Sunday, May 18, 2008
It's a sad and beautiful world
Funny story. As you probably know I watch all kinds of weird horror movies from around the globe. One of my recent discoveries is the "Flying Head With Intestines Dangling Underneath" genre. For years I've been familiar with the very entertaining MYSTICS IN BALI but I always figured it was just a single film and not an entire genre but as it turns out there's a whole heap of films from Indonesia and (especially) Thailand about flying heads! Recently I've been able to find some of these films on VCD from Thailand (and on video from Sweden!!!) and a couple of days ago I found another one, KRASUE KUD PORB, at an eBay store in Thailand. Unfortunately someone else had already made a bid for it but I thought I'd just try and outbid him. After all, how many people are interested in these films. But then something most unexpected happened; the other "seller" kept bidding until we reached $60. Now, dear reader, think about this again; we're talking 60 dollars for a bloody un-subtitled video-cd with crappy picture quality. Even my bidding $60 was crazy so I decided to stop when the other one outbid me with $61. None of that is suspectful... but then this morning... I received an email from the seller saying the other bidder didn't have the money to pay for the VCD! So if I wanted the film I could have it for $60! Yeah right, you think I'm an idiot!! One of my film friends and I have both previously experienced to have lost auctions from this seller and just after the end of the auction he has emailed us and said that by chance he has just found an extra copy which we can buy for the same price as the winning bid. I got a feeling this seller now got greedy and wanted to see how far he could stretch the bow. I was so annoyed I began going thru all the VCD's at eThaiCD.com (often you can't do an ordinary search due to Thai titles being transcribed differently from Thai to Roman letters) and after about two short minutes I found it... at the price of... 6 dollars!! Including postage!!!
It's pretty cool to get this rare VCD ten times cheaper but it's also sad that there are people who'll go to such great lengths in order to make a buck.
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What other movies like this have you found? I have Mystics in Bali, and Demonic Beauty (Krasue) with English subtitles! I also have Ghost of Valentine, and Witch with the Flying Head without subtitles.
ReplyDeleteHello Dave,
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine in France who's been collecting these films for years has made a list of them:
Ang Manananggal - Philippines, 1927 (yes! not a typo) - Joe Nepumuceno
Manananggal vs. Mangkukulam - Philippines, 196? - Consuelo P. Osorio
Krasue Sao - Thailand, 1973 - S. Naowaratch
Fei taugh moneuh / The Witch with Flying Head - China, circa 1977 - Wo Liang-sing
Drakula Tok - Thailand, 1979 - Lor Tok (# 2 in Yotsuya's post above)
Krasue - Thailand, 1982 - dir: ?
Mo / Boxer's Omen - Hong Kong, 1983 - Kwei Chih-hung
Itthirit Nammanphrai - Thailand, 1984 - dir: ? (# 1 in Yotsuya's post above)
Shakle, Rattle and Roll - Philippines, 1984 - dir: ? (sketch: Manananggal)
Mistik / Le'ak / Mystic in Bali - Indonesia, 1987 - H. Tjut Djalil
Oil of Eternal Life, Thailand, circa 1987 - dir: ?
Krasue Gad Pop - Thailand, 1990 - Phlaawut
Krasue Sing- Thailand, 1990 - dir: ?
Krasue Grahailuead - Thailand, 1995 - Sang-Tawan (poster below)
Manananggal in Maynila - Philippines, 1997 - Mario O'Hara
Tamnan Krasue / Demonic Beauty - Cambodia/Thailand, 2002 - Bin Banluerit
Krasue Valentine - Thailand, 2006 - Yuthlert Sippapak
Gong Tau / An Oriental Black Magic - Hong Kong, 2007 - Herman Yau
Chao Pous Keng Kang / Grandson's Snake Child/Snake's Love - Cambodia, 200? - Fai Saman
Burn the Witch ! / Plerng Ches Arb - Cambodia, circa 2004 -
Arb / Nieng Arb ("Vampire") - Cambodia, 2004 - Kam Chanty
Krasue / Erotic Thai Ghost Story - Thailand, ???? - John Wren
I should point out I only have a handful of them myself. The ones I've got are:
Itthirit Nammanphrai - Thailand, 1984 (no subs)
Fei taugh moneuh / The Witch with Flying Head (no subs)
Mo / Boxer's Omen - Hong Kong, 1983 (Eng. subs)
Gong Tau / An Oriental Black Magic - Hong Kong, 2007 (Eng.subs)
Krasue Grahailuead - Thailand, 1995 (no subs)
KRASUE SAO / Ghost of Guts Eater, Thailande 1973 (Swedish subs)
Mystics in Bali DVD version (Eng. dub)
Mystics in Bali from YouTube (no subs) ca. 30 min. longer!!
(there's a post about that here somewhere)
You can find a bit more about these movies in this thread (and see some of the covers):
http://z9.invisionfree.com/THE_CINEHOUND_FORUM/index.php?showtopic=1371&st=0