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about the acid the gravestone maker had used to etch his wife and daughter’s names into granite. A simple chemical reaction, thought Dax. That’s all it took to mark a piece of stone forever. That’s how his heart felt, a piece of stone forever marked by his memories of Stephanee and Argonia. He had tried to live a normal life, but you couldn’t live a normal life when your heart was made of stone, and it was etched with the names of the dead.
    A newspaper fluttered in the wind, coming to rest against his daughter’s gravestone. The headline read:
    Son of drug lord Chico Juarez elected mayor of Los Muertos, Mexico
    Promises to provide employment for thousands in new lawn furniture factory
    Chiquito Juarez swears that factory is not secretly a drug factory for making drugs
    So, thought Dax. Drug City has moved south. I guess that’s where I’m headed too. He hitched his pack up his back.
    The Chemistrator had work to do.
    THE END
     
    Rob Kroese is the author of the
Mercury Falls
and
Mercury Rises
. The conclusion of the Mercury Trilogy,
Mercury Rests
, is being published by 47North in October.

CANNON FODDER: Cult
Action Films of the ’80s
    By Ryan Jackson
     
    Let me just come right out and say that I love exploitation cinema—what some like to call B-movies. I’m also an unabashed fan of awesomely bad, cheeseball action, whether it’s in big-budget studio fare or no-budget schlock. So when Johnny Shaw asked me if I would be interested in writing a piece for
Blood & Tacos
about the cult action films of the 1980s, of course I jumped at the opportunity.
     

    When I sat down to write this piece, I made a list of my ten favorite B-movie action titles of that decade. I was somewhat surprised to discover that the notorious Cannon Group produced literally all of them. For those unfamiliar with Cannon, they ARE the ’80s in a lot of movie-geek circles and are responsible for some of the most beloved B-movies of all time.
    A brief history: in 1967, Dennis Friedland and Chris Dewey formed the Cannon Group. While they ran it, they released numerous soft-core sex comedies. Ultimately, they discovered that the only type of sex film that turns a legitimate profit is of the hardcore variety. So Friedland and Dewey cut their losses and sold the Cannon Group to two Israeli-born cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, in 1979.
    Menahem and Yoram were to the ’80s what Bob and Harvey Weinstein were to the ’90s (albeit less successful critically and at the box office). Under new ownership, the company flourished. Cannon left the “titty era” behind and started churning out exploitation flicks of a different sort. The Cannon brand quickly became synonymous with the low-budget, balls-out action flick. The Golan-Globus era lasted for ten years, and in that span Cannon’s legacy was cemented. The company did produce some art house titles that garnered them some critical praise, but Cannon will always be known as the house built on the films of Norris, Bronson, Van Damme, and Dudikoff.
    I’ve chosen titles from the Cannon library that I feel are worth a view. These films are, in my opinion, quintessential Cannon flicks. Movies in which, when the hero is called to action, he readily responds, “Show me who to punch or shoot.” The kind where lowlifes with high-caliber weapons are left riddled with more holes than the plot. These flicks are all about packing as much kick-assery on screen as possible. If you’re into that kind of thing, look no further.
    Ninja III: The Domination (1984)

    This movie is why I was a ninja for three consecutive Halloweens. Made during the ’80s ninja craze,
Ninja III: The Domination
is mindless martial arts mayhem with a little
Exorcist
sprinkled on top. The acting isn’t great, but fight sequences are actually quite good. The filmmakers were clearly aware of this, so the movie doesn’t waste its time exploring character. It’s pretty much non-stop ninja action from beginning to end, which