opening week in the American box office grossing $739,723. The film grossed a total of $4,662,137 in the United States and Canada. The film sold tickets in the United States, and 395,013 tickets in France. Critical response Walter Goodman of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing that the story appeared to have been "slapped-together". Time Out compared the film to The Last Dragon, Karate Kid, and Rocky IV noting that it "borrows heavily" from those films and "makes them look like masterpieces". The martial arts magazine Black Belt gave the film a rating of one and a half out of five noting that Jean-Claude Van Damme does not have much screen time and that the film was derivative of The Karate Kid. Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times called it "hilariously bad" and an "amateurish clunker" with poor action scenes. In 1993, Black Belt placed the film at seventh on their list of top ten choreographed martial arts films. The magazine specifically praised Van Damme's jump kicks while noting that McKinney's look "suspiciously quick" noting that "unlike the Hong Kong movie industry, American filmmakers have yet to master the technique of speeding up the film without "jumpy/fidgety" side effects". In 2017, Ed Travis of Cinapse said the film "manages to entertain and delight with a combination of pure earnestness and legitimately cool fight work." Austin Trunick of Under the Radar said Van Damme's scenes "are prime Van Damme, at least, with some fantastic fight choreography and a full showcase of splits, high-kicks, and bug-eyed snarling." The film was riffed live at a number of venues on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live: The Great Cheesy Movie Tour by Joel Hodgson in 2019. It was also riffed by RiffTrax on October 15, 2015. Sequels See also American films of 1986 List of action films of the 1980s References External links 1985 films 1985 martial arts films 1980s ghost films 1980s English-language films American ghost films American martial arts films Bruceploitation films Chinese ghost films Chinese martial arts films Films about friendship Films directed by Corey Yuen Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Nevada Films set in Seattle Films shot in California Films shot in Washington (state) Jeet Kune Do films Karate films Kung fu films Kickboxing films New World Pictures films No Retreat, No Surrender films 1970s English-language films 1980s American films