Friday, 25 June 2010
CANNIBAL MER... I mean... The Jaguar Project!
If, like me, you've only previously watched the English dubbed, untampered with, version of the uber gory and trashy Vietnam war movie CANNIBAL MERCENARY from Thailand you're in for a bit of a surprise. HAHA.
Check this trailer out. This version has been given the Tomas Tang treatment in HK!! New gweilo actors are suddenly in the cast and, apparently, a lot of the gore is also gone. This cut & paste version is out on German DVD if you wish to check it out for yourself. The DVD carries both the German and English dub.
Thanks to Spannick for uploading the trailer!
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I like this cut & paste version so much as the original cut. It has something!...such as ex-venom Sun Chien playing a monk who talks to the thai actor in different movies, the new dialog is extremely funny & senseless. AND, AND AND, Tomas Tang gave us, per once, the real names of his gweiloh actors:
ReplyDeleteAlan English is the real name of the red-haired beardy guy. He played under that name in IFD's Sky High Mission along with Mike Abbott. Abbot talked to me about this guy. He also played as an extra in Frankie Chan's Burning Ambition and as a doctor in Black Cat
Paul John Stanners was also a regular face on IFD & Filmark, for some reason his name was always shown even if he only played bit parts. He can be seen in Godfrey Ho's ANGEL ENFORCERS..and many many many IFD & Filmark movies movies.
The gweiloh actor pasted new scenes were directed by Sun Chien or Kong Do who were actually the action directors for filmark at the time along with Tommy Cheng.
Paul John Stanners is a really decent guy. Since my interview with him I have spent quite a bit of time trying to locate movies he has been in. He actually only has a handful of them himself. Pretty much he seems to be credited as John Paul.
ReplyDeleteCannibal Mercenary is without question a movie that does NOT benefit from the Tomas Tany Cut'N Paste treatment as The Jaguar Project. I had the DVD for The Jaguar Project a couple of years back & passed it on in favour of retaining the far grisslier & better original Cannibal Mercenary. The German DVD for The Jaguar Project has about fifteen minutes or so of the Paul John Stanners & fellow non Asians in yet manages to lose about half an hour of Cannibal Mercenary Action & actually plays out about fifteen minutes shorter, including a great deal of lost gore sadly. Seek out Cannibal Mercenary, even though it truly is almost impossible to attain now in its original release.
John Paul Stanners appeared in around thirty odd movies during his time in Hong Kong. He really knows his martial arts & still keeps phenominally fit today. Residing in Australia he still goes off for weeks at a time trekking & working out regularly on his martial arts regime. He truly would still make for a great screen prescence. Not at all bad for an English guy from Liverpool. He's a very cool guy.
Thanks for the info, Paul. A friend sent me a dvdr of the German DVD and altho I haven't watched it properly yet I've flicked thru it and I must agree with you (and disagree with you Jesus Manuel, LOL); those scenes are NOT very good and DO NOT fit into the movie. The footage looks so different it's just silly. And they fact that the storyline and dialogue is changed is annoying as hell. And the full "cannibal scene" with the head is cut out! And the whole sub plot with the main character's daughter being ill is gone. No, not very good! But to each their own and if someone (that's you JM, LOL) enjoys the film then at least it does serve some purpose.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I'm the happy owner of the original American VHS (of the original version). And no, I couldn't afford to eat proper meals that week.
Paul, we talked about that interview at some stage but needless to say I don't have a link. Feel free to post it here, mate. Ta.
I am a sentimental...I watched The Jaguar project around 1990 when my favourite video rental shop had tons of IFD / Filmark stuff on the shelves....at that time I enjoyed the movie a lot & I didn't have idea it was an edited version of a thai movie...I didn't care about that back then. I only wanted to spend a good time watching a movie & I DID!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe samw happened to me with all the movies I watched at that time...now, older, more experienced, having met some of those actors who worked for IFD, having visited & shot in the same places those movies were shot, I have another way to enjoy these movies.
These are the Paul John Stanners movies he did for IFD & Filmark I have in my collection:
IFD
-City war 4: Kingdom of Power
-City War 5: Law of honor ( whose pics are included in Paul's interview along with Soldier Terminator's)
-Soldier terminators
-Advent commando 6:Naked revenge
-Crackdown Mission (this is the german dvd title, I don't know the real title since IFD has not it in their catalog anymore)
-Official exterminator 5: Enter the victory ( edited on tape in the US as Night of the ninja)
Filmark
-The undercovers
-The shootout
-The jaguar project
-Mad moves
-Terminal angels
-Robovampire
-Acts of gangs
Some others that I can't remember by now ( I am using my memory cos I have these movies in the Philippines & I am in Spain now)
In bigger produvtions he had a lot of screen time on Godfrey Ho's ANGEL ENFORCERS.
As soon as I can I promise i will make a post dedicated to Paul John's filmo in my blog.
Hey Jesus, great to have you on the net sharing the Asian goodness & particulary the IFD / Filmark & Tomas Tang goodness. Love your site. Thanks so much for the info regarding some of Paul John Stanners movies. Interestingly though I asked him about Robo Vampire, one of my favourite guilty pleasures, & he says he was not a part of it 'As far as he was aware' :) . Of course the production houses would use footage all over the show. I'll have to watch the movie again & look out for him. Paul John did tell me, however, that he does recall the silver suited Robo & one of the main sets was close to wher he was shooting for something else. He remembers the area having some Huge rats !. Maybe whilst he was shooting for his movie the other cameramen were shooting him from a different angle & used the material !. Cut & Paste, Never Waste ! :) .
ReplyDeleteJack, the John Paul Stanners Interview I did is at the following link. A great guy to chat with, and he has a huge amount of stories that I could not share. He really needs to sit down & write a book of his Hong Kong experiences.
http://www.cinema-nocturna.com/index.php?ind=reviews&op=entry_view&iden=84
Hello Paul...it is quite eeasy to find Paul John on Robovampire, he can be seen & he has some lines. The added scenes he shot for JAGUAR PROJECT were shot in the lower battery of Devil's peak in Yau Tong, same place of the final showdown on Ninja phantom hero usa.
ReplyDeletePlease, if you contact him again, let him know there is a crazy spanish guy who wishes to make him some more questions about his time at filmark / IFD.
Last year, at the end of March, I was in HK & I met the mafia boss in Robovampire. I have pics with him. I had a 3 hours chat with him in my room at Chungking Mansions...he didn't remember anything about his time at Filmark...he can be seen, besides Robovampire, on Ninja force of assassins, Cocrodrile fury, Project G-7....He had no memory of those movies at all...I met him again on June & then I brought him a copy of Robovampire & ninja force of assassins. Then he told me ALL THE STUFF he did for those several movies was shot in 15-20 days back in 1986 /87 but HE was not aware ( like Richard Harrison) the stuff he shot for Filmark was used in at least those 5 movies. He was really amazed & shocked.
He is the pianist at A bullet in the head & has shot hundreds of movies as extra in HK...last one was Johnnie To's Sparrow where he played a cheaten tourist in the beggining.
Hi Jesus, I'll certainly re-watch Robo Vampire. Last I saw it was before I became aware of John Paul Stanners so really would have not been looking anyway. I have a beautiful Full wide screen scope Japanese VHS with the Japanese subtitles out of frame & underneath the picture in the lower black border to revel in & look out for our main man.
ReplyDeleteFor sure next time I am in contact with John Paul I'll mention your interest. It's been since Christmas that I last spoke with him via Email so I'm overdue making contact with him anyway.
Jesus, do you by any chance know where to obtain an English subtitled version of the Paul Naschy movie Um Lobisomem na Amazônia ?.
Paul
Thanks Paul...you know? I have spent days, weeks looking for the forest used for IFD / Filmark ninja / war movies but I haven't got it, it is the only filming location I haven't found, lately I have even used Google Earth but it is useless. That forest appears in the pics Paul John passed to you for his interview...maybe he may remember the place or can give us a hint how to reach that place.
ReplyDeleteI have most of Paul Naschy's movies but I don't know this one...do you know if it has an alternative title????Anyway, till now all the Naschy's movies avaliable in Spain on tape or dvd are just in spanish lang with no subtitles. Some years ago, I got in HK a very rare Naschy japanese movie ( well, he is not the actor but the production manager) shot in SPain titled WHITE LOVE. this one has english subts.
I have that ROBO VAMPIRE tape as well and it's a beaut! xD.
ReplyDeleteSo strange. I just found out I am a Co-Star of American Force 4 - Soldier Terminators shot in Hong Kong back in 1988. I was recruited from the roof of the guesthouse i was staying in by a Chinese gentleman who kindly waited until I woke up before asking me if I wanted to be a movie star. Paul John Stanners was the star, and he was really a great guy to hang with. We were such a crazy random group of people. That time in my life and Hong Kong was really Magic.
ReplyDeleteHi Vincent,
ReplyDeleteCool to see you here! What do you mean you just found out you're the co-star of the film?
Thanks for letting us in on a bit of your time in HK. Did you see Paul's link to his interview with Paul John Stanners? Otherwise it's right here:
http://www.cinema-nocturna.com/index.php?ind=reviews&op=entry_view&iden=84
- and I also have the trailer for "American Force 4 - Soldier Terminators" on this blog. Go here:
http://trashy-filipino-war-movies.blogspot.com/search/label/Soldier%20Terminators%20%28HK%29
Jack
Hey Jack,
ReplyDeleteWell I was a martial arts guy and worked for a nightclub on Lan Quai Fong Road as a bouncer. Wife packed up the kids and went home,(Canada) she couldn't take our empoverished situation anymore. You know one room apartment 4 Kids making ends meet was rough. I vacated the apartment and moved into a real run down guest house, and it was great. Everyone there was doing TV commercials or modelling, or movies, they mentioned me to the crew and suddenly I am in the jungles of the New Territories shooting people and getting blown up and of course eventually killed. That was soldier terminators. I returned as soon as the movie was finished to see if I could patch things up so I didn't go to the screening. I thought I had a very minor role, and yet a couple of weeks ago I googled my name and it comes up as co-star. I went to the IFD website and sure enough there I am on the Poster. Who knew? Man I really miss those days.
Very cool. Thanks for your reply. Do you have a copy of the film?
ReplyDeleteJack / Vincent, this is indeed very Cool.
ReplyDeleteVincent, any more info regarding your time spent on the movie would be terrific. I'm sure either Jack or myself can hook you up with a dvdr of the movie. Do you recall any of the cast. As Jack mentions I interviewed the very decent & all round nice guy Paul John Stanners. The guy with the eye patch in the movie. I'm certain he'd be very intrerested to learn news of a fellow actor from the movie.
Hope we hear back from you Vincent.
Very best to you. Paul
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteI read your interview with Paul John Stanners, and you hit the nail on the head. He was a really good guy, with no airs or graces. On a set like ours egos could flair because there were 'Real Actors' and guys like me who just lived in Hong Kong and were Caucasian. I was a martial arts guy working as a bouncer for a Lan Quai Fong night-club and I guess being a fighter got me on the bus. The bus took us to the jungles of the New Territories where we were shot, blown up, and if we were lucky killed late into the shooting. Paul John mixed with everyone on set from extras to the director. His advice to me was 'Die Well', and I guess I listened becuase I got killed twice in Soldier Exterminators.
There was another real actor I remember, he was tall and had a thick European accent. He said he had just finished shooting a war movie in the Phillipines. I asked where he was from and he said 'Romania' then more specifically, 'Transylvania'.
He said his next film was a big budget Dracula movie, and he had the lead role as the Count. I said something like 'Wow, that's amazing, you have the perfect accent'. Then he looked at me real serious and sounding very much like Vlad the Impailer himself said, 'WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, ITS DUBBED.'
I smiled about that the whole rest of the day.
Hello Vincent: I would like to add that romanian actor may be FRANK JUHAZ,he worked in some movies in the Philippines ( for example Eddie Romero's Whiteforce among others) before he arrived to Hong Kong. I have been trying to collect info about all the westerners who worked for IFD. About Frank, the more info I collect, the more scare I feel about it. I haven't listened very nice words about him...I don't know if those stories are true or not but they are there. Even Paul John said something about him. in Paul cooke's interview. I just remember Frank juhaz has a profile entry in wipipedia where some of his movies are listed.
ReplyDeletePlease if you have time, visit me at www.goldenninjawarriorchronicles.blogspot.com I am always trying to add some light to those IFD / Filmark productions.
Yes that is who it was. He was a bit scary for sure, but Hong Kong was a pretty tough place back then. Only The strong survive, but Frank was very decent to me.
ReplyDelete