H-Bomb (1973)

In 1972 Chris Mitchum and Olivia Hussey both starred in Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi's Italian/Spanish/French co-production SUMMERTIME KILLER. That film has become somewhat of a cult movie but actually already in 1971 [see edit note] Mitchum and Hussey joined forces in the Thai/Hong Kong co-production H-BOMB. After having just watched the film it seems to me that this is a co-production where the Hong Kong part is probably just the money aspect of it. The director, P. Chalong, and most of the cast is from Thailand, the film was shot in Thailand, and everything reeks of Thai. Well, apart from the gwailo actors in the lead roles, obviously.

Edit: H-BOMB was actually made in 1973 after SUMMERTIME KILLER!
(See Andrew Leavold's comment at the bottom of this post) 




I tried to get hold of this on video about a year ago when it was listed on eBay but lost out to another bidder. Well, good thing too cos I'm pretty sure all the old video versions are fullscreen (like the ones used for the Youtube clips) and guess what; Joy Sales just put out a fully letterboxed print!

I received my copy from DDDHOUSE in Hong Kong today and watched the movie right away. And what can I say other than it's great fun! It's a mess... but a fun mess, haha. One reviewer on IMDb writes:

[ ]...entire thing feels like it was edited by a bunch of blind chimpanzees...NO! Scratch that! DRUNK blind chimpanzees!

- and, uhh, that pretty much sums it up. LOL. However, just as that reviewer says later on in his review, H-BOMB is totally entertaining. A lot of stuff doesn't make sense but screw that; It's a fun movie! There, I've said it three times now!




The plot is about some crooks in Thailand having stolen a... wait for it... H-bomb! And they're basically up to no good. In addition to this they've bumped off the two best secret agents the US had to offer. What to do, what to do. Hmm, the US and the UN could have sent in troops, the terror squad, the local CID, the police, Scotland Yard, a whole army of secret agents. But no, they send in... Chris Mitchum. Hahaha. It's so fucken hilarious, I mean millions of lives are at stake here and they send in one single agent to solve the case (and they don't even tell the Thais so a couple of times our hero is about to get arrested!!).



Anyway, enough about the convoluted plot (which was most likely written on the back of a beer coaster). Suffice to say there's lots of action and of course Olivia Hussey is a babe. The print that Fortune Star/Joy Sales have released is as I mentioned earlier a good looking letterboxed print. Well, "good looking" in its being letterboxed but unfortunately it's an old scratched print that was used as a door-stop for 20 yrs. It's got a lot of scratches. As with so many of these releases from FS/JS's this one gets a VCD release way before we're rewarded with a DVD so that's all there is for now. But like I said earlier, even tho I haven't watched any of the old video releases this probably looks better than those due to its letterboxed status. There's only one audio track, which fortunately is the English dub (with Chinese subs in the black bar). Now, if this hadn't been so entertaining in a crappy, rough and even gritty way I might have been more annoyed by the fact that the two main actors are dubbed by someone else than themselves but it wasn't a big deal. There a bit of gore and nudity as well (one beheading and our friend Chris visits a bar with nudie dancing). Recommended!


From H-BOMB:




Pretty cool fan made trailer for SUMMERTIME KILLER:

ANDREW LEAVOLD's comment (posted in 2010) to my review of H-BOMB over on my Backyard Asia blog:
"Hi Jack...you'll find the production date is around '73, after Summertime Killer. The Thai producers wanted to duplicate the success of Summertime Killer, and so imported its two stars (see the Chris Mitchum interview on Bamboo Gods). H-Bomb is Chris' first film made in Asia, followed by the Bobby Suarez productions Chinese Daredevil Commandos (abandoned), Cosa Nostra Asia (1973) and Master Samurai (1974)."

Four Flies ever on proper dvd?

Here's a scan of the "legendary" English dubbed VHS bootleg release of Dario Argento's 4 FLIES ON GREY VELVET. The VHS is taken from a 16mm print. And no I don't have it (I have the German bootleg DVD that came out a couple of yrs back). Will we ever see a perfect release of this film. Fully uncut. Proper sound. Proper picture. It's ridiculous that while so much filler goes directly to DVD some of these much wanted films just either stay in limbo or get released as inferior, crappy versions. It's indeed enough to make a grown man boil his eyes out like a little Japanese schoolgirl. :o(

The Mutilator (1984)

I re-watched THE MUTILATOR this morning and what can I say other than it's a crime against all humanity that this film isn't on official DVD yet.

THE MUTILATOR (originally entitled Fall Break) is a totally enjoyable slasher flick about a group of youngsters who go to stay at a beach house during their fall break. The house belongs to one of the guys' dad. When the son was a kid he accidentally killed his mum (we see this during the beginning of the film) and *maybe* the dad is still mentally fucked up about it. Anyway, you don't need to be a rocked scientist to figure out what happens during their stay at the house - I mean I did mention it's a slasher. ;o)
As I said THE MUTILATOR is heaps of fun and there's some awesome gore scenes in it. Highly recommended.

When I do these blog posts they're not always made up on the spot. Sometimes I've had an idea for a while and sometimes even made up half a post even weeks before posting it. A little while ago I stumbled over this rabid horror movie fan on YouTube called Joe (aka J) who keeps uploading videos of his VHS collection! Yes quite fanatical, LOL, but that's alright. xD. Besides filming his own collection J is also a big fan of THE MUTILATOR and about a year ago he covered the film extensively; He did an interview with director Buddy Cooper, he had Cooper show him his basement (with equipment from the film, pretty cool when you think about how long it's been since the film was made, i.e. 1984), and he went to the two outdoor locations that were used for the film.

I'm posting all his videos here and if you're not a fan of the film, or haven't watched it, you might think it's overload, haha. But on the other hand if you have watched it and if you're a fan then I'm sure you're gonna enjoy all of this. Yes, it's all got that FAN VIBE to it but to me that's actually the ONLY way of getting to know something properly. Who gives a fuck about lame ass superficial write-ups when you can have something hardcore in-dept made by someone who cares for the genre! So check out this stuff, it's great fun and if you haven't already got it I suggest you get hold of THE MUTILATOR.

By the way, I mentioned at the beginning that there's no DVD release of this. If you make a search on Amazon UK you'll actually find a reg. 2 PAL DVD release from Vipco of the film, however it's a fucken bootleg. No kidding! And besides it's fucken cut so you're better off getting hold of an uncut VHS. Just beware, if you go for the US NTSC tape there are actually two different versions; an R-rated version and a fully uncut unrated version. My own tape is the uncut tape from Holland (on the "Video For Pleasure" label).

As I said earlier, I've wanted to do a post about this film for quite some time but since I've waited for so long needless to say someone beat me to it, haha. Mark from Phantom of Pulp blog wrote about his experiences with the film the other day. Mark used to work for a video company in Melbourne years ago and found himself in the INHUMANE dilemma of being asked to cut the film for violence! What a fucken nightmare (not least when you love gore movies like Mark does). Read his cool article "Mutilating the Mutilator".


J's interview with Buddy Cooper:




J & Buddy Cooper in Cooper's basement:




The Beach Cabbin location how it looks today:




The school location from the beginning of the film:




Posters & stuff:

The neue RAMMSTEIN Video is here!

Zum Teufel, hör Mal Kumpels, das neue Video von Rammstein ist dar und... it's, eh, slightly more raunchy than usually. xD Unfortunately I can't embed it but you can watch it here. And if you're like 10 yrs old or something you might wanna wait till your mum's out of the house and just listen to the music in this YouTube version instead until then:

Edit: mein gott, I hate copyrights!!! YouTube decided I shouldn't be able to watch the music-only version because I'm in a certain country!! But, I AM allowed to listen to the very same music if I choose this other version also on YouTube. Go figure. However, needless to say it's a censored version so use the link if you wanna watch the real version.

CATHARSIS. Tonight. Be there!!! (well, if you're in the neighbourhood, obviously)

I mentioned this a few days ago but I'll just say it again: If you find yourself in Athens tonight you MUST go and watch Fokion Bogris' new low-budget movie CATHARSIS! I wish I were there but unfortunately it's an outer-town event. About a 1000 K's out of town :o(

From left: Solonas Miyoko (stab victim), Fokion Bogris (director), Domenico Fusco (camera), Kostas Stefanakis (main character).

Oh, and Bill from Onar mentioned over on Cinehound that he actually has a small role in the film. And that he's dubbed. :D
He and Miltos of Cinehound will both be there.

Anyway, if you're in Greece this is where you wanna be tonight: "Nihtes Premieras" International Film Festival, DANAOS 2, Kifisias 109, Abelokipi, at 10.15 pm.

Esteban, a middle-aged ex cop, arrives at the city of Athens to stay with his uncle and look for a new job. He is broke and frustrated. A chance for a new beginning comes when the police chief tracks him down and asks him to take down the two of the most vicious crime syndicates in the city.

Starring: Kostas Stefanakis, Vangelis Mourikis, Christos Natsios, Vangelis Alexandris
Guest appearances: Yiannis Economidis, Kostas Xikominos, Tina Spathi, Nicholas Triantafyllidis.
Special Make Up FX: Disturbed Twins, Yiorgos & Roulis Alahouzos
Directors of photography: Bill Papas, Domenico Fusco Music: Cygnosic
Produced by Ground Floor Films
Written & directed by Fokion Bogris

The Expendables - the official trailer

Okay, you didn't reeealy think this was the official trailer, eh?


NB: Thanks to the nice guys from Sinematik (down Turkey way) for subscribing. Now please send me some free Cüneyt Arkin dvd's. :o)

The Expendables - bootleg trailer

Here's a bootleg trailer from the Venice Film Festival for the new Sylvester Stallone movie, THE EXPENDABLES. Everyone's favourite Swede Dolph Lundgren is in it. Yay!

EDIT: As you can see the bootleg video is no longer on YouTube. Bummer! I made sure to download a copy as soon as I posted it initially and I could upload it directly to Blogger but, uh, I think I'll refrain from that. No point in waving a red flag in front of a big ass company when you're skint. Haha.



Hmm, but actually I thought Cirio H. Santiago already made THE EXPENDABLES in the Philippines!! :o)

Death Wish 2 uncut.

Ahh, look what I'll be getting: The Greek video release of DEATH WISH II, the ONLY uncut version in the world. In your face DVD geeks!!!!! Hahaha.

De Dødes Tjern - the DVD cover is here

The new cover for the upcoming DVD release of the very spooky Norwegian horror movie DE DØDES TJERN (1958) is here!



I must admit I prefer the old VHS cover:



Since the Norske Klassikere (Norwegian Classics) series isn't selling that well some fans are speculating that the film may not be restored or anything. But, hey, at least it's gonna be on DVD and easy to get hold of. Hopefully it'll have some kinda subtitles. Release date is October 14th. :o)


EDIT: Alright alright, stop hassling me! I've seen my misled and wrong ways and I too think the new cover is much better than the old one!

The Jolly Boys ripping it up in the best Danish film ever

Yeah, here's THE JOLLY BOYS ORKESTER doing the surf in STENBROENS "HELTE" from 1965. STENBROENS "HELTE" is a psychotronic juvenile delinquents masterpiece no less! It was directed by Poul Nyrup and altho only his third film unfortunately it also became his last. Poul Nyrup is our psychotronic pride of Denmark. Needless to say most of Denmark still refuses to even recognise these films' existence and none of them are on official DVD (but ask and ye shall find).



Thanks to Kenno for uploading this!

If you wanna know more about Nyrup and his films here's an old article I wrote 6-7 yrs ago. Oh, I hope you read Danish. :/