Monday 30 January 2012

Category III horror: ETERNAL EVIL OF ASIA (Hong Kong, 1995)

Laserdisc / HK


DVD / Taiwan / alternative print

New German BIONIC BOY dvd is a bootleg

A few days ago I posted about what I called a new official DVD release of BIONIC BOY & DYNAMITE JOHNSON from Germany. Unfortunately I've just been informed by the son of Bobby A. Suarez, Roberto S. Suarez II, that the DVD is a bootleg!


Roberto S. Suarez II:
Dear Jack,

Thank you for your continued interest on my late father's movies. I have read in some thread about your fascination for his films. However, I believe that the DVD release of the two Bionic Boy movie is coming from an illegal source. Sad to say but as far as we are concerned the only territory that there is a legal right to sell Dynamite Johnson is MPI/Dark Sky Films who currently owns the North American territory for the said movie. Bionic Boy part 1 is owned by Intercontinental films.

------------------------------------------

That's too bad. Fred Anderson of Ninja Dixon blog has bought the DVD and he tells me the films look like they've come from a Beta-master and are presented in non anamorphic widescreen.

Too bad the company were too greedy to pay the copyright fee (probably not very much) to issue a legit release.

Thanks to Roberto for the info.

THE FLYING SUPERBOY (Turkey, 19??)

aka BAS BELASI (Turkey)

VHS / Norway / fullscreen / English dub / Norwegian subs

VHS / Denmark / fullscreen / English dub / Danish subs

VHS / Denmark / fullscreen / English dub / Danish subs

VHS / UK / fullscreen / English dub / no subs

Thanks to Diabolik & Dag-Johnny for the Scandinavian scans.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

THUNDER KID (Thailand, 1980) - trailer


aka เจ้าพายุ (Thailand) [translation: Hurricane]
Stars: Sorapong Chatree and Nard Poowanai

Trailer from IFD's official YouTube page. Great picture quality and original aspect ratio!

POLICE FORCE 555 (Thailand, 1976) - trailer

aka CHOMPAE
aka ชุมแพ (Thailand)
aka Police Force (Sweden)
S: Sombat Metanee & Nard Poowanai


Rare trailer for rare movie from a rare Swedish Betamax tape! Posted on YouTube by Ninja Dixon/ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT's Fred Anderson.

EDIT: It seems Ninja Dixon deleted his upload so I reuploaded the trailer just for your pleasure! xD

Tuesday 24 January 2012

BIONIC BOY and DYNAMITE JOHNSON finally on DVD!


Well, I ought to say they are finally on DVD again as they are already on DVD in South Africa but those two DVDs are long out of print and are very hard to get by now.

However, I've just been informed that the Bobby A. Suaerz produced BIONIC BOY and DYNAMITE JOHNSON (aka Bionic Boy 2) have been released on a single DVD in Germany (under the title Superboy 1 & 2) and (according to Amazon.de) luckily both films carry the English dub! And they are letterboxed!

I have no info on picture quality but seeing as the South African DVDs were pretty rough looking (direct off film prints and no care taken in regards to make the transfers look their best) chances are this DVD is gonna make the films look better than what they have before on home cinema format. If and when I get more info on the quality I'll be sure to post it here.

The Amazon Germany price is 21 euros + postage but some of the marketplace sellers sell them at around 10 euros. Amazon Germany do ship outside of Germany, some of the marketplace sellers do and some don't (like with all Amazon branches). Check the DVD here.


Thanks to Marc C. of dvdmaniacs forum for the info!!!

Sunday 15 January 2012

...

...

THEY CALL HIM CHOP SUEY - trailer


Mega-mega-mega rare trailer for Jun Gallardo's Filipino kung fu film starring Ramon Zamora. Produced by Bobby A. Suarez

HITMAN (aka American Commandos) - original trailer and rare Danish trailer

Directed by: Bobby A. Suarez (Philippines, 1986)

Original trailer: 



Rare alternative trailer made for the Danish market (HITMAN was a co-production with a film company in Denmark):


Thanks go out to Diabolik (aka Hans-Jørn Reimer) who dug out the Danish trailer from an old Danish ex-rental VHS.

RAW FORCE - trailer

(Philippines, 1982)


THE BEASTS - trailer

Directed by Dennis Yu (Hong Kong, 1980)



NB: THE BEASTS is the original version of the cut & paste film that Video Search of Miami used to sell as "The Flesh And Bloody Terror" (with HC porn inserts).

THE BIG BIRD CAGE - trailer

Jack Hill (Philippines, 1972)


 

THE BIG DOLL HOUSE - trailer

dir: Jack Hill (Philippines, 1971) 


 

SAVAGE - trailer

dir: Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1973)

FIRECRACKER (aka Naked Fist) - trailer

Directed by Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1981)

FLY ME - trailer (tv spot)

dir: Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1973)



Trailer for Cirio H. Santiago's FLY ME is now on YouTube. Sure, it's a short one, but never the less a sweet one! xD

Sexy stewardesses and crappy kung fu!! Whoo-hoo!!!

I can't believe this is finally being released! As I've mentioned before, I'm only aware of two video releases and they're more rare than getting laid at a dike slumber party!!! (to coin an old Damon Foster joke from Oriental Cinema). And on top of that Shout! had decided NOT to release the film cos their print was too worn for their liking but it was the only print they could get hold of and fans (me being one!) kept bugging them about it. I have no idea if fan barracking helped but it's coming out now anyway. Whoo-hoo!! I can certainly live with the film looking like it was shot on celluloid (not everything has to look like it was shot on video if ya catch my drift. LOL).

Saturday 14 January 2012

Shopping tip for that thar rare world-weird horror movie

Spiralheadcase on ebay in Japan has the Japanese VHS of the rare HK horror comedy FIRST VAMPIRE IN CHINA up for auction! For the HKMDB go here. The tape is in Cantonese with Japanese subs. There's no DVD release of this film. There's an English subbed laserdisc from Hong Kong but it's very rare. The auction runs another day. Go here.

Edit: the final bidder won the tape at 31 dollars.

VHS / Japan / fullscreen / Cantonese audio / Japanese subs



PS: this is a genuine tip for fans of these films, I'm not the seller nor am I affiliated with him.

Friday 13 January 2012

Review of Cirio H. Santiago's FLY ME & COVER GIRL MODELS over at "Rock! Shock! Pop!"

While we're waiting for SHOUT! FACTORY's upcoming release of Lethal Ladies vol. 2 which contains the two RARE Cirio H. Santiago films FLY ME and COVER GIRL MODELS you might wanna check out Ian Jane's review (and scans) of the set over at his Rock! Shock! Pop! site (the lucky bastard got a review copy quite a while back!).

PS: and yes, Vic Diaz is in both of them!

Thursday 12 January 2012

BLOOD THIRST (Philippines, 1966/71)


Here's the Filipino film BLOOD THIRST. It stars Vic Diaz and was originally made in 1966 but wasn't released until 1971. Something Weird Video have released it as both a 2-film DVD (the other film is the British horror movie BLOOD SUCKERS, starring Peter Cushing) and as a single film release. Do notice that the double film release is a real pressed DVD whereas the latter is a DVD-R. 

The Amazon description for BLOOD THIRST reads:

Filipino women found with their blood drained bring American sex-crime expert Adam Rourke to Manila in search of the killer. Armed with a lisp and a mannequin named Harvey, Rourke soon becomes prey to a "Golden Goddess" possessed of eternal youth, and a creature whose face looks like melted flesh.


Haha, great plot description there! I'm also posting the cover for the single film release which I actually prefer (the cover that is) but like I said it's a DVD-R. 



1966/1971 - Blood Thirst (company unknown)
[also released as "Blood Seekers" and "The Horror From Beyond"]

Director Newt Arnold Producer Newt Arnold Executive Producer Michael “Dupont”/Du Pont Writer N.I.P. Dennis Director of Photography Hermo Santos Post-Production Supervisor Lee Osborne Editing Supervisor “Tony”/Anthony DiMarco

Cast Robert Winston (Adam Rourke), Katherine Henryk, Yvonne Nielson, Vic Diaz (Captain Miguel), Vic Silayan, Eddie Infante, Bruno Punzalan, Judy Dennis, Max “Rojo”/Roio, Ching Tello, Minda Morena, Isidro Francisco, Felix Marfil

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Let's have a "woo-woo" for Taiwan!!



Gee whiz!! One of my fave Hong Kong "girls with guns" flicks is KILLER ANGELS (starring Moon Lee). Unfortunately, it's never been released on HK DVD, VHS, LD, or VCD with English subtitles. Actually it's never been released on HK DVD at all, and if there are video tapes or a laserdisc releases I have certainly never come across them. All I've been able to find is an un-subbed VCD and an English dubbed American VHS (which I only have a bootleg off). I must have watched that VCD 15 times as it's such an entertaining movie. HOWEVER... last night... I stumbled over a DVD release from Taiwan... that says it has English subtitles!! Fucken brilliant!! I ordered it right away. It's from a well known eBay seller in HK (and he's got more copies if you want one!). It's listed as letterboxed and dubbed in Mandarin. I also bought MAD MAD GHOST (also on Taiwan DVD) and VAMPIRE KIDS (on HK DVD). Niice!



Sunday 8 January 2012

BRUTAL SORCERY Ocean Shores VHS



I have lost count of how many times I've lost the Ocean Shores VHS release of BRUTAL SORCERY. But now... NOW... I've finally won it on eBay. Surprisingly enough I was actually the only bidder. Someone suggested it's because everyone else who wants it has already got a copy now. Haha. I'm no so sure about that, it's still a quite rare tape. Maybe it was partly because the tape was listed on eBay UK. Anyway, I'm certainly thrilled to have won it (the picture in this post is from my scan archive, it's not the actual copy that I won).

Thursday 5 January 2012

Alapaap over at Ninja Dixie

Just to let you know Fred Anderson reviewed the obscure and rare Filipino horror movie ALAPAAP (aka Counds) over at Ninja Dixon. Also check out his recent review of the old dark and nasty Taiwan favourite THE DEVIL. Go here.

But I'm not at all sure why he wouldn't have heard about ALAPAAP before (as he states) as I've had an entry for it on BACKYARD ASIA for many months. LOL.