Gang Land (1998) User Reviews

There are better movies that deal with the same issues

[Aidy · 4/10 · 6 January 2002]

I saw Pariah on television and I thought it was a TV-movie made in the early 90s. I was quite shocked to then discover that it had been made a recently as 1998, after both American History X (AHX) and Romper Stomper. Had it have been made earlier I would have forgiven its amateurish feel and, to be frank, embarrassing handling of the plot and story line.

A good way of seeing how ineffective this movie is, is to compare it with the things it is trying to emulate. The story itself (for those unaware) is lifted directly from The Crow by J O'Barr. If you want to see the same plot idea handled in an incredibly powerful, subtle and truly masterful way then read the comic (not the film). I'd class Pariah's handling of the neo-Nazi aspect as being more like Romper Stomper in the way it superficially deals with the matter. However Romper Stomper does it so much better.

To focus on the movie itself, it's all very poor. The acting is poor, the scripts are poor, the directing poor....the whole thing is just poor. Some scenes had me flinching with embarrassment they were so bad. Despite the fact that I'm slating it, I still gave it 4/10. If it's on television and you have nothing better to do then watch it, it'll pass the time, it's not *that* bad. But if you enjoy the violent neo-Nazi romanticising movie then watch Romper Stomper as it's better. If you enjoy the revenge theme then read (or, to a lesser extent, watch) The Crow. I don't really want to draw any comparisons with AHX as that movie is in a different league and is one of my all-time favourite movies. AHX is the thinking man's Romper Stomper....I wouldn't even want to say what AHX is in relation to Pariah.

Not bad for a first...

[freejack · 5/10 · 27 March 1999]

Pariah is not a bad film. It has as its main good points a nice set of strong performances and an interesting plot. On the other hand, it is a very low budget, bad directed film with a very cheapish look and fell. Watch it at your own risk.

It was OK.I wish people would stop comparing it to AHX & RS

[reeves2002 · 4/10 · 8 August 2007]

I don't know why people keep comparing this movie with Romper stomper and American history X.To me it was nothing like them.It reminded me more of a TV movie called Brotherhood of murder.The special features on the DVD were interesting and fun to watch.There was deleted scenes,auditions,interesting skinhead facts and more. The only thing I hated was the movie was more about homophobia and gay bashing.Not that I support Nazi skinheads but I don't understand why they were so threatened by gays instead of the groups of black and Asian gangs in the neighborhood.There was an interesting remark made in the DVD extra features that mentions that there is more violence within their own ranks then there is violence towards others.I loved the scene in the movie when a huge group of gay men got together and bashed the skinheads back.I have never seen that before in a movie and they deserved the beating.It was nice to see a bit of payback from the gay community.Ironically the most vicious gay hating skinhead David Lee played by David Lee Willson has come out as a gay man in real life.I read a really cool article about this actor and how hard it was for him to play such an evil hateful role. A lot of people felt the acting in this movie was horrible.Yes some scenes were badly acted and a few of the actors were really bad, but it was their first time and this was the director's first film I believe.To me it seemed like real life and not the worst acting i've seen in a film. However David Wilson,Damon Jones,and David Oren Ward gave the best performances.Sadly I just learned actor David Oren Ward died tragically which is a shame since he was both talented and very handsome. The shocking rape scene was really well done but I didn't like how she treated her boyfriend afterwords since he was helpless to save her.And then to kill herself afterwards was cowardly and not believable.Yes it was traumatic but I have never heard of rape victims taking their own life because of it.What the skinheads did was rotten,but then so was what the group of black men did to her and her boyfriend.And then later the same group of blacks targeted the white girls.I am sure it probably happens a lot also,but they don't seem to be depicted as bad guys which is a total double standard.At that point I was waiting for the skinhead group to get even with them for shooting an innocent kid who was only lured into it because he was mentally challenged.And they were also protecting their female members from being nearly assaulted which any gang would do no matter who they are. In Pariah only 2 or 3 of them seemed like skinheads.At one point I was beginning to think they were not a group of skinheads but a bunch of unstable street kids.They all came from dysfunctional families,some were abused,a few were either mentally retarded and others just homeless and some brain dead from all the drug abuse.They were more like street punks who were discarded and who just wanted to fit in and belong. Another really good movie that is similar but not really about skinheads is the 1984 movie called suburbia.I read it was coming to DVD finally and I am looking forward to seeing it again.It reminded me of pariah, but an 80's version.

easy to make nazis look bad

[dlesh · 2/10 · 5 November 1999]

Lets be serious--it doesn't take a great director to make nazi skinheads look bad, and Pariah is a perfect example of this at work. It presents a very narrow view of racism, which connects only to a very narrow audience--those who are "in" the scene, etc. There were way too many overt plot details that could have been assumed or more subtly presented. I'd say see this if you want an exagerated, easy to digest film about nazi skinheads, but not if you want to get any new, smart, disturbing insight into the problems of racism and violence in youth subcultures.

The worst film I've ever seen

[Rubin55 · 1/10 · 9 February 2001]

This movie has to be the worst film ever seen by mankind! I looked up the people that quote on the box and they don't seem to exist (I was already wondering what idiot said "A Clockwork Orange for the Nineties") The Story is simply not there; there is absolutely ZERO storyline and the acting is incredibly bad, amazingly bad, so baadd. Next to that, it doesn't make sense!

All in all, go see it and redefine "bad movie" for yourself.

Good Film, Not To Be Missed

[dannymysize · 9 February 2002]

People talk about pariah as it is the worst film ever. But in reality it is a hard hitting movie. The cast and Crew are not exactly famous as of yet but still they put together a good performance. Many people say this film is cheaply made, Which it is, But if you think that check out Surf Nazis must Die. When i first Saw Pariah, I thought it was good, the second time brilliant and the third time it became my fave film. If you like this type of film i totally reccomend it!

Pariah is a 20lbs of crap stuffed into a 5 lb bag

[edtoller1978 · 1/10 · 26 November 2005]

After watching this attempt at film making I am glad that I didn't have to pay good money to see it. I have a friend that has an extensive collection of bad "B" movies in his collection and lent me this and a few others to watch while a was recovering from the flu. I told my friend to put Pariah in a new category of "C" films after suffering though it. I was sweating and had the shakes the entire time and I watched it and wasn't sure if it was the flu causing the sweating and shakes or the horrible movie I was watching. After watching the credits it was clear to me what the problem was. Anytime you get a first time film maker who writes AND directs their first film 9 times out of 10 it's going to be a mess. This film is a perfect example of that. Too long, poorly written, poorly acted, and most importantly what is the point of this film??????? The story is laughable and must have been written during a bad acid trip. Skin heads are dirt bags....we get it, but this film gave no insight into what makes these sub-human animals tick. And to compare this film to the likes of Romper Stomper and American history X leads me to believe that the people that put this film together are fluffing up their own movie on IMDb. Sad.

Hahahahahahah... hahahahah

[parkss-1 · 1/10 · 5 March 2008]

Lol, please. People... please. If you honestly consider this a good movie, something is sincerely wrong with you. The acting.. the plot.. literally everything in this movie was so utterly horrible. To enjoy this movie you'd have to have an IQ under 40. It was like a neighborhood teen gathering his friends and filming over-dramatic racism. I can't begin to talk about how horrible the acting was. This movie was about as "real and in your face" as a water-pistol.

It's not even worthy to be compared to American History X, which was a great movie. Romper Stomper was alright. However I still believe the most insightful, smart, intelligent, powerful Skinhead flick is "The Believer". Which was also a low-budget film, but with a vastly complex story-line and amazing acting-- let alone, actor. Ryan Gosling as the main character Danny Balint in The Believer, I believe, blows all the previously mentioned movies out of the water.

Want a good movie? Check out The Believer.

Real bad try to copy ROMPER STOMPER!!!

[sixsixsix · 1/10 · 3 November 2000]

Well, I bought myself this movie as it seemed to have an interesting content.But how I was disappointed, poor acting, a very poor story (sometimes getting real grotesque too) and even the making of the film looks sad.My advice for the director: Much shouting and beating doesn´t make a second ROMPER STOMPER, which is, a classic of modern films..at least that´s my opinion.So maybe more concentration on the story and better actors will do it.

Works on a trash film level

[Falconeer · 6/10 · 26 July 2006]

I have read all the bad reviews about this movie, and I have to agree with most of what has been said. It is true that the film is just plain ugly to look at, and the over-acting is sometimes embarrassing. But perhaps the critics are being a bit unfair by measuring it next to films like "American History X" and "Romper Stomper". If you put it next to a highly-produced Hollywood film like A.H.X, then sure this one will look sick in comparison. Or if you put it next to a truly fantastic piece of cinema like "Romper Stomper", a film that actually played in art house cinemas around the world, it just isn't fair. The only thing these films have in common is their subject matter: skinheads. Period. Pariah lacks the artistic merits of these "legitimate" films. But when looked at in the "trash film" context, then this one becomes at least entertaining. Perhaps watch this one in the same way that you would watch "Toxic Avenger", or "Shaft", or "Class of 1984" etc.. Of course the way they portray skinheads in this movie is nauseating, offensive, and highly inaccurate. But lets face it; there are so few films made about the punk and skinhead scene, that when something comes along, we just have to see it. Anyway, look at the way punks are portrayed in "Class of 1984". Murderous criminals! But like Pariah, that flick is good for a laugh. In short, look at this one while you're hanging out and drinking with friends. You have to admit, this trash film does deliver the goods when it comes to violence. It is stomach-turning in some places. And if you want to see a good, thought-provoking film about skinheads, see "Luna Park", the one about the Russian skinheads. But don't expect a lot of action there. By the way, remember "Skinheads: Second Coming of Hate" with Chuck Conners?? Now there is a classic. "Pariah" is almost good compared to that one! A.C.A.B.

Too much violence and completely flattened characters

[Sjeef · 3/10 · 5 March 2003]

I saw this movie a while ago, awaiting a good and critical movie. I´m not afraid of a little violence in movies, but in this movie it just made no sense. Random useless violence all the time. There just wasn´t any goal. Maybe the director wanted to bring this feeling to the viewers, but that could have been done in much better ways.

The characters in this movie also have a complete lack of personality. The are flat characters who just commit violent stuff.

A ´not so good´ movie which stands in no comparison to American History X and Romperstomper.

Very real... best raw drama since Romper Stomper

[buccanearsfan · 9/10 · 16 February 2005]

I saw this film on DVD from England and was very pleasantly surprised. People seem to be split into two camps (big American History X fans and those who realize Am. History X is utterly fake). I fall into the latter category.

As someone who grew up in the punk scene, this film is the closest to portraying skinheads realistically that I've ever seen. With solid acting from unknowns that reminded me of Romper Stomper.

Dave Ward in particular was really good. Plus it has an incredible soundtrack. PS -- for those other punkers out there, Joe Wood from T.S.O.L. plays the lead skinheads' father and really rocks!! It was great to see someone from the real scene in the film. Bands like Minor Threat, Social Unrest and a bunch of cool young punk bands have music on the disc which was very cool. (i hated the classical/operatic score of Am. History X).

I really liked this film a lot, although I seem to be in the minority on this website. It's raw, real and the actors are really believable. Plus it has pretty cool hand-held camera work. I think it's definitely worth checking out...

Revenge isn't always sweet

[SCHAGELA · 7/10 · 17 September 2001]

The main character's black girlfriend gets raped by a gang of neo-nazi's. He is forced to watch it happening, but is not capable of helping her. She later blames him for this and commits suicide. Of course this has its results on his further actions. He infiltrates in the gang and hopes to have his own revenge. A thing he didn't realize is that he gets sucked in to these gang-activities himself.... Although very poorly directed, I thought the acting was good and the story interesting enough. Those who 'enjoyed' American History X, will appreciate this movie.

Aptly named film!

[princy · 3/10 · 12 September 2000]

This movie should be treated as a pariah for anyone in search of entertainment. It looks as though the whole thing has been thrown together in the space of a couple of days by a bunch of film students to cash in on the success of American History X.

Same old depiction of a misrepresented sub-culture

[Paris-4 · 6 July 2000]

While Pariah is indeed a great film, I have to say that it is also simply one more in a line of films which choose to depict neo nazi skinheads as being aggressive and violent. While I'm not insinuating that they're not, these films don't seem to ever delve into their actual belief system and thus we as the audience are made to feel threatened by the characters. Sure, this may be an effective way to catch an audiences attention, but it further segregates the skin heads and leads to a more wide spread misinterpretation of them. I don't support Nazism, however I would like to see a film that explores the fact that neo nazis have lost their freedom of speech, rather than one that tells me everything I already know about the worst kind of skin heads around. There are various kinds of skins - some of whom don't believe in drunkeness which is often a key element to their behaviour in these films. That said, Pariah is a very powerful film, following along much the same path as Romper Stomper started out on without delving into a silly love triangle conclusion as the latter film did. Very down to earth performances from a relatively unknown cast.

Worst depiction of Skinheads in film

[IronMan893 · 1/10 · 29 April 2002]

This movie was probably the worst skinhead movie that I have ever seen. The plot was really bad and the acting was even worse. If you want to watch a good movie in this genre, watch Romper Stomper. Don't waste your time watching this.

Bad

[Bigbert · 1/10 · 1 September 2003]

This is one bad movie. I've seen better acting in adult movies. The plot if there is one is totally pointless as you just see skinheads do exactly what the cliché tells you they do: going round being racist and aggressive to everything and everyone. Stay clear of this one because it's a real stinker.

Makes you cry

[StevieRiz · 1/10 · 18 July 2006]

Well,it made me cry anyway,as i spent money purchasing this DVD to find out it was a waste of time...

...I remember seeing this on TV at some point when I was younger and thinking it wasn't bad,but Id only watched it from halfway through so when I found it on IMDb,I decided to purchase it.Mistake.This film,admittedly low-budget,is just too amateur and low-brow, making you feel that half the time the director has forgotten which way he wants the film to go.

The skinheads in it are awful,I mean,they purely cant act and there's no explanation behind why many of them are skinheads and why they stroll around in the attire they do,which no actual genuine skinhead would do.The lead (Damon Jones is it?)acts poorly also,usually having a rant then remembering he should be angry so suddenly starting screaming...I could go on and on about how pants this film is but ill summarise:

-Cardboard characters -Very disappointing storyline dealt with by earlier movies (eg: The Crow) -Diabolical Dialogue -Very amateur looking

Id recommended Romper Stomper if you want a skinhead bashing-fest or American History X,which is thousands of years ahead of this film,despite being made earlier.

I'm not shocked that this director never worked again.

[paulgetty1975 · 1/10 · 24 August 2007]

I was in pain after watching the seemingly never ending mess that is Pariah. In pain from laughing so hard at the nonsense I witnessed, that is. I am not shocked to see from his IMDb page that Director, Randolph Kret was never allowed to waste investors money again. It makes me wonder how much money was spent making this film. The story was silly, stupid and boring. Plain and simple it was one of the worst movies I've ever seen and I've seen some junk in my time. The portrayal of the skinheads was WAY over the top. Again, I can't stress enough how bad this story was. It was all over the place. My advice to anyone who sees this movie at the video store is to save the 99 cents it would cost to rent this movie. I don't think it's worth a nickel.

There're better out there

[jezwood69 · 3/10 · 25 January 2022]

Poorly acted (by some) attempt at the Romper Stomper theme, (which is far superior and a must see) Had potential but let down with bad acting and inconsistencies in the plot.

Shame, could have been so much better.

Not recommended, but I don't regret renting it

[baines · 6/10 · 5 October 2002]

I can't say I would recommend this movie to anyone, but on the other hand, I can't say I regret renting it either. I didn't know at all what to expect from this movie when I rented it, I could easily name any movie that's better but what I find good about this movie is the violence and the confrontations that's in it and the laughs I got from some sick and weird stuff (especially the drug addicted Angela).

Absolute garbage. Thanks Nazisplotation!

[ThomasBleedPHD · 1/10 · 7 September 2015]

Let's talk about Skinhead movies, shall we? That's a fun genre. Romper Stomper, American History X, Green Street Hooligans - they all run the gambit from exploitative fun to depressing cautionary tales with ease. Some even do both!

With such a great track record of good movies, you could be excused for thinking every movie about bald-headed, racist scumbags causing trouble would be good. Then you'd accidentally find yourself watching "Pariah."

Pariah follows the story of a man who joins a skinhead group to stalk and kill all of them in revenge for the gang rape of his black girlfriend that ended in her suicide. You might ask yourself "one would a skinhead - someone who inherently believes people of color are less than human - want to have sex with a black woman, even if forced?" The question is never answered. I guess the writers didn't know how to make you hate the characters unless they used a woman's emotional pain and eventual suicide as a plot device. Pretty sure those other movies I mentioned didn't have rape scenes and worked perfectly anyway.

There's a scene that works early on where the boyfriend cusses out his mother for trying to get him to read the bible - but we never see her again and that's about the last chunk of character development our fair protagonist gets.

He crafts an elaborate revenge plan wherein he disguises himself as a skinhead, infiltrates the group and proceeds to... do nothing the rest of the film. I guess the implication is he's going to trick them all into getting themselves killed or something? But that doesn't happen. Instead, nothing happens.

The film makes the avant-garde, experimental and oh so artistic move of having absolutely nothing happen the entire rest of the film. There's a lot of scenes of the Nazis behaving badly, being scumbags, arguing with each other, doing drugs and drinking beer, swearing at each other some more, not bathing and generally being creepy, loathsome jerks. The film is so obsessed with executing these scenes, it forgets things like basic act structure or even basic storytelling.

Nothing happens in this movie. There's no build up, no pay off, no revenge, no tragedy, no pivotal events, nothing. The protagonist isn't even the protagonist after the thirty minute mark, becoming just another empty character in a film populated by them.

The ending of the film, which I will not spoil for conveniences sake, comes out of nowhere and resolves nothing, paying off for a moment in the film you could easily be forgiven for forgetting about.

The film meanders around aimlessly with no plan, plot or end goal. It's only purpose seems to be to show how awful and scummy it's main characters are - which I could have easily guessed, since they're Neo Nazis. Apparently someone felt it necessary to make a movie to tell us about how evil and nasty Nazis are. Which is like making a movie to tell us water is wet.

Roger Ebert pushed this film as a "better version of Fight Club." Which is just about the stupidest thing any film critic has even written that's been published. Even if you only saw Fight Club on a broken VHS tape on a tiny black-and-white television, it's still a better movie than "Pariah."

It's a film with no tension, conflict of payoff or any kind despite it's shocking and upsetting opening (which Pink Floyd's "The Wall" pulled off far better despite only devoting a few seconds to it.) This is a film that just gives up and never bothers to finish itself.

It would all be forgivable if this was the only movie of it's kind to tackle it's subject matter, but it wasn't even the first! This movie came out six years after "Romper Stomper."

This film goes nowhere, does nothing and has no kind of climax or payoff of any kind. Even if there weren't dozens of other, better movies in this genre, this film still wouldn't be worth watching. Don't bother with this turd. Go rent "American History X" instead.

Very nice movie!

[rgelmers · 9/10 · 1 August 2004]

I thought this movie was very convincing in its message. the actors played their parts very well and the settings very nice. When I look at the replies some people gave before me I can not understand why they call this a bad movie. It has all the necessary ingredients for a good movie and more. That is, in my opinion. When I see a movie I always try to look at it with my emotions (Especially movies like this one). And I have to say that how it felt was pretty good!. The way the leading actor expresses the anger and frustration after losing his girl felt very real to me.

Another nice thing about this movie has the "average Joe" look of the actors. Usually actors are so pretty and perfect, it seems so unreal sometimes. In this movie they weren't all that pretty (just like in real life).

My conclusion is: Watch this movie and preferably: BUY IT. It has a good replay value.

pathetic and boring, steer clear.

[bigtimryan · 1/10 · 20 May 2001]

This is the worst movie i have ever seen. i rented this after seeing American History X and almost laughed at how this movie attempted to tackle the race issue compared to the brilliant AH X.

This movie was ugly to watch because of the poor cinematography and acting.

The cover of the video had a caption from a review which said it was 'far better than the overrated American History X'. This film uses graphic scenes in an attempt to shock, but the film lacks any substance and makes such scenes just offensive. The reviewer must have been the brother of the film-maker, because the movie sucks.

This movie is inferior to both American History X, and the groundbreaking Romper Stomper. While this review may seem scathing, if you see the film you will think i am going easy on it. Steer very clear.

amazing

[p3t3-1 · 10/10 · 16 May 2004]

what an amazing film, with bands like minor threat and social unrest on the soundtrack its great. Amazing story and character development its a great film. the idea behind it is good and it shows skinhead punks getting beaten up like they should be. David Lee plays a good part and also you see the leader of the gang getting bullied by his dad, suggesting the reason for him acting like he does and having his "beliefs". This film is a lot better than American History X, its not the same type of film, its a different plot and situation completely, although both show good conventions and ideas, i think Pariah is the more gritty, lifelike film.