"Commando Squad" was released in 1987 and has the look of an early Fred Olen Ray effort (The Brain Leeches, Sleazemania, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers). It suffers considerably when compared to "Cyclone", another of his 1987 films which was much better as an exploitation film as it featured Heather Thomas and Ashley Ferrare nicely showcased in sexy outfits, competent lighting, good film stock, and one of the best ever movie catfights.
"Commando Squad" went with Kathy Shower, still fresh from being named Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1986 at age 33. Kathy was a bit high mileage for a Playboy centerfold but nobody was complaining. And she had done a decent job that year playing a deceived bad girl on an episode of "Knight Rider" where she added some nice sizzle and eye candy to the production. But even with Shower dressed in tight black leather, "Commando Squad" has minimal sizzle going for it as these scenes are so poorly lit that the actress is just a faint distant shadow in a series of a wide master shots. And her one good outfit was at the start of the film, after that she was costumed like one of extras in "The Grapes of Wrath".
Shower could have either become the next Sharon Tate or crashed and burned along with Kathy Ireland whose acting range was limited to a looks of dull surprise whenever a camera was pointed in her direction. While Shower's acting for the camera range was greater than Ireland's, it was not not a lot greater and her range could even have benefited from an ability to express dull surprise.
The Sharon Tate comparisons are easy because "Commando Squad" could be considered a low budget attempt at "The Wrecking Crew", at least from a believability perspective. Both films require that viewers expend a huge amount of energy suspending their disbelief. You don't mind doing this with "The Wrecking Crew" because it is fun and entertaining in an obviously self-parodying way. Something "Commando Squad" is not.
One obvious similarity is that Shower's character Kat Withers, like Tate's character Freya Carlson, spends at lot of her on-screen time disguised in an unflattering dark wig. But Freya only wears this for one series of scenes and for logical reasons. Their is no explanation for why Shower was de-tuned in this way.
Although somewhat limited as an actress, Tate's range included very convincing airhead portrayals, which when combined with her more serious scenes give Freya considerable dimensionality. Viewers find themselves engaged by Tate's character but completely indifferent to Shower's.
