Some highly welcome upcoming DVD releases from AWE

... and Njuta Films.



I've mentioned these titles before as they were announced for release from Njuta Films in Sweden quite a while ago. I speculated whether they were gonna be released from Another World Entertainment (AWE) in Denmark as well (as AWE are uber slow at revealing their new stuff!) but we've finally got word that HANDS OF STEEL, IRONMASTER, BLASTFIGHTER, and 2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK are also being released from AWE in the coming months. And also, AWE have just announced they're putting out Franco Prosperi's WILD BEASTS in March! The film is already out on DVD in the Czech Republic but that DVD only carries a French (and Czech) dub. Hopefully the new AWE disc is gonna carry the English dub. And lastly, I'm 99% convinced AWE are also going to release Joe D'Amato's PORNO HOLOCAUST as the Njuta Films release carries Danish subtitles along with the Swedish ones.

AWE and Njuta release many films but these are especially exciting as they're films that either aren't released on DVD at all or they don't exist in English friendly or uncut versions.



The back of the cover sports a spiffy quotation from our good buddy Fred Anderson: "One of thee best action flicks of the 80s"

The Paper Bag Killer

Thanks to Member-X for the link. At first I thought he'd done the video himself in his eternal quest for trying to embarrass me... but he didn't.

"Viva Django" vs "Joe, der Galgenvogel"

I spent time writing this in a post on FB so I might as well re-post it here as well:


This is a trailer for Ferdinando Baldi's brutal spaghetti western PREPARATI LA BARA! from 1968, in English known as Viva Django and in German Joe, der Galgenvogel. It stars Terence Hill before he bacame a "funny" guy.

The weirdest example of German censorshit I've seen is their version of VIVA DJANGO. The film is very cynical and brutal. Django's wife is killed. He is also shot and the bad guys believe he is dead. He digs his own fake grave and puts his ...own name on the tombstone. He shoots people in the back. He shoots one guy in the face. He kills the main bad guy from the back while he's trying to escape. In other words, Django doesn't follow the normal "good guy" code.

The Germans didn't like this! Haha. So they cut out all the violence and changed the story in the German dub. Now the woman who dies isn't his wife but just some woman. His grave is some other guy's. Somebody else shoots the bad guys in the back (off screen). And the most ridiculous scene is where he shoots the guy in the face. They couldn't cut out the scene so in the German version Django narrates the scene and says "I pulled an old trick: I blew powder in his face" (the "powder" is the smoke from the gun, for fuck's sake, hahaha).

And the Germans loved the Trinity brothers and they actually made it into a Trinity bros film, the other "brother" is just on holiday somewhere. At the end of the film he narrates again: "I'm tired of being alone, I'm gonna find the fat guy now". Hahaha. It's the weirdes and most insane cut version I've ever seen. I taped it off TV.

PS: Hmm, it occurs to me that the German version must have left quite an impression on me: I reviewed the two versions in great detail in the first issue of my zine BANNED IN BRITAIN in 1994 and here I am STILL talking about the Germans' abuse!! Haha.

5 Deadly Angels arrived at the door!

Ahh, after years of trying to find the rare Dutch VHS release of Danu Umbara's 5 DEADLY ANGELSE (aka 5 Cewek Jagoan) I've finally got hold of it!!! Pure awesomeness!!!
- and altho I got it from someone else (in Germany) I'd like to say thanks to Peter in Holland who's spent all his free spare time during the past 17 yrs trying to find a copy for me and who initially provided me with a dvdr copy (and it's his copy that everyone else is downloading and the YouTube clip posted here is also from him!). Very much appreciated, Peter!




I really ought to point out that this goofy sing & dance clip isn't very representative for the movie. The rest of the film contains wild and awesome action! Check Fred's review below and you'll see what I mean. :D


by FRED ADELMAN

FIVE DEADLY ANGELS (1980) - The success of TV's CHARLIE'S ANGELS (1976 - 1981) spawned many imitators, including this Indonesian action flick. A scientist named Hardy invents a new type of explosive ("With this type of formula, people can blow up mountains without any danger!" What? How is that fucking possible?), but he worries about it falling into the wrong hands ("If crooks get a hold of it, imagine the bloody big bang it would cause!" What a minute, I thought it was safe!).

Immediately after making those statements, Hardy and his girlfriend Yanti (Yati Octavia) are kidnapped, blindfolded and taken to the home of the big boss, Mr. Brutho, who tells Hardy that he either hands over the formula or he will kill Yanti. Fortunately, Yanti (who is an expert marksman) escapes and is saved on the side of a road by Anita (Debby Cynthia Dewi; MYSTICS IN BALI - 1981), a chick in a black leather outfit (complete with black cowboy hat) who beats the crap out of one of Mr. Brutho's goons in super slow-motion, destroying his car in the process.

Anita agrees to help Yanti in her quest to rescue her boyfriend (It seems Anita is tired of being mistreated by the "greasers" in town), but first they have to save Yanti's mother and young sister from the clutches of some kidnappers, leading to a comedic car chase that ends with the kidnappers dying in a fiery crash (Not so funny now, is it?). Yanti and Anita stop at a disco for some drinks (Killing bad guys makes you thirsty. It's a known fact. Look it up.), where they watch Dana (Dana Christina; THE STABILIZER - 1984) sing a disco tune in Indonesian and she agrees to help in Yanti's plight (Dana is an expert knife thrower as well as a singer).

The trio turns into a quartet when crossbow expert Lydia (Lydia Kandou) joins the team and then turns into a quintet when kung-fu expert Lulu, The Lightning Lady (Eva Arnaz; THE WARRIOR - 1981) takes up arms to join the fight. Lulu beats the snot out of a male motorcycle gang in a restaurant (complete with transvestite waitress!), where in one hilarious scene, a restaurant patron swallows a raw egg and coughs-up a live baby chick! When two of Brutho's goons kidnap Anita, the other four girls rescue her and tie-up the two goons, leaving each one of them a "gift": a live crab shoved down their pants!

When Mr. Brutho is finally successful in kidnapping Yanti's mother and baby sister, Yanti and the four superhero chicks perform a daring raid on Brutho's compounds, resulting in death, destruction (including one hellacious explosion) and a helicopter rescue, where each of the women use their individual talents to good effect. Hooray for female power! This is a hilariously bad action flick, complete with awful dubbing (where everyone speaks with an Australian accent), badly-staged action scenes (which are either cranked-up in the camera way too fast or way too slow, giving some sequences, such as the car chases, a Keystone Kops feel, and other sequences, such as the women running or fighting in super slow-motion, a SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN look, complete with the patented Steve Austin sound effects!) and comedy mixed with sudden tragedy.

That's what makes these Indonesian action films so wonderful to watch. No matter how hard you try, you can't possibly anticipate what's to come next. Director/screenwriter Danu Umbara (JUNGLE VIRGIN FORCE - 1982) consistantly surprises the viewer here, such as when Lydia's obese female assistant Fatsy pisses in her pants when Lydia shoots an apple off her head with a crossbow or the head-scratching sequence where Dana breaks out into song to cheer-up Yanti and we're then treated to a pre-MTV music video montage of Dana singing on a beach while wearing a variety of bikinis.

Particularly funny is the dastardly Mr. Brutho, who precedes all his dialogue by saying "I'm a good man!" and then doing simply awful things, like shooting his own men for fucking-up, siccing his dogs on his girlfriend for trying to help Hardy escape or hanging Yanti's young sister over a pit of poisonous snakes to force Hardy to turn over the formula. The film is also full of oddball characters (one of Brutho's best goons has a scar on the side of his face that looks like a giant leech), explosions and a smattering of gore, so why not sit back, put your brain in neutral and just get lost in the craziness that is known as FIVE DEADLY ANGELS? It's worth the dead brain cells.

Danu Umbara directed a sequel the following year, CEWEK JAGOAN BERASKI KEMBALI (which roughly translated means "The Deadly Angels Strike Back"), starring Dewi, Christina and Arnaz, but it doesn't seem to have received an English-friendly home video release. Also starring Rakhmat Hidayat, Cok Simbara, Dorman Borisman, Agust Melasz, Ade Irawan, Suzy Bolle, Malino Djunaedy, Ramli Ivar, Evie Susanto and Eddy Yonathan. Never legitimately available on U.S. home video, the print I viewed was sourced from a Dutch-subtitled VHS tape. Those fucking Dutch were very lucky bastards. Not Rated.

[first posted on Fred's Critical Condition]

30 yrs later and I guess it's time for this ol'e classic once again...

California Über Alles

The old hardcore band Dead Kennedys released this track in 1979 as a comment on California's governor Jerry Brown who was in office from 1975 thru to '85. And now, 30 yrs later, Jerry Brown has returned to office as governor of California! Who whodda thunk that!?

Anyway, I'm not in Cali and politics bore me so I'm not gonna make any comments on the situation there. The track is still awesome and was actually their first single which, by the way (he says casually, LOL) I'm the happy owner of. I found it at Camden Market when I lived in London in the late 80s. When you play the video, in the words of Motörhead: Play it loud!

I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president ...

Carter power will soon go away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face
Close your eyes, can't happen here
Big Bro' on white horse is near
The hippies won't come back you say
Mellow out or you will pay

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

Now it is 1984
Knock knock at your front door
It's the suede/denim secret police
They have come for your uncool neice
Come quietly to the camp
You'd look nice as a drawstring lamp
Don't you worry, it's only a shower
For your clothes here's a pretty flower...
DIE on organic poison gas
Serpent's egg's already hatched
You will creak, you little clown
When you mess with President Brown

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

The credits for transcribing the track goes to the guy who uploaded the YouTube video.

"The Hilliker Curse" by James Ellroy (2010)

I usually don't talk much about books on this blog but I just wanted to mention I ordered James Ellroy's new biography, "The Hilliker Curse" as Ellroy is one of the only present day crime writers I could be bothered to read. Otherwise I read old hardboiled crime fiction from, well, the old days! I'm getting the book from The Bookdepository in the UK. They're often a couple dollars cheaper than Amazon UK. Some of the text is available to read for free with the hardcover edition on Amazon.com.

Why o why can't we have MANIA

First trailer this year and obviously I had to choose one you aren't able to watch (the film that is, not the trailer, obviously); Renato Polselli's (as "Ralph Brown") Italian horror movie MANIA from 1974. Unfortunately, the film remains un-released everywhere. :(

But watch the trailer in any case (altho maybe you shouldn't; it's so cool you'll live in deep depression for years to come because you can't watch the film!).

Ahhh, Isabelle...

Alright, it's 2011 so let's kick off in grand style with...

Arrr, Poison Ivy! The coolness is so thick you can slice it!!! AND THOSE HEELS, MAN!! (obviously it's Lux I'm babblin' about here!). xD

"Too violent for Danish television (almost)" - but now... finally... ON MY TV SCREEN for the first time in 30 years!!!

Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! I've finally got it!!! RIKER!!!!! The complete TV series. xD xD xD

"Riker" is a brutal American TV cop show from 1981. It ran on Danish television shortly after its premier on American TV. I'm not sure of the exact year but around 1981/82. Riker was kind of a TV version of the Dirty Harry character.

I watched the complete run back then but unfortunately it was before we got a video recorder in my house and the show was never re-run on Danish TV. I've been trying to find the show for the last 4 or 5 years ever since a buddy of mine asked me if I remembered "Riker" and knew where to get hold of it. I must admit, until I was asked about it I had actually forgotten all about "Riker" but when he mentioned it I remembered it right away.

For several years I've tried to find info on it and if it was available anywhere. I've posted about it on about every movie forum I'm a member of, I went looking for bootleg versions at every bootleg store on the internet, I asked friends if they'd taped the show or knew of someone who had. And I came up with ZILCH!

If you've been with me for a while you'll remember I've posted and re-posted about it on this blog for the past two years (see the old posts here). At one point someone left a comment and claimed to have the series and they'd get me a copy and then... nothing! So for months on end I kept bugging them to get me the promised copy but they had one excuse after the other; "I got divorced and my stuff is in a mess", "It's at my mum's place", "It's buried in thousands of tapes in a basement", "My mum threw it away" (I think the only excuse missing was "My dog ate it"). And this went on for MONTHS!!! .\_/.

But LO AND BEHOLD today I finally got hold of the complete series!!! Argh, this is too awesome!!!

A while back, someone on the Danish film collector scene saw one of my FB posts about a very rare Danish music documentary (OMKRING EN SORT SOL - ET PORTRÆT AF SODS) which I taped off TV in 1984 and they asked me for a copy. Needless to say, I said "sure" and, for whatever reason, my film buddy had a look around my blog and noticed one of my posts about "Riker".

Imagine my surprise when he wrote and said something to the effect of: "By the way, I know this guy who's been talking about this recently - and he's got a copy!" Well, it took me about two inches of a split second to write back (with almost trembling hands) saying can you get me a copy?

And now... finally... I've got my very own DVD-R copy. It took a while to finally get it (my buddy is even slower than I am!!!!!!) but I've got it now. I feared that the guy who taped it probably only had one or two episodes, or maybe he'd have one and a half episode on an old video tape but as it turned out he actually taped the entire series (i.e. 5 episodes).

I watched the first episode tonight and what can I say... IT WAS LIKE TRAVELLING BACK 30 YEARS IN A FUCKEN TIME MACHINE!!!!!

I didn't remember the entire episode but I vividly recognised two scenes, one of them had actually stayed in my head all thru out these 30 years... in a restaurant shoot-out Riker shoots a crook three times thru a bar without being able to see the guy. Like I said, the show was very brutal for its time. The minister of culture (or whatever, and I forget her name) actually demanded that Danish television cancel the show because she thought it was too violent (fortunately they refused). I remember it was quite an issue in the media at the time.

Anyway, like I said, I watched the pilot tonight and it was bloody great! The picture quality was alright and considering the DVD-R is off a 30 year old video tape it wasn't bad at all.

Ultra huge big thanks goes out to the two fine gents who finally made me able to re-visit Riker!!!

I'll probably review the full series later in my "Jack J's 80s" series.




In my previous posts I've posted this episode guide which I got from an on-line source but either the guide is fucked up or American TV broadcast the episodes completely out of order as the first episode (which contains Riker's origin) is "Busted Cop" which is listed here as the last episode. :/

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)