THE COURIER OF DEATH - Awesomely bad!

THE COURIER OF DEATH – His wife – MURDERED
His mission – VENGEANCE

Imagine you’re chained to a briefcase. It contains seventy million dollars and a self-destruct device.

Now imagine you’re hounded by a ruthless gang that’s killed your best friend and your wife.

Then you discover that you can avenge their deaths privately on the right side of the law. And then find that your boss has turned traitor.

Greed, violence, double dealing and vengeance are the themes of this disturbing movie. If you can stand strong emotions, and stronger action, see it.

I was amazed to find that this  film seems to have its own website:
http://www.thecourierofdeath.co.uk (A really GOOD one at that).  Links to the whole film on YouTube on on there too.

Then however I read a really interesting comment on the IMDb site from someone who worked on this film: 

"In 1980, Shaw attempted to make a feature-length "comedy" called "The Great Oregon Kidnap Caper", but the script and film was so convoluted that the "plot" was entirely incomprehensible and even several re-edits of the film failed to make it watchable. (The star of "Kidnap Caper", Ross Kerr, has a small part as one of the bad guys in "Courier".) Shaw then hired one Ron Schmidt, fresh from working on the student-Oscar-winning Steve Lusgarten feature film, "American Taboo" (1983) who came in and helped Shaw put together a comprehensible story for "Courier", and was instrumental in completing the film in some kind of watchable form in spite of Tom Shaw's involvement.

Tom was a chain-smoking alcoholic, and this affected both his health, energy level, and his judgment in "directing" his films.

He often staged impossible non-credible action scenes, which the rest of his the crews had to compensate for in shooting and editing as best as they could, and we spent much time making "Courier" the way Schmidt wanted and needed when Tom was taking his afternoon naps, sleeping off his latest round of beers and Vodka-7s. Three of us (Schmidt, myself, and D.P. Jon Henry Schmeer) effectively directed various sequences of the film when Shaw wasn't looking or was sleeping. Also vital to the film's completion was co-editor Gerold Howard, and actor Mel Fletcher, who played Carver in the film, but was also highly involved in post production work on the film. I, Dan Fiebiger, was the main composer, primary sound engineer, but also served many other production and post production functions on the production of the film, and wound up being a primary production organizer for most of 1984."

Full comment here, but how cool is THIS (and it maybe explains the website):

"A small fan club has formed in Scotland (of all places) around the "Courier of Death", the only Shaw film to survive total obscurity. They are attempting to arrange for a CD soundtrack album, a DVD release, and to produce a documentary of the making and history of the film. They are attempting to find members of Shaw's estate and various people who appeared in or who worked on "Courier" to facilitate the revival of the film."

Maybe we have a serious contender for the 'so bad...it's still bad but good category!' 

As to the cover art though (lest we forget why we're here) - not bad is it?