Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except opens in Vietnam in 1969. Sergeant Jack Stryker (Brian Schulz), Sergeant Walter Jackson (Robert Rickman), 2nd Lieutenant David Miller (John Manfredi), and Lieutenant Corporal Tim Tyler (Timothy Patrick Quill) are all members of the same platoon. When a mission goes wrong, Stryker is shot in the leg. He is then discharged and heads home, where he retrieves his dog and retreats to his secluded cabin. He does get back in touch with his old girlfriend, Sally (Cheryl Hausen). He's delighted with Jackson, Miller, and Tyler come to visit, following an altercation in a local bar. Meanwhile, an evil cult, lead by messiah-like leader (Sam Raimi), has been on a killing spree in the area. Stryker and his friends comes across the cult terrorizing a campground and a standoff begin. Suddenly, the soldiers find themselves in a war with the cult-members.

Every once in a while, a million-dollar idea comes along and Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except definitely has one. The basic premise sells itself -- Rambo versus The Manson Family. If I had the money, I would certainly finance a project like that! First Blood brought us the idea of a mis-understood and disturbed Vietnam veteran who is pushed too far. (Although, Writer/Director Josh Becker had the idea for the movie before Rambo first graced the screen.) And of course, even though it had been over a decade since the Manson trials, the stories of the murders committed by the "Family" were still fresh on the minds of Americans. The clash between the Marines and the crazies goes far beyond clean-cut guys fighting hippie cultists with long hair. The is organized well-trained fighters going up against berserk killers.

Unfortunately, Becker only had $200,000 to finance his $1 million idea. The movie has some lofty ideas but its shoestring budget shows through at times. This is apparent from the opening shots, which are stock footage shots of Vietnam. The Vietnam battle scenes (which were shot in Michigan) contain a few extras, but they aren't very convincing. When the action shifts to the U.S., we are treated to the sort of sets which are a trademark of this sort of movie, most notably Stryker's run-down shack. The movie has an admirable amount of extras and it was shot in several different locations, but its limitations are apparent.

Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell's pals made many wacky movies over the years, most of which fell into the horror or sci-fi categories. But, Becker's contributions leaned more towards action and Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except exemplifies this. The movie can't escape its cheap origins (unlike some movies of this ilk, this one looks low-budget), but it contains some pretty good action and the most demented acting by a respected filmmaker that you'll ever see.

Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except made me wonder exactly when Jarts were invented on Blu-ray Disc (in a combo pack) courtesy of Synapse Films. The film has been letterboxed at 1.66:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The film was shot on 16mm, so we get the grain associated with that format, although it isn't overpowering. There are also some mild defects from the source material, such as white specks, but again, these aren't abundant. Also associated with 16mm is good colors, and those are evident here. The tones are a bit washed out in some shots, but the blood is certainly a nice shade of red. Some of the night-time scenes, most notably those going into the bar, are too dark. The level of detail is OK, but the image looks noticeably flat. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 1.6 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects for the most part. Some of the sound effects sound very canned at times (as they came from Bruce Campbell's library) and some of the dialogue is somewhat muffled in some scenes. The Joe LoDuca score sounds fine.

The Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Josh Becker and Bruce Campbell. This is followed by a second COMMENTARY from actor Brian Schulz and moderator Michael Felsher. "Made in Michigan: The Making of Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except" (32 minutes) contains interviews with Becker, Producer Scott Spiegel, actors Tim Quill, Robert Rickman and John Manfredi. Following a discussion of how the project came together and the casting, the speakers talk at length about the production. There's a discussion of Sam Raimi's performance in the movie, including comments from his brother Ted Raimi. "Alternate 'Sgt. Stryker's War' Title Sequence" (79 seconds) is simply the film's opening minutes with a different title card. We get one DELTED SCENE which runs about 45 seconds and can be viewed with commentary from Becker. "Interview with Bruce Campbell" (9 minutes) has the actor roaming his property in Oregon while discussing Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except and his involvement in the movie. The Disc contains the original Super 8mm "Stryker's War" short film which runs about 48 minutes (that's short). It's interesting to see how close this is to the longer movie, at times being shot-for-shot identical. The real different is that Bruce Campbell stars in this version. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the movie.