I’ve seen clips here and there, over the years, of some 1980s B-movie with a memorably absurd fight sequence. I don’t know the specifics, but there’s a point at which the villain menacingly licks his knife while the camera does an uncomfortably long close-up. About all else that I can tell you about the movie is that it’s in the so-bad-it’s-good camp, and that its aesthetic is basically “if the 80s puked on a movie.”
I think the issue here is that it looks like it was puked in the early 90s actually:
Undefeatable (1993) With a fight so bad, it was mentioned in many critics lists as one of the greatest campy fight scenes.
There’s a whole TVTropes page for Licking The Blade. Several movies are listed. It’s quite a cliche, in fact. Hard to pin down which one you saw without more details.
It was definitely Undefeatable. And yeah, I mixed up my 80’s puke with my 90’s puke.
That fight scene might be terrible but it’s Oscar-worthy compared to Samurai Cop
That’s the same cheap mall-ninja knife they used in Cobra (1986).
My favorite movie fight scene ever: Unstable Lab Tech versus Disappointed Dad!
Wow - David Byrne got pretty buff go that role.