Monday 10 July 2017

THE SNAKE QUEEN - composite print on ultra limited DVD

I've just finished watching my new THE SNAKE QUEEN dvd. It's limited to 20 copies!!! (pressed, not dvd-r). I own the Greek vhs version but this one is pretty cool; it's a fan composite that mixes the Greek vhs and the Indonesian versions (off an Indonesian Betamax tape and an Indonesian VCD). Both Indo versions contain alternative edits of the film. We all thought the Greek tape was uncut but, nope, it's missing quite a few scenes. No violence or gore, but still. The Indo bits are subbed in English.
The film is awesome. Made in Indonesia in 1982 and stars Suzzanna, Barry Prima, George Rudy and some more familiar faces. Needless to say, like 99% of all old Indo flicks it's never been released on dvd. You can read about it in Pete Tombs' "Mondo Macabro" book.





Saturday 22 April 2017

STONE BOY (Ph. 1982) dir: J. Erastheo Navoa

Original titel: Rocco, Ang Batang Bato
aka Boy God


Australia / VHS / fullscreen / English audio
hi-res scan
If you look up "Wild, crazy, weird Filipino cinema" in the encyclopaedia it has a picture of this film next to it. I swear! I don't even know how to describe this film. And don't be fooled by the fact that it has a fucken kid in the lead role. It's not a kid's movie. Anyhoo, I'm not going to review the film for now but I highly recommend that you check out Andrew Leavold's post about the film. He knows his shit about this! And if you don't believe me here's a photo of him and Nino Muhlach who played the main character in STONE BOY. 


Photo: courtesy of Andrew Leavold

THE WARRIOR AND THE NINJA (Indonesia 1983) H. Tjut Djalil

aka The Warrior and the Ninja Girls

Greece / VHS / half lbx / Eng. dub / Greek subs
hi-res scan

The first English dubbed THE WARRIOR sequel is THE WARRIOR AND THE NINJA (original title: Bajing Ireng Dan Jaka Sembung). Directed by H. Tjut Djalil (1983) who also directed LADY TERMINATOR, MYSTICS IN BALI, and many more. It was followed by THE WARRIOR AGAINST THE BLIND SWORDSMAN. There are two more sequels but they've never been dubbed or subbed into English.

Common Courtesy

Feel free to use my cover scans for your own blog, website or facebook page/wall all you want. But could you please credit where you got them from, i.e. this blog. Thanks. No, I didn't create these covers but the ones that came from my own collection I spent time scanning. I try and credit the best I can and I expect the same in return. Cheers.

Saturday 25 February 2017

THE LETHAL HUNT (Philippines, 1985)

Original title: Partida
Directed by: Ben G. Yalung
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr
For full credits list check Andrew Leavold's blog

VHS / Greece / fullscreen / English dub / Greek subs / uncut afaik
300 dpi hi-res scan

Not to be confused with the Indonesian film THE LETHAL HUNTER (also on this blog)

THE DAY THEY ROBBED AMERICA (Philippines 1985) [REVIEW]

Original Filipino English title: The Sangley Point Robbery
aka American High Commando


VHS / Greece / fullscreen / English dub / Greek subs / uncut afaik
300 dpi hi-res scan


Dir: Manuel 'Fyke' Cinco

I'm not even sure if I should post this review on my When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines blog or on my Backyard Asia blog! Hell, maybe I'll do both!

The thing is, the latter is a blog about wild and crazy Asian films and the first is dedicated to Vietnam War flicks made in the Philippines. And Manuel "Fyke" Cinco's THE DAY THEY ROBBED AMERICA is part Vietnam War flick - kinda without actually being a Vietnam War flick - and part wild and crazy Asian movie!

Most of these Filipino Vietnam War films are filmed in the Philippines but they're set in the Vietnam War which took place in, well, Vietnam, obviously. But this film, while it does take place during the Vietnam War, and while it does star a soldier who's just been fighting in the Viet Cong, the film is actually set in the Philippines! And lots of wild and crazy stuff take place! But, hey, it's been a long while since I wrote my last review of a Filipino Vietnam War movie and I'm stalling. Grab your beer and let's get going with the plot.

1971. An American soldier in Vietnam is captured and tortured by the Viet Cong. The soldier is played by a gwilo called James Acheson who I've never seen in any other film but according to the bloody IMDb he was also in the Vietnam War movie P.O.W. THE ESCAPE from 1986. The Viet Cong kidnap his girlfriend and they're going, "If you don't tell us what we want to know we're gonna off yer girlfriend". The American soldier knows bloody well he's out of luck so he goes, "Fuck you and fuck the horse you rode in on". Fortunately, his mates arrive just in time to save him and kill the Viet Cong. Unfortunately, they've already off'ed his gf. After this he's a mental wreck and the army send him to a US base in the Philippines.





In the Philippines Rudy Fernandez plays a cop who kills a bad dude in the line of duty and decides to quit the force as a result. The bad dude's brother is obviously pissed off and asks one of his henchmen to off the cop, but the henchman dude misses his mark and shoots the cop's dad instead. The cop, who's really a good law-abiding feller, then decides to participate in a bank robbery in order to pay for his dad's operation. He's got a wife and a girlfriend and neither of them are happy about the situation (!).

The ex cop and his posse of misfits plan to hit the American bank at the army base (!!) and needless to say it all goes terribly wrong. In the middle of the robbery a ton of American soldiers start shooting at them (what did they expect!), and the American solder who returned from Nam, his gf works at the bank and the ex cop and his gang kidnap her to use as a shield. They let her go soon enough but it still leaves her completely traumatised (quite funny actually, earlier on in the film she said to the soldier, who had experienced heinous things in Vietnam and had seen his ex girlfriend get killed in front of him, "you gotta leave all this behind and move on". Well, obviously she didn't handle being kidnapped for half an hour too well as she ends up traumatised in a wheelchair!). The ex Nam soldier decides to go on a revenge spree and starts to hunt down the cop and his mates one by one.





This is a quick run down of the plot and there's a lot that I'm leaving out. THE DAY THEY ROBBED AMERICA is a wild and obscure film - but also slow in places and talkative. Obscure because the film doesn't stay in just one genre. It's part Vietnam War movie, part cop flick, part vigilante film, and it's part ... crazy Asian. It's not least obscure because we've actually got two main characters, the ex Vietnam soldier turned vigilante - and the ex cop turned bank robber. Neither of them is a bad person, and as a viewer we feel for the both of them. It's a dilemma and makes for a different and captivating storytelling in a genre that, despite being entertaining, is often more straight forward than straight forward.

In addition to  Rudy Fernandez I also noticed a few other well known faces, Nick Nicholson, David Light, and a few more. You can check the complete credits list on Andrew Leavold's blog.

Highly recommended.


VERSION REVIEWED: Greek ex-rental VHS. Fullscreen, English dub, Greeke subtitles, good picture quality.


Tuesday 21 February 2017

ZUMA 2: HELL SERPENT (rare English dubbed print!!!) (full film)


 In 2011 I posted a clip from a very rare English dubbed version of the Filipino film ZUMA 2 - HELL SERPENT (aka Anak Ni Zuma). The film was available on an un-English friendly VCD out of the Philippines but nobody seemed to have the English dubbed print.

However, somebody has not only found a print but has found a print and uploaded it to YouTube! In all its VHS glory! My guess is it comes off a Malaysian or Indonesian VHS tape. The two sets of subs look Malaysian and Chinese to me. I'll embed the film here and hopefully it'll stay on YouTube but you never know how long these things get to stay so I'd recommend you save a copy for yourself.



Thanks to Ira Brooker and someone on Facebook whose name escapes me now for letting me know about the upload. Cheers mates!