Screen grabs from the lost* LEWD LIZARD

*basically

Here are screen grabs from maybe the sleaziest HK horror film!! LEWD LIZARD!!! It's not hard getting hold of a 4'th or 5'th generation dupe from a trader, a bootlegger, or a torrent site. However, I have just got hold of a fantastic looking DVD-R off a 1'st generation vhs dupe!! I believe it's the best copy there is anywhere!!! Well, "beautiful" compared to the washed-out 5'th generation dupes that is. The only release that ever existed in this world on home cinema format is a VHS in the US. I got my DVD-R from a collector who rented the tape many years ago. He made a VHS copy (i.e. a dupe) off the original tape and put his dupe in a box and forgot about it. It wasn't till last year when I made an online search for the film (after having got hold of two different WASHED-OUT 4-5'th generation dupes!) that he remembered his tape. Needless to say he couldn't find it and I've been bugging him about it for a full year. He finally found it and made the DVD-R that you seen screen grabs from here. If you read this, buddy, then: THANKS!!!

LEWD LIZARD (1985 - I think!) is the story about this guy, David, who goes overseas to study. His girlfriend says she'll wait for him and promises to marry him on his return. But after four years of studying he returns to an unpleasant piece of news; His girlfriend has married a local two-bit crook. David starts to hate women - and to cut to the chase as this isn't a proper review - he steals a handful of women's knickers and teaches venomous lizards to smell the women's "love juices" after which they get a "taste" for it. He proceeds to attack women he especially hates, sets the lizards lose on them and, well, you figure it out! Yes, the lizards sniff their way to the women's "love channels", slip in, the women write and moan in brief orgasms after which they die. LEWD LIZARD is so uber-sleazy I don't remember having seen anything remotely similar. It's a masterpiece in degradation. It's a crime to humanity (or horror fans anyway) that this isn't released in a proper version. The world needs to see this. The tape is dubbed in Mandarin, the picture is fullscreen, and the English subtitles are falling below the screen in three quarters of the film. And in the last quarter where you CAN see the subs they are cut off left and right, hahaha. But it doesn't matter much as the plot is almost as cartoon thin as a Turkish cult film from the 70s (and I'm not saying that in a critical way AT ALL).

Screen grabs from the lost* THE BRAIN STEALERS

*almost

Check Todd's cool review of the equally cool THE BRAIN STREALERS here. I watched it last night and it rocks!

Backyard Asia's latest film acquisitions: WONDER WOMEN

aka THE DEADLY AND THE BEAUTIFUL (Philippines, 1973)

I won the rare Dutch VHS release of Robert Vincent O'Neill's WONDER WOMEN (aka The Dead and the Beautiful) on eBay a few days ago (from one of Cinehound's Member-X's auctions). The film may have been released on video in other territories but I've never come across any other release. Something Weird Video in the US have released a DVD-R of the films. Their print is taken from a good looking 16mm print. I posted about it quite a while ago (you can see the cover under the film's real index entry here). Code Red (also in the US) have announced a DVD release but knowing that label I wouldn't hold my breath until the DVD gets here. Sometimes their releases take a long (like in loooooong) while to materialise. I'm certainly happy to have won this tape. Oh, and Vic Diaz is of course in there somewhere!

Here's the trailer for the film:

THE WOMAN HUNT - ntsc vhs

I wrote about Eddie Romero's Filipino movie THE WOMAN HUNT the other day. The film was slated for release from SHOUT! FACTORY but now it seems it may never get released from them. So like so often before we have to rely on old video tape releases. As I mentioned in the previous post, I already have the UK and Danish tapes but none of them present the film in a particular decent quality. The UK print looks washed out and the Danish video is simply too dark. I looked around for other versions and found the US NTSC tape on eBay. Unfortunately, these tapes aren't exactly popping up everywhere so I had to fight off other fans to get it (i.e. it wasn't all that cheap), LOL. But anyway it's mine now! I'll post info on the picture quality when I get the tape.

EDIT: I've received the NTSC tape now and watched it right away; And I'm happy to report that the picture quality is quite a bit better than the UK and Danish video tapes! In contradiction to the UK tape the picture is crisp clear and in contradiction to the Danish tape you can actually see what's going on during the night scenes! I still hope SHOUT! FACTURY are going to release the film on DVD but until that happens the US tape is so far the best option there is.

When bootleg covers go wrong

Check the above bootleg DVD-R cover for "Lady Exterminator". The seller's plot description matched that of the Indonesian film LADY EXTERMINATOR. I would expect he got hold of a copy off the Danish VHS. Or maybe the American VHS (but in the States the film is called "I Want To Get Even").

And so he probably googled to find some cover art. And found a poster on Hong Kong Movie Data Base.

And used it.

Without checking if it was the SAME film.

The problem is just that... well, it ISN'T!!! Hahahaha.

The poster found on HKMDB is for the Hong Kong Shaw Brothers film LADY EXTERMINATOR!!!

Same title... but it's a completely different film with (obviously!!) different director and actors!!!

I guess the bootlegger even did some more googling and found yet another picture but this time it's actually from the right (Indonesian) film. It's on the back of the cover and it shows Eva Arnaz with the alternative American title of the Indonesian film written underneath (aforementioned "I Want To Get Even"). Hahahaha.

If the bootlegger had watched the damn film it would have taken 30 seconds to discover that the names in the credits in no way match the credits at HKMDb.

The poster from HKMDB for the Hong Kong film LADY EXTERMINATOR (it's a sequel to SEXY KILLER aka Drug Connection). The HK film has never been released to home cinema in any format.

The cover for the Danish VHS release of the Indonesian film LADY EXTERMINATOR

THE SISTERHOOD (Philippines, 1988)

dir: Cirio H. Santiago

VHS / USA / format? / English audio / no subs




Gee, wauw! Another unknown/forgotten/semi lost post-apocalypse film from the Philippines!!! This one has even turned up on DVD. :D

THE SISTERHOOD is listed as a strict American production on IMDb. I asked Henry Strzalkowski (who is in the film) about it on Facebook and he confirmed what I already suspected; The movie is made 100% in the Philippines!! Unfortunately, a lot of non-American films are listed on IMDb as American productions or co-productions if there's just one American actor in them. Needless to say this isn't correct. If it were the case about 75% of all American films would have to be listed as being British or European. The IMDb is all right as a starting point for research but it's not all that good on its own.

Henry Strzalkowski about shooting THE SISTERHOOD:

"Completely filmed in the Philippines, directed by Cirio Santiago. Great find, Jack! Haven't seen this one. That's me at 0:07 [in the trailer]. During a sword-fight rehearsal, [Lynn-Holly Johnson] accidentally struck one of our stuntmen. Actually she lopped off the end of his index finger. Since we were using dull aluminum prop swords, she more or less crushed it. The stuntman was Greg Rocero. I'll never forget seeing him just wince and stop. When he pulled out his hand, we realized what happened. He went straight to hospital and showed up about a couple hours later (with his severed finger in a bottle, I'm not joking). I asked him why he was back and he simply said, "I gotta drive my truck back." I asked him if it hurt and he said, "It just throbs a bit." What a guy... All in a day's work. The risks you take. Lynn-Holly was devastated. For the rest of the picture."
[Facebook 30/7/12]

THE SISTERHOOD is released on DVD in the UK and I believe the UK DVD is the only release on DVD. I haven't been able to find one single VHS release! It's available from Amazon UK. I've ordered a copy but haven't received it yet so I can't comment on the picture quality. The Amazon page lists the film as being in widescreen.

EDIT: SISTERHOOD was released on VHS in the US. See scan in the above. Thanks to GARY MILLER of DVDManiacs for the info and scan!

FINAL SCORE - trailer

dir: Arizal (Indonesia)



FINAL SCORE is one of the wildest Indo flicks ever!

RAIDERS OF THE SUN - trailer

RAIDERS OF THE SUN (Philippines, 1992)

dir: Cirio H. Santiago

DVD / USA / fullscreen / English audio / no subs

HUSTLER SQUAD (Philippines, 1975)

Turkish poster

DVD / USA / fullscreen / English audio / no subs

SAVAGE SISTERS (Philippines/USA, 1974)

dir: Eddie Romero

Betamax / UK / format? / English audio / no sub / cut (according to the BBFC homepage)


1974 – Savage Sisters (Cinema Projects International/American International Pictures)

Director Eddie Romero Writers H. Franco Moon, Harry Corner Producers John Ashley, Eddie Romero Executive Producer David J. Cohen Music “Bax”/Les Baxter Cinematography Justo Paulino Editor Isagani Pastor Production Design Robert Formoso

Cast Gloria Hendry (Lynn Jackson), Cheri Caffaro (Jo Turner), Rosanna Ortiz (Mai Ling), John Ashley (W.P. Billingsley), Sid Haig (Malavael), Eddie Garcia (Capt. Morales), Rita Gomez (Matron Ortega), Leopoldo Salcedo (General Balthasar), Vic Diaz (One-Eye), Dindo Fernando (Ernesto), Angelo Ventura (Punjab), Romy Rivera (Raul), Alfonso Carvajal (Rutz), Robert Rivera (Rosso), Subas Herrero (Victor), John Plater (Peyley), Bruno Punzalan (Smiling Jake), Joonee Gamboa (Subas), Max Rojo (Hawk), Johnny Long (Juekal)

Credits lifted from ANDREW LEAVOLD's blog. Check his entry for the film, there's some very cool old programmes with heaps of info on the actors and the film. Go here.


I also have a good looking reg. 1 bootleg that presents the film in letterbox format (the publisher told me it's not a boot but that's obviously not correct). The print is really good and is probably sourced from a HD TV broadcast. The film now has a legit release from MGM but unfortunately only in their DVD-R line. However, I'm told the print looks great.

THE WOMAN HUNT (Philippines, 1972)

aka ESCAPE (UK)

VHS / Denmark / 4:3 fullscreen / English audio / Danish subs

The Danish tape is slightly more dark than the UK sell-thru tape (under the title ESCAPE) but the picture on the UK tape looks washed out.



1972 – The Woman Hunt (Four Associates Ltd/New World Pictures)

[also known as Escape (UK), The Highest Bidder]

Director Eddie Romero Screenplay David Hoover Story David Hoover, Jack Hill Producers Eddie Romero, John Ashley Executive Producer David J. Cohen Music Jerry Dadap Editors Ben Barcelon, “Joe”/Joseph Zucchero Cinematography Justo Paulino

Cast John Ashley, Pat Woodell, Sid Haig, “Laurie Rose”/Jennifer Brooks, Charlene Jones, Lisa Todd, Alona Alegre (Sam), Eddie Garcia, Ken Metcalfe, Liza Belmonte, Lotis Key, Alfonso Carvajal, Ruben Rustia, Don Lipman, Tony Gosalvez, Paquito Salcedo

(credits lifted from Andrew Leavold's blog)


Thanks to Hans-Jørn for the Danish tape (!!!) and for uploading the cover and trailer.

VHS / Argentina / picture format??? / English audio / Spanish subs

THE SISTERHOOD - trailer

dir: Cirio H. Santiago, Philippines, 1988

THE HOT BOX - trailer

Trailer #1:

Trailer #2 (almost the same but has slightly different footage): 

Previously announced Filipino titles from SHOUT! FACTORY may or may not get released

In the past I've mentioned that SHOUT! FACTORY had announced they were going to release three Filipino/USA co-productions on DVD. The films are SAVAGE, THE HOT BOX and WOMAN HUNT. However, lately it has been speculated that these films may have been cancelled as it's reportedly been announced that SHOUT!'s Roger Corman line will soon be coming to an end.

I've been looking forward to DVD releases of these three films (I already own them all on VHS) and didn't wish to neither take mere rumours as facts - nor be content with being in the dark. So I got in touch with Cliff Mac of SHOUT! and asked him about it.

I guess his reply could have been more optimistic - but then again it could also have been more pessimistic!! He simply doesn't know if they are going to release these three films! In the email that I received he says all three films need new transfers and that those are expensive. He also mentioned that the titles probably won't sell an awful lot - so (reading between the lines) the question is will SHOUT! want to pour money into some old Filipino films (that don't have a selling point like a Pam Grier in them)!?

If SHOUT! decide to put them out - and Cliff stressed if - we won't see them this year.

So, that's the info I have on SAVAGE, THE HOT BOX and WOMAN HUNT as it is right now. I'm certainly crossing my fingers that we'll see DVD releases of the films at some stage.

Shopping tip for that thar rare trashy world-weird movie

A little while ago I posted about the entertaining movie STRIKE OF THE TORTURED ANGELS in the series "Bizarre and insane English dubbed Hong Kong films the world forgot". Check my post here (there's also a YouTube clip).

The version I own is a Danish PAL VHS. I knew there was a rare American NTSC tape but I have never found that tape myself and it's safe to say it's very rare. If you're interested in the US tape here's your chance; it's on eBay in the US right now! The auction runs another day and 20 hours. The current bid is a mere $2.50!!!
EDIT: the tape was sold for $4.25!!!!! O_O
Man, I should have made a bid altho I already got the Danish tape!

For the auction go here. The seller is Sleazeman2001 from Cinehound.

PS: Yes, the top picture is a scan of the cover! It has no cover art!!! This is what the Swedish and Danish tapes look like:

Rare DEADLY ANGELS STRIKE BACK cover

(Click cover for full size)

Check out this cool Indonesian Betamax release of DEADLY ANGELS STRIKE BACK aka Cewek Jagoan Beraski Kembali (original title).

The cover comes courtesy of Cinehound member Tom who scooped up a whole box of old Indonesian Betamax tapes recently. Unfortunately, as with this one, many of them turned out to be bootlegs. But at least the cover is a copy of the original Indonesian release so despite the one-colour xeroxed sleeve we can now enjoy the cool cover art.

I wonder if anybody has a copy of the original tape or if they've all been chucked out thru out the years. I own the film on a video-cd from Malaysia.

Thanks to Tom for sending me this. Much appreciated.

KARATE GIRL (Turkey, 1974) [capsule review]

aka KARETECI KIZ (original title)
It's reportedly also release somewhere as "Golden Girl" but I haven't actually been able to find info of one such release.

Directed by: Orhan Aksoy
Main character: Filiz Akin

VHS / Norway / fullscreen / English dub / Norwegian subtitles
(click cover for full size)

Filiz Akin plays a mute flower seller who lives with her dad. One day her dad is murdered by scumbags. She hooks up with a sensei who teaches her karate after which she sets out to take revenge. Wild action ensues.  

KARATE GIRL is a highly entertaining movie and fortunately it's one of the (too few) Turkish films that were granted an English friendly release. In fact, the English dubbed version is released on video tape in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Greece, and possibly other places as well. If I remember correctly there's also a French dubbed tape. It's never been released on DVD and the video tapes are now hard to come by but at least you have the possibility of getting a dvd-r from a friend.

The original Turkish language version is also released subtitled on VHS in Greece (with a Greek title in Greek letters and the Turkish title printed on the cover). I would assume a domestic Turkish tape exists as well and maybe even one made for the huge Turkish market in Germany. The dubbed version has different music. The original version was posted in full on YouTube but has been removed because of a copyrights claim (not for the film but actually for the music. I doubt the Turkish film company paid for the music anyway).

If you wish to read a proper review of KARATE GIRL you're in luck as Fred Anderson just yesterday posted one on his blog.

VHS / Greece / fullscreen / English dub / Greek subtitles

VHS / Denmark / fullscreen / English dub / Danish subtitles

VHS / Sweden / fullscreen / English dub / Swedish subtitles

The small cardboard case version that was released from Westcon on sell-thru VHS in Denmark and Sweden (shown above) was also released in Norway with a similar cover. It carries a Norwegian title whereas the Video-huset AS release uses the English title.



The Norwegian and Greek covers are courtesy of Dag-Johnny and Miltos at Cinehound. Thanks, fellas. The Danish cover is my own, and the Swedish one was googled.

VAMPIRE HOOKERS (Philippines, 1979)

VHS / Denmark / format? / English dub / Danish subs

1979 - Vampire Hookers (Cosa Nueva)

[also released as Vampire Hookers Of Horror, Cemetery Girls, Ladies Of The Night, Night Of The Bloodsuckers, Sensuous Vampires & Twice Bitten]

Director Cirio H. Santiago Writer Howard R. Cohen Producer Robert E. Waters Music Jaime Mendoza-Nava Cinematography Johnny Araojo, Ricardo Remias Production Design Ben Otico Art Direction Laida Perez Head Prop Man Stephane Goulet

Cast John Carradine (John Peter Richmond), Bruce Fairbairn (Tom Buckley), Trey Wilson (Terry Wayne), Vic Diaz (Pavo), Leo Martinez (Julio), Karen Stride (Cherish), Lenka Novak (Suzy), Katie Dolan (Marcy), Lex Winter (CPO Taylor), Mark Campbell, Irving Glick, Erna Martha Bauman, Tiffany K. Neipe




Credits from Andrew Leavold's Bamboo Gods and Bionic Boys blog.

Thanks to Hans-Jørn for the scan of the ultra rare Danish VHS.

"Made in HK"'s THE KILLER ltd edition sell-thru vhs box set finally coming home

When I discovered the HK movie there was only one way to get the films; thru tape-trading with other fans. Some of those fans would live in cities that had Chinatown video stores; They'd rent films and dupe them onto a blank video tape. This was a time when you couldn't just BUY original tapes cos they didn't sell them anywhere. At least not the HK movies that some of us had wet dreams about. Feverish wet dreams.

Then something quite wonderful happened; In the UK two labels sprung up to distribute these films. One label was the (notorious? Infamous?) EASTERN HEROES label run partly by Toby Russell. The other label (and in my view the better one of the two) was MADE IN HONG KONG. Out of a sudden you could chuck out your 4th generation vhs dupe of A BETTER TOMORROW, THE KILLER or A CHINESE GHOSTSTORY. Now they came out on letterboxed and subtitled sell-thru vhs with cool box art and for the most part great info written on the inside of the sleeves.

Most of the films have since then been granted DVD (and now blu-ray) releases (altho some of these tapes are still the only/best way of watching the films!). But in contradiction to most other collectors I haven't got rid of the old MIHK tapes to make room for dvd's. To me they have value! These were the tapes that kind of SAVED the UK and Euro Hong Kong film collectors.

Anyhoo, quite a number of the tapes I never got hold of back in the day and so I'm actually buying them now. And one of the coolest releases that I never got hold of was the limited collector's editon box set edition of THE KILLER!! I got the ordinary (but still highly cool edition as it was subtitled and letterboxed!) MIHK release of the film. And before that I'd bought the fullscreen, English dubbed vhs (also from the UK). But now... a couple of decades down the line... I have finally got hold of said box set. Or at least I have won it on eBay UK and will hopefully get it soon - but of course you never know with mail these days. Let's cross our fingers and hope that I also actually RECEIVE the fucker! Hah!

WONDER WOMEN - trailer

Philippines, 1973

SAVAGE SISTERS - trailer

(Philippines/USA, 1974)

Trailer:

DEVIL AND MASTER (Taiwan, 1991)

aka THE TWILIGHT SIREN

I'm getting this VCD from Hong Kong. I've never seen the film before but YesAsia's description makes it sound pretty good;

YesAsia description:
"Directed by Ma Siu Wai, 1991 Taiwan horror movie The Twilight Siren (a.k.a. Devil and Master) stars a bunch of famous actors from Hong Kong, which include Wu Ma, Alex Fong Chung Sun, Lau Siu Kwan, and Ku Feng. The story opens with archeology students Luo and Liu going to the mountains on an archeological expedition. Liu inadvertently discovers a skull and a token, both of which are found to be relics from Ming Dynasty. Liu brings the specimens home. One day, Liu accidentally gets wounded at home, and blood drips into the skull, liberating the spirit Xiao Juan inside. Mesmerized by Xiao Juan's beauty, Luo doesn't realize that she is under the control of a vicious demon..."

.

The VCD is OOP and sold out at YesAsia but they stock the Malay DVD version which is described as being in the letterbox format. I have no idea what format this VCD is in. With my usual luck it's probably fullscreen, haha.

Wild Indo action on the wall

I received two gigantic French cinema posters yesterday. They're for the two Indonesian films LADY EXTERMINATOR ("Violent Killer" in France) and FIVE DEADLY ANGELS. I didn't realise just how big they are till I got them: 47 x 63" inches (120x160cm)!!! But they sure are nice to look at. :D
- not cheap either! :(

CORRECTION!

EDIT: the German tape (Tödliche Engel Schlagen Zurück) that I posted about a few days ago isn't DEADLY ANGELS STRIKE BACK!!! I got the info from the German data base IDFB but the tape contains FIRE OF VENGEANCE which is an entirely different film!!! Somebody needs to correct the faulty info at OFDB!!! >_<

SABOTAGE & FLY ME

SABOTAGE aka SABOTAGE 2 (original title) / CHANTAGE A L'APOCALYPSE (France) / GEHEIMCODE DEATH-FORCE (Germany)

Thanks to Resonator of Cinehound I'm now the happy owner of the cool German hardbox VHS release of SABOTAGE. Credits and reviews here.


AND I WON THIS ON EBAY:

The (according to the BBFC homepage) uncut UK vhs release of Cirio H. Santiago's FLY ME!! As I reported not long ago it was released on reg. 1 dvd from SHOUT! Factory in the US but their print is cut (because it was the absolutely ONLY print they could find). A member on Dvdmaniacs forum, Ray R, specified the cuts to the dvd in a recent thread:

Ray R:

"Got my copy today and just watched FLY ME. The pluses. picture looks great (much better than the "collector's edition" DVD I purchased a few years ago), nice to see vibrant colors and be able to make out the dark scenes.

The minuses... most of the print damage is evident towards the end of the "first reel" (Toby's mother putting on night face cream by the mirror), the final bit of dialogue is missing where she warns Toby about traveling in Hong Kong alone and makes a slit-throat motion to tell her what could happen. Also a couple of MAJOR disappointments: Lyllah Torena's credit in the opening is missing (you can see her screen shot at the tail end of the trailer), and two scenes in the "fourth reel" are missing: immediately after Toby's mother goes to the police, the following scene was back at their hotel (Toby's mother is taking a pizza out of the oven, David sneaks into the bathroom via the window while Toby is preparing to take a shower... this is where Toby tells him about the "tour" and refers to the charter company as "South Seas" in an attempt to remember the name), also the scene where David makes his entrance in the club is entirely missing.

Overall not too bad and I'm glad they were able to do what they could with the material they had onhand, but looks like I'll be hanging on to the bootleg for a while. "