Update

Filipino John Woo remake is back up.

The YouTube channel that originally uploaded DALAWA MAN ANG BUHAY MO, PAGSASABAYIN KO, i.e. the Filipino remake of John Woo's Hong Kong masterpiece A BETTER TOMORROW, was closed down by Youtube but fortunately several other channels have uploaded the film, and I have updated the embedded link in my post. Go here

PS: unfortunately one of the YouTube channels got the film confused with another movie called BARIL KO... ANG UUSIG! I've watched the beginning of the "wrong" movie and it looks alright - but you'll be disappointed if you expect a BETTER TOMORROW remake!

In any case, the correct film is (again) embedded on this blog.

W (Philippines 1983)

One of my very first blog posts was a review of the Filipino MAD MAX 2 clone W (aka W is War on US VHS) seven years ago. And it just dawned on me that I forgot to post the trailer, hahaha. No, seriously, I spent all night last night going thru Filipino films and trailers uploaded by good people - who may or may not live in the 'Pines - and one of the cool findings was this trailer for W. I'm not sure if I've posted it here before but anyway here it is. I'm afraid it's not an original Filipino trailer but, judging by the subs, comes from a video tape from Finland.

The lead was played by Anthony Alonzo, who, according to Nick Nicholson, was a "top gay" (and later died from AIDS, also according to Nicholson). Nick talked about it in an e-mail to Andrew Leavold (about another movie called TRIDENT FORCE. Go here).

W was directed by Willie/Wilfredo Milan and three years later Milan made a sort of sequel entitled MAD WARRIOR (aka Clash of the Warlords). There's no official DVD release for W (which is insane) but there are several VHS releases. My own tape is from Japan.

Check my original, seven year old W review here.

BLIND RAGE (Philippines 1978) - trailer

Starring Tony Ferrer, Charlie Davao, Leila Hermosa, Carlos Padilla Jr., Max Alvarado, Subas Herrero, Jose Garcia, Val Iglesia, Rocco Montalban, Ben Dato, Romy Nario, Telly Babasa, Carlos Diaz, Belo Borja, Rey Sagum, Golay, Mande Bustamante, Fred Param, Eddie Miriaflor, Leo Fong, SOS Daredevils and Fred Williamson / Directed by Efren C. Piñon

[Credits for the cast credits go to the Filipino Youtube channel. Highly appreciated, thanks.]

This content has been removed due to suspected copyright infringement

"Banned" is just part of the title - you don't actually have to ban it! I just discovered that the upload of my fanzine Banned in Britain #2 has been removed from Scribd due to... "suspected copyright infringement". Hilarious since I'm the copyright owner and I gave permission to the uploader (Brian Harris) to upload it. Oh well, I'm sure their intentions were good.

James Ellroy on 60 minutes

James Ellroy was on 60 minutes 10 years ago (approximately, I forgot to write down when I actually taped this) and it's a really good interview. It seems no one else has uploaded it to the olde tube so I thought I'd corrected that! The interview runs for about 10 minutes.

DEADLINE (den/swe 1971)

Last night I watched a Danish/Swedish disaster movie called DEADLINE. Yes, I said *Danish/Swedish disaster movie*!!! No, I didn't know they made any of those in Scandinavia either but apparently they did!

DEADLINE is from 1971 and directed by Stellan Olsson. My buddy Nils Markvardsen told me it was screened at the Cinemateque in Copenhagen last year but the print was cut! There's an upload of the film on YouTube and the uploader states the film is complete but my VHS runs almost 10 minutes longer (approx 104 minutes, not 97 as mentioned on the cover!). I would assume my tape is u/c but who knows. The Danish tape has the Swedish dialogue subbed. The upload on YT is off a Swedish tape and has no subs.

The film is a slowburn if I ever saw one but it grabs you all the way through and never gets dull. The Danish video cover promises a nuclear disaster movie but it's nothing of that sort. The liner-note author obviously wanted to spur interest by referring to a fictional nuclear plant disaster (as it was a hot topic in Denmark in the 70s and 80s because Sweden placed a nuclear plant 20 k's from the Danish capital).

The film is about a plane that crashes in the ocean close to Sweden and a toxic agent poisons a close-by village. The government seals off the town; calls in the army to shoot people who try and leave, and puts a cover on the whole bloody mess.
I have no idea if DEADLINE ever played outside of Scandinavia or if there were other VHS releases. I can't find any info of a DVD release. The music throughout the film is by a band called Pan.

Recommended for at least the one viewing.

BAD LIEUTENTANT (1992) Abel Ferrara, USA

Yesterday, I watched FARGO which I hadn't seen since sometime in the '90s, and I've just finished watching Abel Ferrara's amazing BAD LIEUTENANT which I hadn't seen since the '90s either. I like Werner Herzog's remake but this is head and shoulders better. The two films are light-years apart.

BAD LIEUTENANT is all about Harvey Keitel's character's deroute. There are no sub-plots. There are no other characters of any significance. There's no nothing else. There's just the cop. The lieutenant. Ferrara's directing is better than anything else. If you haven't seen BAD LIEUTENANT I highly recommend that you do.

I watched the film on uncut Danish ex-rental VHS (all dvd versions have the soundtrack censored).

FARGO (1996) Coen Bros, USA

I re-watched FARGO last night. Gosh, it must be something like 16-17 yrs since I last watched it. I found it on a cheap ass (crappy and barebone) Danish dvd on Monday and paid about 2 dollars for it at one of the local op-shops. I haven't watched any films by the Coen bros for a very long time and I was worried it might not have kept up well. Well, it did. Still as good as I remembered it to be.

Cigarette Burns revisited

I've just rewatched John Carpenter's CIGARETTE BURNS that he made for the first season of the "Masters of Horror" series. I'd totally forgotten how good it is!! The story perfectly fits the 60 minute running time. I think I'll start rewatching all three seasons again ("Fear Itself" being "season 3").
Here's a link to my five year old review.

Last on the bill at last night's screening...

I finished off last night with a couple of episodes from the highly entertaining US TV series KOLCHAK: The Night Stalker from the mid-seventies. It only ran for one season which is a bit odd as I reckon it was pretty great. But then again, good doesn't necessarily equal commercial. Maybe nobody cared about it in 1974/75.

It was remade a few years back but I've never seen the remake. Much like COLUMBO, KOLCHAK basically has the same plot in each episode, Kolchak is sent to investigate an ordinary story for his newspaper and along the way he runs into something obscure like a vampire, a zombie, or as in last nights episodes a guy who sold his soul to the Devil so he can turn himself into a hound from Hell and thus win the election. And in the second episode, an evil red indian who can turn himself into a coyote and kill people in order to steal their jewels. Both episodes were highly entertaining.

The Satanic demon dog from Hell guy was played by Tom Skerritt who many yrs later played the main character in the TV series PICKET FENCES which was a weirdo kinda show basically created to take over when TWIN PEAKS ended (and it was pretty good actually. I remember taping episodes but I mucked up, missed episodes, and eventually gave up. That was definitely a mistake as the series has drifted into obscurity and apart from season one hasn't been released to home-video in any format. EDIT: I just checked and apparently season two has JUST been released in OZ at the beginning of December!!). The indian was played by none other than Richard Kiel aka "Jaws"!

The DVD set that I have contains the complete series. My release is the UK set which basically is identical to the US set - EXCEPT it's the one you need if you're a purist! The first few episodes had a slightly different title when they ran on US TV originally (it was just called "The Night Stalker") but the series was retitled from episode 5 ("Kolchak: The Night Stalker"). During reruns the new title was used for all episodes in the US and the reg. 1 set carries the rerun title whereas the UK set uses the original title-card for episode 1-4. Also, the reg. 1 set uses flipper discs while the UK set does not. If you need English or Spanish subs the US set is the one to get, tho. No subs on the UK set. The two telly films (THE NIGHT STALKER and THE NIGHT STRANGLER) aren't part of the set.

My friend, the sensational Steven Smith with Richard Kiel in Australia, 2012!