ROBOGEISHA -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/3/10

 

Every once in a while I come across a movie that's pure brain candy, which is the best way I can think of to describe the utterly demented ROBOGEISHA (2009).  To say that it's like a live-action cartoon doesn't even scratch the surface of how deliriously nutty this movie is.

We've seen geishas popping up all over the place in Japanese action cinema these days, but few can compare to these deadly and unpredictable robo-geishas.  Bristling with built-in weaponry, they leap into action with a dazzling array of chest guns, saber tongues, napalm wigs, armpit swords, ass swords, and, in one case, a mouth that turns into a buzzsaw.  But the most startling and unexpected of all, according to their hapless targets, seem to be the dreaded ass stars.  As a dying yakuza warlord complains after receiving a faceful of them:  "Something like this is just...in a sense, it's really unfair."

Kidnapped and turned into cyborg geishas against their will, they act as bodyguards and assassins for Kenzan Kageno and his son Hikaru, a pair of power-mad steel tycoons who are building a giant super-bomb with which they plan to take over Japan.  Into their ancient castle lair come the timid, unsuspecting Yoshie (Aya Kiguchi) and her cruel older sister Kikuyakko (Hitomi Hasebe), a beautiful geisha with romantic designs on Hikaru.  But he's only interested in Yoshie once he discovers that anger transforms her into a super-strong warrior.


 

After Yoshie defeats Kikuyakko in a forced battle, she's delighted with the positive attention she receives and submits to her captors while her older sister is reduced to menial servitude.  Kikuyakko gets fed up with this pretty quick, however, and undergoes body reconstruction which turns her into a cyborg with a built-in chest machine gun among other modifications.  While the sisters compete for status among the robo-geishas, Yoshie encounters a group of distraught family members who are planning to rescue their loved ones from the Kagenos.  She comes to her senses and decides to help them wage war against the bad guys, including her own sister. 

Scenes of the robo-geishas being dispatched to seduce and eliminate the Kagenos' political and business enemies brought to mind, of all things, AIP's old "Dr. Goldfoot" movies in which Vincent Price creates an army of exploding bikini-clad robot assassins.  I was also reminded of the "Pink Panther" films during a side-splittingly funny early scene with Yoshie accidentally causing great embarrassment to Kikuyakko as she entertains Hikara and his friends.  Some of the other humor and bizarre situations are reminiscent of the similarly ultra-strange BIG MAN JAPAN, which also made good use of CGI to create some delightfully surrealistic visuals.


 

What really helps make the film so funny, though, is its deadpan mock-seriousness.  The melodramatic conflicts between sisters Yoshie and Kikukyakko are as heartwrenchingly maudlin and emotional as the soap operas of yore, and are played so straight that its almost painful.  Here, the lead performances are perfectly in tune with the screenplay's sensibility.  "I am she who fells festering evil through machinery, the clockwork courtesan," Yoshi intones with solemn conviction right before unleashing her wig napalm.

Much of the other humor comes not from "funny" lines, but from various people stating the obvious with a kind of stunned disbelief.  One victim of the "ass stars" mutters:  "It can't be...they came out of...their asses..."  Seconds away from being sliced to ribbons while in the grip of the buzzsaw-mouthed geisha, another man groans:  "I'm feeling...a lot of stress!  This kind of stress...really hits you later!"

Best of all are Cay Izumi and Asami (who should be receiving my marriage proposal just as soon as I can find somebody to translate it) as the gleefully kill-crazy GobliSquadron, a pair of gorgeous babes with dazzling battle skills and really bad attitudes who give ROBOGEISHA some of its liveliest moments.  Wearing scary masks with long, "erect" noses similar to those worn by the Droogies in Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, they get the movie off to a rousing start as they take on the sword-wielding bodyguards of a political candidate marked for death.  In another scene that had me howling with "WTF?", they shield Hikaru from a vengeful former lover by showering her with their highly-corrosive secret weapon, "Hell's Breast Milk."

While the middle section lags a bit, things really go over-the-top as we head into the final clash between Yoshie and the Kagenos.  Having suffered a major setback (she gets blown up), Yoshie is rebuilt with modifications she isn't even aware of herself ("Incredible!  I didn't know I could turn into a tank!") just as Hikaru unveils his secret weapon, the Giant Robot Castle.  While this towering monstrosity threatens Japan, Kikuyakko attacks Yoshie with new-and-improved cyborg abilities of her own in a climactic free-for-all.

The direction by Noboru Iguchi, who also wrote the script, is a prime example of controlled chaos.  Even the shaky-cam and whiplash pans and zooms are done with the precision of an animated film.  Not too flashy but endlessly kinetic and creative, the look of ROBOGEISHA is colorful and stylish. 

The DVD from Funimation Entertainment is 16:9 with soundtracks in English 5.1 surround and Japanese stereo.  Besides the trailers for this and other Funimation releases, there's a fifteen-minute short film called "Geishacop: Fearsome Geisha Corps--Go to Hell" which is a spin-off of the main feature and is so violent, bizarre, and perverse that you just have to see it to believe it.

After such a gushing recommendation, I should probably take a moment to stress that ROBOGEISHA definitely isn't for everyone.  It's a weird movie and you have to be a little weird yourself in order to enjoy it. As for me, I've already seen it three times!

 

ROBOGEISHA -- DVD Review by Porfle

DISCIPLES OF THE 36TH CHAMBER -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

 

Originally posted on 12/9/10

 

Not quite up to par with the previous entry in the Shaw Brothers' series, DISCIPLES OF THE 36TH CHAMBER (1985) still has a lot of exciting fight scenes amidst a barrage of slapstick comedy.

Hou Hsaiao stars as Fang Shiyu, an incorrigible class clown who's so averse to study that he must be tied to his two brothers during class.  He's so strong and sinewy that any blow directed at him is bounced back against his attacker, making him difficult to punish.  When a dour Manchurian education officer visits the school, Shiyu manages to offend him so grievously (in one of the film's funnier scenes) that the Manchus threaten to close the school. 

Things get even worse when Shiyu offends the entire membership of the Qing Imperial Gym and must seek sanctuary from the Imperial Court by becoming a secular pupil in the Shaolin Temple.  Even under the strict tutelage of Master San Te (Gordon Liu), Shiyu can't stay out of trouble and soon gets mixed up in a plot by the Manchu governor to destroy the Shaolin temple.

The opening titles sequence is fun, with a stylized presentation of how Shiyu gained fame by defeating the terrible Tiger Lei.  He then must take on the beautiful Li Xiahuan who seeks to avenge her husband, and whose skills are great.  Then Li Bashan shows up to avenge his son-in-law in a battle that takes place on upright log poles with steel spikes between them.  As in much of the film, the fight choreography here is intricate and rather dance-like at times, with an emphasis on humor and playfulness but always with an impressive degree of acrobatic skills.

The rivalry between the Hans and the Manchus provides the opportunity for several exciting fight scenes, in addition to the lively Shaolin training sequences.  All of this leads to an intense climactic battle between the Shaolin students and the Manchu governor and his men during a wedding, which becomes a furious free-for-all.  Hou Hsiao and Gordon Liu get to show off their martial arts abilities to the fullest, pulling out every trick in the book as the Shaolins bring all their extensive training to bear against their foes.

As Fang Shiyu, Hou Hsiao is a good comic performer whose acrobatic skills and boundless energy make for a wildly kinetic character.  Gordon Liu, who played San Te in the first film, THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN, and then the comedy lead in the sequel, returns to the role of San Te here and is appropriately monk-like.  Lily Li does a great job as Fong Sai-Yuk's mysterious mother, Miao Cuihua, who has had past experiences with San Te and the Shaolin monks and really shines in the big fight finale.  Chia-Liang Liu's punchy, hyperkinetic direction keeps things moving at an almost cartoonish pace at times.

The DVD from Dragon Dynasty is widescreen with Dolby 2.0 mono in Mandarin and English, and subtitles in English and Spanish.  The sole bonus feature is a commentary track by Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan, which, as usual, is exhaustively informative.

DISCIPLES OF THE 36TH CHAMBER is a fast-moving and comedic actionfest that should please Shaw Brothers fans. 




Read our review of RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER

DISCIPLES OF THE 36TH CHAMBER -- DVD Review by Porfle

RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

 

Originally posted on 2/15/10

 

 

It's not every day you get to watch a kung fu movie that's as much pure, hyperkinetic fun as RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER (1980), a thrilling fists 'n' feet comedy from the Shaw Brothers that's a sequel to the classic THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN.

The story opens with the shady boss of a fabric mill hiring some Manchurian thugs to intimidate his employees into working harder while giving them a pay cut. Horse-faced worker Chao (sporting a set of buck teeth that would embarrass Mortimer Snerd) enlists his con artist pal Chou Jen Chieh (Gordon Liu, who's most widely-known these days from the KILL BILL movies) to pose as revered Shaolin monk San Te in order to frighten Boss Wong and his men. The ruse works at first, but when the suspicious Wong challenges Chieh to demonstrate his skills, the result is a humiliating defeat that sends him fleeing for his life as the hapless workers are thrashed into submission.

Vowing to help his friends somehow, Chieh resolves to learn kung fu for real and bluffs his way into the Shaolin temple only to come face-to-face with the real San Te (Ching Chia, in the role originated by Gordon Liu himself in the first film). Thus begins the middle section of the film which is a non-stop slapstick delight, with Chien bumbling around like a dervish amidst the solemn monks and apprentices and comically mimicking their training.

 

When San Te orders him to construct bamboo scaffolding around the entire temple in preparation for its renovation, which will take years, Chien thinks he's being shunted aside. As he labors at his task he observes the trainees going through their paces and applies their movements to his own work, thereby eventually learning kung fu without even realizing it. This lengthy sequence is incredibly inventive and endlessly fun, and Gordon Liu displays a boundless energy and natural comic ability that's downright infectious.

His task completed, Chien is expelled from the temple and returns home in defeat, believing himself a failure. But it doesn't take long for him to realize that he's not only inadvertently learned kung fu but has also created his own variation--"Scaffolding Style"! His final confrontation with Mr. Wong and the Manchurians leads to a frenetic 20-minute action sequence that beats the hell out of MATRIX: RELOADED's CGI-laden "Burly Brawl", with no special effects and little or no wirework in sight. The action doesn't let up for a second and the fighting style is dazzlingly inventive, building to the final showdown between Chieh and Mr. Wong on--what else?--a scaffold.

 

The direction (by Liu Chia-Liang), camerawork, and editing are all first-rate for this kind of film, with fight choreography that doesn't always look totally realistic but is lots of fun anyway. The ways in which Chieh's "Scaffolding Style" is worked into the final battle is almost cartoonishly effective as he leaves his opponents hogtied to bamboo poles or wrapped together in bunches with lightning-fast moves. In some ways, the film is wonderfully cheesy and the castmembers overact their roles with abandon, which, in this case, is entirely appropriate.

With his amazing feats of dexterity and comedy timing, Gordon Liu carries the story with a full-throttle performance that never lets up. Pretending to be an experienced kung fu master, he blunders his way through one obstacle course with such artless abandon that one monk marvels, "Your kung fu is incredible! I could hardly follow it." Low comedy rears its head as he tricks another pupil into drinking some laxative-laced tea and then calls after him, "Better find a place to take a dump!" My favorite line, though, comes during the final battle with the evil boss, when Chieh brings things to a sudden halt and states magnanimously, "That's it, Mr. Wong. I will hurt you if we continue."

 

The single-disc DVD from Dragon Dynasty and Celestial Pictures is in widescreen with Mandarin, Cantonese, and English mono. Subtitles are in English and Spanish. With naught but a few trailers at the start, this is surprisingly barebones for a Dragon Dynasty release.

A fast-moving, fun, and colorful romp with lots of old-fashioned kung fu-movie charm, RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER is a must-see for Shaw Brothers fans and anyone else who's in the mood for a hefty dose of thrills and laughs. I had a ball watching it.

Read our review of  DISCIPLES OF THE 36TH CHAMBER

RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER -- DVD Review by Porfle

SHAOLIN MANTIS -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/9/10

 

Another one of those Shaw Brothers gems from the 70s, SHAOLIN MANTIS (1978) is an absorbing story with some nice atmosphere and lots of furious fight action from director Chia-Liang Liu of the 36TH CHAMBER series. 

An elder scholar presents his son, Wei Feng (David Chiang, THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN), to the Qian dynasty emperor but lives to regret it when Wei is enlisted in the emperor's plan to infiltrate a rebel clan working to overthrow him.  Wei is given a three-part deadline for returning with evidence against the Tian clan: in three months, his father will lose his title; in six months, his family will be imprisoned; and in one year, they'll be executed.  Real peach of a guy, this emperor. 

Wei manages to enter the Tian household by becoming a teacher to the cute but extremely spoiled Zhizhi (Huang Hsing-hsiu), granddaughter to the Old Master (Chia Yung Liu).  Zhizhi falls in love with Wei and they marry, but he isn't allowed to leave the house after Old Master discovers that he's a Qian spy.  After finding some evidence which the emperor needs to arrest the Tians, Wei must then fight his way out by confronting Zhizhi's uncles in battle and finally facing the Old Master himself. 

The first action scene comes early on as the Qian emperor demands a demonstration of Wei's abilities.  He first defeats a Mongol warrior, then a monk played by Chia Hui Liu, aka Gordon Liu (RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER, KILL BILL), in a lively sequence with plenty of action. Later, when Wei begins teaching the unruly Zhizhi, the story gears down and becomes a romantic comedy for awhile as the young girl flirts with her handsome tutor and begins to fall for him.  The relationship is light and fun, carrying us through a mostly uneventful stretch as we wait for the other shoe to drop.
 

 

Things get serious again around the halfway point when Wei and Zhizhi decide to defy the Old Master and leave the house, at which point the film becomes an almost non-stop series of deadly battles.  Making their way from one room to the next, Wei and Zhizhi team up to fight her three uncles in turn (Huang Hsing-hsiu is impressive) as a myriad of exotic weaponry comes into play.  Each has a different fighting style which proves difficult to overcome.  Last in their gauntlet of foes is the Old Master himself, using his invincible Shadow style which brings the escape attempt to a disastrous conclusion for the young rebels. 

This middle section of the film is a feast for old-style martial arts fans, thanks in large part to Chia-Liang Liu's no-frills directing style which consists mainly of long, carefully-choreographed takes punctuated by a minimum of flashy directorial touches and quick editing.  The familiar whiplash pans and zooms are there but are unobtrusive, while the use of slow-motion is kept to a bare minimum.

After Wei's escape from Five Sun Manor comes my favorite part of the film, in which Wei inadvertently invents the Mantis fighting style while hiding out in the forest.  While toying with a fiesty preying mantis one day, he notices the grace and dexterity of its movements and begins to adapt them to his own fighting technique, which seems to be just the thing for combatting Old Master's seemingly unbeatable Shadow style.
 

 

There are some really beautiful shots of both Wei and the mantis sharing the frame as he prods it with his finger, observing its movements as it defends itself.  More amazing closeup shots of the mantis make it appear as though, like a wise old mentor, it is actually teaching Wei its moves as he imitates them.  This exquisitely shot-and-edited sequence is wonderfully captivating and unlike anything I've ever seen in this kind of film. 

Returning to Five Sun Manor, Wei plunges through the gauntlet with a renewed determination and skill in another series of bouts that culminates with a decisive Mantis-versus-Shadow rematch against the Old Master.  Chia-Liang Liu builds excitement and suspense with increasingly innovative moves which keep the long sequence from becoming monotonous.  Once again the scene is loaded with lengthy takes involving intricate choreography that is expertly performed. 

The DVD from Vivendi's Dragon Dynasty label is in 2.35:1 widescreen with Mandarin and English mono soundtracks.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  There are no extras.

SHAOLIN MANTIS is an involving story which invests us in the characters before thrusting them into a maelstrom of furious and thrilling martial arts battles.  I found it thoroughly enjoyable right up to its startling ending, which comes from right out of left field.  If you're like me, the final freeze-frame will leave you knee-deep in "WTF?"  

SHAOLIN MANTIS -- DVD Review by Porfle

FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/25/20

 

Some movies take material that's unused or left over from other films, shoot new footage to augment it, and repackage it all as a new film. But every once in a while a movie is such a mishmash of various elements that it looks like something out of Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory.

Which brings us to the 1980 martial arts monstrosity FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH (Film Detective), one of the most stupefyingly shameless Bruce Lee death-sploitation pastiches you'll ever see.

Being that he was the most popular martial arts superstar of all time, Bruce Lee's death brought on an endless parade of cash-ins that used either random footage of the man himself or lookalikes pretending to be him, or both, all hoping to appeal to fans of actual Bruce Lee films such as ENTER THE DRAGON.

Here, exploitation producer Terry Levene discovered a print of a black and white film called "Thunderstorm" which featured a very young Bruce Lee in a pedestrian family drama.

Redubbing it to turn it into a story of a young man who wants to be a martial artist despite his parents' wishes, Levene also added lengthy scenes from an unrelated samurai film as flashbacks, its lead character now identified as Bruce's great-grandfather who was a great warrior.

But Levene wasn't done yet. To this he added new scenes with action star Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, martial arts legend Ron "The Black Dragon" Van Clief, and fight promoter and star Aaron Banks, in a wraparound scenario which takes place during a major fight event at Madison Square Garden in which a new successor to Bruce Lee is to be named.

Some of the ring action is as fake as WWE wrestling (one fighter plucks out an opponent's eyeballs and tosses them to the fans) but there are also some exhibitions of skill and a climactic kickboxing match.

With Banks promoting the actual event, a non-union film crew was allowed access disguised as a TV news crew, including golden-voiced actor Adolph Caesar (who would later be nominated for an Oscar for A SOLDIER'S STORY) serving as both sports commentator and the film's narrator.

Caesar's narration and interviews with actual fight stars give the film a mockumentary quality at times, and his reminiscences about Bruce Lee's early life serve to introduce the "Thunderstorm" footage.

This storyline fails to generate much interest save for the novelty of seeing the charming young star playing a "gee whiz" teen who just wants to skip homework and attend the big karate match.  The "samurai" scenes are even less compelling since we keep joining them in progress and don't really know or care what's going on in them.

In fact, when the film starts juggling scenes from these different old movies in earnest, you may want to start chapter skipping through them just to see what this dizzying patchwork narrative has in store for us next.

I like the Fred Williamson storyline, with some funny touches such as having everyone mistake him for Harry Belafonte. When he fights over a taxi with a nerdy white dude in a suit, I even laughed out loud at the obviousness of the guy's name (scripter Ron Harvey as "Jasper Milktoast").

Later, martial arts star Bill Louie rescues two women from being raped in the park, fighting off a horde of thugs while dressed as Bruce Lee's character "Kato" from TV's "The Green Hornet." And interlaced with all this is actual interview footage of Bruce Lee, dubbed with new dialogue.

Restored from the original 35mm camera negative, the print is not bad at all for an old grindhouse flick such as this. Special features include trailers and a lengthy making-of featurette with Levene, Harvey, Williamson, Van Clief, and director Matthew Mallinson which I actually found more enjoyable than the feature (!) The keepcase includes liner notes from Will Sloan and Justin Decloux, hosts of The Important Cinema Club podcast.

Bottom line: if you get a kick out of this sort of cinematic oddity, then you know just what you're in for and should view FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH in a state of giddy delight. If not, then chances are you'll like it about as much as a swift kick in the teeth.




SPECIAL FEATURES

    Restoration from the original 35mm camera negative
    A featurette of behind-the-camera takes on the film in brand new interviews with Fist of Fear, Touch of Death actors Fred Willaimson and Ron Van Clief, producer Terry Levene, director Matthew Mallinson, and scriptwriter Ron Harvey
    Original theatrical trailer
    Liner notes from Will Sloan and Justin Decloux, hosts of The Important Cinema Club podcast

Release Date: 3-31-2020
Runtime: 82 minutes
Genre: Action
Language: English
Rating: R
Color/BW: Color

FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

BREAKER! BREAKER! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/11/16

 

I wouldn't have been caught dead going to a redneck trucker flick in 1977.  Or even renting it or watching it on HBO in 1988.  Especially if it had anything to do with CB radios, which I regarded with utter disdain.  Not only did I not see movies like CONVOY back in the day, but the C.W. McCall song itself made my soul hurt.

But that was then.  Now, in retrospect, I can enjoy a low-rent indy truck opera like Chuck Norris' BREAKER! BREAKER! (1977) as I bask in its retro-retro charm.  In fact, this simple little tale of good guys vs. bad guys and righteousness against injustice is such utterly unassuming and straightforward fun that its purity is practically bracing.

In only his first starring role, Chuck is hardly the fabled Superman he would later become although he can already spin-kick his share of butt.  Here, with his youth and lack of facial hair making him look a bit unformed, he's an easygoing truck driver who'd rather mind his own business than have to prove how tough he is.

 
But prove it he must when his younger brother, Billy, gets detoured through the small town of Texas City, California during his very first trucker run and finds out its one of those places where everyone is dishonest, especially the scummy police and the man who runs everything as mayor, judge, and whatever else he wants to be at any particular time--namely, the loathesome Judge Joshua Trimmings. 

The Judge is played by familiar character actor George Murdock (EARTHQUAKE, ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN), who was born to play a smalltown tyrant in a baggy off-white suit.  (Not to mention God in STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER.)  He convicts our hapless Billy of various cooked up crimes and sentences him to pay up or go to jail. 

Billy balks, gets beaten up, and disappears.  Cue big brother Chuck coming to town to rescue him and you've pretty much got the rest of the plot figured out.

The big rig angle actually comes into play only at the very beginning of the film and again for its finale, with most of the running time consisting of Chuck dealing with the local yokels (this is one of those Southern-like towns that seems to have been plunked right down in the middle of California) who are all either shining him on or trying to kill him.

Chuck, needless to say, handles himself capably but does so with a minimum of fancy fight choreography, making do with a well-placed spin-kick here and there in addition to some good old-fashioned fisticuffs.

Even the big fight at the end is kept fairly simple, save for lots of slow-motion a la "The Six Million Dollar Man." The mayhem tends to be on the lighter side, too, with nary a fractured limb or geyser of blood spewing from someone's mouth after a crushing blow.

Murdock, naturally, takes home the acting honors, while ERASERHEAD's Jack Nance gets to overact as a manic redneck trucker.  As for Chuck, his skills are pretty basic here--in one scene, it looks as though director Don Hulette filmed closeups of him expressing various emotions so that he could simply insert them wherever needed.  Of course, it's not like we really watch Chuck Norris movies for the acting.

As Arlene, a local woman and single mother who sides with Chuck against the town's corruption and becomes his romantic interest, Terry O'Connor is an appealing presence.  Their romance is quick and virtually without dialogue, with a brief, sappy ballad and a montage of them strolling around in the woods for a minute sufficing to encapsulate their courtship. 

The Blu-ray from Olive Films is in widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound.  No subtitles.  The sole extra is the film's trailer.

With all of Chuck's trucker friends converging on the town for what might be called a "smashing" finale, BREAKER! BREAKER! finally breaks a sweat after pleasantly coasting along like a big rig on a downward grade for an hour-and-a-half.  It's hardly a blockbuster action thriller, but if you love the 70s, then movies like this are probably one of the reasons why.


Release date: March 22, 2016

Pictures shown are not taken from the Blu-ray

BREAKER! BREAKER! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

VANQUISHER -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/28/11

 

The Thai action flick VANQUISHER, aka "Final Target" (2010), is loaded with action but it's a hit-and-miss deal, with several sequences that don't quite live up to their potential.

CIA black ops agent Claire (Jacqui A. Thannanon) is sent to Thailand to capture a terrorist.  She's also ordered to liquidate her "Vanquisher" task force once the job is done, so she takes off in a helicopter with her captive and then blows up the dock that the ladies are standing on.  

One of them, a Thai police force agent codenamed "Gunja" (Sophita Sriban), survives and returns to duty.  When Claire is ordered back to Bangkok two years later in pursuit of another terrorist, she runs into Gunja again, and this time the two warrior women are on decidedly less-than-friendly terms. 

VANQUISHER is nicely directed and shot for the most part, but the fact that this is Manop Udomdej's first action film is pretty obvious.  Camerawork and editing are all over the place in several scenes even though the choreography is good enough not to need such cosmetic misdirection.  The action is often confusing as we try to make out what the seemingly capable performers are doing through a barrage of shaky-cam images.



Still, the film manages to be exciting once things pick up around the halfway point and there aren't so many scenes of people sitting around spouting exposition.  Once all the plot details are ironed out the pace stays pretty brisk through a steady series of gunfights, sword battles, and chases, all featuring an impressive variety of stunts.  The frustrating thing is, you keep wanting these scenes to be better than they are--with more skillful handling, this movie could've been downright exhilarating.

Doing their part to keep us on the edge of our seats are the three leading ladies, who are not only beautiful but can kick some big-time ass in the action setpieces.  At first, Sophita Sriban looks way too cute and likable for the role of Gunja, but this impression is quickly dispelled as soon as she starts slinging a sword or blasting away with twin automatics.  Like Bruce Willis, she has a great "war-face", which director Udomdej captures exquisitely as he does the other female leads--the guy does love to photograph these ladies at their best.

As the duplicitous Claire, Jacqui A. Thannanon has a strong presence and is both sinister and exotic.  The only downside to her performance is that she seems to stumble a bit over the English dialogue--when speaking her native tongue (the film has a bilingual screenplay) she's terrific.  Lovely and lithe Nui Ketsarin plays Sirin, a Thai cop who teams up with Gunja against Claire and her ninja goons, and matches Sophita Sriban's acting skills in the frenetic fight scenes.
 

A late plot development has Bangkok on the verge of being racked with explosions which the bad cops plan to blame on the terrorists, and, while this angle isn't explored as fully as it should've been, it does give the SPFX guys an excuse to cook up some fake-looking fireworks.  Other digital effects range from fair (the scene where Gunja jumps a dirt bike onto a moving train which is then blasted with a bazooka) to not-so-hot (a ninja turns into a cartoon during an upwards leap).  One of the film's strengths is a robust, percussion-heavy musical score by Patai Puangchin.

The DVD from Magnolia's "Magnet" label is in 1.78:1 widescreen with English and Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  In addition to the international trailer, extras consist of an eight-minute "making of" featurette and another which gives us a look behind the scenes during filming.

VANQUISHER survives a slow start to become a hokey but fun guns-and-swords fest with some very appealing female characters.  The main drawback is that you might wear yourself out trying to mentally reshoot and re-edit the action scenes so that they'll be as good as they should have been. 

VANQUISHER -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE KEEPER -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/28/10

 

 

You have to hand it to Steven Seagal--he's managed to maintain a fairly popular action-hero persona that barely requires him to either move or speak intelligibly. These days, his movies don't even have to be very good at all as long as he's in them. His latest, THE KEEPER (2009), dog-paddles in the DTV end of the pool with the rest of his recent output, neither sinking all the way to the bottom nor demonstrating any fancy strokes to speak of.

The first ten minutes are a mini-movie in which Steven, as L.A. cop Roland Sallinger, is shot by his two-timing partner during a drug bust. He survives, then manages to kill the rat from his hospital bed when he comes to finish the job. Forced to retire due to his injuries, Roland then accepts an offer from his old friend Connor Wells, an ex-cop who's now a Texas oil millionaire, to play bodyguard for his daughter Nikita. She's in danger because a rival millionaire named Jason Cross wants to kidnap her in order to force Wells to sign over some land on which uranium has been discovered. Complicating things is the fact that Nikita's weaselly boyfriend Mason, a two-bit boxer, is in league with Cross.

I'm sure you'd like for me to skip the preliminaries and get to the action scenes, because we don't watch Steven Seagal movies for the acting and dialogue, right? Well, he hasn't been in town for five minutes before he sees a young Mexican woman in distress and has his limo driver pull over so he can whoop a few bad-guy butts. As most of us are aware by now, his fighting style now consists mainly of standing in one spot while flailing his arms wildly, disarming his opponents and bending their arms the wrong way until the bones crack.

Occasionally, he'll let loose with a low kick--his days of planting a flying foot in somebody's face are long past. And even with this limited mobility, a stand-in is often used for the shots in which his character is required to move with some semblance of agility. These fight scenes consist of many short shots and rapid-fire editing to give the illusion that our hero is a lightning-fast flurry of movement.

That said, it's still Steven Seagal, and somehow that's enough. I like the way he strolls into a heated situation and makes the bad guys suffer for being stupid enough to take him on. I'd love to be able to do that myself. And he's so damn sure of himself, mixing it up with multiple opponents with a supreme confidence that's bracing. It's especially fun when he screws around with them a little first, pretending to be intimidated, before giving them that patented Steven Seagal scowl and laying into them. And on the plus side, he seems to have shed some weight since the last time I saw him, so he no longer resembles a giant burrito or appears to be wearing his car instead of just driving it.

Later, there's a kidnapping attempt involving a car chase, and a couple of minor shoot-em-ups on the streets. A few more quick hand-to-hand battles lead up to the final confrontation between Steve and the kidnappers, with Nikita's life in the balance. It's all passable stuff, but none of it is in any way memorable or outstanding. The big guy does put his hand through somebody's throat at one point, which fulfills the requirement that he do something really overtly violent at least once per movie to whatever bad guy wins the honor of deserving it.

Technically, THE KEEPER is your basic meat-and-potatoes job with some irritating stylistic touches thrown in. There's the speed-up-slow-down effect, the appeal of which I never understood, mixed with quick camera moves that make a whooshing noise. Even a brief pan of some trophies Steve has amassed during his cop career does the speed-up-slow-down thing and makes a whooshing noise. Oh yeah, and some of the transitions are accompanied by a flashing white light that also makes a whooshing noise. I guess it's all meant to make the movie look more hip and contemporary, but that kind of stuff just has DTV written all over it. Seagal's 2007 film URBAN JUSTICE eschewed all of that crap for a leaner and more old-school, Don Siegel-type visual style and is all the better for it. To his credit, though, director Keoni Waxman spares us the usual Shaky-Cam overload.

As for the cast, most are capable performers. Steph DuVall as Wells and Luce Rains as Cross are a couple of old pros who know their stuff (although DuVall slips up and calls Seagal's character "Ballinger" at one point), while Arron Shiver does a good job as the slimeball Mason. As Nikita, Liezl Carstens handles the screaming and being scared parts well. When paired with Seagal for a dialogue scene, however, it's as though they're competing in a slow race to see who can underplay the other, and they may have you wondering which one will simply keel over unconscious first.

Seagal, as usual, emotes as though his meds just kicked in and his lines are being fed to him through an earpiece. This time around, he doesn't have any good lines such as "I'm gunna kill the muhfuh that killed mah son", nor the kind of vengeance-driven motivation that a dead wife or family member can provide, both of which are missed. And also unlike URBAN JUSTICE, which had a fadeout that was just cool as hell, this movie just ends when it runs out of stuff to do.

The DVD from 20-Century Fox is in 1.78:1 widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish Dolby Surround, subtitled in English and Spanish. There are no extras.

With THE KEEPER, you get pretty much what you might expect by now--standard latter-day Seagal with just enough of the old magic to keep it from being totally dispensible, yet little to make it of any interest to anyone but his most loyal fans. If you're among that number, check it out. Otherwise, why bother?

THE KEEPER -- DVD Review by Porfle

FORCE OF EXECUTION -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/7/13

 

Steven Seagal continues to keep one big foot planted firmly in the action sub-genre that he himself created--namely, the "Steven Seagal movie"--but in the case of the mildly entertaining FORCE OF EXECUTION (2013) his participation is noticeably limited to little more than "guest star" status.

Just as the titles of these movies are now mostly random combinations of the same group of words, the plot of this latest Seagal foot-fest is a simple mix of action and gangster movie tropes upon which to hang fight sequences like Christmas ornaments. 

But let's face it--that's just what we want, as long as it's put together with skill and a little pizzazz, as this minor but watchable effort is.  This time, Seagal plays his usual ex-military badass who now uses his training to advance himself to kingpin status in the world of crime.  When he sends his most trusted man, Roman Hurst (Bren Foster, MAXIMUM CONVICTION, "Days of Our Lives") on an important hit, it's deliberately botched by Ice Man (Ving Rhames), an up-and-coming gang boss who wants to move up in Steve's crime family before taking it over himself.  Roman gets the blame, is punished by having his hands broken, and is sent into exile as a street bum.  

While drinking his way through his new life, Roman befriends an ex-con named Oso (Danny Trejo) who runs a diner along with Roman's heartthrob, the lovely Karen (Jenny Gabrielle, SEAL TEAM SIX: THE RAID ON OSAMA BIN LADEN).  When Oso and Karen get drawn into the escalating war between Steve and Ice Man, Roman realizes he must knock himself back into some kind of fighting shape in order to protect both them and his former boss, to whom he is still loyal for some damn reason I couldn't quite figure out. 

It's the same tired old plot about warring crime lords vying for top-dog spot in a particular hood, but you really don't have to worry too much about the details as long as you keep track of who the good bad guys are as opposed to the really bad, evil, nasty bad guys.  The violence-enriched story by Richard Beattie (MAXIMUM CONVICTION) and first-timer Michael Black doesn't quite flow but instead jerks forward from one cliched situation to the next, coming to life when these trash-talking bastards threaten, torture, or physically attack each other.

Seagal, thank goodness, seems to have managed to keep his weight down lately and wears something that looks more like a regular suit than a muu-muu.  In fact, he seems to be in the same relatively spry shape as in the recent MAXIMUM CONVICTION, another film by director Keoni Waxman (HUNT TO KILL, THE KEEPER) which really scored a home run while giving stars Seagal and Steve Austin plenty to do. 

But even though he's more sedentary these days, Steve's strengths lie in how he uses his still considerable presence, talking trash and being the baddest mofo in whatever room he happens to saunter into.  And by now, director Waxman knows how to work his movie magic in order to make it look as though the big guy is doing more than just flailing his arms and letting a stand-in do all the heavy lifting.  Steve's fans are well aware that he does a minimum of the agile stuff himself these days, so just getting the illusion right is pretty much all we can ask. 

Waxman does well with a decent script and knows how to put together a terse, coherent action scene in which quick cutting adds to the excitement rather than the confusion. In fact, you can almost sense his own cinematic excitement  gearing up when the talking's done and it's time to get down to business. 

With the young and athletic Bren Foster, whose character is actually FORCE OF EXECUTION's main attraction, Waxman has someone he can work with to create some wildly furious fight scenes in which guns and knives come into play as well as fists and feet.  As an actor, Foster reminds me of a perpetually nonplussed Colin Farrell, which is either good or bad according to your own tastes.  Action-wise, he's got the kind of moves (including a very good spin-kick) that make fans of this kind of flick happy. 

Ving Rhames has some fun chomping on the scenery as a more jovial version of PULP FICTION's Marcellus Wallace, delivering lines like "It's lucky for you I promised my mama I wouldn't kill anybody today" and shooting off two guns at a time with both eyes shut tight.  The ever-reliable Danny Trejo, who should be well on his way to "national treasure" status by now, also seems to be having a good time, especially when using his witch doctor skills to apply deadly scorpions to an unwilling patient in order to "heal" his wounds.  As Karen, Jenny Gabrielle makes an appealing love interest/damsel-in-distress for Foster's hero to rescue from her dastardly captors.

The 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby  5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  The sole extra is a behind-the-scenes featurette.

By the final reel, Steven Seagal has geared up into commando mode to fight off Ving and his men in his own fortress of crime, which leads to a highly eventful (but seemingly rushed) finale.  While nowhere near the rollicking success of MAXIMUM CONVICTION,  and lacking anything resembling URBAN JUSTICE's cool-as-hell ending, FORCE OF EXECUTION still manages to provide more than the minimum requirement of entertainment that we've come to expect from the latter-day Seagal.

FORCE OF EXECUTION -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

HARD REVENGE MILLY -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 5/13/10

 

(This double-feature DVD contains HARD REVENGE MILLY and HARD REVENGE MILLY: BLOODY BATTLE.) 

 

Milly wears a black leather trenchcoat to conceal the patchwork ruin of her ravaged body, and walks stiffly due to all of its robotic enhancements--including a shotgun embedded in her right leg that loads at the hip and fires at the knee, and a horrendous razor-edged rig that sprouts from her torso which, thank goodness, we never quite get a good look at. 

She moves quickly and purposefully, preparing a bloody revenge against the thugs who massacred her family and left her for dead two years before. And when the blood-drenched hyper-action of HARD REVENGE MILLY (2008) kicks into high gear, it's a clear case of love at first sight for this giddy viewer. 

After the repeal of all gun and sword laws, Yokohama, Japan 20XX A.D. is a wasteland of crime and violence where murder is sport and only the strong survive. Milly (Miki Mizuno, CARVED: THE SLIT-MOUTHED WOMAN) gets by on nothing more than the desire for revenge against the loathesome Jack Brothers, whose sadistic thrill-murder of her husband and baby grows more horrific with each flashback. 

We never get a good look when she opens her jacket but it must be pretty messed-up, especially after we see her being brutally stabbed 20 or 30 times, and the extent of her surgical body modification is suggested rather shockingly during the finale. 

Milly is an interesting character who's fun to watch, even if she's just preparing for her next duel or sitting somewhere reflecting on the past. Her meeting with former blade-sharpener Jubei in his dingy coffee bar, whom she asks to sharpen her retractable elbow-sword although he's retired from the death business, echoes Beatrix' meeting with Hattori Hanzo in KILL BILL. 

All of the performances are fine, with Miki Mizuno and Mitsuki Koga as Jack being the stand-outs. In a cool opening sequence, Milly makes short work of Jack's drug-dealing brother Kyoshiro (splitting his torso with a bloody flash of her elbow sword), uses his body to create a grotesque welcoming display, and gives Jack a call inviting him to drop by. 

When the surviving Jack Brothers arrive and encounter her in an abandoned building, it's one thrilling action-packed death duel after another. The dialogue leading up to this is funny as male and female Jack Brothers Tetsu and Yuma discuss how hungry they are after getting a whiff of Kyoshiro's roasting corpse on their way in. After that comes what is now one of my favorite death scenes ever--it's so cool that I found it wonderfully hilarious in its offhand audacity. 

Milly's fight with Jack himself is an extended setpiece that yields a wealth of pleasures--their climactic clash of swords, guns, fists, and other arcane weaponry is dazzling. Takanori Tsujimoto's direction and editing are exquisite, and like the rest of the sublimely-staged action in this film it's executed with such imagination and style that watching it made me giddy. The furious choreography is first-rate considering that no doubles are used, and even the wirework is convincingly handled. 

This is low-budget filmmaking driven by skill, creativity, and imagination to exceed its limitations and become a unique and scintillating entertainment that's every bit as satisfying as any multi-million-dollar production. Short and sweet (only 44 minutes long), it left me keen with anticipation for the feature-length follow-up. 

HARD REVENGE MILLY: BLOODY BATTLE (2009) takes up where the previous film left off, with Milly now being hunted by Jack's bombastic gay lover Ikki (Kazuki Tsujimoto) and his accomplice Hyuma (Ray Fujita). "Jack was the craziest, sexiest man in the world!" Ikki declares as they plot their revenge. 

Meanwhile, a timid young woman named Haru (Nao Nagasawa) has sought out Milly for a different purpose--to help her get revenge against the person who killed her lover. When they're both attacked in Milly's warehouse hideout (in the film's first bloody action scene), Milly takes the injured Haru to a fortified outpost called LAND to be treated by the same crazy doctor who delights in keeping Milly's mechanically-enhanced body in working order ("Don't let any other doctor touch that thing in your chest," he urges). Milly empathizes with Haru and agrees to help her, but this must be postponed when Ikki and his gang of killers invade LAND and launch a blazing attack. 

With more time to develop the story and characters, writer-director Takanori Tsujimoto gives us more to contemplate while ratcheting up the action factor. The quiet moments are effective, such as Milly's melancholy reflections to Haru on the futility of revenge. Often the film looks and feels the way BLADE RUNNER might've been if Ridley Scott had done it as a no-budget indie feature. (Like certain characters in Scott's film, part-machine Milly begins to doubt the validity of her own memories; she won't let the doctor X-ray her head for fear of what he might find.) There are also welcome hints of such films as MAD MAX and THE CROW. 

The script is brimming with interesting dialogue and the performances are outstanding. Again, the stunning and intricately choreographed (not to mention delightfully gory) fight sequences are bristling with imagination and the execution is often breathtaking. Takanori Tsujimoto keeps coming up with interesting ways to shoot and edit these scenes and introduces some thrilling variations on traditional weapons--I was on the verge of cheering when Milly went up against a horde of bad guys with her laser-sighted, bullet-spewing nunchaku. 

As in the first film, there's a climactic battle with the baddest bad guy that's a free-for-all of frenetic fun, ending with another of my new all-time favorite multi-rewindable death scenes. (This one's a real doozy, folks.) There's even a surprising story twist that (hopefully) sets up the next sequel. 

The double-feature DVD from Well Go USA, Inc. is in 16:9 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 stereo. Soundtrack is Japanese with English subtitles. Extras include trailers and "making of" featurettes for both films. 

Visually interesting throughout, with an involving story and vivid characters, HARD REVENGE MILLY: BLOODY BATTLE is compelling sci-fi on a limited budget. It definitely gets a permanent spot in my DVD collection, in that special place where nobody can walk off with it and the dog won't eat it. I love this movie. 

 

HARD REVENGE MILLY -- DVD Review by Porfle

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/12/17

 

"My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s.  The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc."

My review of the previous kung fu trailer collection from Severin Films, KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, began with this poignant moment of wistful nostalgia, and the same goes double for this new follow-up disc.

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, or "The Night the Kung Fu Trailers of Fury Came Home--Again", is more and more, and yet still more (35, to be exact)  gloriously goofy previews of all those cheapo kung fu flicks that were being churned out by the rickshaw-load in Hong Kong back in the 70s. 

 

Rest assured, this bursting-at-the-seams batch of fists 'n' feet potboilers contains no CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON-level epics.  It's all gloriously grade Z, as though Ed Wood himself had opened up a school for action directors in Hong Kong.

Often these condensed versions are better than the actual feature films, because they cut out all the boring exposition and lame character interplay and get right down to the pure, unadulterated chop-socky action. 

And that's what this non-stop parade of trailers is--just one furious clash after another, accompanied by some deathless dialogue and hilarious text exclamations such as "Intriguing story!" and "Good Actors From Many Nations Makes This Film Outstanding!"

 

The collection features about an equal ratio of contemporary urban dramas and historical tales with lots of flowing white hair and bushy eyebrows. Regardless of the technical quality of each individual film, the stuntwork and choreography are rarely short of amazing.

First up is THUNDERBOLT, and right off the bat there's some of that incredibly fake-looking wirework that we all love. YELLOW-FACED TIGER is yet another "new Bruce Lee" flick, this time offering Don Wong as the hero and none other than a young Chuck Norris as a formidable bad guy with an equally formidable moustache.

THE STORY OF CHINESE GODS, described as "China's first full-length color animation feature!" boasts a 3-eyed Bruce Lee character and some not-so-hot animated action.

 

Other titles include BRUCE AND THE IRON FINGER, SHAOLIN INVINCIBLE STICKS, INVISIBLE TERRORIST, REVENGE OF THE SHAOLIN KID, HELL’S WINDSTAFF, THUNDERING MANTIS, THE LEGENDARY STRIKE, KUNG FU KILLERS, CRAZY HORSE & INTELLIGENT MONKEY, THE AVENGING BOXER, and SNUFF-BOTTLE CONNECTION.  They add up to a full 134 minutes.

My favorite moment comes during the preview for a wacky comedy called KUNG FU MASTER NAMED DRUNKEN CAT, which, in addition to its distinct Benny Hill influence, makes this bold promise to potential viewers: "It's John Cheung vs. The Midget! Funny!"

It's interesting to see these trailers in Blu-ray since they're so wonderfully battered and scratched-up in the great grindhouse style.  Are we supposed to be happy that all the scratches and imperfections that make these old trailers so distinctive are now in high-def? 

Having grown up watching old movie prints in theaters and on late-night TV, I love that old beat-up look. These trailers have it in abundance, and it suits me just fine to see it so well-preserved here.  

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound and English subtitles.  The wall-to-wall commentary track is highly informative thanks to a panel of kung fu cinema experts including writer Ric Meyers ("Films of Fury"), Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival), Ric Stelow (Drunken Master Video), and martial arts instructor Greg Schiller. 

If you got a kick out of Severin's first volume of kung fu trailers, then RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY should strike your fancy as well.  It's solid entertainment for lovers of no-frills kung fu cinema. 

Buy it from Severin Films

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/18/16

 

My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s.  The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc. 

For fans of Hong Kong chop-socky cinema, Severin Films' KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY doesn't disappoint.  I mean, how could they mess up something as simple as a collection of kick-ass martial arts movie trailers?

This baby is wall-to-wall chops, socks, kicks, flips, bad subtitles, insane wirework, and general weirdness of a kind that can only be found in the wildest and most creative examples of the martial arts genre. 

These newly-rediscovered trailers give us an overview of the early Hong Kong action films, whether contemporary crime dramas or the period mini-epics that mix fanciful Chinese historical atmosphere with furious kung fu action.

Many of them are part of the "Bruce-ploitation" wave of films that followed the death of superstar Bruce Lee, who helped popularize such films in the West, by cashing in on his image and offering a series of clone versions such as Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, and Bruce Leung.  

We also get to see Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris in some of their early screen moments, as well as the young Sammo Hung who played up his "weighty" stature in such films as ENTER THE FAT DRAGON. 

Since the majority of these films were churned out like sausage, they're cheap, quick, and usually a lot of bad-movie fun with some amazing martial arts on display.  Given the rushed schedules on these films, much of the fight choreography is amazing.   

Their frenetic trailers are an interesting montage of the evolution of the genre, how it became Hong Kong's equivalent of the matinee western, how it came to capture the imaginations first of a country and then an entire world, and how it was eventually refined into something of an art form in itself.

To keep us abreast of who's who during this dizzying parade of film highlights, the disc offers an informative commentary track by experts Ric Meyers (author of "Films of Fury"), Michael Worth (author of "The Bruceploitation Bible"), Martial Arts Instructor Greg Schiller, and Rick Stelow of Drunken Master Video.

I was going to watch the film first and then watch it again with the commentary, but soon realized that since I can't understand anything the actors are saying and it's all subtitled anyway, I might as well just put on the commentary track to begin with. 

This turned out great since Rick and company are fountains of knowledge and enthusiasm for these films and to hear them discuss the trailers as we watch gives a whole new level of appreciation for them.   (I especially enjoyed hearing about the first meeting between Bruce Lee and Sammo Hung.)

The Blu-ray from Severin Films also contains the featurettes "A Brief History of Kung Fu Cinema" with Meyers and fellow expert Frank Djeng, and "The Way of the Cube", the story of a UK cinema devoted to showing martial arts films (where the original 35mm trailers were rediscovered).

Some of the trailers included in this collection are: THE WAY OF THE DRAGON, FISTS OF BRUCE LEE, KUNG FU VS. YOGA, DEATH BLOW, TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN, DAGGERS 8, SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW, SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN, THE DAMNED, THE STORY OF DRUNKEN MASTER, ENTER THE FAT DRAGON, and BRUTAL BOXER.

While the Blu-ray's picture quality is fine, the trailers themselves still retain their aged "grindhouse" look, just the way you might've seen them on the big screen way back when.  For me, this is a nostalgic plus.

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY is non-stop kung fu action without plots or dialogue scenes to get in the way--just a potpourri of freaky, frenetic, and often dazzling kung fu filmmaking that's done on the cheap but with lots of skill and, more importantly, lots of heart.

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle