FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON - uncut French dvd versus cut UK dvd

I've written about the longer French DVD release of the wild Korean film FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON before but I've never compared it to the shorter English dubbed version found on UK DVD. Fortunately, Cinehound member Resonator05 has done it for me now:

by RESONATOR05

I have now compared the French and UK DVD's of Firefist of Incredible Dragon and here are some infos:

The French DVD (French audio only) is a joke. The cover claims the picture has been restored - there is even a short featurette about the restoration (lol) - but the quality is extremely bad. Even if fully letterboxed (but 4:3), the picture is extremely dark (yes, so dark that sometimes you can hardly see anything), very corny and simply very bad, it looks like crap. The guys who restored this fucked it up big way.

Anyway the French DVD runs 87:58min, which is 12 minutes longer then the full screen UK cheapo disc (76:02). There are quite some dialogues and other stuff cut (maybe to save dubbing costs for the English export version), but also cuts to sexual violence (thanks to the BBFC I guess).

The main censorship cuts are at minute 30 (French DVD) when a woman is forced to sex and the biggest cut at around minute 39 (French DVD) when some women are bound and tortured, involving lots of nudity, full frontal nudity and women suffering. The torture is not seen in a gory way, it is mostly off-screen (a pin moved to a naked woman's body), but this scene which lasts 1-2 minutes has been removed completely.

So, that is it. I would prefer the UK DVD any day, simply because of the hilarious dubbing and the picture being much brighter (even if still shitty). Also it moves faster and all the gory scenes are intact. Have a nice day :-)

Big thanks to Resonator05!

FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON - update

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!

FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON (South Korea, 1982)

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 (South Korea, 1982/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/EDIT: there's also a French DVD). 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


EDIT: I've now got the French DVD (from Amazon.fr) and it is indeed quite a bit longer and letterboxed. Unfortunately, the print is a tad too dark in night scenes. I sure wish someone will rerelease a proper version at some stage.





The deadly flying heart taking a rest in a tree.