Screw Xmas, Halloween is here!

Check out this way kool Halloween toon by Bill Buchanan from 1962. It's pretty awesome and I wish that were my 7"! Check out this cat's YouTube channel, he's uploaded tons of cool tracks. Thanks to Armando for making me aware of this channel.

Best Sort Sol / C.V. Jørgensen track on a Saturday

The Legacy (1978)

I just watched Richard Marquand's THE LEGACY (aka The Legacy of Maggie Walsh / De Fordømte) for the second time. The first time was a few years back when I slept my way thru the movie, LOL. Not that it's a bad film mind you I guess I must've been tired. :D

The plot is the old tried (and tired) "couple can't escape from English manor and get sucked into occult dabblings". The story is basic and would've sunk the film to the bottom of the horror movie ocean had it not been for the good cast. The Danish cheapo DVD is presented in terrible fullscreen and the print is scratched but serviceable.


Trailer:


Aussie trailer:

I shall use my devisualiser and vanish!

THE PHANTOM CREEPS (12 chapter serial, 1939)

Needless to say Bela Lugosi is Dracula! I'm not gonna try and debate whether the "real" Dracula is DRACULA from 1931 starring Bela Lugosi or Hammer Studio's DRACULA from 1958 starring Christoper Lee (and retitled Horror of Dracula in America). I love them both so I'm not gonna pour any petrol on the feud bonfire between Lugosi and Lee fans. Haha.



I won't take part, I choose them both. Anyway, I'm babbling. What else can you do after 12 chapters of this cool Bela Lugosi serial from 1939. Dinner in half an hour so no incisive plot description, sufficient to know this: The world and The United States of America was a peaceful place in '39, well except for the emergence of that madman Hitl... eh, doctor Zorka. Bela Lugosi is doctor Zorka, a mad scientist whose goal is to conquer the world ("...but I shall conquer the world with my army of atomic supermen", but, hey, that's a different Lugosi movie - same goal though!).



Our hero is an FBI man and his annoying (but very pretty) female sidekick (a journalist, obviously!). Lugosi has invented a box with an heinous content; with it he can DESTROY THE WORLD. Or conquer it, whatever he chooses. Unfortunately, other (non American, obviously) players are in the game too. Wauw, what a concept; not ONE but TWO bad parties fighting for world domination and our hero (and the pretty journo) are having a hard time saving said world. Oh, and did I forget to mention doctor Zorka also has a DEVISUALISER to go invisible with (a nifty devise not least if you want to use footage from THE INVISIBLE RAY from 1936, LOL).

They have betrayed me, but I will take the world with me!

Oh, and did I forget to mention he also has an amazing killer robot. So deadly it'll kill anybody who doesn't walk any faster than your everyday SNAIL. Argh. THE PHANTOM CREEPS is awesome!! Bela Lugosi is the bad guy but he totally steals the show, who is the good guy even? Forget the other actors except the pretty journalist and (incidentally!) the OTHER bad guy played by Edward van Sloan (who was also in DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN). But then again, would anybody think otherwise? How could Bela Lugosi as a mad scientist with a devisualiser, ray gun, killer robot, explosive robot spiders (!!!), and awesome one-liners, not steal the show!



The DVD from VCI is great! The picture has been restored and looks like it was filmed recently (I'm obviously exaggerating there). Yes, there's a few scratches here and there but you'll soon forget about that. There's no extra material apart from an old cartoon ("Porky's Midnight Matinee") but screw that, the 12 chapters are more than enough! Running time is approximately 4 hours.



PS: If you want to watch THE PHANTOM CREEPS, make sure you get the VCI DVD. There are releases from other companies but apparently they're terrible TV prints. It's around 10 bucks from Amazon.

Video Nasties The Definitive Guide - longer trailer

I've already posted one trailer for this hopefully awesome documentary about the video nasty era in the UK and here's another one. It's less of a trailer and more like an proper into to the docu film. I'm certainly looking forward to the DVD (out on Nov. 1'st).

Read my old post with into and description to the film here.

Alright, Magnus, you're right... THIS is a PROPER video for Halloween!!!

A wee horror trash toon to get into the Halloween spirit. xD

EATER (Stuart Gordon, 2008)

I watched the first episode of FEAR ITSELF (i.e. "Masters of Horror" season 3) tonight and I can't say I'm disappointed! The episode is called "Eater" and is directed by Stuart Gordon, and obviously it's pointless to tell you he also directed the legendary RE-ANIMATOR in 1985 cos you already know that. One of my all time fave films! If "Eater" is an indicator of the quality of FEAR ITSELF then I'm certainly in for a treat cos this episode is great!

The story takes place at a small police station during one snowy night. A handful of police officers are asked to look after a particularly dangerous prisoner until the next morning. But at some point the main character, a young female rookie cop, discovers that maybe the other cops aren't what she thinks they are. Not a fortunate situation since the guy in the cell (or where ever he is) is a Cajun "chef" with an appetite for human flesh. LOL. Without revealing too much let me just hint at the ending may be surprisingly downbeat! Not a bad thing in my book. :D
The only extra feature is a five minute interview with Stuart Gordon but at least he talks about how much he loves horror. xD

You can take your other holidays and shove 'em!

HALLOWEEN is where it's at, man! xD. And this is the weekend before the big event so here's a cool trailer for the zombie flick that started it all! Hmm, should I tell you which one it is, it's not like they mention it in the trailer (a few hundred times, LOL).

When guys dance. In the graveyard.

Best ever Sidaris on a Saturday night

Here's a trailer for Andy Sidaris' SEVEN. Along with STACEY! this is his best film me thinks! xD
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a trailer for STACEY! but here are trailers for two of this other highly entertaining films, HARD TICKET TO HAWAII (which I reviewed in Banned in Britain 2, DL it from the bar on the right if you haven't already) and DO OR DIE. Unfortunately, neither SEVEN nor STACEY! is on official DVD.

Dedication

JohnLydon.Com reader Claude showing off his tattoo of John to the man himself after the PiL show at Leeds, 02 Academy, December 16th 2009. John duly the signed the tattoo as a mark of respect.

o_O

So I'm at my aunt's birthday party yesterday.

Aunt (different one, not the birthday aunt): I've got a homepage for my practice now.

Me: Cool. How many hits do you get?

Aunt: Around a 100 a week.

Me: Cool. I've got a blog about B movies from the Philippines. The Stockholm Film Festival discovered it recently. They've sent me invites to their press meetings. I can get free passes if I want.

Aunt: [blank stare]

Me: It's fun to get discovered by a big festival like that. Of course, it's all just for fun, but still.

Aunt: [blank stare]

Me: Ehh, you know I'm the only one who does a blog about this. In the world.

Aunt: You could go to Stockholm. Stockholm is nice.

Me: Eh, yeah sure, but that's not the point, it was just fun to get the invite.

Aunt: [blank stare]


What is it with families??? o_O
They just don't get your hobbies or anything. Unless you tell them about a new job or that you're getting a baby they're just not interested. [blank stare]. Haha. o_O

Too violent for Danish television (almost)

This is a re-post (again) but I'm still looking for a copy of this rare TV series and since I keep getting more readers I thought I might as well give it another shot.


Back in the early 80s I watched an American cop series on TV called Riker. Riker was kind of a TV version of Dirty Harry and I remember it was so violent that there was talk about it being too violent for local television here. Obviously, I loved it.

Did any of you watch it? I haven't seen the show since it was on television here back then which makes it something like 25-26 yrs ago. :o

I've tried to track it down but to no avail. It seems like it's never been released on dvd or vhs. But then again, maybe there was a vhs release in the US that I don't know about. Or somewhere else. If anybody knows anything please let me know, I'd looove to track down this show and watch it again. Obviously, I'm not trying to find an official release since there are none. A video tape or dvd-r off the TV broadcast is what I'm looking for.

It was short-lived, there were only 5 episodes - but those 5 episodes, Madonna mia!!

Check more info on TvRageCom.

In his eleven years on the San Francisco police force, Frank Riker has always been considered a "hot shot." His methods are unorthodox, but he has the best arrest record in the city. After single-handedly thwarting a bank robbery, Riker finds himself facing a departmental shooting investigation. He learns that due to political pressure, he will be forced to resign in disgrace, the "killer cop." At best, he can hope to be assigned a desk Job. Deputy Attorney General Brice Landis, who owes a great many favors to Riker, claims that he cannot change things, but he can offer Riker a chance to do what he does best. Not a man to watch the action from behind a desk, Riker accepts Landis' offer that he work undercover, infiltrating major criminal organizations. Only Landis and Riker will know the truth, thus eliminating any possibility of exposure. This also makes Riker's life a lonely one, for his former friends on the force quickly turn against the renegade cop.
[Description from TvRage]

The complete series:
1: Honkytonk (airdate 14/Mar/1981)
2: Sisters (21/Mar/1981)
3: Gun Run (28/Mar/1981)
4: Crime School (04/Apr/1981)
5: Busted Cop (11/Apr/1981)

Games of Death is finally here. Uh... well... the cover is here anyway!

If you've followed this blog a while you'll know that I've tried to get Global in South Africa to send me their (his) DVD release of the ultra rare Filipino movie GAMES OF DEATH (aka Dragon's Mission). However, it's taken a looong while because of various reasons;

First he had to wait to see if anybody wanted the film, then he had to wait to have it printed, then he had to wait to get more copies printed (while the first batch for some reason wasn't being sent out), then he had to wait for what ever unknown reason, and now it seems he's not gonna send them out to the people who ordered them anyway!!!

The initial price was $15 per disc (he was going to release two more film, old kung fu films) plus postage. Well, apparently, someone on Kung Fu Cinema forum has been in contact with Global and if this someone can secure 60 (!!) people to buy all three films at a price of 60 (!!!) then... we can have them. Huh? I mean, just... H-U-H???

It's including postage to Europe ($70 to the US/Canada) but still!! There's a long way from being able to just buy one at 15 bucks to having to buy all three at $60!!! I have no interest in the two other films! And on top of this he's been selling copies on auctions on eBay with a start price of $20. This is just very, very weird. To quote someone from KFC forum: "fishy".

If it wasn't because this guy owns the only print (a 35mm print apparently) in the world, including bootleggers, I would just walk away from it. But he is the only one. I just don't understand why it has to be so fucken complicated. Global, send me you PayPal address, then I pay you. Easy. Not difficult!!!
Grrr.


Info from his eBay page:

DRAGON'S MISSION AKA "GAMES OF DEATH"

STARRING RAMON ZAMORA

IN THE TRADITION OF "ENTER THE DRAGON"

FIRST TIME AVAILABLE WITH ENG DUB

FULL SCREEN VERSION

FACTORY PRESSED DISC NOT A BOOTLEG OR DVD R

REGION 2 PAL ,PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR MACHINE IS COMPATIBLE AS NO REFUND WILL BE GIVEN FOR INCOMPATIBILITY



TRANSFERRED FROM 35MM .SOME ROPE LINES ARE VISIBLE

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: PLEASE ALLOW MIN 21 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF SHIPPING

ADDITIONAL COST FOR REGISTERED MAIL

SHIPPING IS NOT FREE AS STATED

THIS IS A LIMTED EDITION DVD

How to make coffee in Finland while you speak English

You need to watch this! This is, like, the greatest YouTube video ever.

- reviewed somewhere else...

I just did a quick review of Tonino Valerii's Italian genre movie LA SPORCA INSEGNA DEL CORAGGIO. You'll find it here (and yes, post date is way old but the review is brand new!). I've been running the Filipino Vietnam War movie site, WHEN THE VIETNAM WAR RAGED... IN THE PHILIPPINES, for 18 months and I haven't done one single review, haha. Well, until now that is (and obviously I kick off in grand style by reviewing an Italian film that wasn't even filmed in the Philippines or even has any Filipino actors in it, arrhahaha. Yes, ridiculous!). xD xD xD

End of the line

I finished a four week course today instigated by the local jobcentre ("How to apply for a job when you're an unemployed punk") and what better way to celebrate than with Tom Waits' "How's it gonna end" from his "Real Gone" LP.

More rare Asian stuff on vhs: DRIVING FORCE

VHS/Greece/fullscreen/English dub/Greek subs

At the same auction where I won KILLER ANGELS I also won the Greek VHS release of this rare Filipino film DRIVING FORCE from 1989. Yay! Spiffy!!

I was the only bidder. Suckers!!! (^_-)

Howz life in my digital toilet?

Lately, I've experienced a new (to me anyway) kind of spam; People who sign up to follow this blog but who don't give two shits about the blog or the contents. What they hope for is that you and I will click their shitty avatar and go check out their "blogs" which aren't real blogs at all but whatever crappy shite they try and shove in our faces. xD.

Well, getting more subscribers is nice and all but not just any subscribers. These people might as well save their energy and not bother cos I'm deleting their sorry asses as quickly as I can. They're going down the crapper right away. Hahaha.

Killer Angels - finally coming home

I've just won the awesome... the amazing... the uber entertaining... shoot 'em up... gun them down... and then shoot 'em again... "GIRLS WITH GUNS" epic KILLER ANGELS (1989) which stars Moon Lee. It's completely on level with ANGEL 1 & 2 (aka Iron Angels 1 & 2) and a much better sequel to that series than ANGEL 3. I've had the unsubbed VCD for years and years and have watched it many times cos the storyline is cartoon-like, you don't really need to understand the dialogue. A couple of years back I got an English dubbed bootleg DVD of the film but now, at last, I've secured an original VHS of the English dubbed print. Yay! I've lost this release before when it went for big bucks but tonight I was the only bidder! Awesome!!

PS: don't get confused by the "Greek" title, Ultra Force (which incidentally is the alternative title for ROYAL WARRIORS in Germany and Denmark!) this is indeed KILLER ANGELS.

The old HK VCD (in Cantonese/Mandarin, no subs)

Ellery Queen Mysteries - complete series finally on DVD

I've just discovered that the complete Ellery Queen Mysteries series has recently been been released as a 6 disc DVD box set! The box contains all 22 episodes plus the pilot "Too Many Suspects".

I used to watch this as a kid in the mid 70s but have never had a chance for a re-visit so this is pretty cool. I have no idea if the show holds water or if I'll still like it but I'm definitely gonna order it.

Someone on Amazon.com wrote an informative review, you can check it here.

Fear Itself (Masters of Horror, season 3)

My bank account is in the red and with last night's purchase it's gonna be even more in the red, argh!!

The kinda third season of the US TV show Masters of Horror, retitled Fear Itself, has just been released on local DVD. Søren over at Skræk og rædsel blog has mentioned it a couple of times and since I quite enjoyed season 1 I thought I'd check out how much this new set retails for (and no, I still haven't got season 2 which for some reason wasn't released here. I'll get the reg. 1 set eventually). In a few months you can probably scoop it up for DKK 70-100 but right now it's around 300 Danish pesetas ($56). A bit much for my in-the-red budget so I checked Amazon and lo and behold they had THIS spiffy edition...



...for a mere 24 dollars! So needless to say that's the one I ordered! :D

I mean how cool is that; Get a skeleton shaped cover or a boring Danish one?? Yeah big difficult choice!! (like NOT). Both releases contain the complete series. The Danish e-stores I checked all mentioned it's "season 1" but none of them mentioned the link to the Masters of Horror series or that it's in reality season 3 (just produced for a different network). IMBECILES! I spit in your face!! (LMAO).

PS: click the skeleton cover twice for gigantic bone size! xD.

ZUMA - finally uncut & subtitled!!

[click cover for cool size]

Thanks to my French Canadian friend Matt over in Korea I now own a remastered, uncut, and subtitled print of the legendary Filipino horror movie ZUMA!! Yay!!! I've had a dvd-r dupe of ZUMA for quite some time but the film is in Tagalog and needless to say the Japanse VHS doesn't have English subs. ZUMA has never been released in an English friendly edition anywhere so it goes without saying that this is a custom made version. I don't download from torrent sites but I'm aware that a subtitled version of the Japanese VHS has been available for a while. However, firstly the Japanese VHS is missing no less than FIVE minutes and apparently the print wasn't all that good (and out of sync too). This new print has the missing scenes re-inserted (from a TV print), and Matt has remastered the print and re-synced the audio. Oh, and he also did the way cool cover you see in the above!! Cheers, Matt.
Matt also sent me a subtitled and uncut fan edit that he did of POSSESSED II and a properly letterboxed edition of the Indo flick HUNGRY SNAKE WOMAN (starring Suzzanna). More YAY!!!

Crazy Indonesia: "From fighting in the streets to fighting in the sheets"

Trailer for the Indonesian colonial war movie DAREDEVIL COMMANDOS (1985) starring Barry Prima, from Rapi Films.





The cover scans are both Danish. The cover text reads: "An exiting 5 star action movie from the inhumane war hell of the jungle", haha. Five star film!? o_O

VHS collectors unite!

Best robot attack on a Sunday

Best ever zombies on a Saturday night

Fellow blogs that FLY UNDER THE RADAR but that you OUGHT to know about!!! ... "SINETRACTS"

A few years back I received an email from this guy called Dag in Malmø, Sweden. He collected Turkish cult movies and he'd heard about how I'd published an issue of my zine STAY SICK! in which I'd reviewed a bunch of Turkish movies. He asked if I wanted to swap mags; He didn't actually have a fanzine ready but he was in the process of making one and as soon as he had it ready he'd send me a copy. I remember I also got an email from Linus, another fan of world-weird movies back then, and he said he'd written stuff for this new upcoming mag.

Well, if I had a dime for every time someone has told me they were gonna publish a fanzine and it never actually came out... then I would have a lot of dimes, haha. In other words, Dag never got his shit together to publish his Turkish movie fanzine nor did I ever hear from him again. Then years later I discovered that Lars Jacobsson had started running a blog on peplum movies (I posted about it here) and I discovered he had ONE link to another blog and much to my surprise that blog was indeed by the very same Dag and it deals exclusively with Turkish pop cinema!! Gee, Dag, how about telling me about it?? I mean, after all YOU OWE ME AN ISSUE OF YOUR NEVER PUBLISHED MAGAZINE!!! Hahahaha. Oh well, no worries, mate, I won't hold it against you, LMAO (if I did I wouldn't be advertising your blog, argh!).

Anyway, seriously, as a fan of world-weird pop cinema you need to check out Dag's blog. There are no reviews, no articles, no YouTube clips, no nothing! All it is is cover scans galore and credits for heaps of Turkish films!! It's pretty cool and very useful I'd say! Go here: SINETRACTS.



For all the entries in this series go here.

Crashing...

...in front of the telly. Yesterday, I watched KARA MURAT VS THE BLACK KNIGHT on German VHS. Cuneyt Arkin plays Kara Murat (or "Karamurat" in the international versions) and in this one we get twice as much of him as he also plays his own evil twin brother. Lots of action and violence. I found a Turkish TV print online but discovered that the TV print is actually cut (an arm chopping scene is missing in full).


This gory scene is actually from KARAMURAT: THE SULTAN'S WARRIOR but who cares, LOL.


Next up was THE DEVIL BAT, starring Bela Lugosi. Lugosi plays a disgruntled employee who plans to kill off his boss and the boss' family. In order to do so Lugosi creates a gigantic killer bat that he lets out of the window at night to follow his dastardly commands. I watched THE DEVIL BAT on a UK DVD. There was a bit of pixelation as it's a 3-films-on-1 DVD but it wasn't too bad.


Bela Lugosi being sinister in THE DEVIL BAT.

The last film I watched was KILLING BIRDS which is out on reg. 1 DVD as Zombie 5: Killing Birds. It's a daft re-title though as it's not really a zombie film (altho we do see a couple of zombies). KILLING BIRDS is directed by Joe D'amato and some other guy, I forget his name. It clocks in after approx 90 minutes which of course is normal running time but they could easily have cut out 15 minutes and it would've made it a much better film. As it is there are long boring scenes that just keep going forever, or so it feels. The actors were forgettable but there were some cool gore scenes so that was good. Overall, KILLING BIRDS was the least entertaining of the three films while KARA MURAT VS THE BLACK KNIGHT the most entertaining. DEVIL BAT is a enjoyable psychotronic flick that won't scare anybody nowadays (I'm not sure it ever did) but it was cool to watch and Bela Lugoso, altho playing the bad guy, totally steals the show.


Trailer for KILLING BIRDS


Scenes from the Italian language version. Unfortunately, the US reg. 1 DVD only carries the English audio track.

How to fly a kite and kill a guy (at the same time) *update*

I added a very cool Japanese cover scan to my IMPOSSIBLE WOMAN post. Go here.

Trolljegeren / The Troll Hunter - trailer

Check out this cool (English subbed) trailer for the new Norwegian horror movie TROLLJEGEREN aka The Troll Hunter. Looks pretty cool! xD

Ultra rare Filipino movie on Greek VHS

GET MY SON DEAD OR ALIVE
[click scan for full size]

Bill Barounis (of Onar Films) posted this scan on Cinehound yesterday!!! As I'm sure you realise Bill knows the ins and outs of Greek VHS releases and according to him this tape is the ONLY copy he's ever found! And as if that wasn't enough, he also states this tape is the ONLY tape this video label ever released!! How awesome. Bill, please send me this tape!!! xD


GET MY SON DEAD OR ALIVE
(Bukang Liwayway Films)

[Philippines release date 27th May 1982]

Director Jose “Pepe” Marcos Story Felix E. Dalay Screenplay Jerry Tirazona Producer Precy Mendiola Talavera Executive Producer Jerry Paz Talavera Cinematography Rey de Leon Music Gabby Castellano Editor Gervacio Santos Art Director Rolly Sto. Domingo Production Manager Celso Paz Talavera Assistant Director Dante Javier Sound Effects Editor Rodel Capule Sound Engineer Robert Tejada Color Consultant Rafael Uy Publicity and Promotions Mar F. Cornes, Rod Samson

Cast Rudy Fernandez, Eddie Garcia, Vic Vargas, Perla Bautista, Marilou Bendigo, Phillip Gamboa, Nick Aladdin, Jing Caparas, Joseph de Cordova, Renato Del Prado, Paquito Diaz, Ernie Forte, Baldo Marro, Jose Romulo, Jun Santos, Larry Silva, Vilma Vitug (Vilma) [Greek VHS cover also lists “Rechard Folk” and Joan Beck]

Scpace. Zee final fronteer.

I used to watch this as a kid growing up in the old DDR (i.e. Eastern Germany). We didn't have much else but canned food (sauerkraut and wienerschnitzel) and Russian polka music but we had one thing: We got TV rays from the free West thru the wall and we could watch Die Phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion. It made all the difference. It was truly wunderbar!

Alright-alright, I discovered Raumpatrouille Orion via the German satellite TV channel Sat1 in the early 90s and I've got the complete German box set release that came out a few years back. Unfortunately, it's not English friendly (but this clip is [albeit wobbly]).

Danish newspaper admats

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Cannibal Holocaust

Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS

"Her atrocities were so severe that even the SS feared her"

[click any of the admats for a bigger size]

Thanks to Kent for posting these on Uncut's forum.