MONDO CANNIBALE (Bruno Mattei, Philippines/Italy 2004)

DVD / English dub / open matte fullscreen / uncut / no subs / USA

Director: Bruno Mattei (as Vincent Dawn)

English distribution title: Cannibal World
Japanese English title (vhs/dvd): Cannibal Holocaust The Beginning
USA title (dvd): Mondo Cannibal
Title on bootleg dvd from Thomas Weisser's webshop: Cannibal Holocaust 2

Bogus/incorrect info on IMDb: 
"Japan (English title) (DVD box title):  Cannibal Holocaust 2"

 – Obviously, someone couldn't tell the difference between Thomas Weisser's bootleg-dvd and the official Japanese dvd!!!
In fact IMDb lists TWO English titles for the Japanese dvd – needless to say the same dvd doesn't have two different English language titles. Doesn't anybody check their info at the IMDb!?!?!?)


MATTEI REMAKES DEODATO

In 2004 Bruno Mattei remade Ruggero Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST from 1980 and called it MONDO CANNIBALE. He shot the film back to back with NELLA TERRA DEI CANNIBALI (aka Land of Death/In the Land of the Cannibals) in the Philippines with an internationally unknown cast (I haven't been able to find ANY info about the actors apart from the two American expats). The two American expat Filipino actors are Mike Monty and Jim Moss. For some reason they´re both uncredited. Both passed away a couple of years later. Andrew Leavold quoted Nick Nicholson's comments about Jim Moss' passing here.

The American DVD from Intervision is retitled Mondo Cannibal but I'll refer to the film under the film company's international title, CANNIBAL WORLD (why do American labels always have to retitle films to make everything more confusing???)

DVD / English dub / 16:9 widescreen / uncut / japanese subs / unknown origin
(Bootleg off official Japanese dvd)

As I said, CANNIBAL WORLD is a remake of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. I should point out this isn't just me going, "Hmm, I think that scenes resembles this other scene a bit". No, we're talking frame by frame remake here. Done exactly the same way. Just, uh, worse (haha). A film crew goes into the jungle to find natives to do a documentary film about them – exploitation style. After a while the crew goes into taking extreme measures to exploit the locals. If you've seen CH you know what I'm talking about; set village on fire, cut head off young man, rape his girlfriend, stage various scenes, etc.

If you didn't like the original film because there's a turtle being killed I would advise you to stay clear of this as well; there's no turtle killings but a big lizard is being gutted alive.

Mattei also finds time to, once again, reuse cannibal footage from Akira Ide's NUOVA GUINEA: L'ISOLA DEI CANNIBALI (1974). He also did this in his HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1980. 

CANNIBAL WORLD is on a completely different level than CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. While CH is a masterpiece CW is a SOV crap-piece with "actors" who overact like 12 year old kids from theatre class. There are a couple of scenes of women being infuriated and I was cracking up laughing. One of them slapped a curtain out of anger. A curtain!

But apart from this the film also contains a ton of good splatter scenes. And nudity. And cannibals sporting spiffy modern haircuts. Actually, all the cannibals have modern haircuts.

VHS / English dub / uncut / Japanese burnt-in subs / Japan

Now, if you're thinking this is probably a crappy film I fully understand where you're coming from. But you'd be wrong. CANNIBAL WORLD is highly entertaining! No, it's not a "good" movie in the classical sense of the word, but to me a good movie is one that entertains me. A crappy movie is a movie that bores me. One that leaves me feeling I've wasted my time. I was fully entertained by CANNIBAL WORLD and I want to watch it again. Overacting, gore, nudity, Filipino cannibals, what more do you want! – that's a rhetorical question, you don't have to answer it (your answer would most likely be "a better movie").

Finally, a comment about the Intervision NTSC DVD that I've just bought; The picture quality is really good for a DVD (there are no blu-ray releases). However, the label decided to present the film open matte! The Japanese DVD is 16:9 widescreen and by (a quick) comparison I must admit the widescreen framing looks better. But it's a minor gripe and I'm just happy this film (and its companion, Land of Death) is available on DVD. The Intervision release has a trailer for the film in the extras – and that's it!


Japanese trailer (in the wrong format but still)

Turkish 1974 remake of THE EXORCIST now restored and available for free in blu-ray quality (full film)

Now, THIS is something!!! A restored 1080p upload of the Turkish remake of THE EXORCIST!!! And it's for free!

The film is called SEYTAN (aka "Turkish Exorcist" among fans) and it was directed by Metin Erksan in 1974 - the year after the original film came out.

SEYTAN is an almost frame-by-frame remake of THE EXORCIST. However, one difference is that the priests are not Christian but Muslim. And, well, the Turkish film may not be quite as well made and scary as William Friedkin's original film. It's a lowbudget film (all genre films were lowbudget in Turkey in the 70s). But SEYTAN is both a fun flick to watch and it's an interesting watch not least because it's set in a different culture to the film it remakes.

The original version of THE EXORCIST hadn't even played in Turkish cinemas in 1974 so people didn't know what to expect.

No, there's no subs on this upload but as I said it is basically a frame-by-frame remake so you don't need them. I take it you've all seen the original film.

I should point out this is NOT an illegal upload! The film has been uploaded by the copyright holders. I'm told that home cinema formats are a thing of the past in Turkey now. Everything is streaming and download. The film company which owns the film has uploaded a ton of their films to YouTube - for free and all beautifully restored and in 1080p quality. I have no idea how they make money!

PS: forget the haters. This is a multo fun film!

EDIT: Someone is already working of a subtitle file!!!


The full film on YouTube:

South Park S23E02 - full episode

AT BACKYARD ASIA WE STAND WITH HONG KONG

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

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

PS: yeah, that's a royal we.


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

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

ORUMCEK (THE SPIDER) - trailer

Old trailer for ORUMCEK - THE SPIDER from Bill Barounis' ONAR FILMS YouTube channel. Some dildo made a claim and YouTube took it down. Here it is again!

The Last Pinoy Action King - trailer

Directed by Andrew Leavold
Australia/Philippines (2015)
Documentary film

THE KILLER ELEPHANTS (Thailand 1976) - trailer

aka Rumbling the Elephant 
Thailand 1976
Director: Som Kit

For credits on HKMDB click here.

  

Trailer for the film in its original 4:3 fullscreen format (uploaded to this blog):

The same trailer on IFD's official YouTube channel but stretched to fake widescreen:

GUNMAN FROM NOWHERE (Taiwan 1988) - trailer

GUNMAN FROM NOWHERE
Taiwan 1988
Director: Chang Chi-Yong

Awesome trailer. When it kicks off you'll think it's a comedy but soon turns into a mega violent crime flick.

For credits on HKMDB go here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MORO WITCH DOCTOR (Philippines 1964) Dir: Eddie Romero

Original title: AMOK

Mexican lobby card

I bought this Mexican lobby card of Eddie Romero's MORO WITCH DOCTOR (1964) from a Mexican seller on eBay years ago. I still haven't got a copy of the film and it seems it's not released anywhere.

Film credits on Andrew Leavold's blog. Go here.

Searching for Weng Weng ... and every single actor who was ever in an old genre flick from the Philippines

Ken Metcalfe in his office circa mid 80s (Photo courtesy of Carl Kuntze)
Photo from Andrew Leavold's new Filipino blog.
PS: Do notice the posters!

Checking Andrew Leavold's facebook page is like flipping thru a "who's who" of Filipino genre film actors and actresses from the 1970s and '80s. If an actor or actress doesn't pop up there at some stage, next to a grinning Leavold, it may very well mean they've left this dimension. It seems he has a knack for tracking them down at one point or another.

Now, to even further catalogue these actors from Filipino cinema Andrew has recently begun work on a new blog entitled "Name That Filipino Actor!"

If you have any interest in old Filipino genre flicks, and if you often wonder who the hell some white "gwilo" dude (or dudette) in some semi lost Filipino-US production is then ... check out Andrew's blog! They're not all there (yet) but the number is growing and quite a few of his posts promise much more info to come.
Highly recommend for fans of Filipino genre cinema.

For "Name That Filipino Actor!" go here.

L-R: Andrew Leavold, Leo G. Martinez, Don Gordon Bell
(Photo courtesy of Leavold)

Here's a recent photo (19. January 2019) of Andrew and Don Gordon Bell who met up with Leo G. Martinez for an interveiw. Martinez was in and worked on many films by Cirio H. Santiago.

THE ENCHANTING GHOST (Hong Kong 1970) dir: Chou Hsu-Chiang

Original HK poster (from HKMDB)

I've just watched the Shaw Brothers horror film THE ENCHANTING GHOST from 1970. Today's Netflix audiences would probably moan and feel faint due to the lack of gore, torture, jump scares and special effects - but I loved it.
 

It's a Chinese costume drama about a young male scholar (played by Yang Li-Hua, incidentally a lovely young woman) who loses her home due to her wicked uncle and thus has to move into an abandoned, haunted ruin outside of town. The setting is very much like that of A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987). 

The young scholar discovers that a young, beautiful woman (Chang Mei-Yao) has already moved into the haunted house with her dying mother. The scenes in and around the house all look to be made on a stage and they're very colourful. I love the fact that you can see it's a stage. I love the colours and the crisp dialogue. I love the Chinese music in the film and the superb acting. Was I scared? No, not at all. But then again what does scare a seasoned horror fan?

Celestial put out the film a decade ago but for some reason they decided to only include it in their video-cd line. However, it was later release on DVD by Zoke Culture over in mainland China. I've got both releases and they look wonderful. However, 88 Films in the UK have recently put out a spiffy blu-ray release of the film (which I haven't got).

HK video-cd (Celestial) Mandarin audio/English & Chinese subs

I tried to look up the film in my HK film books but none of them include the film. This - and the fact that I have never come across any other release in any format - makes me suspect Celestial's VCD is the very first home cinema release of the film. 

Before watching the THE ENCHANTING GHOST and before writing this review I hadn't read one single review of the film. I have absolutely no idea of what other fans or reviewers think about it. But then again, I couldn't care less. I loved the film and I highly recommend it to fans of world-weird cinema/horror and open minded film-goers in general.

Mainland China DVD (Zoke) Mandarin audio/English & Chinese subs

UK DVD & blu-ray (88 Films) Mandarin/English subs

THE ENCHANTING GHOST on HKMDB:


TRAILER:

 

RED SPELL SPELLS RED (Hong Kong 1983)

Poster (Thailand)

Country: Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese
Genre: Horror
Release Date: 11/09/1983
Box Office: HK $4,106,595.00

Director: Titus Ho Wing-Lam
Script: Amy Chan Suet-Ming
Action Director: San Sin
Producer: Stephen Chan Chue-Kwong

Cast:
Kent Tong Chun-Yip          
Poon Lai-Yin (Stella Lok)
Ga Lun          
Wan Ting-Fong          
Hussein Hassan          
Stanley Tong Gwai-Lai (Film crew member)
Wong Tiong-Hock          
Leung Hoi-Tin          
San Sin (Taoist)
Choi Kam-Lung          
Mahyon Ismail          
Mun Yiu-Wah (Film crew member)
Yu Yiu-Leung          
Fong Yue (1) (Villager)
Wong Hung (1) (Villager)
Jackson Ng Yuk-Sue (Taoist's man)

Distributor: Yat Gwong (Hong Kong)
Production Manager: Chik Yiu-Cheong
Sound Recordist: Chang Hua
Script Supervisor: Amy Chan Suet-Ming
Planning: Stephen Chan Chue-Kwong
Lighting: Tse Ban
Makeup: Choi Siu-Jan
Story: Nikko Creative Department
Props: Hui Wan-Hoi
Cinematographers: Wong Wing-Lung, Chen Yung-Shang
Editor: Wu Kee-Charm
Presenter: Edward Hoh Yue-Yip
Assistant Directors: Stanley Tong Gwai-Lai, Yu Yiu-Leung
Composers: Shing Wai-Yip, So Chung-Shing (1)

Filming Location: Hong Kong

NB: Above credits info borrowed from HKMDB

Bootleg DVD available from Far East Flix.

STRYKER (Cirio H. Santiago, US/Philippines 1983) blu-ray/Kino Lorber

I'm just about to post about a new(ish) cool blu-ray release of one of Cirio H. Santiago's MAD MAX II clone flicks, and it occurs to me that it's been almost four years since I posted about Santiago's most recent post-apocalypse film, WATER WARS. A film which also, unfortunately, became Santiago's last film before he passed away. He didn't even finish the film shoot and Jim Wynorski had to take over directing the remaining part (go here for my old post).

During the three and a half years between then and now we have been blessed with a good number of blu-ray releases of cool Cirio H. Santiago US/Filipino coproductions filmed in the Philippines. Code Red have put out a handful of these films (cheers, Bill Olsen, you madman!) but the film I'm posting about here is from the good people at Kino Lorber (USA). STRYKER from 1983.

MAD MAX came out in 1979 but it's not really a post-apocalypse film, and it wasn't until 1981 that the genre took off as we know it thanks to MAD MAX II (which the American distributor retitled "The Road Warrior" to hide that it was a sequel to a film released by another label). When the Italians saw how popular MM II became they were quick to jump on the bandwagon and put out their own "MAD MAX" films (plural!) in 1982. And over in the Philippines Cirio H. Santiago thought, "Hey, I can do that!" and so in 1983 he made STRYKER! And just like the Italians made not just one clone but a whole series of MAD MAX clones, Santiago followed STRYKER with no less than six Filipino MAD MAX clones (knock-offs, rip-offs, call 'em what you want); RAIDERS OF THE SUN, DUNE WARRIORS, WHEELS OF FIRE, THE SISTERHOOD, EQUALIZER 2000 and WATER WARS (working title: "Road Raiders").

EDIT: I forgot one of Cirio H. Santiago's post-apocalypse films; He didn't do six other films but seven!! (eight in total). The last one is FUTURE HUNTERS. I urge you to read Andrew Leavold's incisive and info filled review here.


PLOT: We're in the wasteland. A narrator (in an Aussie accent, of course) informs us about the end of the world as we know it. Or rather knew it. It went into the toilet long ago and now the most precious thing is petrol, uh, I mean water!

When the film kicks off a gang of lowlifes are chasing after a young woman in the sand dunes - where she kinda lives (?). They want her ... water! She's then rescued by two good guys which both just happened to drive past. One of the guys is our main character and hero, Stryker, played by Steve Sandor. Sandor was once a bad guy in the cool exploitation flick BONNIE'S KIDS (1972) and he was also in heaps of psychotronic stuff on TV. Very odd to think of when you watch STRYKER; The thing is Sandor has the charisma and facial expressions of a tree log.

I'm not going to bother going into more detail of the plot line. Santiago wrote it on the back of a half burnt matchbox and I've already said more than what was on said box of matches. There are some bad guys, some good guys, there are some sexy amazons (their leader was a playboy centrefold), they drive around, they fight, they take revenge, and they all wear Mad Max style clothes. And  Stryker is a loner. If you're familiar with Filipino cinema it won't surprise you when you see scenes of 20-25 dwarfs popping up out of the dunes to attack people. Those dwarfs were in so many films I've lost count. According to Andrew Leavold a lot of them worked at the same "dwarf restaurant" between making films. I'm not kidding you!

The film is probably made on the same budget that MAD MAX II spent on catering. On one day's worth of catering mind you. But kudos to Cirio and his inventive crew who made the cars, motorbikes, and other futuristic vehicles look so bloody cool.

I quite like STRYKER. It's a fun film. Some of the dialogue is slow and there's a couple of romantic scenes that are so schmaltzy you feel like you're gonna lose your lunch. Hahaha. 

If there's one thing I wish they had done differently it's to find another actor for the lead part. I dare you to find another actor in the film that has as few facial expressions as Steve Sandor. Even the Playboy centrefold has more!


THE BLU-RAY
If I wanted to watch the film before I got this new spiffy blu-ray release from Kino Lorber I had to dig out my old VHS tape from Greece. Worn, fullscreen and big Greek subtitles that cover a third of the screen. This new blu-ray (from 2017) is certainly a most welcome release (they also put out a dvd release). Unfortunately, in contradiction to say Code Red, Kino Lorber didn't bother to mention what source was used for the blu-ray. Was it a film negative, a 35mm print, a betamaster, or what? But in any case the print looks good. Slightly worn and the colours are kind of faint. But that's alright, it suits the film. There are a handful of trailers (for Santiago's other post-apocalypse films) and a commentary track by Jim Wynorski. The film has optional English subs. That's it!

Go here for a smashing interview Andrew Leavold did with Cirio H. Santiago in 2007.

Filipino remake of A BETTER TOMORROW back on YouTube

FILIPINO A BETTER TOMORROW (Willie Milan, 1992) is back on YouTube. Several Filipino film channels have kept putting it up and taking it down again, and I got sick of that and uploaded the bloody thing myself. There's actually a current upload from yet another Filipino film channel but they fucked up the settings and the picture is about half the size of what it should have been! This entertaining remake is completely ignored by film sites and fans! I wish somebody would put the film out on English friendly DVD or blu-ray in good picture quality but unfortunately I have my doubts that'll ever happen. Go here for the new and better upload and to check my old info filled post about the film.

ASIAN CINEMA TAKEOUT fanzine No. 1 out now!

My buddy David K and Jessie Midnitecrawlr have just published the first issue of a new review fanzine on Asian cinema entitled ASIAN CINEMA TAKEOUT! I'm on board as a writer and there's a bunch of other spiffy folks there as well. The zine is 20pp and it's scheduled to get released every two months.

Apart from a limited print edition exclusively for the fanzine's writers, the mag is going to be purely a gratis print-on-demand zine; In other words you print your own edition. For free. Either that or download and read it as a PDF file.

To download/print go here.

Ho Meng-Hua's BLACK MAGIC 2 coming to blu-ray soon

Woah!!! Ho Meng-Hua's BLACK MAGIC, PART 2 is being released on blu-ray! This is one of my all time fave HK horror flicks. Dark and wild. DARK AND WILD!!! Part one is good but this is way better! It took years and years of waiting to get to see this. It never received a release in any format in HK. There was ONE vhs release in the USA - cut beyond belief (missing ten minutes). Eventually they put out a reg. 1 dvd.

Film credits on HKMDB

From 88 Films in the UK.

THE SNAKE QUEEN - composite print on ultra limited DVD

I've just finished watching my new THE SNAKE QUEEN dvd. It's limited to 20 copies!!! (pressed, not dvd-r). I own the Greek vhs version but this one is pretty cool; it's a fan composite that mixes the Greek vhs and the Indonesian versions (off an Indonesian Betamax tape and an Indonesian VCD). Both Indo versions contain alternative edits of the film. We all thought the Greek tape was uncut but, nope, it's missing quite a few scenes. No violence or gore, but still. The Indo bits are subbed in English.
The film is awesome. Made in Indonesia in 1982 and stars Suzzanna, Barry Prima, George Rudy and some more familiar faces. Needless to say, like 99% of all old Indo flicks it's never been released on dvd. You can read about it in Pete Tombs' "Mondo Macabro" book.

STONE BOY (Ph. 1982) dir: J. Erastheo Navoa

Original titel: Rocco, Ang Batang Bato
aka Boy God

Australia / VHS / fullscreen / English audio
hi-res scan

If you look up "Wild, crazy, weird Filipino cinema" in the encyclopaedia it has a picture of this film next to it. I swear! I don't even know how to describe this film. And don't be fooled by the fact that it has a fucken kid in the lead role. It's not a kid's movie. Anyhoo, I'm not going to review the film for now but I highly recommend that you check out Andrew Leavold's post about the film. He knows his shit about this! And if you don't believe me here's a photo of him and Nino Muhlach who played the main character in STONE BOY. 

Photo: courtesy of Andrew Leavold

THE WARRIOR AND THE NINJA (Indonesia 1983) H. Tjut Djalil

aka The Warrior and the Ninja Girls

Greece / VHS / half lbx / Eng. dub / Greek subs
hi-res scan

The first English dubbed THE WARRIOR sequel is THE WARRIOR AND THE NINJA (original title: Bajing Ireng Dan Jaka Sembung). Directed by H. Tjut Djalil (1983) who also directed LADY TERMINATOR, MYSTICS IN BALI, and many more. It was followed by THE WARRIOR AGAINST THE BLIND SWORDSMAN. There are two more sequels but they've never been dubbed or subbed into English.

Common Courtesy

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

THE LETHAL HUNT (Philippines, 1985)

Original title: Partida
Directed by: Ben G. Yalung
Starring: Fernando Poe Jr
For full credits list check Andrew Leavold's blog

VHS / Greece / fullscreen / English dub / Greek subs / uncut afaik
300 dpi hi-res scan

Not to be confused with the Indonesian film THE LETHAL HUNTER (also on this blog)

THE DAY THEY ROBBED AMERICA (Philippines 1985) [REVIEW]

Original Filipino English title: The Sangley Point Robbery
aka American High Commando

VHS / Greece / fullscreen / English dub / Greek subs / uncut afaik
300 dpi hi-res scan

Dir: Manuel 'Fyke' Cinco

I'm not even sure if I should post this review on my When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines blog or on my Backyard Asia blog! Hell, maybe I'll do both!

The thing is, the latter is a blog about wild and crazy Asian films and the first is dedicated to Vietnam War flicks made in the Philippines. And Manuel "Fyke" Cinco's THE DAY THEY ROBBED AMERICA is part Vietnam War flick - kinda without actually being a Vietnam War flick - and part wild and crazy Asian movie!

Most of these Filipino Vietnam War films are filmed in the Philippines but they're set in the Vietnam War which took place in, well, Vietnam, obviously. But this film, while it does take place during the Vietnam War, and while it does star a soldier who's just been fighting in the Viet Cong, the film is actually set in the Philippines! And lots of wild and crazy stuff take place! But, hey, it's been a long while since I wrote my last review of a Filipino Vietnam War movie and I'm stalling. Grab your beer and let's get going with the plot.

1971. An American soldier in Vietnam is captured and tortured by the Viet Cong. The soldier is played by a gwilo called James Acheson who I've never seen in any other film but according to the bloody IMDb he was also in the Vietnam War movie P.O.W. THE ESCAPE from 1986. The Viet Cong kidnap his girlfriend and they're going, "If you don't tell us what we want to know we're gonna off yer girlfriend". The American soldier knows bloody well he's out of luck so he goes, "Fuck you and fuck the horse you rode in on". Fortunately, his mates arrive just in time to save him and kill the Viet Cong. Unfortunately, they've already off'ed his gf. After this he's a mental wreck and the army send him to a US base in the Philippines.

In the Philippines Rudy Fernandez plays a cop who kills a bad dude in the line of duty and decides to quit the force as a result. The bad dude's brother is obviously pissed off and asks one of his henchmen to off the cop, but the henchman dude misses his mark and shoots the cop's dad instead. The cop, who's really a good law-abiding feller, then decides to participate in a bank robbery in order to pay for his dad's operation. He's got a wife and a girlfriend and neither of them are happy about the situation (!).

The ex cop and his posse of misfits plan to hit the American bank at the army base (!!) and needless to say it all goes terribly wrong. In the middle of the robbery a ton of American soldiers start shooting at them (what did they expect!), and the American solder who returned from Nam, his gf works at the bank and the ex cop and his gang kidnap her to use as a shield. They let her go soon enough but it still leaves her completely traumatised (quite funny actually, earlier on in the film she said to the soldier, who had experienced heinous things in Vietnam and had seen his ex girlfriend get killed in front of him, "you gotta leave all this behind and move on". Well, obviously she didn't handle being kidnapped for half an hour too well as she ends up traumatised in a wheelchair!). The ex Nam soldier decides to go on a revenge spree and starts to hunt down the cop and his mates one by one.

This is a quick run down of the plot and there's a lot that I'm leaving out. THE DAY THEY ROBBED AMERICA is a wild and obscure film - but also slow in places and talkative. Obscure because the film doesn't stay in just one genre. It's part Vietnam War movie, part cop flick, part vigilante film, and it's part ... crazy Asian. It's not least obscure because we've actually got two main characters, the ex Vietnam soldier turned vigilante - and the ex cop turned bank robber. Neither of them is a bad person, and as a viewer we feel for the both of them. It's a dilemma and makes for a different and captivating storytelling in a genre that, despite being entertaining, is often more straight forward than straight forward.

In addition to  Rudy Fernandez I also noticed a few other well known faces, Nick Nicholson, David Light, and a few more. You can check the complete credits list on Andrew Leavold's blog.

Highly recommended.


VERSION REVIEWED: Greek ex-rental VHS. Fullscreen, English dub, Greeke subtitles, good picture quality.

ZUMA 2: HELL SERPENT (rare English dubbed print!!!) (full film)

 In 2011 I posted a clip from a very rare English dubbed version of the Filipino film ZUMA 2 - HELL SERPENT (aka Anak Ni Zuma). The film was available on an un-English friendly VCD out of the Philippines but nobody seemed to have the English dubbed print.

However, somebody has not only found a print but has found a print and uploaded it to YouTube! In all its VHS glory! My guess is it comes off a Malaysian or Indonesian VHS tape. The two sets of subs look Malaysian and Chinese to me. I'll embed the film here and hopefully it'll stay on YouTube but you never know how long these things get to stay so I'd recommend you save a copy for yourself.



Thanks to Ira Brooker and someone on Facebook whose name escapes me now for letting me know about the upload. Cheers mates!

ONCE UPON A TIME IN TRIAD SOCIETY (Cha Chuen-Yee, HK 1996)

I've just watched ONCE UPON A TIME IN TRIAD SOCIETY for the first time and now I'm kicking myself in the head for having had it on my shelf for bloody five years without watching it. It is awesome! So different, so inventive, so smart and clever. Different from any other HK film I've seen, and mind you this isn't even some art-house film, it's "just" a clever gangster film - and somehow it's the complete opposite of THE KILLER, the message in this one is trust no one, everyone's bad, everything is a lie, and the main character bad guy (Francis Ng) isn't good underneath it all, he's just a cunt. But even so has sympathetic features. 

Five years ago this Malaysian DVD was the only DVD release of the film anywhere in the world and it might still be. A quick google turns up zilch. The DVD carries the burnt-in theatrical HK subs in English and Chinese (and optional Malay subs). There's an unrelated sequel by the same director.

People who complain about the level of medical attention in their home country should try and seek help at a Hong Kong hospital. Here's a scene of a guy's been shot in the chest and a nurse is trying to save his life putting a Kleenex on the wound. o_O

PS: by the way, the hot nurse in the screen grab is poor Pauline Chan. Six years later she jumped out a 24th floor window. Her sad story is on Wiki.

The LOST sequel to THE BIG BOSS is finally getting released to home-cinema!!!

 EDIT: don't bother to read this post! It seems it was the usual bullshit nonsense. No big official release of the film after all. 
/Jack J






Awesome news!!!


THE BIG BOSS PART 2 starring Lo Lieh and Bruce Le from 1976 (which I strongly believe is an official sequel to Bruce Lee's THE BIG BOSS) is finally getting a blu-ray release!!!

Years ago I posted about the film and the elusive 35mm copy that the person behind the South African video label Globe owned and later sold off to a cinema in Zambia. Well, it seems he DID make a copy (I have no idea in which format - dvd-r maybe?) before he sold off his 35mm print to the Zambian cinema, and he has now sold off his copy (dupe) to a label. They (the label) wrote to me recently because they though I owned a 35mm print (as I had re-uploaded the Globe guy's 10 min footage to YouTube). I am certain it's the same label. I won't mention who they are till there's an official announcement but it's a good, well-known label in the USA. No release date yet.

I have the info about the Globe guy's copy from a post of his on Kung Fu Fandom message board from last Tuesday.

This is indeed great news and I can't wait to see the film. I'm fully aware that fans of "real" martial arts films consider BIG BOSS PART 2 to be a piece of shite like the rest of the brucesploitation films. But I kinda come from the other side of "karate film" fandom, the "dark side" if you will, I'm totally into trashy B movies and as I said I can't wait to see this.

Finally. After fuck knows how many years I've been looking for a copy. I tried several times to get a copy from the Globe guy but without any luck.

Here's a link to my old main post about the film (which includes the trailer and 10 minutes of footage which was uploaded by the Globe guy). And here's the entry for the film at the Hong Kong Movie Data Base.

BLACK CAT 2: The Assassination of President Yeltsin (HK 1992)

I just rewatched Stephen Shin's Hong Kong film BLACK CAT 2 from 1992. Not surprisingly it's a sequel to BLACK CAT (1991) also directed by Stephen Shin. The film's original cinema title is actually BLACK CAT 2: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT YELTSIN, hahaha.

Anyhoo, while the first film is a direct remake of Luc Besson's French film NIKITA, the sequel is a film all of its own. I remember when it came out 20 years ago, nobody - as in NOBODY - had anything positive to say about the film and, uh, maybe I bought into that notion a bit. I remember watching the film many years ago and disliking it not least because I thought there were simply too many gwailos in it. LOL. 

It's been a number of years since I watched the first film so this time I was able to watch the sequel as a stand alone film and quite frankly I enjoyed it quite a bit. No, it's probably not all that well written in the plot department, and no, the main character of the film, the "Black Cat" aka Erica, isn't even really the main character in the film. She's so two-dimensional that she comes across as a cartoon character, no depth what so ever. 

What saves the film are the action scenes, the shoot-out scenes and the fight scenes. And they come aplenty. As I said the first film is a remake and maybe because Stephen Shin & Co. actually had to come up with a plot of their own this time they kinda forgot what kind of character Erica is (a hitman). Instead they turned her into almost a cyborg. If part 1 was Nikita this film is Terminator 2!!! 

The ending is terrible but, hey, that's just Hong Kong for ya. But don't worry, there's two more sequels, BLACK CAT IN JAIL (2000) and THE BLACK CAT AGENT FILES (2003). Part 3 is right out terrible and part 4 only exists on unsubbed DVD (after having owned part 4 for something like a full decade I still haven't bothered to watch it). 

I highly recommend part 1. It's a better film than the film it remakes! Part 2 is recommended for those of you who are able to accept a wild action movie with a shit plot. Forget about part 3 and 4 and watch part 1 again. 

PS: it's a old (and now stained due to being right next to the coffee machine) poster from one of the Chinese cinemas in Melbourne on my wall. I actually watched BLACK CAT there in the early 90's.

WATER WARS (Philippines/USA 2011) - trailer

Original title: Road Raiders

Cirio H. Santiago's last film.

Last MAD MAX 2 clone from Santiago now on DVD

I posted about WATER WARS, Cirio H. Santiago's last film, way back in 2011. The film is yet another MAD MAX 2 post-apocalypse rip-off (and yay to that!) from the Philippines. The initial title was Road Raiders but it was later retitled WATER WARS.

Unfortunately, Santiago passed away during production and apparently Jim Wynorski had to finish the film. It dawned on me a couple of days ago that WATER WARS is now on DVD in Thailand!! (I'm told it actually came out last year!). As far as I know, the Thai DVD is the only release worldwide. I placed my order last week but haven't received the film yet. According to the webstore in Thailand the DVD carries the English dubbing.

A few people have pointed out that WATER WARS uses quite a bit of footage from WHEELS OF FIRE, another of Santiago's post-apocalypse films that he shot in the Philippines. And that the film isn't all that great. Oh well, on this blog we (royal "we") often find great entertainment in pop-culture that the squares and mainstreamers discard as trash. Maybe it is trash but I've seen quite a few flicks in my time that delivered heaps of entertainment despite (or because of) their being trash. Let's wait and see. I knew I had to, simply haaaad to, order a copy when I found out the film had been released.

More info on the disc as I receive it. The DVD is available from eThaiCD. I've never had any problems with them and they've got free postage worldwide!

BRUNO MATTEI's best post 2000 film finally getting a release Stateside

Cover for the upcoming reg. 1 DVD

Bruno Mattei's THE JAIL: A WOMAN'S HELL is finally getting a DVD release in the US. Needless to say, regular readers of this blog know the film was released on a spiffy English friendly DVD in the Czech Republic quite a few years ago (and it was a pain to order thru a Czech language website lemme tell you!! Haha). There's a Japanese release as well. But in any case, I'm certainly happy Mattei's cool film is finally getting released to a wider audience. The label is Intervision Picture Corp which also released Mattei's two post 2000 cannibal films and his two post 2000 zombie films.

Cover for the old Czech DVD

In my opinion THE JAIL is the best film of the lot! In fact it has everything, torture, gore, nudity, girls. It is everything, WIP film, jungle film, cannibal film, gore movie. It's an Italian film but mind you it's a Filipino exploitationer as well (it was filmed entirely in the Philippines)!

By this stage Yvette Yzon had become somewhat of a Bruno Mattei regular in lead roles and she's in this one as well. Also Filipino film regulars Mike Monty and Jim Gaines are in this as well (Monty in a blink-and-you'll-miss him role. He looked ill and passed away shortly after the film was made). According to Intervision's facebook page they've done a brand new interview with Yvette Yzon for the DVD.

I uploaded this old Yvette Yzon interview five years ago but it's still pretty cool. My old channel also has a Bruno Mattei interview from the same set but it's in Italian only.



Trailer:

Update #2

Whoever uploaded the way cool RAW FORCE trailer decided to delete it again. Fortunately I had already copied the trailer and have just uploaded it again for your enjoyment! :P

Awesomeness right here.

Update

Filipino John Woo remake is back up.

The YouTube channel that originally uploaded DALAWA MAN ANG BUHAY MO, PAGSASABAYIN KO, i.e. the Filipino remake of John Woo's Hong Kong masterpiece A BETTER TOMORROW, was closed down by Youtube but fortunately several other channels have uploaded the film, and I have updated the embedded link in my post. Go here

PS: unfortunately one of the YouTube channels got the film confused with another movie called BARIL KO... ANG UUSIG! I've watched the beginning of the "wrong" movie and it looks alright - but you'll be disappointed if you expect a BETTER TOMORROW remake!

In any case, the correct film is (again) embedded on this site.

EDIT: For fuck's sake!!!!! The YouTube channel that re-uploaded the film has closed down and the film is gone again. Bloody hell!!! I might upload it myself at some stage. 

W (Philippines 1978)

aka W IS WAR

One of my very first blog posts was a review of the Filipino MAD MAX 2 clone W (aka W is War on US VHS) seven years ago. And it just dawned on me that I forgot to post the trailer, hahaha. No, seriously, I spent all night last night going thru Filipino films and trailers uploaded by good people - who may or may not live in the 'Pines - and one of the cool findings was this trailer for W. I'm not sure if I've posted it here before but anyway here it is. I'm afraid it's not an original Filipino trailer but, judging by the subs, comes from a video tape from Finland.

The lead was played by Anthony Alonzo, who, according to Nick Nicholson, was a "top gay" (and later died from AIDS, also according to Nicholson). Nick talked about it in an e-mail to Andrew Leavold (about another movie called TRIDENT FORCE. Go here).

W was directed by Willie/Wilfredo Milan and three years later Milan made a sort of sequel entitled MAD WARRIOR (aka Clash of the Warlords). There's no official DVD release for W (which is insane) but there are several VHS releases. My own tape is from Japan.


My original, seven year old review:

W (aka W is War)
At first they made MAD MAX II down under. Then the Italians ripped off Max by the bucket load. And then the Filipinos followed. What am I talking about? Post-apocalyptic films of course!! LOL. Sometime in the future - after WW III. Ha ha. W (aka W is War) is from the Philippines and it's very entertaining! Gangs of futuristic bikers are controlling the land. Well, sort of. And the Filipino version of Max has to stop them. Firstly, obviously, he has to build a Mad Max wannabe car, ha ha. Very cool indeed. And the chicks look better in this one. The funny thing with W is that in contradiction to the original Aussie film and all the Italo rip-offs director Willie Milan didn't actually bother trying to make the landscape and the cities look very futuristic when he made this back in '83. However, it's totally cool anyway and as I said it's very entertaining + violent, and some of the plot-line is just... unexpected (I'll do a proper review at some later stage in my mag). There's also a sequel entitled MAD WARRIOR (aka CLASH OF THE WARLORDS) which I simply have to find now. Of course none of them are out on DVD so you'll have to see you can can find an old video release somewhere (my version of W is from Japan). Very recommended!

BLIND RAGE (Philippines, 1978) - trailer

Starring Tony Ferrer, Charlie Davao, Leila Hermosa, Carlos Padilla Jr., Max Alvarado, Subas Herrero, Jose Garcia, Val Iglesia, Rocco Montalban, Ben Dato, Romy Nario, Telly Babasa, Carlos Diaz, Belo Borja, Rey Sagum, Golay, Mande Bustamante, Fred Param, Eddie Miriaflor, Leo Fong, SOS Daredevils and Fred Williamson / Directed by Efren C. Piñon

NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN - trailer

NB: No avatar but the trailer does work! 

Directed by: Andrew Meyer (USA/Philippines, 1972)
On reg. 1 DVD from Scorpion Records.

Fully uncut CHINATOWN KID found on Danish VHS

Although I usually don't post about kung-fu films this is pretty exciting. A fully uncut version of Shaw Brothers CHINATOWN KID has turned up on ex-rental VHS in Denmark.

The tape runs just under 110 minutes (PAL) while the DVD from Celestial runs a mere 86 minutes and to add insult to injury the DVD uses an alternative "happy ending". The Danish VHS is fully uncut and uses the original ending.

Big thanks to Diabolik for this info (and cover scan).

Update

I've just updated the old "Alternative Versions of Hong Kong Movies" post. The old list was from 2008 but I've found a newer version of the list from 2015. You'll find it here.

BLOOD THIRST (USA/Philippines 1971) [REVIEW]

aka BLOOD SEEKERS / 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


by JACK J

Young, beautiful women are being bumped off by a mysterious killer in the vicinity of a nightclub in downtown Manilla. The head of police (played by a young and less plumb Vic Diaz) runs to the phone and calls an American detective friend (played by Robert Wilson Mercy) who has specialised in mysterious killers who bump off beautiful, young women. The American friend arrives and soon after goes under cover as a writer with an interest in bumped off beaut... well, you get the point.

He also runs into the police chief's sister (unavoidable romance ensues), local goons, scantly clad nightclub dames (relatively scantly clad anyway. The film was probably made in the 60s altho not released until '71), and eventually a monster so diabolical your blood will freeze and you'll be tossing and turning because of the nightmares you'll be getting (I'm exaggerating by a million). Half of the film is set in the nightclub, the dialogue is aplenty, and the action and horror scenes kept to a minimum.

BLOOD THIRST is by no means a great film. Not even if we only compared it to other Filipino horror films. But I liked it and thought it had its charm.

The film has a laid back obscureness to it that I though was cool. Also, the film being so old, made way before the American-Filipino coproductions we're so familiar with from Roger Corman (i.e. mostly made in the 70s), makes for an interesting watch.

The fact that the actors are unfamiliar faces (except Vic Diaz who was probably in every Filipino film made in the 60s and 70s!!!) makes it almost seem like it's from another Philippines. Bizarro Philippines. And just who was Scandinavian sounding Yvonne Nielson??

I liked the crisp black & white look as well - and not least the cool jazz score thru out the film. And with a running time of just over 70 minutes it doesn't overstay its welcome.

THE DVD:

I watched Vinegar Syndrome's release from their "Drive-In Collection" series. The film is backed with another US-Filipino film called THE THIRSTY DEAD. Both films have also been released by Something Weird Video. VS's print is from a 35mm print presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and it looks fantastic!

There's a wee bit of noise and worn print around reel ends but that's alright and if nothing else means the film wasn't shot on fucking video. The SWV dvd is presented fullscreen and it's definitely not the way you wanna watch the film once you've seen the print from VS! Neither release carries any extras related to the film.

Andrew Leavold also reviewed the film on his blog and had this piece of interesting titbit to say:

"Robert Wilson Mercy, the smug big-chinned former stuntman and bit player who plays our Ugly American hero, has made his presence felt on the net recently, leaving some outrageous claims in unsuspecting chatrooms: that he made more lost films in the Philippines with director Newt Arnold, who he describes as one-eyed and with a malformed hand; that he was offered the role of James Bond in a serious version of Casino Royale – but he was making a B-film in Manila at the time and couldn’t get out of the contract; and that he’s stalking the producers of the next Bond film offering his services as Daniel Craig’s nemesis. I say to Robert Wilson Mercy: the world may have gotten Woody Allen as James Bond instead, but we still have your career’s crowning glory, the 1971 Blood Thirst."

I'd love to find out what other films Newt Arnold directed in the Philippines and where they are now. Are they lost? Did they get finished? Have they been screened anywhere?

You'll find a better and more incisive review here.

The credits list is borrowed from Andrew Leavold's blog.