When the Vietnam War raged... in the Philippines

Viet Cong at Teleport City?

2012-01-28T00:25:00.008+01:00

Reviews of trashy Filipino war movies are often limited to raves about just how bad the movies are. Fun for the writer but less fun for the fan who actually wants info and an incisive piece on the film in question. I've just stumbled over a review that is both well-written and incisive about the movie INTRUSION: CAMBODIA! Great stuff! The review was posted over at the excellent Teleport City website in December of last year (2011). I highly recommend you check it out. Go here.

Rare GET VICTOR CORPUS vhs found

2012-01-20T18:01:00.001+01:00

Jayson over at Basement of Ghoulish Decadance blog has just found a rare American NTSC video release of the equally rare Filipino film GET VICTOR CORPUS. Awesome. Congrats, mate. To read Jayson's post and check the cover scan go here.

And thanks to Jayson for the link (to my other blog).

Below, my Greek VHS of the film.

THE LOSERS (USA/Philippines, 1970)

2011-12-19T12:54:00.024+01:00

aka NAM ANGELS

Directed by: Jack Starrett
Produced by: Joe Solomon

Cast: William Smith, Bernie Hamilton, Adam Roarke, Houston Savage, Gene Cornelius, Paul Koslo, John Garwood, Ana Korita, Lillian Margareio, Paraluman, Vic Diaz

Video release: Europa Film (Sweden), fullscreen, English audio, Swedish subtitles

To most fans of exploitation films THE LOSERS is probably seen as an American film. However, to me it's valid to include it on this site as it was filmed in the Philippines - and it has the one Filipino actor who was in about EVERY Filipino film in it. Yes, Vic Diaz is here! So obviously it's counts as a Filipino film in my book!

The Vietnam War rages. A CIA guy (played by the film's director) has been kidnapped by the red Chinese. The problem to the American army is that the Chinese are cooped up across the boarder in neutral Cambodia. What to do, oh what to do?? The American army could send in some commandos in the night to get him out. Or they could ask their well trained friends in the Mossad. Or they could suggest to the CIA that they get their own man out. Well, I'm sure you've already figured out they ain't gonna do any of that. No sirree, instead they call in a group of Hell's Angels bikers!!!

The Angels arrive and it soon becomes obvious that the army can't control them. As soon as they've got their bikes (sissy ass bikes, not their usual choppers) they start causing havoc in the local villages they ride thru, getting into fights, shooting guns, getting thrown in jail, get romantic and helpful with nice girls... no, wait... hmm, we're obviously dealing with a special branch of cinematic Hell's Angels here, hahaha. In fact they're not actually called "Hell's Angels" in the film but "Devils Advocates"!

I assume the film company didn't want to get into trouble with the real Hell's Angels (I'm sure Roger Corman spewed out a, "Fuck, why didn't I think of that!" after the Hell's Angels sued his company when he distributed Cirio H. Santiago's 1989 film NAM ANGELS!!). And you should think Corman had learnt his lesson; According to Michael Weldon's first Psychotronic book from 1983 Corman's company was sued already by the Angels when they made THE WILD ANGELS in 1966!!

Anyhoo, they plot and they plan how to get into the camp where the CIA guy is held captive. And they customise their bikes into MAD MAX style combat bikes (11 years before that kind of bikes were actually seen in MAD MAX 2!). The local Vietnamese mechanic is played by a young looking Vic Diaz. Gee, I wonder how many films he was in. It seems like he was in about EVERY American-Filipino co-production ever made! I'm not even kidding!!

The last half an hour of the film is all about the drive into Cambodia and the attack on the camp. If you've watched the Australian documentary film MACHETE MAIDENS about American-Filipino co-productions you might remember there's some scenes from THE LOSERS of the bikers attacking the camp and shooting off their machine guns and throwing hand-grenades and stuff.

THE LOSERS is great fun! Michael Weldon mentioned in his Psychotronic review that some people regard the film as the best biker movie there is. I don't know about that though; I mean it sure is a fun movie but that may be stretching it a tad too much. They don't actually ride around that much on their bikes and there's only five bikers in the film. But like I said it sure as hell is a cool flick. There's also a fair bit of gore (mostly from gun shuts) and some nudity as well. The almost pink blood looks silly but, oh well, it's not like you would think it were real blood even if it looked any better now would you. Although I argued for it being a Filipino film it doesn't really belong with the other Filipino Vietnam War movies from the 80s and early 90s. The main character is played by William Smith (who was Falconetti in RICH MAN POOR MAN aka To Brødre). Oh, and there's exploding huts too!

The version I watched is an old ex-rental VHS from Sweden. The tape is presented in fullscreen but it's not pan & scan and it looks alright. The print carries the original title, THE LOOSERS. At some stage the film was re-released in the US re-titled NAM ANGELS.

There's a fairly new DVD from Dark Sky and according to some message board and Amazon comments it seems it's a good release presented in the correct format and with some cool extras. But as I don't have this release obviously I can't judge how good it is. However, the film as such is highly recommended!

Robert Patrick's kill count!

2011-12-17T08:10:00.006+01:00

Check out this fun video that I stumbled over on YouTube; Someone actually sat down and counted how many people Robert Patrick's character kills in Cirio H. Santiago's KILLER INSTINCT (aka Behind Enemy Lines, 1987). LOLZ.

The subs are in Dutch in case you're wondering.

Shopping tip: DEADLY IMPACT

2011-12-17T07:29:00.005+01:00

I haven't posted any shopping tips for a while cos quite frankly there haven't been much interesting stuff down at the bay. However, here's a cool tape: Fabrizio De Angelis' (aka Larry Ludman) DEADLY IMPACT (1984) on Japanese VHS! It stars Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson, and altho it doesn't really have anything to do with Filipino war flicks you might like it anyway! Paul Cooke & David Z gave it 3 exploding huts out of 5 in the "Tough To Kill" book.

NB: I have nothing to do with this auction nor with the seller.

Two times NAM ANGELS!

2011-12-10T18:53:00.008+01:00

Cirio H. Santiago's film NAM ANGELS from 1989:

Jack Starrett's film THE LOSERS (re-released on VHS as NAM ANGELS) from 1968:

Both films were shot in the Philippines and both films are about a group of Hell's Angels bikers who take their bikes to the Vietnam War to kick ass (that's my understanding anyway but so far I haven't actually watched either of the films, LOL). The Santiago film is available on DVD from Roger Corman's eBay store and THE LOSERS is out on DVD from Dark Sky and is available from Amazon.

Thanks to Simon for the tip on the Santiago film (but I already knew about it, lol).

When the Vietnam War raged... on YouTube

2011-11-11T01:57:00.005+01:00

Yet another of my Dogme videos (i.e. crappy picture, crappy filming, crappy lighting (no lighting!!), crappy sound, crappy narration, crappy what-have-you!!!). And my apologies go out to the kind people of Germany for trashing their beautiful language.

PS: And "Paul" that I mention in the video is of course Paul Cooke from Ballistic Blood Bullets blog/YouTube channel + co-author of the book "Tough to Kill".

Trashy Filipino war destroys exotica!

2011-11-10T02:00:00.009+01:00

Alright, maybe not quite, haha. But in any case, Tim from Mondo-Esoterica has begun a week of reviewing the films we love around here and you ought to jump over there and check out his cool reviews. So far he's reviewed:

EYE OF THE EAGLE
EYE OF THE EAGLE 2
LAST STAND AT LANG MAI (aka EYE OF THE EAGLE 3)
COMMANDER LAWIN
JUNGLE RATS

Click each film for the individual reviews or go to the front page here. Tim was inspired by this here wee blog and we love him for it (in a manly slap-on-the-back none sexual way).

- And today, completely unexpected and out of the blue, I received the German ex-rental VHS release of one of my favourite Filipino war flicks, PHANTOM SOLDIERS!! It's my buddy Philipp down Germany way, whom I haven't heard from for ages, who thought I ought to own the tape! Thanks, mate, that's totally awesome!!!

Shopping tip: COBRA MISSION

2011-10-24T23:16:00.004+02:00

Spiralheadcase in Japan has Fabrizio De Angelis' Italian/Filipino Vietnam war flick COBRA MISSION up for auction on Japanese VHS! There are so far no bidders and the auction runs for another 6 days. Go here.

Directed by Fabrizio De Angelis and stars Oliver Tobias, Christopher Connelly,Manfred Lehmann, John Steiner, Ethan Wayne, Donald Pleasence and Gordon Mitchell.

Ten years after the end of the war in Vietnam, four ex-Marines decide to return to S.E. Asia to investigate reports of American POWs still being held there.

A bleeding eye on KILLER INSTINCT

2011-10-14T13:26:00.004+02:00

Our friends (that's a royal plural, lol) over at KULT EYE BLEEDER have been away for a while but are back with a slate of cool new reviews, and one of them is in league with this here site: KILLER INSTINCT (aka Behind Enemy Lines). Rush over there now!

Thanks for the tapes, Bill

2011-10-07T14:38:00.008+02:00

Whenever you see the cover for a Greek video tape on this site (and you'll see A LOT of those!!!) I would say there's a 50 pro-cent chance that that tape came from DEATHLAND on eBay!!

Deathland was BILL BAROUNIS in Athens, Greece. Yesterday, Bill Barounis died.

I never met Bill in person but thru our many eBay trades I got to know him. But not just from trading tapes, he was also part of the Cinehound gang (which is a film forum run by Bill's friend in Greece, Miltos). And Bill was the lone wolf behind the awesome one-man video label ONAR FILMS which exclusively released very rare / forgotten / lost Turkish cult movies.

When hardly anybody in Turkey could be bothered to save these films Bill was there and did just that. I knew him well enough to call him a friend but we weren't close as such. The odd short PM and piece of forum dialogue here and there. But he knew I held his work and him as a person in the highest regard.

One of the fond memories I have of him is his always fun descriptions of the tapes he auctioned. Unless someone has copied them they're probably gone for good but at least one is saved; In 2009 I won his auction for RAIDER PLATOON and since I could not find any info on the film I posted his entire eBay description. I'm glad I did. Here it is:

SYNOPSIS: VERY RARE Greek VHS of a 1988 Filipino ultra bloody and mega nasty war [movie], with tons of atrocities, tortures etc! highly recommended!! with Jerome Leo, Frannkie Catas and Doris Mann!! dir. by FEDERICK MOSES!!

SYNOPSIS: Super obscure film, ignored by imdb AND google!!! It's an 80's Filipino Marines squad vs evil guerrillas! And the latter are the nastiest and most sadistic scumbags I can remember! Check the intro sequence with the villains torturing their captives. they chop hands, slash necks, pull out intestines etc, in a gruesome opening sequence. The rest is equally brutal... check what they do to a woman they just killed over her killed husband! While I was checking this out, my wife in the next room commented ironically: "such a quality film... just bang-bang bang and aargh!!"

Bill was a fighter. He fought against bootleggers, torrent sites, people who didn't care, shops that didn't wish to stock just a few of his DVDs - he fought them all by trodding on. He refused to let any of that stop him. Unfortunately he lost the fight against the cruel big C. Bill was only 48 and leaves a wife and child. He will be sorely missed. Rest in peace, my friend.

LEATHERNECKS - trailer

2011-10-04T02:25:00.001+02:00

Thanks to Member-X for posting this trailer (from a Danish VHS) on YT.

A quick shopping tip...

2011-09-29T18:06:00.002+02:00

Bruno Mattei's awesome STRIKE COMMANDO on Japanese VHS is up for auction on eBay! If you haven't got it I would highly recommend making a bid for this tape. Three days to go and so far only one bidder. Go here.

I'm not the seller nor do I have anything to do with him.

LEATHERNECKS on LASERDISC!

2011-09-06T00:39:00.003+02:00

My last post was about Simon's very cool Aussie VHS of LEATHERNECKS and here's yet another post about that film: Last night I won the HONG KONG LASERDISC release of the film!! Totally cool cover on that one as well if you ask me!! And hopefully the picture quality is great. English audio and Chinese subs (burnt-in, subs aren't optional on laserdiscs).

Coolest LEATHERNECKS cover!

2011-09-03T16:23:00.005+02:00

Check this cover for the Aussie VHS release of LEATHERNECKS that Simon of Explosive Action blog sent me. Nice one, mate! If you check the ordinary entry for the film on this site you'll see some of the other video releases (my own is the Dutch VHS) but none of them are near as cool as this one. I love the red writing and all black around the pictures. Cheers, Simon!

Flabbergasted

2011-09-01T11:40:00.006+02:00

Karl Brezdin of "Fist of B-list" blog posted this description of this here wee blog a few days ago:

When the Vietnam War raged... in the Philippines - One of the most unique editorial concepts you’re likely to find in the wide world of genre film blogging, executed to absolute perfection. Fantastic reading.

Needless to say it warms me ol'e cynical heart when other bloggers write stuff like that. Thanks so much, Karl, you're the best!! xD xD xD

Gung Ho! Another platoon just went into the jungle...

2011-08-04T05:50:00.006+02:00

As the description for this blog goes this is the only blog entirely (more or less) on Filipino Vietnam War movies - but now I've got company in the old (cinematic) Vietnam jungle! Over in Sweden the author (who goes under the secret name of Daydreamer) of the Swedish language blog "Historychannel" has set up an English language blog to cover Vietnam War movies. However, Daydreamer tells me that (and in contradiction to this here blog) he's going to cover all kinds of Vietnam war movies from many countries, both low budget and big budget productions. I wish him well on the project. You can check it out here: GUNG HO.

Freezing winter, eh?

2011-08-01T07:46:00.014+02:00

...at least in Australia! LOL. Where I'm located it's alright warm at the moment - and I certainly don't miss the Melbourne winters with their drafty houses! I had some of my worst colds there. LOLZ!!

Anyway, as I'm sure you've noticed things are a little slow here at the moment (any slower and we'd hit rigor mortis!) but no need to worry I don't intend to close up shop or anything. Like most other things in life blog life goes in circles, and I've spent more time on my other blogs recently. However, I sense it's time to return to the trashy world of Filipino Vietnam war flicks once again.

I haven't actually bought many titles lately (read: any!) neither on Japanese VHS nor otherwise. It seems the well is dried up at the moment. But, hey, it's not like there isn't enough stuff to write about already. I'm thinking of actually beginning to crank out some reviews and I might just kick off with a review of Willie Milan's rare MAD KILLER from 1985 which stars Anthony Alonzo as a Vietnam vet who returns from the war.

Andrew Leavold has the film listed under the title Revenge of the Street Warrior but I wonder if that could be a different film. The thing is, there's ONE review on IMDb and the plot description is VERY different to the film I have. But of course, maybe the reviewer slept his way thru the film or was messed up on bad lemonade. Who knows. If any of you can help with any info (or even have the film) I'd certainly appreciate it. Cheers.

An unusually grim scene in a Filipino Vietnam war movie in which the main character (Alonzo) cracks open his recently deceased mother and sister's coffins to have one last look at them before he goes on a revenge spree.

Rare GET THE TERRORISTS trailer

2011-07-24T00:30:00.002+02:00

This is the Argentinian trailer for GET THE TERRORISTS. Thanks to Christian from RaroVHS blog for the link!

Another copy of COBRA MISSSION 2 on eBay right now!

2011-07-08T23:26:00.004+02:00

An eBay seller in Japan has a copy of the Japanese VHS release of COBRA MISSION 2. Starting bid is $18, no bidders as of yet, and 9 hrs to go. Check the listing here.
EDIT: the auction ended with the tape unsold

Come to papa

2011-06-18T03:22:00.003+02:00

Ahh, very niiice! I've just scooped up Anthony Maharaj's cool Filipino flick MISSION TERMINATE on Japanese VHS! It wasn't even an auction but had a "buy now" price tag from a seller in Japan. The movie stars Richard Norton who for once actually plays the good guy! I already own the Greek tape but when I saw this one I had to have it. LOL. The Greek tape is okaay but hopefully this is gonna upgrade it a tad!

A quick shopping tip...

2011-06-18T02:12:00.006+02:00

UK'er Ali over in downtown Japan has yet another multo interesanto trashy war flick up for auction: Leandro Lucchetti's GETTING EVEN (on Japanese VHS retitled as Super Commander). 23 hrs to go and not a bid in sight. If you're lucky you might get this for the opening bid (of 7 measly US dollars).

ABOVE THE WAR on DVD

2011-06-10T02:02:00.006+02:00

aka THE B-TEAM

My buddy Knudsford who does the Asian Cult Cinema Showcase blog in Japan has just told me ABOVE THE WAR has been released on DVD over there! I've already got the Japanese VHS so I'm not gonna order the DVD but if any of you do please let us know about quality and if there's any cool extras. Thanks.

The above cover is my VHS but the front is basically the same. Read more about ABOVE THE WAR here.

Trouble with Blogger

2011-05-28T20:54:00.002+02:00

I've been having troube logging into my Blogger account (that hosts these blogs) the last few days and if any of you are having the same problem, and if you're using Firefox, you might wanna try and switch to Explorer. I did it and it works charm! I have no log in or layout problems anylonger. I still can't log in with FF tho. Very annoying. >_<

Cool rare Filipino Vietnam War tapes in the mail

2011-05-25T23:41:00.009+02:00

After THREE extremely unfortunate big parcels that never reached me (I'm still crossing my fingers for parcel #3) I finally received a big box today containing a pile of cool and totally rare tapes! Out of today's 8 new ex-rental tapes 2 of them are of interest to this blog: The Danish ex-rental releases of LEATHERNECKS (aka Krydsild) and BROTHERS IN BLOOD (aka Blodsbrødre). And I can't emphasise enough how rare these tapes are. I know Hans-Jørn (aka Diabolik) has a copy of BROTHERS but I haven't heard of any other copies. And I'm not aware of any other collector who has a copy of the Danish LEATHERNECKS. Big thanks to Member-X in Finland for this trade! (and for the chocolates he enclosed!).

PS: there's a much better scan (courtesy of Hans-Jørn) of the Danish BROTHERS IN BLOOD on the film's entry page.

TOP TEAM FORCE - trailer

2011-05-18T03:53:00.001+02:00

DARK DAY EXPRESS - trailer

2011-05-16T16:49:00.008+02:00

I wrote about the very rare Thai Actioner DARK DAY EXPRESS a while back and thanks to a nice Cinehound member I've finally got a dvdr of it now (which also includes the trailer). This upload is from Knetan and obviously he got the same copy as I did as it sports the "Filmark Sample" logo (in fact the whole film has the damn logo plastered onto it!). The film is good fun. Fred Anderson has just done a massive interview with the big German actor Christoph Klueppel who was in quite a few Thai films including this one and also IN GOLD WE TRUST, THE LOST IDOL, MISSION HUNTER 1 & 2, and SATANIC CRYSTALS.

Oh, and when you watch this trailer you might wanna enjoy the letterboxed format! The screener copy is unfortunately fullscreen! :(

VHS / Spain / format? / Spanish dub / no subs
[click the scan to see the full cover]

You win some, you lose some...

2011-05-15T02:21:00.004+02:00

...tonight I did both. The one I won is this cool Japanese VHS release of THUNDER 3 aka Thunder Warrior 3. xD xD xD

Oh, and I see Spiralheadcase has #2 for next week; You should certainly go for it (I'VE ALREADY GOT IT, lol).

Shopping tips

2011-05-11T02:59:00.002+02:00

Alright, it's a little slow at the moment but here's at least ONE tape you might wanna consider: Tonino Ricci's DAYS OF HELL on Japanese VHS from one of David Z's auctions. 6 days to go, starting bid 15 bucks US.

"Tough To Kill" author DAVID Z on Brian Harris' "Cult Cinema Corner" radio show!!!

2011-05-07T06:45:00.008+02:00

Well, the headline kinda says it all, haha. Our good friend DAVID Z, co-author of "TOUGH TO KILL" (textbook material on this site!) and blog author of "TOMB IT MAY CONCERN" (plus an alround nice bloke!) was on BRIAN HARRIS' (of Wildside Cinema fame) new radio show "CULT CINEMA CORNER" last night (or "morning" as it was on at 4:00 AM where I am!!) and talked for a full hour about Italian action cinema (and needless to say a lot of it crosses over with what this here blog deals with!).

Great stuff indeed! And unlike the olden days, you didn't actually miss it even if you missed it: You can listen to the show via the embedded mp3 recording there. Or if you'd like to check out their real site go here. The program was the second broadcast (you can find the first one on that page as well). I wholeheartedly recommend you check out the show, multo interesting (and FUN) stuff in there! Oh, and thanks for the shoutout, guys!!!

Listen to internet radio with cultcinemacorner on Blog Talk Radio

IN GOLD WE TRUST (Thailand/France, 1991)

2011-05-03T02:26:00.008+02:00

I'd just like to send out a big thank you to the anonymous reader who only a few days ago left a comment to the DARK DAY EXPRESS post and pointed out this film to me (because Christoph Klüppel from EXPRESS and MISSION HUNTER) is in it. Incidentally David Z (co-author of the "Tough to Kill" book) had the Japanese VHS release of the film up for eBay auction. I just won that auction! Very happy! Check the cool trailer! Thanks once again, mate! Whoever you are.

Info from David Z's page:

IN GOLD WE TRUST
Rare Thai Action of the early 90s
Directed by P. Chalong
Starring Jan Michael Vincent and Sam Jones with Sherrie Rose

Action as only P. Chalong can produce...wild and crazy setpieces and American stars collide in a tale of Gold Raiding commandos blowing up swarms of enemies. From the director of H-Bomb and S.T.A.B.!

VHS / Argentina / fullscreen / English audio / Spanish subs

Thanks to Christian of RaroVHS blog for the Argentine scan.

DEADLY TARGET found on Dutch VHS

2011-05-02T18:05:00.005+02:00

In October of last year (2010) I posted a scan of a German VHS release of the Filipino film DEADLY TARGET starring Rudy Fernandez. I got the cover scan from my good buddy Kothar over on Cinehound and he informed me that the German dubbed version was the only one available, an English dubbed print simply didn't exist. Well, lo and behold, another Cinehound member has just found another release of the film on DUTCH video! This most likely means it's an English dubbed print!! I've already been speaking to him about a deal so hopefully I'll be able to let you know on the details of the dub soon. I sent the scan to Andrew Leavold who reposted it here with more credits plus dug out the original title: LABAN KUNG LABAN.

Shopping tip: 14 Cirio H. Santiago tapes!

2011-05-01T05:51:00.007+02:00

Just a very quick tip for an auction on the Wensy.com auction site in the US: Fred Adelman is auctioning off 14 cool tapes that are all directed by Cirio H. Santiago. I'd make a bid myself if the postage to Euroland weren't gonna be something like 6 trillion dollars! Starting bid is $25, postage within the US is $5, there's 16 hrs left, and so far no bidders. One of you located States side could make a brilliant deal here! To check the auction and titles go here.

Fred Adelman runs CRITICAL CONDITION which is one of the longest running film fanzines in the world, it's been going since the early 80s (originally as a print zine and now online). He's written tons of reviews of Santiago films and has a full section devoted to him here.

EDIT: no bidders so the auction runs for another 9 days.

A quick word on the EYE OF THE EAGLE dvd's

2011-05-01T00:38:00.016+02:00

Talk about speedy shipment! As you'll remember I ordered four DVDs from Roger Corman's New Horizons company last Monday and today, Saturday, less than a week later, I received them in the mail!

The four films are EYE OF THE EAGLE, EYE OF THE EAGLE 2: INSIDE THE ENEMY, LAST STAND AT LANG MAI (aka Eye of the Eagle 3), BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY.

I haven't watched any of them yet but I've given each DVD a quick check and I thought I would just give ya a quick word on the quality 'n' stuff. Now, keep in mind that 99% of all these Filipino war movies have never been released on DVD and that we're all used to VHS quality; sometimes worn tapes from Greece, sometimes great Japanese tapes with perfect playback - but none-the-less video tapes! (and some of you watch downloads instead but those are off VHS anyway so usually there's no better quality that way 'round unless a dedicated fan has somewhat restored the picture with a nifty computer program, i.e. corrected format and bettered colours). So getting these four films on official DVD that alone is pretty cool.

The picture quality is great! Again, keep in mind that I mean compared to old wobbly video tapes. However, these DVDs are not Heigh Definition quality by anybody's standards. I compared my old Greek VHS release of LAST STAND AT LANG MAI with the new DVD and it's clear to see the difference; The lack of tape roll and lines on the picture isn't exactly something I miss (and there's a lot of that on that particular tape!).

All four films are presented in fullscreen format but I'm even beginning to wonder if this may have been the original format? I have NEVER seen one SINGLE Filipino war flick that was presented in letterbox (not counting the Italian productions that were shot in the 'Pines)!! The menus are very basic and the extras are the same three trailers for other films + a trailer for the film on the DVD. There are no subs.

In regards to LAST STAND; as I mentioned in my post on Monday Corman's company re-titled the movie to fit in with the EYE OF THE EAGLE series calling it part 3. I was wondering if they might have kept the original title card and only altered the title on the cover but no the print has a new title card as well. However, the original one was just the title written on black so you wouldn't notice the new card as it's basically the same style.

So all in all these DVDs are pretty damn good. My TV set is an old-skool 28" tube set and I have no idea how the DVDs are gonna look in 40". The only real thing that I find slightly off-putting is the standard logo on the covers that says "American Valor" on a background being the American flag. These are trashy war flicks made in the Philippines, most of the actors are from the Filipino film industry (whether they're actually Filipinos or expats) and directed by a Filipino director. I'm sure it's the video company's attempt to cash in on an ever broadening nationalistic feeling in reg. 1 country due to recent years international political situation - but I find it slightly... ridiculous. Anyway, from a picture quality point of view I'd certainly recommend these DVD releases.

Bad guys Nick Nicholson and Henry Strzalkowsky having fun with the main character (played by some guy who later himself became a bad guy - or bad terminator as it were. LOL)

All scans are form EYE OF THE EAGLE.

Ahh, it's nice to be mentioned! xD xD xD

2011-04-27T06:33:00.009+02:00

Thanks to Simon over at EXPLOSIVE ACTION this here wee blog of mine has made it to YouTube! YAY!! SPIFFY!!!

I must confess I've mainly used YouTube for watching the odd trailer and old interviews. However, one thing I haven't really done much out of is checking peoples' own "TV channels" uplinked from their bedroom/living room/lounge room/loo (!!) so I've been living in happy (i.e. daft!) ignorance of the fact that Simon over at EXPLOSIVE ACTION blog for quite some time has been doing one such TV channel (do you even call it TV channel? YouTube channel? YouTube show? Well, whatever, you know wha' ahm talkin' abou'!). Now, after having discovered Simon's channel I've been checking out his shows aplenty and the episodes sure are fun to watch.

If you weren't interested in action and trashy war movies you might not care for the show as action and trashy films is ALL that it's about (pretty much like this here blog) plus what goes with the territory; Talks about TV set-ups, new book cases (or rather DVD/VHS cases), laserdisc run-thru's, whathaveyou!! Brilliant stuff, Simon, mate! I'm sure most girlies and art-house fiends would find it a tad, ahm, too nerdy - what else would you call making 50 videos about the joys of having received yet another parcel that contains old smelly nicotine stained ex-rental video tapes, haha. Well, I'm there too so I know what THAT'S like. Anyway, keep up the fun video, buddy!

Anyway, as I mentioned at the beginning Simon has been a good (grand!) sport and gave us (that's a royal "us") a plug here at the trashy Filipino war blog. Much appreciated!!!

Watch the video in the above - and also check out the other uploads from EXPLOSIVE ACTION while you're at it!!

Quick shopping tip

2011-04-25T07:48:00.006+02:00

A seller on eBay in Japan has JUST A DAMNED SOLDIER (s: Ron Kristoff) with a "buy now" price tag (of $45). Go here. If you have a look at his other stuff and find that you fancy his "ZOMBIE 2" (aka ZOMBI 2 aka Zombie Flesh Eaters) you might be a wee tad disappointed when you receive the tape as what he's selling (judging by the cover scan) is in reality ZOMBI 3!! The screw-up probably comes from the Japanese title being something in Japanese followed by a number "2" (maybe they did the same as in the UK and called it something similar to "Zombie Flesh Eaters 2"). Both films are credited to Lucio Fulci (altho apparently Bruno Mattei did half of ZOMBI 3 when Fulci fell ill). Oh, and by the way, ZOMBI 3 was actually filmed in the Philippines and Mike Monty is in it.

BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY - trailer

2011-04-25T07:15:00.006+02:00

Ahhh, Roger Corman's YouTube channel is a treasure trove! Here is another awesome Filipino war flick trailer in great quality: BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY was directed in 1992 by Cirio H. Santiago and stars yet again a bunch of ex-pat friends; Nick Nicholson, Henry Strzalkowski, Steve Rogers, and Mike Monty. I haven't watched the film but I've just this minute ordered it from Roger Corman's eBay store (plus also the three EYE OF THE EAGLE films altho I already got two of those on VHS but, you know, DVD!!). You'll find Roger Corman's eBay shop here. One more Filipino war movie that's up for purchase (but that I didn't order as my old Danish VHS copy will have to do until I get some more cash) is KILL ZONE. Also check the rest of the DVDs, there are quite a few other Cirio H. Santiago directed and produced films. Oh, and if you see Roger tell him who sent ya. LOL.

LAST STAND AT LANG MEI - trailer

2011-04-24T04:00:00.001+02:00

aka EYE OF THE EAGLE 3

EYE OF THE EAGLE 2: INSIDE THE ENEMY - trailer

2011-04-24T03:59:00.001+02:00

EYE OF THE EAGLE - trailer

2011-04-24T03:32:00.003+02:00

Check this out! Recently I stumbled over Roger Corman's own YouTube channel! Alright, maybe it's not Roger himself uploading trailers but it's his company's official channel anyway. And of course the cool thing is that these trailers aren't from old wobbly video tapes (not that there's anything wrong with old wobbly video tapes of course!) but from real film prints. They look pretty awesome!

So far I've found trailers for the three EYE OF THE EAGLE films! xD The first film is directed by Cirio H. Santiago, the second one by Carl Franklin and the third one also by Santiago. The last film is a sequel in name only as it's an American re-title. The original English title is LAST STAND AT LANG MEI.

Friends of ours (i.e. the familiar Gwilo actors from the Philippines) are in all of them: Eric Hahn, Jim Moss, David Light, Mike Monty, Nick Nicholson, Henry Strzalkowski. And needless to say Vic Diaz is in there somewhere too. :D

I shall return... to Video 2000!!

2011-04-21T15:36:00.008+02:00

In February I mentioned a Taiwanese war flick called I SHALL RETURN that I'd discovered but which I didn't actually have a copy of. Today, I've finally closed a deal with a seller in Holland who has the Dutch release... on Video 2000 system!!!

And yes I do own a V2000 player but I've never actually used it so I guess this'll be its virgin voyage. LOL.

Shopping tips for serious(ly) trashy Filipino war movie collectors

2011-04-17T05:24:00.005+02:00

Argh, it seems all I do these days is post eBay auction links!! But, hey, they are GOOD ones! Here's an auction for Cirio H. Santiago's cool THE DESTROYERS aka The Devastator on Japanese VHS from a seller in Japan. One day to go, no bidders yet, and start bid level at $8. Go here. And also remember to check David Z's auctions. Right now he's got JUST A DAMNED SOLDIER starring Ron Kristoff. 3 Days to go. Check here. And he's also got ALIEN 2 (the Italian film!) on hyper rare Japanese VHS! And finally, Member-X from Cinehound now has a Danish VHS of Cirio H. Santiago's THE EXPENDABLES up for auction (and his DAREDEVIL COMMANDOS is still running!). Go here.

THE FIRING LINE - trailer

2011-04-14T07:43:00.002+02:00

Great looking trailer from film print.

PS: I've just noticed that among the countries that have hit this website the most the Philippines is actually the fourth biggest country in terms of hits!!!

Update

2011-04-13T16:49:00.004+02:00

Info on DAREDEVIL COMMANDOS in the last post has been updated. The tape is now on eBay.

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (Italy, 198?)

2011-04-12T17:08:00.014+02:00

VHS / Japan / fullscreen / English dub / Japanese subs

Directed by Pierluigi Ciriaci
Starring Daniel (Hands of Steel) Greene, Bo Svenson and Savina Gersak

Check this out! My newest awesome tape. Well, I ASSUME it's awesome but I haven't actually received it yet cos I won it last night. But yay!! Spiffy!!!

I won it on an auction held by David Z - yes, thee David Z!! The awesomely nice fella who co-wrote the "Tough to Kill" book (which is text book material if you're a regular on this blog) and who runs the Tomb it May Concern blog. He had quite a few cool tapes but I'm sure you realise why I couldn't let you in on the action, haha.

Anyway, David still has a few mighty cool Japanese tapes and there's a bit of time to go. He's got more than I'm gonna list here but these are the ones that probably apply the most to you and I as aficionados of trashy war flicks:

Enzo G. Castellari's LIGHTBLAST,

Jun Gallardo's COMMANDO INVASION,

and Tonino Ricci's RAIDERS OF THE MAGIC IVORY.

- Another tape you might wanna consider is the crazy Indonesian war flick DAREDEVIL COMMANDO(S) starring Barry Prima. The tape is an uber rare Danish ex-rental VHS (don't worry it's not dubbed in Danish, haha, but carries the English dub). The tape isn't on eBay but is sold directly from Member-X on Cinehound forum (he's taking offers until he gets one that he'll be happy with. I must admit I prefer ordinary auctions but, hey, whatever). If you're interested but not a member there let me know your email addy and I'll give it to Member-X. You can check the tape here.

EDIT: Member-X has now put DAREDEVIL COMMANDO on eBay as well. 5 days to go. Here.

And finally, a couple more Filipino films on awesome Japanese VHS that you might wanna pick up (you ought to!) are over at Ali at Spiralheadcase: MANNICAN'S FORCE, that has a bunch of regulars in it, Eric Hahn, Jim Moss, and Mike Monty, and DOUBLE EDGE with Ron Kristoff and Jim Gaines. Four days to go.

And finally, altho I've just won SOLDIER OF FORTUNE I have actually had a very nice DVD-R of the Japanese version for quite some time. One of my really nice readers in the UK has sent me some cool films thru out this website's lifetime and I'd just like to say thanks a lot, mate. It's highly appreciated. And while I'm at it I'd also like to say cheers to that nice someone in OZ who sent me cool custom made stuff as well. And that other someone in the UK, oh and that multo nice'o amigo over in the US + the other bloke also in the US. You all know who you are (and I don't know if some of you would rather not be mentioned by name because DVD-R's are probably best off flying under the radar so I'll just shhh for now. But cheers to you all. :D

Shopping tips (a pressie for the girlfriend maybe?)

2011-04-07T16:41:00.004+02:00

If any of you haven't got the cool Japanese VHS release of Cirio H. Santiago's THE EXPENDABLES (I don't need to mention to regular readers that this OBVIOUSLY isn't the Sly Stalone film!) then... now's your chance (or get an extra copy for the gf if you've already got a copy. I'm confident she'll luv ya even more. Or not, LOL). Spiralheadcase has it up for auction for another two days and so far there's only one bidder. Go here.

CANNIBAL MERCENARY 2!!!!!

2011-03-31T03:58:00.010+02:00

GOOD GAWD!!!!!

Sergeant Rock (another rabid collector) from Cinehound forum jusssch slluch slauhsshh... mouth won't work... sschhhluch...

Calm now, Jack!! Sergeant Rock just sent me this scan which is of a video-cd and it's a SEQUEL to CANNIBAL MERCENARY!!!

O_O

The original film is from 1988 and this sequel is from '89!! The VCD carries the same Thai English title as the first one EMPLOY FOR DIE with an added "2". What a piece of fucken awesome news!!! Unfortunately it's probably gonna be very (like in veeeeery) difficult to track down a copy. Most likely this Thai VCD is the only release there is. Last year I spoke to an American who runs the TK Worldwide DVD eBay store outta Thailand, I asked him about some specific titles and he said there are tons of new VCD releases all the time and they disappear right away. But at least we now know it exists!!!

Big cheers to Sergeant Rock!!!

Here's a rundown of the plot. It's from the same site that the cover scan came from. And I don't think the writer was especially happy about these films, haha. But it'll give you an idea of what the film is about.

"Once again, Leu is ordered by his boss to form a mercenary team to stop drug propagation in Thailand and get rid of a dangerous drug lord, called Bad dog, protected by scores of tough men. It could be a "seven mercenaries" Thai remake. Six former soldiers join. Every team member has a reason to join, i.e. need 300 000 baht to cure a sick mother... They go inside the jungle. They are on unofficial mission so even the police and army can shoot them. They are mercenaries so they are employed for die. During the progression in the jungle two mercenaries die (through machete and acid bath). On the way, they help lost migrants including one lady with a baby. During the final face to face with the drug lord, all his teammates die. Leu would like to exchange his life (แลกตาย) with them as he promised that no team members should die. This is a typical 1980s Thai war movie with few interest. The action sequences are not credible enough. During the anti-communist years, movies with soldiers and mercenaries fighting in the jungle were popular. Most of these movies were low-profile, though some were popular as they played to the national sentiment. At the end of 1980s, when the communists were defeated, such action films faded."

COBRA MISSION - rare trailer

2011-03-27T01:36:00.001+01:00

And more cool stuff from Sutekh of EXPLOSIVE ACTION!! LOL. This is a rare trailer for COBRA MISSION that he just uploaded. Cheers, mate!

More KOOL cover scans

2011-03-27T00:17:00.008+01:00

Thanks to Sutekh from EXPLOSIVE ACTION here's the pretty cool Aussie video cover for HEATED VENGEANCE! Thanks, mate! The film was directed by Edward D. Murphy who is only listed on IMDb for having directed one other film but then again WHAT A FILM!!

It's RAW FORCE from 1982 starring Cameron Mitchell and Jillian Kesner. But if Murphy hasn't churned out that many films at least he's starred in quite a few and the one that naturally gets our blood pumpin the fastest on this here site is Gerardo de Leon & Eddie Romero's MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND from 1969.

For the real HEATED VENGEANCE entry go here.

Shopping for trashy war

2011-03-25T22:52:00.007+01:00

This week there is ONE Japanese video release that ought to wet your appetite if you haven't already got it! Our English buddy Spiralheadcase over in Japan is having Antonio Margheriti's COMMANDO LEOPARD up for auction. The tape is English dubbed and letterboxed. Go here. There is one day to go and so far no bidders. You may be lucky and get it at the opening price, $7. :D

Another tape you might wanna check out is the Cirio H. Santiago film SAVAGE. Miltos from Cinehound has the Greek PAL VHS up for auction and it runs another two days (almost). The auction is here.

And if you don't know the movie I recommend that you check out this entertaining video docu which I posted a little while back. Go here.

HKFLIX has closed down!

2011-03-21T14:59:00.002+01:00

Unfortunately, the cool video eStore HKFlix.com (located in Hawaii) has closed down! What a bummer!! This was one of the good places where you could find rare Asian films (and bootlegs too). Too bad, not to mention very odd! I logged in the other day and not a word of warning in regards to the closure.

They will certainly be missed. :(

Jack Jensen, the Philippines and the heroes of the Web

2011-03-18T02:01:00.001+01:00

Recognition is nice! xD Being called a "true hero" by a blog in Italy that I've never even heard of is even nicer!! In fact it's totally multo bene!! I've just discovered that EVIL MONKEY blog wrote a piece about When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines and said that I'm the greatest gift to women everywhere and that you people should all worship me (or something to that effect).

The blog is in Italian and since most of my Italian is mob speak that I picked up from watching the Sopranos I'm afraid we'll have to rely on a translation by our good friends at Google Translate. If your own Italian is better you can read the original text here. Un grande grazie goes out to whoever does Evil Monkey! Much appreciated! xD.

Jack Jensen, the Philippines and the heroes of the Web 2.0

While most of the managers of the blog can not help but take advantage of every sad & trite trick to attract some new readers there are those who makes a boast of the niche. Can you think of something more sector of the Philippine war-movie (with some transfer to the ninja-movie ever Filipino)? I doubt it. And when was the last time you read a disclaimer like the one below?

WHERE TO DOWNLOAD THESE MOVIES???
Some readers write and ask were they can download the films on this blog. I'm afraid I can't help you. Most of these films are old video tapes that I've spent months (and sometimes years) on tracking down. I'm simply not interested in downloading movies. I want to own real releases. On a rare occasion I might swap a dvd-r with someone (or nice readers send me dvd-r's for free) but I don't download and I don't know where you can do that. Sorry.

Jack Jensen is a true hero. Research and dissemination passionate (very useful update on its auction eBay ), but above the sole manager of which is the pearl of 2.0 When the Vietnam War raged ... in the Philippines . Because if you download the latest remake U.S. are capable of all, I want to see how many are able to trace the Greek VHS Cobra Thunderbolt .

Yet another tip for an uncut JUNGLE HEAT

2011-03-15T12:52:00.005+01:00

Resonator from Cinehound has the Dutch ex-rental VHS release of JUNGLE HEAT (aka Last Breath) up for auction. The tape carries the international version and is fully uncut. Like all other tapes except the Japanese this tape is FS. Four days to go. Go here. Beware the tape is in the European/OZ/NZ PAL format.

EDIT: the tape went for US $16.20.

If you've got nothing else to say you can alsways post the trailer for Ron Kirstoff's SLASH once again!

2011-03-10T21:41:00.003+01:00

And DO check out the great picture quality! It's not your usual old video tape quality that most of these uploads have. This is from a distributor in the US who sit on the rights for these films (but haven't released them). I posted all of their Filipino film uploads in this thread a while ago.

From now on it's the crappy ordinary mail-service for me all the way!!!

2011-03-08T10:29:00.003+01:00

Arghhh! For fuck's sake! I stayed home all day on Friday cos I was expecting a parcel from some stupid courier company. They said they'd be here between 8 AM and 4 PM but they never showed up. So I ring them and they go: "Our driver was there at 1 o'clock!" Whaaat!! I've been home all day and now I'm not even getting my parcel!! I live in a tiny flat with a loud door bell and NO backyard. There's no fucken way in Hell I wouldn't have heard the door bell!!! It's my tapes from a collector in Holland including the EXECUTIONER PART 2 tape. The stupid fucks won't even deliver it again so either I pay tons of money and go all the way to fucking Copenhagen to pick it up (which would be another 30 euros down the drains) or they return the parcel to Holland. Shit, fuck, cunt!!! The douchebag driver probably rang the wrong fucken door (I live on the third floor). Where is my gun, where is my roof!!! .\_/.

THE EXECUTIONER, PART 2 - Dutch VHS

2011-02-22T13:00:00.008+01:00

[click the scan for full size]

Check out this cool cover for THE EXECUTIONER, PART 2 from Dutch VHS! Veeery nice! I won it last night from an auction on Cinehound held by a member in Holland. It'll be interesting to see if this version has the two scenes which I'm told were cut out of the UK VHS.

Not quite what we're used to around here

2011-02-21T09:24:00.004+01:00

Old war movies from the Second World War don't really interest me at all (unless they're cheap, wild, and filmed in some outskirt area of Asia, LOL) but I've just found this Danish VHS release of the Klaus Kinski movie THE DIRTY DAM BUSTERS. I've never watched the film and it may be boring as hell (or awesome and exiting!) but the cover is pretty cool me thinks. :D
Click the scan for full size.

More shopping tips!

2011-02-21T02:32:00.008+01:00

The cool Japanese VHS for INTRUSION CAMBODIA is on eBay! Go here. The seller is in Japan and the auction runs another 22 hrs.

Another auction for a trashy war flick is over at Spiral who has Leandro Lucchetti's GETTING EVEN (aka Super Commander) up for grabs. Almost 6 days to go.

Bruno Mattei's very entertaining BORN TO FIGHT on Japanese VHS. Go here. 6 days to go.

DEATH BOND: Filipino actioner starring Nick Nicholson and Henry Strzalkowski. Very rare. For screen grabs go here. For the auction go here. Greek tape, PAL format.

COBRA THUNDERBOLT on Greek VHS. Auction here. Greek tape, PAL format. 6 days to go.

And finally a film that by no means is a trashy war movie but certainly is trashy is Godfrey Ho's SCORPION THUNDERBOLT starring Richard Harrison! Of all the cut & paste Harrison movies this is by far one of the (two) best! The Japanese tape is a beaut! (yes, I've got a copy myself). Go here.

NB: I'm not the owner of any of these auctions, and the sellers are not aware of my links.

I SHALL RETURN (Taiwan, 1982)

2011-02-10T17:14:00.011+01:00

Original title: Huet chin gwai heung Liu
German VHS: Söldner im Todeskommando

VHS / Holland / FS / English dub / Dutch subs / uncut

When you think there's no more to discover!! Here's a Vietnam war flick from Taiwan. I haven't watched it nor do I own a copy! I'm only aware of two releases of the film, both on VHS; An English dubbed tape from Holland using the English title, and a German tape re-titled Söldner im Todeskommando. The latter is dubbed in German and cut (according to the guy who listed the tape on the German film data base OFDb the cuts are very visible!). The German tape, however, is listed as being in 1.85:1 widescreen while the Dutch tape is fullscreen.

Btw, OFDb lists the film as being a Hong Kong film but the Hong Kong Movie Data Base has it listed as a Taiwan film and I tend to believe the HKMDB when there's disagreement between the various sources.

Sylvia Chang is in the movie and she's a (very) familiar face to anyone who's into HK movies; Among countless others she was in the ACES GO PLACES movies, SHANGHAI BLUES, and HE LIVES BY NIGHT (which I still haven't watched yet but according to a HKMDB review it's about: "a man (Eddie Chan) becomes a cross-dressing night stalker, and attacks women wearing white fish-net stockings"!!!). And if nothing else she was also in my all time fave HK comedy, CHICKEN AND DUCK TALK where she played alongside Ricky Hui aka "the human Droopy". xD

Is this film on DVD or VCD???

VHS / Germany / lbx / German dub / no subs / censored version!

[click the two scans for bigger size]

Thanks to HorrorCK of Cinehound forum for the Dutch scan.

Another chance to grab COBRA MISSION 2 on Japanese vhs

2011-02-05T13:48:00.010+01:00

Yep, there's yet another chance to scoop up COBRA MISSION 2 if you aren't already amongst the lucky few who's already got it! Another eBay seller in Japan has it up for grabs once again!

Actually, this past week this seller has had a handful of trashy Filipino war flicks up for auction - but I didn't link to them as there was one tape that I really wanted and I quite didn't see the point in reducing my chances of winning it by telling you about it, haha. Anyway, the COBRA MISSION 2 auction runs for another two days and the starting bid is $15. Go here.

The tape I wanted? And did I get it?? Go here. xD

And also, let me just link to another of Paul Cooke's auctions cos he's now listed Umberto Lenzi's WILD TEAM which I've talked about endlessly before! This auction is for the Greek tape which Paul has listed as being in the widescreen format and that definitely makes it the one to get instead of the FS versions out there (the Japanese tape is probably the better version but still). Go here.

Snow ridden Nordic vampires

2011-02-01T18:06:00.005+01:00

Alright, it's going a little slow here, no news to report, no new reviews, no nothing. I'm having a baaad cold so here's a video of what life is like here at the moment, snow, bad weather, darkness, freezing temperatures, runny noses, sneezing galore, and I ran out of milk today. Argh! Okay, maybe that's not all in that video but there's snow and vampires. And Entombed. I'm sure Roky Erickson would be proud. :D

This week there's tapes on eBay that are so important you should get them BEFORE you pay your bills or buy bread!!!

2011-01-26T06:07:00.013+01:00

The Japanese VHS release of Antonio Margheriti's TORNADO (the second *kind of* sequel to his THE LAST HUNTER) is up on eBay right now! This tape is the very BEST release of the film anywhere! This isn't fullscreen or somewhat half letterboxed (like the Greek tape) but fully letterboxed! And the print used for the tape is a beaut too! I own both the Greek tape and this Japanese VHS and there's quite a bit of a difference between the beat up scratched Greek print and the good looking Japanese one. YOU should own it! Go here.

And yet another multo interesting tape at the same auction: Bruno Mattei's COP GAME starring Brent Huff. I have the tape but can't actually remember the format (and I'm not gonna check, LOL) but Ali the seller states it's widescreen. Go here.

And lastly, our good buddy Paul Cooke is yet again selling off some of his extra tapes. One of the tapes is cool Thai flick COBRA THUNDERBOLT but he's also got more Bruno Mattei goodies, CRUEL JAWS (not a telly movie! Don't believe the screwed up IMDb hype that everybody and his ugly cousin seems to repeat on about every website! The film was made for cinema release!) and TERMINATOR 2 (aka Shocking Dark). Plus some more way cool stuff like SGT CLARIN. Go here.

This is a crappy, crappy trailer picture quality wise but check it out anyway!

Linkage

2011-01-14T02:51:00.011+01:00

Google Analytics tells me someone paid a visit to this here wee blog of mine from a new blog out there called Fire in the Jungle. They're not about Filipino 'Nam flicks as such but they mentioned a handful of Santiago movies and linked to here. Thanks for the link, buddy, much appreciated!!

You can check the post in question here and there's another post here about two more films of the kind we enjoy around here. The person behind Fire in the Jungle doesn't seem to be quite as enthusiastic about these trashy gems as you and I but, hey, we can't all have the same good taste in celluloid entertainment now can we. LOL

EDIT: Seems my above statement about that blogger being slightly less enthusiastic about these films wasn't quite right. Actually not at all. LOL. Check the comments' section to this post. Apologies for the slip-up. :D

And more links from non fellow action film review sites:

Combat Centric, a forum dedicated to "Talk Forum for Military, Police, Martial Artists and Aware Citizenry" also linked to me. Thanks, fellas!

Cool Jim Gaines interview!

2011-01-12T05:39:00.017+01:00

intro by JACK J
A Jim Gaines interview! wauw!! You don't see those every day! In fact I think this is the first one I've ever seen! And to add to the supreme, surreal weirdness this interview was conducted by the on-line newspaper "Today.az" which brings news to... Azerbaijan!!!!!

Anyway, I watched Jim Gaines as recently as a couple of days ago when I got hold of the cool German DVD release of AFTER DEATH (aka Zombie 4). The film was filmed in the Philippines and as I'm sure you know Jim was in many war flicks there too.

Heaps of thank-you's goes out to Mr/Miss T. Teymur and Today.az for this cool interview. The interview is exactly the same as on the page except I corrected some of the film titles that were slightly incorrect. I'm re-posting the interview here without any form of permission, I hope you aren't offended, LOL.

by T. TEYMUR / Today.az (16 May 2010)
Some movie fans say, that the peak of war-action movies was back in the mid and end 80's. I'll have to agree with them. There however was another so called "branch" of action movies - the ones that were shot in Philippines. They were cheesy, brainless, with lots of explosions, deaths, fights, in other words - action was over the top, and it, as the time went on, turned them into cult movies. The good thing is, the leads in the movies, were mostly americans, or widely known international stars. Such as Gary Daniels and Richard Norton started their careers in "Philippino action" films.

There were also american actors, who stayed in Philippines, and were acting in pretty much every action movie that was being made there at that time. To name a few, Jim Moss, Nick Nicholson, James Gaines. And James Gaines in fact, is the one who will be answering the questions! With just under 50 action films under his belt, veteran actor shares his memories about the "golden era" of action films, difficult work as a director, and the fun he had shooting the PREDATOR rip-off...

Mr. Gaines, please tell how did you settle down in Philippines? From what I know, the market for B-movies was quite big in the 80’s in the U.S. yet you preferred Philippines…

My first time in Philippines was in 1965, my father being a retired army officer was working for the US embassy then. It was on and off in the Philippines for me and my only sister. Because my Mother was working in Hawaii so we shuttled back and forth.

How did all that “boom” with “Philippino action” movies started? According to the information I have, there have been nearly 10 action/war related movies released every year in the 80’s…

Well there was a demand for B movies worldwide then, there was Milan, Berlin, Cannes, Tokyo, Film festivals, and the biggest was AFM. So you can imagine the demand. I believe it was more than ten films a year, Mr. Lim (Kinavesa/Siver Star) alone was cranking up 5 films a year.

Considering that not just every actor could star in action and martial arts movies, my question to you – did you have any military background or martial arts experience prior to acting in those movies?

I was in the Army for a while, and disciplined in Boxing, Aikido and Uechi-ryū.

What was the most difficult movie you ever worked on? What was the most fun?

As an actor I guess DOG TAGS was the most difficult, because I had to loose 20-25 lbs and maintain my skinny frame for 4 weeks to convincingly play the part of Pee, a POW. Then there was SOLITAIRE, a thriller that I directed in 1998, what made it difficult was my producer was eccentric, and his son at 24 who was the President for production and who had no Idea about production or producing, and yet he was running the show, well that was adding insult to injury. Took me almost a year to complete the film. As for the good memories, I had so much fun when I did ZOMBIES 3 [This must be a mistake. Gaines wasn't in Zombi 3 but in Zombie 4 aka AFTER DEATH. Jack] and ROBOWAR, man that was insane!

Did you ever return to the U.S. to try to find your place in American movie market?

I did but only to study, I could have and maybe I should have, I was invited by Menahem Golan to see him in LA when he was shooting AMERICAN NINJA here (this is was his way of returning a favor when I helped his daughter secure a visa for the US). But I did not want it that way, because I wanted to help her. I sadly cannot recall her name.

From what I know, many actors have some other business on the side, besides their profession. What other business are you in, besides the movie business? What are your future plans, regarding the film industry?

I am involved with Imagine Nation Production Corp. a new Digital Post production company, I am also a Managing partner of MA Smart Market Research and occupied with Business Logistics Outsource Group newly formed small outsourcing business that services Construction and Hauling companies. As for the film industry, I am trying to pool resources for a project to be shot in Hi-Def, a horror-thriller I wrote and I hope I can get things done this year. And last but not the least, waiting for a good friend who’s arriving in a couple of weeks and start pre-prod for a satire comedy to be shot in Philippines this year.

T. Teymur
/Today.Az/

[this interview was first posted on Today.az]

Berto!!!

2011-01-12T00:55:00.013+01:00

It's Bert (Berto) Spoor's birthday today and I thought it would be a grand opportunity to draw your attention to the interview of him I posted many months ago, "I've been killed many times but this one was personal!" (conducted by Mr Leavold). Go here.

Bert was in many trashy action and war flicks in the Philippines in the 1980's, among others the two Cirio Santiago movies THE DESTROYERS & EQUALIZER 2000, Antonio Margheritti's INDIO, MISSING IN ACTION alongside whatshisface, and not least Teddy Page's BLOOD DEBTS (check the rest of his filmography in the post). Bert returned from the Philippines a long time ago and now lives in Holland where he does what the Dutch always seem to do, drink coffee and smoke grass from their garden. LOL. Happy B-day, Berto. Good to know ya!

Bert in the French dubbed version of BLOOD DEBTS (he's the one that gets shot in the back by Richard Harrison).

If nothing else the COVERS are finally here!

2011-01-11T01:35:00.012+01:00

Yep, cover scans for the much anticipated new Scandinavian DVD releases of Lamberto Bava's BLASTFIGHTER and Sergio Martino's HANDS OF STEEL. BLASTFIGHTER is on DVD in Germany but reportedly in a somewhat cropped version. I'm crossing my fingers these cats are gonna do it right!! And HANDS OF STEEL has never been released on DVD before! (and please don't ask me if the DVDs are gonna carry an English audio track next to the Scandinavian!! hahaha. Only movies we dub here are kids' stuff!).

UPDATE: The AWE release dates are now set for February 15 (Hands) and March ? (Blast). The Njuta versions are February 2 (Hands) and February 23 (Blast)

The back of the cover sports a spiffy quotation from our good buddy Fred Anderson: "One of thee best action flicks of the 80s".

TOUGH TO KILL on reg. 1 DVD

2011-01-10T04:07:00.010+01:00

Jayson from Basement of Ghoulish Decadence blog sent me info and screen grabs from the reg. 1 DVD release of Joe D'Amato's TOUGH TO KILL.

Jayson says:
Quite the poor release, no extras, just a few chapter stops. Interlaced widescreen transfer. No burned-in subtitles, unless they were "matted-over" by the widescreen bar. Released by "Italian Stallion", distributed by Ventura Distribution.

Big thanks goes out to Jayson for the info and screen grabs. Cheers, mate!

CODENAME WILDGEESE to be released uncut on DVD!

2011-01-10T03:15:00.008+01:00

Yep, you heard it! Antonio Margheriti's CODENAME WILDGEESE (1984) aka Geheimcode: Wildgänse is going to get an uncut release on DVD!

There's already one uncut DVD version from Switzerland but that DVD is way outta print and more rare than the chance of getting laid at a dike slumber party! (and besides, it only carries the German dub!). The other releases are all cut.

It's the Austrian video label NSM Records that have announce the new release. In a thread on the Austrian DVD shop D&T's forum they state the DVD is going to be fully uncut and is slated for release during the first half of 2011!

However, they're still working on the release, and altho they'll try and put as many different audio tracks on the DVD (in addition to the German one), they still can't say if there's going to be an English dub. I certainly hope so!

The scan in this post is my Japanese VHS (uncut + English dub).

Thanks to Candela from Cinehound forum for the tip!

More awesome Japanese tapes up for "grabs" from BBB*

2011-01-05T17:29:00.003+01:00

*Ballistic Blood Bullets' Paul Cooke!
This time he's got THESE babies up for auction: Exterminators Of The Year 3000, Raiders Of The Golden Triangle, Enzo Castellari's Striker, The Hard Way (Miles O'Keeffe), Cross Mission, and definitely NOT least (but with the lowest starting price); Arizal's über awesome no-holds-barred Indonesian wildman of a film: FINAL SCORE starring Chris Mitchum. It's definitely one of my own fave Indo flicks. For Paul's auction page go here and for Paul's comments about it all go here. There's three days to go.

FINAL SCORE trailer:

HELL SQUAD - trailer

2011-01-04T06:50:00.006+01:00

Uhh, this isn't exactly Filipino war, not even Italos in the 'Pines but it's trashy war with... uh, trashy war chicks and they're so damn cute I'm sure you won't mind my posting the trailer here. xD xD xD.

The film was directed by Kenneth Hartford in 1986. According to the IMDb he's only directed four films, HELL SQUAD being the newest one.

Thanks to Diabolik for the rare trailer (off a Danish ex-rental tape). I don't have the film but I certainly want it now! :D

FINAL REPRISAL on dvd!

2011-01-03T16:47:00.012+01:00

Teddy Chiu's (as "Tedd Hemingway") Filipino war flick FINAL REPRISAL, starring Gary Daniels and Jim Gaines + David Light has been released on English friendly DVD in Germany! Actually it came out about two years ago (January, 2009).

I don't have this release but it's listed on German Amazon and at the Dragon & Tiger store in Austria. The Amazon page only lists the German dub but D&T is a reliable store so I tend to believe this is the correct info. The DVD is fullscreen and is listed as being uncut but of course who's to tell with these German DVDs. Hopefully it's true.

The disc also contains the film's trailer. I own the rare Japanese VHS and my bet is the picture quality on that tape is just as good so I'll stick to that unless someone tells me the German disc is über fantastic awesome, LOL.

Thanks to a nameless reader in the comments' section on the Direct to Video Connoisseur blog for this piece of cool info.

Another Japanese VHS tip!

2011-01-01T20:50:00.004+01:00

The Japanese VHS release of Teddy Page's WAR WITHOUT END is on eBay right now and the auction is running for 2 more days (there a "buy now" price too). This video is really the only way to own this uber-human masterpiece! The seller is Eddie/Sleazeman2001 in the US. Go here.

THE EXTERMINATOR 2 - the making of

2010-12-30T05:37:00.016+01:00

Here's a rare The Making of The Exterminator 2 programme that I stumbled over. It's in two parts and ends rather abrupt but I asked the uploader about it and he said the missing bit is just a minute's worth of footage from the "burning man" scene.

Thanks to Hans-Jørn who uploaded the trailer (from a Danish VHS).

VHS / Denmark / FS / English audio / Danish subs / fully uncut
[click scan for bigger size]

THE EXECUTIONER, part 2 - rare trailer

2010-12-29T19:29:00.013+01:00

Wauw, check out this awesome trailer for THE EXECUTIONER, PART 2!! It's just been uploaded to YouTube (thanks Diabolik!). The film is about a Vietnam soldier who returns to America and cleans things up. The film is a complete rip off of THE EXTERMINATOR and that's the ONLY reason it's called "part 2". There is no part 1!!! Hahaha. The film company (most likely) hoped people would think this is the real sequel for THE EXTERMINATOR!!

The original film was directed by James Glickenhaus and came out in 1980. This "sequel" (directed by James Bryan) came out in 1984. Incidentally, an official sequel was also released the same year, THE EXTERMINATOR 2 (dir by Mark Buntzman).

Unfortunately, none of the sequels (official and non-official) are released on DVD. And to worsen things even further, the UK VHS is cut to shreds and the US tapes carry the cut R rated print. The old Danish ex-rental tape is uncut (and the Dutch tape is most likely uncut too).

And further cuts; the UK VHS release of THE EXECUTIONER 2 is also cut (even tho the BBFC homepage states they didn't cut it so the cuts probably were done before the film was submitted for classification). Someone I knew yrs back, and who saw the film when it came out, said there are two short scenes missing from the UK tape.

Anyway, watch the trailer, it's pretty good!

More awesome VHS covers

2010-12-28T19:15:00.003+01:00

Here are some more very cool cover scans for three Danish VHS releases of Italian/Filipino war flicks that I didn't even know were out on Danish rental video (my own copies are on Japanese VHS). As almost always they come courtesy of my friend in Denmark, Hans-Jørgen aka Diabolik (check his site www.diabolik.dk for Danish VHS releases of Italian + other Euro films). Also thanks for the picture/audio info!!
I'm gonna post the scans on the index pages of each film as well.

Also big thank-you's go out to Unrealbe who sent me the cover for the rare Dutch release of the mega rare Thai war flick SOLDIER WARRIORS (which may or may not be out on Japanese VHS. My own tape is from Greece).

VHS / Denmark / FS / English dub / Danish subs

VHS / Denmark / FS (credits lbx) / English dub / Danish subs

VHS / Denmark / FS / English dub / Danish subs

VHS / Holland / format? / English dub / Dutch subs

FINAL MISSION on DVD in Thailand!

2010-12-26T21:03:00.006+01:00

DVD/Thailand/fullscreen/English audio + Thai dub/Thai subs
[click the scan twice for full size]

My friend Fred Anderson has just sent me these screen grabs and cover scan from his Thai DVD release of Santiago's FINAL MISSION! I had no idea this had been released on DVD in Thailand! It's not out anywhere else (in English anyway). Just don't get too exited over this though; the DVD came out a quite a while ago and it seems it's already OOP! I haven't been able to find it in any of the Thai web stores I usually frequent.

Thanks to Fred for the scans! For more Thai (etc) mayhem go to Fred's blog here.

COBRA MISSION 2 finally coming home

2010-12-26T00:51:00.005+01:00

The fourth time is a charm as the Irish say (or something, LOL) and tonight I've finally won Camillo Teti's 1989 Italian/Filipino co-production COBRA MISSION 2 which I've been after for quite some time! Yay! Spiffy!! Resonator (from Cinehound) in Austria had a bunch of Japanese video tapes up for auction quite a while back; I won all of them (including COBRA MISSION 1) except for COBRA MISSION 2. Then I lost out on it again at an auction in Japan. Then I actually WON it at yet another Japanese auction - but the seller sent me the wrong tape! But now, finally, it seems I'm gonna get it; I've won it anyway and I'm crossing my fingers I'm actually gonna receive it this time 'round. This seller is also in Japan.

And another win tonight: Antonio Margheriti's INDIO on widescreen Japanese VHS. I didn't actually think I was gonna win that one and didn't even put that much dough on it but needless to say sometimes you get mighty surprised. Niiiice!

SIX SOLDIERS (South Africa/Suid-Afrika, 1974)

2010-12-19T00:45:00.004+01:00

I've just won this South African war flick on eBay. I don't really know much about it but I watched another South African war movie, THE STICK, a little while ago and that one is juust fan-tastic so if this one is anyway near as good I'm certainly not gonna regret the 14 bucks the final bid came to!! Check THE STICK here.

Seller's description:

Directed by Bernand Retief and starring Richard Loring, Sydney Chama, Lieb Bester, Ken Hare, Frederich Stark and Barry Trengrove.

Six young men get drafted into the SADF (South African Defence Forces). They have different personalities and respond to their new life in the army in different ways. Their training is hard but realistic and they eventually get their baptism of fire under arduos conditions. On a patrol/recon close to the border (presumably Namibia) they get attacked by terrorists and then hunted like prey while trying to get back to base and warn their fellow countrymen of the oncoming threat.

Original TCC label release - 96 mins approx - full screen - mono.

Cool video docu on Cirio Santiago's SAVAGE

2010-12-16T16:31:00.013+01:00

Check this out, paesano!!! My buddy Steve Mayhem over in the States is doing a series of short documentary films that he calls Fighting Femmes, Fiends, and Fanatics and his newest one is on the Santiago Filipino film SAVAGE!!!

So far Steve has churned out three episodes, they're all cool and you really ought to check them out if you're into psychotronic cinema. So get yaself a cup of coffee and press "play". Kudos goes out to Steve for this well made and entertaining short documentary (it runs around 10 minutes).

I recommend you watch the previous episodes as well, just go to his YouTube account or alternatively you can watch them on the world-weird movie blog Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill! (one of my favourites!) where these videos are first posted. I've collected the posts here.

And thanks to Steve for the shout-out for this here wee blog of mine at the end of the episode. Much appreciated!

PS:And if you do a blog yourself you could do much worse than re-post these docu's (or link to 'em). Spread the word about these cool films. :D

Longer export version of Nick Nicholson's ZOMBIE 4

2010-12-15T13:18:00.007+01:00

I've just written a post about the longer export version of the Italian/Filipino co-production ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH which I'm sure you know (if you've followed this blog for a while anyway) stars our good buddy Nick Nicholson who passed away a few months back. All DVD versions carry the shorter Italian print except this release.

I used to post all stuff Filipino on this blog but I think it kinda blurs the image of this being a full-on trashy Filipino Vietnam war blog so instead I've posted it over on my other more divers blog. Go here.

And one last thing, Annie (Nicholson) still updates on Nick's blog from time to time and here's her thoughts (from early December) on the upcoming holidays without him.

WARBUS - trailer

2010-12-13T16:01:00.003+01:00

Don Gordon Bell was in WARBUS with Ron Kristoff and he talked a little about it over on the Kult Eye Bleeder blog (in the comments' section).

As always thanks to Diabolik for uploading this for me!

BLASTFIGHTER - trailer

2010-12-13T12:55:00.006+01:00

No! BLASTFIGHTER isn't in any way a Filipino Vietnam War film not even close. LOL. But it's very entertaining and you ought to know about it!! :D

Btw, Fred Anderson just told me Njuta Films might include his interview with Michael Sopkiw (but if you can't wait you can read it here. Skip the Swedish intro [unless you read Swedish, obviously] and go straight to the interview which is in English).

Thanks to Diabolik for the upload!!!

BLASTFIGHTER on Scandinavian DVD!

2010-12-13T00:50:00.006+01:00

Argh, I've just learnt that Lamberto Bava's maybe best film BLASTFIGHTER is gonna get a DVD release in Sweden in 2011!! The label is Njuta Films which means it's probably also gonna get a release in the rest of Scandinavia from Another World Entertainment (AWE). Definitely GRAND news! I already have the Danish and Japanese VHS versions of the film but there's also already an uncut German DVD (which I don't have) but that DVD is reportedly cropped at the sides. Hopefully they'll get it right with this one.

There are no trailers for BLASTFIGHTER on YouTube but we've got one on DEVAG. I've asked Diabolik if he can upload it but until then you can watch it here.

Mattei's COP GAME

2010-12-11T12:39:00.004+01:00

Just a quick (and yet oh so awesome) tip for ya, mate: The Japanese VHS release of Bruno Mattei's COP GAME is up for auction on eBay right now. The a seller in Finland and it runs for another 8 days. Starting bid is £15 (approx $24) Go here.

Not my auction, got nothing to do with me.

IT CAN BE DONE!!!

2010-12-06T13:45:00.006+01:00

Both me mates Paul and David kept repeating Brent Huff's great line from Mattei's BORN TO FIGHT in their book "TOUGH TO KILL" (which you own if you're into these films) and now Paul's doing it! Doing what, guv'nar I hear ya ask. Drinking snake's venom and killing the enemy left and right?? Ehh, not quite. But Paul asked me to casually mention that he's just begun to sell off some of his treasured collection of Japanese video tapes!!

No, I'm not making a cruel joke on ya here, buddy. I'm not pulling yer leg. Go to Paul's multo cool'o blog (which you can always find in my blog roll in the bar to the right) and check out his reasons for selling off this stuff. DON'T WORRY he's not tired of violent and trashy war! (well, on celluloid anyway). Go here. There are links to the eBay page in the post (under each cover scan).

PS: If you don't know what the hell I was talking about in reg. to that book just follow this link which will take you to Paul & David Z's blog all about the book. David is also here.

AWESOME TIP... One of the tapes Paul is selling is the ultra gory JUNGLE HEAT (look it up in the index on this page). Now, you can get all sorts of different VHS releases of that film and there's a couple of DVD releases as well. The tape Paul is selling is THE ONLY TAPE you'll want to own!!! It's fully letterboxed and fully uncut (and dubbed in English). ALL OTHER RELEASES are either fullscreen or cut!!! Both the German and the UK DVDs are cut!!! This is the shit! I own a copy otherwise I'd be all over Paul's tape!

Predator vs Robowar!!!

2010-12-06T13:19:00.005+01:00

Check this out! The original PREDATOR compared with Bruno Mattei's "remake" (or "knockoff" if you will) ROBOWAR!!

- Oh, and if you've never been on this blog before you'll be excused for thinking I'm making fun of a trashy Bruno Mattei film compared to an awesome and well known film like PREDATOR. But actually I'm NOT. Not at all, not at all!!! Mattei's ROBOWAR is a god-like entertaining piece of trash horror war gore cinema that does what it sets out to do; deliver 300% full-on entertainment!! xD xD xD

- And it's a GREAT pity there's no English friendly DVD release of ROBOWAR. :(

PS: Credits go out to Jayson for posting the video on FB!

Yet another chance to own your very own Japanese PHANTOM SOLDIERS vhs

2010-12-03T14:34:00.008+01:00

If you haven't got hold of PHANTOM SOLDIERS yet here's one more chance. Another copy of the Japanese VHS is up for auction and it runs one more day. :D

Right now there's also another Teddy Page war flick on eBay; A Portuguese VHS of FIREBACK! According to the seller's page the tape is in English with Portuguese subs. Buy now price: Approx $40. Go here.

And the same Portuguese seller is also selling the original poster for TIGER JOE. $16. Go here.

The usual disclaimer: I have nothing to do with anything in reg. to these auctions blah blah blah...

More awesome Filipino trailers from old Danish ex-rental tapes!

2010-11-28T23:42:00.005+01:00

Ahh, another bunch of cool trailers from my mate Diabolik's old Danish ex-rental video tapes! A couple of these aren't exactly Vietnam War flicks but they are Filipino movies. Check especially the trailer for NAKED VENGEANCE which is much more explicit than the toned down one that's been up on YouTube previously. As always BIG CHEERS goes out to Diabolik!

This is a different, more explicit trailer than the toned down Australian one I've posted before!

Margheriti in 'Nam

2010-11-19T02:55:00.008+01:00

More trailers from rare Danish ex-rental tapes! Antonio Margheriti did three Vietnam war movies from 1980 to '83, THE LAST HUNTER, TIGER JOE, and TORNADO. The first one is easy to get on great restored DVD. The second one is also well known but not released on DVD (I don't count terrible reg. 1 bootlegs & public domain DVDs), and the last one is fairly unknown except to fans of trashy war movie! A pity really as TIGER JOE is GREAT and TORNADO is pretty good too. The best versions are the Japanese video releases that are fully letterboxed. Here's the rare trailer for TIGER JOE and also the trailer for THE LAST HUNTER. The latter trailer isn't rare at all, you can find a restored version on YouTube (from the reg. 1 DVD) but I asked Hans-Jørgen to upload it because I think it has a raw edge quality to it due to its being scratched and old which the nice and clean restored version doesn't have.

Thanks as always to HJ.

TOUGH TO KILL - rare trailer

2010-11-18T19:08:00.011+01:00

aka DØDSPATRULJEN (vhs, Denmark)

Here's the uber rare trailer for Joe D'Amato's TOUCH TO KILL from a rare Danish ex-rental VHS. Thanks once again to Diabolik. :D

Incidentally, both Tomb it may Concern and Basement of Ghoulish Decadence wrote about the film yesteday here and here They both posted rare cover scans which I'm now re-posting here but of course all credits go to David Z and Jayson.

Two armed executioners

2010-11-18T02:06:00.001+01:00

How cool is this!! Our friend in Filipino fandom Andrew Leavold just came back from the Philippines where he spent time with about everyone who was ever working in Filipino films! I'm not jealous. Not at all. Not AT all (yeah right).

Photo copyright Andrew Leavold. First posted on my "Lejemorder" blog, yesterday.

OVER MY DEAD BODY

2010-11-18T02:03:00.001+01:00

Thanks to a tip from Kenneth M. of Cinehound forum I'm now the happy owner of this cute baby! OVER MY DEAD BODY from the Philippines, 1983. It's ultra rare! And gee gosh golly it was mega cheap too! (well, "cheap" in the land of the serious ex-rental video collectors, LOL).

Credits from the seller's page:

IN ENGLISH WITH GREEK SUBTITLES

Director:
Arsenio Bautista

Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)
Tony Ferrer
Bembol Roco
Efren Reyes Jr.
Raul Aragon (as Raoul Aragon)
Anna Marie Gutierrez
Lolita Marquez
Jing Abalos
Dave Brodett
Charlie Davao
Romy Diaz
Baldo Marro
Bomber Moran
Boy Padilla
Robert Talabis (as Bobby Talabis)
Vic Varrion

Country:
Philippines

Company:
Sunfilms International

A bleeding eye on trashy Vietnam war flicks

2010-11-18T01:46:00.006+01:00

I just want to draw your attention to Sauli K's cool blog for world-weird movies, Kult Eye Bleeder. Apart from other multo kool'o trashy world-weird movies (quite a few from the Philippines) he's also reviewed a handful of the films I write about here, i.e. trashy Vietnam War movies from the Philippines (and some eyetalian!). Check them out!

Just a Damned Soldier

Battle Rats

Cobra Mission

The Destroyers aka The Devastator

Final Mission

Strike Commando

Warbus

KILLER INSTINCT - trailer

2010-11-15T19:07:00.004+01:00

Diabolik is my friend in real life but he doesn't really share my interest in Filipino war flicks. However, even so he's become my main source lately for rare trailers for these movies! Diabolik collects Danish ex-rental VHS tapes in a big way and at the moment he's going thru them all in order to find cool and rare trailers for our Facebook fan page devoted to Danish ex-rental tapes. Needless to say, a big round of applause goes in his direction for these "finds". Cheers, mate!!

This latest trailer is from a Vestron tape and it's for Cirio H. Santiago's KILLER INSTINCT. In America the film was released by Roger Corman's company and retitled Behind Enemy Lines. If you look for the US video tape be aware there's also another film by the same title.

'Pino trailers

2010-11-14T02:32:00.005+01:00

I rewatched Teddy Page's BLACKFIRE tonight. It stars Ron Kristoff and Jim Gaines. And it's great fun and pretty entertaining! I already had the film on Greek tape but I upgraded it recently to Japanese VHS! Interestingly enough the Japanese tape contains a handful of trailers for other Filipino Vietnam war movies; WAR WITHOUT END, SLASH, NINJA WARRIORS, NINJ'S FORCE, and DOUBLE EDGE (okay, some may be more Vietnam War than others but they're all Filipino action films anyway). The last trailer was for the American/Korean co-production LA STREETFIGHTERS. I'm posting the trailer for one of the films here but it's a "clean" trailer, i.e. it doesn't have the cool Japanese writing all over the screen. LOL.

PS: I don't need two copies of the same film so anybody who'd like to buy my Greek tape feel free to send me an email (addy on the profile page, or post your own here). I paid $43 for it and that's what I'll be asking as well (plus postage).

HITMAN - totally rare and obscure trailer!

2010-11-09T07:01:00.016+01:00

My friend Hans-Jørn found this rare and VERY obscure trailer for Bobby A. Suarez' film HITMAN (aka American Commandos) on a Danish ex-rental video tape! It's obscure not least because it plays out as a music video instead of an actual film trailer!!

And an even one more obscure twist is that HITMAN was partly backed by Danish financing as it was produced by Danish producer Just Betzer. Betzer is also credited as executive producer on Suarez' SEACHERS OF THE VOODOO MOUNTAINS (aka Warriors of the Apocalypse). The music was composed by Danish composer Ole Høyer and the female singer is Danish/American Debbie Cameron who was "world famous" in Denmark thru out the 1980s.

SEACHERS OF THE VOODOO MOUNTAINS on VHS from Denmark.

It would have been fun to interview Just Betzer about his collaboration with Suarez but unfortunately he passed away a few years back. It's interesting to see that these films aren't even listed in his credits on the Danish Film Institute site. Danes who get famous for work overseas don't necessarily get any love for it on home-soil. The same goes for Anders Hove who every little vampire movie fan in the US knows and loves for his awesome vampire character Radu in the SUBSPECIES films. Nobody in Denmark gives a fuck about that and these films are usually not even mentioned when his films are listed on Danish film sites. Instead people talk about his work in TV Christmas calender shows for kids, etc. How sad!

And one more thing in regards to Just Benzer; Yesterday, I received DarkSky's new (very cool!) DVD release of Suarez ONE ARMED EXECUTIONER and CLEOPATRA WONG and in Andrew Leavold's interview with Bobby Suarez he talks about a Scandinavian film director who came over to visit him in the Philippines and who wanted to buy Bobby's camera (he didn't sell it tho). I wonder if that might have been Betzer?

(VHS, Denmark)

Thanks to Diabolik for uploading (and re-uploading) the trailer to YT for me! Cheers mate!!

Party at casa Nicholson

2010-11-03T11:55:00.008+01:00

Annie Nicholson just posted an update on Nick Nicholson's blog. If you follow the Filipino section on Dvdmaniacs you'll know that Andrew Leavold is once again back in the Philippines to do what it is he does in regards to Filipino cinema (basically everything to scoop up more info!). And over on Annie & Nick's blog you can read an account of their meeting, party and check the pix. It's been about thee months since Nick Nicholson passed away and it's definitely weird not to see any more of his blog updates, sometimes on films, sometimes on life in general, and sometimes wild posts about stuff that pissed him off. Good to see Jim Gaines was there too (I'm sure you're aware he was in tons of trashy Filipino Vietnam War movies and action movies like THE LAST HUNTER, STRIKE COMMANDO 2, ONE ARMED EXECUTIONER, and he's kept doing films when everyone else had chucked in the towel; He was in Mattei's ZOMBIE THE BEGINNING from 2007). For the update and photos go here. Thanks to Annie for keeping us updated.

NEW LABELS
When I started this blog I decided to only make labels for specific film entries. All other posts are simply labelled "update". Well, it seemed like such a grand idea when I started out and it probably would have been if I'd only written a handful of posts. But now two years later, I've got a couple hundred updates and it's basically a mess! Anybody who would like to check something has to go thru all the old "update" posts in order to check what they're about. Yes, yes, don't tell me it would've been so much easier had I labelled them with something to describe their individual contents right away. Usch!!! Anyway, I'll go thru them and add new labels down the road. Right now, and in accordance with this update, I have gone thru the old posts and have labelled all the posts that deal with Nick Nicholson. If you'd like to check them you can either click the label under this post or click here.

MISSING IN ACTION 1 & 2 - trailers

2010-11-02T23:15:00.003+01:00

Diabolik uploaded these two trailers to YouTube for me. They're both taken from old Danish ex-rental tapes. Cheers, Diabolik. Much appreciated!

PHANTOM SOLDIERS scan + review

2010-11-02T21:44:00.007+01:00

[click high-resolution scan for full size]

Here's a high-resolution scan of the Japanese VHS release of PHANTOM SOLDIERS. I didn't scan the cover myself cos, well, altho I do have a scanner it's from 1998 and veeeery slow and it includes having to burn the scan down to a cd-rw as the scanner is hooked up to my other old computer (old as in "1998 old"!!)! So usually I don't bother!! Hahaha. I got the scan from the excellent blog Japanese VHS Hell which is NOTHING but hi-res VHS scans of Japanese tapes!!! Check it out. If you've checked today's readers' comments (in the bar to the right) you'll know that reader Sutekh has just reviewed the film on his site Explosive Action. For the review go here.

HALLOWEEN in the trashy Vietnam jungle (somewhere in the 'Pines)

2010-10-31T02:51:00.009+02:00

Happy Halloween!

And since it is Halloween here's a cool Mexican lobby card for the old Filipino horror movie TERROR IS A MAN that had Danish actress Gretha Thyssen in one of the lead roles.