DEATH IS A DRUM, BEATING FOREVER

Grisly goings-on in West Africa's Transniger, where a black Manson from Chicago deploys his female disciples (equipped with fool-proof garrottes) in a kill-all-whites terror campaign. Dullish detective Dr. Quarshie arrives from neighboring Akhana--without the Mrs. this time--and does little more than count the bodies as they accumulate and muse on his fatherly relationships with his investigating assistants: a bright young bureaucrat and an albino crooner with helpful ESP. Wyllie trowels on psychological patinas and local colors with long-winded earnestness, but they're wasted on the sex-and-slay sensationalism that dominates this oddly messy African excursion.