Devil’s Express is a 1976 American blaxploitation action horror film about a tough black cop who takes on warring street gangs and an evil demon that haunts the New York City subways. Also released as Death Express. The movie was re-released as Gang Wars in 1979 to cash in on the success of the gang culture movie The Warriors.
Directed by Barry Rosen from a screenplay co-written with Niki Patton, Pascual Vaquer, CeOtis Robinson and Bobbi Sapperstein.
The movie stars Warhawk Tanzania, Wilfredo Roldan, Stephen DeFazio, Elsie Roman , Moses Lyllia, Tsikagi Tanzania, Theodore Gottlieb [as Brother Theodore]. Thomas D. Anglin and Cedric McClester.
Plot:
Warhawk Tanzania plays an urban Afro-American who hates the gang warfare all around him. In desperation, Tanzania summons a demon from the subway system to purge his neighbourhood of punks. Unfortunately, the demon is uncontrollable, resulting in the deaths of several innocent people…
Reviews:
“It’s gritty, silly, fun and very entertaining. The screenplay was written by five people – presumably each person was assigned a different genre then they mashed it all together. Warhawk Tanzania is a man of the people – see him in action as soon as you can.” Comeuppance Reviews
” …the sort of movie you just don’t see anymore. Some folks wouldn’t want to see it, anyway. As bad as it is (and it’s reeeaaally bad), there’s a schlocky charm infecting all the defective fight scenes, awful editing, glaringly continuity errors, and shoddy makeup jobs that make this Express worth buying a ticket for.” Cool @ss Cinema
“Devil’s Express is a lot of things; it’s messy, cheap, and borderline incoherent. What it is not is dull, insincere, or cynical in its scattergun approach to the grindhouse. And if you’re still unsure about grabbing a ticket and heading in, let me just add that Brother Theodore plays a street preacher. If that doesn’t convince you to lay your money down, you may want to hit up a different theatre.” Daily Dead
“The film mixes the blaxploitation genre, American martial arts and horror flick and does this with huge enthusiasm. The acting is mostly wooden and Warhawk Tanzania is not as awesome as his name. The fights are well-shot and there is a decent amount of blood and gore […] The gang war and subway murders committed by amulet-seeking demon are fun to watch. A trash classic.” My Duck is Dead
” …you had to wait for the last ten minutes before he did anything about the demon (the gang war could look after itself, apparently), whereupon he donned his battle dress, a pair of golden, flared dungarees with no shirt. If that didn’t have you chortling, then it was assuredly not worth waiting for […] Terrible by any reasonable estimate, trash aficionados would dig deep to find a few pearls of absurdity.” The Spinning Image
“The gang fight between the Spades and Dragons is a fun watch, even when it abruptly ends. The finale, in which Tanzania takes on the demonic presence, who takes various forms, is quite laughable at times but is appropriate for this being a “martial horror” film. Devil’s Express marks a typical Blaxploitation-esque performance from Warhawk Tanzania in his final film.” World Film Geek
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