[6] While negatively received, it generated record profits for Concorde Pictures,[7] and kickstarted a long running franchise of increasingly unrelated sequels and spinoffs.

[8] To bolster its credibility, Bloodfist listed the real-life martial arts credentials of its stars, not only on the poster but in the credits as well, a gimmick that carried over to other Concorde films and was copied by some competitors.

The worldwide success of 1988's Bloodsport, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, generated a resurgence in the production of martial arts films.

To find his next star, the producer instructed his staff to survey martial arts publications' fighter rankings, where the name of Don "The Dragon" Wilson came up.

[13] Although he had no directorial experience in the genre, Terence H. Winkless had co-written a script for Roger Corman's brother Gene in the 1970s, in which kickboxer Joe Lewis was to have played a cyborg engineered by Chinese radicals to kill a Nixon-like U.S. president during a martial arts demonstration.

Even though Winkless was due to leave for Manilla just ten days after being introduced to the project, the script he received still mentioned Hong Kong locations, including a scene where the hero climbed a long flight of stairs to a mountain temple.

At their hotel's disco, Blanks struck a conversation with Winkless, who informed him that he was in town to direct a martial arts film and still had one fighter left to cast.

[14] The schedule allowed Winkless reasonable time to sort out some outstanding issues, such as replacing the Hong Kong mountain temple from the original script with the Taal Volcano, which Wilson is seen climbing in the final version.

[14] The late-blooming director, who was still learning the tricks of the trade, found how to piece together several smaller locations into a larger on-screen locale by masking cuts with elements of vegetation.

[4] To hype Bloodfist's release, Concorde printed a disparaging quote from World Kickboxing Association president Howard Hanson—whose light heavyweight title was held by Wilson—on the film's poster, reading "Don Wilson would kick Van Damme's a-- in one round!"

Wilson conceded that this was a publicity stunt orchestrated by his producer, but nonetheless accused Van Damme of misrepresenting himself as a former world champion, and asserted that the Belgian would be no match for him in real life.

[23] In a retort published in Black Belt magazine, Van Damme scoffed at the low purse in comparison to what he stood to make on his upcoming films, and argued that the challenge was unfair as he had stopped competing in 1980 to focus on his cinematic pursuits.

[13] Bloodfist was originally intended for release in June 1989,[22] but Concorde had problems securing theater bookings due to an oversaturation of blockbusters such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II and Batman, so the film was delayed by a few months.

In a contemporary piece, the New York Daily News unfavorably compared the film to Jean-Claude Van Damme's then-current output, writing that "Blood Fist [sic] limps through increasingly predictable paces sans so much as a soupçon of the mindless charm of Kickboxer.

And while real-life chopsocky champ Don Wilson may be capable of kicking 'Van Damme's a-- in one round' (as one of the pic's bloodthirsty blurbs contends), he lacks Jean-Claude's clumsy but genuine charisma.

"[29] TV Guide was similarly dismissive, pointing to "the screenplay being recycled from at least five other kung fu films", and "further hampered by bad acting and obvious budget restraints.

[31] However, VideoHound's Complete Guide to Cult Flicks and Trash Pics, an exploitation-centric spinoff of the prior publication, rated it a three, finding that "the killer is not easy to spot until the final reel" and "on a purely visceral level the film delivers, though it will remain strictly viewing for the martial arts fan.

"[6] Bill Wallace wrote in Black Belt that "maybe it wasn't the best karate film in the world, but at least people could see what different martial artists look like doing their fight scenes.

It was re-used two more times in 1993 alone, for the company debuts of Jerry Trimble in Full Contact and Dominic Labanca in Dragon Fire, although these films were not marketed as official remakes.