Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins is based on "The Destroyer" pulp novels books from the seventies. Written by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy, the stories catalogue the adventures of Remo Williams, an ex-cop brought back from the dead and trained in the obscure (and fictitious) Korean martial art of Sinanju. This esoteric fighting style enables an exponent to dodge bullets, cripple an opponent with blows to nerve endings and run across a beach without leaving footprints. On paper this was ideal material for an action movie franchise that could potentially fill a gap in the market between Bond movies. Yet this 1985 film struggled to find an audience upon release.