Oh Pam

Here's an unlisted YouTube clip from Shout! Factory from their new DVD release of THE ARENA which stars Pam Grier! Niiice!! The film is part of Shout's LETHAL LADIES Vol. 2 set, the other two films are Cirio H. Santiago's rarely seen COVER GIRL MODELS and FLY ME. I cry every morning when I discover I still haven't received the box from Amazon. :(

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!!!

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

The Mighty Peking Man on Dutch vhs - finally finding a proper home!

aka COLOSSUS OF CONGO / GOLIATHON / DEN AFSKYELIGE SNEMAND / DER KOLOSS VON KONGA

I've been wanting the Dutch VHS release of Ho Meng Hua's THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN (starring Danny Lee & Evelyne Kraft) for years and years! In the early 90s I taped it off German satellite TV (fully letterboxed and uncut) on a Betamax tape!! Then later when Celestial released the film on DVD in Hong Kong I got hold of that DVD and then again when it was released on DVD in Sweden. Now, finally, I've won that old, much wanted video outta Holland! The seller is Member-X on eBay in Finland. :D

In Thomas Weisser's review in the ASIAN TRASH CINEMA book he says that a "European" version of the film exists, a version that has nudity and where the girl dies at the end. I assume he meant there was no nudity in the HK version and that she survives. But the Celestial and Scandinavian DVDs that I have both carry the same version. I have a feeling that that's the only version and that Weisser was talking bollox. But in his favour he did place a semi nude colour picture of Evelyne Kraft on the cover of ASIAN TRASH CINEMA #1. :D

PS: the director's name is Ho Meng Hua! We'll have none of that "Meng Hua Ho" shit on this blog!! Obviously the bloody IMDb can't accept that some people in the "savage" world outside the USA do things differently to how they do it and obviously think we should all do it the American way. Well, fuck the IMDb! The Chinese way is Last name first followed by first name, so lets fucken RESPECT that instead of force-feeding everyone with the IMDb way!!!

Arrow Argento Neo Giallo Box

I got the Arrow Argento Neo Collection box yesterday which contains 4 films. The Opera (aka Terror at the Opera) case contains the original 2-disc release so that's very cool! And further more it contains all three dubs of the film, Italian original audio, the original English dub, and the redubbed English dub. Denmark was one of the few countries were the US edit of the film was released originally on VHS (but not to any Argento's fans liking of course). Orion sat on the original cut for years and didn't wanna release it. Bastards.


The contents (lifted from Amazon UK):

NEO GIALLO COLLECTION SPECIAL FEATURES:

4 of Dario Argento s late Giallo works collected in this exclusive boxset
9 option reversible sleeves of original and newly commissioned artworks!
4 double-sided fold-out posters with newly commissioned artwork for each film
A host of extras for every film including Making ofs, trailers, booklets by Alan Jones (author of Profondo Argento ) and more!
TERROR AT THE OPERA SPECIAL FEATURES

Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork
Double-sided fold-out poster
Booklet by Alan Jones
Dario Argento Filmography & Biography
Terror s Photo Album
Opera by Deamonia Music Video
The Complete Dario Argento trailer gallery [18 films]
International Version with choice of original Italian 5.1/Stereo soundtrack & English audio
US edit feature with choice of original track or Cannes Dub audio
US Trailer
International Trailer
Top 6 Gore Scenes menu
THE STENDHAL SYNDROME SPECIAL FEATURES

Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork
Double-sided fold-out poster
Booklet by Alan Jones
The Complete Dario Argento trailer gallery [18 films]
Original Theatrical Trailer
Choice of original Italian & English audio
SLEEPLESS SPECIAL FEATURES

Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork
Double-sided fold-out poster
Murder, Madness and Mutilation: Sleepless and the Modern Italian Giallo
The Making of Sleepless
Trailer
Photo Gallery
Press Kit [ROM Content]
THE CARD PLAYER SPECIAL FEATURES

Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork
Double-sided fold-out poster
Booklet by Alan Jones
The Making of The Card Player
The Complete Dario Argento trailer gallery [18 films]
Original Trailer
Choice of original Italian & English audio

the fast lane

I'm visiting my dad and I'd brought the usual pile of cool DVDs with me (one being Arrow's 2 disc release of Argont's OPERA which I recieved today as part of an Arrow Argento box with four films, and another being the original version of THE WOMAN IN BLACK). However, when I sat down and turned on the telly some *lame* mainstream movie called JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB had just begun on Swedish TV and I must admit got sucked into it. It was actually really good, all about, uhh, relationships between people and not a gun shop in sight. No messed up people either (like, in a criminal or mental way). And then I checked Swedish TV's teletext service and discovered they were going to show DONNIE DARKO right after - so yeah I stayed on the channel for a few hours. I've known about DARKO since it came out but altho it's been on TV quite a few times, and altho I've watched bits and pieces every times it's been on, I've never actually watched the whole movie. Well, I finally managed to do so and gee wauw what a dark og weird movie. In a good way, mind you. Oh, and I wasn't left completely without reference to "our" films as at one point in the film the main character goes to a screening of THE EVIL DEAD. What else? Hmm, we had kartoffelbåde and spicy chicken wings for dinner, and earlier today I received my new MASTODON cd. I've never bought any of their records before but I taped a live gig from TV the other night and it was really good. It was recorded last year at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. One of the guitar players wore a lumberjack shirt. I don't think I've seen bands wear those since TAD or some such grunge band in the 90s. Oh, and I also went and got my income tax sorted out. The bastards wanted me to pay for of extra income that I don't actually get (since I'm on the dole once again). I'm also doing a mandatory job course at the local jobcentre. I got up late today (as I'd only slept four hours) and missed breakfast and had to run like a spassy to catch the bus. It's 3 in the morning and I really ought to go to bed. I haven't written much here for a while, sorry 'bout that. Everybody writes blogs or websites these days and I have a feeling no one reads it. Oh well. Who cares.

Scorpius Gigantus!!!

Does this look like the best film ever made?? You betcha! ^_^

"Sons of Hank Williams"

... Cool documentary about the new breed of punky country musicians who go against the commercial country music. From TV in Denmark, in English except for a 30 second introduction. In three parts. 30 min. . . Thanks to Member-X!

Sexy stewardesses and crappy kung fu!! Whoo-hoo!!!

Trailer for Cirio H. Santiago's FLY ME is now on YouTube. Sure it a short one, but never the less a sweet one! xD

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 is too worn for their liking but it was the only print they had 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).

The Etruscan Kills Again - trailer

From Danish Ex-rental VHS Appreciation Group which you ought to check out for awesome Danish video covers! Go here (it's open to everyone but you'll need a Facebook account to see the page. Yeah, a pest!).

Love 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!

Ahhh, come to papa!

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).

The Ramones versus Spider-man

Ay, caramba!!! Check out this cool and rare Ramones Spider-man video!

Damn dreams!

I hardly never ever remember my dreams. This one I did.

I was at home where I grew up (and where my dad still lives). Three big men where in the lounge room torturing my dad who was tied to a chair. I was eating my lunch at the nearby dinner table. In the dream I thought to myself I'd just keep eating my lunch and then do something later. If I said anything they'd just jump on me as well. Then there was a time jump, they had finished with my dad who was now unconscious in the chair and they were also eating at the same table as I was. They were sitting on the opposite side. After a while they fell asleep. I looked at my dad who, in his unconscious state, had turned his had and I could now see his horribly scarred face. I got out a old-fashioned curved knife. I hesitated, I worried what if one of them woke up before I finished. But then I jumped up on the table and took on the biggest and meanest of the lot who was sitting on the left (from me) and cut his throat - and then went on and ditto'ed the other two. Then another place and time jump. I was going to the movies. There was a staircase downwards and a lot of video tapes, most of them sell-thru tapes, were scattered all over the stairs. I knew I needed to get them all otherwise they'd be lost so I pulled out two big plastic bags and one big see-thru garbage bag and began to collect the tapes. I got them all into the bags but then two people I knew arrived and met me halfway down at the stairs. We spoke for a bit and I put down the plastic bags. At some point I wanted to pick up the bags again but discovered that the garbage bag had gone. I was in shock. Where were my tapes. I thought about how they probably were sell-thru's most of them but there's always the chance of finding that one rare ex-rental tape. I wanted to get my garbage bag back from whatever creep stole it and began to search the building - but to no avail. And then I woke up. I can see how the second part of my dream has to do with my real life... but the first part??? O_O

Click the label underneath to read about previous messed up dreams. o_O

Sometimes you don't even go for the scoop - it just hits ya smack in the face

One of my fave TV stations is the joint French-German broadcaster ARTE TV. Around New Year's Eve they screened a series of Laurel and Hardy films. In addition to the old films ARTE also screened a new German documentary film about the duo and finally a bit of a curiosity; the last film they did together: ATOLL K aka Robinson Crusoeland (UK) / Utopia (USA).



Like everyone else I've always liked the old Stan & Ollie films but I'm not a fan as such and haven't collected the films. However, when I saw the German documentary which had quite a bit of coverage on ATOLL K, the last film they did, and I learnt about the struggle they had to go thru trying to make the film (they couldn't make films in the US any longer and were going to chuck in the towel when a French/Italian company asked if they'd do a film in Europe) I just knew I had to tape it!



ATOLL K looked to be quite a bit of a psychotronic film (keep in mind it was made at the end of their career, to say it bluntly they look like they're quite... beyond their expiry date! And the gages are the same stuff we've seen lots of times before, but usually younger and better, but the very same reasons made the film interesting enough for me to tape (i.e. dvdr). And now I'm thrilled I did! I checked the film on Wiki and discovered to my surprise that ARTE's print is actually the ultra rare international English language print that hasn't been shown since its cinema premiere in 1951!!! Wauw!



According to Wiki, there are no less than four different edits of the film: The French version called ATOLL K which runs 93 min; The Italian print (aka Atollo K) which clocks in at the 97 min. mark. The UK version (aka Robinson Crusoeland, re-titled Utopia in the USA) which runs a mere 82 min., and finally an English language international print that (as I mentioned) hadn't been shown since its cinema premiere in 1951.

Only one print of the international print, owned by a private collector, was known to exist. The film is out on various shitty public domain DVDs and video tapes in the US. However, the print that ARTE showed is the fully uncut, restored international version!! Very cool indeed!! I'm told the film is pretty bad but, hey, we're cult movie fans here. You and I know very well that "bad" films often take upon them a psychotronic quality of their own! I'm certainly looking forward to watching the rest of ATOLL K (so far I've checked the first 10 minutes and done up the screen grabs from the intro scene).

Heaven knows I was misserable

I had the flu! For almost a week! Well, actually it was a stomach bug. Nekoneko, one of my most fave bloggers suffered something similar recently and now it was my turn. From Monday thru to Thursday/Friday. A terrible ordeal. I got well enough to go to my dad's for the new year's eve weekend. I'm back at my place now and have many, many, many pages of emails and PMs to go thru so if you've been shaking your fist in my direction due to a lack of reply then... there's your reason. I'll reply all emails, PMs, and fan-mail (lol) but it may take a couple of days. I haven't logged in at Cinehound for several weeks but I'm aware of PMs hanging there waiting too.

Oh, and merry Christmas and happy new year to you all! Thanks for reading.



PS: Yes, the photo may very well be me outside my dad's house on new years eve. ^_^

Pointless post about some new stuff

I received a couple of multo spiffy flicks today! From Roger Corman's eBay store I got THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA (directed by Jim Wynorski which guarantees a high quality film. Or at least boobs) and THE NEST. The latter has a cool booklet/catalogue in the case. I got them cheap from Corman's own shop. HAUNTING OF MORELLA was only $14. On Amazon.com it's listed at 50 dollars! The cheapest second-hand copy is $27!! I also got CUT-THROATS NINE from Code Red. The DVD has a bonus film, JOSHUA, which I've been wanting to see ever since Swedish television had a season of blaxploitation films on back in the 90s. They included a docu on Fred Williamson in which he talked about JOSHUA.

And finally, I ordered two rare HK VCDs! CAGEMAN and MARIANNA. The first won a pile of Golden Horses at the HK "Oscars" a few years back (I couldn't find a DVD release) and the latter is a HK-Filipino co-production filmed in the Philippines. Also pretty rare (and with no DVD release afaik). Read more about it here.

Oh, and last night (actually sometime during the night, haha) I emptied the mailbox and discovered that I'd recived SHOUT! Factory's awesome releases of HUMANOIDS FROMTHE DEEP (aka Monster), PIRANHA, DEATHSPORT, and BATTLETRUCK! (which I reviewed many years ago in "Bloody Darlings" zine!). Oh happy days!

Big in Thailand

He may not be big in Japan yet but Fred and his ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT is making it big in the homeland of the debut film (i.e. Killer Elephants) from his company! When you're the head-story of Asia's biggest movie magazine it's clear you're certainly going places. Awesome, Fred!!

THE LOSERS (USA/Philippines, 1970)

aka NAM ANGELS




Directed by: Jack Starrett
Produced by: Joe Solomon

Cast: William Smith, Bernie Hamilton, Adam Roarke, Houston Savage, Gene Cornelius, Paul Koslo, John Garwood, Ana Korita, Lillian Margareio, Paraluman, Vic Diaz

Video release: Europa Film (Sweden), fullscreen, English audio, Swedish subtitles


To most fans of exploitation films THE LOSERS is probably seen as an American film. However, to me it's valid to list it as a Filipino film as it was filmed in the Philippines - and it has the one Filipino actor who was in about EVERY Filipino film in it. Yes, Vic Diaz is here! So obviously it's counts as a Filipino film in my book!




The Vietnam War rages. A CIA guy (played by the film's director) has been kidnapped by the red Chinese. The problem to the American army is that the Chinese are cooped up across the boarder in neutral Cambodia. What to do, oh what to do?? The American army could send in some commandos in the night to get him out. Or they could ask their well trained friends in the Mossad. Or they could suggest to the CIA that they get their own man out. Well, I'm sure you've already figured out they ain't gonna do any of that. No sirree, instead they call in a group of Hell's Angels bikers!!!




The Angels arrive and it soon becomes obvious that the army can't control them. As soon as they've got their bikes (sissy ass bikes, not their usual choppers) they start causing havoc in the local villages they ride thru, getting into fights, shooting guns, getting thrown in jail, get romantic and helpful with nice girls... no, wait... hmm, we're obviously dealing with a special branch of cinematic Hell's Angels here, hahaha. In fact they're not actually called "Hell's Angels" in the film but "Devils Advocates"!




I assume the film company didn't want to get into trouble with the real Hell's Angels (I'm sure Roger Corman spewed out a, "Fuck, why didn't I think of that!" after the Hell's Angels sued his company when he distributed Cirio H. Santiago's 1989 film NAM ANGELS!!). And you should think Corman had learnt his lesson; According to Michael Weldon's first Psychotronic book from 1983 Corman's company was sued already by the Angels when they made THE WILD ANGELS in 1966!!




Anyhoo, they plot and they plan how to get into the camp where the CIA guy is held captive. And they customise their bikes into MAD MAX style combat bikes (11 years before that kind of bikes were actually seen in MAD MAX 2!). The local Vietnamese mechanic is played by a young looking Vic Diaz. Gee, I wonder how many films he was in. It seems like he was in about EVERY American-Filipino co-production ever made! I'm not even kidding!!




The last half an hour of the film is all about the drive into Cambodia and the attack on the camp. If you've watched the Australian documentary film MACHETE MAIDENS about American-Filipino co-productions you might remember there's some scenes from THE LOSERS of the bikers attacking the camp and shooting off their machine guns and throwing hand-grenades and stuff.




THE LOSERS is great fun! Michael Weldon mentioned in his Psychotronic review that some people regard the film as the best biker movie there is. I don't know about that though; I mean it sure is a fun movie but that may be stretching it a tad too much. They don't actually ride around that much on their bikes and there's only five bikers in the film. But like I said it sure as hell is a cool flick. There's also a fair bit of gore (mostly from gun shuts) and some nudity as well. The almost pink blood looks silly but, oh well, it's not like you would think it were real blood even if it looked any better now would you. Although I argued for it being a Filipino film it doesn't really belong with the other Filipino Vietnam War movies from the 80s and early 90s. The main character is played by William Smith (who was Falconetti in RICH MAN POOR MAN aka To Brødre). Oh, and there's exploding huts too!




The version I watched is an old ex-rental VHS from Sweden. The tape is presented in fullscreen but it's not pan & scan and it looks alright. The print carries the original title, THE LOOSERS. At some stage the film was re-released in the US re-titled NAM ANGELS.




There's a fairly new DVD from Dark Sky and according to some message board and Amazon comments it seems it's a good release presented in the correct format and with some cool extras. But as I don't have this release obviously I can't judge how good it is. However, the film as such is highly recommended!

"The last group in England to be still angry?"

I've just discovered this fantastic Australian interview of THE FALL from 1982 (it contains a happy Mark E Smith!). I'm sure you know they're still around. Oh, and check the comments section for the usual Commonwealth love ("you Pommie bastard" was mentioned at least once, haha).