Saturday, 25 February 2012

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.

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

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!

Saturday, 18 February 2012

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

Friday, 17 February 2012

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



Monday, 30 January 2012

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.

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

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

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

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!!!

Sunday, 15 January 2012

...

...

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).

Saturday, 14 January 2012

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.

Friday, 13 January 2012

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!

Thursday, 12 January 2012

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

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

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!



Sunday, 8 January 2012

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).

Thursday, 5 January 2012

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.

Thursday, 22 December 2011

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.

Saturday, 17 December 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!

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

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]

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

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!!!

Saturday, 19 November 2011

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.

Friday, 18 November 2011

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

Wednesday, 9 November 2011

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.

Friday, 28 October 2011

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!!!

Monday, 17 October 2011

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.

Friday, 14 October 2011

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). 

 


 

Sunday, 9 October 2011

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!!!

Thursday, 6 October 2011

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.

Sunday, 25 September 2011

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."

------------------
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!

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Bizarre and insane English dubbed Hong Kong films the world forgot


If you dig deep enough in the Scandinavian mould you'll find old rusty Viking helmets, warped ABBA records, and... forgotten Hong Kong movies so obscure it defies any logic!!!

Wild and crazy films that must be seen to be believed. And then you even have to check if someone spiced your lemonade with secret substances and made you imagine things that weren't really happening on the TV screen in front of you! But no, they are for real alright!!

These films are dubbed into English and the only place they've probably ever been release are in the Scandinavian countries. If they've even been release in HK it was so long ago that no one remembers - and whatever copies that once were distributed were probably all soaked in petrol and torched by angry customers who rented them from video outlets!

Needless to say you can forget about DVD releases ANYWHERE!! (unless you count DVDs from shady bootleggers like VideoAsia who would use something like 3'rd generation VHS dupes for their "releases").

Check out this scene from STRIKE OF THE TORTURED ANGELS (from 1982, maybe!). It's bizarre to say the least. And before you ask... no, the Chinese girl whose skin is painted black and who is wearing an afro ISN'T playing a Chinese character who's trying to disguise as a black person, no-no, she is a Chinese actress PLAYING a black girl!!! I mean... how... what... I mean... HUH???

I've posted two clips from another of these insane & obscure HK films, SHARK OPERATION; you can watch them here. Thanks to Member-X of Cinehound forum who uploaded the clips from both movies.


PS: Some of these films are also on VHS in Holland and I wouldn't be surprised if they're also out on video in Greece.





Saturday, 17 September 2011

Shitty Backyard Home Video Entertainment presents: THE TAI SENG BOX



I was about to apologise for this shitty home video (actually my initial headline described it as another entry to "YouTube's Shittiest Home Videos", haha) but then I thought, "Heeeey, this is perfect DOGME!! And it is!! Think about it; On-scene music! Lack of credits! Shaky camera! Mumbled dialogue! No dialogue preparation! No actual start, middle or finish! No lighting! Yep, this is a perfect Dogme home video. Lars von Trier would be so proud.

Friday, 16 September 2011

WAR VICTIMS (Indonesia, 1983)

Original title: KAMP TAWANAN WANITA



Here's the rare trailer for Jopi Burnama's Indonesian war/WIP movie WAR VICTIMS. There's no official DVD release but it's released on VHS in the US, Holland, and Japan. I believe both the US and Dutch versions are fullscreen. The Japanese tape is letterboxed.

UPDATE (27.10.2023) Unfortunately, the original, English dubbed trailer is gone from YouTube and I forgot to download a copy. It seems nobody else has uploaded a it. I found this alternative (Indonesian?) trailer for the film on YouTube. 


Director: JOPI BURNAMA

Cast:
MARISSA HAQUE
BOY TIRAYOH
AVENT CHRISTIE
MANGARA SIAHAAN
JEFFRY SANI
DJOKO WAROK
ANEN WIJAYA
USMAN EFFENDY
SIMON PS
FARIDA YASMINE
WATY SIREGAR
NINA ANWAR

Credit info from CITWF.

Thanks to Member-X for the YouTube upload! 

Monday, 12 September 2011

CHRISTOPH KLÜPPEL - interview


When Hong Kong movies became the new fan flavour among horror and action movie fans 20 years ago little was known about the Gwilo (i.e. white) actors who starred in many of these movies (usually as bad guys). Nowadays most info about these white HK actors is well known territory. However, there's still stuff to be discovered! A stone-throw from HK is Thailand and one of the Gwilo actors (altho they undoubtedly don't actually use that phrase there, LOL) who starred in many Thai action films is German born he-man Christoph Klüppel.

I've seen him on numerous video and VCD covers but I never knew anything about him - and neither did you. Well, why don't you leave this hell-hole and jump over to Fred Anderson's blog, NINJA DIXON, and check today's post out. Fred just fucken interviewed the guy!! Very cool indeed! Klüppel was in films such as IN GOLD WE TRUST, THE LOST IDOL, MISSION HUNTER 1 & 2, and SATANIC CRYSTALS. The interview is very long and Fred says he's gonna split it up and post segments every day for a week or so.
For the interview go here!

Check out Klüppel in this rare trailer for the equally rare English language version of DARK DAY EXPRESS:



Friday, 2 September 2011

Shaw Brothers Bad Mixes Warning (from ADG)

Here's yet again an old floater I scooped up from the murky harbour water. Like the "Alternative versions of Hong Kong Films" this post is copied from the old "Asian DVD Guide" message board which is now gone. I thought it would be a bloody shame to let it disappear! You can check the original version at Waybackmachine. Thanks to everyone who worked on the original version on ADG.

All the bold and italic features are gone but I'll apply them later.

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

Note (May 2006) The vast majority of titles from the recent batches have been original mono (possibly all?).

Some comments taken from HKDigital and the KFCC board (excerpted without permission).

THE 14 AMAZONS
Spannick: annoying chaos of new and old Sound Effects during the Action Scenes. not so much Synth Music added to the Surrounds as usual (there still is of course).
NetDragon: I agree on this one, the mixing of the old and new music tracks are so annoying that it nearly ruins the movie. But it's such a cool movie that even this problem can't stop ppl from enjoying this piece of adventure, big thumb up! But I'm really glad they didn't ruined the original soundtrack at the opening credits.
MrBooth: Maybe I'm getting deaf in my old age or my standards have slipped, but this remix didn't seem bad. I didn't notice many added sound effects (some crowd cheering seemed very out of place though, like it was culled from a football match), and the music augmentation actually seemed... kind of ok... mostly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) . It was at least in time with the original score anyway!

36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN
fusheng007 French DVD contains birds and crickets but radically reduced when compared to original Celestial DVD.

7-MAN ARMY
Spannick: unwatchable Mess with horrible Synth Music and New Effects mixed with the Original Mono still clearly audible.

ANGEL WITH THE IRON FISTS
Mr.Booth One title that was absolutely ruined by the fx & music was ANGEL WITH IRON FISTS.

THE ANGRY GUEST
Spannick New Synth added to the Surrounds, horrible new F/X during the whole Movie, all Originals can be heard underneath - unbearable.

ANONYMOUS HEROES
spannick01 Newly added Music. Someone over there thought that mixing a completely new Cue under every Action Scene (always the same Cue!), no matter if there is music already in existance, was a good idea. it was not. the Original Music can be heard underneath the Audio Commentary or on the Malaysian VCD. The HK VCD has the same annoying Remix included! No new F/X Added, save for crickets and birds as usual.

THE ASSASSIN
Markgway "There are new, obvious sound effects, but the REALLY annoying thing is the new AND VERY LOUD synth music dubbed on top of the mono. "

THE AVENGING EAGLE
Mr Booth (Thai disc, Mandarin track) - horrible new fx + synths. Yuck. Subtitles seem slightly out of sync too...

BATTLE WIZARD
harlem shaw Audio: 5.1 DD. There were a couple of sounds here and there which is to be expected from all Celestial releases unless they specifically say MONO. By and large though, the audio was untouched. No new musical score, and no new over-dubbed sound FX during the fight scenes.

BELLS OF DEATH
MrBooth Someone *please* tell me that the tinkling bell sounds every time the main character moves were part of the original soundtrack to the film? Surely even Celestial couldn't have come up with that? But, the film definitely features a lot of added ambient sound effects, and the bell sound is much too loud in the mix... and almost continuous when the main guy is on screen! It's very annoying, but I think it's part of the original sound mix - though celestial may have boosted it. If they *did* add it though, it may be their worst abuse yet!

THE BLACK FALCON
Markgway: Mandarin Mono.

BLOOD BROTHERS
Spannick Music added, totally distracting, as the Original can be heard underneath. Birds added. French DVD is Original Mono.

THE BLUE AND THE BLACK 1 & 2
dleedlee: Bird Virus

BOXER REBELLION
Markgway Don't think that anyone has mentioned this so I will...Mandarin 5.1 remix. Opening theme has been entirely redone with synth music. Fight foley remains untouched. Minor augmentation of incidentals like the sound of wind blowing, crowd chatter. Most obvious addition is that during machine gun fire. But it's not overly distracting. Largely mono-based. Not perfect then - but it could have been a lot worse. I say buy it!

THE BRAVE ARCHER
Isfahani "Just got my VCD of Brave Archer but haven't had time to compare the DVD to it yet. Main problem I have with the fight fx is that you can still hear the old ones UNDERNEATH them, which as I said before, would be easy to at least get rid of. BUT NOOOOOO. Besides that, I wouldn't mind the fx so much if they were mixed a little lower, or had some room reverb to place it in the mix better, but this in your face crap, well... "

Markgway 5.1 remix in Mandarin New foley and synth throughout. Original audio can be heard underneath. At one point even the dialogue is out of sync. Poor effort. Not in the absolute worst category. But the film is worth suffering for.

THE BRAVE ARCHER 1-3
Sevenhooks at KFC "Brave Archer 1-3 have remixed sound in terms of fighting sound fx and music… Oh, well.Chalk up another loss. + all 3 Brave Archer films seem to be tainted now."

BRIDE NAPPING
dleedlee: Bird Virus.

BROTHERHOOD
Spannick: totally idiotic 5.1 Mix: the first half hour is near-Mono, then for the remainder it's the same mess as JUDGEMENT, all new F/X everywhere with the Original ones underneath...

BRUCE LEE & I
Spannick: added footsteps, totally out of place and too loud in all Fight Scenes.

Markgway: 5.1 Mandarin Remix. Not a lot to remix here really... but the few fights scenes have been tampered with. New foley effects overdubbed. Not terribly distracting but noticeable. Would be worst in an all-action film. I don't recall any new synth music, but the opening logo is the remixed one.

CAT VS. RAT
Markgway The sound for 'Cat Vs Rat' has not been left untouched I'm afraid. But I will say the tampering is less evident than some of the more severe recent cases. The synth logo is present and correct and some cues have been replaced. The fight foley is mostly original, but appears to have been augmented with sharper effects. Tolerable certainly, but I felt it should be noted for purists.

A CAUSE TO KILL
Markgway: Mandarin Mono.

THE CHINESE BOXER
harlem shaw The killer is the piss-poor audio. It seems as if the entire original soundtrack has been removed and replaced by something made by a 5 year old with a casio keyboard and one arm. Add to that the usual newly added sound FX (which aren't as bad as "Deadly Duo") and what you're left with is the current standard for Celestials Shaw Brother DVD treatment. Too bad.

CLAN OF AMAZONS
HKD (http://www.dighkmovies.com) "the blockheads at Celestial have once again seen fit to undermine their restoration efforts by including a terrible, overly aggressive re-mix. New music and sound FX are ineptly layered on top of the originals and sound far too prominent for comfort. The effect is bothersome and constantly takes one out of the movie. It would take up hardly any space at all to also include a 2.0 mono track – so why does the company continue this practice when other releases, like Intercontinental’s own line of Fortune Star titles, extend this courtesy to the true fans of these films? Alas, one can only hope that the more ham-fisted of these re-mixes does not occur on titles you have been waiting ages to see. "

CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS
MrBooth The R3/IVL release of this film is an absolute atrocity! There are new foley effects *everywhere*, fight scenes or not. Mostly you have those f**king footsteps throughout, that mean you end up watching people's feet in most scenes since that's where your attention is drawn... which means you can't help notice that the new footstep sounds aren't even synced with people's feet hitting the ground X( Fight scenes are full of crap sounds for cloth moving and punch impacts and swords clanging etc. Basically every scene has something added to it, and it's all incompetently done. I couldn't watch the film through my hi-fi at all because the new sfx were so distracting, and it was barely tolerable through my TV. Utter abomination... I hope they're building a special level in hell for the people that did this.

COME DRINK WITH ME
dleedlee: Bird Virus.

THE CRIMSON CHARM
MrBooth The now standard footsteps and rustles have been added, but mostly in the fight scenes, and mostly in the first 20 minutes of the film. After this they're still occasionally present, but mixed a lot lower and not too distracting. Still worse than nothing, but one of the least bad audio tracks from recent batches.

Markgway: Remixed in 5.1 Mandarin. New synth music and foley throughout. Very noticeable too (just listen to that thunderclap after the opening credits or the charms exploding) so I would have to consider this a below average example. The sword clangs are original, thankfully. I cut the surround out by listening in mono and not playing the audio too loud which helps a bit.

DEADLY BREAKING SWORD
Markgway
5.1 remixes in Cantonese and Mandarin. Original language is Mandarin, and that's the track I listened to. The remix on the Mandarin track contains the now standard synth logo, some new synth music, nothing too distracting. Also new foley, mainly of the incidental variety (chatter, footsteps, etc). The fight impacts are mostly original, but have been augmented in places with new foley (the clanging of metal weapons, etc).

The remix on the Cantonese track appears on first hearing to be different, but I think that's because the volume is louder and the foley clearer. The Mandarin sounds more muffled with its dialogue for example (as if it's played at 2/3 the volume). Note how Jenny Tseng's theme song sounds much tinnier and open on the Cantonese track. The Mandarin is far from Mono, but to me is marginally closer to it. But both are remixed - along the lines of Legendary Weapons of China, perhaps? - and at any rate purists won't be happy.

DEADLY DUO
Mr.Booth "One title that was absolutely ruined by the fx & music was DEADLY DUO"

A DEADLY SECRET
MrBooth Some new ambient sounds like rain, chains rattling (like little bells) and water splashing. Incompetently done as usual, but only occasional and not too distracting. Original audio has had too much noise-reduction or compression applied and sounds muffled. Not great, but acceptable. Some very minor augmentation of one piece of music with a synth. wtf?

DEATH DUEL
spannick01 5.1 DVD: pointless new music added for short moments, crickets at Night, new SB Logo, some new Birds. Nothing serious.

DEATH VALLEY
from harlem shaw: Presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital. This sound is thankfully left untouched by Celestial hands. There was one incedent of "Cicada" sound effects, but it was barely noticeable so more than likely part of the original soundtrack.

DEMON OF THE LUTE
Mr Booth (IVL, Cantonese): 90% mono, with some augmentation of just a few scenes - mostly of the music. Not too bad.

DESCENDANT OF THE SUN
MrBooth: This one's tricky - the DVD contains both Mandarin and Cantonese audio, and the audio mix is not the same on both - it's definitely more 'beefed' up on the Cantonese track. I don't think there are any added sound effects though, just a meatier mix, so it's quite possible that's how it was originally and Celestial have done no damage. The film *must* be watched in Cantonese anyway, because the voice acting on the Mandarin dub is shrill and doesn't fit the tone of the film

Markgway: Mandarin 5.1 remix. Not bad overall. Only really noticed new foley on the occasional explosions. Most other sound appears to be original. I'd file this under the watchable category.

THE DUEL
Spannick: New Synth added to the Surrounds, horrible new F/X during the whole Movie, all Originals can be heard underneath - unbearable.

DUEL OF FISTS
Spannick: Birds added. Applauding Crowds have been added to the Boxing Matches.

THE ENCHANTRESS
Markgway: Mono, original. No new music or effects.

FAKE GHOST CATCHERS
Markgway: 5.1 remix in Cantonese. Contains some new synth music, but it's used sparingly and in a rather low key fashion. No obvious new foley to my ears. If you can switch to a central speaker (I have a MONO button on my ancient stereo) this seems to render the film without any surround and is as close to an authentic experience as you can hope for from a remixed DVD. Much less offensive than usual.

FIVE TOUGH GUYS
Mr Booth Rife with new sound effects, mostly at the start of the film (lazy engineers!)

THE FUGITIVE
harlem shaw While it is 5.1 DD, it is left relatively untouched. There is one scene in a forest where there is an annoying looped effect that's supposed to sound like cicadas, but its hard to say whether Celestial added it or it's actually part of the original track. Other than this i could find no new sound FX or music to speak of.

GOLDEN SWALLOW
Spannick Birds, Fire Effects added for Scene where Wang Yu burns down the Castle after a Massacre.

HEROES OF THE EAST
from Markgway Remixed 5.1, New synth music and foley. Much of the original foley has been left, unlike certain titles, but is often augmented with new sounds. This is not as distracting for the most part as, say, The Spiritual Boxer, but will disappoint purists nonetheless. See when Yuka Mizuko kicks down a garden wall for example: it now sounds like she did it with dynamite. But weapons effects are not too bad.

THE HEROIC ONES
Spannick extensive Addition of new Synth Music, often replacing the whole Original Sound area. Birds, Crickets, Winds blowing, annoying new Fight F/X, out of synch Sound.
HK VCD and Australian DVD have Original Mono.

fusheng007 Heroic Ones Spanish DVD has original MONO. FRENCH DVD original MONO.

HONG KONG RHAPSODY
dleedlee: Bird virus.

THE INVINCIBLE FIST
MrBooth Some added ambients, rustles & birds etc. Fight foley mixed too low in early scenes but improves before long. Not too bad as these mixes go... just enough to be slightly annoying to those that are troubled by these things (like me)

THE JADE TIGER
fusheng007: FRENCH DVD... The audio hasn't been remixed, but excesss amounts of birds have been added on.

JUDGEMENT OF AN ASSASSIN
Spannick bad Example: new F/X all over the place, all originals can be heard underneath, often with different synching. avoid.

KING BOXER
MrBooth: Pretty severe. All the usual ambient noises like footsteps and beads have been added, too loud as always, and there are lots of new fight sounds (out of sync with the old sounds & on screen actions of course). The main menu features modern techno music, but thankfully they don't seem to have changed or added the music in the actual film.

KING EAGLE
MrBooth there do seem to be new sound effects added to this film, along with a souped-up Shaw Brothers theme (why?). However, it's been done much more competently than most, and to be honest was barely distracting. Still worse than *not adding anything at all*, but not reason enough to avoid this disc.

KILLER CLANS
Spannick Birds, Crickets added. annoying new F/X Added to Fight Scenes, as always the Originals can be heard underneath with different synching. HK VCD is Original Mono.

THE KINGDOM AND THE BEAUTY
Dleedlee: Suffering from 5.1 Bird Virus.

THE KUNG-FU INSTRUCTOR
Markgway 5.1 remix crap.

THE LADY ASSASSIN
Markgway 5.1 remix in both Mandarin and Cantonese (original language)
New foley and synth throughout. Opening credits theme has been tampered with as have lots of music cues. Fight foley has been augmented resulting in new clangs of metal weapons and body blow impacts. The usual added sounds (ie. footsteps) are omnipresent. Overall: a very poor effort.

MrBooth: Wow, so many new sound effects and music cues in this one that it's practically a new soundtrack! In some ways that actually turns out to be better than the half-hearted efforts we usually get, because at least everything is equally crap, so individual pieces of crapness don't leap out and smack you in the teeth so much. Still not as good as *adding absolutely nothing at all*, obviously.

THE LADY HERMIT
Mr.Booth This was the first DVD I watched on my new tv, so my ears aren't quite calibrated to the sound yet... but I think I can still safely say that the SFX butchery on this DVD falls into the 'severe' category... very obvious, with the original audio track often getting muted to almost silence to make room for the added tracks. For some reason it sounded like the stars were being followed by a swarm of bees for the last 20 minutes of the film too...

Spannick: i could not really believe it, but now i checked: LADY HERMIT has Cheng Pei Pei getting on the Horse (at approx 79 mins). the Horse moans loudly, sounding weirdly artificial....i was wondering if this was original and dug out my old VHS. the horse makes no sound at all. the absolutely hilarious fake-sound has been man-made in the celestial Studios....i STILL CANNOT BELIEVE IT. somebody PLEASE wake me up?

THE LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA
Mr.Booth one of the worst remix jobs Celestial have inflicted on us, it seems like the engineer tried to recreate an entirely new sound effects track from about 3 basic sounds, all layered on top of the original audio track as if by a deaf monkey. Almost ruins the film completely

LEGEND OF THE FOX
MrBooth Absolutely rife with new sound effects of every type, and some stupid stereo panning of the original soundtrack on occasion. I don't know if it's just because I'm getting used to it or they are actually improving, but the remixing didn't distract me *too* badly from the film. I watched the Thai disc, btw, but I'm sure it's the same as the HK release.

THE LIZARD
Spannick Birds, Crickets added. Some new Fight F/X Added, as well as Explosion F/X in the Finale. Australian DVD has Original Mono.

LOVE ETERNE
dleedlee: Bird virus. (not too bad but worse than the Cosmo disc)

MAGIC BLADE
Spannick Title Theme Music replaced with generic Synth Music. Crickets and Birds added. HK VCD is remixed too. Australian DVD and Malaysian VCD are Original Mono.

MAGNIFICENT WANDERERS
Spannick: unwatchable Mess with horrible Synth Music and New Effects mixed with the Original Mono still clearly audible.

MARCO POLO
Markgway 5.1 remix in Mandarin. Sadly, new foley and synth to be found throughout. More competent that before, perhaps, but just as obvious and intrusive. Even fight scenes - which sometimes escape the worst excesses - are tampered with here.

MARTIAL ARTS OF SHAOLIN
Mr.Booth "I *think* MARTIAL ARTS OF SHAOLIN had been tampered with too, but if so then it was much less obtrusive than others. Just some sound effects sounded out of place, but that might have been true of the original sound mix."

MARTIAL CLUB
Simon Wyndham "I finally received Martial Club today. Fantastic to see it in 2.35:1 at last with a superb picture! I have one MAJOR gripe however. This time Celestial really have outdone themselves in completely bollocksing up the sound!! WTF are the fighting sound effects doing in the surround channels?! I'm not talking about background fighting here, I'm talking about the sound effects of the main fighters on the screen! The bass is WAAAAY overblow too. There is NO WAY that Dolby approved this, absoluely no way. For the Dolby logo to be used they need to approve each sound mix and have a copy of the final product. With these new sound effects added I cannot for the life of me see how on earth Dolby gave them permission to use their trademark. The resultant effect is absolutely bizarre! I had to turn all surround functions off on my DVD player to get any semblence of bearable sound. They had better get these issues sorted bloody fast because it's completely ruining the films. "

NAVAL COMMANDOS
Markgway Mono.

ODE TO GALLANTRY
Spannick: seemed to be a "Center Channel Mono remix, some added Music & F/X in the surround channels annoyed me, but i switched it off.

ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN
from spannick01 FRENCH DVD for first Movie in the Series has NEW ADDED Fight F/X both Mandarin and French! i was quite horrified to hear this crap, as the IVL DVD has NO added F/X! what the F*CK is going on here? is everybody getting insane? and they even lie to us when writing "Mono d'origine" on the Cover.

NEW ONE-ARMED AND RETURN OF ONE-ARMED
Spannick: NOAS is very audible and non-intrusive, RETURN OF AS has only some birds added, acceptable.

PROUD YOUTH
Spannick: Center Channel seems to be Original Mono, sourrounds have the most annoyingly cheap Synth-Music Celestial has unearthed yet.
Markgway[/b]
5.1 remix in Mandarin. New synth music and occasional foley. Noticeable, but not among the worst examples.

RAW COURAGE
[i]Markgway: Mandarin Mono.

RETURN OF BASTARD SWORDSMAN
Mr Booth This time the music is untouched, but there are a ton of new sound effects (fight sounds, footsteps etc)! Not too bad though - especially if you can turn the surround channels down or off.

RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN
Spannick FRENCH DVD... in unscathed and has a charming Mono-Hiss Sound-Quality, NEW ONE ARMED seems original Mono also on the Mandarin Track. (do not EVER listen to the French track for the latter one - beats CHINESE BOXER in terms of synth Music!).

RETURN OF THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN
Markgway 5.1 remix. I listened to the Mandarin audio. New foley and synth score. HOWEVER, as these things go it's not that badly done. At worst I would consider this a MODERATE remix. If you fancy the film it's worth checking out the DVD.

MrBooth The usual new foley effects, worse at the start than the end (lazy engineers?). Not ruinous.

ROVING SWORDSMAN
Mr.Booth: ROVING SWORDSMAN suffers from added sound effects, mostly during fight scenes but occasionally elsewhere - metal clangs, cloth whooshes etc that are too loud and out of place, and detract from the viewing experience. Not one of the worse jobs, but enough to be a definite nuisance.

SHAOLIN TEMPLE
Spannick: Thunderstorm Effects, Birds. nothing serious.

THE SEXY KILLER
Markgway: The track is labeled on the packaging as 5.1 Mandarin but it sounded like Mono to me the whole way through (a tiny exception being feint chatter in a hospital which seemed separated).

SHAOLIN INTRUDERS
Markgway 5.1 remix in Cantonese. Skimmed thru this one as I saw it in full quite recently. Pretty good as remixes go. Some synth on the stereo, but the audio is mostly original mono. Not major complaints from me.

MrBooth Some rustles and footsteps, mildly-moderately distracting but worse in some scenes than others (some escape tampering altogether). Not too bad.

THE SINGING KILLER
harlem shaw: While the remixed audio does come in to play here, never to the point of distraction like so many other Celestial releases. You can expect the redone SB intro, a couple quick instances of new music,and some added FX during fight scenes (again, which there aren't many of).

SOUL OF THE SWORD
Spannick: Birds added, nothing serious. The German DVD is in Mono and has English Subs.

TALES OF A EUNUCH
from Markgway Remixed 5.1 with new foley (not awful) and new synth music (pretty awful). The biggest shock is in one comedy fight sequence the music goes -- wait for it -- TECHNO!! In a Shaw Bros Period movie!!! My jaw dropped.

TEMPLE OF THE RED LOTUS
Spannick: Music added, horrible new Sound F/X during Fights added. HK VCD is the same remixed Version, complete with Synth SB Logo. only old VHS seems to be intact Mono at the Moment.

THREE SMILES
dleedlee: Bird Virus.

TIGER KILLER (1982)
MrBooth New ambients (fire, birds, water wheels) liberally added, but no footsteps or fight foleys (not much fighting anyway) - distracting in places, but not enough to get very upset by (considering how much worse it could have been anyway)

TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR
dleedlee: Bird Virus

VENGEANCE
Spannick: Thunderstorm Effects, Birds. nothing serious. The German DVD is in Mono and has English Subs.


WANDERING SWORDSMAN
Spannick: unwatchable Mess with horrible Synth Music and New Effects mixed with the Original Mono still clearly audible.

WINNER TAKES ALL
Markgway: Cantonese Mono.

Examples of the pain (from shawscope.com)

If you wonder why people are annoyed or even want to see what the problem is then you need look no futher.

VCD Version
http://www.myonlinefiles.com/Shawscope/SB%...r_VCD_Intro.mpg

DVD Version
http://www.myonlinefiles.com/Shawscope/SB%...r_DVD_Intro.wmv

Some really detailed information from mwalkow

"I've spent some time looking through the last few batches of IVL DVDs I've bought and here's what I've found out:

They seem to have begun their 6.1 remixes with the Sept. 2nd batch. The ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN set (released 8/5) has the standard 5.1 remixes. GHOST EYES and DUEL OF THE CENTURY (the only two of the 8/19 batch I purchased) are both mono. SPIRITUAL BOXER (released 9/2) has the 6.1 remix, as do ANGEL WITH THE IRON FISTS, CRAZY SHAOLIN DISCIPLES, DEADLY DUO (all released 9/24) and CHINESE BOXER (released 10/7).

The slightly less bad news is that there's a wide variation in the quality of these remixes. So far, I think I can divide them into three categories.

1) Relatively subtle 6.1 mixes, which sound similar to their standard 5.1 remixes. CRAZY SHAOLIN DISCIPLES is an example of this. On a 7-channel surround setup, most of the music, dialogue and f/x still comes from the center-channel speaker, closely resembling the original mono track. Only in the fight scenes do some of the sound f/x get diverted to the front left and front right speakers. There's the usual ambient teahouse noises and bird chirps coming from the surround speakers.

2) Obvious but not-too-offensive 6.1 remixes. CHINESE BOXER and SPIRITUAL BOXER are examples of this, though SPIRITUAL has the edge over CHINESE, which has some additional music monkeying happening in it. On these two DVDs, it's clear that something gimmicky is going on, but the added music and f/x are closely matched to the original soundtrack. You get a lot more f/x and audio coming from the front left, front right and surround speakers, but it's difficult to separate the "new soundtrack" from the original one.

3) Poorly-done, hack-sounding 6.1 remixes. ANGEL WITH THE IRON FISTS and THE DEADLY DUO are examples of this. I found these two DVDs nearly unwatchable. It sounds as if you're watching two separate DVDs - one with the original audio coming from the center-channel speaker, and another with the audio coming from the remaining five speakers. New sound f/x are poorly timed and do not cover the original f/x, added music is obtrusive and completely out of place with the original film, and dialogue is muddy and buried due to the audio remixing. I've decided I'm not even going to hold onto these DVDs after a first viewing, the audio is so bad.

This post has been edited by Mr Booth: May 17 2006, 04:37 AM