bunch of Ranger alums, and a steady diet of such endeavors had trained me to have very specific expectations. I’m happy to say, this is among a small few that surprised me. It’s not exactly fine art, even by horror standards, but I wasn’t ready for such a smartly-plotted film with so many interesting narrative turns. Milton and Skyler have a depth to them that I was unprepared for, accentuated most strongly in their final moments together when Skyler attempts to stop him from offing himself, even though we can sense that it still wouldn’t have ended well if she’d succeeded.

Perhaps it helped that Milo Cawthorne and Olivia Tennet were a couple both on and off-screen at the time, but their performances really shined through the (quite deliberately) cracked-out story. Ari Boyland gets the highest of fives for his delightfully psycho Russell and his ability to make all ten-million of his deaths either funny or disturbing, or both, and he’s still got the most convincing fake accent of all time. Joining the cast for a hot minute was our homie Mike Ginn, as Milton’s roommate at the rehab joint, who gets kicked out of his own room so Skyler can work her magic on Milt. Not doing much, but hey, it’s good to see him, and at least he doesn’t get axe-murdered. Not even once!

As a fan of the genre, it wasn’t a terrible stretch for me to get on-board for this movie, even without the actors a Power Ranger fan might recognize. Squeamish viewers may have a tougher time with the violence that, while often over-the-top and humorous, is still pretty brutal. I had a blast watching the old school practical effects work in play, from the exploding blood squibs to gruesome make-up work for various injuries.

I also loved, though I suspect it was not their intention, all of the times where the movie cuts away to avoid showing what would have been a dreadfully expensive effect that they probably had no money to pull off. It’s just a personal quirk of mine that I actually enjoy sensing the corners that get cut on low-budget productions. It just highlights the great things one can achieve even with somewhat limited means.

And, while I’m just a bit older than the kids in the expected Power Ranger demographic, I can’t help but get a blip of immature glee at hearing the PG-rated heroes of a kids show launch into a string of offensive language as casual as can be. It wouldn’t shock me to hear that the actors enjoyed shedding that image as well, even if it wasn’t for the first time since their days on the show.

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of movies starring actors from the PR franchise. I don’t know if I’d recommend a lot of them to anyone who wasn’t already intensely interested, knowing full well what they’re likely to get out of the deal. In the case of Blood Punch, we have a film that would stand up to the scrutiny of horror freaks (at least of this variety), that employs real characters, fun performances, and a story that delivers on the expectations its premise sets up for itself, in some cases, even exceeding them. It’s not a great film, but maybe if you squint, you’ll find a good one.

I mean, you know, if… if you’re into that sorta thing.

Press Release from TVShowsOnDVD.com:

Shout! Factory and Saban Brands announced a multi-year, multi-property alliance to bring Saban’s iconic live-action pop culture series, including Power Rangers, to the home entertainment marketplace in the U.S and Canada. The announcement was made today by Shout! Factory’s founding partners Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos; and Elie Dekel, President of Saban Brands.

The multi-year alliance provides Shout! Factory with exclusive home entertainment packaged media (DVD/Blu-ray) and select digital rights to Saban Brands’ extensive catalog of properties including more than 700 episodes of Power Rangers (1993- 2009), 92 episodes of VR Troopers, 26 episodes of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, and 88 episodes of Beetleborgs for home entertainment releases and digital distribution across select entertainment platforms in North America. [...]

Shout! Factory plans an aggressive rollout of Saban Brands television properties beginning this summer 2012, including from individual programs as well as complete series. As excitement builds for these upcoming home entertainment product-lines, Shout! Factory and Saban Brands will announce additional news and activities in forthcoming months.

(Courtesy: zeogo via Rangerboard)

I wasn’t going to post about this, but looking over this recent Topless Robot list of The 8 Mightiest Power Rangers Series again, I couldn’t ignore it. From 8 to 1, they start out with Zeo. Putting my own bias aside, I let that go…until I saw Wild Force at Number 5! And then I sorta let that slide (by a bare margin) until RPM wasn’t even on the list! Come. on.

I don’t mean to go hard on this guy, but I’m so over the folks that fill their lists of “serious” seasons and call them the best ever. Sprinkling the list with Zeo and Dino Thunder can only carry you so far. Oh yes, and the obligatory Mighty Morphin as Number 1.

To end on a good note, more people writing about Power Rangers is always a good thing. But damn, advice: Watch RPM.

Last October we reported about a give-away promotional DVD that was available at the Disney Store chain, promoting ABC/Disney’s return of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers episodes to the television broadcast lineup. This promo disc had some news with it, too, on the outer sleeve. [...]

So we’ve checked into it further, and found out a couple of things. First, and most importantly, Disney has passed along word to one of our contacts that these titles are “on hold”. That’s the exact phrase used, which could mean that they are simply delayed, or it could possibly mean that they won’t be happening at all; we haven’t gotten clear on that. Secondly, and also interesting, the gossip is that perhaps Amazon had no knowledge that their name would be invoked on the sleeve of that promotional disc; our contacts hint that no agreement had been made at that time for such an arrangement (we suppose that this could possibly be part of the reason ABC/Disney put the releases “on hold”).

In short, the DVDs are “on hold” and supposedly Amazon didn’t even know that they were going to be used in the promotional Disney DVD for the new line of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toys.

There are no words.

12/26 at 12:30pm
1932 – “Danger and Destiny, Part II”
In order to defeat Venjix, another virus will have to be inserted into his system. The rangers have Tenaya walk back into enemy lines to insert the virus. Meanwhile the rangers have to hold up against Venjix in a fight. Dr. K is able to reverse Venjix’s deletion of the Gold & Silver Rangers. Reunited they attack Venjix in his weakened state. Venjix is defeated and the war is over.

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

12/19 at 12:30pm
1930 – “End Game”
Venjix’s end game is about to reveal itself. Every attack bot has been a calculating step closer to his plan. The city is filled with hybrids just like Dillon. Venjix is going to activate them all and Corinth will be brought down.

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

(Courtesy: Linear Ranger via Rangerboard)

10/3 at 12:30pm
1928 – “Run Ziggy Run”
It’s time for Ziggy to payback the 5 million he owes Fresno Bob. Tenaya 15 makes a deal with Fresno Bob to give him Ziggy in exchange for a certain case. Instead she double crosses Fresno Bob and Ziggy ends up saving him. The rangers deploy Dr. K’s Rail Saber weapon against the latest attack bot. Fresno Bob and Ziggy are now even.

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

September 19 – Episode 24 – 12:30pm ET
September 26 – Episodes 25 & 26 – Noon-1pm ET
October 3 – Episodes 27 & 28 – Noon-1pm ET
December 19 – Episodes 29 & 30 – Noon-1pm ET
December 26 – Episodes 31 & 32 – Noon-1pm ET

On the one hand, it’s great that we don’t have to wait until next year to see the finale, but on the other hand, the finale premieres on Boxing Day!? (For the Americans who don’t know, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas.) I’d rather have a huge break for the show and then ramp it back up in the new year, but it’s not surprising that Disney wants to get RPM out of the way as fast as possible.

(Courtesy: BurgundyRanger via Rangerboard)

(Note: There will be no new episodes shown for at least eight weeks following this presentation)

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

Airing 9/26
1925 – “Key to the Past”
It dawns on Dillon that the two keys to his watch fit together to play another song. It’s the same song that Tenaya 7 sings! Tenaya 7 is hit by memories of her past. She does some investigating on her own and finds out what really happened to her.

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

1923 – “And… Action”
For the first time ever join Ziggy as he takes you behind the scenes of Power Rangers. See how explosions and stunts are really done. As well as the funny moments that don’t make it into the episode, but keep the Power Ranger set a lively place to work as a ranger.

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

Note: This is the first episode where Judd Lynn takes over from Eddie Guzelian as the Executive Producer. Granted, Judd Lynn has had a hand in the post production of earlier episodes, but this is the first that is Eddie free.

(Courtesy: Kyle416 via Funaroboard)

8/1

1918 – Belly of the Beast
The rangers must return to the factory and destroy the Venjix Doomsday Bot that is being built. Dillon attempts to find his sister before it’s too late. Dr. K sends Gem & Gemma on a secret mission to reprogram the Doom Bot enabling it to fuse with the ranger zords and create a new megazord formation.

(Courtesy: KyL416 at FunaroBoard)

6/20
1915 – Ghosts
Still on the search for answers to Dillon’s past, Dr. K figures out that Venjix has sent them on a wild goose chase. Before she can warn them they walk right into an ambush. Good thing the mysterious rangers from before show up in time to give them a helping hand. The Falcon and Tiger Ranger reveal themselves as Gem and Gemma.

7/4
1916 – In or Out
Scott decides to join Gem and Gemma in a more offensive approach in the battle against Venjix. Colonel Truman defaults to his usual defend the city tactics and ends up trapping everyone inside while a Venjix bot sucks all the air out of the city. The remaining rangers make a deadly escape from Corinth and regroup with Scott in order to save the city.

7/11
1917 – Prisoners
Gem & Gemma plan on destroying a factory they were held at as prisoners to work for Venjix. Their plans change when Dillon finds out that his sister might be a prisoner there. Sneaking into the factory, Dillon downloads information and searches for his sister. His search is cut short when he has to return to help his friends stop the latest Venjix bot designed to destroy rangers.

(Courtesy: KyL416 via Funaroboard)

Judd Chip Lynn and Koichi Sakamato in particular have been going back and cutting out full drama scenes with actors to replace it with more slow motion explosions, fighting, and lame foot on the gas shots. They have been done…get a clue! People loved the first 3 episodes because they had story / character moments.

Blitz was an amazing episode at start and end, but the middle was over run with crap that Koichi put in because he gets kick backs from toy companies the more the morphed Ranger suits are on screen. Eg. go back to Doctor K ep and watch when Gem and Gemma hand her the birthday pencil. You see maybe 2 colors when she looks at it. What was written was that the pencil is actually 5 colors as she rotates it to see green, yellow, blue, red and black. A beautiful moment cut short so that more cheese could be screened to sell toys.”

However, Keith from Henshin Justice responded with information from one of his sources:

Hey guys… now you KNOW you can trust me and I looked in to this.. not only do I have very good word from a source that this is confirmed as false a little education also places something like this as pretty much impossible to do.

And we know Judd’s work, people… if anything he’s always worked to make sure character stays in the show.

Whatever the case may be, no one can argue that this is one of the most interesting, most talked about Power Ranger series in a long time. All of this talk is bound to produce wild rumors and speculation, so remember to take everything with a grain of salt!

(Courtesy: Star Points RangerCrew and Henshin Justice)

(Courtesy: tempestus_inu via The RPM Garage)

(Courtesy BurgundyRanger via Rangerboard)

(Embedded video is disabled. Boo!)

(Courtesy: TheFireMan23 via Rangerboard)

(Courtesy: Burgundy Ranger via Rangerboard)

(Courtesy: Burgundy Ranger via Rangerboard)

(Courtesy: TVShowsOnDVD.com)

(Courtesy: Burgundy Ranger and wdg8 from Rangerboard.)

(Courtesy: BurgundyRanger from Rangerboard.)

(Courtesy: Jed Raven from Rangerboard.)

The production manager for the show, Sally Campbell, told the Weekend Herald that “at this stage we will not be shooting another season”.

All signs point to “yes” on the cancellation, but many times networks change their mind at the last moment on these things. It makes sense to cancel the show due to the economy, but Power Rangers is still a huge hit around the world. Will there be a worldwide backlash with Disney’s decision at this time? Only time will tell.

(Courtesy: alfalfalf from Rangerboard.)

Airing 4/18 at 12:30pm ET, and due to a pre-emption, debuting in the Pacific Time Zone on 4/25 at 11am PT:
1908 – Ranger Yellow, Part 1

And since this is obviously a 2 parter…
Airing 4/25 at 12:30pm ET, and due to a pre-emption, debuting in the Pacific Time Zone on 5/2 at 11am PT:
1909 – Ranger Yellow, Part 2

(Courtesy: KyL416 from Funaroboard.)

The logo is really small, but visible. But what’s up with “Eagle” and “Lion” ranger? Eh, I guess you can’t pay attention to the names on the toys anymore because last year we got “Evil Melle” for Camille.

(Courtesy: Various people via Rangerboard)