fighting femmes, fiends, and fanatics: LUNATIC FROG WOMEN (Taiwan, 1980-something)

Video documentary by Steve Mayhem (2010) 9 minutes



Here's Steve Mayhem's first episode of his cool video documentary series on fun, wild, and crazy world-weird films, Fighting Femmes, Fiends, and Fanatics! Steve starts off in grand style with a presentation of the crazy Taiwanese movie LUNATIC FROG WOMEN.


Disclaimer: I do not wish to take any credit for this video and I'm only re-posting it here as I want to share this cool video with you. I urge you to check out Todd's blog DIE, DANGER, DIE, DIE, KILL! You'll find the original posting here.

Steve Mayhem presents... FIGHTING FEMMES, FIENDS, AND FANATICS - introduction

One of my favourite world-weird blogs is Todd Statman's fantastic DIE, DANGER, DIE, DIE, KILL! blog and in 2010 Todd teamed up with my friend Steve Mayhem to produce an equally fantastic video documentary series on fabulous world-weird films. The series is called FIGHTING FEMMES, FIENDS, AND FANATICS.

The first video documentary came out in late 2010 and 11 episodes later it was all over. Why Steve Mayhem decided to end the series I don't know. Rumour has it he wandered into the jungle somewhere and last I heard he was seen trying to create a race of atomic supermen. But, man, those 11 episodes that we DID get are all totally rad and wonderful and highly recommended. You should watch them!

I'm including the trailer for the series in this post; It only runs for about a minute or so. Do check it out! All episodes cover fun world-weird films but since DIE, DANGER, DIE, DIE, KILL! covers world-weird films from a wider range of countries than I do on BACKYARD ASIA I'll just post the Asian episodes here (at least to begin with). The first one is on LUNATIC FROG WOMEN!!! The episodes run for about 10 minutes each. Oh, and one more thing, Steve has one of the nicest, deepest voices in YouTube home video, that's for sure!

VIRGIN APOCALYPSE to be released on dvd - fully uncut from 35mm print

aka Angels with Golden Guns / Terror in a Woman's Prison / Anger

Back in 2009 (almost to the date!) well known HK film aficionado Spannick mentioned on Cinehound forum that the German label he's working for, CINECLUB, was planning a DVD release of the rare VIRGIN APOCALYPSE. Now, 4 years later, it seems it's finally on its way! Yay! Spiffy!!

Spannick's info from today says the upcoming DVD is from a 35mm print and the film is presented in 2.35 anamorphic!! That's very good news indeed. It's well known that Joseph Lai's IFD company can't provide proper prints for most of their films. In fact, according to Spannick the print for VIRGIN APOCALYPSE was, "the IFD Master delivered was in Fullscreen and horribly framecut".

And Spannick adds the IFD master was also 4 (four!) minutes shorter than the uncut print. Although not quite as butchered as IFD's fullscreen master the 35mm is missing about a minute's worth of footage. On the DVD the missing footage has been replaced by a few inserts from a German VHS (also presented in widescreen). Fortunately there's no need to worry about English friendliness! The DVD will contain both a German and an English dub!

In the extras department we find the English language trailer and an entire extra movie: COMMANDO FURY! This film is included (in the extras) as it's sourced from a Japanese video tape (2.35 widescreen). Spannick's label wanted to release the film on its own but the master from Joseph Lai was "unwatchable Fullscreen".

This is certainly great news! VIRGIN APOCALYPSE is very difficult to find. The cover scan here is from the UK label 4-BIDDEN ASIA who released it in Holland (most likely cos they weren't allowed to release it uncut in the UK due to harsh censorshit regulations there at the time) many years ago. I don't know how many different VHS releases that exist but they are indeed all very rare.

The web isn't exactly spilling over with reviews. The one I did manage to find says about the plot: "Sound's pretty simple right? Well, it took me two sober viewings to figure this thing out."

No final release date has been published yet.

CANNIBAL MERCENARY REDUX

Check this out! It's a new VHS bootleg release of a composite print of the insane Thai Vietnam flick CANNIBAL MERCENARY!! And yes, I did say V-H-S. As in video tape. How cool is that! It's a very limited release and, lo and behold, it's already sold out! I've never watched this particular composite print and I have no idea what extra is in it compared to the uncut international print; I'll let you know when I receive my copy. I'm told there's some stuff from the Tomas Tang Hong Kong version (but I believe there's no scenes of gwilos!). Oh, and check the liner notes on the back! I thought being asked to do liner notes for this particular film was pretty cool (and they're my first ever so that's cool too). ^_^
When the Vietnam War raged... in the Philippines is my other blog.

The label behind the release is KING OF THE WITCHES that are located in Brockton, Massachusetts, USA. Check their Facebook page here.

SHOUT! FACTORY to cancel last three Filipino movies

Unfortunately, SHOUT! have just announced via their Facebook page that they're not going to release the last three Filipino co-productions that we've been patiently waiting for; SAVAGE, THE HOT BOX and THE WOMAN HUNT are not going to be release! Boo-hoo!!! I've been looking forward to those for what seems like ages (because it is actually ages!!).

All three films are released on VHS but it would have been pretty spiffy to get proper releases off the original negatives and in their original ratio aspect. Hopefully another company will pick them up and give them the same fine treatment that SHOUT! gave the other films. And maybe monkeys will fly out my butt. :(


THE TEN THAT MADE IT
Throughout the last couple of years SHOUT! Factory have released a whole range of ROGER CORMAN produced films in their "Roger Corman's Cult Classics" series. A few of those are of interest to this blog as they were filmed in the Philippines and have a number of regular Filipino actors in them.

So far SHOUT! have released...

THE BIG BIRD CAGE
BIG DOLL HOUSE
WOMEN IN CAGES
FLY ME
FIRECRACKER
TNT JACKSON
TOO HOT TO HANDLE
COVER GIRL MODELS
UP FROM THE DEPTHS
DEMON OF PARADISE.

Ten movies in total! And all of them in great shape and form (well, okay maybe except FLY ME which came off an old worn print but it was either that or no print at all so that's perfectly alright).

As a fan of these films I can't thank SHOUT! enough for finally give them their day in the sun. No longer do we have to settle for fullscreen reg. 1 public domain dvd's or old worn video tapes. So a big round of applause fly out to Cliff Mac and SHOUT for releasing these 10 films. I wish the last three could have been released as well but big kudos to SHOUT for the ones we did get. xD

 THE WOMAN HUNT on vhs from Denmark


If you wish to check the old posts about SHOUT!'s releases just click the "Shout factory releases" label at the bottom of this post.

A DAY WITHOUT POLICEMAN (HK, 1993)

Director: Johnny Lee Gwing-Gaai

SIMON YAM in a completely whacked out gore fest. In lunatic cinema there are two names you should write on your wall - and they are both hongkongese! Anthony Wong and Simon Yam! If you like RUN AND KILL then... track down DAY WITHOUT POLICEMAN at any cost. It's on VCD/VHS/LD and there's an okay reg. 1 DVD from Tai Seng.

This is definitely one of my favourite Simon Yam films and it's sadly an overlooked one - even by genre film fans. Yam plays a cop but in contradiction to most other cop flicks the main character in this one isn't a heroic tough one. He is in fact a coward! So altho the "hero" gets thrown into one violent scene after another it's a very different film. However, that doesn't keep the second half form becoming one long ride into bloodshed.

The vcd and dvd that I have both carry crappy English subs that are even worse than what we're used to but it doesn't distract all that much from the excitement of watching this cool flick. I would advise that you don't read the capsule reviews on HKMDB as most of them (three out of four if I remember correctly) piss all over the film. They don't seem to enjoy all that many Hong Kong films on HKMDB - which is kinda odd seeing as it's, well, you know, Hong Kong Movie Data Base!! Maybe most of the reviewers are Hongkongese and they simply don't get the same thrill out of their local cinema as gwilos like me do. o_O

I tried to find a trailer but there doesn't seem to be one anywhere. But anyhoo, if you're into old-skool heroic bloodshed movies from HK then you need to check this one out. Highly recommended!

I just checked YesAsia and they still have the Tai Seng dvd in stock.

HAUNTED COP SHOP - trailer

NB: the trailer does work even if there's no avatar! 
 
Here's the trailer for the wild, crazy and funny HAUNTED COP SHOP. It stars RICKY HUI so you know what you're in for, hahaha. And the sequel is even better! (I couldn't find a trailer for that one tho). HAUNTED COP SHOP is released on HK dvd (there are several releases and the latest Fortune Star dvd is sadly a bit cut but it's nothing that'll distract from the overall entertainment). HAUNTED COP SHOP II is only released on vhs and vcd (the vcd being the better option as it's fully letterboxed while the vhs is fullscreen). The sequel is on YouTube and the quality seems as good as the vcd that I have. It's subbed in English.

(Deleted post)

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THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT - trailers

Great picture quality and original aspect ratio trailer on IFD's own Youtube channel!!!

 

Alternative, shorter trailer (bad PQ unfortunately).

Attackafant SERPENT dvd not cancelled

The headline for yesterday's post originally read, "Thunder of Gigantic Serpent on its way - and cancelled!" - but Joachim Andersson informs me that the dvd hasn't been cancelled; it's just coming along very, very slowly. You can say that again! The dvd was scheduled for release in 2011. But in any case that is certainly good news. Thanks to Joachim Andersson and do check his own film blog here.

UPDATE (07.03.2016) - Unfortunately, the above turned out to be nonsense. After the fiasco of the first DVD Fred Anderson chucked his second release in the trash. THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT is NOT going to be released from Attackafant. The label doesn't exist any longer. Unfortunately, Fred Anderson also removed his trailer for the film from YouTube (and unfortunately I didn't download it, otherwise I would have re-uploaded it). Too bad.

THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT on its way - and [edit] not cancelled after all - EDIT EDIT EDIT CANCELLED CANCELLED CANCELLED!!!!!

UPDATE (2016) - Attackafant doesn't exist any longer and the release of THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT is cancelled for good! Dead!! Gone!!! Not coming out!!!!

Back in 2011 I wrote about Fred Anderson's (then) new video label, Attackafant Entertainment, and its first two releases; KILLER ELEPHANTS and THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT.

So far only KILLER ELEPHANTS has been released and a few months ago Anderson posted on Facebook about chucking in the video label due to very few sold copies. I asked about an official statement in regards to the label's future but Anderson's reply was that nobody would be interested anyway. I assume that means the label has been laid to rest. EDIT: although I have no info in regards to the future of the label as such there is a correction in regards to the release of SERPENT in the post after this one. Go here or scroll up.

Maybe a better distro would have helped or a direct sales option. Code Red is surviving altho Bill Olsen has chosen to only sell his releases via direct sales from his eShop. Bill Barounis kept his Onar Films label afloat altho at one point only one store wanted to distribute his dvd's. Like Bill Olsen, Bill Barounis also chose to do the direct sales thing (via eBay and a web-shop).

Anyhoo, I'm tired of waiting so today I've ordered the (seemingly) cancelled film, THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT, via a bootleg dvd from eBay. I'm aware Global Video in South Africa used to sell a dvd of the film at some stage but it seems it's completely impossible to order anything from that label nowadays. Their communication skills leave a lot to be desired (i.e. there is none!) which is a pity as their print is probably from a real film print. The eBay bootleg might very well be off a vhs.

EDIT: The eBay bootleg is sure enough off a vhs - and comes with big Greek subtitles, haha.

update

I noticed YouTube took down the TNT JACKSON trailer! Their reason was the usual retarded "third party has complained" baloney. Needless to say, I don't know if SHOUT! Factory complained about it (as they own the copyrights for the film) but in any case it's stupid to take down a trailer. I mean I fully understand the problem if someone had uploaded the full movie but a trailer is like an advertisement for the film. If people watch the trailer and then get so interested in the film that they go out and buy SHOUT's dvd or blu-ray where's the fucken harm? I fail to see the logic behind this.

Anyway, fortunately I had downloaded the trailer and have now uploaded it to another host. I see someone else has already uploaded it to YouTube again but if *someone* asked for it to be taken down once I'm sure they'll do it again. Check the trailer here.

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!

When bootleg covers go wrong

Here's another terrible cover from a bootlegger who didn't bother to find out what he's selling. These films are by no means from China. CHINA DOESN'T HAVE A CATEGORY III RATING, hahaha. It only exists in Hong Kong.

The argument that China has now taken over Hong Kong isn't valid either as altho Peking has final say-so Hong Kong is a territory of its own with own Government, currency and flag. Oh, and the flag on this bootleg is the wrong one, hahaha. China's flag isn't used in Hong Kong. Not surprisingly the Hong Kong flag is used in Hong Kong.

Also, even IF we were to label Hong Kong film as being from China it would still be an invalid argument as these films were made before the Peking takeover in 1997. In other words they should be called BRITISH films as Britain ruled Hong Kong prior to 1997. But of course no one would do that.

I commented about it in connection with the cover on the bootlegger's Facebook page but I didn't get a reply (somehow I'm not surprised).

Check my first post about a crappy bootleg cover here (that one is almost surreal!).

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.