RAMBU SPEAKS!!!

Hey you saw my post from a couple days back, yeah? Well, things may just look a teeny weeny bit better right now so with crossed fingers let's hope for the best.

Anyway, one thing I don't wanna miss out on is letting you all know... WE HEARD FROM PETER O'BRIAN!!! Yes, it's true!!! Ian received a letter from Peter O'Brian about a fortnight ago and here is the bit that concerns Peter's career and how he got started.


Please notice this is NOT the interview we've been talking about, this is "just" a letter. We would still very much like to make an interview with O'Brian but we just need to get things organised so that we are all able to be there at the same time! I'll let you all know.

Anyway, enough from me. I proudly present to you, finally, a word from an actor who has been "lost" for so many years. A mystical figure almost. And although I have fantasised and hoped for the day when someone would be able to get in touch with him and get the lowdown on his career, or even just find out who the heck he was, I've never really believed that it would happen.

Well, it did and although all due credit must go duefully to Ian I'm happy to be a wee part of all this. So, from Ian and me, here's your Christmas present:



PETER O'BRIAN's letter to Ian F:
[reprinted with permission]
I've been out here in the wilderness(Indonesia) for twenty years man. When I first came here on a teaching English throughout Asia mission, I had a ticket to travel the world and Indonesia was my second port of call. I was scheduled to stay five days in Jakarta, but after two days here I couldn't stand it, and took a walk down to UTA ( the French Airline I had my ticket with) when I was spotted walking the streets by film scouts. At the time they were looking for a Rambo look a like and there I was. They actually thought I was Sly, poor bastards. Anyway, the next thing you know, I'm down at Ram Punjabi's film studio ( Parkit Film) doing a fight scene with this Chinese fighter.

They stopped the fight scene after several minutes, and asked me into Ram's office to sign a contract as a leading man. I never did use that world trip ticket, in fact it ended up in the bin as I forgot about it and it just expired. That is destiny Ian.

Getting back to my story, so there you go Ian, from an English teacher to a Film star at the toss of a coin. Well, I wasn't going to let anybody step on my dreams; consequently, I signed the contract but not before scamming a role for my best friend as the Gangster boss, Craig Gavin ( real name Craig Smith). At first Ram, Gobin and Damu( the Punjabi Brothers) said, 'no we do not need a gangster boss especially one who looks like a gangster', and I said well, "either you take the two of us or forget it". They told me that they'd think about and let me know the next day.

We were best buddies on a world trip at that time, so we really didn't give a rat's arse about films or anything else for that matter. The next thing, I get the call saying, " OK, we'll keep him here as your manager and who knows, maybe we might find a role for him". On balance, the good old business, Indian minded producers put him to good use as a gangster boss where he shone.

We did two films together with the Punjabi Bros, and then Craig decided to stay back in New Zealand where we come from, not The USA as is wrongly stated here and there.

After getting a taste of Indonesia and its rich culture, gorgeous women, and exotic places, I decided to stay on and do another film with The Bros. I ended up playing the bad guy in my next film, called 'Forceful Impact', which stared an American Italian guy. It was fun raping and killing and not going to jail, so all in all it was a grand experience. Besides that, I'm not naturally an evil, or should I say bad guy; consequently, it was a real challenge to take on this role as a mafia boss.

After acting in seven movies I got married to the girl of my dreams.

We lived very humble lives there for three years before coming back to Indonesia. A year after being back, I ran into Gope Samtani, who is the main Producer from Rapi films. In our discussions, he asked me to make a come back in a film called "Time Game", which is basically a copy of Die hard one, but done in an apartment building through a terrorist genre. I was the hero, and did all my own stunts which is what I always do, and always enjoy doing.

Since a young boy, I've always loved danger and constantly found myself in hospital wards with broken arms, a back injury and some pretty serious cuts. Still, my principal is, you only live once, and after all, dying is easy; it's living that is hard. I've always believed that God will give me a good day to die, and when he's fit and ready to do so. I don't like living in fear and be robbed of some exhilarating moments.

By the way, that is not my voice in any of those films. They were all dubbed unfortunately.



PS: You can also read the above letter on Ian's blog "HK And Cult Film News" right here.

It's Christmas. Ho-hum.

Dear reader; I may not update this blog over the holidays so let me just wish you all a merry Christmas. I hope you'll have a nice time. Personally, it's already thee worst Christmas I've had ever!!! No fucking kidding.
Btw, I noticed I had twice as many Swedish readers yesterday as Danish readers, so thanks to everyone hinsidan. Incidentally, Sweden is also partly to blame for the downfall of this Christmas (in this household anyway!). Don't worry, I won't blame everyone with a Swedish flag. Well, maybe.

Lost Italian Spider-man film discovered after 40 years!!!

Patrick B. has this trailer on his blog so I'd better have it on mine too!

Yes, it's rather... surreal. LOL.

-And the truth behind the film:

Gory-Glory in the sun

It's not every day fanzine editors are interviewed on live TV about their publications (at least not on these shores) so big congrats go out to the two editors of Gory-Glory Magazine, Carl-Johan Rudnert and Magnus Carlsson, who were on local television in southern Sweden yesterday. Good on ya, fellas! The interview was part of the "Skåne idag" program and ran for about 10 minutes. You can watch the whole show online but (unfortunately) you have to sit thru about 25 min. before the interview. Gory-Glory interview.

The female interviewer (a real sötnös, rauw) asked the editors about how long it had taken to make the magazine, why they do it, and what kind of films they watch. She seemed surprisingly unaware of what was actually in the mag as she flicked thru it during the interview and proclaimed she couldn't take horror movies (because THE EXORCIST scared her), haha. Oh well, she did look cute so she's forgiven. At the end of the interview there was also a contest where you can win an issue of the mag (cheapskates! LOL) and the question is who is the pride of Landskrona in the horror movie field. Someone who starred in some of Lucio Fulci's films in the 80s. Hmm, how about Janet Ågren, lol.

Bollywood Horror Collection Vol. 2!!!

The cover art for Mondo Macabro's second volume in their Bollywood horror movie series is here!



Looks pretty spiffy to me!!! And one thing I notice is their inclusion of English titles. Good move, MM!

Both films are already available on a double DVD in India (and has incidentally been sitting nicely on my shelf for about a year of so, lol) but hopefully the MM DVD will present restored versions + some cool extras.

Once again (like on the first volume) both films are directed by the crazy Ramsey brothers so no need to ask if you'll be in for a wild & crazy ride! However, if in doubt check out the trailers right here;




Purani Havelli - Trailer from Mondo Macabro on Vimeo.

More crazy Lollywood stuff!

Part two of Mondo Macabro's "Lollywood Movie Madness" is up now!


Lollywood Movie Mayhem - Pt 2a from Mondo Macabro on Vimeo.

And here's part one again:


Lollywood Movie Madness - pt1 from Mondo Macabro on Vimeo.

EDIT: As you can see the videos are no longer here but you can watch them at MM's own Cult Movie TV site right here.

No Christmas without The Gories

What can you say about The Gories? Other than they were the coolest garage cats to ever grace this sorry ass planet! I just found a handful of clips on YouTube from an amazing session. Check them ALL out. This is why music was invented.


Yep, mighty cool... even when drummer Peggy O'Neil fucks up, haha.













Unfortunately, The Gories are no more. Mick Collins formed the band in '86 and they split around '90/91. In the old days, every time Mick Collins started getting a little bit of succes he would break up his band and start a new one, haha. And I'm not even kidding. The Gories were such an awesome garage-rock band before garage-rock became trendy a decade later and everyone thought The White Stripes invented the genre, LOL.
Anyway, you should check old some of their old records, they won't bankrupt you as they only put out two ordinary LPs before they split; "House Rockin'" and "I Know You Fine But How You Doin'". After their split Tim Warren of Crypt Records put out a third LP on his (legendary!) label; "Outta Here" that contained previously unreleased stuff and he also issued the first two albums as a single disk CD entitled "I Know You Be House Rockin'" (two tracks are missing due to a lack of space). All 4 albums are still available from Crypt Records (located in Hamburg). "Outta Here" is both on vinyl and CD. Just get them, MOFO!

Some scoop-up!!!

Sometimes you're just plain lucky! I've been keeping an eye out for this Japanese video tape all week on eBay: It's the gory and over-the-top dark & nasty Hong Kong horror movie CALAMITY OF SNAKES. It's never been released officially on dvd (unless you count Brentwood's fucking bootleg!! Which I don't!) and the only way to get an official release is to head for one of the Japanese video tapes! Usually the tape goes for at least a 100 bucks but today everyone was asleep (apparently!) and I got it for a whopping 14 dollars and 50 cents!!! Totally brilliant! And it's the Cantonese version too! (both the Cantonese and the Eng. dubbed versions are out on Jap. vhs. The Brentwood boot carries the dubbed version).



And if that wasn't enough, check this out: Yesterday, I got the amazing Japanese poster for the totally über entertaining Indo flick LADY TERMINATOR!!! Argh!
Btw, it's the same image they used for the Jap. vhs! - which incidentally sits nicely on my shelf, YAY! :-)

RAMBU covers galore

German VHS (German dub, letterboxed). Thanks to Canisius of Cinehound forum for providing this.
[click scan for bigger size]

The Trashwomen live at Toad's Studio, SF, july 1993.

THE TRASHWOMEN!!! Oh man, how cool is this!!!

RAMBU covers galore

Very rare Japanese vhs (Eng. dub, fullscreen). Thanks to Michael Gustavsson of Cinehound forum.


This isn't a video cover but a cinema poster from Pakistan! Imagine having watched RAMBU at the cinema!!
[click scans for bigger size]

RAMBU covers galore

The RAMBU covers are pouring in as we speak. :-) :-) :-)

VHS from Sweden identical to the Danish tape with the identical cover from Hollywood Home Video (fullscreen, Eng. dub, uncut). Thanks to Lars Jacobsen for providing this one.

VHS from Holland (fullscreen, Eng. dub, uncut)
[you can click both for bigger sizes]

Another RAMBU for the road

Another Danish VHS, more common but still rare (Eng. dub, fullscreen)
[click for bigger size]

Rare Rambu video covers

As this is slowly turning into a RAMBU fan club anyway (LOL) I might as well show you a couple of rare RAMBU vhs releases. Unfortunately none of them are mine.

EDIT: Woo-hoo! The Belgian vhs is mine now! According to Miltos (head honcho of Cinehound) it's more letterboxed than the Greek vhs and has better picture! YAY!

Belgian (French dubbed, letterboxed) video release. [click scan for a bigger size]




Front and back from ultra rare Danish release (Eng. dub).

Killing a cat

...uh, no not really (actually it's a reference to The Cure's "Killing an Arab" which was censored off the reprint of the album, and of course I HATE and LOATHE censorship). No, curiosity killed the cat and THIS cat is a curious guy (I'm sure you're aware 'cat' is 1950s slang for at cool guy, right); Lissen, yesterday, completely out of the blue, I noticed a sudden interest in this blog from FACEBOOK! A shitload of hits actually. What's going on? Someone please tell me.
Obviously I DID expect Facebook fan groups and fan sites for JACK J to pop up at some stage...

No, no, I'm not green with envy just because IAN GOT THIS PICTURE FROM PETER O'BRIAN TODAY!!!

From RAMBU himself!!!


My mate in crime, Ian F. over in New Jersey, received this in the email today!!! Is that fucken cool or what!!!

Stay tooned to this blog for much more on Rambu and Indo movies in general.

PS: And if you're new to all this then do yourself a favour and click the "rambu" label at the bottom of this post and go ahead and read my other posts about RAMBU (the movie) and Peter O'Brian (who played the Rambu character).

Bollywood horror, Bollywood action, in other words... MORE BOLLYWOOD!!!

Hey, look what the mailman just brought me all the way from a small village in India:

RAAT (a horror movie)


INSAAF (a gritty and violent cop flick with song & dance numbers)


Obviously I haven't watched any of them yet and when I do I'd better take off the entire afternoon to do so; none of the films clock in before way after the two hour mark! Both are subtitled in English.
My apologies for the crappy cover scan quality, I just copied them off the seller's site.

Indian love

Welcome to WORLDWEIRD CINEMA ... the fake copy (lol)

Yeah, well, since it seems our friend Jared is off doing Stuff in the real world and won't be covering the world of worldweird cinema untill next year I thought I might as well take over as Jared.02 (haha) and start bring you some more stuff about weirdo cinema from around the world. Well, actually, screw the world what I'm really talking about is flicks from such places as Indonesia, the Philippines, Asia, and of course stuff from India and Pakistan. And as I'm sure you know already the main provider (at least in the West) of these amazing (or sometimes just right out weird!) films is of course Mondo Macabro and, incidentally, today they put up part one of a collection of multo cool'o clips from Pakistani trash films. This thing runs for about 10 min. so get yerself some coffee and enjoy this:


Lollywood Movie Madness - pt1 from Mondo Macabro on Vimeo.

- and when you're done with that go ahead and check out the "other" Worldweird Cinema blog. Although Jared is taking a break at the moment there's still tons of cool stuff to check out. Click here for Worldweird Cinema.

NB: If you'd like to keep the Lollywood special you might wanna download it right away. On the MM blog they say it's only going to stay on-air for about a month. No mention of whether it'll be included on a dvd or whatnot.

KADIN DUSMANI

Oh goody! Onar's next release is on its way! KADIN DUSMANI (Woman Despiser) from 1967. And once again we are treated to a giallo... done the Turkish way obviously, LOL. It's due for early 2009.

Mondo Cane blog it ain't

No, much better: Mondo Macabro has a blog now and YOU should be a devoted follower/fan/disciple!

Here it be: MM.

Upcoming MM titles:
Female Prisoner: Caged!
Sins of Sister Lucia
The Bollywood Horror Collection: Vol 2 - Veerana/Purana Haveli
The Bollywood Horror Collection: Vol 3

They survived the war. Kind of.

Hmm, say, how does that ol'e poem go? Is it: "Zombies, zombies, zombies everywhere"?? Hmm, maybe not but it ought to be, haha. While we're still waiting impatiently for that long awaited Dutch Nazi zombie movie (Worst Case Scenario) here's the (subtitled!) trailer for the Norwegian DØD SNØ (hvorfor fa'en ka' de ikke skrive SNE som alle andre!):

Sandie Trash!!!

My God, Sandie Trash just entered my life!!! And now I wish I'd taken up French classes when I considered it back in school. I don't know anything about them other than they're only two members and sound fantastic! They have a pretty cool MySpace page here. Check it out! More later!

What he said!!!
In the words of THE CRAMPS: 'People ain't no good'. People PISS me off!!! LOL.

Last of the zombies... the trailers

While we wait here's a couple of trailers for Mattei's last zombie flicks. Unfortunately, I can only embed the first one but if you click those links apart from the trailers there's also scans and film details as well + a press-book.

ZOMBIES THE BEGINNING



ZOMBIES THE BEGINNING (same trailer but better picture quality and there's info on the page about the film)

ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD
(On this page there's also a press-book you can download. It's nothing special but still).

And for ol'e times sake; ZOMBI 3

Last of the zombies...

...well, Mattei's zombies that is. It's not like we've seen the last zombie movie ever, eh. Anyway, Per Svensson, a member over at Dvdmaniacs, uploaded some screen grabs from Mattei's last two zombie movies; ZOMBIES: THE BEGINNING and ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD which so far only have been released on DVD in The Czech Republic. According to mr. Svensson BEGINNING is actually... the sequel! Yep, sounds like true Mattei logic, LOL. Here are some of the scans.

[Click the scans for twice the size]




Anyway, until we (or at least I) get hold of these babies here's a cool trailer from Mattei's totally entertaining PREDATOR ripoff ROBOWAR:

No news hey hey

That headline sounds like a fucking song, LOL. "Nooo news todayyy, my love went awayyy, heyyy heyyy, what'ya sayyyy, hey hey" Oh well, maybe not!! Anyway, no news what so ever and I loathe and dispise smalltalk so I'll be back when I've actually got something to tell ya. Nothing's going on in Cyberspace anyway (except Fred having fun with his spoons, LOL).

The Mistreated

I love 50s horror & sci-fi movies and I just discovered this totally cool (fake) trailer on Jocke Andersson's Gummimonsterfetischism blog. Check it out:



PS: it's actually a TV spot to get Swedes to recycle their used batteries. Of course, in Denmark we just chuck them in the lake.

Et pladekøb for længe siden

Jeg sad lige her i dag og surfede inde på YouTube efter noget helt andet musik, men så helt tilfældigt faldt jeg over en liveoptagelse med Sort Sol. "Hmm, en gammel optagelse, selvklart", tænkte jeg først, "gruppen holdt jo op med at spille for snart længe siden"... og så pludselig går det op for mig, at optagelsen kraftedeme er fra oktober måned... fra i år!! Altså for en måned siden! Og takket være min nu lynhurtige Internetopkobling kan jeg nu (ligesom alle andre mennesker har kunnet de sidste 10 år eller deromkring) se YouTubevideoer med det samme uden først at skulle downloade dem i 20 minutter. Jeg spillede straks den nye optagelse og må straks indrømme, at de lyder bedre end de har gjort MEGET længe. Det ene nummer YouTube-medlemmet havde lagt ud var en coverversion af Gasolin's gamle "Langebro" og som sagt det lød mere råt og ufortrødent end det har gjort rigtig, rigtig længe. Og så var det jeg kom til at tænke på en dag i '83, hvor jeg sku' i skole, men i stedet pjækkede og tog ind og købte Sort Sols (eller Sods som de naturligvis stadig hed dengang, osse selvom der stod Sort Sol på pladen) "Dager & Guitar" LP. Min første Sods plade. 1983-2008; det er fanderme 25 år!!! Femogfuckingtyve år med Sods/Sort Sol!! Det er sgu længe (og året efter, altså '84, fik jeg optaget dokumentarprogrammet "Omkring en sort sol - et portræt af Sods" fra DR TV med min første videomaskine. En Betamax, og jeg har sgu stadig båndet!). Da jeg købte den den efterfølgende LP "Everything that rises... must converge" (som først kom i '87), var jeg overbevist om, at det var den bedste danske plade, der nogensinde var udgivet. Jeg må nok indrømme, at dét mener jeg sgu stadigvæk! Fanderme så! Men du vil høre om det så holdt nu, det ene nummer fra den ene optagelse, ikke sandt? Gu fanden holder det så! Jeg må ha' genspillet den 15 gange i rap! Haha.
Hva' fanden var det lige med Sort Sol dengang i gamle dage? Well, udover muzakken naturligvis, var der det med kompromisløsheden! De sked bare på,hva' der var populært og in. Og musikken var fuldstændig voldelig, ikke fuldstændig overgearet som heavy metal, men i selve UDTRYKKET og ikke mindst teksterne. De sang bare Pinocchio, der var ond og blod, der flød ned at halsen, og alt muligt. Jeg husker at være til den skide Afrika-koncert i '85 og bare hade alle de danske lortebands. Nanna, News, Søs Fænger, Rungsted & Kreutzfeldt, og hvad fanden alle de selvfede, vamle mainstream grupper hed. Jeg husker stadig Sort Sol gå på scenen midt i al rygklapperiet og de danske kunstnere, der ikke ku' slikke hinanden nok i røven, og bare fyre den af med en cover af Suicides gamle "Ghostrider", bedre end Suicide nogensinde selv har spillet den.
Og i oktober spillede de altså så "Langebro". Okay, det er ikke det samme. Der mangler ligesom tre af de oprindelige medlemmer, men hold da kæft det holdt alligevel. Femogtyve år. Hmm, det er måske bedst ikke at tænke på, hvornår jeg hørte originalversionen af "Langebro" for første gang! Det har været i første eller anden klasse. Det kan godt være, at Sort Sol ikke spiller punkmusik mere, og det kan også godt være de ikke er undergrund mere, og nej det er ikke den oprindelige gruppe mere, men jeg er villig til at overse de dersens uheldige detaljer. "Everything that rises..." er stadig den bedste danske plade nogensinde og "Langebro" lød helt A-okay. Hvorfor tar du ikke bare og checker optagelsen ud! Om du så er enig med mig eller ej, er sådan set ligegyldigt.

Og her er den så (jeg ville ha klippet de 20 sek. snak i starten væk, men det kan man vist ikke med den gratisudgave af Realplayer, jeg har!).

Gettin' the shakes

I've been off-line for three days because my Internet provider decided to close shop and run off to some sunny island with all the dough (well, actually they were Tele2 and they cancelled their business here and went back to Sweden, LOL). What a bummer. Three days without Internet and you get the shakes (lol).

More evil Mexicans

Ahh, yesterday I finally received more old Mexican horror moves!! This times a handful of original US NTSC tapes even, no bootlegs. The handful of 60s movies I got were all horror (or "terror" films as they're called south of the border - obviously not "south of the border" where I'm at cos that would leave you in Flensburg, Germany, LOL) and they were: DR SATAN (1966), DR SATAN VS BLACK MAGIC (Dr Satan y la Magia Negra, 1968), THE BLOODY VAMPIRE (El Vampiro sangriento, 1962, actually this one is probably a vhs boot. Oh well!) and ISLAND OF THE DINOSAURS (La Isla de los dinosaurios, 1967). Only THE BLOODY VAMPIRE is in English. Aye Caramba!!

Mystics in Bali + 30 minutes!!!

No, wait! Come back!!
I just know you're on your way out the door! You're going "FFS, that guy is shitting me! Again!!" But no, really... I'm not! Someone over at Cinehound has... REALLY... found a version of MYSTICS IN BALI that runs about thirty minutes longer than the Mondo Macabro DVD!!!!!!!!!

Someone (in India I think) uploaded it to YouTube and tonight I watched the first ten minutes of it and... sure enough... it's got tons of stuff not in the DVD version!! For instance we get to see how the American girl meets her Indonesian boyfriend-to-come! Apparently this version was released on VCD in Malaysia but never dubbed into English. Very exiting!!
MORE INFO LATER!!!

Check the Cinehound thread about it here!

Killer Snakes VHS

[Click scan for bigger size]

No, I'm not gonna review KILLER SNAKES or anything I just thought I'd show you the old Something Weird VHS cover for this dark and nasty Hong Kong horror flick because I think it's pretty cool! Nowadays you don't need to track down a copy of this rare video tape as there's a great looking HK DVD, fully letterboxed, in Mandarin and uncut (well, apart from some reel-end frames missing. Reportedly) and there's also a US DVD (apparently the latter isn't looking as good as the HK one!). However (again; reportedly) the Something Weird Video tape contains the reel-end frames that are missing from the DVDs.
(The scan comes courtesy of Stephen Gladwin from a post at Cinehound)

News from the Philippines!

Well, the first piece of news is actually not from the Philippines but from America. Well, strictly speaking it's from Andrew Leavold in OZ but it's ABOUT a new exciting American DVD release: THEY CALL HER CLEOPATRA WONG and ONE-ARMED EXECUTIONER are coming out on a spiffy double disc next year!!! Very spiffy indeed!!! Obviously (haha) I have both films already (Cleo Wong on kinda-almost-legit dvd from Global in South Africa, and One-Arm on Greek vhs) but it's gonna be cool with a proper DVD release. Andrew also gave the video company 10 (that's TEN) hours of Bobby Suarez-related interviews to use for extras!! Wonder how much they'll be using!?).

Another piece of VERY exiting news is that the making of VENGEANCE OF CLEOPATRA WONG is getting closer! Yes, astonished 'Pino film fans: Suarez is going to make another sequel to THEY CALL HER CLEOPATRA WONG!! Some of the backing money comes from France and it seems French television is ALSO keen on getting a TV-SERIES made in which Cleo Wong's daughter takes the lead!! My friend, can your heart stand the excitement! I'm absolutely about to burst!!

And, oh, oh, I forgot... VENGEANCE OF CLEO WONG is going to feature not only Cleopatra Wong but ALSO the kid from the two BIONIC BOY films AND the guy from ONE-ARMED EXECUTIONER!!!

Lastly, Andrew himself is also going to the Philippines to make a film entitled THE TALLER THEY COME! LOL. I'm not sure how much of the story and cast is a secret as of yet but lemme just remind you the guy is a big fan of FOR Y'UR HEIGHT ONLY (the TALLER they come, haha). Good luck with all that.


This is the Pakistani poster for the original THE BIONIC BOY film (unfortunately the scan is all I've got. So many posters, so little wall space).
[click the scan to see the full poster]

Glory days

Received the premiere ish of Sweden's new fanzine "Gory-Glory Magazine" today. Exciting! I haven't received a fanzine for the past two years! I remember back in the olden days when there were zines in your letterbox every month. Those days are definitely gone. Usch! Everything was better in the old days; music was something you could actually listen to, not like the infernal racket they pass on as "music" these days. Films were better. Hell, television was better. I miss black & white television. And if your arm broke your dad would just fix it, not like today where you have to go into hospital and shit. I miss the old days.

When the Vietnam War raged... in the Philippines

One movie genre that is overlooked by EVERYONE is TRASHY VIETNAM WAR MOVIES FROM THE PHILIPPINES (I know, I know, The Philippines never took part in the Vietnam War but just nod your head and look as if you understand).
And before you dismiss these movies just hear me out: Filipino war movies are nothing like old, boring American war movies. Or old, boring Italian war movies, or any other old, boring war movies for that matter were you see endless scenes of convoys driving slowly thru the countryside, officers holding endless boring meetings on how to infiltrate German lines, or boring battle scenes.
If there's ONE thing Filipino war flicks are NOT it's boring! There's just so much action, carnage, mayhem, death, and violence that they rival any HK action film for the sheer amount of everything I just mentioned!!!

There are a few things that are standard to genre; They were made in the 80s or very early 90s. Most of them are totally no-holds-barred. They are nowhere to be found on DVD (legit DVD that is) and they were mostly (often only) released on VHS in Japan and Greece.

And one more thing that links these films together: They star several actors from a group of Westerners who stayed in the Philippines in the 80s. Some of these actors also starred in wild movies from Indonesia and some of them weren't even really actors but just happened to be at the right place at the right time when some Filipino film producer needed westerners for a film with "Americans" in it. Some of the actors were actually real actors who had starred in cheap movies in Italy and some (very few) had even been in American movies. The genre died out in the early 90s but some of these actors stayed on and still live in the Philippines (Nick Nicholson is one of them).



Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, even most genre film fans don't know these films. Or even if they know them they don't give a rat's ass about them. Well, a couple of us know them and are gone on 'em! (i.e. enjoy them immensely). You can find us hanging out in the Filipino thread over at Dvdmaniacs. Anyway, I think that's enough for now, I'll probably write some incisive piece on all this shit later. Sufficient to say you should try and check out some of them. A good place to start is PHANTOM SOLDIERS (check the trailer in the above) directed by Teddy Page who unfortunately passed away in October (October 8, 2008). The film almost ventures into horror movie territory as the enemy is not only the Vietcong but also, as the title suggests, an army of ghostlike soldiers! Over-the-top entertainment guaranteed!!

Didin Syamsudin: The queen's makeup artist

"The Jakarta Post" has just printed yet another SUZANNA related article. This time not about her as such but about Didin Syamsudin who worked with her as her makeup artist for many years all the way from SUNDEL BOLONG (aka Ghost With Hole) in 1981.




Didin Syamsudin: The queen's makeup artist
By Lovelli Ariesti , Contributor , Jakarta | Sun, 11/02/2008 10:33 AM

If Didin Syamsudin's professional life could be summed up in one line, it would probably be "making horror faces since 1980", and even that would be an understatement.

Born in Cirebon, West Java, 55 years ago as an only child, Didin excelled in all the art and drawing classes he took. He is now known to possess a cinematic Midas touch, turning every film he lays hands on into a box-office hit.

Maybe it's his charm and charisma, maybe it's his patience, maybe it's the genie he claims to have had by his side since early childhood, maybe it's his good looks, or maybe it's just his luck.

Whatever it is, Didin certainly charmed Indonesia's Queen of Horror, Suzanna, who passed away on Oct. 16: Didin was the only person to have had the chance to work intensively with her face for an entire decade.

Sparing some time between his two careers -- one as a father of six and the other as a makeup artist -- Didin spoke to The Jakarta Post about his life and working with the Queen of Horror.

"I first worked with her on the set of Sundel Bolong, a very awkward time," said Didin about Mbak Usi, the affectionate nickname he uses for Suzanna Martha Frederika van Osch, who in return called him Diding.

Didin said that during the production of Sundel Bolong (1981), in which Suzanna played a legendary female ghost characterized by a hole in her back, the actress could be very demanding.

"Mbak Usi would get upset over any dirt stains on her costume. The scenes were being shot in graveyards," he said.

There were days, he said, when he had to wash the white costume in the mornings, right after the production team called it a wrap, so it would be ready before shooting began again in the afternoon.

A beginning makeup artist at that time, yet to master the knack of characters and effects, Didin chose to humor Suzanna, keeping this to himself and making sure the actress felt comfortable as her ghost self.

"It was from that moment on maybe that she, in a more commercial term, 'fell in love' with me. She spoke to the producer, saying that she wanted me to do her makeup on the next project too," he said.

The dynamic duo -- Didin and Mbak Usi -- teamed up again in Ratu Ilmu Hitam (The Queen of Black Magic), another Rapi Film production, in 1981.

It was on the set of their second film, Didin said, that the awkwardness was replaced by a feeling of comfort.

"We grew close and working with her felt just right," he added.

Their cooperation was fruitful, and the film was considered a success.

Suzanna was nominated as best actress for her role as a desperate woman seeking vengeance through black magic in Ratu Ilmu Hitam at the 1982 Indonesian Film Festival.

"Maybe I'm a bit weird," Didin said about the way he works. "When an artist trusts me 100 percent, I will work it all out. But if they don't, then I won't bother.

"When I do my work, I do it as if I was doing my mandatory praying. I start with a prayer and I do everything seriously. I always refrain myself from swearing or uttering negative remarks."

Didin began his career as a makeup artist in 1976, after he was persuaded by a friend to help out on Perkawinan Dalam Semusim (Marriage in a Season), directed by the late Teguh Karya.

After he crossed paths with Suzanna in 1980, he continued doing the makeup on almost all her horror films, including Nyi Blorong (1982), Telaga Angker (The Haunted Pond; 1984), Ratu Sakti Calon Arang (Calong Arang the Powerful Queen; 1985), Ratu Buaya Putih (The White Crocodile Queen; 1988) and Titisan Dewi Ular (Reincarnation of the Queen of Snakes; 1990).

He designed Suzanna's costumes and, most importantly, designed the arrangements of the jasmine -- the flower that appeared in most of her films.

"Mbak Usi really followed the laws of being a horror actress," Didin said. Before a shoot, he explained, Suzanna would conduct puasa mutih, a fast in which a person drinks only water and eats only white rice.

"She also regularly visited Nyi Ratu's room in Samudra Beach Hotel. Believe it or not as you please, but I think these things exist," he said.

Shortly after her burial, Suzanna's husband, Cliff Sangra -- her junior by 20 years -- denied rumors his wife had frequented the hotel room to worship supernatural or mystic powers.

The hotel room in question is room 308 of the Ina Samudra Hotel in Pelabuhan Ratu, West Java, which is dedicated as a show of respect to Nyi Roro Kidul, the queen of the southern sea of Java. Legend has it that the queen also has a daughter named Nyi Blorong.

"These mystic occurrences, I believe they do exist. How can I not? I have had my share of unexplained incidents too," said Didin.

Didin claims that as a child -- and this was later confirmed by gifted people he met along the way -- he was often spared from being involved in potentially dangerous situations by an external force he could not control.

"Later on, people who could see spirits said there was a genie accompanying me," Didin said.

But it isn't just spirits and ghosts: Didin is also popular among the living. His specialization in the art of makeup for characters and special effects has resulted in his involvement in a variety of successful productions, including TV soaps, films and even public service announcements.

Some of his recent work can be seen in Riri Riza's Gie (2005), a film about an activist named Soe Hoek Gie, Nia Dinata's Berbagi Suami (Love for Share; 2006) and Hanung Bramantyo's Ayat-ayat Cinta (2008).

"I have taught 15 students how to do makeup for films. One of them is now a lecturer in Yogyakarta, while the others have begun their own careers," Didin said.

But the problem with today's makeup artists, he said, lies in planning and sensitivity.

"Nowadays, I see women going to sleep in their houses in soaps on TV and can't help but wonder what is up with their gaudy make up."

He believes the purpose of the makeup department in a production is not to provoke negative comments about a "good artist with lousy makeup".

After devoting 22 years of his life touching up makeup and preparing costumes and effects for Indonesian films, Didin said the secret to great makeup was simple.

"It's all in the way you wash your face," he said.

Link to the article in the "The Jakarta Post".

New Scandinavian flick zine!

You don't come across a new fanzine on psychotronic films every day so I thought I'd give this new Scandinavian zine a plug; "Gory-Glory Magazine" hail from the Danish city of Malmø (a city the Swedish stole recently) and I can't really tell you much as I haven't received my copy yet but it looks cool. If you read one of them Scandinavian lingoes you might wanna check out their home page here. The price is SEK30/DKK20 + postage.
Ehh, about their name... one of the editors is Magnus "Gory-Glory" and I guess they thought it would be a cool idea to name the zine after him. Hmm, I'm not so sure about that, LOL. But, hey, what's in a name! If you're in Scandinavia I recommend you give the mag a try.

The Green Slime

I watched THE GREEN SLIME (1968) this morning. Wauw, what can I say other than fun, cheesy, and more fun. LOL. And the theme song is great. Greeen sliiiiime. :-)
The dvd is unfortunately fullscreen but screw that it was a fun movie regardless. Hopefully we're gonna see an official dvd soon (that's the rumour anyway). Oh, and those monsters! THE GREEN SLIME was made in Tokyo by Toho but if you expect their usual style monsters you're in for a surprise! These monsters are soo ridiculous it's... ridiculous! Haha. Totally laughable... but good fun. You should watch it.

Old horrors

Alright, I've got nothing to tell ya and I'm tired cos I stayed up owl night watching the damn election so now I'm too tired to write anything deep or of any value. Or something. So'eh... instead I'll just show you a couple of my new requisitions!!

First of all, a pretty rad cover for one of my (and probably everyone else's) all time favourite horror movies; THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. And no, it's not like I don't have it already but when someone (in Austria) offered me this totally über-rare Danish ex-rental I had to have it. Obviously.
Thanks, Resonator05.


Up next is IT CAME FROM HELL, a horror movie from 1957. Incidentally, the old American horror punk band The Misfits used the title for one of their songs once.



Next up we have THE SCREAMING SKULL (1958) which I discovered via an exiting review that you can find here. These three DVD's are all public domain releases and usually I would only buy one of those if a film doesn't exist on ordinary DVD. Now, SCREAMING SKULL does actually have numerous official dvd releases, however, they are all fullscreen versions except for one release which is out of print and retardedly expensive on Amazon. This public domain release promises to contain a letterboxed print so there's your explanation. LOL.


Now, the last one is THE DISEMBODIED from '57 which I know nothing about - but it doesn't exist on non-public domain dvd so I thought I better get it before it disappears again, haha.



[Click the TCM cover for a bigger size. It doesn't work with the other ones. Sorry]

October 31'st

Hey, it's Halloween eve! Jack Skellington's in da house, haha. Anyway, horror movie viewing mandatory so up next is THE OMEN (the original version mind you).

CELLAT is in the house!

There's really no reason for my posting this but I've been looking forward to the release of CELLAT for so lang that I thought I'd let you in on this as well. LOL. Oh, and also to promote Bill Baronis and his Onar Films company a bit. God knows he could use some publicity! It's not like these films sell by the bucket load. Unfortunately.

CELLAT (also known as "Turkish Death Wish") is a Turkish version of DEATH WISH (hence the aka title, haha). I've just received my copy today and as I haven't watched it yet I don't really know how close it is to the original. But word is it's very enjoyable! Maybe you should buy a copy?? ;-)

Ahh, another poster I'd truly love to have!!! From "Seytan", the Turkish remake of "The Exorcist", also known on bootleg as "The Turkish Exorcist".

The coolest poster I DON'T have!

Fred Adelman showed this very cool poster for I DRINK YOU BLOOD / I EAT YOUR SKIN over at Dvdmaniacs and I simply gotta "reprint" it here.

Arrrgh... me... find... have... own... now... arrr...
(+ imaginary drool, LOL)

[Click scan for bigger size]

Very cool! And of course I DRINK YOUR BLOOD is totally gory and very cool!! (I reviewed it in Banned in Britain #2). Gotta get I EAT YOUR SKIN too!


I DRINK YOUR BLOOD
Ahh, this is the stuff gore flicks are made of!!
Hmm, how do you describe I Drink Your Blood? Well, imagine a mix between a zombie movie, a 60's drug movie and some Charles Manson movie with crazy Satan worship hippie killers - and then throw in a bucketful of gore and you have I Drink Your Blood!! This is such an amazing gore feast that it's unbelievable it hasn't been released uncut anywhere until now, more than 30 yrs after it initially came out.
A group of Satanic hippies arrive to a small town (Pop.: 40'!) in the middle of nowhere. A local girl gawks at 'em from behind a tree while they engage in a Satanic mass. They discover and attack her. It's unclear whether she's 'just' beaten up or raped. Their van brakes down and they decide to stay in an old abandoned hotel. The girl's granddad gets his gun out and goes over to kick them out of town but they force-feed him LSD. So now his 10-12 yr old grandson decides to take revenge so he kills a rapid dog, detracts blood from it with an injection needle and injects it into meat pies at the local bakery - meat pies that the hippies are going to eat. Second half of the flick is one long orgy of the now rapid hippies who, much like Manson and his 'family', slaughter the locals.
So what can you say about a film like I Drink Your Blood? Well, except that it's totally great of course!! It's directed by David Durston, it's low budget, all the actors were unknowns, and it's got that special 'something' feeling to it that a whole bunch of innovative horror movies from that late 60's/early 70's era have. It's quite gory and you can understand why it would've been censored in some areas (like the UK). However, I must admit it's pretty weird that it's never been granted an uncut release [in the US] until this new DVD was put out by Grindhouse recently. It's gory yes, but not any more than say Dawn Of The Dead, The Gore Gore Girls or Last House On The Left. By the way, if you get hold of the DVD now it'll most likely be the Fangoria distributed version. For some reason - and I have no clue as to why - it seems the folks at Grindhouse are a buncha deadbeats who decided to put the DVD out only as a limited edition and then let it go out of circulation [edit: it's been re-released and is easy to get now]. I must admit I hate and loathe (two words that basically mean the same) those trendy limited editions. I mean what's the fucken point!! Fortunately Fangoria obtained the rights and are selling it now through their magazine. But of course, as you know, nothing is safe in this world so I urge you to get hold of it before it disappears again. It's a very entertaining movie and the DVD's got heaps of extras. By the way, one of the 'unknown' actors was Lynn Lowry who later appeared in Romero's The Crazies and Cronenberg's The Parasite Murders. Among the many extra features the DVD also features a new interview with Lowry in which she mentions that the film introduced her to 'sex, drugs and rock'n'roll' - and director Durston sings a song about how to make an independent movie!!!
[originally printed in Banned in Britain #2 from 2004]

"The Search For Weng Weng" is finally here!! (well, the T-shirt anyway)

YAY! SPIFFY!! My new Tee from Andrew Leavold's upcoming documentary film "The Search for Weng Weng" (about Weng Weng, the little big star from "For Y'ur Height Only" and a couple of other Filipino movies) arrived today! Niiice.
Cheers Andrew.

More exorcism stuff

Recently I've found two more L'OSSESSA posters on eBay. The first one is from Uruguay and I actually had that one bookmarked for a couple of months but didn't buy it as it was slightly pricey ($50). I suppose everyone else thought the same - or maybe it just flew under the radar and no one discovered it. Eventually I wrote to the seller and offered him $30 to which he agreed. Yay! The other one (which I must admit I think is by far the better one) I didn't get (sob-sob). But at least I have the scan. I made a $50 bid and it went for $68. What a bummer! Oh well, you can't win 'em all.


NB: Click the scans for bigger sizes.

Addendum: I wrote to the seller of the Thai poster and asked if he might think he'd be getting another copy in later but he didn't even bother to send me a reply. I waited a few days and then wrote and asked again but he STILL ignores my emails. What an arsehole! I've bought from him in the past and every time I've poured tons of money down his plughole he's always been willing to make a reply. I guess he recons he won't be getting another poster so why bother! In the words of Anita Lane from that record she did with Nick Cave: "You make me sick!".