New stuff from Bill Olsen

Bill Olsen and CODE RED have just released their latest DVD, a double feature with SEEDS OF EVIL (1972) and TOUCH OF SATAN (1971). Both films are presented in 1.78:1 (16x9). I haven't watched either of them and word is neither is a masterpiece but, hell, they're horror movies from the early 70s and one of them has "Satan" in the title. How could you not want to check them out (yes, I've already placed an order).

My two cents on the covers; Maria Karellis looks nice and all but I wish Bill Olsen would make proper covers instead. How about putting each film poster on each their side, i.e. using the back cover as a front cover as well (and lose the chick entirely). This way each poster would cover a full cover. As it is you can hardly see the details in the pictures. And then use see-thru cases and print the info on the inside of the cover. Much better (as these dvd's are only available via direct sale anyway it's not like there's a risk of losing the potential customer at stores due to their not being able to be grabbed by the spiffy cover text on the back).

Now, Bill, are you going to release LEGACY OF SATAN or not???

Sweet lovin' ... sweet Macumba lovin'

(click poster for huge hi res size)

Check this rad poster for the psychotronic movie MACUMBA LOVE from 1960! I've had the trailer sitting in the bar on the right for the last couple of years (and you should check it out, it's one coool trailer) but have kept forgetting to get hold of the film itself (too many films in this world!!). But, lo and behold, I've finally ordered it from a grey market seller in the US (actually, it was rather difficult to find a place that has it). Ahhh, sweet Macumba love.




The management of this theatre asks you to bow your heads in silence for 15 seconds in memory of those who have passed away while watching our next attraction. Please bow your heads.



NB: I got the poster scan from WRONG SIDE OF THE ART website. Check it out. It's run by just the one guy and there's tons of high resolution poster scans!

FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON - uncut French dvd versus cut UK dvd

I've written about the longer French DVD release of the wild Korean film FIREFIST OF INCREDIBLE DRAGON before but I've never compared it to the shorter English dubbed version found on UK DVD. Fortunately, Cinehound member Resonator05 has done it for me now:

by RESONATOR05

I have now compared the French and UK DVD's of Firefist of Incredible Dragon and here are some infos:

The French DVD (French audio only) is a joke. The cover claims the picture has been restored - there is even a short featurette about the restoration (lol) - but the quality is extremely bad. Even if fully letterboxed (but 4:3), the picture is extremely dark (yes, so dark that sometimes you can hardly see anything), very corny and simply very bad, it looks like crap. The guys who restored this fucked it up big way.

Anyway the French DVD runs 87:58min, which is 12 minutes longer then the full screen UK cheapo disc (76:02). There are quite some dialogues and other stuff cut (maybe to save dubbing costs for the English export version), but also cuts to sexual violence (thanks to the BBFC I guess).

The main censorship cuts are at minute 30 (French DVD) when a woman is forced to sex and the biggest cut at around minute 39 (French DVD) when some women are bound and tortured, involving lots of nudity, full frontal nudity and women suffering. The torture is not seen in a gory way, it is mostly off-screen (a pin moved to a naked woman's body), but this scene which lasts 1-2 minutes has been removed completely.

So, that is it. I would prefer the UK DVD any day, simply because of the hilarious dubbing and the picture being much brighter (even if still shitty). Also it moves faster and all the gory scenes are intact. Have a nice day :-)

Big thanks to Resonator05!

When bootleg covers go wrong

Here's another terrible cover from a bootlegger who didn't bother to find out what he's selling. These films are by no means from China. CHINA DOESN'T HAVE A CATEGORY III RATING, hahaha. It only exists in Hong Kong.

The argument that China has now taken over Hong Kong isn't valid either as altho Peking has final say-so Hong Kong is a territory of its own with own Government, currency and flag. Oh, and the flag on this bootleg is the wrong one, hahaha. China's flag isn't used in Hong Kong. Not surprisingly the Hong Kong flag is used in Hong Kong.

Also, even IF we were to label Hong Kong film as being from China it would still be an invalid argument as these films were made before the Peking takeover in 1997. In other words they should be called BRITISH films as Britain ruled Hong Kong prior to 1997. But of course no one would do that.

I commented about it in connection with the cover on the bootlegger's Facebook page but I didn't get a reply (somehow I'm not surprised). LMAO.

Check my first post about a crappy bootleg cover here (that one is almost surreal!).

New book reprints "Punk magazine"

Now, why would you watch a two week old news programme from C4? o_O
Yeah, it's about punk! There's a new book that reprints the old "Punk" zine and there's an interview with Henry.

Oh oh oh!!! and there's a TOYAH interview!! Me and my cousin Ronny were huge Toyah fans (I was a member of the fan club, lol).

4th different edit of JUNGLE HEAT existing in Thailand???

LAST BREATH AKA JUNGLE HEAT (TAIWAN)


I'm already aware of thee different edits of the gory and trashy Taiwan war movie LAST BREATH aka Jungle Heat.

1) The original version (under the Last Breath title) is released on VHS in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and there's a tape released to the Chinatowns in the USA.

2) The international version, entitled Jungle Heat (a different EDIT with alternative footage shot for this version, i.e. n-o-t a cut & paste version!) is released on VHS and around the world and on DVD in the UK and Germany (and sadly both are cut!).

3) And finally we have the VCD from Mainland China which is basically a different edit of the Taiwan version (including using the Last Breath title) but missing 20 minutes of footage but also has new footage exclusive to this version. I own all three versions.


And then... someone in Thailand tells me there's also a Thai edit!!!!!!!!!!

He has never seen the film but he owns a poster (see above scan) and you can clearly see a famous Thai actor on it (I forget his name). The Thai collector claims that the actor is so respected in Thailand that they wouldn't have dared to put him on the poster if he weren't in the film and, although that's not proof of this versions existing it probably good indication that it probably does.

I'm hoping this version has at least made it to video-cd in Thailand. Unfortunately, Thai VCD's have a tendency to fly by by night never to return again. An American who lives over there told me there's so many VCD's being released all the time that it's pretty difficult to find a certain title once it's sold out. But I've been collecting long enough to know everything turns up if you wait long enough. Unfortunately, that often means many months and years of waiting, looking, asking, and asking again. In this case I don't even know if this version even exists. >_<

Did he say making fuck?

I rewatched CLERKS on VHS recently. I don't think I've seen the film since its original premiere in Australia in the 90s. I remember watching it at a cinema in Melbourne just after midday one afternoon and liking the film a lot. In the above scene there's a few lines from a "Russian" "heavy metal" track but I never thought it was made into a real song - but it has! Haha Check the full track in the video underneath.

If it's been done - undo it

A little while ago I caught the last 5 minutes of a GOSSIP gig on German TV. That final five minute clip is pretty awesome and fortunately someone uploaded that track to YouTube. Check it out! There's a wee German girl with more courage than most adults I know. It begins at 1:50 (but watch it all anyway!). Just brilliant, great band.

"It could hurt your brain"

I watched Code Red's DVD release of NIGHT OF THE DEMON (James C. Wasson, USA, 1980) last night. It's been described as the goriest Bigfoot film ever and sure enough it is definitely pretty gory. Not least the scene where Bigfoot rips off some poor biker's wang. Ouch!

Code Red couldn't find a real film print so they used a 1 inch video tape master for their DVD. It looks pretty good and, well, you gotta take what you can get. For some reason they didn't include the trailer on the DVD but at least we get a music video by Maria Kanellis who also introduces the film. I couldn't care less but if it sells some more copies then good for Bill Olsen and Code Red. The version I bought is a reprint with a different cover. The first one had Maria on the front. The one I got has Bigfoot and the poor feller with the missing wiener on the front. Haha.

Since I couldn't be bothered to do a proper review here's a link to a better one. It's pretty fun too (and the headline quotation is from there). If you look up the film make sure you find the right one, there's a bunch of other films that use the same title (and similar).

The DVD is available from Code Red's store.

OZ DVD the only way to get the original McCLOUD episodes!*

*Well, unless you take the iOffer route!

I ordered the first season of McCLOUD from eBay Australia last night. As I mentioned the other day, the Australian/New Zealand set contains the original 6 episodes as they aired in the USA in 1970. When American TV later reran them they edited the 6 episodes into 3 telly movies. The original episodes ran around 50 minutes each and the 3 TV movies are 2 x 70 min & 1 x 90 min. So it's obvious that a lot of footage was cut out and reportedly scenes were swapped around making a mess of it all. The Australian/New Zealand set from Madman contains both the 6 original episodes and the 3 telly movies (and the pilot).

Someone from Madman mentioned on a forum that it took them a full year to find the original versions and it was almost too late to include them. Luckily they did. I received the seven seasons on Danish DVD a couple of days ago (see my post from earlier this week) and it annoyed me to no end that they only contain the re-edited versions of season 1. I might also have to order the OZ/NZ season 3 at some stage. The Danish set omits a full episode (and completely lies about it on the cover as they claim the season is "complete"!!). One other annoying thing in regards to the Danish set is the episodes aren't presented in chronological order!! But at least we got season 6 and 7. It seems these last two seasons may not get an Aussie/Kiwi release.