While big studios where um-ing and ah-ing about strong female characters leading a major film (because studios heads where and remain out of touch) the smaller studios and independent producers where still trying anything and everything they could to make an impact. Most of the time, that was in the lucrative Straight-to-video market. Here the inventiveness and oddball production that defined the 80s still thrived. And it is here, that strong female leads in genre cinema (action, horror & sci-fi) got a chance to shine. Here are ten women kicking ass flicks from the 90s I love.

 Black Scorpion (1995)

What happens when dark and gritty comic book movies in the 90s like Batman Returns and The Crow become popular. Well, if you’re schlock maestro Roger Corman, you make your own version. And Corman being Corman, he amped up the exploitation nature of the offering with some serious talent behind the scenes. And yes, I know it was originally aired on American cable TV. But everywhere else in the world it was a direct-to-video title.

This pulpy tale starts with a single father and cop Lt. Walker (Rick Rossovich) telling his daughter a bedtime story about the scorpion and the frog before leaving on a call. After a car chase, he captures the criminals and accompanies them to the hospital. When there, one of the criminals steals a security officer’s gun, and in the ensuing firefight, Dr. Goodard (Casey Siemaszko) is killed. Lt. Walker loses his job.

Darcy Walker (Joan Severance) all grown up is now a cop working undercover, along with her old school partner Michael Russo (Bruce Abbott). When her father is killed on her birthday by the District Attorney who later has no memory of it, Darcy then goes to the jail and assaults the DA. As a result, she’s fired. So, what is a strong, intelligent and capable woman to do? Become a vigilante, of course.

Darcy creates a costume, and heads out to the streets and kicks major ass. The Black Scorpion is born. And with the help of mechanic and tech genius Argyle (Garrett Morris), she wages a battle against the supervillain called the Breath Taker.

There are many of the things you would expect: elements of camp, exaggerated characters, unrealistic settings and situations, moody lighting, and a little T&A. So, you know, a comic book. This movie may not be the best superhero origin story, but it’s stylish, well directed and well-acted. The fight sequences are not the best, even for the time, but Severance throws herself into the action. Severance, Abbott and Morris shine in the darkness here. And the music by Kevin Kiner is amazing, and seems too good for the film. He has recently done music for many of the Star Wars animated series. This film spawned a sequel and a TV series.

Black Scorpion 2: Aftershock (1997)

When you have an inexpensive hit on your hands, do what Roger Corman does, make a sequel. Two years after the original film, the sequel once again was first broadcast on U.S. cable TV before hitting the direct-to-video market world-wide. And it is more of the same.

Moody atmosphere, soft-core T&A, sexual innuendo, clichéd characters, crazy situations and a dash of humour. And the action is better, but is presented more in line with the Batman TV series of the 60s.Joan Severance returns as the titular heroine Black Scorpion and her Detective Darcy Walker alter ego. Also returning is Garritt Morris’ Argyle filling in the Q/Alfred role, and Stephen Lee as Captain Strickland who is my favourite character in these films. The writer and director both return from the first film, as does the composer.

This time the Black Scorpion is up against a corrupt mayor, a Joker knock-off called the Gangsta Prankster, and the supervillain that cuts as much of an attractive figure as BS herself, Aftershock.

After putting Gangsta Prankster behind bars, Darcy is once again dealing with sexist cops, and pining over her partner. This time it’s her new partner Rick (Whip Hubley). On the other side of town Dr Undershaft (Sherrie Rose) has developed a machine that can cancel out Earthquakes. The mayor, fearing there won’t be any more city contract money to steal, sabotages her machine. The good doctor is thought dead. That is until she is reborn as the quake causing Aftershock, wearing a costume that seems to be from American Gladiators. She frees Gangsta Prankster and they team up to destroy the city. Darcy, wondering who she is without BS, tries to stop them on her own. But suits up as kicks ass. This time with a more impressive body count.

Like the first film, it’s a campy, sexy, exploitation film. And it knows it. It’s not going to win any awards, but it doesn’t have to. In the realm of B grade schlock, this female superhero movie series is a bit of an icon. Because despite the cheesiness, these movies do have a message. There was also a short-lived TV series. But Severance was replaced with Michelle Lintel. So, I didn’t care.

The Demolitionist (1995)

The Demolitionist is a 1995 superhero sci-fi film with kick ass action, awesome characters, and a take no prisoners female protagonist. And it’s the directorial debut of special effects maestro Robert Kurtzman. Kurtzman has worked on films like Phantasm 2, Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator 2, In The Mouth of Madness, From Dusk Til Dawn, The Faculty, Thir13en Ghost, Bubba Ho-Tep and The Green Mile. So, he knows his stuff. And like Stan Winston with directorial debut Pumpkinhead, he helped conceive the story as well as direct.

In the near future a controversial law banning the owning and carrying of firearms in the city (What city? I have no idea) and any crime involving guns has extreme punishment. Two outlaw brothers prosecuted under this law share a cell on death row, Mad Dog and Little Henry Burne (Richard Grieco and Randy Vasques). On the day of execution, they are rescued by one of their gang members Roland (Tom Savini). But Little Henry dies because he is an idiot.

Back in the city, and amongst his gang, he cleans house and discovers an undercover cop in their rank, Alyssa Lloyd (Nicole Eggert). Alyssa and her surveillance man are killed, but she is revived by Professor Jack Crowley (Bruce Abbott) and his Lazarus Program, a law enforcement initiative approved by Mayor Eleanor Grimbaum (Susan Tyrrell).

Alyssa now has enhanced strength and reflexes, improved hand eye coordination, and her body can heal all damage done to it quickly thanks to regular injections of nanobots. The nanobots are what keep Alyssa alive, without them she will literally fall apart. But when the nanobots are injected into live tissue, they destroy it. I wonder if that will come up again in the climax?

Basically, Alyssa is Wolverine meets Robocop. She also has a tricked out with a high-tech motorcycle, body armour and some of the best guns in cinema. So, this dark and gritty superhero, later dubbed The Demolitionist, goes out to clean up the streets and get revenge on Mad Dog for killing her. And she doesn’t fuck around either.

But, the police chief (Peter Jason) is working with Mad Dog. Not only did he help bust him out of a death sentence, but he is supplying Mad Dog with a truck load of impressive weaponry. Partly to maintain power, and partly to kill our hero. This increases the carnage and property damage. But when the police chief leaks footage of The Demolitionist leaving a little girl, who was a hostage in a bank raid, holding grenades so she could go after Mad Dog, the public and the Mayor turn against our hero and project Lazarus is shut down. Now Aylssa is running out of time and there are still assholes to kill.

An interesting element to this character of Aylssa/The Demolitionist, is she hates what she has become, seeing herself as a monster to Crowley’s Dr Frankenstein. She mourns her lost humanity, and wishes to be alive again or dead for real. But her sense of duty and revenge spur her on. And she battles with her emotional state, as intense emotions compromise the nano solution, which causes her to make mistakes. She is a tortured character that is more than just a silhouette brooding in the shadows. Nicole Eggert plays the part well and emotes like a scared and scarred human would, and throws herself into the action to revive many other male action stars of the time. Not bad for an actress who was, at the time, most known for her TV roles in Charles in Charge and Baywatch. A few more roles like this and her career would have been very different indeed.

While the vehicle chase scenes and the gun play were presented well, much like Black Scorpion the same year, more time should have been given to the fight choreography, as it is a little week. Well, this was a smaller budgeted direct-to-video film, so I can’t rag on it for that.  Just think if something like this was made today for a streaming service, it would be off the charts with the spectacle with as much money as possible on screen. But it probably wouldn’t be as charming or as memorable as this strange and charming flick.

The cast for this is pretty amazing, if you are a horror and sci-fi nerd like me. Eggert should have become an action heroine like Milla Jovovich after this, she just rocks. Abbott, from cult classics like Re-Animator gets to play his own version of the driven scientist here, and it’s a cool little nod to his most famous horror outing. But Grieco is off the charts. His performance is so out there, it’s like someone mixed the crazy of Nic Cage, with some Bruce Campbell, and Jeremy Irons from the first D&D movie. I mean, HOLY SHIT! The other cast members do their jobs, but it’s the smaller parts and the cameos that seem to get people’s attention. Scream Queen Heather Langenkamp plays a reporter, Sara Douglas is a surgeon that tried to save Aylssa’s life, plus cameos from Jack Nance, Joseph Pilato, Reggie Bannister, Derek Mears, Dan Hicks, Greg Nicotero and the chin himself Burce Campbell. Talk about loading the deck.

Is it a perfect flick? Fuck No. A lost classic? Depends. For me it is. There is so much passion and creativity on show here, it’s hard not to like despite its flaws. Which is something I have been saying a lot concerning all these Direct-to-video titles. But it’s true. With more time and money, The Demolitionist could have been one of those cult classics that gets discussed by film theorists and academics. But as it stands, it is a kick-ass action sci-fi flick that always leaves a smile on my face and wishing there was at least a comic book follow up to this.

Lady Dragon (1990)

Cynitha Rothrock was a Martial Arts champion in Forms and Weapons from 1981 – 1985. She hit the world of action films in the Hong Kong film industry in the mid-80s with films like Yes, Madam! (1985), Millionaires Express (1986) and The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988). And she became so popular, she became one of the few regular western actors in Hong Kong to be cast as a hero. Then Hollywood came calling and in the 90s she made 29 films.

Lady Dragon was released in 1992. Rothrock is Kathy Galagher, a grieving widow with some serious martial arts skills, who is out for revenge after an evil crime lord, Ludwig Hauptman (Richard Norton) killed her CIA agent husband. We first see her in an underground fight where she is making some extra money and making contacts to achieve her goal. And she is seen by her husband’s old friend and CIA partner Gibson (Rober Ginty). Gibson advises her not to seek Ludwig out. She ignores him.

After a fight in a bar where she is pretending to be a prostitute, she is severely beaten and raped by Ludwig and left for dead. She is found by a young boy and his grandfather who nurse her back to health, and guide her. Healing her pain, joining body and spirit, so she can complete her task. She uses her intelligence and skill to get into Ludwig’s organisation and take it down. With a pretty damn impressive final fight scene showing what both Rothrock and Norton can do. Stock standard action movie stuff.

There are better Rothrock films out there from this period, but I always think of this one, because of the heroine’s motivations. In many female lead action films, it’s the trauma caused to them that sends them off on the path of revenge. Here the heroine has the same motivation as a male action hero, the bad guy killed someone they loved. What is done to the character of Kathy throughout the film means nothing compared to the first loss. Always found that refreshing.

It is a good-looking film, the fight scenes are damn cool, even with a weak story. Norton relishes being the villain. But it’s Rothrock’s show.

Demonic Toys (1992)

Charles Band has made a career out of producing horror or horror comedy films featuring tiny terrors attacking humans. Dolls, Ghoulies, the Puppet Master series. You get the idea.

Demonic Toys is a direct-to-video horror comedy from Band’s Full Moon Features that hit video store shelves in 1992. Judith Gray (Tracy Scoggins) and Matt Cable (Jeff Celentano) are two police officers, who are also dating, engaged in a sting operation to buy illegal guns from gun runners Lincoln and Hesse (Michael Russo & Barry Lynch). When things go sideways, Matt is killed and Judith pursues the perps, wounding one in the chase.

At a warehouse storing overstocked toys, a security guard Charnetski (Pete Schrum) calls the local fried chicken restaurant and orders his usual delivery, unbeknownst to him that Judith has chased the gun runner into the warehouse. Mark (Bentley Mitchum) delivers Charnetski’s food and hangs out drinking beer and talking trash.

Under the floor of the warehouse, a demon lies sleeping. Hesse (the wounded bad guy) just happens to die on that very spot. Demon wakes, possesses the toys who attack the people in the warehouse. And they, along with a homeless girl Anne (Ellen Dunning) who has been sleeping in the warehouse, must fight off the hungry cute little terrors and try and stop the demon from possessing Judith’s unborn baby.

This movie is nuts, but, like a lot of Band’s films, there is a charm and creativity to this film. They lean into comedy. The possessed toys are grotesque in a cute way, especially Baby Oopsy, a foul mouth killer baby doll. All the toys were designed by John Carl Buechler.

Scoggins’ Judith Gray starts out as a tough and capable cop. Even after the death of Matt, she still gets the bad guys, and when everything hits the fan, is the force pulling everyone together. But she ends up being a damsel in distress by the end of the film, and that kinda pissed me off. She could have been a direct-to-video Ellen Ripley. Instead, a strong female character became a stereotype. Scoggins did reprise her role in Dollman Vs The Demonic Toys, and her character fared much better.

Silly, gory fun. Definitely not scary. But a perfect party movie.

Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994)

Dark Angel is a horror themed romantic fantasy film from director Linda Hassani and writer Matthew Bright, and released through Full Moon Features.

It opens in hell, with sequences that are effective as they are disturbing. In the department of hell that deals with punishing landlords and bankers, Veronica (Angela Featherstone) is listening to her boss who is not happy with her curious nature and sharing her dreams of the human world above. Her friend Mary (Christina Stoica) shows Veronica a rift between hell and the mortal world and retain your own body without the need for demon possession.

After arguing with her parents at dinner, Veronica’s mother Theresa (Charlotte Stewart) holds her father back from killing her (it is hell people). She runs straight to the rift, and along with her trusty German Shepard Hellraiser, enter the human world. Coming up through the sewer onto a city street in her own skin, all her demonic markings (including her horns and wings) and clothes disappear, leaving her looking like a normal naked human woman. She moves through the gaggle of onlookers in an almost music video dreamlike sequence. Soon after finding a coat to cover the nakedness, she looks up and sees a handsome doctor looking down from a window of a hospital, and is promptly hit by a car.

The doctor Max Barris (Daniel Marbel) heals her injuries, and takes her home with him to stay, as she has nowhere else, accompanied by Hellraiser. Max is Veronica’s guide to the new world. They become close over time and slowly fall for each other. But Veronica, seeing evil in the world, brutally kills evildoers at night. There is an investigation. And she sets her sights on the evil major.

The visuals and effects are handled really well for such a small budget. Even though there is a demon killing bad guys, there are some truly beautiful and heartfelt moments in this film, which is a more dramatic film than you would expect. Like Veronica slowing her true self to Max after sexy times. Featherstone is captivating as Veronica in her first starring role. It is a very unique story, equally sweet and odd. With a vigilante demon as our hero.

Knights (1993)

Knights is a sci-fi action adventure, from writer/director, and cult favourite, Albert Pyun.

In a post-apocalyptic future Earth, Cyborgs have taken control and rule over the remaining human population, led by the evil Job (Lance Henriksen). After the ‘Maker’ died, the cyborgs adapted their systems to run in a new fuel source, human blood. Not entirely sure why they didn’t go with solar power, but I’m not the screenwriter. So, to restock their supply, the cyborgs and their human army raid villages across the wasteland.

In one of these raids, Nea (Katy Long) fights back against the attackers, killing or capturing her friends. This defiance gets the attention of the party’s leader Simon (Scott Paulin) who decides to have some fun with the spirited human. Nea does injure Simon but she is no match for him. She is saved by the renegade cyborg Gabriel (Kris Kristofferson). Yes, you read that correctly. Gabriel was the last cyborg built by the maker with the mission to eliminate all the previous cyborgs.

With her village gone, she sticks close to Gabriel, who reluctantly teaches her martial arts and how to best dispatch the mechanical monstrosities. Together they journey to take out Job and his followers. But when Gabriel is blown in half in a fight with Job’s men, Nea must carry one alone and use her new found skills to kick some cyborg ass. And save the humans. The low-hi nature of the production adds a little charm. The slapped together cyborg SPFX works because the characters are constantly rebuilding and modifying themselves with what is at hand.

This film marks the Hollywood debut of kickboxing champion Kathy Long, and while she didn’t make many films, she is damn good in them, and it’s her show. Long is naturalistic in front of the camera, emotes well and handles the action and fight sequences expertly. She oozes more charisma than her male big budget counterparts. I, for one, wanted more of this amazing star. Props to the other actors. Kristofferson does a good job, and Gary Daniels as one of the cyborgs, and there is even a cameo from Dollman himself, Tim Thomerson. An ass kicking gem with a female protagonist that deserves more attention.

Nemesis 2: Nebula (1995)

Nemesis 2 is the action sci-fi sequel to the straight to video cult classic. The late great Albert Pyun returns as director, and was written by Pyun and Rebecca Charles.

By 2077, most of the human resistance are dead having lost the ‘Cyborg Wars’ and cyborgs have taken control of the planet and enslaved humanity. Rebel scientists have done the impossible in developing a new DNA strand which could signal the end of the cyborgs. With it the humans could create a mutant human with enhanced speed, strength, endurance and intelligence enough to kill the cyborgs. All the scientists need is a female volunteer to be impregnated. Which they find. When cyborgs attack, she flees to a hidden time ship and escapes to East Africa in 1980, in the middle of a civil war. Mum is killed defending her miracle baby, named Alex. Before the murderers can kill the baby, she is saved by local tribesmen. Alex is raised by them and 18 years later, Alex (now played by bodybuilder champion Sue Price) takes the warrior trials with the tribe. And some don’t think she is worthy because she is a woman, white, and a ‘muscled freak’. But she proves the naysayers wrong. She is now a warrior.

After being shown the time ship she arrived in, the cyborg bounty hunter Nebula zeros in on her and arrives to mess things up. It destroys her village and forces her on the run through rebel territory. She cuts a path through the bad guys in glorious fashion to get to a safe place. But, in the end, it’s a showdown between DNA superwoman and cyborg killing machine.

This is Sue Price’s first film. And I think she carries herself well. Like some of her 80s male counterparts, she was not a professional actor. But, a stoic hero in an action film doesn’t really need to be. She looks and acts the part, handles the action and fights scenes well, and runs better than Tom Cruise in the M:I franchise. Price appeared in all the Nemesis sequels, and it’s the reason I continued to watch them. The quality of the series falters but Price gets better.  I wish she did more.

No Contest (1995)

No Contest is an action thriller from director Paul Lynch and writer Robert C. Cooper, and has an impressive all-star cast for this kind of movie. And what kind of movie is it? Well, it’s a ‘Die Hard’ clone, sometimes called a knock off.

The Miss Galaxy beauty pageant is being held at a new, yet unopened, high-rise hotel. One of the contestants is Candice Wilson (Polly Shannon), the daughter of the rich and corrupt Senator Donald Wilson (the great John Colicos). She is being looked after by ex-federal agent Crane (Robert Davi). While on duty, he strikes up a friendship with the pageant’s host Sharon Bell (Shannon Tweed), herself an ex-Miss Galaxy winner and now a kickboxing actress in action films. When Sharon says she will look after Candice while Crane has a smoke break, he is outside the building when terrorists storm and lock down the building. The terrorist, led by Oz (Andrew Dice Clay) and his unstable number two Ice (Roddy Piper) take over the pageant at the point of a gun and kill the winner on live TV. The six remaining women on stage, including Sharon and Cadice, are taken hostage. OZ wants a ransom of millions of dollars in diamonds from Senator Wilson and has wired the hostages and the building with explosives to ensure it. But all doesn’t go to plan. When Sharon escapes her captors, she fights to free the other girls and kill ALL the bastards.

The cast here raises it above the usual knock-off. Clay is excellent as the main villain and is almost too good for the movie. Piper is delightfully unsettling. Both are standouts. It’s a shame Davi isn’t given much to do. But this is Shannon Tweed’s movie. Best known for her Playboy spreads, TV soap operas and erotic thrillers, Tweed also branched out into comedies, animation and action films like this one and its sequel. I always thought she was a good actress, fearless, and probably deserved a bigger career. Here she handles herself awesomely. She does the best with a weak script. Her character is likeable, a mix of tough as nails and vulnerable and she kicks major ass in the action scenes. A gem with flaws.

Retroactive (1997)

The sci-fi action film comes from director Louis Morneau, who in 1999 made the entertaining creature feature Bats.

Our hero is Karen Warren (Kylie Travis), a former criminal psychologist, who is driving down a lonely Texas road when her car breaks down. She hitches a ride from hot head Frank Lloyd (Jim Belushi) and his abused wife Rayanne (Shannon Whirry). Frank gets pulled over for speeding which starts the tension heating up. Frank is on his way to sell stolen military grade computer chips (whatever they are).

Stopping at a gas station run by Frank’s friend Sam (M. Emmet Walsh) for refreshments, Sam gives Frank proof that Rayanne is cheating on him with the local tow truck driver. Really, who can blame her. Tow Truck boy is miles ahead of low life Frank. Later, Frank shoots Rayanne and attempts to do the same to Karen. You can’t have witnesses to cold blooded murder, after all. Karen escapes into the desert and stumbles on the laboratory of Brian (Frank Whaley), a scientist testing out a time machine on mice. With Frank not too far behind, Brian takes her in only for the machine to go off accidentally sending Karen back in time 20 minutes, shortly after Frank picked her up.

Karen tries to fix things over and over again, as she keeps getting sent back in time. And they keep getting worse. I won’t give too much more away without spoiling the film, but there is a lot of thrilling action and the climax is as clever as it is satisfying.

This straight-to- video gem is damn exciting. There are no outlandish special effects, just a great story, slick direction, solid production, and excellent performances from the cast. Seeing Belushi go full on insane predator, turning his nice guy persona on its head, is chilling. But this is Kylie Travis’ show and she dominates, showing the vulnerability and steel of the troubled character. It’s a shame Travis no longer acts. This awesome little flick is a well-made, above average and inventive thriller. Since it is available to watch for free on YouTube, and only running at 90 minutes, it will cost you nothing to check it out and give this movie a little love.