Asian Trash Cinema is folding

Bummer! I just received today's newsletter from Asian Trash Cinema (i.e. Asian Cult Cinema for you kids) and due to personal issues they're closing down the mag right away. The ish that's already out will be the last.
At least for now.

I'm aware quite a few fans of HK movies don't like Thomas Weisser because of, well, heaps and heaps of faulty info especially in the ATC books, plus info that was purely made up!! (and a friend of mine who collects spaghetti westerns told me Weisser wrote a book on the genre and reviewed a number of films even tho those films were only planned but never got actually made!! Haha).

And not least due to his being behind Video Search of Miami (VSoM) in the early days (not so much because he was behind it as such but because their video dupes were often crap, to put it bluntly).

But, hey, I bought the mag in the early days from when #1 came out. Actually from when the first incarnation of the mag, Naked! Screaming! Terror! the special HK issue (that later got re-released as ATC #1) came out! And back then, when Craig Ledbetter was onboard, it was a lotta fun.

Sure the mag hasn't been "fun" for a long time, the old excited fan feel went down the drains a long time ago but they still published good interviews and info. And I just love to read a REAL magazine instead of always staring into a computer screen. I was looking for a misplaced tape today and found an old issue of European Trash Cinema (from '92) and I thought Gee, why doesn't anybody do real fanzines anymore (and where the fuck is Craig Ledbetter?? I'd buy every issue if he put out ETC again!!).


Thomas Weisser/ATC newsletter:

The current issue #64 of Asian Cult Cinema magazine is the last.
Effective immediately, I am shutting down publication of ACC magazine.
Personal family obligations force me and my wife Yuko to retire from this business and - at least temporarily - to relocate in Japan.
This may be a brief venture. Or Yuko and I could be gone for a much longer period of time. Simply, we are uncertain of our immediate future; however, I have already passed company responsibilities to my assistant, Archie Cole.
Most of you already know Archie. He has managed the Asian Cult Cinema and World Cult Cinema website for the past eight years. Although he does not feel qualified to helm the magazine (see his comments below), Archie Cole is committed to continuing - and excelling with - the ACC E-Commerce website. So, most importantly, you will continue to have access to all the Asian and World Cult DVDs.
I want to personally thank you for your support. It's been a good 18 year run.

The above post was originally posted on Dvdmaniacs, yesterday. I simply couldn't find the energy to write a different post for the blog. Live with it! xD

Kewlest ever OBLIVIANS toon on a Satday night

Don't be a square and don't tell me I've posted this a zillion times. It's too cool not to post! xD.

Best Kilink on a Saturday

Kilink is without a doubt one of the coolest bad guys ever. These films are totally rad! Kilink is a bad guy who doesn't refrain from killing left and right and hitting beautiful women and shooting guns and stuff. And yet the Turkish film makers still made him the main character! Awesome!

The quality of these uploaded Onar trailers aren't all that happening (too much pixelation) but do yourself a favour and get hold of the official DVD releases from Onar Films. :D



And lastly; not a Kilink film but The Spider!! In 2006 this was announced for release from Onar in 2007 but it never came out. A pity, looks fun.

Black Sabbath - live, Paris, 1970 (complete broadcast)

The other day I posted a song from Black Sabbath's concert in Paris in 1970. I must admit I got quite impressed by the clip. As I wrote in my initial post (and also discussed this with "Magnus" in the comments' section) this original version of a very young Black Sabbath was way better than everything that came after. Well, in my book and to my liking anyway.

The Paris gig was actually released as a bootleg LP the very same year (1970) entitled Come to the Sabbath. I've done nothing to check this out but I could imagine this is one hell of a rare record these days. The recording has since been released (probably several times) on CD and is available for free here [no, I don't support sites who bootleg official releases but we're talking a bootleg here so the only people whose money you'll be "stealing" are the bootleggers' money].

After having posted the first clip the other day I made a YouTube search for uploads of the rest of the gig. The good thing is all the songs are there. The less cool thing is most of the tracks have been uploaded multiple times and often in crappy picture quality. Most of them are off multiple generation bootleg tapes. But lo and behold, I found one uploader in the UK who not only uploaded the full show (including intro sections with the band) but who actually taped the show off television when the gig was broadcast as a two part programme.

Now, obviously the recording isn't from 1970 as nobody had VCRs in those days but from a broadcast on tv in the UK sometime in the 1980s. And in addition to it being a 1'st generation copy it's also been uploaded in HD. I've already downloaded the entire thing and made a nice DVD-R of it. Yay!

You might notice one of the video clips go slightly out of sync halfway thru but stick with it anyway. There are other uploads that aren't out of sync but they look less good and not least importantly they SOUND no way nearly as good as this upload. So get to it, buddy; off to the show!
(PS: obviously I'm posting the videos in their correct order, beginning from the top)

Black Sabbath live at the Theatre Olympia in Paris, France, 20 December 1970.

EDIT: The original embedded video links were dead as the YouTube account was shut down. I found several new uploads that even cover the entire concert in one upload. This one is "even" presented in the original fullscreen format (at least one of the other complete uploads is in widescreen. Argh!) [April 2, 2013]

A Bollywood star - now also in South America

Check Member-X's fake VCD cover (with me) out on this website located (I believe) somewhere in South America. Haha. These cats scour the web every day for cool cover scans (70-80% is vintage porn mags). Hmm, maybe I should go to Bombay and hook up with the Ramsay family. Hmmm. xD

Bruno Mattei's THE TOMB available. Kinda.

VCD/Thailand/fullscreen/Thai dub/no subs/2 discs

Oh sing thy songs of happiness thee wee ones for today I bring thee words of multo cool info! I've recently discovered there is yet another release of one of Bruno Mattei's last moves! This one is THE TOMB (2004) and it's been released not by our friends in the Česká republika but in Thailand. On video-cd. Dubbed in Thai. Without subtitles. :-(

Boo-hoo!! Why is the world so mean. Oh why oh why (he says while repeatedly spanking himself with a leafless branch). I wrote to Tom, an American in Thailand who runs a DVD store with his wife, Kat, called TK WORLDWIDE. He was nice enough to make a few phone calls and if it wasn't depressing enough that there's only a VCD available then get this: The company had actually planned a DVD as well but they just never got around to putting it out!!! :-(

Tom says there are so many DVD and especially VCD releases EVERY DAY that it's completely impossible to really get a good view of what is actually out there on the Thai market. Well, one thing that isn't out there is a Mattei film called THE TOMB. :/

Having said all of the above I should probably also mention there is actually a reg. 1 release of THE TOMB. It came out several years back and unfortunately I don't have it which is a pain as it seems it's OOP and slightly difficult to find by now.

You can get the VCD from eThaiCD ($7.50 incl. p&p). Go here.



Thanks to Tom for the effort. TK WORLDWIDE has a lot of cool Thai DVDs and I've bought quite a few films from there. Go here.

PS: Sorry about the crappy cover scan. Usually I spit on pixelating cover scans downloaded from the Internet but it was the only one I could find and besides, it kinda fits the crappy release.

Black Sabbath live Paris 1970

Just awesome!! From before Ozzy drank his brains out. From before they all started hating and suing each other. From before Ozzy began with his fucking hand clap and crazy look routine. From before they became asshole rock stars.

From Paris, 1970. I've listened to this four times in a row and I'm gonna listen to it again as soon as I finish this shit. Fucken awesome!!!

Lorna the Exorcist on DVD

Check this multo cool'o cover for Mondo Macabro's release of Jess/Jesus Franco's LORNA THE EXORCIST. Release date 29th of June. :D

...

Jezus Christ!! Check out this 17 y.o. metal chick (from the UK) and her guitar playing!!! Pretty awesome (everyone of her vids get like 6 billion comments!). Back in the day I learnt exactly three cords (enough for any good punk band of course!!).