One of Schlockmania’s great pleasures in 2025 was covering the excellent expanded reissue of These Fists Break Bricks and Armies Of The Night, the absorbing history of the cult film The Warriors. Both books were co-written by Chris Poggiali, who recently took some time out of an action-packed schedule to answer a set of questions from yours truly about both books and a few related topics. Read on to learn a lot about martial arts cinema, the complex history of The Warriors and what it’s like to research and write about such topics. Grab a drink and some snacks because you’ll want to devote some time to reading these detailed responses.

Armies Of The Night offers a carefully researched and organized look at a film steeped in mystique. Ever since its release, The Warriors has been followed by a legend of inspiring gang violence and deaths in the theaters where it was shown. This book delves into that legend but that arrives in its latter stages. In fact, the book has a lot more on its mind than just correcting the record.

It boasts a time-honored sense of discipline in its filmmaking, bringing in a rather complex plot in at just 83 minutes and setting it against a historical setting with a mixture of villages and towns a la the Zatoichi movies. However, the violence is a few notches more aggressive than what you'd see in Zatoichi film, including bursts of arterial spray that act as an exclamation point at the end of a sword duel and the occasional shock like a severed limb or a bit of eye trauma. There's also a memorable ninja trap for the hero where he is attacked by a squad of topless female ninjas posing as fishing girls.

These Films Break Bricks was originally designed to be a book of kung fu film posters with a little accompanying text. You can see that element of its original conception in the finished product's lavish graphic design, which incorporates an array of mind-blowing vintage poster designs drawn from several martial arts film fans' collections. However, the two authors realized they were onto something bigger and more impressive than just another coffee table book and put their writing/researching skills to the test. The result is something better than I was hoping for.