Category Archives: Features

A Look Inside: Arrow Video’s ‘Stray Cat Rock Collection’

After Roger Corman’s 1966 outlaw biker film The Wild Angels became a surprise hit in Japan, Japanese studios were quick to cash in and make similar films. One such popular film was Toei’s Delinquent Boss from 1968. The Nikkatsu film studio saw Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss as their way to jump in and compete with Toei’s product. Unlike most films with copy-cat origins, Delinquent Girl Boss successfully started … Continue reading

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Van Damme is the most ‘remade’ action star in the world!

Van Damme is the most ‘remade’ action star in the world!

Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Jean-Claude Van Damme is a trendsetter when it comes to action and martial arts movies. He’s also a name that helped build franchises that gave birth to endless money-making sequels and prequels. In the late ’80s/early ’90s, films like Bloodsport and Kickboxer rejuvenated a genre that was practically in limbo during the final stages of the Chuck Norris and Ninja-craze era. … Continue reading

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COF Presents: Martial Arts Film in Video Games: Part I

What do Bruce Lee (Enter the Dragon), Chuck Norris (Slaughter in San Francisco), Jackie Chan (Wheels on Meals), Jean-Claude Van Damme (Bloodsport), Jet Li (Fist of Legend), Roger Yuan (Once Upon A Time in Vietnam), Ron Yuan (Ring of Fire), Richard Norton (City Hunter) and Chuck Jeffreys (Bloodmoon) have in common? They’re all martial arts stars who have appeared – sometimes inadvertently and/or subconsciously – in a video game. Note: This … Continue reading

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The Most Memorable Villains in Martial Arts Film: Part I

Every film genre – action, science fiction, horror, comedy and even animated – has had a series of memorable villains that have stuck with us for most of our lives. Whether it be a sadistic teenager portrayed by James Spader; an emotionless cyborg represented by Arnold Schwarzenegger; a suave, humorous terrorist leader played by Alan Rickman; or even a scarred lion voiced by Jeremy Irons – it’s the bad guys who make the … Continue reading

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I Know Kung Fu: The Second Golden Era of Collecting Kung Fu

By Paul Bramhall Many kung fu movie fans who have been around since the genre’s beginnings would arguably call the 70’s and 80’s the golden era. It was a time when the movies could be experienced first hand as they were released – whether it be going to check out Five Fingers of Death at a grindhouse movie theater on 42nd Street in New York, or heading down to the … Continue reading

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Our Top 15 Watched Movies of 2014

With 2014 coming to a close, it’s nice to look back and remember those moments that, especially for genre fans like ourselves, for every movie that made us bang our head against the nearest wall and accept that 2 hours of our lives have just been wasted, there’s also those movies that made us go, “Wow! What took me so long to watch this!?”, or if the movie is starring … Continue reading

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Korea & Kung Fu: A Retrospective on Fire!

"King Boxer" Chinese Theatrical Poster

In popular opinion, it seems to have become a common fact that it was Bruce Lee that led to the kung fu movie becoming a massive hit in the US, with his 1973 movie Enter the Dragon. While its influence can’t be doubted, what is often overlooked is that there was a movie released a full year before in 1972 which had already captured the publics’ imagination, filling out grind-house … Continue reading

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Evolution of Collecting Kung Fu & Asian Film

With the infinite amount of websites, eBay, and other online retailers; Asian/kung fu movie fanatics have it really good these days. Especially for the crowd who take advantage of bootlegs, DVD-R swapping and those sneaky forms of file sharing. This wasn’t exactly the case in the 1980s and throughout most of the 1990s; back then, Asian movies were obtainable, but they weren’t a click away. The Early-Mid 1980s: Rent it. … Continue reading

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Game of Death: Game Over!

I had the chance to interview Joe Kenney (author of the Best-Selling “The American Sound”) at a recent book convention in Dallas, Texas. He was there promoting his soon-to-be-released Bruce Lee book, “Game Over.” The book revolves around Bruce Lee’s unfinished film, “Game of Death,” offering new insight about the myths, rumors & facts surrounding the movie. I was happy to have brought a tape recorder with me, because this … Continue reading

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