PRODUCER NIK VS. The Sons of Thunder: Unrated Director’s Cut

Nik takes a tour of the wasteland with Chris Miller to answer the burning question: Is it really so bad outside of the dome? The answer will not surprise you.

When Sawyer “Deck” Declan, more machine than man, is offered an opportunity to go after the terrorist who took his former life away, he heads into the wastelands surrounding the domed city of Nuevo Buenos Aires, hunting a sadistic army of cultists bent on equality or death, all under the direction of their mysterious Messiah and Declan’s nemesis, Carlo Varga. A showdown for the ages is in store for The Sons of Thunder, because Declan is bringing hell to their doorstep.

The Revolution Starts Now.

Title: The Sons of Thunder: Unrated Director’s Cut

Author: Chris Miller

Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction

Pages: 242

Format: Hardcover/Paperback/ebook/Audiobook

Do you enjoy cyberpunk dystopian futures like those portrayed in movies like Hardware, Turbo Kid, and Johnny Mnemonic?

Are you a fan of 1980s and 90s Troma productions?

If the answer is yes, then you’re going to want to read The Sons of Thunder: Unrated Director’s Cut.

This story is what you’d find if William Gibson had been writing screenplays for Lloyd Kaufman. It fulfills the promise reneged on by the cover art of so many VHS flicks we saw on movie store shelves. You know the ones I’m talking about. There was always some magnificently stylized image featuring explosions, guns, muscular men with cybernetic limbs, and often an attractive (and scantily-clad) woman or two. This story is what you wanted to experience when you popped one of those cautionary tale movies on at home, teaching you a valuable lesson in false advertisement and the injustice of video store clerks who refused to refund the rental despite the movie bearing little to no resemblance to what was depicted on the cover.

This story has everything you might want—if you want corporate-controlled, sprawling megacities sheltered from the irradiated wasteland by high-tech domes, gratuitous violence, a grizzled and revenge-driven cyborg, mutants, and mayhem galore. Tjoml of it as Class of Nuke ‘Em High meets Robocop, with a little bit of Dredd thrown into the mix.

The only downside I can think of is that there’s not much new ground to cover if you’ve already enjoyed the previous iteration of Sons of Thunder, when it was included in Cerberus Exploitation: A Grindhouse Triple Feature along with similar exploitation flick-influenced tales by Patrick C. Harrison III and M. Ennenbach. There’s some new material in the mix, but it might not be quite enough for some people to justify the additional purchase. I’m not one of those people. If you’re one of them—and you’ve already read the previous iteration—then I don’t know why you’re even reading this.

Chris Miller captures the grindhouse style so perfectly that you might be surprised to glance around and realize you’re not at a seedy movie theater or a drive-in. As an elite team of security operatives and an unwilling cyborg dragged out of retirement with the promise of sweet revenge are faced with a seemingly endless barrage of marauders, terrorists, mutants, and doomsday cultists, you’ll find yourself at the edge of your seat.

You’ll want to be careful about the climax, though.

Things might get a bit messy.

Nikolas P. Robinson is an avid consumer of books, movies, and television, especially where horror, science fiction, and fantasy are concerned. When he isn’t consuming media, he’s creating it as an author, photographer, videographer, and news producer in Portland, Oregon.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.