"Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except" is a Rambo-style revenge yarn with a little Charlie Manson thrown in for good measure. Sargeant Stryker, a 'Nam vet, and his patrol, are harassed back in America by a cult headed by hippy-looking Sam Raimi, the future director of "Spiderman". They hatch a plot to take bloody revenge on the cult members and gore follows. Unfortunately, since this film is captained by Josh Becker, the director of the awful "If I Had A Hammer", the passable "Running Time", and the execrable "Lunatics - A Love Story", the execution is flawed. The acting is deliberately over the top and inconsistent, and the special effects are cheesy, but the main problem with "..Except" is its uneven tone and pacing. Though a tale of vengeance, it has long, boring passages of puerile, pretentious dialog and the action sequences are unconvincing. It's like Becker decided he didn't want to be associated with an exploitation film, so he tried turning the rig around during shooting. The result is a very questionable "cult" film.
