Korean posterI wrote about the wild and crazy movie
FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON the other day and here's a bit of new info from two nice gents;
Knudsford of
ASIAN CULT CINEMA SHOWCASE blog in Japan has provided highly interesting info on the film's origin and
Peter "Kothar" from Cinehound has sent me cover scans for the French VHS and DVD releases.
THE DIFFERENT RELEASES:Peter, along with my buddy
David Z in the US, confirms that the French print is a good-looking letterboxed print and that it runs a whooping 11 minutes longer than the UK DVD!!!
Unfortunately, the French DVD isn't English friendly. :o(
Whether the French VHS and DVD contain the original uncut Korean print instead of the Tomas Tang version remains to be seen. One rather unfortunate piece of info I learnt via the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) homepage is that they cut out no less than 51 seconds of the UK DVD!!! As I wrote in my first post the film is also out on VHS in the US and I would assume that version is the uncut print (of the shorter Tomas Tang version).
ABOUT THE FILM:Firstly,
FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON isn't a Hong Kong movie at all as it says on the IMDb!
Whaaat? Surely you jest, Jack!?!? O_O
Incorrect info on the highly trustworthy IMDb??? Nooo!!! @_@
Obviously, I'm laughing my ass off here. xD
As soon as I saw that Tomas Tang moniker I suspected foul play but with info as difficult to come by in regards to an ultra obscure and rare movie like FIREFIST you sometimes got to run with what you're being given. Even shitty info provided by drunken IMDb monkeys.
However, here's the correct info which Tommy translated from Korean:
소림사 주천귀동 Juchon-Gwidong in Shaolin Temple (1982)
Chinese title: 少林寺酒天鬼童
Production Company Shin Han Art Films Co., Ltd
Producer Kim Gi-Yeong
Release Day 1982-06-19
Running Time 82 min.
Director Kim Jong-Seong
Cast: Lee Jae-Yeong, Im Poong, Han Hee, Joo Yong-JongI'm a bit curious as to the 82 minute running time info. Peter tells me the French tape runs 88 minutes!!! Did the Koreans have a censored print or is it simply a misprint?
None of these two French covers are particularly good I'm afraid! Actually they're terrible at conveying what kind of film is inside the box! You would think this is an ordinary - and kinda boring looking - martial arts movie. Well, like I said (i.e. rambled about frantically) in my first post this
isn't an ordinary kung fu film by
anybody's standards! I would
loooove to see this being given a proper release by
Mondo Macabro!! Are you listening
Peter Tombs!!!
Big thank-you's fly out to Knudsford, Peter, and David!
Fred Anderson of Ninja Dixon blog has just uploaded the trailer for his upcoming DVD release of THE KILLER ELEPHANTS (Thailand, 1976). Fred has recently launched a one-man company entitled ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT and besides THE KILLER ELEPHANTS Fred has also bought the rights for THUNDER OF GIGANTIC SERPENT (1988). These DVDs are not bootlegs or public domain crap but official DVDs. ATTACKFANT is based in Sweden and the two DVDs will carry English dubs. You'll find their Facebook page here.
