Monday, January 31, 2011

ZUMA 2: HELL SERPENT (aka Anak Ni Zuma) - ultra rare English dubbed clip



This is a an uber rare English dubbed scene from the Filipino horror movie ZUMA 2: HELL SERPENT (original title: Anak Ni Zuma) which is a sequel to ZUMA. A version in Tagalog language exists on Filipino VCD but this English dubbed print is very obscure. And until someone recently sent me a link to this clip on a RUSSIAN page I wouldn't even have guessed it had been dubbed as I have never come across or heard of an English friendly version. The subtitles are in Chinese and (I believe) Indonesian but I have absolutely no info on where this was released. Maybe on VHS in Malaysia.

If any of you have this English dubbed print please get in touch! (I don't need the Tagalog version as I've already got the Filipino VCD, thanks).



[Filipino VCD/in Tagalog/no subs]

English text on the VCD cover although the film is in Tagalog and doesn't have English subtitles.



Sunday, January 30, 2011

UK dvd buyers no longer getting fucked in the ass? Think again, puta!!!

No more severe censorship cuts on UK DVDs? Pffft!

One of the telly shows that I watched religiously when it was broadcast in the early 80s was HILL STREET BLUES.

HILL STREET was a cop show that diverted from most of the 1970s cop shows in that it wasn't about only one main character like Kojak or Columbo but it revolved around a whole police precinct. I don't know if HILL STREET BLUES was the first of its kind but I'm sure that at least due to its popularity it paved the way for the many shows of that kind. All the stuff that we see today should get down on their knees and kiss HILL STREET BLUES' dirty feet.

I haven't actually re-watched HILL STREET since it aired here in the 80s. It's was rerun on a different channel in the early 90s but I didn't watch it cos, well, I guess I was watching something else, LOL (probably some splatter movie as it was about the time when I first got into reviewing gore flicks for fanzines).

Anyhoo, the other day I caught an episode of the show on a local channel which I don't usually watch, and you know how it goes I immediately figured "Oh man I gotta get the entire series right now and watch again... right now", haha. I found two different releases on Amazon UK; a local UK five disc release containing the complete season 1, and a reg. 1 set also containing the complete first season but all squeezed down on only three discs.

Needless to say, I figured the five disc release would be better than the three disc one. Well, bad assumption, cabron!! Fortunately, I took some time and read the user comments on Amazon UK and it appears the video company is royally fucking the British HILL STREET fans up the ass cos the episodes are edited editions (i.e. censored!!!) for day time broadcast before the watershed!!! (i.e. 9pm in the UK). Can you believe that!!

And when you investigate a little further it becomes even more surreal as you learn these censored DVD aren't even the result of the evil deeds committed by the BBFC; It's simply the TV station Channel 4 who is to blame. Oh, and you think it can't get any more obscure? Think again! One of the Amazon customers commented that he wrote to C4 and complained about it but they replied it wasn't their fault! [insert sound file of hysteric, insane laughter] So who is to blame? The video company? No can do! C4 put out the DVD set themselves.

And a few customers mentioned they bought previous VHS editions that were uncut. My guess is this is a fucken slip up that C4 just won't face up to. C4 probably thought it would be easier to release their own broadcast versions on DVD than to get the new versions from the US. Too bad for PAL buyers.

Carol Windsor:
I was so pleased to be able to get it on DVD, however, I was disappointed to find out it is the Hill Street for Babies censored version. Series 2 is even worse. The editing looks like a complete hatchet job - extremely obvious with interrupted flow of action.


"But NOW it can't get any worse... right? Wrong! The SAME applies for the UK edition of the second season:

Mr. T Slader:
I gave season two a chance but it was as badly cut as season one. I have old video copies of several season 1 & 2 episodes that are uncut so I know that they have been butchered.


Jon Clark:
After settling down for a serious couch-fest of memories with these DVD's it was quickly apparent something was missing. Scenes weren't making sense. Edits were skipping around. Events were being referenced that the viewer hadn't seen.


I checked the info on the reg. 1 sets and, lo and behold, they're not only fully uncut but the Americans actually put the series on double sided DVDs which means you get the episodes on six sides, not three (but I have no idea if three double sided DVDs are better than five single sided DVDs or not?). And the reg. 1 sets are even a couple pounds cheaper than the UK discs! I ordered them both right away.

Unfortunately, those two season are the only ones that got released. It seems they didn't sell very well (they came out in 2006) and the remaining five seasons were most likely scrapped. As I said, they're being broadcast on a local channel here but, uhhh, trying to tape full seasons is something I left behind with the video days - I taped most of The X-Files and every Millennium episode and Married... With Children, and, and, and... so many TV series! In the end I just gave it all op when video labels began to release all this stuff on DVD. Haha.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

More fun than an open casket funeral


Yes, I'm talking about my having a bloody cold! A 24/7 runny nose. Sneezing more than not sneezing. And coughing like an old smoker. Oh, and did I mention the heavy head and drowsiness. At least I managed to buy loo paper. Argh!


And talking of which I might as well play this ol'e favourite by the one and only true splatter punk band, THE ACCÜSED. LOLZ.

Banned in the USA



This is Warner Bros' old propaganda cartoon BUGS BUNNY NIPS THE NIPS. It was made shortly after Pearl Harbor and altho the portrayal of Japanese people is ludicrous it should be seen in the light of the time it was made. It seems the copyright owners in the US don't see it that way and it's been banned from release on DVD and TV broadcast. This YouTube upload is from a terribly worn video tape. I tried to find a better version and stumbled over another one with a much better picture quality - only, it's dubbed in an Eastern European language. It shits me to think that some dickfaces are preventing cool (and historical) pop culture from being available due to misunderstood political correctness. :/

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

This is Ska (1964)



This is the complete (RARE) music film THIS IS SKA from 1964. It was filmed in "Kingston Club" in Kingston, Jamaica, and features a lot of the ska artists that were up-and-coming at the time. The YouTube headline states the club was called "Sombrero Club" so it's anybody's guess as to which is the correct name.

This is an awesome recording that gives a rare view of a point in time that didn't last for very long. The cool ska style in Jamaica was soon killed off by reggae music. I blame all the dope! Reggae is simply a slower form of music that doesn't require much energy from the drugged out musicians. LOL. Ska was much more fun if you ask me. Later, the style was re-animated in the UK (as I'm sure you know) by bands like The Specials, The Beat, and Madness. The film isn't all that long (runs just under 40 minutes) and there's also a groovy introduction of how to dance the ska. :D

THIS IS SKA has never been released officially on DVD but it came out on VHS and laserdisc in Japan in 1989, and I believe there was also a VHS from the UK. Ten years ago the Swedish television programme "Musikbyrån" broadcast the film and made a great fuss out of proclaiming they had *discovered* this *lost* ska film on a trip to Kingston. They even asked viewers to write in if they had info on the artists! If they had done a simple Google search they could have discovered that the film wasn't lost at all but was actually released on bloody VHS and laserdisc, hahaha.

Anyway, watch the movie. It's good for ya!











Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Too wild for the grave

60's garage punk, man!!!

I bought these two fine platters ("Back From the Grave, volume one" & "Teenage Shutdown: GET A MOVE ON") a couple weeks back and they've been spinning almost every day since then! This is just awesome trashy and wild punk from the 1960's (altho of course it wasn't actually called "punk" back then). Both records were released by the good, good people at Crypt Records in Hamburg (which is basically American Tim Warren who's been running the label for many yrs now, and Dirk running the Crypt store).

I already had a few volumes (both on cd and vinyl) of the "Teenage Shutdown" series so I knew the new ("new" to me anyway) volume would be ace - and it most definitely is! But holy fucken mackerel why didn't I start buying the "Back From the Grave" series sooner!!?? @_@ Me so stoopid! This is just one awesome track after the other!

In Denmark, when people say they listen to "60's music" it usually makes me feel like gagging violently cos what they really mean is they listen to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Simon and Garfunkle, and maybe The Mamas and Papas. And that's usually IT! It's like saying you love music from the 50s but only listen to Elvis and Buddy Holly! There was so much more!

I think the problem is many people often reckon that because something wasn't as *popular* it probably means it wasn't as *good*. Well, being a fan of psychotronic cinema you bloody well know those two don't always go hand in hand. Actually, I'd say more often that not they don't! The bands that got famous were often the ones that were "out there", sure - but maybe not AS "out there" as they COULD have been! There were about 3 billion tons of bands that were much wilder and crazy than the bands I just mentioned. But then again maybe that's one of the reasons why they didn't make it; They were TOO BLOODY wild for ordinary consumption (at least in their day)!! Bands who wanted to be the new The Kings and had the wildness but maybe not the luck or money (or even skills) to quite make it.

Like the many Elvis-wannabees in the 50's who wanted to be the next "Elvis" and recorded their take on rockabilly but did it wilder, crazier, louder; But like I said it was often to a world that wasn't ready for it and thus didn't embrace them as much as they could have. Or at all. Most of those bands & artists only cut the one 7 inch single - but whatta a single!! Or maybe they actually managed to put out two, and at the utmost THREE singles before they disappeared into the abyss never to be heard from again. Well, until Crypt Records dug them out of their grave! LOL.

I'm certainly gonna try and get hold of all these records, preferably both on CD and LP. I believe all the "Back From the Grave" volumes are still available from Crypt both on vinyl and cd. The "Teenage Shutdown" series is a different story, unfortunately. Most of the vinyls are gone and some of the cd volumes are OOP too. Maybe they became more popular because Tim Warren spent so much more money on them. Apparently, a lot of the other compilation records are crappy sounding shit dupes directly off scratched singles or even off badly sounding cassette tapes.

The "Shutdown" records were made using a very expensive professional record player with a needle that cost something like 6 billion dollars! The sound is perfect!

However, I wrote to Dirk at the Crypt store when I ordered the two CDs and he said they're gonna reprint ALL the vinyl volumes of "Teenage Shutdown" this year! Totally awesome news indeed! The CDs may take longer (still according to Dirk).

Anyhoo, I found two of my fave tracks from the "Back From the Grave" vol. 1 record on YouTube. Check them out (and play 'em loud!).



Monday, January 24, 2011

How weird!

I saw EL TOPO on a double bill at the Astor in Melbourne many years ago. My gf at the time did so not like the movie. Fortunately the second film was SANTA SANGRE which we both liked heaps (I'd already seen the latter on a VHS dupe from England). And now, at least 15 yrs later, I'm finally gonna get to actually re-watch EL TOPO soon, LOL! Three years after everybody else bought it I'm finally getting the Alejandro Jodorowsky box that contains EL TOPO, HOLY MOUNTAIN, LA CRAVATE and FANDO Y LIS and a whole bunch of extras. £10 from Amazon UK! Not too shabby a deal I'd say!!! Ahhhhh.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The entire contents from the never published STAY SICK! #5 now online!


Danish readers might wanna jump over to the Danish language section of this blog as I've just posted around 70 (!!!) posts containing the (almost) entire contents from what was supposed to be issue number 5 of my zine STAY SICK! back in 2005!!! I published no. 0-4 from 1999 and thru to 2004 after which I kinda got stuck. I have no clue as to why but I guess the thing is it's a lot (A LOT!) of work putting out a magazine when you're doing it all DIY style, being the editor, publisher, distributor, mail-order guy, and what have you. So even tho I had about 3 tons of stuff laying around the bunker (both my own stuff and from other writers) I just couldn't get the damn thing finished. Anyway, here it is, not in print but online. Uhh, and by the way it's all written in bloody Danish so most of you can't read it, haha.
Enough babble, go here.

update

The Danish section is down for the moment while I post all the crap I had finished for Stay Sick! #5 five years ago. The issue never came out and I might as well post the handful of reviews here as text versions (I really couldn't be bothered to post pix as well).

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The undoubtedly coolest music video on YouTube!!!

When the day comes and those crook Russian ex KGB scientists finally get that time-machine into production I'll be buying a one-way ticked to 1983! And I'll tune it so that every time we reach 1987 it'll automatically send me back to 1983!!!



In case you don't know: this is the best band every to grace this sorry-ass world; Melbourne's The Birthday Party (altho they relocated to Berlin).

Friday, January 21, 2011

More zombies from Denmark: "De Levende Dødes Armé"



I've just discovered that whoever uploaded the Danish zombie movie RÅDDEN KÆRLIGHED also uploaded the Snipers music video De Levende Dødes Armé [trans: Army of the Living Dead].

This is very cool indeed. I've only seen this video once before and it was actually on the day I had been filmed for my brief part in RÅDDEN. Once back at the house and still half covered in latex and goo (the crap stuck to my skin for a week or so!) we got to watch this video.

The credits at the end don't state who the director is but it lists "Peter & Tue" as camera men (in true punk style no last names obviously) so I reckon it's directed by Amdi-Peter who was also the main character in RÅDDEN and Tue "Sick" did the special effects (most likely he's named after my mag "Stay Sick!" as he kept asking me when the new issue was gonna be out. LOL. Mega flattery there! LOL). And 5-6 yrs after RÅDDEN they begun work on their new (still unreleased) movie PLANET HOLOCAUST (I did a post on that two years back).

Anyway, check out DE LEVENDE DØDES ARMÉ, it's good fun and mega gory (Andreas Schnaas style gory!).

Best ever pop song on a Friday... The Misfits - live + interview (1983)





The original line up with Glenn Danzig. :D

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Misfits and Vampira



Check out this cool new The Misfits interview cd The Misfits X-posed! They've used the old (well known) photo of The Misfits with the original 1950s TV horror host Vampira! Pretty fucken cool!

I'm by no means an expert on The Misfits so I can't really tell when the photo is from but I'd say it's probably taken within the last 10 years or so. Vampira would probably have been between 65-75 years old at this stage (but if any of you know more about it please leave a comment. Cheers).
EDIT: The Vampira FB mod told me the photo is actually from 1982! Thanks.

I don't know if this is a boot or legit but in any case it's not licensed by the band. It's available from Amazon. I was made aware of the release thru the official Vampira FB page (partly run by Maila Nurmi/Vampira's nice).

I don't have the cd but according to the sole Amazon.com user who's reviwed it (and who thought "the chick" on the cover was some fan, hahaha) the interview is mostly of Glenn Danzig from around '85/86.

I've written about the only surviving episode of the Vampira show here.


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Gee, niiice! I didn't quite expect that!




When you're off-line for 3 or 4 days you sometimes get nice surprises when you finally get on-line again. Last week I placed a bit of money on two auctions for these two films on eBay in Japan but when the auctions finished over the weekend I was sick and didn't even check or wanna bother to place higher bids. Anyhoo, I finally go online today and discover I won both films. Yayy!!


BLACK COBRA 2
is the second part in a three (or four if you count the un-related fake third sequel) film series that stars Fred Williamson. Last week I missed out on the first film (boo-hoo) from the same seller simply because I forgot about the auction. And if that wasn't bad enough some lucky fella scooped it up for the starting bid of 7 measly dollars!!! Booo-hooo (again!). Sob sob (imagine a grown man weeping like a Japanese schoolgirl here!). Anyway, I'm getting part 2 now and I've already got part 3 (the last official one). These films aren't on DVD (as I don't count awful public domain DVDs in the US for being official releases!) and this is most likely the best versions anywhere as they're widescreen.

There are two Filipino films called THE HUNTED; This one is David Hunt's THE HUNTED aka Battle Dog. I posted scans from the other The Hunted (from 1970) on this blog quite a while ago.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Old-skool Ironmaster


I posted the new DVD cover for IRONMASTER the other day and I thought I'd just post the old Danish ex-rental VHS cover as well. Needless to say I have mr Diabolik to thank for the scan. Cheers, mate.

Cover for the new Scandinavian DVD release of "2019 After the Fall of New York"



The other day I mentioned some very exiting upcoming AWE and Njuta Films releases, and here's finally the cover for 2019 AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK (Njuta edition) that I didn't have the other day! Very cool! Well, very cool that I have it that is. The cover on the other hand completely blows ass if you ask me!! What the hell is wrong with the back of that cover!? What is that???

But then again the back of the old Danish/Swedish VHS also looks like it was done by a blind dude on crack so maybe it's out of nostalgic reasons the new one sucks ass too, haha.



The Njuta release is set for February 9. I have no info on the AWE version. I also have the release dates for a couple of the other titles:

HANDS OF STEEL - February 15 (AWE) / February 2 (Njuta)
BLASTFIGHTER - March ??? (AWE) / February 23 (Njuta)


I wrote to AWE a couple of days ago and asked about the cropping issues that the German DVD release of BLASTFIGHTER has and whether the Scandinavian version will be void of this nonsense but so far no reply. I'm crossing my fingers we're gonna get a proper version this time.

THE CRAMPS - interview (1990)


"Night After Night" talkshow, 1990

It was very strange to be in a coffee shop and there are a 100 people and they are all looking at you... *in Texas*.

Gee whiz!! Check out this muy great interview with Poison Ivy & Lux Interior from THE CRAMPS! It starts a little abrupt but most of it is there; According to the uploader there's 30 seconds missing at the beginning. It's from American TV in 1990 and at first you might think the interviewer looks fairly square but actually... and in contradiction to so many other interviewers... he takes his time with the band and asks them direct no bullshit questions. No fake baloney here. He's probably not a fan but he genuinely seems to be honest about wanting to know about the band. Notice how he doesn't try and pull a stupid joke when Lux talks about masturbating fans! xD
Great interview. So sad Lux isn't here anymore. :(

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Last Warrior / Son Savasci (Turkey, 1982)



I've just finished watching the legendary Turkish action/ninja movie LAST WARRIOR (aka Son Savasci) starring the main pride of Turkish cinema, Cüneyt Arkin. The film was directed by another legend in Turkish cult cinema Cetin Inanc. I'm not gonna bore you with a list of his films, if you're into world-weird cinema you already know and treasure them, but the one title Inanc sure is gonna be remembered for is TURKISH STAR WARS (aka The Man Who Saves the World/Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam) which also stars Arkin and sexy Füsun Ucar who plays his love interest in both films (she's also in the follow up DEATH WARRIOR/Ölüm Savascisi).




This time Arkin is a Turkish cop with a past; He was in the Korean war (which ended in 1953 and LAST WARRIOR is set in the early 80s!!!) where he learnt the skills of a ninja. When the movie begins Arkin gets a phone call from his police chief asking him to go to Germany to help the German polizei who are having trouble with people being bumped off by... a ninja!! (I wonder how Danish or Aussie police would handle such a case?) and Arkin would obviously be the right man to fight the ninja as he knows "the way of the ninja" so to speak. xD




When Arkin gets the call he's on holiday with sexy (very sexy) Füsun Ucar but even tho she looks at him with those sexy (very sexy) Turkish eyes he's adamant, "A cop never be owner of ownself" as he puts it in the crappy subtitles. Once he's arrived over in Deutschland he experiences the carnage left behind by the brutal ninja and with the local police he sets out to put an end to this masterless criminal's reign of terror.




LAST WARRIOR is totally entertaining! There's not ONE dull moment in the entire film and you really don't want to blink because you'll just miss something. I referred to TURKISH STAR WARS earlier in this review and once again Cetin Inanc saves money by stealing left and right from an American film! This time obviously not from the original STAR WARS but from some film with lots of car chases in it! You'll see Cüneyt Arkin throw himself from side to side, frantically turn the steering wheel, and work that gear rod like there's no tomorrow - and then the camera angle jumps to an outside view of the car - or rather how the car looks in the American film, haha. I have no idea which films the scenes are from but, regardless, it adds to the awesomeness of the film that's for sure! :D

EDIT: The stolen scenes are from Paul Bartel's CANNONBALL (1976)!! Thanks to Jayson of "Basement of Ghoulish Decadence" blog for this info.





The DVD I got is from my friends at Ciko in Turkey; They actually asked Cetin Inanc if it were all right to release his films on DVD-R and they got his okay. However, that doesn't change the fact that this has the look and feel of a bootleg; The print is sourced from an old VHS and there's no cover or disc art (apart from the handwritten title, LOL). But in contradiction to earlier bootleg releases this DVD-R is actually subtitled in English (or something that resembles English anyway) and big kudos to Ciko for this! The quality of the print used for the original VHS is alright, I have certainly seen VHS prints that were far worse. There's also a trailer but in contradiction to the film print the trailer looks like it was downloaded from YouTube, in other words it's pretty crappy (and for some reason not subtitled!) but it's cool it's included.




I must admit I've seen enough Turkish and HK Chinese films that weren't English friendly to last me a lifetime and I'm happy to just get ANY kind of English subs. However, having said that, I should point out the subs are not very good TO SAY THE LEAST. They'll give you a fairly good impression of what's being said but to tell you the truth the subs kinda blow in a major way! And trust me, this isn't a question of me making a note of the few times there's a slight spelling error or some bad grammar; This is a question of making a note every time there's a correct sentence!!




Some of my film friends, especially in the US, have commented that the subs are alright but I disagree on this and I think it's partly due to a cultural difference; In the English speaking world films were rarely subtitled in the old days and so native English speakers weren't used to subtitles. But what they were used to was foreigners who spoke broken English. So somehow they just see subtitles in broken English as an extension of this.




In northern Europe on the other hand, all foreign movies have always been subtitled into the local lingo. And the way I see it, the characters in these Turkish films speak perfect Turkish so why would it be okay to have them translated into broken English? They don't speak broken Turkish so OBVIOUSLY the English subs ought to be correct too.




Anyway, forget about the less than perfect subs and get hold of LAST WARRIOR anyway! The DVD is available from Ciko's eBay store "Turkish Cult". Just trust me on this one! Hands down, it is a totally enjoyable piece of trashy Turko celluloid and the film shits all over 99% of EVERYTHING ever made in Denmark!!! Inanc made a sequel two years later, DEATH WARRIOR (aka Ölüm Savascisi), which also stars Cuneyt Arkin and Füsun Ucar.

For Ciko's Turkish Cult shop on eBay go here.

NB.
In regards to the English subtitles: in all fairness I should point out this DVD-R is one of their earlier releases and (reportedly) they put more effort into their translations now as the subs are being checked by a native English speaker.













And finally a girl... and a sniper... and a car... of which none of them knew they were one day going to take part in a Turkish film, LOL:




Cüneyt Arkan and true friendship