ATTACKAFANT on the rampage in Thailand

(March 2012)
FRED ANDERSON (r) with his bf on the left and CHRISTOPH KLÜPPEL in the middle. Klüppel looks like he could crush them both in one go if he wanted to!


A while ago I posted about how Fred Anderson has recently set up his small DVD label ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT to release forgotten, overlooked, lost, and not least exciting worldweird films and that his first (and so far only) release is the wild Thai-Hong Kong production THE KILLER ELEPHANTS. In the past I have also posted and linked to Fred's interview with Christoph Klüppel, a big (very big) German actor who starred in a number of Thai action films many years ago.

The thing is Fred is a true fan of worldweird cinema and not least the crazy Thai action films. Not only does he watch heaps of these movies, he also reviews them on his blogs and, like I said, he has launched a label to release these forgotten films... but if you think it ends here then you'll just have to think again cos as we speak Fred has actually gone to Thailand to hook up with every soul and his brother who was anything in the old Thai action film industry!!!

Check the above photo; It's aforementioned Christoph Klüppel that Fred has tracked down and went to visit two days ago! Fred and his bf stayed with Klüppel for most of the day. But it doesn't end there; Like I said Fred's first DVD on the ATTACKAFANT label is THE KILLER ELEPAHNTS so needless to say Fred hooked up with Yodchai Meksuwan who played one of the main characters (and strings to meet with the director the next time Fred is down Thailand way have already been pulled!).

Fred with YODCHAI MEKSUWAN.

You can check out some of Meksuwan's many (over a hundred!!) films here.

And here's one more photo of Fred with a celeb who also practically starred in hundreds of Thai movies (and some HK productions); Pawana Chanajit (aka Lau Laan Ying in HK movies). According to Fred she's working as a broker these days. Check some of her films here.

Fred and PAWANA CHANAJIT (aka Lau Laan Ying).

- and finally... someone gave Fred THIS awesome book of mostly stills from GHOSTS OF GUTS EATER!!! No, I'm not green with envy here!




PS: Check my review of GHOSTS OF GUTS EATER on this site if you're not familiar with the film. The only place it's released outside of Thailand is actually on VHS in Sweden (but no, Fred had nothing to do with that ... I don't think. LOL).

Christoph Klüppel on the cover of the rare DARK DAY EXPRESS.

TNT JACKSON (Philippines, 1974) - trailer

Check out Video Junkie's new review here. Kewl, mate!

The confusing Turkish / Italian SUPERGUYS series

There's THE FLYING SUPERBOY film, and there's the SUPERGUYS series, and then there's the 3 FANTASTIC SUPERMEN films ... have you ever tossed and turned because you couldn't quite make the connection between the dots? No need to worry any longer! My friend Henrik Larsen, supreme editor of OBSKURIØST magazine, spent some time sorting out these films a while back and this is the info he came up with:

Henrik reckons THE FLYING SUPERBOY isn't a stand alone film but is related to the THREE SUPERGUYS series as Robert Widmark plays the same kind of character as in that series:

There are three official SUPERGUYS films + two unofficial entries. The first unofficial film precedes the series (and do notice that via the German title the film is actually related to the series on the German market! "Teufelskerle" = Superguys)

1. ZWEI TEUFELSKERLE AUF DEM WEG ZUR GRÜNEN HÖLLE (1974). Aka AMAZONS FOR TWO ADVENTURERS
-No Turkish involvement but Ernst Hofbauer who co-directed the film also co-directed the three official films. And "Robert Widmark" and Wolf Goldan play almost the same characters as they do in the first Superguys film. Widmark is in ALL the films so there's a connection.

2. ZWEI TEUFELSKERLE AUF DEM WEG INS KLOSTER (1975). Aka THE THREE SUPERGUYS
-German-Turkish production. Hofbauer is co-director and Widmark & Goldan play the main-characters.

3. THE FLYING SUPERBOY (1975) aka BAS BELASI
-Turkish production. Widmark plays the same kind of character again.

4. ZWEI TEUFELSKERLE AUF DEM WEG NACH ISTANBUL (1976). Aka THE THREE SUPERGUYS STRIKE AGAIN
-Cuneyt Arkin is in this one.

5. DREI TEUFELSKERLE MACHEN ALLES NIEDER (1977). Aka THREE SUPERGUYS IN THE SNOW


- Arkin was also in one of the THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN films (SUPERMENLER/3 SUPERMEN AGAINST GODFATHER) but other than that there's no connection between the two series.

aka Three Superguys in the Snow

German trailer for THE THREE SUPERGUYS STRIKE AGAIN:






Thanks to Henrik Larsen for the info and to the nice members of Cinehound forum whose cover scans I used.

Kothar's "Short reviews of weird movies"

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

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)

aka Cewek Jagoan beraski Kembali (original Indonesian title)

Director: Danu Umbara

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

TAKE NOTICE: The German data base OFDB has listed that the film was released on German VHS under the title of "Tödliche Engel Schlagen Zurück". This is INCORRECT information! The title for the German tape has the same meaning as the English title but it's an entirely different Indonesian film called FIRE OF VENGEANCE!!!

VCD / Malaysia / fullscreen / Indonesian / no subs

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

Laserdisc / HK

DVD / Taiwan / alternative print

New German BIONIC BOY dvd is a bootleg

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??)

aka BAS BELASI (Turkey)

VHS / Norway / fullscreen / English dub / Norwegian subs

VHS / Denmark / fullscreen / English dub / Danish 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

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

Trailer from IFD's official YouTube page. Great picture quality and original aspect ratio!

POLICE FORCE 555 (Thailand, 1976) - trailer

aka CHOMPAE
aka ชุมแพ (Thailand)
aka 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.

EDIT: It seems Ninja Dixon deleted his upload so I reuploaded the trailer just for your pleasure! xD

BIONIC BOY and DYNAMITE JOHNSON finally on DVD!

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!!!

...

...

THEY CALL HIM CHOP SUEY - trailer

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) - original trailer and rare Danish trailer

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

Original trailer: 

Rare alternative trailer made for the Danish market (HITMAN was a co-production with a film company in Denmark):

Thanks go out to Diabolik (aka Hans-Jørn Reimer) who dug out the Danish trailer from an old Danish ex-rental VHS.

RAW FORCE - trailer

(Philippines, 1982)

THE BEASTS - trailer

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

Jack Hill (Philippines, 1972)

 

THE BIG DOLL HOUSE - trailer

dir: Jack Hill (Philippines, 1971) 

 

SAVAGE - trailer

dir: Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1973)

FIRECRACKER (aka Naked Fist) - trailer

Directed by Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1981)

FLY ME - trailer (tv spot)

dir: Cirio H. Santiago (Philippines, 1973)



Trailer for Cirio H. Santiago's FLY ME is now on YouTube. Sure, it's 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 was too worn for their liking but it was the only print they could get hold of 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

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!"

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)

Here's the Filipino film BLOOD THIRST. It stars Vic Diaz and was originally made in 1966 but wasn't released until 1971. Something Weird Video have released it as both a 2-film DVD (the other film is the British horror movie BLOOD SUCKERS, starring Peter Cushing) and as a single film release. Do notice that the double film release is a real pressed DVD whereas the latter is 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, great plot description there! I'm also posting the cover for the single film release which I actually prefer (the cover that is) but like I said it's a 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!!

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

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

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

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

aka ROCO, ANG BATANG BATO (original title)

aka BOY GOD (USA vhs) 

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)

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!

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)

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)

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

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

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

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

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. 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?

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

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!

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!!!

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

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

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)

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 false 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!