FILIPINO A BETTER TOMORROW gone again thanks to Italian cunt

  I just got a notification from YouTube; my upload of the entertaining Filipino remake of John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW has been blocked worldwide due to a claim from - get this - a one-man company in Italy called Greater Fool Media! For fuck's sake!!! I would be very, VERY, surprised if this retard has anything that resembles copyrights for the film (the claim is for the whole film, not a piece of music). Needless to say I've counter-claimed but knowing the drunk monkeys at YouTube they'll probably do nothing about it other than suggest I take it to court. 

I wonder if there's a YouTube-like site in some backwards territory that isn't run by dickheads where you can upload old rare films and where nobody in charge gives a flying fuck about cunts like this Italian and their bogus claims. I should look into it.

UPDATE (1.5.2025): I see the film is on YouTube again. I guess the Italian cunt from Greater Fool Media hasn't noticed or somebody told him he doesn't actually own the film, haha. 

Comments section off for a few days...

I posted about an increasing amount of SPAM on this blog recently, and unfortunately it's getting

worse by the minute (almost).

The spammers are all posting the same text but from different blogger profiles. I've got the filter up and even the word recognition thingy now. And yet it doesn't seem to do much in reg. to preventing the SPAMMY SPAM. So I'm going to try and switch off the comments section for a few days and see if that has any effect. Who knows what'll work against these auto-spammer robots!? 

Needless to say, it means YOU (yes, you) can't post comments. Sorry about that. I'll open up for comments in a couple of days or so.

Edit: Comments section is open again...

Sperm spam cells?

The past two weeks this blog has received at least 50 spam mails that all sound the same – but sent from different email addresses.

Now, if these daft spammers saw that their spam actually went thru to my blog I would understand their enthusiasm. But as it is their spam mails don't make it thru to this spiffy blog.

I have a spam filter. Of course I do! When you fill out the comment's section it even tells you that there's a filter. And yet these retards still keep hoping one of their dead sperm spam cells are gonna make it thru the filter. They don't and they won't!

If I were a spammer I'd probably move on to blogs/websites that don't have spam filters – but I guess that's just funny ol'e me. ROTFL

Full films?

I  didn't use to want to post full films on his blog, or any of my other blogs. But I've had a change of mind. Nowadays I don't mind posting full films on my blog when we're talking old RARE films that their copyright holders don't care enough about to keep available to the public (new films that are in print is a different matter!). Gone are the days when a film was gone because nobody wanted to re-release it. The internet is almost PUNK in that regard. "You're telling us we can't watch these old film? Wrong! Here it is, on YouTube, on blogs, in Cyberspace!"

Check the post after this one; It's the full upload of RED SPELL SPELLS RED. Wild HK cinema from the early 80s. Also, check the the bar to the right where you can find a list of the full films on this blog (I should point out they're not uploaded to this blog but on YouTube. And I'm not the uploader!).

A little slow there, eh

My apologies for being so slow at replying to comments!
For some reason I haven't received any notifications for months on end. And quite frankly I didn't check manually as I didn't think anybody commented on blog posts any more.
Thanks for your comments.

South Park S23E02 - full episode

AT BACKYARD ASIA WE STAND WITH HONG KONG

Is a little film blog about weird Asian films supposed to be political? Usually, I don't go down that route but this is important. I hate censorship - or censorshit as we call it here. Usually, I deal with censorship in films but this is so much more; Censorship as a way to keep people down. To shut them up. No, just no! Apparently, some companies in the West cater to the Chinese government and their censorshit - but I don't. This blog doesn't. So here's the full episode of South Park that they didn't want.

Margaret Thatcher should never have given Hong Kong back to the Chinese but the cunt just wanted to get better trade deals with China. In 1996 I didn't for one minute believe the mainland would leave the old crown colony alone and, unfortunately, now we see they didn't intend to. 

PS: yeah, that's a royal we.


EDIT (10/10/2019): For some reason the original YouTube uploader *decided* to remove SP S23E02. I've now embedded another upload, this one has even optional subtitles in Chinese.

EDIT (11/10/2019: YOuTube deleted the second upload of the episode as well. Has YouTube been bought by the Chinese? Anyhoo, I'm uploading it myself via Blogger now. Let's see how long it gets to stay here. Blogger and YouTube are owned by the same people as far as I know (i.e. Google).

I'll make the argument that CATEGORY III films are from Britain

It's a valid argument at least when some Category III fans claim that Cat. III films are from China because Hong Kong is in China (sigh).

The Cat. III films that we all love and adore were made prior to the Chinese takeover in 1997 and thus were made when HK was a British colony.

According to some Cat. III fans, films originate from the country that owns the country where they were made. It is thus only a logical argument that pre-97 films must be regarded as being British.

So thank-you's go out to the UK for giving us EBOLA SYNDROME etc. You British film-makers are thee best!

But seriously ... HK isn't in China. It's a territory with its own flag, currency, language (Canto Chinese), government, laws, left side of the road driving (right side in China), film regulations, etc. that is governed by China.

China doesn't have a censorship board that classifies films into categories. Category 1-3 are strictly for Hong Kong. In fact China doesn't even HAVE a film classification system. They may ban films, cut films, "disappear" the director, but classify films, no.

Common Courtesy

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

Hiatus...

I've been doing blogs for the past 6 years, and before that I did fanzines for much longer, and I feel the metal fatigue. Even with the less than frequent posts on this blog I've actually kept this place afloat much longer than my other blogs. They've been floating aimlessly in Cyberspace for quite a while now and it's time to take a breather with Backyard Asia as well. Do people even read blogs any more? Hardly anybody comments on posts anymore on any of my blogs. Anyway, not the end but a breather. Be seeing you.

PS: I'm gonna turn the comments option off as I don't wish this place to be spilling over with spam. It really annoys me when that happens (I'm looking at you Worldweird Cinema blog!).

PS: Roeg Camel you're not forgotten. I'll get back to you at some stage.

Wikipedia - for that thar info on Asian backyard cinema!

My gawd! I just noticed there's now being linked to BACKYARD ASIA from Wikipedia! Cool!! ^_^

Asian film facebook fan group interview with JACK J (i.e. the guy who does this here wee blog!)

Yeah, the KWAIDAN KLUB fan group on facebook has started a series of monthly interviews and the first one is with yours truly. Interview and intro by Nom Pauo.


Nom Pauo
With blessings from Sharon and Hope, KK will be doing a monthly member profile. Why? (Entering suck up mode) Because you are all beautiful people that are more than merely a screen name or obnoxious profile photos. You're more than weirdos who finds joy in seeing an innocent Japanese girl turn into a psychopath and make her victim eat puke, you're flesh and blood. You have interest and you have a story to tell. If this attempt at sucking up doesn't hold up...then i will say, we're doing it because we felt like it lmao! Enjoy or endure :)

***Interview with Jack Jenson***
Every now and then the world comes in contact with greatness. Basketball had Michael Jordan. Boxing had Muhammad Ali. Rock had Freddie Mercury. In this age of Facebook interest groups we have Nom Pauo. But that’s not to say the subject of this month’s interview isn’t an awesome person either :) How awesome? How awesome?! How dare u ask you heathens! Well for one the guy’s name is a fuckin alliteration! You wished ur name had poetic device! but thats not all folks. Jack is a connoisseur of obscure cinema - the kind that nobody would know about if it wasn’t for people like him. To top it off, the guy’s a published writer as well as established blogger. And the big cherry on top, he’s a ladies man. Observe as he breaks down the science of relationship :) So without further adieu, the talented the handsome...Mr. Jack Jenson! (oh and take notes cause you'll want to write down a few film suggestions ha!)

Nom Pauo
whats up, jack?

Jack Jensen
Hey there, hello, G'day mate!

Nom Pauo
Lets cut the crap and gettothe meat of the matter. Word on the street is, you're a popular with the ladies! Whats ur secret??

Jack Jensen
Suck it in. Agree with the ladies. It may be hard on your manhood to spend 3 hours with them on shopping but it pays off. And don't talk about the footy or your mates all the time. Oh, and it's okay to show a weak side (just don't overdo it, you don't wanna become "one of the gals" if ya catch my drift).

Nom Pauo
I concur with that last part. Get i tried getting in touch with my feminine side and was told "you're making me uncomfortable" can u believe that?!?

Jack Jensen
Weeell, as I said you don't wanna overdo it. If you start being as "feminine" as one of their gay friends you're overdoing it, LOL (oh, and to quote an entire episode of SEINFELD: "Not that there's anything wrong with being gay, of course")

Nom Pauo
Hmm...maybe i shouldnt have tried it on...
so anyways. Now that the important stuff is out of the way, why dont u tell us a little bit about urself.

Jack Jensen
Whatever you fancy is fine by me, just don't expect me to take part.

Nom Pauo
lmao!! Noted.

Jack Jensen
Hmm, about myself, eh. I'm located in the north of Europe, in Denmark. I spent a few years in the UK and a while in OZ (i.e. Australia) due to a 10 year relationship. I usually say I'm 90% Danish and 10% Aussie. I'm way too old and I always wanna go somewhere else. LOL.
I've always been a collector, comic books, crime novels, records, films.

Jack Jensen
I've written for fanzines the past 20 years, I think I did my first piece in 1993 and published my own zine in 1994, entitled "Banned in Britain". Already back then I had got into Asian films and issue #1 had reviews of Hong Kong films (and one Japanese splatter anime) in it. Nowadays I run a handful of blogs, two of them on obscure Asian films. But they're kinda *different* to what most fans of Asian cinema is into these days. If you belong to a counter-culture by watching Asian films then I'm the counter-culture to the counter-culture. LOL.

Nom Pauo
Ha, "Banned in Britain"! What was that all about?

Jack Jensen
Well, the plan was that it was going to only deal with splatter films. You know, a lot of those films were banned in the UK. The whole "video nasty" scare of the 1980s is well documented now. I lived there at the time and it was difficult to get hold of films like TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE or just about any uncut Dario Argento film. The gore films that DID get a vhs release were usually cut by the censor-board (the BBFC). I had to have tapes sent in from Europe to be able to watch them. You could go to jail if they caught you with a copy of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST!! I wanted the title of my zine to be a comment on that. When I said that was the plan it's because I kinda failed in doing that. Haha. I began to review other cult films that weren't necessarily straight gore films. Later I also did a zine called "STAY SICK!" which was more about all kinds of various films.

Nom Pauo
Yea i saw that in ur profile description saying ur the Editor-in-Chief. Talk a little about Stay Sick Magazine. What was the inspiration? Where do u hope to go with it?

Jack Jensen
Uhh, if I had ambitions of grandeur then I think I'm probably doing what I do all wrong. LOL. I've been publishing my mag since 1999 and all I have managed to put out is 6 issues! I'm working on a new one though. The inspiration clearly came from the alternative US film magazine "Psychotronic Video" which I began buying in London when #3 came out. I wanted to cover "psychotronic" films (i.e. films that somehow belong to the "fantastic" genres). My old zine "Banned in Britain" (BIB) was entirely in English but when I started doing "STAY SICK!" in 1999 there was only one other fanzines in Denmark and I wanted to give the Scandinavians a proper alternative film zine. So I decided to write SS entirely in Danish. Of course, nowadays everything is online but I still wish to put out more print issues. It's more fun to do print mags.

Nom Pauo
So you were actually one of the earlier e-zine publisher? Thats pretty cool man!

Jack Jensen
No. I never published e-zines, only print ones. I do a few blogs though but that's not what I'd call e-zines.

Nom Pauo
Ah, gotcha. Thats still pretty cool dude even if only 6 issues were published. So lets chat asian cinema.

Jack Jensen
Ok.
I should add I also printed 2 issues of BIB and I've written for a bunch of other zines published by other people. Ever since #0 "Weng's Chop" has wanted me to take part and hopefully I'll get some stuff done for their next ish.

Nom Pauo
Weng Chop? Thats Brian's publication right? Pretty awesome dude! (Shoutout to Brian btw) You mentioned earlier u were exposed to asian cinema early. I remember in one of the discussion in KK u mentioned that The Green Hornet was the first asian film u saw. Was that the film that sparked ur appreciation for asian cinema?

Jack Jensen
I reckon that was the very first "Asian" film I saw yes. Asian because it has Bruce Lee in it but needless to say it was made in the USA and it's in reality a few episodes of the 1960s tv series that were edited into a film. It ran in the European cinema and I watched it in 1979 or '80 with my dad and my cousin. But my real interest in Asian cinema came much later, in around 1989 and it kinda takes us back to the video nasties in the UK again. I bough a couple of issues of a UK fanzine called "In the Flesh" and they would write about the usual stuff, ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS, DAWN OF THE DEAD, RE-ANIMATOR, etc. but in addition to all that they also had a section on Hong Kong cinema. This was around 1990 and it's important to remember that nobody, and I do mean nobody, in the West knew anything about Hong Kong genre cinema. So this was the time when the very first few fans began to discover HK horror and gangster films; the new wave of HK cinema so to speak. The gangster films were soon dubbed "Heroic Bloodshed" films and in those pre-dvd days there were no legal ways to get these films. To be a fan of Asian or HK cinema is easy. You get any film you want from Amazon, eBay or download. But then there was no Amazon, no (illegal) torrents, not even video tapes. I remember the only HK films that were released in the UK back then were THE KILLER and A BETTER TOMORROR and a few fullscreen, English dubbed kung fu films. You simply had to rely on tape-trading. I'm not sure if I have to explain this to, uhh, our younger readers (yes, I feel THAT old now). What you'd do is you'd write up a list of the films you had on vhs and then send it to your friends. Friends that you might have got in touch with thru classifieds in fanzines, and then they'd send you a list and you would make vhs dupes of your films and send them. You'd swap so to speak. My god, I haven't thought about this for so long. Haha.

Jack Jensen
But back to your question; Well, I read those early HK reviews in "In the Flesh" and some of the other small fanzines, and in 1991 I was fortunate to catch HARD-BOILED at the 40th Film Festival in Melbourne and when I was staying there (on and off betweeen 1991 thru to '96) I would go to the Chinese cinemas and catch as many HK films as I could.

Jack Jensen
Later in the '90s there were a couple of cool video labels that popped up in the UK, "Made in Hong Kong" and "Eastern Heroes", that put out heaps of these films so it definitely became easier to get them.

Nom Pauo
Ha surprisingly i just recently saw Hard-Boiled, lol!! I was always more into the fantasy kung fu stuff lol. Being around asian cinema for as long as you have, what's your thought on the current state of Asian Cinema?

Jack Jensen
Well, the funny thing is even though I've been around for so long I'm not even all that good at asking. I discovered the new wave of HK cinema and kinda like Robin Williams in JUMANJI I got stuck in the past! I STILL try and track down every 1980s and 1990s HK film ever made. But I couldn't tell you about the state of new Korean or Thai cinema. Sure, I've watched a pile of those films, and Japanese ones as well but most of them were random viewings. I don't follow the current state of those countries. Ask me about an old Taiwan film about a flying head with its intestines dangling underneath and I can tell you, but new cinema not so much. I'm sure there's heaps of cool new horror films (as most members of the fb page keeps mentioning) but I'm not the right one to ask. On the other hand... sometimes I'm thinking I'm actually the ONLY one who does actually watch old dark HK or Taiwan horror films. LOL. We're back to the "counter-culture to the counter-culture". I love Godzilla films and Japanese horror films like KAÏRO but I'm by no means an expert on those. There's still films being made in Hong Kong but it's nothing like in the "good old days" (the '80s/90s). And I fear the freedom and wanting to do wild films may very well be over due to Mainland censorship.

Nom Pauo
What are some of the recent ones you found yourself impressed with? (Recent as in after 2000 lol)

Jack Jensen
I thought Jonnie To's VENGEANCE was great. A kinda return to A BETTER TOMORROW style films kinda. KAÏRO was great. One of the few films that have scared me for many years. And the early new wave of Japanese horror films like RINGU etc. (end)
Oh, and GONG TAU was great too. My mind is blank. LOL.

Nom Pauo
Lol. Kairo, from many discussions ive had was one of them love/hate film. I rather enjoyed the allegory presented in that film! South Korea has been on a tear the last couple years. Whats ur thought on their outputs?

Jack Jensen
Well, like I mentioned earlier I'm really the wrong person to ask about most Asian cinema. I'm a Hongkongese! (film wise). I've seen a fair share of Japanese monster films as well, and I love the LONE WOLF films but I've only watched a handful of S-Korean films films, one was H which I quite liked. I've watched a ton of films from the Philippines that no-one else regards as "Asian" (but they are). In the 80s and 90s they filmed heaps of lowbudget Vietnam War movies in the Philippines and I quite like those.

Jack Jensen
A lot of fans of Asian cinema follow what's happening currently. I'm more someone who seeks out forgotten stuff that nobody else knows about. The obscure stuff. Old horror films from HK, Taiwan or even Thailand about flying heads and stuff like that. Or gangster films that totally bombed when they came out because they tried to imitate John Woo and failed miserable. I track down those films and enjoy them.

Nom Pauo
Ha, well as a connoisseur of older hong kong flicks recommend a few Jack Jenson's essential. The more rare and obscure the better ha!

Jack Jensen
Haha. Well, one genre that I always try and persuade fans of new Asian horror to track down is a genre I like to call the "Dark and Nasty Hong Kong Horror Films of the 70s & 80s" LOL. These films were wild and gory to say the least. They often dealt with black magic and they were set in the "backyard" of Asia. Some of them were:
Black Magic 1 &2, Black Magic With Buddha, Boxer's Omen, Brutal Sorcery, Centipede Horror, Calamity of Snakes, Curse of Evil, Dead Curse, Devil Fetus, Her Vengeance, Killer Snakes, Lewd Lizard, Seeding of a Ghost, Red Spell Spells Red.
Some of them are on dvd in the US or HK, but unfortunately quite a few were only released on vhs and/or vcd - but I highly recommend that fans of Asian horror track them all down. Even if you have to sit thru fullscreen prints from vhs (I'm sure most of them are on torrent sites or you can get a dvdr from a friend).

Nom Pauo
Niiiice!! (Sam jot down list of title later)
Lets go with a more cliche question. Whats ur favorite asian movie of all time and why?

Jack Jensen
Now that's a touch one! (and an unfair request, I mean how do you even start to pick just ONE!!). It's a close call between THE KILLER, PEKING OPERA BLUES, ROUGE, A CHINESE GHOST STORY, and A BETTER TOMORROW. Well, right now I think I would have to go with A BETTER TOMORROW. It's got a ton of cool John Woo style gun violence (always good!) but in addition to that it's also got a good story about friendship, honour, loyalty, and doing the right thing for a friend when it's needed. And I love the sentimentality of the film. It's emotional in a way you never see in films from the West.
If you had asked me tomorrow I might have said CHICKEN AND DUCK TAL K! Haha. I love Ricky Hui and that's probably the funniest film I can think of.

Jack Jensen
(alright, either you have ONE more question and that's it - or we continue later) I need to get going. sorry.

Nom Pauo
Lol!! definitely an unfair question but unfair is my grandma's maiden name. "A Better Tomorrow" is classic Woo so i dont think anybody will argue that pick, lol!!
Well we're approaching the end of the interview and I’d like for you to list your 5 favorite Asian flick of all time.

Jack Jenson
THE KILLER
A CHINESE GHOST STORY
A PEKING OPERA BLUES
BLACK MAGIC II
LADY TERMINATOR

*note*
Thank you Jack for this awesome interview! And if you havent yet, check out his blog yet:

http://backyard-asia.blogspot.dk/

Lots of awesome interesting stuff!


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

PS: and no worries about the "Jack Jenson" spelling, I quite like it actually, it almost sounds like Jack Jetson. Haha
/Jack

More editorial ramblings ... elsewhere

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.

Biggest trashy non-Filipino war flick dilemma for tonight

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!!).

Crazy Indonesia!!!

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).

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

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

More people in the backyard!

Too few people are bitten by the worldweirdness bug so when someone not only pays attention to my fanatical drivel about obscure half (or entirely) forgotten movies but even goes out, gets hold of the films... A-N-D writes up reviews of them then I'm pleased beyond comprehension! Big cheers goes out to Brian over at Cinekult AND Joachim Andersson on Rubbermonsterfetishism who both chowed down my BLACK MAGIC WITH BUDDHA review and went home and reviewed some of "my" movies on their own blogs! Kudos to them both!!

I recommend you check both their reviews. :D

Editorial ramblings

I do another blog that deals with about everything I feel like chucking into it! Films, music, books, YouTube videos, and, uh, me babbling about myself, LOL. And yes it's quite a mess! I've got too many different link sections and I haven't done the blog post labels properly which means half of the posts are lost in the archives. In theory the reader could find all the contents by working his way backwards but... who does that? About no one! Well, it's a fun blog to do but it annoys me that it's so easy for readers to miss my entries on worldweird movies and that's why I initially set up the BACKYARD ASIA blog to solely cover the more obscure Asian movies.

With this blog I'd like to do it *properly*; All film entries get an index label and all movies are indexed according to origin. I wish all blog writers would do this (and I wish I had done it with my old blog too!!). All too often you'll discover a cool blog but in order to find out which films were reviewed several years ago you have to work your way back thru endless pages in order to find out the titles that were covered. It's a hassle! And as a blog author you're shooting yourself in the foot by doing it this way cos you'll spend long hours on writing these reviews and as soon as a given blog post disappears from the front page nobody bothers to go back and see what it was about. Not unless there's an easy-to-use index! :D

Another reason for this alternative blog is that I wanted to attempt to do a new version of my mate Günter Müller's old web site WEIRD ASIA which he ran in the early 2000s (which in Cyberspace years is about 50 years ago!) because I felt most of these movies don't get any coverage and when they do it's often by reviewers who either don't know anything about them or ridicule them - or they don't want to explore their context. If I had a penny for every time a "ordinary" reviewer (even those who cover genre movies) has reviewed Mondo Macabro's DVD release of LADY TERMINATOR and has treated it as though it were the only genre film ever made in Indonesia - then I would have a lot of pennies! A whole bucketful of pennies!! Incidentally, the one post on this blog that gets the most Google hits by far is actually Günter Müller's old incisive review of CANNIBAL MERCENARY! Maybe I should post some more of his old reviews, LOL .

When I launched this blog the idea was to only post reviews of fairly unknown Asian (mostly) worldweird movies that either aren't reviewed anywhere else or only have a few reviews. However, I'm slower than slow and it's gonna take *a while* before I get reviews up for all the films I would like to see on this blog so from now on I I'll start creating entries for these films and post cover scans, even though I haven't done reviews for them yet. That way you'll at least be able to look up the films and/or discover what is actually out there in the land of the obscure! :D

A lot of the readers on this blog aren't necessarily regular readers but people who got here via Google search and this way at least you'll be able to find out a wee bit about credit info, alternative titles, or if nothing else see a cover scan in most cases.

For more (heaps more!) features on worldweird movies I recommend you check out the excellent blog Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill! It's one of my favourites and there's enough stuff to last you many a cool reading hour!




PS: Yes, that is my T-shirt. Pretty cool, ay. The movie is Lilik Sudjio's Indonesian horror movie QUEEN OF BLACK MAGIC starring Suzzanna. xD

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

No, that's not a reference to that old Black Grape record but a comment on myself!!! A while ago I posted some awesome video segments of Yukari Oshima from Japanese television and I kept thinking I should download them in case the uploader deleted them. Well, guess what I forgot to do and guess what the uploader did. Argh!!!

The one (slightly) positive thing here is that he or she hasn't closed the account but *just* set it to "private" so I'm hoping they'll open it again at some stage. :(

What's it all about?

Why "Backyard" Asia?
Because everybody else writes about kung fu films, J-horror, new Korean cinema, and not to mention Japanese monster movies.

When you read about Asian films on other online sites you kind of get the impression that there's nothing new to discover. A lot of these sites and blogs seem happy to only write more about the same old stuff and/or the new popular stuff. What's the point?

I've been watching weird, cool, and awesome (and sometimes very violent) Asian movies since 1990 and when I decided to start this blog I had no desire to merely confirm how awesome GODZILLA is and that it's really, really cool that we don't need to settle for the "King of the Monsters" edit anymore.

I love the same popular Asian cinema that everyone else and his ugly cousin loves but is it really necessary to write blog post number three billion about it? Where's the fun in that!? I'd rather write about some obscure/forgotten/never discovered/lost/maybe awful/maybe wonderful weird movies from the outskirts of Asia. Now, that's where the fun is at! Now, there is a purpose for a blog! Now, that is needed! Why? Because nobody else* does it!

 Anyway, enough babble. Welcome to BACKYARD ASIA! 
 /Jack J


*I'm slightly exaggerating there, of course. Fortunately, I'm not entirely alone, although we sure are few and far between, there is a handful of like-minded fans into Asian worldweird cinema - check out my blog roll on this page.



PS: Please notice - I often get emails from people asking where they can download the films that I write about. Sorry, but I can't help you as I don't download from torrent sites or anywhere else. I might find the odd rare film on YouTube but that's about it. I have absolutely no idea of how and where you can download from (other than YouTube). And I do not have an interest in uploading my films to anywhere in Cyberspace – so save your time asking! I collect original video tapes, dvd's, video-cd's, laserdiscs, and I even still tape stuff off telly. Yeah, I'm old-skool. ^_^


PS.PS: to learn more about the author of this blog here's an interview that the spiffy Kwaidan Klub did with yours truly.