Backyard Asia

Kothar's "Short reviews of weird movies"

2012-02-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

I've posted a couple of Kothar's reviews on this blog before but here's a link to his thread on Cinehound message board. I'll probably re-post them here at some point but for now you really ought to check out the original forum postings. Like a certain kat girl on another rad blog Kothar is yet another fan who's been with us all the way from Gunter Müller's "Weird Asia" days (altho none of us "met" back in the day. LOL). For Kothar's reviews go here. His latest review (from today) is certainly one I'd like get hold of!

Sally Yeh's forgotten cannibal movie

2012-02-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

I watched Cheuk Ang-Tong's MARIANNA tonight. It's a HK horror movie from 1982 mostly shot in the Philippines. One of the two female leads is played by Sally Yeh (whose most famous role is probably John Woo's THE KILLER). Yeh's character's husband goes to the Philippines on a business journy and "bumps" into a Filipino girl who's seemingly wanted by everyone; two tribes of blood thirsty savages and a horde of cannibal zombies are out to get her. There's tons of cool stuff and heaps of gore. I was highly entertained. The film is only released on a very rare HK VCD. The dialogue is a mix of Cantonese, Tagalog, and English (Mandarin is optional instead of Canto). The VCD has Chinese and English subs. Watch it if you can find it! Oh, the ending is terrible by the way, haha

DEADLY ANGELS STRIKE BACK (Indonesia, 1981)

2012-02-17T02:38:00.001-08:00

aka Cewek Jagoan beraski Kembali (original Indonesian title)
Tödliche Engel Schlagen Zurück / Tödliche Engel (Germany)

Director: Danu Umbara

vhs / Germany / fullscreen / German dub / no subs

This is the sequel for 5 DEADLY ANGELS. In contradiction to the first film it's never been released dubbed into English. The German tape has German dub.

VCD / Malaysia / fullscreen / Indonesian / no subs

Thanks to Kothar for the German scan!

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

2012-01-30T05:37:00.000-08:00

Laserdisc / HK

DVD / Taiwan / alternative print

New German BIONIC BOY dvd is a bootleg

2012-01-30T03:56:00.000-08:00

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??)

2012-01-29T16:19:00.000-08:00

aka BAS BELASI (Turkey)

VHS / Norway / fullscreen / English dub / Norwegian subs

VHS / Denmark / fullscreen / English dub / Danish subs

VHS / UK / fullscreen / English dub / no subs

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

THUNDER KID (Thailand, 1980) - trailer

2012-01-24T16:53:00.000-08:00

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

Posted on YouTube by Ninja Dixon/ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT's Fred Anderson.

Fred:

Trailer ripped from a Swedish betamax tape.

I've cropped it so it just shows the trailer in it's widescreen ratio. The "swedish" title is Thunder Kid, and you can see notice the purple parts of the letters in the beginning and end.

POLICE FORCE 555 (Thailand, 1976) - trailer

2012-01-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

aka CHOMPAE / ชุมแพ (Thailand) 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.

BIONIC BOY and DYNAMITE JOHNSON finally on DVD!

2012-01-24T05:29:00.000-08:00

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!!!

HITMAN (aka American Commandos) - original trailer

2012-01-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

dir: Bobby A. Suarez (Philippines, 1986).

Check also the different Danish trailer for this film (HITMAN was a co-production with a Danish film company).

THEY CALL HIM CHOP SUEY - trailer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2012-01-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

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) - rare Danish trailer

2012-01-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

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

RAW FORCE - trailer

2012-01-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

(Philippines, 1982)

THE BEASTS - trailer

2012-01-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-15T07:42:00.000-08:00

Jack Hill (Philippines, 1972)

THE BIG DOLL HOUSE - trailer

2012-01-15T07:36:00.000-08:00

dir: Jack Hill (Philippines, 1971)

SAVAGE - trailer

2012-01-15T06:33:00.000-08:00

dir: Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1973)

FIRECRACKER (aka Naked Fist) - trailer

2012-01-15T06:22:00.000-08:00

Directed by Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1981)

FLY ME - trailer

2012-01-15T02:59:00.000-08:00

dir: Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1973)

Trailer for Cirio H. Santiago's FLY ME is now on YouTube. Sure it 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 is too worn for their liking but it was the only print they had 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).

Shopping tip for that thar rare world-weird horror movie

2012-01-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2012-01-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

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!

BLOOD THIRST (Philippines, 1966/71)

2012-01-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

I've ordered the Filipino film BLOOD THIRST that stars Vic Diaz. The film was originally made in 1966 but wasn't released until 1971. Something Weird Video have released it on both one of their cool double DVDs (the other film is the British horror movie BLOOD SUCKERS, staring Peter Cushing) and on 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. I certainly look for ward to receiving this DVD. I'm also posting the cover for SWV's cheaper single film (on DVD-R!!) release. I prefer the latter's cover but 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

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

2012-01-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

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!

BRUTAL SORCERY Ocean Shores VHS

2012-01-08T13:45:00.001-08:00

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).

Alapaap over at Ninja Dixie

2012-01-05T01:52:00.001-08:00

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.

Rumbling elephants return to Thailand

2011-12-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

How cool is this! Our friend Fred Anderson of ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT is featured on a two page spread in the new December (2011) issue of Thailand's Bioscope Magazine! So far Fred's wee one-man company has only released one movie but then again that move is the wild Thai production THE KILLER ELEPHANTS. Congrats, Fred!

From Bioscope Magazine, December issue, 2011.

STONE BOY - trailer

2011-12-16T23:45:00.000-08:00

Check out this trailer for the wild Filipino film ROCO, ANG BATANG BATO!! It's released on Australian VHS as STONE BOY and it's on video in the US as BOY GOD. Needless to say there are no DVD releases anywhere - and both video releases are very hard to come by. I received a copy of the Aussie tape a couple of days ago (after having had an automatic eBay search for what seems like forever) and like I said: it's a wild film! The main character is a 12 year old boy but this is by no means a kids' movie!

REVENGE OF THE CORPSE (HK, 1982)

2011-11-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

aka THE BLOOD THIRSTY DEAD

Unfortunately, I don't have this Shaw Brothers HK horror movie. Until very recently all there was was a very rare fullscreen VHS release but now there's a fully restored version. Unfortunately, Celestial have only released it in that expensive box that you can only buy in Singapore (I think!) and you can't copy the films from it. Boo-hoo!

[unfortunately the video I posted here was removed from YouTube]

Some great news... and some terrible news!

2011-11-22T16:41:00.001-08:00

The bad news first: SensAsian in Malaysia has closed down!!! There's a message on their website! Boo-hoo!!!

And the good news: ThaiCDExpress in Thailand has reopened!!!

CORPSE MANIA (Hong Kong, 1981)

2011-11-18T20:17:00.000-08:00

Good quality video-cd from Celestial.

review by GÜNTER MÜLLER

"You may regret it, but you'll never forget it" says the back cover of the VCD release. Quite appropriately, I dare to say.

CORPSE MANIA, what a fantastic title! Just say it loud, three times (in a mirror if you like). Let it melt in your mouth. Mmmmmmm, tastes like chicken.

And the movie behind this title! Directed by Kuei Chih-hung (who made the awesome THE KILLER SNAKES, HEX and THE BOXER’S OMEN as well as the shitty and boring HEX VS. WITCHCRAFT und HEX AFTER HEX) in 1981 for the Shaw Brothers studios, CORPSE MANIA begins like an average krimi with a touch of necrophilia thrown in for good measure. Yep, a calm, inconspicous young man has quite a special taste in women: he likes ‘em dead. The factor of disgust bounces up to new heigths when the director shows us naked corpses of women, covered from head to toe with countless (I guess, carefully, some thousands) crawling maggots, and he has the camera exploring every single body part…

Click here for some pics of those disgusting, crawling, revolting, slimy maggots! [sorry, no can do! /Jack]

But then, suddenly, things become totally different. Because about in the middle of the 78 minutes long flick CORPSE MANIA mutates unexpectedly into an exciting giallo!!! Sounds funny, but that’s how it is. And now Kuei Chih-hung is in his element and proves to be in top form. A disguised killer is on the loose, wearing a black coat, a black hat, a white scarf (that covers the lower parts of his face), big sunglasses and – of course – a sharp knife. The only thing missing are the black gloves… then it would have been the classic image of a giallo killer. Now the film shifts a few gears higher, because the killer comes down handsomely and slashes himself through the cast what results in a few wonderful and gory set-pieces: a gory stabbing in a car pleases the heart of the giallo fan, but that was only the beginning. What follows are: cut throats (one of them is slashed under water), smashed heads, and of course a decapitation must not be missing also. The ending is a surprise too, just how it should be.

Two more things: what do you ask a blood-soaked man with a slashed throat lying in front of you? The correct answer is: “Are you okay?” And watch out for the jaw-dropping scene where a blood-filled dummy is thrown from a rooftop. It crashes head-first into the concrete and we actually get to see the face of the victim which is so grotesquely mutilated that it’s hard not to throw up the popcorn.

Mr. Kuei Chih-hung… thank you very much for this great experience named CORPSE MANIA. With this you have more than made up for disastrous slips like HEX VS. WITCHCRAFT. :D
-----------------
First published in 2006.

RELEASES:

DVD
There is a reportedly great English subtitled reg. 1 dvd. Unfortunately it only carries the wrong Chinese dialect (i.e. Mandarin).

VCD
The Hong Kong vcd from Celestial (pictured above) has the correct Cantonese audio (and Mandarin too) and is also subbed in English. Unfortunately it's out of print.

With many HK films you can check which dub is the intended dub at the Hong Kong Film Archive website; Corpse Mania.

ALUCARDA (Mexico, 1975)

2011-11-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

Here's yet another cool review from the Günter Müller WEIRD ASIA archive. I totally agree with Günter's enthusiasm in regards to ALUCARDA!!
/Jack
----------------------------------------------

Rare Spanish dubbed VHS from the US (courtesy of Jayson/BoGD)

ALUCARDA
Director: Juan Lopez Moctezuma
Cast: Tina Romero, Susana Kamini, Claudio Brook, David Silva...
Mexico/USA 1975 [actually it's NOT a co-production with the USA/Jack]
Running Time: 75 Minuten
aka INNOCENTS FROM HELL

review by GÜNTER MÜLLER
'More blood, loud screaming and nudity than any horror film I can think of', says Psychotronic Video Guide editor Michael Weldon. And it's hard to contradict him.

After reading a review in my favourite magazine (Is it) Uncut (?) a few days ago I immediately knew: I gotta see this film! So I ordered it at Blackstar UK and after a week I received the disc. When I put it into my DVD player I must admit that my expectations were very high... and even those high expectations are exceeded with ease! The film was released by Pete Tombs' DVD label 'Mondo Macabro'. It is full uncut and in a wonderful quality considering that the movie is 28 years old. As extras Pete added a stills gallery, a bio- and filmography of the director (who died in 1995 and who worked together with Alejandro Jodorowski on FANDO Y LIS and EL TOPO; seems he learned a lot from him, particularly relating to surrealism), an interview with the director (that was made in 1977), plus a very interesting documentary on the Mexican horror film. Hallelujah!
[The documentary Günter Müller refers to is unfortunately only included on the UK reg. 2 version of the DVD. Mondo Macabro couldn't include it on the reg. 1 DVD as it contains film clips which they didn't own the copyrights for for the US market /Jack]

ALUCARDA kicks off with Justine (whose parents just died) arriving at a convent which will be her new home. She is received very friendly and almost immediately makes friends with a young woman... the beautiful Alucarda. When they meet a strange gypsy he leads them to his resting place where his wife tries to read the future from Justine's plam ('Shadows and Darkness'). Meanwhile the man shows Alucarda an odd amulet. On the way home they visit an eerie crypt and make a pact ('If we ever depart from this live we shall do it together'). When Alucarda opens a coffin countless voices attack her mind and she runs away in terror. Later, in their room, the mysterious gypsy appears again and the two fall under his spell. A blood pact is made, a ceremony in the woods follows, and even the devil himself seems to make an appearance shortly before the ceremony turns into a sex orgy. Back at the convent it doesn't take very long and the nuns and monks notice that something is very wrong with Alucarda and Justine. From this moment on all hell breaks loose in the convent...

It is pretty easy for me to review ALUCARDA because I can't find any negative point. All things match perfectly. There's the wonderful atmosphere of the film that is both mysterious and scary, sad and satanic, despairing and hopeless! The story moves along pretty lively and contains some nice surprises. Watching ALUCARDA makes you wonder if you are seeing an European movie that combines gothic horror with nunsploitation. There are wonderful sets with creaking doors, cobwebbed furniture, scary statues and mummified corpses, in contrast to praying nuns, shining figures of saints and burning candles. The actors and actresses aren't excellent but they are perfect for this kind of movie, above all Tina Romero as Alucarda. She is so convincing in her role, so vulnerable and sympathetic, that her subsequent destiny is very moving. On the other hand it is not so easy to feel sympathy for the 'good guys' (the priests), especially when they search with a steel pin for the 'Mark of the Devil' on a naked girl who is tied helplessly to a cross. The soundtrack underlines the proceedings effectively, and a few sound effects are excellent and cause goosebumps to appear on my hands and back. Also I can't critisize the camerawork, the editing and the direction. Top notch! In the second half of the film enough is happening to make three or four movies out of it. There is flagellation, torture, an exorcism, nuns rolling on the ground in ecstasy, much full frontal nudity, a bloodbath in the true meaning of the word, a gory decapitation and much much more. And the fiery showdown doesn't need to hide behind the spectacular climax in Brian de Palma's CARRIE.

ALUCARDA is a brilliant horror film from a time that brought us many gems. Even if some sequences of the movie are pretty hard and unpleasant to watch, the whole movie is very exciting and entertaining. Just keep repeating: it's only a movie... only a movie... And ALUCARDA belongs to the kind of movie that gets under your skin.. and very deeply at that. At least as far as I'm concerned. So I recommend ALUCARDA to all people who have a weakness for 1970s horror films, or who have a soft spot for obscure and strange movies. And of course to all the people who have enough of screaming American teenies, soullessly directed horror shockers constructed by rote, or SFX overkills bristling with state-of-the-art CGI. If you don't belong to those categories you'd better save the money...

Anyway, in my opinion, ALUCARDA is THE film discovery of the young year (on a par with the ultra-rare Hong Kong shocker THE WITCH WITH FLYING HEAD (1977) which I finally got into my trembling fingers). A few days ago I didn't even know that this film exists, and now it is in my collection and I'm totally enthusiastic about it. I really do think that ALUCARDA is among the very best of 1970s horror films. To end my raving review the same way that I started it here's another quotation from the Psychotronic Video Guide. '...the strongest, most imaginative, and visual witch movie since Ken Russell's THE DEVILS.' To be honest, I think that ALUCARDA stomps THE DEVILS into the ground...

One more thing: I don't think that the catholic church will ever recommend ALUCARDA. I however do it all the more so...
----------------------------------------
First published in 2003.

There's a link to the reg. 1 DVD on Mondo Macabro's site here.

My Betamax tape from Turkey! Dubbed in Turkish

VHS from Japan

It should be noted that although this trailer is in Spanish the original language of the film is English, not Spanish. The MM reg. 1 DVD contains both audio tracks.

Upcoming SANTIAGO films have a release date

2011-11-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned here before the next DVD set from SHOUT! FACTORY to contain Filipino co-productions is Lethal Ladies vol. 2 with FLY ME and COVER GIRL MODELS. Both films are directed by Cirio H. Santiago and now there's a release date: January the 24th!

Like I've said earlier it's VERY exciting that we're getting FLY ME as it's never before been released on DVD and the scarce video releases (only TWO afaik; one in the US and one in the UK, incidentally the latter a double feature with COVER GIRL MODELS) are both as rare as had they vanished off the face of the Earth!

The set will also include the movie THE ARENA which isn't from the Philippines at all but it stars babatious Pam Grier (who were in some very cool Filipino flicks!) so that's not bad at all. xD

Ricky Hui - RIP

2011-11-08T17:07:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I've just learnt that Ricky Hui has died (8/11/11). He was only 65. So sad. :(

Ricky Hui was one of the funniest comedians ever. He was "the human Droopy" and he starred - and was the funniest character - in the Hong Kong movie CHICKEN AND DUCK TALK (and many other films). I taped that film from a now defunct Danish TV channel in the 1990s and I must have watched it at least 10 times if not more. Here's a link to the news bit on ihktv about his passing. The page is translated by Google so it's NOT that all HK translations are in wonky English like the old VHS subtitles. Usually I'd ad a "LOL" but now it's not even funny. Ricky died. RIP buddy.

Above: Someone posted a collection of funny scenes from CHICKEN AND DUCK TALK.

Ricky Hui was also a Canto pop singer and here he is on stage with his brother Sam Hui and some other guy. I accidentally stumbled over a concert on a HK TV channel that I was able to watch (via satellite dish) in the 90s. I seem to remember it was a channel broadcasting from the UK but it was HK TV. The concert was Ricky Hui and I could not stop laughing. He was doing this probably romantic love song but he just had THAT face! He cracked me up.

More FILIPINO films on AUSSIE dvd

2011-10-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

Recently I talked about the (then) upcoming Australian DVD releases of FOR YOUR HEIGHT ONLY, THE IMPOSSIBLE KID (first official DVD release anywhere!), and THEY CALL HER CLEOPATRA WONG (all from Umbrella Entertainment). I've just discovered that yet another Bobby A. Suarez film has been released in OZ; ONE ARMED EXECUTIONER! Not from Umbrella but Beyond Home Entertainment. I haven't been able to find any info on extras so whether this would be an upgrade from the Dark Sky DVD I can't tell you. The reg. 1 disc is slightly cut and it would definitely be cool if they've managed to dig up an uncut print. If anybody out there has any info I'd be happy to post it here.

EDIT (5/11/11): I screwed up the labels; Only the FOR YOUR HEIGHT ONLY/THE IMPOSSIBLE KID dvd is from Umbrella. Both CLEOPATRA WONG and ONE-ARMED EXECUTIONER are from Monster Pictures. Forget about the "Beyond Home Entertainment" moniker!!!

Shopping for that thar rare world-weird film

2011-10-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Here's just a quick shopping tip for the Danish ex-rental VHS release of weird, wild, and wacky Indonesian JUNGLE VIRGIN FORCE (aka Perawan rimba, 1988). Needless to say the film isn't released on DVD and unless the good people at Mondo Macabro begin to release Indo films again it's probably not gonna get an official release any day soon. The Danish tape carries the English dub and is uncut. The auction runs for another 5 hours and you can check more video clips on the seller's eBay page. The two videos here are from that exact tape.

EDIT: Hmm, it seems less people are into worldweird horror than what I'd expect. That awesome film only had two bidders and went for $10.50. Either that or most people only want films in the shape of free computer files off the internet these days. I guess I'm a dying breed, I still prefer real releases to put on the shelf.

NB: I should just point out I am not the seller.

Ya got change for a fiver?

2011-10-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

Very, very happy today!!! I just received "The Hong Kong Filmography 1977-97" which I discovered completely by chance when a seller had it listed (maybe by fault) on Amazon UK at £1.95 (3 dollars US!!). Brand new, not second hand!! On Amazon.com it's listed at $40. Can we get a whoo-woo!!! xD xD xD

More editorial ramblings ... elsewhere

2011-10-14T14:08:00.001-07:00

The BACKYARD ASIA blog is exclusively on Asian cinema and I try and stick to posting about specific films and updates on new releases, and not so much *editorial stuff*. However, I do post quite a bit about all kinds of other wild things, everything from what old video tapes I collect - to what I had for brekkie - not here mind you but over on my other (old) blog. And if you're masochistic enough you're certainly welcome to join me in my narcissistic fun over there.

Killer Elephants in downtown Stockholm!

2011-10-14T14:05:00.001-07:00

The DVD release from Fred Anderson's spiffy new video label, ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT, is finally here!! Check out the cool cover for the Thai movie THE KILLER ELEPHANTS. Awesome! The layout was done by Matt, a cool cat who's French-Canadian and who lives in Korea! Talk about an international label! (and me myself I had the smallest input in the release so let's not even mention that, lol). I certainly look forward to getting hold of a copy. Fred is still working on setting up a web-shop and so far it's only people in Stockholm who have to chance to get the DVD from SubDVD (who unfortunately closed down their mailorder service this summer). Njuta Films are going to distribute the ATTACKAFANT DVDs in Sweden. I asked AWE on their Facebook page if they are planning on doing the same but I guess their lack of response means they're not interested. :/

Good luck to Fred on this!

Check Fred's post about the DVD here (where there's also a link to the label's Facebook page).

New promo trailer for CIRIO H. SANTIAGO's last film ROAD RAIDERS!!!

2011-10-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

Whoo-weee!!! Hot damn!! The official Roger Corman channel has just uploaded a promo trailer for Cirio H. Santiago's last film; I've been waiting for this for a loooong time!!! It's a post-apocalypse film not less!!! And it looks like great fun I'd say. Too bloody right!!! The original title is ROAD RAIDERS but it seems they've now re-titled it to Water Wars. I have no info on an upcoming DVD but I sure hope they're not gonna keep us waiting for too long!!!

Bill Barounis - RIP

2011-10-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

It's with great sadness that I post this. Bill Barounis of Onar Films (Greece) has died after a long battle with cancer. Bill leaves a wife and child. The sad news came earlier today via his friend in Greece, film director Fokion Bogris.

Although I never met Bill I've known him for years and I consider him a friend. Rest in peace, Bill.

My friend Jason's post about Bill.

TIGER CAGE kicking TIGER CAGE 2's ass

2011-09-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

I received my new TIGER CAGE 1-3 DVDs from HK this week. They're brand new releases and have been mucho wanted for years by me and every other 1980s HK film fan on the block! A couple of weeks back I tried to watch my mainland China Zoke DVD of TIGER CAGE 2 but it kept freezing, stuttering and in the end it just gave up (or I did).

The Mandarin only audio was kinda annoying too. The audio was less than perfect, and also, due to mainland Chinese not being familiar with all the HK English expressions those are usually gone from Mandarin dubs (you know the Hongkongese usually use a lot of English expressions in Cantonese, "Yes/no, madam/sir", "this is an order", "bye-bye", etc). And it kinda sounds unfamiliar not to have all those standard, English terms. To me it does anyway.

Anyway, so it was cool to finally be able to watch TIGER CAGE 2 all thru to the end. And since I'd already watched half of the Zoke DVD I started with #2 of the Fortune Star/Joy Sales DVDs. And that was a good thing too!! TIGER CAGE 2 is a great film, highly entertaining, violent, and funny. And it's got cute Rosamund Kwan in it too. But then I watched TIGER CAGE 1!!!

Before I watched #2 I thought it would probably become my favourite simply cos it has Cynthia Khan in it but, firstly, she's not in the movie very much, her part is nothing more than a meaty cameo, and secondly, I... watched #1 yesterday!! Whoah!! TIGER CAGE 2 is good but TIGER CAGE 1 is TWICE as good! Really!!!

TC2 is violent and it's full-on all the way but it's also light in tone thru out. The scenes of Donnie Yen and Romasund Kwan's characters trying to escape while handcuffed to each other are great fun. And the slapstick scenes of Rosamund spitting noodless in Donnie's face and Donnie-pissing-himself scenes are great fun but stuff like that is just absent from the first film. TIGER CAGE has a more serious tone and deeper character characterisations which the sequel just doesn't get near of.

When I watched TC1 I kept thinking "this is very good", and it really is! Very violent, gory, people die left and right (including characters who you think are gonna last to the end) and Simon Yam delivers (once again) a great performance as the bad guy. Arrrh, Simon Yam! "Look, I'm not gay but if I had to fuck a guy, I mean if I haaaad to fuck a guy, if my life depended on it... I'd fuck Simon Yam" [Clarence in TRUE ROMANCE, altho about Elvis]. I haven't watched part three and most reports are that it sucks but most reporters suck too these days anyway so I'm gonna keep an open mind for that one too. It stars American Chinese actor Michael Wong.

I looked up the films in the Asian Trash Cinema book and good ol'e Thomas Weisser stated that these films are popular with chop socky fans (!!) but that "more demanding critics have complained over the simplistic story lines". Huh? Like, huh?? Did he even watch the films?? You never know what's gonna happen in the first film and the character and story development is far from being simple. Sure we're talking a violent crime/action film here but the alternative would be to not make a violent crime/action film. Weisser seemed to think films that had people fighting in them were automatically "chop socky". Well, they aren't.

To the best of my knowledge chop socky is a term used to describe old-skool kung fu films from the 60s and 70s. Not present day action films made in the 1980s! The fact that he states "Cynthia [Khan] was made for these kinds of roles" makes me think he really didn't watch TC2 or sat at the table and had his dinner while it was on cos this really isn't Cynthia Khan's film. At all!! She's in the movie for something like 6-7 minutes! The ATC book is cool as it includes most of the 80s films but plot descriptions and shit is just so off the mark that, well, it's off the mark.

About the DVD specs (as mentioned I haven't watched part 3 but I assume it's the same): The DVDs are kinda barebone releases but the remastered prints look great and that's what's important here! And one thing that has surprised everyone is they actually include the original Cantonese mono audio tracks as well as the bastard 5.1 mixes.

It would have been nice if TC2 had included the alternative end-scene in the extras but I'm not surprised Fortune Star didn't. They're just not the people to bother with "nonsense" like that. We got two trailers on each disc (the original trailer and a new one made for this release) and some picture galleries. The subtitles are the old wonky ones but I can live with that, new ones would have been nice though. Someone who worked as a translator for Joy Sales said this about Fortune Star's attitude on Asia Dvd Guide forum: "Fortune Star actually laughed at the idea of a reworking on the English subs."

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This is a re-post from my old blog from November, 2010.

CHINA WHITE (HK, 1989)

2011-09-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

Argh, please kick me in the head the next time you see me! I deserve it. My gawd, I put off buying this DVD because of rumours that it was a terrible print and cut too.

I learnt about the DVD when it came out bloody two years ago and I've left it sitting on the shelf at DDDHouse until now. And now I discover it's most likely fully uncut and altho not a perfect print then at least better than the two FS video tapes I've got!! Argh!!

CHINA WHITE was directed by Ronny Yu in 1989 and shot on location in Chinatown in Amsterdam. The film was made in two versions; Ronny Yu's director's cut (i.e. the international version) plus a version for the HK home-market which contains an extra flashback scene. The film was shot in a mix of English (mostly) and Cantonese (and a little bit of Thai). The HK version was then dubbed into Cantonese (in the scenes where Chinese characters speak English to each other in the international version) and a fairly long flashback scene was added. To watch the film in Cantonese is NOT an advantage as the dub is pretty crappy and out of sync! Russell Wong, Andy Lau, Billy Drago, Shing Fui-On are in the movie plus a bunch more and lots of Gwilos.

The HK DVD looks fully uncut to me but I haven't compared the many violent scenes with the international version. There are many shoot-outs (it was made in the heyday of the heroic bloodshed genre) and there's also a beheading.

Unfortunately, the director's cut has never been released on DVD, only on VHS. I have two video versions from the UK and Denmark. Another rumour is that the UK tape is cut in a "Naked girl gets shot in the chest and you see her blood soaking boobs" scene. Well, more baloney! I compared the scene with the Danish and UK tapes and all three versions contain the exact same version.

This is the brief scene that's supposed to be cut out of the UK VHS. I've just checked the BBFC site and sure enough they say they've cut out 3 seconds of the film. I've timed that sequence and it runs exactly 3 seconds! Very strange. And it is definitely the same video release from the same label and with the same copyright year info (1991)!!! So what happened? Did the BBFC order the 3 seconds out of the film (I'm told it's the "blood on naked boobs" that doesn't go down well at the BBFC headquarters) after which the video label kinda just said "Arr bugger it, we'll just leave it in there, they'll never know!". Or was it a mistake? Did the entire batch of tapes get released uncut or was it only some of them? Maybe we'll never know. Uhhhhh (said in scary voice). xD

The tapes are FS and too dark. The DVD is letterboxed, has a better, brighter picture with much more info on the left. HOWEVER, some picture info at the bottom has been cut off. Someone on ADG suggested it was because the video label (Kam & Ronson) were covering up burnt-in subtitles. I don't know if this is correct. Obviously this is annoying but the missing picture info is very little and it would be daft not to check out this entertaining film just because of that. And even with the bottom missing it's still a way better print than the two video versions (but of course it presents a different edit of the film so you'll still need a VHS for the director's cut).

I've seen the film a handful of times thru out the years (I bought the UK tape as far back as sometime in the early 90s!) and it's definitely recommended viewing (and the DVD is mega cheap from DDDHouse).

The screen grabs are from ADG and thanks goes out to the two uploaders!

Bizarre and insane English dubbed Hong Kong films the world forgot

2011-09-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

If you dig deep enough in the Scandinavian mould you'll find old rusty Viking helmets, warped ABBA records, and... forgotten Hong Kong movies so obscure it defies any logic!!!

Wild and crazy films that must be seen to be believed. And then you even have to check if someone spiced your lemonade with secret substances and made you imagine things that weren't really happening on the TV screen in front of you! But no, they are for real alright!!

These films are dubbed into English and the only place they've probably ever been release are in the Scandinavian countries. If they've even been release in HK it was so long ago that no one remembers - and whatever copies that once were distributed were probably all soaked in petrol and torched by angry customers who rented them from video outlets!

Needless to say you can forget about DVD releases ANYWHERE!! (unless you count DVDs from shady bootleggers like VideoAsia who would use something like 3'rd generation VHS dupes for their "releases").

Check out this scene from STRIKE OF THE TORTURED ANGELS (from 1982, maybe!). It's bizarre to say the least. And before you ask... no, the Chinese girl whose skin is painted black and who is wearing an afro ISN'T playing a Chinese character who's trying to disguise as a black person, no-no, she is a Chinese actress PLAYING a black girl!!! I mean... how... what... I mean... HUH???

I've posted two clips from another of these insane & obscure HK films, SHARK OPERATION; you can watch them here. Thanks to Member-X of Cinehound forum who uploaded the clips from both movies.

PS: Some of these films are also on VHS in Holland and I wouldn't be surprised if they're also out on video in Greece.

Shitty Backyard Home Video Entertainment presents: THE TAI SENG BOX

2011-09-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

I was about to apologise for this shitty home video (actually my initial headline described it as another entry to "YouTube's Shittiest Home Videos", haha) but then I thought, "Heeeey, this is perfect DOGME!! And it is!! Think about it; On-scene music! Lack of credits! Shaky camera! Mumbled dialogue! No dialogue preparation! No actual start, middle or finish! No lighting! Yep, this is a perfect Dogme home video. Lars would be so proud.

WAR VICTIMS (Indonesia, 1983)

2011-09-15T15:43:00.001-07:00

Original title: KAMP TAWANAN WANITA

Here's the rare trailer for Jopi Burnama's Indonesian war/WIP movie WAR VICTIMS. There's no official DVD release but it's released on VHS in the US, Holland, and Japan. I believe both the US and Dutch versions are fullscreen. The Japanese tape is letterboxed.

Director: JOPI BURNAMA

Cast:
MARISSA HAQUE
BOY TIRAYOH
AVENT CHRISTIE
MANGARA SIAHAAN
JEFFRY SANI
DJOKO WAROK
ANEN WIJAYA
USMAN EFFENDY
SIMON PS
FARIDA YASMINE
WATY SIREGAR
NINA ANWAR

Credit info from CITWF.

Thanks to Member-X for the YouTube upload!

CHRISTOPH KLÜPPEL - interview

2011-09-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

When Hong Kong movies became the new fan flavour among horror and action movie fans 20 years ago little was known about the Gwilo (i.e. white) actors who starred in many of these movies (usually as bad guys). Nowadays most info about these white HK actors is well known territory. However, there's still stuff to be discovered! A stone-throw from HK is Thailand and one of the Gwilo actors (altho they undoubtedly don't actually use that phrase there, LOL) who starred in many Thai action films is German born he-man Christoph Klüppel.

I've seen him on numerous video and VCD covers but I never knew anything about him - and neither did you. Well, why don't you leave this hell-hole and jump over to Fred Anderson's blog, NINJA DIXON, and check today's post out. Fred just fucken interviewed the guy!! Very cool indeed! Klüppel was in films such as IN GOLD WE TRUST, THE LOST IDOL, MISSION HUNTER 1 & 2, and SATANIC CRYSTALS. The interview is very long and Fred says he's gonna split it up and post segments every day for a week or so.
For the interview go here!

Check out Klüppel in this rare trailer for the equally rare English language version of DARK DAY EXPRESS:

Shaw Brothers Bad Mixes Warning (from ADG)

2011-09-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Here's yet again an old floater I scooped up from the murky harbour water. Like the "Alternative versions of Hong Kong Films" this post is copied from the old "Asian DVD Guide" message board which is now gone. I thought it would be a bloody shame to let it disappear! You can check the original version at Waybackmachine. Thanks to everyone who worked on the original version on ADG.

All the bold and italic features are gone but I'll apply them later.

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Note (May 2006) The vast majority of titles from the recent batches have been original mono (possibly all?).

Some comments taken from HKDigital and the KFCC board (excerpted without permission).

THE 14 AMAZONS
Spannick: annoying chaos of new and old Sound Effects during the Action Scenes. not so much Synth Music added to the Surrounds as usual (there still is of course).
NetDragon: I agree on this one, the mixing of the old and new music tracks are so annoying that it nearly ruins the movie. But it's such a cool movie that even this problem can't stop ppl from enjoying this piece of adventure, big thumb up! But I'm really glad they didn't ruined the original soundtrack at the opening credits.
MrBooth: Maybe I'm getting deaf in my old age or my standards have slipped, but this remix didn't seem bad. I didn't notice many added sound effects (some crowd cheering seemed very out of place though, like it was culled from a football match), and the music augmentation actually seemed... kind of ok... mostly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) . It was at least in time with the original score anyway!

36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN
fusheng007 French DVD contains birds and crickets but radically reduced when compared to original Celestial DVD.

7-MAN ARMY
Spannick: unwatchable Mess with horrible Synth Music and New Effects mixed with the Original Mono still clearly audible.

ANGEL WITH THE IRON FISTS
Mr.Booth One title that was absolutely ruined by the fx & music was ANGEL WITH IRON FISTS.

THE ANGRY GUEST
Spannick New Synth added to the Surrounds, horrible new F/X during the whole Movie, all Originals can be heard underneath - unbearable.

ANONYMOUS HEROES
spannick01 Newly added Music. Someone over there thought that mixing a completely new Cue under every Action Scene (always the same Cue!), no matter if there is music already in existance, was a good idea. it was not. the Original Music can be heard underneath the Audio Commentary or on the Malaysian VCD. The HK VCD has the same annoying Remix included! No new F/X Added, save for crickets and birds as usual.

THE ASSASSIN
Markgway "There are new, obvious sound effects, but the REALLY annoying thing is the new AND VERY LOUD synth music dubbed on top of the mono. "

THE AVENGING EAGLE
Mr Booth (Thai disc, Mandarin track) - horrible new fx + synths. Yuck. Subtitles seem slightly out of sync too...

BATTLE WIZARD
harlem shaw Audio: 5.1 DD. There were a couple of sounds here and there which is to be expected from all Celestial releases unless they specifically say MONO. By and large though, the audio was untouched. No new musical score, and no new over-dubbed sound FX during the fight scenes.

BELLS OF DEATH
MrBooth Someone *please* tell me that the tinkling bell sounds every time the main character moves were part of the original soundtrack to the film? Surely even Celestial couldn't have come up with that? But, the film definitely features a lot of added ambient sound effects, and the bell sound is much too loud in the mix... and almost continuous when the main guy is on screen! It's very annoying, but I think it's part of the original sound mix - though celestial may have boosted it. If they *did* add it though, it may be their worst abuse yet!

THE BLACK FALCON
Markgway: Mandarin Mono.

BLOOD BROTHERS
Spannick Music added, totally distracting, as the Original can be heard underneath. Birds added. French DVD is Original Mono.

THE BLUE AND THE BLACK 1 & 2
dleedlee: Bird Virus

BOXER REBELLION
Markgway Don't think that anyone has mentioned this so I will...Mandarin 5.1 remix. Opening theme has been entirely redone with synth music. Fight foley remains untouched. Minor augmentation of incidentals like the sound of wind blowing, crowd chatter. Most obvious addition is that during machine gun fire. But it's not overly distracting. Largely mono-based. Not perfect then - but it could have been a lot worse. I say buy it!

THE BRAVE ARCHER
Isfahani "Just got my VCD of Brave Archer but haven't had time to compare the DVD to it yet. Main problem I have with the fight fx is that you can still hear the old ones UNDERNEATH them, which as I said before, would be easy to at least get rid of. BUT NOOOOOO. Besides that, I wouldn't mind the fx so much if they were mixed a little lower, or had some room reverb to place it in the mix better, but this in your face crap, well... "

Markgway 5.1 remix in Mandarin New foley and synth throughout. Original audio can be heard underneath. At one point even the dialogue is out of sync. Poor effort. Not in the absolute worst category. But the film is worth suffering for.

THE BRAVE ARCHER 1-3
Sevenhooks at KFC "Brave Archer 1-3 have remixed sound in terms of fighting sound fx and music… Oh, well.Chalk up another loss. + all 3 Brave Archer films seem to be tainted now."

BRIDE NAPPING
dleedlee: Bird Virus.

BROTHERHOOD
Spannick: totally idiotic 5.1 Mix: the first half hour is near-Mono, then for the remainder it's the same mess as JUDGEMENT, all new F/X everywhere with the Original ones underneath...

BRUCE LEE & I
Spannick: added footsteps, totally out of place and too loud in all Fight Scenes.

Markgway: 5.1 Mandarin Remix. Not a lot to remix here really... but the few fights scenes have been tampered with. New foley effects overdubbed. Not terribly distracting but noticeable. Would be worst in an all-action film. I don't recall any new synth music, but the opening logo is the remixed one.

CAT VS. RAT
Markgway The sound for 'Cat Vs Rat' has not been left untouched I'm afraid. But I will say the tampering is less evident than some of the more severe recent cases. The synth logo is present and correct and some cues have been replaced. The fight foley is mostly original, but appears to have been augmented with sharper effects. Tolerable certainly, but I felt it should be noted for purists.

A CAUSE TO KILL
Markgway: Mandarin Mono.

THE CHINESE BOXER
harlem shaw The killer is the piss-poor audio. It seems as if the entire original soundtrack has been removed and replaced by something made by a 5 year old with a casio keyboard and one arm. Add to that the usual newly added sound FX (which aren't as bad as "Deadly Duo") and what you're left with is the current standard for Celestials Shaw Brother DVD treatment. Too bad.

CLAN OF AMAZONS
HKD (http://www.dighkmovies.com) "the blockheads at Celestial have once again seen fit to undermine their restoration efforts by including a terrible, overly aggressive re-mix. New music and sound FX are ineptly layered on top of the originals and sound far too prominent for comfort. The effect is bothersome and constantly takes one out of the movie. It would take up hardly any space at all to also include a 2.0 mono track – so why does the company continue this practice when other releases, like Intercontinental’s own line of Fortune Star titles, extend this courtesy to the true fans of these films? Alas, one can only hope that the more ham-fisted of these re-mixes does not occur on titles you have been waiting ages to see. "

CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS
MrBooth The R3/IVL release of this film is an absolute atrocity! There are new foley effects *everywhere*, fight scenes or not. Mostly you have those f**king footsteps throughout, that mean you end up watching people's feet in most scenes since that's where your attention is drawn... which means you can't help notice that the new footstep sounds aren't even synced with people's feet hitting the ground X( Fight scenes are full of crap sounds for cloth moving and punch impacts and swords clanging etc. Basically every scene has something added to it, and it's all incompetently done. I couldn't watch the film through my hi-fi at all because the new sfx were so distracting, and it was barely tolerable through my TV. Utter abomination... I hope they're building a special level in hell for the people that did this.

COME DRINK WITH ME
dleedlee: Bird Virus.

THE CRIMSON CHARM
MrBooth The now standard footsteps and rustles have been added, but mostly in the fight scenes, and mostly in the first 20 minutes of the film. After this they're still occasionally present, but mixed a lot lower and not too distracting. Still worse than nothing, but one of the least bad audio tracks from recent batches.

Markgway: Remixed in 5.1 Mandarin. New synth music and foley throughout. Very noticeable too (just listen to that thunderclap after the opening credits or the charms exploding) so I would have to consider this a below average example. The sword clangs are original, thankfully. I cut the surround out by listening in mono and not playing the audio too loud which helps a bit.

DEADLY BREAKING SWORD
Markgway
5.1 remixes in Cantonese and Mandarin. Original language is Mandarin, and that's the track I listened to. The remix on the Mandarin track contains the now standard synth logo, some new synth music, nothing too distracting. Also new foley, mainly of the incidental variety (chatter, footsteps, etc). The fight impacts are mostly original, but have been augmented in places with new foley (the clanging of metal weapons, etc).

The remix on the Cantonese track appears on first hearing to be different, but I think that's because the volume is louder and the foley clearer. The Mandarin sounds more muffled with its dialogue for example (as if it's played at 2/3 the volume). Note how Jenny Tseng's theme song sounds much tinnier and open on the Cantonese track. The Mandarin is far from Mono, but to me is marginally closer to it. But both are remixed - along the lines of Legendary Weapons of China, perhaps? - and at any rate purists won't be happy.

DEADLY DUO
Mr.Booth "One title that was absolutely ruined by the fx & music was DEADLY DUO"

A DEADLY SECRET
MrBooth Some new ambient sounds like rain, chains rattling (like little bells) and water splashing. Incompetently done as usual, but only occasional and not too distracting. Original audio has had too much noise-reduction or compression applied and sounds muffled. Not great, but acceptable. Some very minor augmentation of one piece of music with a synth. wtf?

DEATH DUEL
spannick01 5.1 DVD: pointless new music added for short moments, crickets at Night, new SB Logo, some new Birds. Nothing serious.

DEATH VALLEY
from harlem shaw: Presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital. This sound is thankfully left untouched by Celestial hands. There was one incedent of "Cicada" sound effects, but it was barely noticeable so more than likely part of the original soundtrack.

DEMON OF THE LUTE
Mr Booth (IVL, Cantonese): 90% mono, with some augmentation of just a few scenes - mostly of the music. Not too bad.

DESCENDANT OF THE SUN
MrBooth: This one's tricky - the DVD contains both Mandarin and Cantonese audio, and the audio mix is not the same on both - it's definitely more 'beefed' up on the Cantonese track. I don't think there are any added sound effects though, just a meatier mix, so it's quite possible that's how it was originally and Celestial have done no damage. The film *must* be watched in Cantonese anyway, because the voice acting on the Mandarin dub is shrill and doesn't fit the tone of the film

Markgway: Mandarin 5.1 remix. Not bad overall. Only really noticed new foley on the occasional explosions. Most other sound appears to be original. I'd file this under the watchable category.

THE DUEL
Spannick: New Synth added to the Surrounds, horrible new F/X during the whole Movie, all Originals can be heard underneath - unbearable.

DUEL OF FISTS
Spannick: Birds added. Applauding Crowds have been added to the Boxing Matches.

THE ENCHANTRESS
Markgway: Mono, original. No new music or effects.

FAKE GHOST CATCHERS
Markgway: 5.1 remix in Cantonese. Contains some new synth music, but it's used sparingly and in a rather low key fashion. No obvious new foley to my ears. If you can switch to a central speaker (I have a MONO button on my ancient stereo) this seems to render the film without any surround and is as close to an authentic experience as you can hope for from a remixed DVD. Much less offensive than usual.

FIVE TOUGH GUYS
Mr Booth Rife with new sound effects, mostly at the start of the film (lazy engineers!)

THE FUGITIVE
harlem shaw While it is 5.1 DD, it is left relatively untouched. There is one scene in a forest where there is an annoying looped effect that's supposed to sound like cicadas, but its hard to say whether Celestial added it or it's actually part of the original track. Other than this i could find no new sound FX or music to speak of.

GOLDEN SWALLOW
Spannick Birds, Fire Effects added for Scene where Wang Yu burns down the Castle after a Massacre.

HEROES OF THE EAST
from Markgway Remixed 5.1, New synth music and foley. Much of the original foley has been left, unlike certain titles, but is often augmented with new sounds. This is not as distracting for the most part as, say, The Spiritual Boxer, but will disappoint purists nonetheless. See when Yuka Mizuko kicks down a garden wall for example: it now sounds like she did it with dynamite. But weapons effects are not too bad.

THE HEROIC ONES
Spannick extensive Addition of new Synth Music, often replacing the whole Original Sound area. Birds, Crickets, Winds blowing, annoying new Fight F/X, out of synch Sound.
HK VCD and Australian DVD have Original Mono.

fusheng007 Heroic Ones Spanish DVD has original MONO. FRENCH DVD original MONO.

HONG KONG RHAPSODY
dleedlee: Bird virus.

THE INVINCIBLE FIST
MrBooth Some added ambients, rustles & birds etc. Fight foley mixed too low in early scenes but improves before long. Not too bad as these mixes go... just enough to be slightly annoying to those that are troubled by these things (like me)

THE JADE TIGER
fusheng007: FRENCH DVD... The audio hasn't been remixed, but excesss amounts of birds have been added on.

JUDGEMENT OF AN ASSASSIN
Spannick bad Example: new F/X all over the place, all originals can be heard underneath, often with different synching. avoid.

KING BOXER
MrBooth: Pretty severe. All the usual ambient noises like footsteps and beads have been added, too loud as always, and there are lots of new fight sounds (out of sync with the old sounds & on screen actions of course). The main menu features modern techno music, but thankfully they don't seem to have changed or added the music in the actual film.

KING EAGLE
MrBooth there do seem to be new sound effects added to this film, along with a souped-up Shaw Brothers theme (why?). However, it's been done much more competently than most, and to be honest was barely distracting. Still worse than *not adding anything at all*, but not reason enough to avoid this disc.

KILLER CLANS
Spannick Birds, Crickets added. annoying new F/X Added to Fight Scenes, as always the Originals can be heard underneath with different synching. HK VCD is Original Mono.

THE KINGDOM AND THE BEAUTY
Dleedlee: Suffering from 5.1 Bird Virus.

THE KUNG-FU INSTRUCTOR
Markgway 5.1 remix crap.

THE LADY ASSASSIN
Markgway 5.1 remix in both Mandarin and Cantonese (original language)
New foley and synth throughout. Opening credits theme has been tampered with as have lots of music cues. Fight foley has been augmented resulting in new clangs of metal weapons and body blow impacts. The usual added sounds (ie. footsteps) are omnipresent. Overall: a very poor effort.

MrBooth: Wow, so many new sound effects and music cues in this one that it's practically a new soundtrack! In some ways that actually turns out to be better than the half-hearted efforts we usually get, because at least everything is equally crap, so individual pieces of crapness don't leap out and smack you in the teeth so much. Still not as good as *adding absolutely nothing at all*, obviously.

THE LADY HERMIT
Mr.Booth This was the first DVD I watched on my new tv, so my ears aren't quite calibrated to the sound yet... but I think I can still safely say that the SFX butchery on this DVD falls into the 'severe' category... very obvious, with the original audio track often getting muted to almost silence to make room for the added tracks. For some reason it sounded like the stars were being followed by a swarm of bees for the last 20 minutes of the film too...

Spannick: i could not really believe it, but now i checked: LADY HERMIT has Cheng Pei Pei getting on the Horse (at approx 79 mins). the Horse moans loudly, sounding weirdly artificial....i was wondering if this was original and dug out my old VHS. the horse makes no sound at all. the absolutely hilarious fake-sound has been man-made in the celestial Studios....i STILL CANNOT BELIEVE IT. somebody PLEASE wake me up?

THE LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA
Mr.Booth one of the worst remix jobs Celestial have inflicted on us, it seems like the engineer tried to recreate an entirely new sound effects track from about 3 basic sounds, all layered on top of the original audio track as if by a deaf monkey. Almost ruins the film completely

LEGEND OF THE FOX
MrBooth Absolutely rife with new sound effects of every type, and some stupid stereo panning of the original soundtrack on occasion. I don't know if it's just because I'm getting used to it or they are actually improving, but the remixing didn't distract me *too* badly from the film. I watched the Thai disc, btw, but I'm sure it's the same as the HK release.

THE LIZARD
Spannick Birds, Crickets added. Some new Fight F/X Added, as well as Explosion F/X in the Finale. Australian DVD has Original Mono.

LOVE ETERNE
dleedlee: Bird virus. (not too bad but worse than the Cosmo disc)

MAGIC BLADE
Spannick Title Theme Music replaced with generic Synth Music. Crickets and Birds added. HK VCD is remixed too. Australian DVD and Malaysian VCD are Original Mono.

MAGNIFICENT WANDERERS
Spannick: unwatchable Mess with horrible Synth Music and New Effects mixed with the Original Mono still clearly audible.

MARCO POLO
Markgway 5.1 remix in Mandarin. Sadly, new foley and synth to be found throughout. More competent that before, perhaps, but just as obvious and intrusive. Even fight scenes - which sometimes escape the worst excesses - are tampered with here.

MARTIAL ARTS OF SHAOLIN
Mr.Booth "I *think* MARTIAL ARTS OF SHAOLIN had been tampered with too, but if so then it was much less obtrusive than others. Just some sound effects sounded out of place, but that might have been true of the original sound mix."

MARTIAL CLUB
Simon Wyndham "I finally received Martial Club today. Fantastic to see it in 2.35:1 at last with a superb picture! I have one MAJOR gripe however. This time Celestial really have outdone themselves in completely bollocksing up the sound!! WTF are the fighting sound effects doing in the surround channels?! I'm not talking about background fighting here, I'm talking about the sound effects of the main fighters on the screen! The bass is WAAAAY overblow too. There is NO WAY that Dolby approved this, absoluely no way. For the Dolby logo to be used they need to approve each sound mix and have a copy of the final product. With these new sound effects added I cannot for the life of me see how on earth Dolby gave them permission to use their trademark. The resultant effect is absolutely bizarre! I had to turn all surround functions off on my DVD player to get any semblence of bearable sound. They had better get these issues sorted bloody fast because it's completely ruining the films. "

NAVAL COMMANDOS
Markgway Mono.

ODE TO GALLANTRY
Spannick: seemed to be a "Center Channel Mono remix, some added Music & F/X in the surround channels annoyed me, but i switched it off.

ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN
from spannick01 FRENCH DVD for first Movie in the Series has NEW ADDED Fight F/X both Mandarin and French! i was quite horrified to hear this crap, as the IVL DVD has NO added F/X! what the F*CK is going on here? is everybody getting insane? and they even lie to us when writing "Mono d'origine" on the Cover.

NEW ONE-ARMED AND RETURN OF ONE-ARMED
Spannick: NOAS is very audible and non-intrusive, RETURN OF AS has only some birds added, acceptable.

PROUD YOUTH
Spannick: Center Channel seems to be Original Mono, sourrounds have the most annoyingly cheap Synth-Music Celestial has unearthed yet.
Markgway[/b]
5.1 remix in Mandarin. New synth music and occasional foley. Noticeable, but not among the worst examples.

RAW COURAGE
[i]Markgway: Mandarin Mono.

RETURN OF BASTARD SWORDSMAN
Mr Booth This time the music is untouched, but there are a ton of new sound effects (fight sounds, footsteps etc)! Not too bad though - especially if you can turn the surround channels down or off.

RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN
Spannick FRENCH DVD... in unscathed and has a charming Mono-Hiss Sound-Quality, NEW ONE ARMED seems original Mono also on the Mandarin Track. (do not EVER listen to the French track for the latter one - beats CHINESE BOXER in terms of synth Music!).

RETURN OF THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN
Markgway 5.1 remix. I listened to the Mandarin audio. New foley and synth score. HOWEVER, as these things go it's not that badly done. At worst I would consider this a MODERATE remix. If you fancy the film it's worth checking out the DVD.

MrBooth The usual new foley effects, worse at the start than the end (lazy engineers?). Not ruinous.

ROVING SWORDSMAN
Mr.Booth: ROVING SWORDSMAN suffers from added sound effects, mostly during fight scenes but occasionally elsewhere - metal clangs, cloth whooshes etc that are too loud and out of place, and detract from the viewing experience. Not one of the worse jobs, but enough to be a definite nuisance.

SHAOLIN TEMPLE
Spannick: Thunderstorm Effects, Birds. nothing serious.

THE SEXY KILLER
Markgway: The track is labeled on the packaging as 5.1 Mandarin but it sounded like Mono to me the whole way through (a tiny exception being feint chatter in a hospital which seemed separated).

SHAOLIN INTRUDERS
Markgway 5.1 remix in Cantonese. Skimmed thru this one as I saw it in full quite recently. Pretty good as remixes go. Some synth on the stereo, but the audio is mostly original mono. Not major complaints from me.

MrBooth Some rustles and footsteps, mildly-moderately distracting but worse in some scenes than others (some escape tampering altogether). Not too bad.

THE SINGING KILLER
harlem shaw: While the remixed audio does come in to play here, never to the point of distraction like so many other Celestial releases. You can expect the redone SB intro, a couple quick instances of new music,and some added FX during fight scenes (again, which there aren't many of).

SOUL OF THE SWORD
Spannick: Birds added, nothing serious. The German DVD is in Mono and has English Subs.

TALES OF A EUNUCH
from Markgway Remixed 5.1 with new foley (not awful) and new synth music (pretty awful). The biggest shock is in one comedy fight sequence the music goes -- wait for it -- TECHNO!! In a Shaw Bros Period movie!!! My jaw dropped.

TEMPLE OF THE RED LOTUS
Spannick: Music added, horrible new Sound F/X during Fights added. HK VCD is the same remixed Version, complete with Synth SB Logo. only old VHS seems to be intact Mono at the Moment.

THREE SMILES
dleedlee: Bird Virus.

TIGER KILLER (1982)
MrBooth New ambients (fire, birds, water wheels) liberally added, but no footsteps or fight foleys (not much fighting anyway) - distracting in places, but not enough to get very upset by (considering how much worse it could have been anyway)

TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR
dleedlee: Bird Virus

VENGEANCE
Spannick: Thunderstorm Effects, Birds. nothing serious. The German DVD is in Mono and has English Subs.

WANDERING SWORDSMAN
Spannick: unwatchable Mess with horrible Synth Music and New Effects mixed with the Original Mono still clearly audible.

WINNER TAKES ALL
Markgway: Cantonese Mono.

Examples of the pain (from shawscope.com)

If you wonder why people are annoyed or even want to see what the problem is then you need look no futher.

VCD Version
http://www.myonlinefiles.com/Shawscope/SB%...r_VCD_Intro.mpg

DVD Version
http://www.myonlinefiles.com/Shawscope/SB%...r_DVD_Intro.wmv

Some really detailed information from mwalkow

"I've spent some time looking through the last few batches of IVL DVDs I've bought and here's what I've found out:

They seem to have begun their 6.1 remixes with the Sept. 2nd batch. The ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN set (released 8/5) has the standard 5.1 remixes. GHOST EYES and DUEL OF THE CENTURY (the only two of the 8/19 batch I purchased) are both mono. SPIRITUAL BOXER (released 9/2) has the 6.1 remix, as do ANGEL WITH THE IRON FISTS, CRAZY SHAOLIN DISCIPLES, DEADLY DUO (all released 9/24) and CHINESE BOXER (released 10/7).

The slightly less bad news is that there's a wide variation in the quality of these remixes. So far, I think I can divide them into three categories.

1) Relatively subtle 6.1 mixes, which sound similar to their standard 5.1 remixes. CRAZY SHAOLIN DISCIPLES is an example of this. On a 7-channel surround setup, most of the music, dialogue and f/x still comes from the center-channel speaker, closely resembling the original mono track. Only in the fight scenes do some of the sound f/x get diverted to the front left and front right speakers. There's the usual ambient teahouse noises and bird chirps coming from the surround speakers.

2) Obvious but not-too-offensive 6.1 remixes. CHINESE BOXER and SPIRITUAL BOXER are examples of this, though SPIRITUAL has the edge over CHINESE, which has some additional music monkeying happening in it. On these two DVDs, it's clear that something gimmicky is going on, but the added music and f/x are closely matched to the original soundtrack. You get a lot more f/x and audio coming from the front left, front right and surround speakers, but it's difficult to separate the "new soundtrack" from the original one.

3) Poorly-done, hack-sounding 6.1 remixes. ANGEL WITH THE IRON FISTS and THE DEADLY DUO are examples of this. I found these two DVDs nearly unwatchable. It sounds as if you're watching two separate DVDs - one with the original audio coming from the center-channel speaker, and another with the audio coming from the remaining five speakers. New sound f/x are poorly timed and do not cover the original f/x, added music is obtrusive and completely out of place with the original film, and dialogue is muddy and buried due to the audio remixing. I've decided I'm not even going to hold onto these DVDs after a first viewing, the audio is so bad.

This post has been edited by Mr Booth: May 17 2006, 04:37 AM

Change the name to "Filippino Backyard dvd news"??

2011-08-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

...LOLZ.

Here's some more multo bene interessanto info that I've just picked up today: The three Eddie Romero directed Filipino films, BEYOND ATLANTIS, BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT, and TWILIGHT PEOPLE have been re-released on reg. 1 DVD by VCA as part of a 12 film box set called SCREAM THEATER: THE SADISTIC 70S.

This is certainly brilliant news as these films are way outta print! There are two new copies of BEYOND ATLANTIS listed on Amazon.com right now, and the cheapest one is $95!! The cheapest second hand copy is 42 bucks. Retromedia's DVD release of BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT is still available on Amazon fairly cheap (around $10) and it's a lbx print too. However, TWILIGHT PEOPLE is also rather expensive, retailing for around $40 for a new copy.

The 12 films are on 4 discs so there could be compression issues, however, a couple of gents on Dvdmanicas were nice enough and informed me that the picture quality is good on all three films. Charlie_G of Dvdmanicas sent me some screen grabs from BEYOND ATLANTIS and they certainly look alright. Obviously I don't know about compression and shit or how they'll look on a 50" TV set but when you (like me) are used to shit fullscreen pixellating VCDs from Malaysia and 5th generation video dupes then you'll think this is like watching films from Heaven. LOL.

The full set consists of these films:

Alice Sweet Alice (1977)
Beast Of The Yellow Night (1971)
Beyond Atlantis (1973)
Death Game (1976)
Don’t Open The Door (1975)
House Of The Living Dead (1976)
The Night Creature (1978)
Scream Bloody Murder (1973)
Sisters Of Death (1978)
Twilight People (1972)
The Vampire Happening (1971)
Young Hannah: Queen Of The Vampires (1972)

The set isn't listed on Amazon but it's available directly from VCI for just under $15 + postage. They do ship overseas. I already have the old releases so I won't be ordering this set but the films are cool and if you haven't got them you can certainly save a lot on this instead of coughing up for the OOP versions. I paid $40 for my copy of BEYOND ATLANTIS a couple of years back. >_<

Thanks to Ken & Charlie for the info.

Holy mackerel, Batman!! The cover for the upcoming FLY ME / COVERGIRL MODELS dvd is here!!!

2011-08-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

The DVD cover for SHOUT! FACTORY's upcoming DVD release of CIRIO H. SANTIAGO's two Filipino films, FLY ME and COVERGIRL MODELS is finally here! And with that it should (hopefully) be dead sure that we WILL be getting FLY ME on DVD!

As I reported recently, SHOUT! had actually at first cancelled including FLY ME because they didn't think the print was good enough. I asked label head guy Cliff Mac (in a forum post on Dvdmaniacs) to include the film despite the less than perfect picture quality and I guess the men in charge at SHOUT! pay attention to the opinion of BACKYARD ASIA blog because soon after they decided to include the film after all (or am I putting too much confidence into my own powers and this blog? Naah!).

The third film in the set is Roger Corman's American-Italian co-production THE ARENA starring PAM GRIER.

I don't have a release date yet.

GUARDIAN ANGELS (Philippines, 1978)

2011-08-17T15:50:00.001-07:00

[review soon]

All credits are from the film print, not the IMDb!

Starring
Ingrid Greer
Nanette Martin
Kerry Nichols
Bernadette Williams as Cindy
Ken Metcalfe
Rosemarie Gil
Sherry Greenwood
Bill Baldridge
Victor Ordoñez
Easy Black
Jose Mari Avellana
Nigel Hogge
Bob Hood
Helen Mcneely
Marlene Robbins
Adriane Donlon
Kim Wilkin
Chona Alcaras
Cathy Schroeder
Lory Sherman
Julia Barry
Veronica Candia
Liza Ohlen
Cathy Guges
Medy Gillego
Tricia Melosa
Jill Guges
Russ Jenkins
S.P.Victoria

Story and screenplay
Ken Metcalfe
Cirio H.Santiago

Produced by
Hirene Lopez

Executive producer
Cirio H.Santiago

Directedby Cirio H. Santiago

Associate director
Jose Mari Avellana

Assistant to the producer
Bobby Greenwood

Music
Nonong Buencamino

Director of photography
Ben L. Lobo

Film editor
Gervasio Santos

Assistants
Willy Asuncion
Rufino Cabrales

Production manager
Aurelio R. Navarro

Unit manager
Gelo Reyes

Assistant director
Bill Baldridge

Art director
Jose Mari Avellana

Set by
Ben Otico
Ricardo Garcia

Sound effects by
Boy Calayag

Special effects by
Ben Otico
Guy Nelgas

Field soundman
Resty Castro

Cameraman 2nd unit
Proceso Lazaro

Sound engineer
Bing de Santos

Make-up cosmetics by
Kokuryu

Make-up artists
Violeta Puzon
Ludy Valeros

Computerized telex machines used in this film courtesy of ITT-Globe Mackay

Filming unit supplied by
Premiere Productions, inc.

(The credits don't list a production year)

Upcoming DVD releases in the Asian backyard

2011-08-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

KILLER ELEPHANTS DVD COVER

Here's the cover for Fred Anderson's upcoming DVD release of the Thai killer animal flick THE KILLER ELEPHANTS (to be released on his new ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT label). I'm told the artwork is by Cinehound's Cteve. :D

WENG WENG SEQUEL FINALLY GETS AN OFFICIAL DVD RELEASE!

Yep, it's true! IMPOSSIBLE KID is finally getting an official DVD release! It's the good people at Umbrella Entertainment in OZ who are putting it out on a double DVD with the first film in the series, FOR Y'UR HEIGHT ONLY (albeit with a slightly different spelling). HEIGHT is already out on a fine, fine DVD from Mondo Macabro but I'm certainly not complaining about one more release of this entertaining film. As I'm sure you know already these films stem from the Philippines, and are both directed by Eddie Nicart. The DVD is scheduled to hit the Aussie streets on September 1st. I have no info of specs or extras. You can check the listing at Umbrella's website here.

To avoid confusion; Yes, there is already at least one DVD release of IMPOSSIBLE KID as it's part of the "50 Sci-fi films" reg. 1 box-set. However, in my book that's hardly more than a bootleg.

Thanks to Fred for the tip.

Alternative Versions of Hong Kong Movies (from ADG)

2011-08-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

The internet message board Asian DVD Guide (ADG) had a very useful section called "Alternative Versions of Hong Kong Movies" but, unfortunately, the ADG forum is no more.

About a month ago it went down and all there is left now is a text message stating the account has been suspended. Although most members had drifted off to other boards there was still a lot of very useful info from many past forum discussions. Now it's all gone. :(

One feature that's sure to be missed is a huge section of info on alternative versions of HK films. I've been kicking myself in the head on a daily basis for not having made a copy in due time, however, today my mate Ian F. suggested I try the Internet Archive Wayback Machine site and, lo and behold, they had a 2009 copy of the site stored!

Their copy of the Alternative section was last updated in 2008 but as I mentioned the forum hasn't been used all that much during the last few years. I think it's hardly more than a handful of new entries that are missing from this version.

I'm re-posting the section here because it would be a pity if it were lost for good. Needless to say, I take no credit for any of the hard work that went into putting it together. However, this list is by no means meant to be a museum piece so if any of you have updates do let me know and I'll add them. I should point out I will only add fully proven info that you have researched yourself! No hearsay or rumours! And no corrections based on faint memory of a version you saw a long time ago.

All EDITS in square brackets are by me.

You'll find the Wayback version of ADG here (when you click the link it may take a moment to gather the old info).

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

Alternative Versions of Hong Kong Movies

All For the Winner
Two scenes cut from the Mei Ah DVD that were present in the complete Star LD. 1. Chow Sing Chi and Ng Man Tat meet a former bar girl on the street: She says she's going to be married and Chow says he's definitely going to "come" (to her wedding); an innuendo. 2. The original "happy" ending has been shortened to make it more solemn. Originally Chow is asked to have dinner with Cheung Man. He smiles and shakes his head, followed by some preparatory questions. The DVD ends with Cheung claiming that she and Chow come from diffferent worlds (the implication being the end of their relationship). Mei Ah have reissued this DVD in an uncut state with different packaging (Chow sitting in a chair).

All Men Are Brothers
The new Celestial print is based on the cut HK theatrical edit, but has most of the violent footage restored (with new foley/vocal effects added). A number of short bits are still missing, most of which can be found in the long OOP German VHS: Most notably from a Wang Chung fight, which is missing him killing about a dozen additional enemies. This missing footage amounts to about 1:30.

All Men Are Brothers: Blood of the Leopard
Taiwanese DVD is longer than HK prints.

An Amorous Woman of Tang Dynasty
Celestial's DVD uses the shortened 103m theatrical version rather than the reported 180m director's cut that played in Taiwan.

Angel on Fire
117m version available via bootleg. Theatrical prints run 81m.

[EDIT: the info about a 117m version came from only one fan who apparently had had a friend who once had this version (!!!). However, he didn't have a copy and nobody else seems to have seen this version. I say we call it an urban legend!!!
/Jack]

Armour of God 2: Operation Condor
Mega Star's re-issue DVD deletes a non-nude back shot from Eva's towel removal. This is present in all other versions. Many HK prints use a medium non-nude shot of Carol Cheng (body double) in the shower. The original English dub (EIV, UK) briefly shows her naked rear. The Disney cut (re-dubbed) is butchered to 91m (87m)., removing much of the comedy and even some action. The latest DVD from Fortune Star is the full uncut version.

As Tears Go By
The DVD editions are missing the last 15s of the movie: the final shot of Andy Lau is made slow-motion to compensate; originally it ran normal speed, thus the music stays intact and there's no difference in running time. The end credits are also very slightly different (the spacing between the Chinese characters during the song credits). The UK VHS (MIHK) is cut by 17s for violence and features the altered ending as per all re-issues. The Tartan R2 DVD has previous cuts waived, but is dubbed into Mandarin. Korean VHS ends with a montage showing Andy's character in jail.

Ashes of Time
Taiwanese print contains some brief footage of Joey Wong shot before she left the production. The HK print omits this footage amounting to a mere 15s or so.

The Assassin
The Winson DVD/VCD (and World Video LD) editions feature a shorter variant, omitting not violence, but a whole narrative segment that was present on the unsubbed Star LD and VCD.

The Avenging Eagle
Celestial DVD is missing a minute of footage from the final fight between Ku Feng and Ti Lung & Fu Sheng.

The Beasts (aka The Flesh and Bloody Terror)
Pearl City VCD is cut to 83m as per the HK theatrical version. The rape has been shortened as well as some of the stronger violence. An alternate 72m version was released on tape in Germany as The Flesh and Bloody Show; this print contained the uncut violence and added hardcore porn inserts during the rape. These were likely not shot by the director Dennis Yu.

Beheaded 1000
Original Taiwanese cut runs 124m compared to 101m HK edit.

A Better Tomorrow III
The Mainland DVD (WA) contains an extended 124m (130m) edit. No Cantonese language track exists for this long version; it has been released with Mandarin dub via Long Shong VHS (Taiwan) and an English dub from HKV VHS (France).

A summary of additional scenes not in the 111m theatrical cut are follows:
1. Chow Yun Fat and Anita Mui witnesses a mugging on the street.
2. Chow and Tony Leung Kar-Fai discuss their admiration for Anita.
3. Chow, Tony and father watch the news on President Nixon's resignation.
4. Extended opening of the scene where "Ling" nervously talks with Chow.
5. Before the club scene we see Anita at work; Chow and Tony wait for her in the lobby.
6. Chow watches Anita and Tony dancing and in a jealous fit we see him order in hostesses.
7. After Anita rushes out of the club, she passes out in the car and Tony asks Chow to help take her home.
8. Next scene sees Chow looking back at Tony driving Anita home, clearly regreting his behaviour.
9. "Ho" discusses the constant danger around him while he was on the run, which is intercut with another shot of Tony and Chow opening the car repair shop.
10. After the bombing, Tony's father is pronounced dead.
11. Extension where we see Chow and Tony fight back more in the confrontation with "Ho".
11. Funeral ceremony for Tony's father.
12. Tony tells "Ling" that she has to leave Hong Kong because she too is in danger.
13. Tony reveals to Chow that Anita has gone back to Vietnam.
14. Extended scene where "Pat" learns that Tony's father has died.
15. Slight extension to the scene after Chow storms out of Anita's hotel room.

There are two slight differences between the Chinese WA DVD and the Taiwanese Long Shong VHS.
1. When Anita's song plays the first time, the footage shown is different for about 8s. On the LS, Tony kisses Anita's hand and takes off his hat. On the WA, various military/political scenes are shown (33.13 - 33.21 on the WA DVD).
2. "Pat" yells 'Mun!' after the tank fires at her (Anita). This 1s line is missing on the WA. It should occur at 113.25. The Fortune Star DVD runs a longer 119m and contains scenes #3,4,7,8,11,13,14 & 15. (Five, but not all, of the remainder appear as extras only).

There is an even longer cut that can be found on a Mandarin dubbed VCD in Taiwan that runs 145m, which tells more about Chow's business in Hong Kong. The cut footage existent in the Taiwanese print is available as deleted scenes on the Korean Fortune Star DVD box set.

[EDIT: I have the Taiwan VCD which on the cover is listed as running 145m, HOWEVER it ONLY runs 130m!!! I highly doubt there is another Taiwan VCD that runs 145m
/Jack]

The Big Boss
All current release versions have been taken from the circa 1973 abridged English print, later dubbed into Cantonese. The original Mandarin track, as heard on the IVL DVD, has been cut down to fit in with the shorter length. Many mins of plot and character business have been deleted, as well as multiple cuts made for bloody violence. No uncut prints have seen the light of day since a 1979 festival screening. The US DVD from Fox (as Fists of Fury) substituted the shot of Bruce Lee stabbing his fingers into Han Ying Chieh's ribcage with a milder alternative to achieve an 'R'. It does, however, include bits of dialogue missing from the Chinese re-issues.

Black Mask
The Mei Ah DVDs represent the Cat-II HK theatrical cut minus roughly 1m, 40s of gory violence. These trims include: bloodspurts from the opening sequence; a leg being squashed; neck-breaking; a zombie losing an arm in the hospital; blood-draining; various bullet impacts (eg. shooting of Francoise Yip and assorted cops) and other moments of strong violence. Taiwanese DVD (Ritek) is uncut, but dubbed into Mandarin. The English dub contains some of the edited violence, but has been otherwise abridged. The US print replicates this, but replaces the original score with hip-hop source.

The Bodyguard From Beijing
World Video DVD cuts 'Billy' diming the lights; short repetition at the end with 'Michelle'. Video/Audio fades away quickly near the end of the credits.

Boys Are Easy
DVDs from Mei Ah and Mercury are missing approx 12m of footage from the theatrical release: including a bowling alley musical number and the Triad Olympics. The uncut version was available on OOP VCD and Laserdisc; a new VCD is similarly cut. The Tai Seng DVD, despite having 87m listed on the package is, in fact, the longer, uncut version of the film. It has burned in subs.

The Bride With White Hair
Bloody violence trimmed for Cat-II theatrical release. All DVDs appear to be uncut.

The Bride With White Hair 2
Bloody violence trimmed for Cat-II theatrical release. All DVDs appear to be uncut.

Brother of Darkness
Universe's DVD re-issue restores Billy Tang's film close to its uncut status. Although it's still missing a small detail from an oral sex scene (the fleeting shot of pre-seminal fluid dripping from Lily Chung's mouth). The OOP Ocean Shores edition represented the significantly cut theatrical version.

Bruce Lee & I
IVL DVD is cut to remove all full-frontal nude shots. Surrounding material has been slowed down to compensate. The German VHS is uncut.

Bullet in the Head
All DVDs contain the long 131m (125m) version, featuring the extended car joust/bicycle juxtaposition ending.

The long OOP Mei Ah VCD used an abridged edit (also seen on the Cinema City LD and Tai Seng VHS) lasting 100m., and featured an alternate, single bullet ending set in Waise Lee's boardroom.

A suggested director's cut (with deleted urine drinking sequence) was shown at festivals pre-release; but this 136m variant has never been made legally available. A list of relevant scenes follows:
1. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai walks through some numbered footprints taped to the dance floor to demonstrate a dance. (8s).
2. Tony gives some dance instructions to his students. (7s).
3. Tony watches as Jacky Cheung's mother beats him with shoe and is subsequently thrown out by his parents. (32s).
4. After Tony and Jacky tell Waise that they killed "Ringo", the scene wipes to another of Tony's wife, "Jane", at home alone. (36s).
5. After the bomb disposal worker gets injured there are a few extra shots of protesters clashing with police. (12s).
6. After a Vietnamese youth is shot in the head the boys ponder what they've just seen; Jacky vomits. (37s).
7. The camera pans Simon Yam's room. (16s).
8. More of Tony watching the riot. (8s).
9. Extra shots of demonstration. (4s).
10. A protester is beaten bloody. (2s).
11. The protester is dragged away. (2s).
12. People hang on the consulate gate. (1s).
13. Tony saves the HK singer from a riot; He has a flashback to his wife in HK and realizes that both places are in great turmoil. (29s).
14. After Jacky drinks a whole bottle of liquor the boss makes the boys drink a glass of urine each. (1m, 41s).
15. Once the gunfight breaks out, Tony pours a glass of urine over the boss' head. (6s).
16. A quick shot of Waise's foot on top of the box of gold. (1s).
17. Paul observes the gun fight; grabbing the box of gold. (3s).
18. A car drives towards the beach; into the camera. (3s).
19. On the beach Waise yells at Simon; Jacky yells at Waise. (43s).
20. Jacky encourages Tony to run faster towards the boat. (3s).
21. More of Tony running towards the boat. (9s).
22. When the singer's passport falls into the water, one of her songs plays.
23. Waise attempts to grab the gold before he jumps off the boat. (8s).
24. The solider with the bazooka reloads and fires. (8s).
25. More of Simon using an M-16. (7s).
26. A G.I. attempts to escape from the POW camp and is killed. (36s).
27. Soldiers run through a field in search of the POW camp; The actors run towards camera. (12s).
28. Waise flees in a boat after shooting up a small village, leaving Tony for dead. Tony is rescued by Monks, who nurse him back to health. (2m, 4s).
29. After Jacky's 'hit', he buys drugs, shoots them, and returns to his dwelling. Simon and Tony find him. (1m, 50s).
30. Tony tries to get through to Jacky, talking about being "brothers" and relating to their experiences and Jacky's parents. (2m, 34s).
31. Tony returns to HK; He walks in a crowd, tanks and people all around. (This scene is in the HK version but is shorter. (1m, 19s).
32. In the boardroom Tony grabs Waise and shoots him in the head.
33. Tony waits for Waise in the parking garage, gently patting Jacky's skull. When Waise appears, Tony kills all of Waise's men. Waise drives out of the garage, Tony following. (1m).
34. The racing cars are intercut with flashbacks of the three friends racing their bikes. (54s).
35. Credits (1m, 35s).

131m "bootleg" tape has every scene except 18, 27, and 32;

Mei Ah VCD is the only version that has scene 32;

Taiwanese tape is missing around 10m of footage;

HK DVDs are missing scenes: 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 32, and 36;

MIHK VHS (UK) is a PAL transfer of the 131m cut, as per the HK DVDs.

Scene 32 - The alternate ending: Tony returns from Vietnam to find the traitorous Waise is now an important man. Tony visits Waise in the middle of a board meeting. Waise introduces Tony and they pretend to like one another for a moment. Waise tells everyone in the room that if it wasn't for Tony he wouldn't have gotten out of Vietnam. Tony asks Waise why he doesn't give Jacky any credit? Waise fumbles his words and concocts a lie about what happened to Jacky. Tony bursts the bubble of deception, reminding Waise that Jacky was shot in back of the head. Tony places Jacky's skull on the table, claiming he kept his promise to bring him home. Tony pulls out the bullet and shows it to Waise, asking why he didn't make sure to shoot to kill. At this point Waise gets defensive and rude. Tony forces Waise's head on to the table and pulls out a gun. A scared Waise begins to pound the table frantically with his hands. "Don't shoot," he screams. Tony looks at Jacky's skull on the table. He then pulls Waise's jacket over his head (intercut with Waise doing the same thing to Jacky previous). Tony gets a faraway look in his eyes. He gazes at the skull and we see a flashback of Jacky being shot. Tony imagines Jacky's screams. Close up of the gun resting on the back of Waise's head. (BANG). Fade to black.

It's alleged that John Woo prefers this ending. It is the one that was the one shown on opening night in HK. After the movie received terrible reviews, the decision was made to re-shoot the finale. The bootleg version has a different soundtrack.

[EDIT: you could argue, and many do, that since this "boardroom scene" was the ending that was shown when the film premiered in HK it is indeed the original ending, not an alternative ending. And personally I tend to agree, how can a later shot ending be the "original" ending. It doesn't make sense.
/Jack]

Burning Paradise
Uncut version of Ringo Lam's martial arts film available only on DVD from Mo Asia. The HK Cat-II prints were cut for bloody violence. Siren's Australian VHS is also uncut. The French DVD is similarly intact but has no English subtitles.

Butterfly & Sword
The original suicidal ending was shorn from all HK prints. Only the Taiwanese DVD is intact. The MIA DVD (UK) uses the same abridged Cantonese dub and has an additional 7s compulsory cut for animal cruelty.

The Butterfly Murders
The 85m Mei Ah DVD (89m, NTSC) is missing a brief scene in which a female reads her husband's "last will": it decrees that the fortune of the deceased should be equally shared between three men and the wife. Explaining why somebody wants to kill her and the subsequent fight sequence. This footage is present in the UK TV print (last screened in 1993); most complete at 89m (93m), but dubbed into Mandarin. The German VHS offers a completely different score, sometimes footage too. It's cut, but has material missing from the French HKV DVD; taken from the same print as the Mei Ah disc.

Centre Stage
HK discs contain the abridged version running 121m. The Mandarin dubbed tape is most complete with a running time of 147m (155m @ 24fps). Most of cut footage shows interview segments with the older actors. AKA: Actress. A restored Director's Cut has been subsequently released by IVL/Fortune Star.

C'est La Vie Mon Cheri
Taiwanese cut lasts 100m compared to slightly shorter 98m HK version.

The Chinatown Kid
New Celestial Mandarin print uses a butchered-to-86m (90m) cut of the movie, with an alternate "happy" ending not seen in theatres. The original cut should run 110m (115m) and have the proper "hero dies a noble death" closure. The Ground Zero DVD utilized a similarly butchered US TV print; though it did contain the original ending. The OOP Pan Media disc is uncut and letterboxed, but dubbed in English. The old UK Warner tape is the long version, but censored.

The Chinese Feast
The Malaysian Mercury and Japanese DVDs include the fight between the two rival chefs missing from the HK Widesight DVD. The Korean DVD (Yedarm) is a port of the JP disc, but with the addition of optional English subtitles.

A Chinese Ghost Story
The HKL DVD is cut where Leslie Cheung falls down the stairs. The Fortune Star print is uncut.

Chinese Iron Man
The Mei Ah DVD appears to be cut for violence in a few places.

A Chinese Torture Chamber Story
Some footage was cut from the original Mei Ah DVD release. The Universe DVD reissue is fully uncut.

Chung King Express
The Miramax (US) and ICA (UK) DVDs contain the extended 102m (98m) "International version" with longer scenes involving the Indian drug mules and an altered soundtrack. The Ocean Shores (HK) DVD is trimmed by a few mins as per the HK theatrical version.

City Hunter 1
The Japanese version has a longer opening that includes offensive shots of the comic that were absent from the HK version (the Ryu character putting his head against a woman's breast). Unlike the HK opening, the Japanese equivilent uses a mixture of artwork and live action clips; containing a few shots of the red bathing suit beauties that don't actually appear in film. 2. In the HK version Jackie shoots a bluish-green clock with Chinese characters on it. In Japan the clock is instead silver with no writing; a Nikon camera has been added next to it (obvious product placement). 3. In the Japanese end credits, Japanese companies (Suntory, Nikon, etc) get top billing over the actors. 4. After the original HK end credit bloopers are shown, the Japanese LD has an additional 3-4 min blooper reel.

Clans of Intrigue
IVL's print shows a censored version; the stronger theatrical version, with added nudity and lesbianism, played in HK.

The Club
There are two UK PAL-VHS releases from "Eastern Heroes". One is an edited version in Cantonese with English subs, the other one (released in their "God, Gamblers and Gangsters Collection") is, supposedly, the "Full uncut version" in Mandarin. The edited version might have been mastered from the Ocean Shores LD, which has the exact same edits (mostly to delete sex scenes and nudity, the uncut version also has a few extra shots of violence). However, the edited UK-tape has a sort of "deleted scenes-montage" at the end of the film, which features some, but not all, of what has been removed. There are two HK-VHS tapes from Ocean Shores, both uncut, one featuring subs, one dubbed in English without subs. The dubbed version uses some different music to replace American rock songs used without permission.

Code of Honour
Two cuts were made for strong violence to the original theatrical release: Lung Ming Yan is stabbed through the cheek, then has his fingers cut off with a steak knife. The Tai Seng DVD is uncut as per the Ocean Shores VHS. The Chinese audio tracks are missing a brief section of dialogue found in the English dub. Tai Seng altered the Chinese tracks to keep the sound in sync. The Mandarin track contains an alternate score to the Cantonese original. The UK VHS (MIA) has been censored by 2m, 8s.

Coolie Killer
In the DVD version: Ko (Charlie Chin) takes revenge on the one who betrayed him (Siu), and a couple minutes later the cop on Ko's case shows up and he is arrested. In the VCD version the cop shows up before Ko has taken revenge and is killed by Siu. Ko then kills Siu and walks away scot-free. The VCD also contains the original credits unlike the DVD's newly generated ones.

Cop on a Mission
Cut for violence as per cat IIB theatrical release. A neck-break has been trimmed. No known uncut version available.

Dangerous Encounter of the First Kind
French DVD offers the full uncut version as a bonus on Disc 2 of its collector's edition; the restored footage was taken from a poor-quality tape and edited into the remastered bulk of the film. The standard HK theatrical cut is featured on disc 1. AKA: Don't Play With Fire.

Daughter of Darkness
Four sequences edited from the Ocean Shores disc: 1. After a man falls into a truck full of mud, he and Anthony Wong share sex jokes about the smell of his wife's underwear. (12s). 2. The first rape scene between William Ho and Lily Chung (2-3m). 3. Ho tortures/rapes Lily for a second time whilst singing "Row Your Boat" (3-4.5m). 4. In the uncut version, Lily, after being raped, stabs her brother in the back with a pair of broken scissors eighteen times; the cut print only shows four stabs. (10s). The Universe DVD reinstates two of the aformentioned cuts.

A Day Without Policeman
Reports state that approx 20m were edited for the HK VCD when compared to the complete theatrical print.

Devil Face/Angel Heart
Mei Ah DVD cut as per Cat-IIB theatrical release. Missing are bloodier details of the torture scene (when a man's nose is severed). This edit is done very crudely with jumps in the score.

Diary of a Big Man
The Universe DVD's soundtrack has almost completely changed. Chow Yun Fat's monologue is supposed to start immediately when the movie begins. Instead many shots of a young Chow go by first. The opening line is still present, but his monologue starts late and is missing a few lines from the middle. The score is all wrong, except for the title theme and Chow's musical number "Very Nice". This applies only to the Cantonese soundtrack; the Mandarin dub has the missing lines (also subtitled), which suggests that the music on the Cantonese track may come from the Mandarin mix. The Deltamac VCD contains the original Cantonese audio.

Dr. Lamb
The Winson DVD is missing the full version of the breast-stabbing scene as per the theatrical release. Cuts apply to the original scene and later the TV playback. Manga (Spain) released an OOP uncut VHS, dubbed into Spanish.

[EDIT: now released fully uncut on German DVD, subtitles in English]

Dr. Wai in 'the Scriptures With No Words'
The International edit (English dubbed) plays as a straight-forward Indiana Jones-style adventure, eliminating the present-day framing scenario with Jet Li as a novelist; instead the remaining time is padded with exclusive period sequences.

Dragon From Russia
In the original theatrical release - and laserdisc - directly before the church sequence in Macau, there is a short sequence on board a ferry where Nina Li Chi, in mourning garb, meets Pai Ying. The explanation for why this scene was removed from the international edit - which is the only one to make it to DVD - is that Cinema City felt it made no sense that Pai Ying does not recognize the nun in the church as the woman who he just met on the ferry* *This doesn't make much sense to me because in the version I saw, Pai Ying makes a joke about the nun looking like the girl on the ferry

Dragon Inn (1967)
Two versions of King Hu's 1967 swordplay exist: The original, running 111m (available on Japanese and German DVD), and a heavily abridged cut, lasting 87m, shown on the HK VCD release. No HK DVD is currently available.

Dragon Inn (1992)
Two versions of Raymond Lee's 1992 remake exist: The International Cut, which runs 102m, is the most commonly seen, as it's available on DVD from Mei Ah, Tai Seng and HKL (latter with Mandarin dub only). The 89m version, reportedly from the original theatrical release, has yet to be issued on DVD.

Dragon Lord
Universe DVD eliminates the final comedy scene involving Jackie Chan, Mars and a loaded cannon. The HKL disc is the uncut cinema version. The English dub deletes the conversation between Jackie and the town matchmaker and shortens his poetry reading. A longer Taiwanese version switches the order of the opening sequences and eliminates the cannon gag as well as adding a few minor bits and pieces throughout.

Dragons Forever
Like most prints the HKL is missing two scenes with psychiatrist Fung Shui Fan that played theatrically. They appear in the English dub, itself shorn of some footage (Jackie Chan's extended interrogation in court of Pauline Yeung; Jackie's slo-mo kick to a henchman's head whilst breaking into the factory). The HKL includes them as extras.

Drunken Master
Originally filmed, but never released, was a second (or possibly alternate) Drunken Boxing training sequence in which Wong Fei-Hong practices additional techniques on the front lawn of Sui Hat-Yi's (Sam Seed's) straw home. During the sequence were various Chinese symbols representing each different attack that Hat-Yi would call out. Even though the scene was deleted, a still image from the scene with Jackie Chan standing with his left leg raised and holding a tea cup and wine vase has been used on various VHS and DVD covers around the world. This scene is featured on the Hong Kong Legends DVD release as well as the UK/US documentary "Cinema of Vengeance"

Drunken Master II
Warner (HK; no subs) and Disney (US; English dubbed) DVDs delete film's final scene where Jackie Chan shows the severe effects of industrial alcohol. The Mei Ah (with subs) VCD is uncut. The Thakral DVD is also uncut, but cropped to 1.85.

The East is Red
The Taiwanese edition contains the full "flashback" sequence at the film's beginning, with all the shots of Jet Li from Swordsman II present. These were chopped out of the Mei Ah HK DVD and possibly the theatrical prints too?

The 18 Bronzemen
The Mei Ah HK DVD is of a completely different edit to the original release and uses footage taken from other Joseph Kuo features to re-organise the narrative to give Carter Huang more screen time. The MIA dubbed edition may be as close to the original as is currently available on disc format.

Ebola Syndrome
Tokyo Shock DVD replicates cuts required for explicit violent and sexual content as per the HK theatrical version.

Escape From Brothel
All of Ocean Shores' HK prints are snipped 17s by the censors for a Cat-III rating. Cuts as follows: All shots from the Sofia Crawford/Billy Chow fight that reveal more than her pubic hair; Rena Murakami's gang-rape is intact, but the subesequent electrocution is missing two full-frontal shots of her (with the camera placed near her knees looking up) squirming as she is electrocuted (complete with animated electrical currents arcing about her nipples in both shots); Billy Chow's death is trimmed by the final two blows to his head with a brick from Alex Fong, removing a single shot of his bloodied face and brain-matter strewn across the ground beside his head. The Dutch 4-Bidden Asia VHS (Eastern Heroes) is fully uncut, but matted to letterbox. The UK tape is heavily butchered - close to 7.5 mins - by the BBFC including distributor pre-cuts and the removal of linking shots.

Farewell, My Concubine
The following scenes were cut from Miramax's US theatrical release of the film and their subsequent VHS: 1. After Laizi's death, Douzi and Shitou mourn next to the coffin. We see the coffin being carted away. (1:24) 2. We see Douzi being carried atop the servant's back to Old Man Zhang's quarters (0:09) 3. During the "deflowering scene" with Old Man Zhang, after the woman leaves, until "Come here." Douzi urinates into a vase, as the old man looks on, getting quite excited. (0:21) 4. After Cheng and Duan are accosted by rioting students, after the photo session. They are being carted through the streets on handcarts. Na Kun is following, on foot. They discuss first the student revolutionaries, and then the incident at Old Man Zhang's house. We are reminded of the sword. (0:51) 5. After Cheng and Duan meet Yuan Shiqing for the first time, and Cheng is presented with jewelry. Brief dialogue as Yuan and then Duan leave the room. (0:19) 6. After Cheng and Duan argue in the makeup room, right before Juxian leaves the House of Blossoms. Juxian watches a performance of "Farewell". (0:55) 7. After Cheng and Duan argue during the "engagement" scene, right before Cheng tucks the baby Xiao Si into bed. Yuan presents Cheng with an elaborate pheasant headdress in his dressing room. (0:51) 8. After Japan's march into Beijing, right before Duan gets into a fight with the Japanese. Another opera scene. (1:31) 9. Scene of Cheng singing to Japanese continues, right before Duan is released. Interior shots, Cheng holding a fan. (0:47) 10. More graphic detail in the bloodletting scene, where the turtle's neck is sliced to make soup. 11. Brief shot of Duan caressing Juxian's cheek, right after Cheng and Yuan makeup scene. 12. After our first glance of Cheng smoking opium, right before Cheng and Duan visit their old teacher. Cheng steps out of his home, smoking and looking quite listless. He chokes as a car passes. Then we see Juxian showing a group of Duan's friends to the exit of their home. (2:02) 13. After Juxian visits Cheng in his cell, just before trial. Beginning of the trial dialogue cut, where Peking Opera is described as "pornographic music", and the formal charges of collusion with the Japanese Officer, Aoki, are described. (0:43) 14. Later, in the same trial scene, after Na's "testimony", Yuan rebuts the idea of Peking Opera as "pornographic music". (1:01) 15. After the communists march into Beijing, Cheng and Duan are performing "Farewell" to an audience of communist troops. This scene cuts into what seems to be one large crowd scene in the U.S. release -- everything depicting Xiao Si (the foundling) skipping through the streets of Beijing comes after this scene.(1:52) 16. After Juxian's suicide, and before we cut to the present day, we get a short scene where the traitorous Xiao Si seems to get his due. He is sitting alone with the case of jewelry given Cheng by Yuan, and singing from "Farewell". Behind him, communist troops begin to file in, and Xiao Si is startled to see them in the mirror. One of them approaches and hands him what seems to be some sort of summons. (1:11) The Ocean Shores and Miramax DVD editions present the 171m director's cut.

The Fatal Flying Guillotines
Vengeance's letterboxed UK DVD is taken from an abridged German VHS print missing 11 mins of footage. The uncut 88m version was available in the US on tape and disc from World/CAV.

Fight Back To School
An epilogue was filmed but cut before film's release.

Fist of Legend
Taiwanese Ritek DVD contains additional footage not present in the HK release prints. The dubbed Disney DVD is missing brief footage available in other versions.

Fong Sai Yuk
There are notable differences between the Tung Ah (Mainland) and Universe (HK) editions. The TA disc has no English on the credits and completely different background music. Also contains some shots during the initial assault that have been edited out the HK DVD (a women attempts to attack the emperor with a shoe-knife and gets her leg chopped off in the process). In the TA edition there's a closing freeze-frame on Fong Sai Yuk riding off into the sunset... roll credits... whereas in the Universe his father says: "Wait a minute! You forgot this!" and throws a scroll to him, which opens up and scrolls hand-written credits. The Tung Ah lasts 140:11, while the Universe lasts 145:21. The "remastered" Universe is missing a bit of dialogue between 'Sai Yuk' and 'Tiger Lui': "OK!", "Siu Wan, try him out" and a snippet of the fight between 'Sai Yuk' and 'Or Yee Tor' as the former attempts to grab for the rope.

Fong Sai Yuk II
Taiwanese DVD runs longer than the HK prints. The biggest difference is in the song that Mrs. Fong sings in the beginning. On the Taiwanese cut, the flashbacks aren't monotone and degraded, and there are more of them. There are several other additional shots in this segment as well. The credits are different - HK has English, Taiwan does not. There's a blue tint during the night fight scene between FSY and the bald guy on the Taiwanese print, but not on the HK (even though it looks like this scene is tinted in the HK trailer). In the second flashback, Li Goubang literally disappears on the HK cut as he's trying to get away from Mrs. Fong (complete with sound effect). This gag is missing from the Taiwanese cut, as he just walks off-screen. The montage of FSY arriving for the wedding contest is different on the two prints (different shots). The from-the-back nude shots of Li Goubang in the tub are missing from the Taiwan version, but this has a couple of additional shots during the scene where FSY's head is being ground into the ladder during the scaffold battle near the end.

Forbidden City Cop
Mei Ah DVD is cut from a scene where Carman Lee (or a stuntman) pours hot wax on her wrist for real (easy to notice as there is a jump in the film/soundtrack at edit point). The Australian 'Siren' VHS has this sequence uncut.

The 14 Amazons
The Celestial DVD is minutes shorter than the uncut version, which is currently unavailable anywhere.

Full Contact
The Mei Ah DVDs are uncut despite the inaccurate Cat II rating on the packaging. The theatrical release trimmed some of the more violent moments such as stabbings, bullet impacts and blood spurts. The US Columbia disc is also intact, but has an alternate music track. The MIHK VHS is cut by 34 secs for banned weaponry. The other violence is intact. The HKL DVD is uncut and contains the same workprint soundtrack as Columbia edition.

Fulltime Killer
An alternate ending played in Malaysia. It ends before Inspector Lee exits the café and realizes that Miss Chin's version of the story may not be the real one. Also, new footage is inserted of the authorities apprehending one of the killers after their climactic duel.

Girl on Fire (aka Girl on Rock)
Eastern Heroes tape is missing approx 4m of footage found in the uncut Hollywood East tape. BBFC cuts required the removal of a knife being run down a female drug courier's back; the forced stripping and subsequent rape of a gangster's moll. Distributor pre-cuts are likely to have removed more of the knife being run over the courier's body, specifically her naked breast and groin area. Any further cuts are unconfirmed.

God of Cookery
Universe DVD is cut from its original theatrical version. Small snippets of jokes throughout the film have been trimmed. In the scene where one of the gang members reveals to Stephen Chow that Karen Mok has always been in love with him, they joke among themselves first; and one of the lines refers to how one of the guys enjoys one of the other guy's mom's cooking. The Universe VCD is almost the same cut as the DVD, but contains at least one addition: an SFX sequence during the cook-off.

God of Gamblers
The original HK DVD release of this popular title was abridged to under 2 hours. The remastered DVDs from MIA (UK) and Mei Ah (HK) are fully uncut at 120/126m.

Going Home
Panorama's release of Going Home - Director's Cut adds about 4m of new footage and re-edits a sequence late in the movie. 1. Cheung asks about the significance of the clock but Chan opts not to answer. 2. Cheung has trouble sleeping and after having seen the little girl, fears going out to the hallway where the toilet is. 3. Cheung offers to buy his dad a new clock when he grows up; and Chan later correcting Cheung's way of eating. An added long shot finishes the sequence. 4. Cheung and the little girl in red play. 5. Extension to the sequence where Chan is looking for his son: He calls the police HQ and asks them to keep a look out. Subsequently, after climbing the stairs, we see signs of Chan's asthma. 6. The scene in the photo studio plays out in full now as opposed to the original version that broke up the shots; adding the photographer asking Cheung if he wants his picture taken. 7. The final scene is now: Cheung arriving home, putting a blanket over his father and finally going to sleep; fearless.

Handsome Siblings
Scholar's Taiwanese DVD is approximately 6-7m longer than Mei Ah's HK DVD, which represents the original theatrical cut. There's an extra scene where Ng Man Tat and Deannie Yip try to bribe Begger So to throw his competition with Andy Lau, and then beat him up when he refuses; also Andy's speech about his "poor family," sometime later when he offers to kill the villains, is longer on the Scholar. The introductory titles at the beginning are different on the two DVDs (and not translated on either). The end titles scroll on the Scholar disc over a freeze-frame of the last shot, but in the HK edit they fade to black, then the credits roll. Some differences in the burned English Subs: for instance, in the last title Ng suggests to Sissy that she finds a dog to make them equal; in the Taiwanese version, it has "cow" instead. The Scholar DVD is in Mandarin only and is open-matte, but the Mei Ah DVD crops the image a lot more and comes near to cutting off some of the subtitles.

Happy Together
Taiwanese cut lasts 98m, slightly longer than the 96m HK version.

Hard-Boiled
Taiwanese DVD runs a few mins longer than the HK cut and has lots of extra/extended scenes and a few sequences that have been edited together differently.
The most glaring differences between the two cuts are during the hospital evacuation sequence and the ensuing shootouts: they are edited together completely differently with shots added to and deleted from the Taiwanese disc. The DVD is Mandarin dubbed (English spoken parts intact) and it contains a different music score, at times playing music where there is none on the HK cut. Previous minor censor cuts made to UK versions have been waived for the Tartan/Prism DVDs.

Heart of Dragon
The Universe, Mega Star, Fox and HKL DVDs use the HK theatrical version of the film. The Japanese LD version contains two additional fight sequences; set in a hospital and a car park respectively. There is also one additional snippet of violence in the showdown, as Jackie impales a bad guy with a pick-axe, whom he only punches in the theatrical version. Only the Japanese version has the following: a completely new music soundtrack (no Julie Su Rui songs) with two exclusive Jackie songs sung in Japanese. Also exclusive are the out-takes. An English subtitled extended version, that has no out-takes and contains the original music, exists, but has never been legally available.

Hell'z Windstaff
Eastern Heroes DVD is letterboxed, subtitled, but cut at the very end, missing the killer blow to Hwang Jang Lee's groin. An uncut version exists in full frame and is dubbed only.

Her Vengeance
Deltamac VCD is cut for its Cat-II rating. The finale has been trimmed to remove many of the strongest moments of graphic violence. An uncensored Mega Star VCD is OOP, however that print had been shortened to 78m (PAL) as per the Cat-III theatrical release.

Hero - 1997
Universe DVD is cut for bloody violence, especially during the finale. Metrodome UK is in comparison almost uncut. The Taiwanese LD, however, features a much bloodier version of a man having his head ripped off, not present in any other edition. Here you see the actual act, blood spraying out of the body, then cut to the audience, then his falling body. The HK edit only shows the Horse Riders, then the bloody pulp of the man falling to the ground. The Chinese WA DVD is minus Anita Mui's song and is cut for Violence; mostly minor stuff, not the most bloody scenes cut in HK, although the head-ripping is even shorter than in any other version.

Heroes Two
was originally preceeded by a short subject entitled Three Styles Of The Hung Fist, which detailed the styles pertinent to Chang Cheh's Shaolin cycle, as choreographed by Liu Chia Liang. It's missing from IVL's remastered DVD/VCD releases, but appeared on pevious VHS editions.

The Heroic Trio
Disney's US DVD cut by up to 3m; to tailor the film to the American market and presumably to secure an R-rating. Eg. A fight between Invisible Woman and Number Nine results in the latter losing one of his fingers. In the HK version, Nine retrieves the severed digit and pops it into his mouth. This small bit was cut from the Miramax disc. The Universe and Tai Seng editions are uncut and original language. The MIHK tape was snipped by 4s in the UK (child cannibals urinating in fear thru their loincloths). HKL disc (currently only available through a magazine offer) is uncut.

High Risk
(Universe; first reissue) First pressing: Uncut. Second Pressing (Remastered, with EAN Code on Cover) : Cut. New Pressing (DTS): Uncut. Two confirmed cuts to the 2nd edition: 1. The first is at the very end of Jet Li's one-on-one fight with the terrorist in combat fatigues. It cuts abruptly from the light pole hitting the electric panel to Jet wiping his face. Gone is a shot of the bad guy being electrocuted and also of Jet impaling the guy with the other half of the light pole. 2. The second cut is the death of the terrorist girl (Elaine Lui) just before Jackie Cheung's fight with Billy Chow. There's about half a second missing which used to contain a brief top view of bullets rocketing through her head.

Hitman in the Hand of Buddha
The Eastern Heroes disc includes a rare workprint cut from Korea that runs a shorter 81m compared to the usual 87m HK version. Differences are as follows: 1. The HK does not contain the first fight scene where Hwang Jang Lee stops a kid from picking his pocket, nor does it contain the fight between Eddy Ko and Fan Mei Sheng over the snuff bottle [It's been suggested that this information may be inaccurate]. There are also a couple of non-fight scenes missing, mainly to do with Fan Mei San and his troupe of child thieves. 2. The KR is missing some non-fight scenes. Like the English version it does not have some of the Fan Mei San scenes. It is also missing the sequences where Hwang Jang Lee tries to get past the gatekeeper of Shaolin. Instead it cuts straight to Hwang Jang Lee training. 3. The KR does contain nearly all of the fights. The one that is missing is where Hwang Jang Lee sneaks into the abbot's quarters and secretly watches a kung fu lesson. The scene is not cut completely, but the fighting is missing. Of the rest of the fights, many contain sequences that are not included in the Mandarin or English versions; the main ones being : Hwang Jang Lee's first fight with Eddie Ko at night. There are a few sequences here not in the other two versions; Hwang Jang Lee's fight with the monks before leaving Shaolin. There are some extra slow motion sequences; Hwang Jang Lee's final fight with Tino Wong. There is a short sequence where Tino Wong tries to play dead; Hwang Jang Lee's final fight with Eddie Ko. There are some extra staff fighting bits and a short sequence where Eddie Ko uses drunken boxing techniques. 4. The KR contains an extra sequence of Hwang Jang Lee training at Shaolin with a straw dummy. 5. It does seem as if the KR has suffered from censorship as some of the more gruesome deaths are missing, such as Hwang's sister's suicide, Hwang's brother in law getting his throat cut by Tino Wong and Tino's death by drowning. In fact the whole of the rape scene between Tino and Hwang's sister is missing. The fight scenes don't appear to have been censored however. 6. The Mandarin VHS is probably the closest to being complete but it is missing some of the training and fight sequences seen in the KR version. 7. The KR carries a completely different music score to the other two.

Holy Weapon
Taiwanese DVD is longer than the HK prints.

A Home Too Far
Original Taiwanese print runs 125m compared to the 100m HK edit.

Human Lanterns [aka Human Skin Lanterns]
All Asian DVDs use a censored variant of this martial arts horror. A stronger version, with additional gore, played theatrically in some territories, and has now been released in the UK by Momentum. Chao's killing and mutilation of Yen Chu is suffers two obvious jump cuts, only a brief bit of skin peeling remains. The fate of one female victim is unseen, and Chao's murder of an elderly male is missing entirely. Some nudity has also apparently been deleted. All of this material, some 3m 31s, has been restored to the R2. However, this new print is missing 23.5s of Lo Lieh tearing some skin off his first victim, footage which can amazingly be found on the HK DVD.

[EDIT: the restored stronger R2 version has also been released on R1 DVD and it contains the missing 23.5s from the HK DVD in the extra material / Jack]

The Iceman Cometh
The old Taiwanese LD was apparently 10 mins or so longer than the standard HK cut. The UK '18' tape is censored briefly for rape. The HKL DVD is uncut with the certificate lowered to a '15'.

In The Mood For Love
An alternate ending can be found on the Criterion 2-disc DVD set.

Infernal Affairs
For the Mainland version an alternate ("politically correct") ending was used. In it Lau gets arrested when he leaves the elevator.

Iron Angels (aka Angel)
Mei Ah DVD is missing a brief shot in which Yukari Oshima's body double reveals her breasts to Alex Fong; unlike the UK prints, the violence is uncut.

[EDIT: fully uncut on English dubbed fullscreen VHS from Denmark]

The Iron-Fisted Monk
The HKL DVD has been cut 1:16 by the BBFC to remove graphic depictions of rape. Uncut versions are available from Fox (R1) and Deltamac (R3/6).

Island of Fire
(HKL/Columbia) Uses the abridged HK edit of this Taiwanese film at 92m (PAL). The original director's cut is available on Scholar's DVD in Taiwan running 125m. Several English dubbed editions known as The Prisoner are similarly cut. The cuts mainly remove narrative and character develpment, including an entire subplot involving a prisoner's grandmother. The International and HK cuts add a tiny amount of extra Jackie Chan footage, when he meets his girlfriend, not in the original version.

Jiang Hu
On the DVD version by Mei-Ah, 20 minutes, including a bestiality scene, is cut from the movie itself. However, on the 2 disc edition, a second disk including the extras shows all the deleted scenes, including the controversial bestiality scene.

Just Heroes
MIA's UK VHS uses the full uncut version, rather than the censored HK theatrical release. Multiple cuts were required to tone down the gorier violence; an obvious example being Chow Sing Chi's stabbing death. Additionally, two key scenes are missing from the HK release. In the first David Chiang visits a suicidal Chen Kuan Tai, only to find old flame Tien Niu lying in his garden bleeding to death. With her last breath she whispers something to Chiang then dies. Second edit takes place during the finale when Chiang talks to Chen before the shooting starts. He reveals what it was Tien told him.

[EDIT: the full uncut version is now also on French DVD, no English subs]

Justice, My Foot!
(Universe; re-issue) First edition: DVD 1001. Jewel case only. It is uncut, identical to Universe's previous laserdisc release. It has no menu and non-removable subs. Second edition: DVD 5001. It has a menu and removable subs. This is the DVD that is missing a line of dialogue: "I will take half (of the gold) even if I lose".

The Killer
Most DVD releases are taken from the 111m dir's cut; the Taiwanese DVD runs 124m and the Taiwanese VHS 136m. Some of the missing scenes can be found on the Criterion and HKL editions.

Killing End
Modern's DVD of Herman Yau's film represents the theatrical release as cut for content in order to avoid a Cat-III rating.

Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch
Narrative scenes cut from the Universe DVD. 1. On the (uncut) tape (but not on the DVD) after the kids get some food at the eunuch's house, the next scene is a meal at Lai Chi's home. The father explains that when he was young his uncle wanted to make him a eunuch, and if that had happened they would be rich. The kids get very excited at the idea of being rich, but then the dad tells them that if he had been castrated none of them would have been born. 2. After Lai Shi's mother whips him for wanting to be "snipped," the kids talk about the pros and cons of snipping. Because the rich eunuch in their town has three wives they think that eunuchs can be married and they joke that Tsouti (the main girl) will marry the first one who gets snipped. 3. Also on the tape the scene where the kids watch the rich eunuch returning to town goes on longer and Tsouti picks up a toddler so the little kid can have a better view. The toddler's bottom is briefly visible. I don't know if that would be a reason for cutting the scene. I assume the other scenes were cut for time, but they do help in understanding Lai Shi's motivation and also develop the relationships with his father and with Tsouti. 4. But the main difference is in the castration itself. After Lai Shi's father cuts with the blade and Lai Shi falls back, we see blood and he writhes around. The father, blood on his hand, runs out screaming, in shock. The DVD ends the scene here. On the tape, Lai Shi discovers that the attempt has not been successful -- his stuff is still there. He screams for help, but the dad is in no shape to help anyone. There is more screaming. Finally Lai Shi crawls over to the blade and completes his castration himself. This is a very powerful scene, and I can only surmise it was cut because it is so strong. Certainly anyone who has seen it will never forget it --particularly if they weren't prepared for it. 5. Other differences are minor. The introductory stuff on the DVD about the history of eunuchs is not on the tape. And the tape has a couple of title cards giving historical information that are not on the DVD. Altogether the tape is about 5 minutes longer.

Last Hero in China
Taiwanese version is slightly longer.

The Legendary Couple
The Mercury DVD is a different cut of the film running 93m. The HK versions (Widesight DVD, Fitto VCD) run 83m and are edited to run chronologically. The Malaysian version, however, opens up with a great action sequence, where Simon Yam mows down a building-full of coke dealers, while Chingmy Yau sticks a gun in a policeman's crotch. The Widesight disc unfolds chronologically, however, showing Simon's descent into crime (this comes as a flashback in the Malaysian version, nearly an hour into the film).

Little Cheung
The Japanese DVD (Columbia Music Entertainment) is missing some brief dialogue compared to the HK VCD. At approx 70m, during the dinner scene with Fan's family, we hear Mr. Gin knocking on the door to ask the whereabouts of Little Cheung. The following three lines are cut from the JP DVD, but retained on the HK VCD:

"I was told that my son and your daughter are friends. I would like to talk to her."
"Come in"
"Thank you, sorry to bother you."

Taiwanese print runs 114m compared to 97min HK cut.

The Long Goodbye
Mei Ah's DVD has been abridged to 84m. The old VHS with original title The Head Hunter is an uncut 98m; the non-subtitled Star LD runs 96m. The DVD cuts out Flora Cheung's appearance in the disco, some sex scenes with Chow Yun Fat; amongst other assorted bits. The biggest edit cincerns the subplot dealing with chemical warfare sales and a Cold War slant. The intro credits are also different, as are character names. For instance, Chow formerly Nguyen Dich becomes Yuen Lick; Rosamund Kwan was Vickie Lee, now she's Or Pui Lam. Also in the VHS the end credits start to roll with a shot of Chow leaning against a wall, whilst in the DVD they play over Rosamund's face. The DVD appears to have been redubbed: Tang Ching's character has a different voice. The US Treeline DVD is uncut, but alas, English dubbed.

The Lotus Lamp
Celestial's VCD/DVD versions are missing a key song sequence when Lin Dai's son is making the heavenly axe and the heavenly dog approaches him. Both engage in a witty song. This scene is available on an old VHS tape only.

Love to Kill
(City Connection) DVD is missing a close-up of Anthony Wong removing Julie Lee's panties in the Rape Scene, revealing her Pubic Hair. This Shot was included in the HK LD/VHS Version, but also shortened; however, that edit was butchered beyond belief, cutting even sexual dialogue. The theatrical release was also trimmed. CC's DVD's Cantonese track is mastered from that HK Print, resulting in double lines when previously missing scenes occur. The subtitled Taiwan DVD has all scenes intact except the rape, which is most complete on the HK DVD. Note: The DVD is sans subtitles. No 100% uncut version is known to exist.

The Lucky Guy
DVD includes deleted scenes.

Lunch With Charles
HK version is considerably shorter than the Canadian cinema print, which reportedly runs 110m, compared to the Widesight DVD's 94m. No information on missing scenes.

Mad Mission (aka Aces Go Places)
International Edit (Anchor Bay DVD) is missing two scenes: One with the photographer who leads Karl and Sam to the taxicab dispatcher; the other, the romantic musical interlude that follows Sylvia and Karl's "romantic" dinner scene. Unlike other the films in this series, there doesn't seem to be any additional material added. HK version available from Universe as Aces Go Places.

Mad Mission 3 (aka Aces Go Places III)
International Edit (ABE DVD) omits many of the comedy scenes between Karl Maka, Sylvia Chang and Baldy Jr., but adds much more of Peter Graves. HK version available from Universe as Aces Go Places III

Mad Mission 4 (aka Aces Go Places IV)
International Edit (AVE DVD) adds a sequence at the beginning where a professor is stabbed to death outside of a restaurant, and first alerts Sam to the crystal that becomes the film's plot device. Also most of the final scene has been removed. HK version available from Universe as Aces Go Places IV

The Man From Hong Kong
The HK VCD, taken from the local VHS release, has been cut severely throughout for its action seqeunces. An example of which is Wang Yu and Sammo Hung's prison fight. The R4 DVD is the uncut version, but cropped to 1.85. The German and Dutch VHS were uncut too.

Master With Cracked Fingers
(Xenon/Eastern Heroes) Re-edited with faux Jackie/Drunken Master footage shot in 1978 by producer Dick Randall. This altered version has also been release as Snake Fist Fighter. The rare original print Cub Tiger From Kwantung is available on DVD in Japan only.

Millionaires' Express
An alternative cut has been released on LD by Tai Seng and on DVD by Spike in Japan and in the UK by HKL. The bandit trying to rape Cynthia Rothrock is present only in this cut; some additional material featuring Yuen Biao is exclusive to this cut, inclduing a kiss. Universe presents the original theatrical cut on disc and includes the following footage not in the HKL cut: Sammo making some speech about the prostitutes near the beginning; Corey Yuen's fight Scene in the finale (where he actually seems to die!) ; also there's no hiding in the Toilets during the finale. It's the same as the very old HK LD released by STAR (cropboxed, no subs).

A Moment of Romance 2
(Universe) Cut for violence.

Moon Warriors
The Taiwanese DVD from Scholar has a theme song performed by Andy Lau (rather than Sally Yeh) and is missing his character's voiceover explaining how he got out of the cave; now just the sound of wind is audible. It also has about three minutes of bonus footage of Andy and the Whale, set to music, after the credits. HKL doesn't have the Whale footage either, it uses the Sally Yeh song.

Mr. Canton & Lady Rose
Taiwanese version runs a few minutes longer.

My Father is a Hero
The audio on the remastered anamorphic DVD misses an insult during the finale (just before the trio of villians start kicking Kung Wei all at once): The line "Kui Lo Mo" (His/Her Mum - one of those general insults that doesn't have an English equivilent) has been deleted. It can be heard correctly on the non-anamorphic DVD.

Naked Killer
(Mei Ah) The original theatrical version was cut by the censors to remove bloody violence and profane dialogue, in spite of the Cat-III tag. This print was released on VCD and DVD by Mei Ah. Mega Star later issued the film in an extended director's cut that not only restored the censored dialogue (references to a severed penis originally "bleeped" out) and violence (When Carrie Ng crushes a man's head with bar-bells, blood spurts out; the killing of the rapist in the cellar is trimmed too) but included several new scenes such as one between Kitty and Sister Cindy (with pronounced lesbian overtones). The HKL DVD is the same dir's cut as per the Mega Star disc. On the Taiwanese VHS, the scene at the police station at the beginning of the film is longer. On the Japanese VHS, there is a 3-4 min scene where Carrie meets up with the Japanese that places the hit on a certain character in the film. It's a must for Carrie fans as she acts like a complete badass, pushing people around and not taking shit. Neither the complete police station scene nor Carrie's scene mentioned above are present on the Mega Star or HKL DVD. On the German tape Chingmy Yau plays an Undercover Cop and has a happy ending together with Simon Yam. The erstwhile deleted scene with Carrie is there also. It however removes all the lesbianism and the violence is trimmed as per the HK Cinema version. Runs 76m (@PAL speed).

The New One-Armed Swordsman
Celestial's Mandarin language release is missing a giant bloodspurt from Chen Sing's death sequence. This brief footage (a matter of frames) can be found in the English dubbed versions, as can several other snippets trimmed for print damage.

No Retreat No Surrender
Universal's R2 DVD contains the original 94m/98m version of Yuen Kwai's film, as opposed to the abridged 80m/84m International cut, which removed some of the "dramatic" sequences (Jason arguing with his Dad, the Dad recovering in hospital, the fat bully lazing around and chasing after T.J, etc...) and during the final scene, the juxtaposition of Jason's training matched against his actual movements beating Van Damme's villain. The short edit does have one sequence not in the longer print and that's of Jason reuniting with girlfriend Kelly and a subsequent romantic montage. The music score was also re-done for the shorter cut, and is generally regarded as an improvement. The OOP EIV tape was slightly censored as per the UK cinema version, deleting shots of Jason's Bruce Lee poster (he's holding nunchakus!!) as well as stomach punches and an elbow to the throat.

No Retreat No Surrender 2
Universal's R2 offers the long 105m/110m version of Yuen Kwai's Raging Thunder; although a video-generated title has been superimposed, marking this falsely as a sequel as per the shorter 87m/91m print. One cut, however, has been made by the BBFC to remove cruelty against a live Snake (this scene was not in the abridged edit). The R4 should be uncut. The additional footage includes a whole section from the first third of the movie. We now see Loren Avedon renting his seedy hotel room, contacting his girlfriend by phone, going on a date with her, and then finally back to his room for sex. Avedon's post-arrest Police interrogation is also missing. Footage showing the Viet Cong training camp has been trimmed too.

No Retreat No Surrender 3
As with "Part 2" Universal appends a new title card to alter the fact that Blood Brothers has nothing to with either of the aforementioned movies. Universal again uses an uncut print, running 98m/102m, and restoring many "dramatic" scenes cut for International consumption (mostly stuff that spells out the plot). The old EIV tape (short 91m/95m version) was also pre-cut to remove brief shots of a pair of nunchaku and a butterfly knife; these too have been restored.

Nomad
(Mei Ah) DVD is cut down to 86 minutes to achieve [IIb] rating, reportedly the Mei Ah VHS and VCD are longer and (possibly) uncut. Original opening credits are also missing; just like on their Coolie Killer, Odd Couple & Dirty Tiger Crazy Frog.

On The Run
(Mega Star/Deltamac/Pioneer) Final scene at the docks has been removed. The MIHK tape contains the uncut version.

Once Upon a Time in China II
Longer Taiwanese contains additionals scenes not in the HK prints and a re-cap of Part 1 played under the opening credits.

Organized Crime & Triad Bureau
HK theatrical version suffered violence cuts for a Cat-II rating. The Tai Seng DVD represents the full uncut version.

Paramount Motel Widesight's DVD appears to be cut during an early scene of dental torture; most likely censored for its IIB theatrical rating.

Peace Hotel
The 16:9/DTS re-issue from Mei Ah is missing a fight scene in a hotel and may be taken from the original theatrical print. The older standard edition is the longer video version. It appears as though Optimum's UK disc is also the extended cut.

Pedicab Driver
The old laserdisc is slightly cut. Missing is the aftermath of Sammo Hung's spinning kick to a bodyguard as he enters the villains lair. Cut is the final part of the shot of the guard falling after the kick and almost all sight of his body on the ground (only a few frames of this are on the LD). The MIHK's tape is uncut.

[EDIT: the MIHK tape also represents proper English subtitles in contradiction to the laserdisc's subs in wobbly English]

Police Story
The Japanese LD contained additional book-end scenes: a birthday party/character introducion at the opening and a brief wrap-up outside the shopping mall for closure. All DVDs are taken from the original HK print. The LD also had alternate out-takes that replaced the ones on the HK print. The American video version is heavily cut to 89m, losing a number of comedy seqeunces such as Jackie's phone juggling, and has been rescored by either Kevin Bassington or J. Peter Robinson, depending on which edition you're watching.

Police Story II
The Japanese LD runs 122m (NTSC) compared to the 106m HK cut and the 96m English Dub. No additional action in any version; but dialogue and comedy are expanded upon to varying degrees. The Jap LD allows many scenes to play out longer and at a slower pace, such as the cops' surveillance and Jackie talking to Maggie outside her apartment. It is also missing the correct theme song. The International cut is missing the scene when Jackie and Uncle Bill visit an office to plant a bug; this is in both Asian versions. The Jap LD contains extended out-takes too. The IVL DVD uses the extended JP edit, with incorrect song, but curiously has the HK outtakes.

Prison on Fire II
(Universe/Mega Star) A shot of Chow Yun-fat stabbing Elvis Tsui in the eye with a sharpened toothbrush has been cut. After a while, the security guard pulls the toothbrush out of his eye. That is missing as well. But, the crazy thing is the sound of the toothbrush going into his eye can be heard. All currently known versions appear to be similarly cut.

The Prodigal Son
(Mega Star/Universe) The MS DVD (created for the Korean market) is missing a Peking Opera performance. The Universe disc is also slightly cut: The scene where Yuen Biao's servant Chan Lung beats him with a pole was shortened by just a couple of secs. (The cut was done most likely because there was excessive print damage on that particular spot in the film.) HKL is uncut.

Profile In Anger
The WA Mainland DVD is missing nudity (for instance, Phillip Ko) but features more violence than the HK Deltamac VCD. Mega Star's old fullscreen VCD was complete but unsubtitled. Reason clearly being that Deltamac used a theatrical print, whilst Mega Star extended theirs.

The Rape After
The old HK tape is missing some gore that is uncut on the Japanese VHS.

[EDIT: the HK VCD is uncut]

Raped By an Angel
(Universe) Rape sequences cut to obtain a Cat-III classification. The UK DVD from MIA (Naked Killer 2) is missing an additional 11 mins (!) of censorship edits. The Taiwanese DVD from Scholar is a completely different edit of the movie. All full frontal nudity is cut, but additional "humiliating" scenes not found in any HK version, have been added. Making the villain appear even more disgusting. A completely new scene of the villain bringing home a retarded man (who appears early on in the HK version) and forcing him to have sex with the bound Ng Suet Man is exclusive to the Taiwanese cut, as are some dialogue exchanges during the rape scenes.

Raped By an Angel 2: The Uniform
Fan Mei Ah's DVD/VCD releases contain cuts made for theatrical release to obtain a more commercial Cat-IIB classification.

Raped By An Angel 4: The Rapist's Union
China Star's DVD/VCD releases contain cuts made for theatrical release to obtain a more commercial Cat-IIB classification.

Red to Kill
(Universe/Ocean Shores) DVDs cut as per the HK theatrical release. No details as yet.

Return to a Better Tomorrow
(Universe/MIA) The HK DVD is missing some violence as per the theatrical version. The UK disc is similarly cut, possibly more so?

Righting Wrongs
The International prints feature alternate scenes to the HK release. Whereas the latter sees Cynthia Rothrock harrassing Yuen Biao in court and at traffic lights; the former has more of Fan Siu Wong and his Grandpa, Lau Siu Ming and the executed family near the beginning. The ending too was re-shot: instead of Cynthia and Biao dying, they both improbably survive; he goes to jail. The Taiwanese VHS has the HK ending, but adds a voiceover explaining that Biao's character has to be imprisoned for his vigilante actions.

The Romancing Star
(Mei Ah) This DVD is missing at least two scenes: one where Chow Yun Fat's friends are arranging a date at various times; and another during the closing credits that shows one of Chow's friends begging in the street. Both of these scenes are in the Thai DVD. It has been suggested that the Mei Ah VCD may be uncut. Mei Ah have reissued this DVD in an uncut state. A DTS logo has been added to the packaging by way of identification.

Run and Kill
(Universe) HK DVD is cut as per theatrical version. The German DVD is based on a complete print, but is heavily censored for violence. However, it contains the following additional footage: Kent Cheng wanders the streets after finding out his wife is cheating on him; the blood-letting sequence is badly cut in Germany, but still has shots missing from the HK edit; two scenes of Simon Yam walking in darkness - first in the forest, then later in the warehouse.

[EDIT: the Austrian DVD is fully uncut, it has English subtitles]

Saviour of the Soul
(Universe; re-issue) A few lines of Anita Mui's dialogue are missing from the remastered DVD.

Saviour Of The Soul II
The Taiwanese Scholar DVD is significantly longer (115m) than the Universe HK disc (92m). It seems to be not so much a matter of extra scenes, but extended versions of the scenes that are in the HK version.

School on Fire
Cut for its original theatrical release to remove socio-political commentary and violence. No DVD to date, but the VCD is as cut. The Taiwanese prints were shorn to approx 60 mins!

The Seventh Curse
An extended epilogue exists on the German DVD and Japanese LD. This reportedly lasts 2 minutes.

Sex & Zen
MIA's UK DVD has been cut 4:21 by the BBFC.

Sex & Zen 2
Australian DVD from Force Video (English Dub) is obviously based on the original uncut print. All known Cantonese Versions are cut by about 1:30m of footage: The jack-off contest is a bit more extreme, Shi Qi's rape scene with the candle. (This footage was in its entirety in the photobook for the movie, too). MIA's UK DVD is missing 3:19 of BBFC cuts.

Shaolin Invincible Sticks
Vengeance's UK DVD is missing over 5m of weapons footage (nunchakus) cut from the old BBFC-approved VHS (the transfer source).

The Shaolin Temple
The Remastered 16:9 HK DVD from Mei Ah is cut 5s for violence at 61m when a man gets stabbed in the groin by Jet Li. Export editions contain the scene suggesting local censorship. The German VHS is uncut; Eastern Heroes' UK disc has the stabbing, but misses 8s of a (real) lamb being slaughtered, courtesy of the BBFC.

Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin
US DVD editions from Simitar and Columbia are cut as follows: 1. A Shop Owner spies a boy stealing food and runs toward him (22s). 2. During an attempt to free Jackie Chan from Nora Miao's prison, a 2m, 2s chunk of fight footage is missing. 3. The Gold Transport attack is cut by 57s, again from one large mid-section. 4. Before the final fights, the villain talks for 22s more to the Monk. 5. Jackie's duel against the three Spear Fighters is cut by 75s (again, an entire section). All of these cuts can be easily spotted when one is aware of their place: large black bars are visible for a few frames, then it cuts. All other versions display complete fights (German & French DVDs, UK & French VHS'); but some have dialogue cuts.

The Soong Sisters
(Mei Ah) This HK-Chinese co-production, dealing openly with political themes, suffered the wrath of Mainland censors and was, after being delayed for over a year, abridged by nearly 20 mins before release in either territory. Several scenes were deleted: including one of Mei-Ling and Ching-Ling parachuting together. The running time of the (edited) film was just under 2-1/2 hours. The version on the laserdisc and tape is 136m; Mei Ah ''accidently" left out some footage. Their DVD inexplicably runs an even shorter 128m. A remastered DVD (also from Mei Ah) now runs at 145m and is the most complete edition available.

Soul Brothers of Kung Fu
The Xenon video has 2 different endings of the film. The one used in the film itself has Carl Scott's character hung from a tree dead. The other ending, however, is far different in that Carl Scott first runs into Ku Feng's character and the two of them fight first. Soon after, Bruce arrives and finds Carl tied to a tree still alive, rather than hanging dead from an overhanging branch. Aside from this, Feng's death is far more graphic showing a pseudo-X-Ray shot of Bruce's index finger buried into Feng's heart. Bruce then pulls his finger out, causing the heart to squirt out blood and then finally finishes off Feng with two fingers stabbing his throat, and Feng spitting out blood. Shortly after Feng falls dead to the ground, Carl runs over to Bruce and says "Hey man, okay?". The shot then freeze frames with Bruce and Carl looking off into the horizon with the end of the "theme" (Bill Conti's "The Final Bell" from Rocky) playing. While unconfirmed, it is likely the upbeat, albeit more violent, ending was used for the limited unrated US release (under the title Kung Fu Avengers) while the downbeat, but cut, ending was used originally for the wide R-rated US release (under the more popular title of Soul Brothers of Kung Fu) as well as the UK release. The Xenon video version is actually more or less an exclusive "hybrid" version of the film. The video itself is actually taken from a widescreen PAL video from Germany under the title of "Bruce Li - Die Killerkralle", which explains the freeze frame logo at the beginning of the film (to remove the German title). However, the English audio is taken from the original pan and scan US video release under the title of "Kung Fu Avengers". The use of the German version explains why there are certain scenes missing, such as Feng's extended death scene, as well as additional bits that were cut throughout the film such as the deaths of Lee Hoi San's and Alexander Grand's characters. The "alternate ending" featured on the video is actually taken from the above mentioned "Kung Fu Avengers" video.

The Sword
(Deltamac) Some violence appears to have been trimmed from both this DVD edition and Mega Star's previous VCD incarnation (example: someone having their head chopped off). The Mainland WA DVD is uncut, but dubbed in Mandarin.

Swordsman II
(Mei Ah/Disney) A shot of blood cascading from Invincible Asia's body has been trimmed from the HK version, but is present in the 4-mins longer Taiwanese edition. Some more spurting blood and a head rolling down stairs has been cut from the US DVD (Legend of the Swordsman) for an R-rating. The Disney disc shortens the film to 99m from the 108m original.

Tai Chi Master
Taiwanese DVD is longer than the HK prints.

A Taste of Killing and Romance
(China Star/Universe) CS DVD slightly cut; Universe: many more cuts in addition to CS cuts. No legally available uncut version. The Universe DVD apparently runs several mins longer than the theatircal release however.

Ten Brothers
Taiwanese Ritek DVD is 88m, whereas the Mei Ah and APS (Thailand) DVDs run 100m. In addition to a number of smaller cuts, the Ritek DVD omits the banquet scene (with the spiders and worms), the scene with Elvis Tsui and the young whores, the scene with the guy who helps Prawn tunnel out of his prison cell, and the last 30 seconds or so of the film! On the other hand, the Taiwanese cut isn't simply an edit of the other - the transition at the end is smooth (insofar as the music cue is concerned), and there are differences at the beginning with the titles and music.

There's a Secret in My Soup
(Universe) The manufacturers of "Hello Kitty" requested that all sight of their product be removed from this gory Cat-III, so digital blocking has been superimposed over Kitty in the DVD/VCD; Kitty was originally scratched out for theatrical prints.

Tiger Cage 2
An alternate "censorship" ending was shot for certain restrictive markets so that it is now cop Cynthia Khan who delivers the fatal shot and not Rosamund Kwan - who in the original HK print bashes Robin Shou's gangster's head in - removing the notion of unacceptable vigilante justice. Additionally a coda was included on export prints. The now OOP WA DVD, as expected, features the Hong Kong take on this sequence.

The Tigers
Australian DVD (English dubbed, but possibly taken from a Taiwanese print?) runs 123m compared to the original HK edit which runs a much shorter 101m (PAL) as seen on the Universe DVD and Eastern Heroes VHS.

To Kill a Jaguar
(Celestial) The Celestial DVD seems to be missing some footage in at least three places due to local censorship. 1. When Tsung Hua confronts Franke Wei in his office, guys suddenly appear behind Frankie with knives. 2. Ling Yun is pointing a gun at Tsung Hua. Quick cut to Tsung pining Tony against the wall. How did that happen? 3. The opening with Nora Miao (and her body double), which then erupts into a Fight, also contains noticable Cuts.

The Top Bet
Mega Star DVD fails to translate the footage that plays under the end credits. The Deltamac DVD, however, does. The Mega Star VCD is reportedly missing a scene found in both DVDs.

Trilogy of Lust
No DVD, but the theatrical and VCD releases are cut to remove all hardcore pornographic material; around 4-6m worth in total. The uncensored variant clocks in at around 89/90m.

Trilogy of Lust 2 (?)
Dvd is cut as per the cinema version. Trimmed by about 5 or 6m, only two hardcore sequences were ever present in the film (the unsimulated use of a dildo & close-ups during Lee's hair-brush masturbation); these were naturally among the censor edits. Additionally, most every scene that involves violence has been shortened for the HK release, and both rape scenes have been modified (the final one rather drastically). The uncut export print runs around 95m.

Tsui Hark's Vampire Hunters
(Col/Tri) Abridged to 89m from the original 108m Era of Vampires. The ending has been changed among other tonal elements.

[EDIT: the original Era of Vampires version is on English subtitled DVD in Singapore]

Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars
(Universe) Short comedy scene where the Lucky Stars shake Pepsi bottles has been trimmed. HKL is uncut. The English dub is missing the theme song vocals.

The Untold Story
The City Connection DVD release is fully uncut as per the Tai Seng edition with all cuts for gore and rape restored from the trimmed HK theatrical release. The cut print was originally shown on VCD.

Victim - 1999
The VCD contains an alternate ending from the original DVD and theatrical releases, in which a ghost can be seen leaving Lau Ching Wan's body.

Visible Secret
Japanese DVD has the deleted subway scenes featuring Jo Kuk. These were cut before release in Hong Kong.

A Warrior's Tragedy
Winson DVD runs 105m, contains the complete story but is "seriously" abbreviated to the point that it becomes borderline incoherent. Lots of details are left out, including several character introductions & motivations. The original two-parter released on laserdisc & VCD only contains about 150m of unique footage as Pt. 1 has a preview of Pt. 2 at the end, and Pt. 2 has a 15 minute (!) recap of Pt. 1 at the start. It's still not "uncut", as it's missing footage that's in the Taiwanese version (Some dialogue when the guests first meet at Man Ma hall, The scene introducing Anita Yuen's character, Ma Hung Kwan arriving at Tin Pak Wan's place). The Taiwanese version lasts 126m and isn't too badly cut - the scenes that are missing aren't that important (the relationship between Fu Hung Suet & Tsui Loon is the main casualty, and is almost entirely gone) and it contains some scenes not in the 2-parter that make the film flow better. The DVD is dubbed in Mandarin, however. Yet another version retitled The Invincible Power of Kindness has been butchered to a mere 90m and is probably not worth considering.

We're Going to Eat You
The Mei Ah VCD is missing some of the gorier bits. 37 seconds (in five different sequences) are missing from the Hongkong version of the film. Was released uncut in France and Belgium on tape, but these versions are now out of print.

Wheels on Meals
Universe DVD is missing two comedy sequences present in all other prints: Jackie and Biao wash a van; Sammo visits a bistro. The Mega Star disc is the uncut HK version, but is still short of a shot of Biao using a knife to cut the ropes that bind his hands. This shot is in the English dub, which contains an alternative up-tempo soundtrack. Japanese edition features exclusive out-takes. HKL and Spectrum releases are identical to the Mega Star.

Young and Dangerous 4
Malaysian version uses an alternate "censorship" ending in which it's revealled that Ekin Cheng is actually an undercover cop(!)

The Young Master
The English dub has been abridged by 15 mins; truncating every single fight sequence by about half. This print does contain two short character scenes between Jackie Chan and Wei Pai not in the Chinese cut; an alternate music score by Japanese musicians and exclusive theme song ("Kung Fu Fighting Man") performed by Jackie in English. The two HK DVDs, the Fox and the HKL are all the original versions. The international cut is available on a US bootleg disc and contains a scene absent from the HK cut when Fung Fung, Hwang In-sik and Wei Pei meet in the town to discuss the bank robbery.

Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mountain
The English dub is of a totally different edit to the Cantonese dir's cut and was prepared by Golden Harvest without Tsui Hark's input or approval. The dub contains 30 mins of modern-day reshoot footage (with Yuen Biao and Moon Lee) that serves as a story frame for fantasy flashbacks, which are pruned down versions of the original sequences. The Cantonese print plays as a straight fantasy and runs 96m.

Thanks to all the forum members who have contributed to this thread.

Special thanks to: Wasted Life.

CIRKIN DÜNYA (Turkey, 19??)

2011-07-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the cover for the rare Turkish VHS release of the (also) Turkish video nasty CIRKIN DÜNYA. When Miltos of Cinehound forum started selling the film on bootleg DVD he entitled it LAST HOUSE IN ISTANBUL and now this bootleg title is quoted everywhere including the fucken IMDb!! Hahaha. Anyhoo, the film has since then been released on DVD in Germany but unfortunately it only carries the German and Italian dubs. Go figure! Miltos' old bootleg is in Turkish and has English subtitles. Below is the German dubbed trailer. I believe the full version of the subtitled print is on YouTube.

PS: The video tape shown in this post isn't mine (I wish!) but comes courtesy of a Cinehound member. :D

CALIBER 357 (Philippines)

2011-07-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

aka MAGNUM 357

I watched Eddie Nicart's Filipino film CALIBER 357 (aka Magnum 357) last weekend and... whoah... whadda film!
I though it was going to be an "ordinary" revenge film about some guy who comes into town to kill one other guy who killed his brother or something. Oh boy, it is indeed a revenge film but it was nothing like an ordinary half decent film. It's totally over the top amazing!!! Very entertaining to say the least!! Why the fuck isn't this out on Reg.1 dvd!! Or any dvd for that matter (other than my dvd-r now, LOL)!!!

The main character arrives on the plane but it only takes about 5 minutes before the local gangsters are trying to bump him off simply because they don't know him! Haha. And that's all it takes for you to realise this is an INSANE revenge flick with a lone wolf that just kills people left and right, and everyone is trying to kill him too.

I made a few quick screen grabs (no, they're not from the best or most intense scenes as I just spent 3 min. on it). CALIBER 357 was an unexpected nice surprise I got last year when I bought three boxes of old kung fu ex-rental video tapes.

By the way: To confuse things another Filipino action flick, MUSLIM MAGNUM, has also been released (on DVD) using the same alternative title as for CALIBER 357: Magnum 357.

In this segment the lone wolf revenge guy waits in the loo for three guys and just kills 'em one by one.

A chick pulls out a bag of drugs from "up there".

Obviously, our hero can do nothing but smell it (and obviously NOT because of what's inside, LOL).

[Repost from 2009 from my old blog]

SHOUT! to cancel cancellation of Filipino film release!!!

2011-07-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Forget what I said in my last post!! I asked Cliff Mac about the possibility of a release of FLY ME even using less than adequate source materials and this is the reply I got from him over at Dvdmaniacs forum today:

Cliff Mac:
We are moving forward with FLY ME. There will some emultion scratches on the first and fourth reels, but in my opinion, it's still very watchable... so it will be on volume 2 of LETHAL LADIES along with COVER GIRL MODELS and THE ARENA.

Arrgh!! How cool is that! Not only does it seem like we WILL be getting FLY ME but SHOUT! Factory are ALSO releasing yet another Filipino co-production; the Cirio H. Santiago directed COVER GIRL MODELS from 1975!!! Oh, and THE ARENA is the Pam Grier film by the way! Definitely grand news!!! :D

The DVD is scheduled for November!

SHOUT! to cancel Filipino film release!

2011-07-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

A few months back I posted about SHOUT! Factory's upcoming DVD releases of a pile of Roger Corman produced Filipino films. Unfortunately it seems one of them has been cancelled! A few days ago Cliff Mac (of SHOUT! Factory) mentioned on Dvdmaniacs forum that they're not going to release FLY ME (Cirio H. Santiago, 1973) unless they can find a proper print. Terrible news indeed (not least cos this is one of the titles I don't already have on VHS!). FLY ME was released on VHS in the US and UK but those tapes have basically vanished off the face of the Earth! Boo-hoo. Personally I'd rather they release whatever half decent (or not decent) print that they have than not release anything.

Very rare trailer for THE BIG BOSS found on Danish VHS - the version that contains the REJECTED English Hong Kong dub mind you!!!

2011-07-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

Today, a friend of mine (Hans-Jørn aka Diabolik) found the original English dubbed trailer for THE BIG BOSS on a Danish trailer video tape from the mid 1980s!!!

This is highly interesting because this is the version that contains the original, REJECTED English dubbed version that was made in Hong Kong!!! This is not to be confused with the English dubbed version you can buy on VHS and DVD!

Back in the day when the American distribution company bought the film they thought the English dub (made in Hong Kong) was too crappy and decided to make their own dub. The "new" dub is the one that was used on ALL releases (apart from the versions dubbed into other languages, obviously). The original HK dub only played in certain territories in the Middle East (and reportedly Bruce Lee hated it when he heard it!) in the early days.

Until now fans have believed this original dubbed version was never released to home-cinema anywhere. Not on video, video-cd, laserdisc, DVD, or shown on TV. However, this Danish tape is interesting because needless to day you can't help wonder if there might be a Danish VHS release from the early 80s that uses this dub (all HK films were released in their English dub in Denmark).

Also, as I've mentioned on this blog before, the rejected dubbed version has now been *released* (on bootleg anyway) but it's from a CUT print. If this really does exist on Danish VHS it's most likely going to be fully uncut.

I'm fully aware there's another version of this trailer already on YouTube (which I've posted here before) but just the mere fact that Hans-Jørn found another release is awesome PLUS the picture quality of this one is better that the other one in my view. I have no idea why HJ chose to use the old US title but this is THE BIG BOSS.

Shock! Horror! Japanese bootleg tapes are circulating!

2011-07-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

While the headline may seem funny it's no laughing matter at all! Read all about it over on Basement of Ghoulish Decadence

ARNIS: THE STICK OF DEATH (Philippines, 1979)

2011-06-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

aka Sticks of Death

Here's a rare trailer for the (equally rare!) Filipino movie ARNIS: THE STICK OF DEATH from a Danish ex-rental tape (of another movie). Whether the film itself had a VHS release in Denmark I don't know. Cool trailer (but a pity the tape is so worn). Rosemarie Gil is apparently in the movie.

Big thanks to Member-X for uploading the trailer for me! :D

RAW FORCE (USA/Philippines, 1982)

2011-05-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

VHS / Denmark / fullscreen / English audio / Danish subs / uncut

Tonight I watched the highly entertaining RAW FORCE for the second time. The first time was a couple of years back on Danish VHS and tonight it was on a dvd-r off the Japanese VHS. While the Japanese print couldn't look any better it is unfortunately a censored print. Not censored in that there has been made censorship cuts but that all the "underhair" (as the Japanese term is) have been digitally fogged away. Rather annoying in a film that has as much nudity as RAW FORCE (i.e. A LOT!). But otherwise the print looks great. I thought about writing a review but then I discovered Andrew has written a really good one so I'll simply re-post that one here. :D
The screen grabs are all from the Japanese VHS version. The cover scan is of the Danish ex-rental tape.
/Jack

1982 – Raw Force (Ansor International Pictures)

[also released as “Kung Fu Cannibals” and “Shogun Island”]

Director/Screenplay Edward D. Murphy [Captain in Mad Doctor of Blood Island] Producer Frank E. Johnson Executive Producers Rebecca Bella, Lawrence Woolner Music Walter Murphy Director of Photography Frank E. Johnson Editor Eric Lindemann Fight Co-Ordinator Mike Stone

Cast Cameron Mitchell (Captain Harry Dodds), Geoffrey Binney (Mike O'Malley), Hope Holiday (Hazel Buck), Jillian “Kessner”/Kesner (Cookie Winchell), John Dresden (John Taylor), Jennifer Holmes (Ann Davis), Rey King [Rey Malonzo?] (Go Chin), Carla Reynolds (Eilleen Fox), Carl Anthony (Lloyd Davis), John Locke (Gary Schwartz), Mark Tanous (Cooper), Ralph Lombardi (Thomas Speer), Chanda Romero (Mayloo), Camille Keaton (Girl In Toilet), Maggie Lee (Gun Moll), Garry McClintic (Steve), John Rosselli (Male Stripper), Joe Pagliuso (Milt ), “Robert Dennis”/Dennis Edwards (Man In Toilet), Janelle Pransky (Girl With Balloons), Tony Oliver (Bill), Robert MacKenzie (Clyde), Steve Elmer (Religious Freak), Jewel Shepard (Drunk Sexpot), Michael P. Stone (Bartender), Judi Brooks (Girl With Tattoo), Edward Talbot 'Chip' Matthews (Passenger), Kurek Ashley (Drunk With Cake), Brad Barnes (Passenger), Gerry Bailey (Hood), Don Gordon (Hood), Chip Westley (Hood), Bob Campbell (Hood), Willy Schober (Hood), Maurizio Murano (Hood), Roger Capilitan (Hood), Phil Guerrero (Hood), Vic Diaz (Monk), Mike Cohen (Monk), Binney Villanueva (Monk), Bayani Balingit (Monk), Louie Florentino (Monk), Frank Aguila (Monk) Corpses Geoff Wood, Tony Beso, Frank Belgica, Jimmy Navarro, Ely Refuerzo, Nilo Fortez, Jess Bonzo, Rolly Tan Hookers Anna Torino, Evelyn Beso, Violeta Beso, Evelyn Yap, Vicky Abad, Baby Serrano, Zenaida Luciano, Nannette Caragay, May Bacosa, Sonia Cervantes Crewmen Fred Strong, George Gyenes, Jay Bumpus, Peter Schultz, Roger Searcy Girls In Cabin Mary Miller, Britt Helfer

Review by Andrew Leavold:

When your writer AND director is the old boy who played the Captain in Mad Doctor of Blood Island, you may take this as an SOS call.

But fear not – Raw Force is out of its mind. In a good way, of course, but is also foaming at the mouth and howling at the moon. Imagine a film shot by Americans in the Philippines exploiting every possible angle: cannibals, zombies, samurais, white kung fu (this WAS 1982, and Chuck Norris reigned supreme!), gumby comedy, and more flesh on display than a Friday night karaoke crawl in Manila.

Executive Producer Larry Woolner used to be a mover and shaker at Dimension Pictures, who handled a few Filipino features for the Seventies drive-in circuit; Raw Force was his last hurrah, and has that weird tension between old-fashioned entertainment and what he believes the kids want to see. As such, there’s old has-beens hobbling next to young never-wills. It’s Porky’s with Sidney Greenstreet and David Carradine, and none of it meshes. But with a mess this entertaining, thank god for senile dementia.

Aging name actor Cameron Mitchell stars as the skipper of a rusty tub bound for the South China Sea and Hope Holliday is Hazel Buck, the boat’s New York jewish owner. On board are the Burbank Karate Club (actually a few no-name TV actors), plus blonde black belt champion Jillian Kessner, who had already played the lead in Cirio H. Santiago’s Firecracker (1981). It’s a motley crew on a crusty Love Boat stocked with degenerates, schmiels, and the brown end of California’s swingers circles.

A stripper at a bar who keeps dancing even when everyone else is engaged in a big barroom brawl

Onto the ship comes Speer, a nasty German with a Hitler mustache looking for white women to steal, and his karate-kicking cronies. The ship goes up in flames, and the remaining cast and crew are adrift in a life boat before washing up on Warrior’s Island. There they discover Speer has been trading jade for his plane load of tasty-looking nubiles - Warriors Island happens to be the home of a renegade group of grinning, clapping cannibal monks who can reanimate the corpses of disgraced martial artists to do their bidding. The girls… well, they happen to be the monks’ main course.

Nasty Japanese censorship

And that’s the set up for one of the strangest kung fu horror sex comedies you will ever witness. Keen-eyed Schlock viewers will recognize the chubby features of the ubiquitous Vic Diaz as one of the head monks, alongside Mike Cohen who Weng Weng fans will recognize as Dr Kohler in For Your Height Only. All I can say right now is slip the brain into neutral and enjoy, and if you ever needed proof that the Philippines exists in a parallel universe in which our laws of taste, logic and sanity are turned on their heads, it’s this: the 1982 Raw Force.

The man who was in litereally 1000s of Filipino films, Vic Diaz

Zombies!

Trouble with Blogger (again!)

2011-05-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've been having troube logging into my Blogger account (that hosts these blogs) the last few days and if any of you are having the same problem, and if you're using Firefox, you might wanna try and switch to Explorer. I did it and it works charm! I have no log in or layout problems anylonger. I still can't log in with FF tho. Very annoying. >_<

THE GUNFIGHTER AND THE KID (Philippines, 1983)

2011-05-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

Extremely rare Danish ex-rental VHS release of the Filipino film THE GUNFIGHTER AND THE KID (aka The Gunfighter / The Kid and the Gunfighter).

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

1983 - The Gunfighter (Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions)

[An entirely Filipino production filmed in the United States, Philippines release date 26th December 1983; distributed internationally by Saga Film International in 1985, released on Greek VHS as "The Gunfighter And The Kid" (on-screen title), and on the cover as “The Kid And The Gunfighter” ]

Director Romy Suzara Story/Screenplay Tony Calvento Producer [uncredited] Espiridon Laxa Music Jun Latonio Production Manager Cayetano B. Lalic Sound Engineer Vic Macamay Editor Augusto Salvador Cinematography Rey Lapid, Bhal Dauz Post-Production Coordinator Leonides Laya Assistant Cameraman Efren Lapid Assistant Director Mike Mariano Special Effects/Routine Instructor Eddie Nicart Sound Effects Jun Martinez Assistant Editors Toto Natividad, Efren Salvador, Boy Gloria Dubbing Director Jess Ramos Opticals Amano Buencamino Unit Manager Murray Ord

Cast
Lito Lapid (Tejan), Connie Angeles (Wawona), Chuck Biller (Frank Smith), Cole McKay (JJ), Paul Jones (Lex Jake), Marlene Chavez (Mother of Tejan), Rey Lapid (Father of Tejan), Vernell Dizon Arquero (Lito The Kid), Brad Fletcher (Desperado), Bret Davidson (Desperado), Kurt Campau (Desperado), Rooster Cortez (JJ’s Henchman), Terry Reynolds (JJ’s Henchman), Don Moody (JJ’s Henchman), Greg Willowman (JJ’s Henchman), Jerry Hall (Sheriff), Emil Varga (Judge), Linda King (Saloon Keeper), Rod Casteel (Store Keeper), Ken Wilson (JJ’s Man), Warren Simons (JJ’s Man), Mike Valentine (JJ’s Man), Mark Janco (JJ’s Man), Eddie Nicart (Chief Aide) Indian Village People Bonnie Delgado, Mary Patino, Mary Melina, Rory Delgado, “Baby” Casey Delgado, Anita Cruz, Armin “Chico” Sanchez, Frank “Don” Hogya Indian Warriors Bill Porter, Larry Bruce, Chico Sánchez, Don Hougie Stagecoach Passengers Joe Anderson, Frank Blakeney Indian Girls Cassandra Delgado, Mary Petino Wife Of The Judge Soakie Chacolla, Vicky Varga

The cover for SHOUT! Factory's FIRECRACKER / TNT JACKSON / TOO HOT TO HANDLE dvd is here! Yay!! Spiffy!!!

2011-05-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Arrghh, the times we're squattin' in right now aren't too shabby in regards to cool DVD releases I'd say!! Yesterday, I received the new Australian release of MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASED which has an additional disc with THE MUTHERS (and heaps of extras including an hour of cool Filipino trailers!) and this afternoon I see this (via Dvdmaniacs): The cover for the upcoming DVD release of FIRECRACKER (aka Naked Fist, 1981), TNT JACKSON (1974) and TOO HOT TO HANDLE (1977)!

It goes without saying that I'm looking forward to this release A LOT as FIRECRACKER and TNT JACKSON are highly entertaining and FIRECRACKER has never been released on DVD before (TNT has an awful public domain DVD which comes out short when you compare it to my old Danish VHS!!). I've got them all on VHS but needless to say (and with Shout! Factory's rep. for using fabulous prints) this release is bound to smoke my old tapes!

FIRECRACKER is Cirio H. Santiago's remake of his own TNT JACKSON, and he even remade the damn film AGAIN in 1992 as ANGELFIST. It would have been fun if SHOUT! Factory had chosen to include all three versions and put TOO HOT TO HANDLE on another release (ANGELFIST, however, is available on a fairly good DVD from New Horizons so who's complaining). Two more US-Filipino films are slated for release from SHOUT!: SAVAGE! (1973) and FLY ME (1973)

Thanks to Simon of EXPLOSIVE ACTION blog for sending me the MACHETE release!!

LOS DEMONIOS DEL DESIERTO (Mexico, 1990)

2011-05-23T03:02:00.001-07:00

DEMONS OF THE DESERT (fan title)
Dir: Luis Quintanilla Rico

Most of my Mexican cinematic intake has consisted of equal parts 1960's horror flicks like the DR SATAN movies, equal parts EL SANTO movies plus BCI's "South of the Border" DVD volumes! However, this is something quite different (to say the least!). Take a pinch of MAD MAX 2, add Roger Corman's 1970s biker movies, and move the setting to Mexico. Oh, and by the way, did I forget to say "...and ad Jim Jones' Mexican cousin too!", haha. That's exactly what LOS DEMONIOS DEL DESIERTO is!

Somewhere in the deserts of Mexico live an outlaw biker cult who, dressed like the worst Hollywood attempt at punk, follow an insane *diabolical* leader whose goal is to kill all ordinary people and make their sons his brainwashed followers. They kill travellers and steal their belongings. When the movie begins, they kidnap two beautiful young girls while they're getting ready for the one girl's wedding.

The two main characters are two cops (the girls' boyfriends) and when they learn about the girls abduction they grab their machine guns ("ordinary guns won't do") and set out to find and rescue the girls, and kill the cult members and their leader. Mayhem and violent insanity pursue.

After having killed a coupla goons you need a coupla beers!

LOS DEMONIOS DEL DESIERTO is great fun. I mean how could a movie about two elderly renegade cops (they're about twice as old as the girls who play their girlfriends!) who fight Jim Jones punk cult members not be a lotta fun!?!? And it certainly is!!! And it's pretty gory too. And the ending is, well, lemme just say I didn't quite see THAT *ONE* coming.

LOS DEMONIOS DEL DESIERTO is unfortunately not easy to find. I believe it's only ever been released on VHS in Mexico. The print I got hold of is an English subtitled (fan translated) version. The print looks pretty good. Find it if you can, wild entertainment guaranteed.

Suck my thigh before I kill ya!

Thanks to the friend who sent me The Demons and a handful of other cool & rare flicks!!

BRUKA QUEEN OF EVIL (HK/Philippines, 1975)

2011-05-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

THE LOST FILM HAS FINALLY BEEN FOUND!!!

I wrote about BRUKA QUEEN OF EVIL here and posted the trailer. Andrew Leavold and I have been talking about this film for the past couple of years and now Andrew has finally got hold of a copy! It is with delirious and over-joyous delight that I re-post Andrew's review from his blog BAMBOO GODS AND BIONIC BOYS.
/Jack J

1975 – Bruka (Emperor Films International)

[Philippines release date 18th July 1975; a Hong Kong-Filipino co-production, export title “Bruka Queen Of Evil”]

Director Albert Yu Producer Jimmy L. Pascual [other sources credit Jimmy with Screenplay] Dialogue Yuen Shiao Po Cameraman Leung Kwok Kuen Music Chow Fu Liang Editor Lee Yam Hai In Charge of Production Fely Pascual Production Manager Vic Kwong Assistant Director David Yau Interpretor Teddy Chiu [as Tedmund Chiu] Special Effects Michael Fung Lights Chui Kwok Kuen Makeup Soledad Mauricio Wardrobe Romana Tablate Stills Wong Tit Huang Setting Maurio Carmona Props Ng Chau Electrician Tiburcio Pacia

Cast Alex Lung, Rosemarie Gil, Etang “Ditched”/Discher (Bruka), Sandra de Veyra, Yukio Someno, Anthony Lee, Michael Kwan, Charlie Davao, Connie Angeles, Darius Razon, Tintoy, Matimtiman Cruz, Roldan Rodrigo, Bruno Punzalan, Greg Lozano, Ramon D’Salva, Pedro Faustino, Alfonso Carvajal, Eileen Montinola, Ben Manalo, Michael de Mesa, Rocco Montalban, Kristina Kasten, Sancho Tesalona, Eddie Nicart, Jimmy Cruz, Gigi Vellasenor

Review by Andrew Leavold

Back in 1974, a Filipino producer named Jimmy L. Pascual ended his two year run of Hong Kong-based kung fu productions and brought his film outfit to the Philippines to make a film called Devil Woman. Essentially a chop sockey cashing in on the kung fu craze like Pascual’s previous films (The Bloody Fists [1972], The Awaken Punch [1973] amongst others), Devil Woman is a rudimentary revenge saga with fantastic elements and snake motif, a familiar ingredient in Asian horror. Despite the regulation atrocious dubbing and wooden dialogue, Rosemarie Gil is positively regal as the snake-haired queen seeking revenge on the townsfolk for burning her parents alive, and the film was a minor hit, even receiving a theatrical run in the US, and has retained a small fanatical cult following thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s regular screenings.

For years, fans of Devil Woman saw posters for a film called Bruka Queen Of Evil featuring Rosemarie Gil’s distinctive coiffure, and assumed it was one of Devil Woman’s numerous export titles. When a trailer finally appeared, the Devil Woman herself, Manda the Snakewoman, was indeed in the film – but with entirely different footage of bats, walking trees, and an army of little people. Was this the Filipino cut of Devil Woman for the local market merely redubbed and resold, or an entirely different film? Alas, no version of Bruka could be found, even amongst the most intrepid of Asian collectors.

Imagine my surprise, then, to discover a copy of Bruka Queen Of Evil last month in my post box. Ten minutes later, I can confirm Bruka is no Devil Woman. Although made by the same production team and with many of the original’s cast, its immediate sequel Bruka is an entirely different creature. A quantum improvement on Devil Woman, the film throws open Manda’s own personal narrative, giving her both a legacy and a destiny, and adds a new protagonist’s magical quest against a seemingly improbable array of oddities.

Bruka begins as Devil Woman ends, with Manda engulfed in flames as she falls over a cliff. Miraculously she survives, and wakes in a cave next to a white-haired hag and a cadre of dwarves. “I’m your grandmother,” the hag Bruka declares, and to prove the point, unfurls her fifteen-foot snake body. She then shows Manda flashbacks to her birth in a crystal ball, revealing Manda’s mother to have chosen a mortal husband over her reptilian heritage. Manda’s so happy at the family reunion, she literally dances for joy! Surrounding her is a brand new arsenal for her protection: bats, rock creatures, tree-men, and shape-shifting dwarves into snakes. Veteran contrabida Charlie Davao is the test case, a poor villager who sees a figure under a sheet in his yard. It turns out to be a wooden cross covered in reptiles who almost drown him in venom. And with that, the Devil Woman sequel has already shape-shifted itself to the next level of weirdness.

Grandma Bruka now gives her granddaughter a special gift – a black stone which turns her head full of angry snakes into human hair for as long as she keeps the stone in her mouth. To test the theory, she goes for a jungle stroll and kisses the first unfortunate hippie with a guitar who stumbles upon her. Spitting out the stone, the snakes pounce. Exssssscelent! In Bruka, Manda is no longed killing simply for revenge, and is instead awakening her true inner evil, and exploiting her outward normalcy to indulge her more primal, destructive instincts.

In Bruka, Manda faces a new antagonist in the shape of poor and angry Chinese Hong Pin (Pascual’s kung fu kicking regular Alex Lung). He takes on the job of finding rich Mr Tony’s daughter Louisa to buy food for his ailing family. In an eerily effective sequence he walks into a village obliterated by Manda’s snake scourge, bodies strewn everywhere covered in flies and bite marks, and he helps bury the bodies alongside a priest (Ramon D’Salva) and his hunchbacked assistant. The forest is full of peril, warns the hunchback, and Hong Pin must seek a hermit’s help. And as if on cue, Bruka’s dwarves burst into the church, dissolve into snakes and cover the priest and cripple. With the hermit’s rope-belt-turned-into-a-pole, Hong Pin makes his way through hostile territory, through all manner of creatures, to the cave containing Louisa and her virginal companions, all ready to be sacrificed to the Snake Queens’ insidious blood cult.

Pascual’s Philippines output for his Emperor Films International included another starring role for Lung, Dragons Never Die (1974), released in the US on a double bill with Devil Woman, and three Tagalog horror films released in 1975 alone for the local market (Isinumpa, Pagsapit Ng Dilim and Pandemonium: Lupa, Langit At Impiyerno). But if there was ever destined to be Filipino Lords Of The Rings with evil, fondling, Riverdancing hobbits and bleeding trees, this is the one film to rule them all. Those with a snake phobia, BEWARE; those with eyebrows ready to be raised and a keenly-honed appreciation of the absurd, enjoy, and I’ll see you at Ermita’s all-dwarf bar Hobbit House for after-movie rum cocktails.

THE KILLER ELEPHANTS and THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT - on DVD from ATTACKAFANT in 2011

2011-05-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

Fred Anderson of Ninja Dixon blog has just uploaded the trailer for his upcoming DVD release of THE KILLER ELEPHANTS (Thailand, 1976). Fred has recently launched a one-man company entitled ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT and besides THE KILLER ELEPHANTS Fred has also bought the rights for THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT (1988). These DVDs are not bootlegs or public domain crap but official DVDs. ATTACKFANT is based in Sweden and the two DVDs will carry English dubs. You'll find their Facebook page here.

And here's an old upload (from someone else) of THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT. Obviously, the uploader copied it off the IFD homepage and the picture quality ain't too happening but you'll get an impression of this crazy movie. The bad quality is of course not representative of how the new DVD is gonna look.

FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON - update

2011-05-18T14:00:00.001-07:00

Korean poster

I wrote about the wild and crazy movie FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON the other day and here's a bit of new info from two nice gents; Knudsford of ASIAN CULT CINEMA SHOWCASE blog in Japan has provided highly interesting info on the film's origin and Peter "Kothar" from Cinehound has sent me cover scans for the French VHS and DVD releases.

The different releases:

Peter, along with my buddy David Z in the US, confirms that the French print is a good-looking letterboxed print and that it runs a whooping 11 minutes longer than the UK DVD!!!

Unfortunately, the French DVD isn't English friendly. :o(

Whether the French VHS and DVD contain the original uncut Korean print instead of the Tomas Tang version remains to be seen. One rather unfortunate piece of info I learnt via the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) homepage is that they cut out no less than 51 seconds of the UK DVD!!! As I wrote in my first post the film is also out on VHS in the US and I would assume that version is the uncut print (of the shorter Tomas Tang version).

About the film:

Firstly, FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON isn't a Hong Kong movie at all as it says on the IMDb!

Whaaat? Surely you jest, Jack!?!? O_O
Incorrect info on the highly trustworthy IMDb??? Nooo!!! @_@

Obviously, I'm laughing my ass off here. xD
As soon as I saw that Tomas Tang moniker I suspected foul play but with info as difficult to come by in regards to an ultra obscure and rare movie like FIREFIST you sometimes got to run with what you're being given. Even shitty info provided by drunken IMDb monkeys.

However, here's the correct info which Tommy translated from Korean:

소림사 주천귀동 Juchon-Gwidong in Shaolin Temple (1982)
Chinese title: 少林寺酒天鬼童
Production Company Shin Han Art Films Co., Ltd
Producer Kim Gi-Yeong
Release Day 1982-06-19
Running Time 82 min.
Director Kim Jong-Seong
Cast: Lee Jae-Yeong, Im Poong, Han Hee, Joo Yong-Jong

I'm a bit curious as to the 82 minute running time info. Peter tells me the French tape runs 88 minutes!!! Did the Koreans have a censored print or is it simply a misprint?

None of these two French covers are particularly good I'm afraid! Actually they're terrible at conveying what kind of film is inside the box! You would think this is an ordinary - and kinda boring looking - martial arts movie. Well, like I said (i.e. rambled about frantically) in my first post this isn't an ordinary kung fu film by anybody's standards! I would loooove to see this being given a proper release by Mondo Macabro!! Are you listening Peter Tombs!!!

UPDATE: Fred Anderson has just reviewed the film on Ninja Dixon.

Big thank-you's fly out to Knudsford, Peter, and David!

THE FANTASTIC SWORD - update

2011-05-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

I've just added Peter "Petcor80"'s review from Cinehound (including 11 scans) to the THE FANTASTIC SWORD post. Go here.

By the way, I believe I may very well own the only existing original copy of this Hong Kong video-cd. At least among collectors. None of the scenesters (LOL) I'm in touch with have come across another copy or heard of one. And this HK vcd is most likely the only release there is. I bought it off eBay in early 2010 and the seller had it listed at 80 dollars!!! You can buy a new car in the Czech Republic for that kind of money! I knew the seller from a message board so I wrote to him and said I really wanted the vcd but didn't have $80. I think I either asked if he would sell me a dvdr dupe or I offered him very little for the original. Well, in any case fortunately he was (probably) having a good day so he said: "Pay me 20 bucks and it's yours" [i.e. for the original, not a dvdr!]. Including postage it came to $28. xD xD xD

Biggest trashy non-Filipino war flick dilemma for tonight

2011-05-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

I am in seven minds as we say on these shores! [which doesn't mean we all suffer from multiple personality disorder but to be confused as what to chose in regards to something that has several alternative options!]

I do two blogs on Asian worldweird cinema; this one and a site for trashy Vietnam war movies filmed in the Philippines WHEN THE VIETNAM WAR RAGED... IN THE PHILIPPINES (which may sound like an odd set-up if you're not familiar with these particular movies, how can the Philippines be made to look like the jungles of Vietnam, not to mention how can Filipino actors be made to look like the Vietcong, but trust me, once you figure out how to overlook these anomalies you're in for a fun ride!).

The thing is, where do I index a film like DARK DAY EXPRESS? Here or there? It's a crazy and wild movie from the Asian backyard so it's right up our alley here at BACKYARD ASIA - but on the other hand: there IS an awful lot of machine gun fighting, EXPLODING HUTS (lots of those in Filipino war flicks... just the concept: huts... that... explode... when you shoot at them!!!), and general mayhem... so that way it ought to fit in on the trashy war site.

However... altho the film DOES feature expat gwilo actors it's NOT from the Philippines but from Thailand! So you see: a major dilemma if I ever saw one (yes, there is starvation and unemployment en masse in this world but this is my own personal - less important but still irritating - dilemma for tonight! Argh! Haha).

Anyway, if nothing else I'll post this uber-rare trailer here while I think about where to post these entries. And like the trailer the film itself is also uber-uber-rare! I'm aware of only two VHS releases; one in Spain (dubbed into Spanish) and the other in Greece (dubbed into English) but both of those releases are extremely rare. A nice fellow on Cinehound forum provided me with a dvdr dupe off a screener from the distribution company in Hong Kong who took care of the distribution for the world market (and bloody obviously didn't do a very good job of it as it seems only those two aforementioned countries bought it for video release!).

The trailer upload comes curtsey of Knetan (Kenneth Brorsson) of the cool and highly recommended HK review site Oh so good Hong Kong reviews and obviously he got a copy from the same friend as it has the same annoying Filmark logo plastered all over the right top cover (and it continues thru out the whole damn movie but I'm happy to at least be able to watch this fun movie).

A BRIEF WORD ON THE MOVIE

DARK DAY EXPRESS is about a mysterious guy who hires a bunch of mercenaries for a trip to the nearest dangerous jungle to find *something* for him. They're not being told what it is but the two million dollars he waves in front of each of their noses is enough to convince them it's a really, really good idea to go into an unknown jungle describe by the locals as "Don't go in, you're not coming back".

It would be the biggest cinematic surprise if they didn't encounter danger and wild stuff once they get to the jungle so that's exactly what happens. There's also a silly chick who keeps wanting to take a dump and her *shirtlifter* friend. For some reason these older Thai action movies always found room for the compulsory gay guy, and by gay I mean overly gay. Gay as in so gay it's CARTOON GAY! If you buy the notion that films are a representation of real life you would think there are no ordinary gay men in Thailand.

One of the main characters is played by the German actor Christoph Klueppel who went to Thailand and starred in a bunch of wild films many years ago. Some of his other movies include IN GOLD WE TRUST, THE LOST IDOL, MISSION HUNTER 1 & 2, and SATANIC CRYSTALS. Fred Anderson of Ninja Dixon blog has just made what he describes as a "massive" interview with Klueppel (who still lives in Thailand by the way) and will post it on his blog sometime in the near future. I really wish someone would release more of these films on DVD (or SOME of them at least!!).

SILUMAN CLURIT PERAK (Indonesia, 1988)

2011-05-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

review by PETER "KOTHAR"

Director: Dasri Yacob

Cast: Yurike Prastica, Yan Bastian, Herby Latuperisa, Essy Lousiana, Jamal Jentak, Ruslan Basrie, Djoni Abdullah

Genre: Horror, Action

An evil witch kidnapped people and turns them into zombies. Two young warriors, a pretty girl and an old master fight against the witch and her helpers and monsters.

This is another ultra weird, crazy trash-megabomb from Indonesia. We have an evil witch who likes to bite off penis, one eye is gouged with a branch, flying skulls, zombies, vampire bats, funny transformations, intestines, bloody kung fu fights, flying coffins attack villagers !!!, the old master strangled his opponents with a giant tongue !!, exploding bodies, bizarre black magic rituals, worms eating and many more.
It is actually not to put into words, therefore, the pictures speak for themselves.

Click the scans to see their full size:

-------------
I've tried to make the scans a bit bigger on the page so if the framing looks weird that's the reason!
/Jack

Crazy Indonesia!!!

2011-05-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

It must be around 10 since years since I discovered the crazy films of Indonesia. I'm not even sure where I learnt about them but it was way before the Mondo Macabro book came out. Maybe I first found out about these wonders thru Günter Müller's WEIRD ASIA site, I definitely discovered that one long ago. Anyhoo, I'll try and do an incisive piece on Indonesian cinema at some stage (or maybe I'll just rip off Güter's old German article, LOL) but until then here's something else along the same lines: Another student from the "school of Günter Müller" (besides me and kitty kat Nekoneko) is Kothar (aka Peter) from Cinehound forum. He's based in Germany and used to follow WEIRD ASIA too and is a big collector of Hong Kong, Filipino, and not least Indonesian films. Lately he's posted some short reviews on Cinehound and altho they're not all that long I'm going to post at least one of them here simply because the images from this Indo flick are just... for the lack of a better word... awesome!!!

Thanks for letting me post this, Peter (I'm sure you would have said yes if I'd asked you, haha).

DEADLY TARGET (Philippines, 1986)

2011-05-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

Original title: LABAN KUNG LABAN

VHS / Holland / fullscreen / English dub / Dutch subtitles
[click scan to see full cover]

Tacky cover tagline: *This man is unstoppable*

1986 - Deadly Target (Viking Films)

[Philippines release date 4th June 1986, original title “Laban Kung Laban”]

Director Romy Suzara Screenplay Jose Carreon Cinematography Ernie dela Paz Music Jaime Fabregas Editor Augusto Salvador Sound Rolly Ruta Art Director Bobby Bautista

Cast Rudy Fernandez, Beth Bautista, Ronaldo Valdez, Liz Alindogan, Johnny Delgado, Mario C. Montenegro, Delia Razon, Melissa Mendez, Zandro Zamora, Bomber Moran, Roberto Talabis.

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

Ahh, joy, bliss, heaven! I received this awesome ex-rental tape from Holland yesterday. It's a VERY rare release of a VERY rare Rudy Fernandez revenge flick from the Philippines. I was told there was only a censored German dubbed VHS release of this but fortunately that turned out to be incorrect. A reader left a message over on my When the Vietnam War raged... in the Philippines blog and mentioned there's also a VHS release in Greece!

So far I've only skimmed thru the film but it looks highly entertaining! The film runs a whooping 1h50m!! Thanks to Petcor80 from Cinehound for the awesome trade!

FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON (South Korea, 1982)

2011-05-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Tomas Tang's English dubbed version: Hong Kong, 1983

BLOW YOUR MIND FOR A PENNY!!!

Unless television has ruined your short term memory completely you'll remember I bought a DVD from Amazon UK for 1 pence a fortnight ago. I remember Fred "Ninjadixon" Anderson asked me if it were a good movie. I suspect he thought it would probably be the worst crap ever. I mean how can you get a good or even decent movie for one lousy stinking penny!?!? I must admit I kinda had the same worry, I mean, come on, ONE PENNY for crying out loud! Well, the movie is FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON (Hong Kong, 1983), I watched it last night and... let me try and put this into perspective... one of the wildest and most insane films I usually bring up when the debate is on, well, wild and insane movies, is WOLF DEVIL WOMAN. Most fans of worldweird cinema will tell you that film is a bat-shit crazy movie. Try and listen carefully to what I'm going to say now, I'll try and write it as slowly and carefully pronounced as I can... "FIREFIST" IS "WOLF DEVIL WOMAN"... AND THEN DOUBLE UP!!!!!! ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!

This is without a doubt the most wild, insane, crazy, fucked up, messed up, mindblowing piece of worldweird cinema I've eve seen!!! This film has EVERYTHING!!! Dead corpses, ghosts, flying ghosts, nudity, zombies, bad kung fu, a zombie doing bad kung fu, sleaze, gore, people pissing their pants, the window scene from SUSPERIA totally ripped off!!!, music from spaghetti westerns, bloody bath water, and tons more! The only thing you won't find is a flying head... BUT IT HAS A FLYING HEART THAT KILLS PEOPLE!!!!!

That one penny is the best penny I've ever spent!!! My good buddy Ingolf (who once was part of the Copenhagen gang but now resides in the fjells of Norway) tells me this version is even only a short version and there is a longer French print (only on VHS I think). Needless to say I tried to located that version immediately after finishing the mindblowing experience but alas to no avail. Apparently the French version is even letterboxed. The print states Jimmy Tseng is the director but I haven't been able to find any info on the film and I don't trust the fucken IMDb at all as most of that info is written by drunken Mongolian monkeys - on medication. The UK disc is serviceable but not great: fullscreen, English dub, and the picture looks like ass! (kinda like if it were taped off an outskirt TV signal). And there are scenes covered in a weird blue light, I couldn't even tell if it were MEANT to be that way or if the print just went from crappy to even more crappy - BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER!!! Somehow the rough picture made it all the more fun.

The DVD cover says 2002 but even so you can still easily get it from Amazon UK and eBay. My copy was a second hand copy but I bet it was only watched once (or not at all) as it looks like new. I checked eBay and it turns out the film was also released on VHS in the US but apparently it's never made it to DVD statesside. One seller stated the US tape runs 90 minutes which is quite a bit longer than the UK DVD but I have my doubts about that. I've seen one too many eBay page with info taken right off video cases because the sellers couldn't be arsed to check the tape or DVD (but if you have the tape please let me know. Cheers). If you can't play PAL DVDs I suggest you get the boot they're selling from FarEastFlix; their version is fullscreen + English dub but whether it's off the US VHS or the UK DVD I have no idea. I'm certainly gonna watch this again, I suggest you do the same if you're into worldweird films. xD

The deadly flying heart taking a rest in a tree.

Please I.D. this film by the director of WITCH WITH FLYING HEAD!!!

2011-05-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

Blogger.com has had problems the past 24 hrs and the newest post on all blogs have disappeared. I'm re-posting my last post down below but Blogger says they'll restore all old posts so hopefully I can remove this again when that happens. Thanks to Brian about the hint of how to get the text back - cos NO I don't backup anything, argh!!.

Yesterday, someone left an anonymous message on my other blog! The message was a tip about an auction for a video tape in Taiwan! The anonymous poster said the VHS (pictured in the above) was directed by the same guy who made the cool Taiwanese horror movie WITCH WITH FLYING HEAD. His name is Chang Jen-Chieh (aka Cheung Yan-Git, Chang Rern-Jier, Chang Jen-Chieh, Chang Ren-Chiat, Chang Jen-Tsei, Zhang Ren-Jie).

However, my nameless friend didn't mention the title of the film and unfortunately I don't read Chinese. And even if I did that may not help much with the English title anyway. I did a Google translation and came up with "Read the Evil Dragon Shaohua Qing Epworth Serious", haha. I did a quick check of Chang Jen-Chieh's film list on Hong Kong Movie Data Base but none of the film titles look similar in any way except a couple that include "dragon(s)".

And if at least it was possible to place bids for the tape (there's 8 hours left and so far no bidders) but unfortunately it seems you can't do that when you live outside of Taiwan (which, obviously, I do). Do any of you know which film this is? The cover looks very cool but what kind of movie is this, is it a horror movie? I checked all 15 films listed on HKMDB and it seems Chang Jen-Chieh has directed films in many different genres. If any of you live in Taiwan please buy the tape and send me a dvd-r copy. Cheers. xD.

PS: And thanks heaps to Brian over at COOL ASS CINEMA blog for the kind mention. I appreciate that (a lot). Check Brian's post about obscure Asian flicks here. And I see I've got a handful of new followers (maybe due to Brian's post!) so welcome to you too. Kick yer feet up and feel at home! xD

Shout Factory's upcoming Pam Grier Filipino box set: THE EXTRAS!

2011-05-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

A while ago I posted about SHOUT! FACTORY's upcoming DVD release of the three US-Filipino co-productions BIG DOLL HOUSE, THE BIG BIRD CAGE and WOMEN IN CAGES and here's some info to wet our appetite even further, i.e. the extras!!

BIG DOLL HOUSE
• Audio commentary with director Jack Hill
• From Manila with Love - new documentary on the making of THE BIG BIRD CAGE and BIG DOLL HOUSE featuring interviews with director Jack Hill, screenwriter James Gordon White, actors Sid Haig, Judy Brown, Anitra Ford, Roberta Collins, Candice Roman, Teda Bracci and producers Roger Corman, and Jane Schaefer
• Trailer, TV Spot and Radio Spot

WOMEN IN CAGES
• Interview with star Judy Brown
• Trailer and TV Spot
• Poster and Still Gallery

THE BIG BIRD CAGE
• Audio Commentary with director Jack Hill
• Trailer and TV Spot

Cliff Mac posted about this over on Dvdmaniacs and said the FROM MANILA WITH LOVE docu is a 60 minute film. In other words no 10 minute shite here! This is awesome news! I for one am looking forward to this set a lot! Oh, by the way, did I forget to mention the set is gonna come out on blu-ray as well? LOL. However, the blu-ray is postponed till two months after the DVD release (in June).

BIG BOSS PART 2 - 35mm print up for sale

2011-05-05T15:41:00.001-07:00

A couple of days ago someone over on Kung Fu Cinema forum mentioned that *someone* (undisclosed) is offering to sell a 35mm print of Chan Chue's THE BIG BOSS PART II starring Lo Lieh & Bruce Le (i.e. the official sequel to THE BIG BOSS, not to be confused with several retitled films) for a mere sum of 15,000 dollars. So it seems someone else but the cinema in Zambia has a copy. Of course, whether this will eventually make it to DVD is anybody's guess. I doubt any private fans are willing to come up with that kind of money.

PS: the screen grab in this post isn't from a film print but from the trailer.

THE GHOSTLY FACE - rare trailer

2011-05-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

Big thanks go out to Member-X from Cinehound message board for this upload: It's the rare trailer for THE GHOSTLY FACE (Taiwan/Indonesia, 1972). Todd over at Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill! did a great piece on the film which you can check here. The trailer is off an ex-rental VHS from Denmark. The film is letterboxed, uncut, and dubbed in English. It was part of a series called "Super Eastern Serien" from the video label Video International. The tape is very rare and unfortunately it's never made it to DVD. There is an English/Chinese subbed print (from VHS or VCD) that carries Chinese audio (I don't remember which dialect) but that tape (or VCD) is even more rare (and I don't have the actual release, only a DVD-R from a bootlegger on eBay).

VHS / Denmark / half letterboxed / English dub / Danish subs / uncut

PS: I have just updated the film's real entry with screen grabs from the two prints that I have.

SHARK OPERATION - wild HK flick sponsored by Malaysia tourist board?

2011-04-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

Check out this truly weird clip from the HK movie SHARK OPERATION. If you only watched this one clip you'd think it's from a tourist video, haha. If you wanna discover whether it really is from a tourist video or not I recommend you watch the Carter Wong clip below as well!

In PURSUIT of Mou Tun Fei

2011-04-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

by András (Deliria)

Mou Tun Fei (aka. T.F. Mous) needs no introduction here, but his Shaw Brothers days are still overshadowed by his better known MEN BEHIND THE SUN. Not helping matters that his major work at Shaw Brothers, called BANK BUSTERS (1978) is unavailable on video.

The success of that film (a story about illegal immigrant criminals in Hong Kong) led to LOST SOULS, a kind of semi-sequel to BANK BUSTERS and one of the most extreme productions of the history of the studio. LOST SOULS was also a box office hit, so Shaw immediately signed Mou to do another modern exploitation (they called it "socio-realism" back then), this time on the subject of death penalty. The upcoming film, entitled THE STING OF DEATH was heavily promoted in Shaw's own magazine, Southern Screen.

Then - either in the middle of shooting or post-prod - Mou got in disagreements with the Shaws regarding his contract, left the production and travelled to communist China, where he started making movies again, including MEN BEHIND THE SUN. THE STING OF DEATH was left unreleased for four years, until 1985, when Shaw Brothers got two of the original film's stars Lo Meng and Pai Piao (both of 5 VENOMS fame) back on board, and assigned director Taylor Wong (BUDDHA'S PALM, SENTENCED TO HANG) to finish it up, using as much of Mou's footage as possible. With the help of overdubbing and newly shot footage, the story has been altered in such a way that it was no longer about death penalty, more like a gritty crime thriller with a warehouse-set action-scene to top it off. They called the result PURSUIT OF A KILLER and released to cinemas in September of 1985. The film did very poorly.

Contrary to the poster art (which is one of the worst I have ever seen coming out of HK) PURSUIT's story is not about a razorblade wielding woman in high heels who faces off a gweilo guy holding a gun to a sexy woman's head. I wish! Rather, it is about three mainland refugees/low level triads, who are arrested during their robbery job in HK. After serving their sentence, they are killed one by one by an unknown assassin. The last remaining convict (played with over-the-top enthusiasm by Lo Mang) is bailed out by the police and used as a bait. In its current form (available on VCD from Celestial, HK), the movie includes about 70% of Mou Tun Fei's work. I took these on-set pics from an 1981 issue of Southern Screen (thanks to Lynn Haynes Memorial Collection) accompanied by matching screenshots from PURSUIT.

It is not that easy to spot the new footage, unless you concentrate on Lo Meng's ever changing hairstyle. The major problem that the filmmakers (in '85) faced was that they couldn't bring back the actor who played the assassin in the original footage.

Luckily for them, Mou shot the murder scenes in the style of a giallo (these are the best bits in the film, btw), so the face of the actor only shows up towards the end. You may then notice that the character is in fact played by two different actors. All the scenes featuring this guy (Michael Tong) was shot later:

What is interesting here is how Taylor Wong tried to ape Mou Tun Fei's style, so the result wouldn't be a total mess. There are a couple of sleazy sex scenes so Wong does one as well, but in more flashy way (shot by the great HKSC cinematographer, Arthur Wong). And no Mou Tun Fei movie would be complete without sodomy. Surprisingly, this sequence (which looks toned down) was mainly done by Wong, but at least one differently lit shot crops up from the original, and I'm sure Mou's version was the more extreme.

While far from a great film, the production history of PURSUIT OF A KILLER makes it an entertaining curiosity-piece, its thankless cut and paste job can either be seen as a cynical attempt by the then failing studio to release a product, or as a testament of the editing skills of HK filmmakers. Both points are valid.

Big thank-yous go out to András for this feature on Mou Tun Fei's (aka T.F. Mous) "lost" film. I own the Celestial video-cd and wasn't even aware that it's (mostly) directed by Mou! Check out András' own cool blog here (and bring a Google translator for Hungarian!). His latest entry is on the grim HK flick INTRUDER!
/Jack

MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED on dvd in May and it includes THE MUTHERS!!!

2011-04-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

[Click the scan twice to see in it in all it's full glory]

Simon over at EXPLOSIVE ACTION just shot me an email saying MACHETE MAINDES UNLEASHED... i.e. the cool documentary film on American-Filipino co-productions made in the Philippines (and the sequel to NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD - The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!)... is going to get a DVD release from Umbrella in OZ in May.

And get this: as a *small* extra feature the DVD is also gonna contain Cirio H. Santiago's THE MUTHERS from 1976!!! The film stars Jeannie Bell who was also in T.N.T. JACKSON which I've written about before.

This is certainly good news. There's more info on the Twitch site and it states THE MUTHERS will be anamorphic 16:9 format!! Awesome!!! My old Danish VHS is fullscreen and way too dark so an upgrade is highly welcome.

Special features:

-Audio Commentary with Director and crew
-More stories from the cast (including Mitchum, Landis, Haig, Dante & Arkush) (60 min)
-Filipino exploitation trailer reel (65 min}
-The Oath of green blood
-"Up From The Depths" monster test footage
-Fantastic Fest red carpet featurette
-Fantastic Fest Q&A with Roger & Julie Corman, Hartley and Tim League
-Poster and stills gallery (100 images)
-Behind the scenes gallery (100 images)
-Theatrical trailer
-Easter egg.

Disc 2

-Cirio Santiago's THE MUTHERS (16:9 transfer)

And big thanks to Simon! Do check his site and he's on YouTube here.

TURKISH STAR WARS - trailer

2011-04-22T05:17:00.001-07:00

THE MAGIC MAN (Turkey, 1976)

2011-04-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

Original title: KARA MURAT SEYH GAFFAR'A KARSI
aka DER RACHER DES KHAN (Germany)

I watched the Turkish adventure film KARA MURAT SEYH GAFFAR'A KARSI last night. It stars Cüneyt Arkin as a hero fighting an evil dictator. The film was the last part of an ongoing series that ran between 1972 and '76. The series contains these films:

1. Iki Esir (1971) Turkish/Iranian (Persian) co-production
2. Fatihin fedaisi Kara Murat (1972)
3. Kara Murat denizler hakimi (1977)
4. Kara Murat devler savasiyor (1978)
5. Kara Murat: Fatihin fermani (1973) aka "Karamurat: The Sultan's Warrior" (Mondo Macabro UK TV title)
6. Kara Murat ölüm emri (1974)
7. Kara Murat Kara Sovalyeye Karsi (1975) aka Der Heilige Krieg (German VHS title)
8. Kara Murat seyh gaffar'a karsi (1976) aka Der Racher des Khan (German VHS title)

[this list needs some fine tuning as I think there may be a couple more entries to the series + I need to check the production years]

Mostly you're left in the dark as to what's really going on in Turkish genre films as so few of them are dubbed or subtitled into other languages but fortunately KARA MURAT SEYH GAFFAR'A KARSI has been released on VHS in Germany so for once I could actually follow the plot closely.

Anyway, this isn't a review so suffice to say the film contains lots of action, violence, nudity, and Cüneyt Arkin doing what he does best: ridiculous stunts!! LOL. In one scene Arkin is fighting two crooks. He knocks one of them unconscious but the other one tries to escape on a horse. Arkin picks up the unconscious guy and throws him at the guy on the horse (and hits him even though he was riding away at full speed!!). Haha. Great stuff. In other scenes Arkin flies thru the air as if there's no gravity laws. Very enjoyable! :D

Next up in the world of wild flicks from Turkey at Casa J cinema is LIONMAN (aka Kilic Aslan) which I recently scored on English dubbed NTSC VHS. Yay!

Thanks to Ayman Kole for info about the Kara Murat series. And also thanks to "Joe" for the info on the Turkish/Persian co-production (they are both Turkish Aussies and they both live in Sydney and yet they have never met, haha.).

Re-post from 2009. If you wish to check my Turkish posts on the old blog I've collected them here.

"...there's a blacksmith who knows a little about medicine..."

2011-04-22T03:45:00.000-07:00

LION MAN (Turkey, 1975)
Original title: KILIC ASLAN aka LIONMAN
NB: IMDb has this film listed as "Aslan Adam"! This is wrong info!!!

VHS / UK / fullscreen / English dub / no subs
(click scan for bigger size)

This afternoon I watched Natuk Baytan's Turkish film LION MAN (aka Kiliç Aslan) from 1975 and it's without a doubt one of the most entertaining Cüneyt Arkin films I've seen! This really needs a DVD release that's for damn sure!! Oh, and don't get fooled by this "Steve" Arkin, haha. It is indeed good ol' Cüneyt Arkin. Actually, the last of his movies I watched, KARA MURAT SEYH GAFFAR'A KARSI (aka Der Rächer des Khan) had him credited as yet something else, "George" Arkin, I think.

The version I got hold of is an NTSC video tape that was released in the US back in 1983 - so obviously it's totally obscure and difficult to get hold of these days. But try and see if you can get a copy somewhere, it's totally worth it. The tape is dubbed into English and fullscreen. LION MAN was also released in Canada and the UK but needless to say those tapes are just as difficult to find.

The plot is like this; We're back in the days of the Byzantine Empire. The proud Turks have been overrun by nasty and cruel Christian crusaders. Yes, that's right! In this film the Christians (which are easily recognised by their big crosses on their chests) are bloodthirsty savages and the proud Turks are the heroes.

VHS / US / fullscreen / English dub / no subs

When you're someone who's born and raised on bloody Hollywood movies this is quite different. But never the less very entertaining and makes perfectly sense in my book. Just like you always root for the Chinese hero against the nasty Gwailos in a HK movie no matter how white you are. LOL.

Anyhoo, the Turkish emperor is killed by slimy Europeans (probably French people, or ze Englisch) but somehow his wife escapes and isn't killed until their son is stolen by a lion! (I didn't know they actually had lions in Turkey but maybe they did in the olden days).

Anyway, much confusion later and the introduction of a dark-haired fair maiden (the same babatious chick who's name escapes me but who was also in THE BOY WHO KNEW TOO MUCH aka LITTLE EYEWITNES), and eventually the lion-boy becomes a mix of Robin Hood/Tarzan/Barry Prima !

VHS / France / fullscreen / French dub
(click scan for proper size)

This is really entertaining cinema if I ever saw any. Totally! And the film is quite gory too! The only down-point is the ANNOYING orchestral elevator music score! But I can live with that and I plan on watching this again. You should do the same. Apparently, the dubbed print is slightly different to the Turkish version (don't worry it's not cut) I haven't watched it but reportedly it's nothing serious.

By the way, the Turkish title for LION MAN is indeed Kiliç Aslan. Don't believe this "ASLAN ADAM" that the bloody IMDb will tell you! Thanks to Ayman Kole for pointing out the IMDb screw-up.

PS: The headline is a quotation of some of the rad dialogue! I mean you have this scene where Cüneyt Arkin's character has been truly and severely fucked up by the bad guys, and some guy suggests they go to the blacksmith of the nearest village because he knows a little about medicine, hahaha.

Thanks to Gokay of Ciko for the UK scan. Much appreciated!

Added French VHS scan (5/8/09): I love how the characters on the front cover look nothing like in the film, LOL. Thanks to Lurker of Cinehound forum for the French scan.

Yet another damn re-post from my other blog! This one is from 2009.

So awesome my eyes will bleed

2011-04-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

Okay okay, maybe I'm overreacting here but I'm pretty bloody happy about having finally won the two tapes shown on top here; TOOTHLESS VAMPIRES and MY NEIGHBOURS ARE PHANTOMS. I also got LADY VAMPIRE (aka Miss Magic) which is a film I didn't know about until yesterday but after having read about it and seen the trailer (which I posted a couple of posts back) I'm looking forward to that one as well quite a bit. Man, I can't even begin to tell you how long it is since I first read Tim Paxton's review of TOOTHLESS VAMPIRES in the US zine Naked! Screaming! Terror! #4/5: the Cinemasian Special edition (well, actually I CAN tell you as it was 1991! Haha).

Re-post from my other blog from a while back.

THE UNTOLD STORY (Hong Kong, 1993)

2011-04-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

aka BUNMAN

Category III

Based on true events that took place in Macau some years back. The story has been filmed several times.
Herman Yau and Anthony Wong's great big insane video nasty masterpiece! Along with the team's EBOLA SYNDROME this is THEE shit!! If you're into horror movies but haven't seen this one then everyone who is "in the know" is gonna laugh right into your face when you tell them! They're gonna call you a 5 minute fanboy. A poser. And then they're gonna show you the door. Haha.

Skip the HK DVD (cos it cut and fullscreen) and get this excellent DVD from Tai Seng. Correct format and uncut. I believe the German DVD is equally good (and comes with handy chop sticks) but I haven't seen that one. For a perfect video nasty evening watch these two (if you can stomach them both in one go) and if you've got the whole evening kick off with Yau & Wong's TAXI HUNTER. :D

Thai poster (and yes I own it!)

HK laserdisc