The Top 10 Most Legendary MMA Fighters

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Guest

The world of mixed martial arts has undergone somewhat of a boom period over the last two decades as the rise in popularity of organisations such as UFC have moved the sport into the mainstream. The debate about who is the greatest MMA fighter of all-time continues to rage on so here is our look at the most legendary ones to have graced the sport over the years.

Anderson Silva image

Anderson “The Spider” Silva is widely regarded as the greatest MMA fighter of all-time

Anderson “The Spider” Silva

We start this list with undoubtedly the greatest MMA fighter of all time in Anderson Silva. The Brazilian fighter went on an incredible winning streak during his prime of 19-0 in which time he defeated some of the sport’s biggest names including Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, and Dan Henderson. The fact this era of dominance came when there were no other competitions outside of the UFC that were taking competitors away meant Silva was the best at a time when UFC was at its most competitive. He holds the record for the longest title streak in UFC history at 2,457 days. Many wonder how good Silva could have continued to be if he had not horrifically broken his leg against Chris Weidman.

Matt Hughes

It has been a glittering career for US fighter Hughes who is a two-time UFC Welterweight Champion, UFC Hall of Famer, and NJCAA Hall of Famer. During his title streak, Hughes was considered to be the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world. He has defeated a number of legendary fighters such as Georges St Pierre, Royce Gracie, and BJ Penn. Such is the reputation of Hughes within the sport that St Pierre even admitted after his defeat that he was awestruck by Hughes before, during, and after their bout.

Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko

If you want to consider some of the best MMA fighters in their prime then you need to look no further than Russian Fedor Emelianenko who went undefeated between 6th April, 2001 and 7th November, 2009. He beat some of the best fighters to have graced the sport such as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice) and Mirko Filipovic. He has won multiple titles with different organisations including PRIDE Fighting Championships, FIAS World Combat Sambo Championship, and Russian Judo Federation National Championship.

Georges “Rush” St. Pierre

The Canadian mixed martial artist became one of the first big marketable names in UFC and can take a lot of credit for helping the organisation’s popularity sky rocket during the 2000s. George St. Pierres’ only two defeats during his first 11 years of fighting came against two big-name fighters in the shape of Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. He is a three-time former welterweight champion in the UFC and he holds the record for the second longest combined title streak in UFC history that lasted 2,204 days. The many victories of Georges “Rush” St. Pierre helped the sport to become a popular market across sports betting which was always seen as an unrealistic prospect for MMA. Mobile sports betting has been on the rise ever since then along with mobile casino games in general and MMA is becoming increasingly popular for sports bettors.

Randy “The Natural” Couture

Do not let Randy Couture’s less-brutal-than-normal nickname of “The Natural” fool you. This man was one of the most feared fighters in MMA during his peak. The US fighter is a former heavyweight champion in a career that spanned from 1997 to 2011. He was a late starter in MMA terms, he only turned professional at 33 years of age, and many feel he could have gone on to become one of the greatest if he had started his career earlier.

Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva

Wanderlei Silva is credited with having one of the most prolific prime streaks during the history of MMA. Between 12th August, 2000 and 1st July, 2006, Silva won 18 fights without defeat to put his name amongst the greats of the sport. He has defeated great fighters including Dan Henderson and Quinton Jackson. The Brazilian-American fighter has shown his talents in UFC and PRIDE winning plaudits in both organisations. He also boasts the longest winning streak in PRIDE history.

Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira

Brazilian fighter Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira became renowned for his expertise of the Brazilian Ju-Jitsu discipline during his career. He experienced an 8-year prime streak between 2000 and 2008 when he posted wins against fighters such as Mark Coleman, Fabricio Werdum, and Josh Barnett. Despite only being touted as one of the best fighters in the UFC for a short time he is still regarded as one of the best technical fighters to appear in the organisation.

Jon Jones image

Jon “Bones” Jones is an icon for the new era of UFC

Jon “Bones” Jones

Not many fighters make this list when they are still active but 29-year-old Jon Jones is one of the few. The current interim light heavyweight champion in UFC has carved quite a reputation for himself already. In an age when the charisma of the likes of McGregor and Brock Lesnar have dominated the media the more low-key approach of Jones continues to impress the purists. He has repeatedly been listed as the best pound-for-pound fighter around right now and notching up 21 victories between 12th April, 2008 and 6th January, 2015 shows how successful he has been. He has a VIP list of defeated opponents including Alexander Gustafsson, Daniel Cormier, and Lyoto Machida and he is only just getting started.

Bas “El Guapo” Rutten

We need to rewind the clock back a bit further to see the prime of Dutch fighter Bas Rutten. The man from Tilburg ended his prestigious career on a high with an undefeated streak of 22 fights consisting of 21 wins and 1 draw. Rutten was like a fine wine and only seemed to get better with age. The UFC Hall of Fame inductee popularised the use of the liver shot in MMA and he has gone on to become one of the most highly-regarded coaches in MMA.

Chuck “The Ice Man” Liddell

In the days before Conor McGregor, the one man who was the most commercially viable fighter for MMA was US-based Chuck Liddell. The fact he has appeared in a number of movies and television shows over the years such as Entourage, Drillbit Taylor, and Kick-Ass 2 emphasize this. However, he was also a brilliant fighter in his own right. He was involved in some epic fights with opponents such as Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture, and Tito Ortiz. He will forever be remembered as one of the hardest-hitting fighters of all-time.

Posted in News |

Ready for ‘The Raid’ meets ‘Boardwalk Empire’?

Posted on November 2, 2016 by JJ Bona
"4 Assassins" DVD Cover

“4 Assassins” DVD Cover

An adaptation of Richard H. Dillon’s 2012 novel, Hatchet Men: The Story of the Tong Wars, is in the works. Will Yun Lee (Four Assassins, Wolverine) will headline the film, which will be based on screenplay by Michael Thomas (Backbeat) and Morgan Duncan (Parfum Fatale).

According to Deadline, Hatchet Men will follow the conflicts between rival gangs in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1890s. The story will center on Little Pete (Lee), the prominent leader of the Som Yop Tong gang, who built a criminal empire.

In addition to hatchet-wielding gangsters, we can also expect some martial arts action: “Finding a world where you can bring the kinetic energy of The Raid and the texture of Boardwalk Empire is an exciting project to be a part of,” Lee told Deadline.

Lee is also working on Ron Yuan’s Unspoken: Diary of an Assassin, an action/thriller that also stars Zoë Bell (Death Proof) and Brian Tee (No Tears for the Dead).

We’ll keep you updated on this project as we learn more. Until then, here’s a look at what Lee is capable of in 2012’s Four Assassins:

Posted in News |

‘Die Hard’ helmer teams with André Morgan for WWII actioner

Posted on November 2, 2016 by JJ Bona
"Die Hard" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Die Hard” Japanese Theatrical Poster

John McTiernan – the legendary filmmaker behind Die Hard, Predator, The Hunt for Red October and Die Hard with A Vengeance – is ready for action. WWII action, that is.

According to CFI, McTiernan has signed to direct an untitled WWII film about the aftermath of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942, which was the first air strike to hit the Japanese Home Islands. Its name was derived from Lieutenant Colonel James “Jimmy” Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces, who led the raid.

Hollywood and Hong Kong’s André Morgan (Tower of Death) – who is mostly known for his association with Golden Harvest studios – is on board as producer. There are currently no other details regarding additional cast or crew.

Ever since McTiernan’s 2014 prison release, he’s been connected to some “come back” projects that ultimately fell through. The first was a mercenary thriller called Red Squad. The second was Warbirds, a Top Gun-like action flick that would have starred John Travolta.

Here’s hoping this upcoming WWII film will see the light of day and serve as a proper comeback for one of Hollywood’s best filmmakers. Shooting is expected to start next year in China. Stay tuned.

Frank and Beanz has the coolest dog clothes for any season!

Posted in News |

Enter Cityonfire.com’s Donnie Yen/Michelle Yeoh DVD contest! – WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Posted on November 1, 2016 by JJ Bona
"The Lost Bladesman" and "Reign of Assassins" Contest

“The Lost Bladesman” and “Reign of Assassins” Contest

Cityonfire.com and Anchor Bay Entertainment are giving away 3 sets of DVDs containing both Donnie Yen’s The Lost Bladesman and Michelle Yeoh’s Reign of Assassins to three lucky Cityonfire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, the video below.

We will be selecting a winner at random. Be sure to include your email address in the appropriate field so we can contact you for your home address. Also, please ‘Like Us‘ on Cityonfire.com’s Facebook by clicking here.

The Lost Bladesman and Reign of Assassins will be officially released on November 1, 2016. We will announce the 3 winners on November 12, 2016.

CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by November 9, 2016 to qualify. U.S. residents only please. We sincerely apologize to our non-U.S. visitors. Winners must respond with their mailing address within 48 hours, otherwise you will automatically be disqualified. No exceptions. Contest is subject to change without notice.

WINNNERS: Ben, Apple Pai Mei and Paul D. You will be notified shortly.

Posted in News | Tagged |

Nilalang | aka The Entity (2015) Review

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Paul Bramhall
"Nilalang" Theatrical Poster

“Nilalang” Theatrical Poster

AKA: Creature
Director: Pedring Lopez
Cast: Cesar Montano, Maria Ozawa, Meg Imperial, Yam Concepcion, Cholo Barretto, Dido de la Paz, Kiko Matos, Aubrey Miles, Alexandre Charlet, Sonny Sison
Running Time: 90 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

After a long absence out of the spotlight, Filipino cinema has been making a quiet but assured comeback in recent years. Movies like Erik Matti’s On the Job, Sean Ellis’s Metro Manila, and Khavn de la Cruz’s Ruined Heart have all travelled beyond local shores and garnered international acclaim on the festival circuit. While all of these productions have used the backdrop of Manila’s underworld to create depressingly dark and gritty portrayals of the less fortunate in Philippines society, upcoming director Pedring Lopez took a decidedly different approach for his sophomore feature, Nilalang.

Eschewing the realistic settings of his counterparts, Lopez draws his influences more from the many action/horror hybrids that were coming out of Hong Kong in the 1980’s. The plot is simple – in ancient Japan there is a book, called the Book of Ishi (think of it as this movies version of the Book of the Dead from The Evil Dead movies), which contains the names and spirits of all known demons. One particular demon, Zahagur, has a penchant for cutting off the faces of any females that share the bloodline of those who oppose it. Skip forward to 2015 Manila, Zahagur is back to his old tricks, and it’s up to cops Cesar Montano and Meg Imperial, to put an end to the demons reign of terror.

While both Montano and Imperial are well known as local Filipino actors, the surprise casting in Nilalang comes in the shape of former Japanese AV actress Maria Ozawa, here headlining her first full length feature. Ozawa, who has a Japanese mother and French Canadian father, is one of the most recognizable AV actresses in Asia thanks to her exotic looks, and has recently been looking to branch out into movie roles. While she’s featured in a couple of Indonesian movies previously (one of which notably drew the ire of the Islamic Defenders Front, a radicalised group notorious for violence), Nilalang can be considered her first mainstream production in which she has a substantial role.

Nilalang opens strongly, featuring an animated introduction, before segueing into a scene set in ancient Japan, as two Ronin walk through a field of bloody massacred bodies. They confront the demon in human form, who calmly sits next to a freshly sliced off face hanging neatly next to him, before squaring off in a duel of swords. It’s a nicely choreographed exchange to kick off the movie, which is given an extra layer of tension, as the other Ronin attempts to recite a page from the Book of Ishi to subdue the demon. The whole scene plays out like a mesh up between the Shaw Brothers movie Human Lanterns, meets Ryuhei Kitamura’s Aragami, and succeeds at grabbing the audience’s attention from the word go.

Once the opening credits come to a close the narrative skips to a second flashback scene, but this time only 2 years prior to present day, as we witness Montano and his team track down and kill a Japanese serial killer to an abandoned warehouse. The killer has a taste for murdering his victims using elements of bondage and S&M, so when a spate of similar killings start occurring in present day Manila, both Montano’s team and the local media begin to question if something supernatural is behind them. There’s some strange choices of logic used in Nilalang, as when the killer is tracked down, his eyes are completely white, and he has that deep growling voice that only possessed people in movies have. However as the plot moves along, it becomes apparent that Montano and his team apparently didn’t consider either of these traits as unusual, which is the equivalent of Father Merrin walking in on Regan and concluding that she’s a perfectly normal teenager.

Montano himself plays the ultimate cop, the kind that sleeps with a bottle of whisky and a gun next to his bed. Montano’s ex wants to get back with him, Ozawa asks him to sleep over in the first scene they meet, and his partner fantasizes about him while taking a nap (even just after his ex, who she recommended he should get back with, is horribly murdered!). Frankly, everyone in the movie seems to want to sleep with him, with his colleagues openly declaring that they wish they could be as good with the ladies as he is. In short, Montano may be the main character of the movie, but you’ll spend a large part of it hoping for the demon to cut his face off.

Thankfully his poker faced machoism is off-played by Ozawa’s weird and wonderful performance. While she doesn’t get the same amount of screen-time as Montano, whenever she is onscreen there’s something about her acting which pulls you in. She’s not a good actress as such, and her quirky delivery is paired with some entertainingly over the top scenes. One such example has her indulge in some Chow Yun Fat style double handgun action, as she shoots a bar to pieces, before cutely declaring that she’s ready to go and face the demon. The intense unloading of bullets has no context to it whatsoever, and adds a kind of pulpy charm to proceedings. Another scene has her armed with a samurai sword, in which she has to enter the Yakuza Temple (who said Yakuza’s need to be subtle?), to face off against a fully armoured samurai (played by the movies action choreographer, Sonny Sison), in order to gain access to the Book of Ishi. Not many movies can claim to have a Japanese AV star facing off against a samurai, but Nilalang delivers the goods with aplomb.

Indeed the whole look of Nilalang comes across as very stylised and glossy, rarely showing any signs of its limited budget. As director Lopez is also a keen fan of Anime, there are a few instances which have an animated scene inserted, usually to show a moment of extreme violence. While we’ve seen this type of animated technique used before, most recently in the likes of Prachya Pinkaew’s Tom Yum Goong and Chocolate, here the use of Japanese style animation fits in perfectly with the tone of the production itself.

The English title for Nilalang is The Entity, and it effectively captures the essence of the demon. Much like 1998’s Denzel Washington starring Fallen (or perhaps more appropriately, 1993’s Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday), the demon can move from one host to the next, ensuring no one is safe from its grasp. Throughout the runtime our trio of main characters end up being confronted by possessed versions of an overweight housemaid, a grave digger, a team of cops, and ultimately each other. While most of the action is given to Ozawa (who doesn’t want to see a katana wielding femme fatale facing off against a flesh hungry demon?), it’s apparent that screen fighting is a talent that she’s still very much developing, and as such there are moments of clunkiness whenever she’s called to action.

However arguably Sison does a commendable job with the resources that he had available, and it’s been a long time since we’ve had a movie that gives us MMA demons (the last I can think of would be 2009’s Hellbinders). With the flair for visuals that Lopez clearly has an eye for, and the action choreography of Sison, Nilalang shows plenty of potential for the future of Filipino action cinema. The pair are already reuniting for another collaboration, the Mark Dacascos starring Breach, so it’s safe to say things are only likely to get bigger and better. For now though, while Nilalang is certainly far from perfect, it does feature just enough face slicing to be considered a worthwhile way to spend an evening with the lights off.

Note: The version I saw is the international Director’s Cut, and can be considered the complete version of the movie. The version that screened locally in the Philippines has close to 10 minutes’ worth of cuts for violence, and the version that screened at the Metro Manila Film Festival in 2015 was missing the animated sequences, as they hadn’t been completed yet.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6.5/10

Posted in All, Filipino, News, Reviews | Tagged , , |

Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends | Blu-ray & DVD (Funimation)

Posted on October 31, 2016 by JJ Bona
Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends | Blu-ray & DVD (Funimation)

Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends | Blu-ray & DVD (Funimation)

RELEASE DATE: January 3, 2017

Funimation presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends (aka Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends), a 2014 live-action film directed by Keishi Otomo and based on the manga series Rurouni Kenshin.

The story follows two prior films, Rurouni Kenshin (2012) and Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (2014). To stop Makoto Shishio who aims to conquer Japan, Kenshin arrives in Kyoto and tries to face off against Shishio’s troops. However, his enemy has begun its course to start invading Tokyo with the steel-reinforced battleship. | Part I and Part II are also available.

Pre-order Rurouni Kenshin III from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Review

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Kelly Warner
"Halloween III: Season of the Witch" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Halloween III: Season of the Witch” Japanese Theatrical Poster

Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Cast: Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dan O’Herlihy, Michael Currie, Ralph Strait, Jadeen Barbor, Brad Schacter
Running Time: 98 min.

By Kelly Warner

“Happy, Happy Halloween! Silver Shamrock!”

The original vision of the Halloween series was not always going to be about Michael Myers, his issues with his sister, and his need to kill babysitters every October. But when 1978’s Halloween was a smash success, director John Carpenter was tasked with writing the script for the tie-in sequel. The sequel needed a twist and so Carpenter decided to make Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) Michael’s sister. Though Carpenter thought it was bullshit, it nonetheless stuck, and helped cement the backbone of the Halloween series for fans. Instead of Michael vs. Laurie, Carpenter’s original vision for the Halloween brand would be to tell a different, unrelated scary story every Halloween. When Halloween III: Season of the Witch finally acted on that premise, those involved with the production were divided. Carpenter, producer Debra Hill, and writer-director Tommy Lee Wallace were all-in. Executive producer Irwin Yablans and people at Universal had some doubts. Yablans says the decision not to use Michael Myers for the film was “stupid.” And financially speaking, he was right. The film was not the success that the previous movies had been at the box office, and fans generally despised the movie as the black sheep of the series. But now, thirty years later, people are giving the movie another shot. For though it looks odd on the shelf in between Halloween II and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, the third film in the Halloween franchise is nonetheless a great horror film with a few interesting tricks ‘n treats for fans of the genre.

In addition to not featuring Michael Myers, series star Jamie Lee Curtis only plays a disembodied voice this time around and Donald Pleasence’s Dr. Loomis couldn’t be bothered to show up to rant about evil. Instead, Tom Atkins (The Fog) plays Dan Challis, a doctor who finds himself in the middle of a strange conspiracy when a crazy man shows up in his hospital clutching a Halloween mask and screaming about people out to kill him. After they get the man to settle down, a straight-faced goon appears in the man’s room, crushes his skull with his bare hands, and then burns himself alive in the parking lot. The incident leads Dr. Challis to ask questions that land him in a heap of trouble, as he traces the Halloween mask to Silver Shamrock, a toy company that’s spending a bundle this Halloween season on advertising for their must-have Halloween masks.

When Dr. Challis makes his way to Silver Shamrock, he finds a company town where everyone raves about the brilliant Mr. Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy, Robocop), the mysterious man who runs the toy company. There are surveillance cameras all over town, and a computer voice constantly reminds all that they must obey the curfews or face punishment. Challis digs deeper, uncovering corporate evils and supernatural evils alike.

The film owes more to Invasion of the Body Snatchers than slasher movies. You can easily imagine Tom Atkins’ Dr. Challis and Donald Sutherland’s Matthew Bennell going through the same internal conflicts as they detect bizarre changes in the world around them. There’s even a ‘pod people’ element to the film. The film also bears similarities to The Stuff and Soylent Green, sci-fi/horror films about corporate evils that willingly corrupt society for financial gain.

But it’s not at all like Carpenter’s Halloween, so fans weren’t happy. If Halloween III went by a different name and had no connection to the series, I imagine it would’ve been better received at the time. And I personally think that if Halloween III: Season of the Witch had been the first sequel, not only would Season of the Witch have been a success, it would’ve helped launch the anthology horror series as Carpenter and co. originally intended (but Halloween II with Michael stalking Laurie in a hospital is the best Myers-related sequel in the series, so…).

Written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace (who, along with Nick Castle, had some part in playing Myers in the ’78 original), Halloween III is dark, high-concept horror at its finest. With threats both personal and apocalyptic in nature, the film feels ahead of its time. It even finds a way to play with the ancient purpose of Halloween in Celtic mythology. There’s a surprising amount of depth here for a movie about suspicious Halloween masks. And regular Carpenter cinematographer Dean Cundey gives it a creepy, cool visual quality.

Tom Atkins does a good job as the unlikely hero. Stacey Nelkin (Bullets Over Broadway) plays his gorgeous, and considerably younger, love interest. Her character reads a little flat to me, shifting from grief to flirtation in no time, but the actress performs admirably. Dan O’Herlihy is fantastic as Mr. Cochran, a man who’s all smiles and charm. O’Herlihy manages to display something sinister behind the smile with just the slightest twitch at the corners of his mouth. It’s one of the great underrated performances in horror cinema.

I can understand why fans were not kind to the film at the time. Most young viewers who discover the series on DVD are well aware of the film’s status as the standalone entry in the series when they go into it and, as a result, have a much better reaction to the film. Some movies are like that; it takes time or a new video format to reintroduce the movie to new fans who may appreciate it more. I’m one of those fans. When I was first introduced to the series, Halloween III was one of the last Halloween films I bothered to watch, because I knew about its negative reputation. Now, as a new owner of the Scream! Factory Blu-ray set of the series, Halloween III is the first disc I popped into my Blu-ray player.

If you dismissed the film before, I suggest you give it another look. It’s time to give the film its due. Because while it doesn’t exactly fit in with the rest of the bunch, Halloween III is without a doubt one of the best films in the nearly four decade old series.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 8/10

Posted in All, News, Other Movies, Reviews |

Schwarzenegger will be back as ‘The Guest of Sanxingdui’

Posted on October 27, 2016 by JJ Bona
"Conan the Destroyer" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Conan the Destroyer” Japanese Theatrical Poster

After decades of muscle-bound mayhem, Arnold Schwarzenegger (Maggie) still continues to pump out the goods in a consistent manner. In addition to a couple of upcoming films – Aftermath, an airline disaster flick based on a true story, as well as Why We’re Killing Gunther, an action-comedy where Arnie plays the title character – the legendary star just wrapped up scenes with Jackie Chan for Viy 2: A Journey to China, a Sino-Russian co-production that he (and Jackie) are making a cameo appearance in. But wait, there’s more…

According to CFI, the ex-governor of California recently announced that he will star in The Guest of Sanxingdui, a USD 200 million period project that’s being described as a “Chinese historical epic.” The title refers to the ancient ruins in China’s southwest Sichuan province where the film will be partially shot.

Production for Guest of Sanxingdui is set to begin in March 2017 for an expected 2019 release. Further details on The Guest of Sanxingdui are scarce (there are rumors suggesting that Jackie Chan may star as well), but as soon we learn more, we’ll fill you in.

Hopefully The Guest of Sanxingdui will put Schwarzenegger in the mood to finally proceed with the long-awaited, 3rd Conan movie, which is currently stuck in development. Stay tuned!

Posted in News |

Kwaidan | aka Ghost Stories (1965) Review

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Kelly Warner
"Kwaidan" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Kwaidan” Japanese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Weird Tales
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Writer: Yoko Mizuki, Lafcadio Hearn
Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentaro Mikuni, Tetsuro Tamba, Takashi Shimura, Michiyo Aratama, Kunie Tanaka
Running Time: 182 min.

By Kyle Warner

It’s long been my opinion that every great filmmaker should try their hand at horror at least once over the course of their career. Horror directors sometimes repeat some of the same themes, the same scares, the same monsters, and it takes an outsider to bring something fresh to the genre every once in a while. Examples: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, Richard Donner’s The Omen, Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs, and so on and so forth. Taking a break from his politically charged sagas that addressed some of Japan’s sins, director Masaki Kobayashi decided to adapt a collection of ghost stories for the anthology film Kwaidan, and in the process ended up making one of the most artistic and beautiful films of all time.

Adapted from stories written by Greek expat Lafcadio Hearn, Kwaidan is four different, totally unconnected ghost stories set in Japan’s past. Though none of them are scary in the typical sense, they’re all spooky stories about the spirit world coming into contact with the world of man. “Kwaidan” means “ghost story,” and not necessarily “horror story.” I think this might make it a difficult film to pin down for some Western viewers who may feel that it is not frightening or violent enough for the horror shelf.

The first story, The Black Hair, stars Rentaro Mikuni (The Burmese Harp) as a samurai who can no longer stand his fall into poverty, and abandons his loving wife (Michiyo Aratama) in favor of a life of status and wealth. Once he secures a life of nobility, the samurai finds himself thinking constantly of the wife he left behind. He is haunted by her. And when he finally works up the nerve to visit her, he finds things forever changed. The Black Hair has various similarities to a subplot in Kenji Mizoguchi’s masterpiece Ugetsu, which was also a supernatural tale about the penalties for the ambitions of heartless men. The Black Hair is not my favorite of the Kwaidan anthology – the best are the two stories in the middle – but it does a good job of setting the tone about what to expect for the rest of the film.

The second story, and the most visually vibrant, is The Woman of the Snow. Tatsuya Nakadai (Ran) is a woodcutter caught in a blizzard. He and his master hole up in a hut for the night, where they are visited by a snow spirit played by Keiko Kishi (The Yakuza). The woman kills the woodcutter’s master with her cold breath, and is about to freeze the young man, too, when she begins to pity him. She makes him a deal: she will let him live as long as he never speaks a word of their encounter. The Woman of the Snow is the emotional heart of the movie (and interestingly the one section totally cut from the film for its showing at Cannes). Though the visuals are bitter cold, the story is sad and human.

The third and longest story, Hoichi the Earless, could’ve easily been a standalone release. Katsuo Nakamura (20th Century Boys) is the blind monk Hoichi, who lives at a temple that was built to appease the long-dead samurai who perished in a naval battle offshore. Being blind, Hoichi is unaware that the man who comes to visit him in the night is a samurai ghost, and that he’s been playing his biwa to an audience of the dead. When the temple’s priest (Takashi Shimura) learns of this, he does what he can to save Hoichi. This is my favorite of the four shorts in the anthology and is (coincidentally?) the most traditional in a cinematic sense. It’s a ghost story through-and-through, but one that’s told in a way completely unlike those you’ll see on American screens.

The final and shortest story is also the lightest. In a Cup of Tea is the story of a samurai who sees a ghost’s reflection in his cup of tea. The more he tries to understand, the more madness beckons to him. It’s a fine coda to the anthology, and also pays tribute to the storytellers who kept ghost stories alive all these years.

Kwaidan makes no attempt at realism. It’s ultra-cinematic, super artsy, with set walls painted as the sky within reach, and sets that never try to hide their artificiality. I thought it an interesting approach to making the film. The sets are beautiful, sometimes frightening, and go a long way to describe why I appreciate the movie so. Colors are vibrant, even in the chilly white Woman of the Snow section of the film, and the movie looks wonderful on the 2016 Criterion Blu-ray.

In addition to the amazing visual aspects of the film, Kwaidan features unorthodox sound design and an experimental score by Toru Takemitsu. Many scenes are almost muted, with no sound to the win, or bustle in the streets, or clash of swords. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, there will be cracks of wood or ice. The effect is eerie and wholly original.

Kwaidan may not appeal to horror hounds who demand a fast-pace, gore, or bunches of scares, but as an arthouse anthology it’s tough to beat. Beautiful to look at and with lots to think about, I consider Kwaidan one of the best examples of classic Japanese cinema, and highly recommend it to those in the mood for something stylish and creepy. Though not belonging to Masaki Kobayashi’s typical genre, Kwaidan deserves to be mentioned in conversation with the director’s best, right alongside The Human Condition, Harakiri, and Samurai Rebellion.

(The new Criterion DVD & Blu-ray includes the director’s 183 minute director’s cut for the first time in the US. The previous Criterion DVD featured a cut of the film that ran 20 minutes shorter. Most of the changes are small and are unlikely to be noticed by those who’ve only seen the film once or twice, but considering the improved picture quality and the nice assortment of extras (Stephen Prince commentary is the highlight of the special features) it’s easy for me to recommend the upgrade for fans of the film.)

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 9/10

Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , |

Bruce Lee: Tracking the Dragon (2016) Review

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Jeff Bona
"Tracking the Dragon" DVD Cover

“Tracking the Dragon” DVD urover

Director: John Little
Writer: John Little
Cast: John Little, Malisa Longo, Jon T. Benn, Anders Nelsson, Riccardo Billi, Chaplin Chang
Running Time: 100 minutes

By Jeff Bona

Back in 2013, I reviewed a documentary titled In Pursuit of the Dragon, by noted Bruce Lee historian, John Little (A Warrior’s Journey). Unlike the most of the endless, oversaturated list of Bruce Lee documentaries – many of which featured the same tired footage, usual interview clips and other useless “talking heads” – I found Little’s In Pursuit of the Dragon to be refreshing because of its one-of-a-kind premise, which focused on the actual filming locations of Bruce Lee’s four completed films. To quote my review: Using footage from the actual movies to coincide with the ‘what the locations look like today’ is simply magical. Basically, I loved every minute of it.

When it was announced that MVD Visual was releasing Tracking the Dragon, another Bruce Lee-related project by John Little, I jumped at the opportunity to obtain an advanced copy. But when I finally got my hands on the DVD, I found its official description curiously familiar:

“Bruce Lee expert John Little tracks down the actual locations of some of Bruce Lee’s most iconic action scenes. Many of these sites remain largely unchanged nearly half a century later. At monasteries, ice factories, and on urban streets, Little explores the real life settings of Lee’s legendary career.”

After reading the above, I thought to myself: “This must be a repacked, retitled, double-dipped version of In Pursuit of the Dragon that’s being marketed as a “new” film to suck every last drop of profit from a product that’s over 3 years old.” And boy was I right…

Tracking the Dragon IS a repacked, retitled and double-dipped version of In Pursuit of the Dragon. However, I can honestly say that it has been repacked, retitled and double-dipped in the most positive way possible.

Here’s a list of the key differences between In Pursuit of the Dragon and Tracking the Dragon. Keep in mind that I didn’t watch them both simultaneously, but I did skim through In Pursuit of the Dragon moments after watching Tracking the Dragon, so think of the following as the most noticeable distinctions between the two:

  • Tracking the Dragon has optimized audio and visual. Video footage has been remastered and now appears to have more of an High Definition look (even for DVD it pops on a 1080p TV). In comparison, In Pursuit of the Dragon looks fuzzy with lower audio quality.
  • Tracking the Dragon is 10 minutes longer than In Pursuit of the Dragon. That’s not say it’s only 10 minutes longer. In other words, Tracking the Dragon is edited in a tighter, smarter fashion; with more overlaps and picture-in-picture effects, which essentially means more content per frame.
  • Post-production work on Tracking the Dragon is a lot more professional-looking. Then and now-location footage gels together more cohesively. If In Pursuit of the Dragon appears to have taken 3 weeks to edit together, Tracking the Dragon most likely took 3 months.
  • Tracking the Dragon features new/alternative shots, resulting in a different experience. It’s also injected with extra clips and photos, which give it much more depth than In Pursuit of the Dragon.
  • New segments: Unlike In Pursuit of the Dragon, Tracking the Dragon doesn’t end with Enter the Dragon. Instead, we’re treated with extra footage of Bruce Lee’s Hong Kong house, Betty Ting Pei’s apartment (where Bruce passed away) and locations such as rooftops where a teenage Bruce used to street fight, Bruce’s famous parking lot photo shoot, and much more (won’t spoil it for you).

The bottom line: A better title for Tracking the Dragon would be In Pursuit of the Dragon 2.0. Sure, I can understand if some people will dismiss it as a double-dipper, but it all depends on how much you value newly added footage, as well as upgrades all across the board.

Considering Little and his team traveled all around the world to capture all this footage, a new and improved, longer, remastered version of an already-awesome project is worth $20 bucks to me.

Besides, it’s probably time for you to re-watch In Pursuit of the Dragon anyways – and if you do, you’ll want to watch it in the form of Tracking the Dragon to get the most out of your re-watching pleasure. If you haven’t seen either, then picking up Tracking the Dragon is a no-brainer.

Jeff Bona‘s Rating: 9/10

tracking-the-dragon-001

tracking-the-dragon-002

tracking-the-dragon-003

tracking-the-dragon-004

tracking-the-dragon-005-649

tracking-the-dragon-006_600

tracking-the-dragon-007_600

1584

tracking-the-dragon-009_600

tracking-the-dragon-010_600

tracking-the-dragon-011_600

tracking-the-dragon-012_600

tracking-the-dragon-013_600

tracking-the-dragon-014_600

Read our In Pursuit of the Dragon review for more information.

Posted in All, Asian Related, Chinese, Documentary, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , |

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) Review

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Paul Bramhall
“Jack Reacher” Korean Theatrical Poster

“Jack Reacher” Korean Theatrical Poster

AKA: Jack Reacher 2
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge, Danika Yarosh, Patrick Heusinger, Holt McCallany, Austin Hebert, Robert Catrini, Robert Knepper, Talbott Lin
Running Time: 118 min.

By Paul Bramhall

The announcement that Tom Cruise was going to be playing Jack Reacher, the character of author Lee Child’s ongoing series of novels about an ex-military drifter that has an uncanny ability for finding trouble, was greeted (as expected) with almost universal disdain from fan of the books. However the 2012 thriller, simply titled Jack Reacher, helmed by frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, was both a commercial and a critical success. Cruise brought the needed physicality to the role with gusto, portraying Reacher as a more grounded version of his Ethan Hunt character from the Mission: Impossible series – a comparison which was especially apt with the release of the bombastic Ghost Protocol just a year prior.

The success of Jack Reacher inevitably saw a sequel on the cards, and with twenty published novels to choose from, the second instalment of Jack Reacher on the big screen comes in the form of 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, an adaption of the eighteenth book in the series. Much like the original came a year after Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, so Never Go Back comes a year after Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Both the original Jack Reacher and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation were helmed by Christopher McQuarrie, which sees this instalment being handed over to Edward Zwick, the director behind the likes of Blood Diamond and Legends of the Fall. Cruise and Zwick have worked together before, on 2003’s The Last Samurai, so the sequel can be considered as a reunion of sorts for the director and actor.

Cruise has become one of the few actors in Hollywood who has the ability to make straight faced action pictures, ones that don’t rely on either irony or CGI, nor suffer from a modest budget or straight-to-DVD release. In many ways he’s one of the last legitimate bankable stars, in an era were Hollywood has become almost solely reliant on reboots, remakes, and superhero movies. When people talk about Jason Bourne, they don’t say they want to go and see the latest Matt Damon movie, and similarly for James Bond, no one would say they want to go and see the latest Daniel Craig movie. But Cruise it’s the opposite, people don’t say they want to go and see the latest Ethan Hunt or Jack Reacher flick, they say let’s go and check out the latest Tom Cruise film. He’s a guy who consistently delivers the goods, with Never Go Back being only the second time he’s returned to play a character for a sequel, outside of the Mission: Impossible series.

Never Go Back continues the gritty down to earth feel that the original instalment established, with proceedings opening on a pair of cops arriving on the scene of a diner parking lot, were four men lay sprawled on the floor, each looking considerably battered and bruised. A witness points to a single customer sitting at the bar inside, his back to them calmly drinking a cup of coffee, and goes onto explain that it was the customer who singled handedly put the beat down on all four of them. The customer is of course Cruise, establishing himself as a man not to be messed with within the first 60 seconds, and he hasn’t even lifted a finger. The scene sets the tone both for the character and the rest of the run time, portraying Reacher as someone who treads just the right side of the line between confidence and arrogance, and isn’t afraid of getting his knuckles dirty.

Fans of the book may not have been happy with the casting of Cruise, but there’s no doubt that he owns the role, and looks to be using both his Mission: Impossible productions and the Jack Reacher series as vehicles to show off his action chops. At 54, he appears more determined than ever to throw as much physical action onscreen as possible, with people getting punched in the face through windscreens, arms (and various other limbs) being broken, and bodies being thrown into a variety of breakable surroundings. While Never Go Back, much like Jack Reacher, doesn’t rely on huge set pieces or death defying stunts, instead it succeeds by having its altercations take place in more real world trappings. Fights take place in dark abandoned warehouses, and in one particular scene, which shows a clear nod to the showdown between Iko Uwais and Cecep Arif Rahman in The Raid 2, in a restaurant kitchen (which includes a hammer wielding Cobie Smulders!).

For Never Go Back the inclusion of actresses Cobie Smulders and Danika Yarosh provide Cruise with a sort of adopted nuclear family. Smulders plays a former military colleague of Cruise, who’s been falsely imprisoned for espionage, while Yarosh finds herself in the cross hairs of those looking to take out both Cruise and Smulders, thanks to the possibility of her being his daughter. Cruise of course takes it on himself to break Smulders out of prison, convinced of her innocence, and the three end up on the run from a group of shadowy military contractors, who may be behind the murders of two soldiers in Afghanistan who were under Smulders command. It’s a straightforward plot, which doesn’t spend any time getting bogged down in sub-plots or romance, instead choosing to have one, two, or all three of them have to run as if their life depended on it at regular intervals.

In many ways it’s the simplicity of Never Go Back which makes it so appealing. It’s a trio of good guys (well, one guy and two women) trying to uncover the truth behind an injustice, while being relentlessly pursued by those who want to kill them. In an era which has Hollywood defining its action by how many CGI buildings it can destroy, it’s refreshing to watch a movie that gets the adrenaline pumping through intense foot chases, fist fights, explosions (real ones!), and painful looking falls. I’d take the action in Never Go Back any day of the week over watching a bunch of pixels be decimated onscreen. Of course, no hero is worth their salt without a worthy villain to go up against, and the villain here comes in the form of Patrick Heusinger, playing an ex-military man who’s now become an assassin for hire, and comes with a skillset that matches those of Cruise.

Heusinger is almost Terminator-like in his pursuit of Cruise, spurred on by being determined to prove that he’s the better of the two at combat. The pair get into two suitably violent confrontations during the runtime, the first being the previously mentioned kitchen brawl, and the last belonging to the finale. While it’s only speculation, I’m sure stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo, who was also the fight coordinator for the original Jack Reacher and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, must be a fan of Asian action cinema. I say this not only based on the kitchen fight which has echoes of The Raid 2, but in the finale there’s a part in which both Cruise and Heusinger throw each other off the top of a building while grappling, before dusting themselves off and continuing to fight on the ground. It’s a scene that’s reminiscent of a similar fall that happens between Donnie Yen and Colin Chou in the finale of Flash Point, and delivers just as much impact.

While it can easily be argued that Never Go Back would be a pretty run-of-the-mill thriller without the presence of Cruise, and many critics have, the same comparison could be made by saying Police Story would be a pretty average cops and robbers movie without Jackie Chan. The fact is that it’s Cruise that makes the movie what is it, and that is a lean, mean, action thriller. There’s little doubt that based on the success of the sequel, we can probably expect to see more of Jack Reacher over the coming years, and as long as Cruise is still up to delivering the type of physical performance that he’s clocked in here, then that’s definitely a good thing. My only wish would be that before everyone gets too old, we get a movie that gives us Jack Reacher, John Wick, and Arthur Bishop, all sharing the screen together. We can dream right?

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

Posted in All, News, Other Movies, Reviews | Tagged , |

Amnesia | aka Who Am I? 2015 | DVD (Lionsgate)

Posted on October 24, 2016 by JJ Bona
Amnesia | DVD (Lionsgate)

Amnesia | DVD (Lionsgate)

RELEASE DATE: January 3, 2017

On January 3, 2017, Lionsgate is releasing the DVD for Song Xi-Yin’s Amnesia (its full marketing title is Jackie Chan Presents Amnesia, since Chan serves as producer). It’s also known as Who Am I: 2015, which is a more fitting title, considering it’s a loose remake of Chan’s 1998 classic, Who Am I? 

Finding himself at a murder scene, bike courier Li Ziwei tries to escape, but the culprits force him off a bridge. The amnesia from his head injuries means he can’t recognize the faces of his enemies, who have framed him for the crime. Now, carrying the parcel that’s his only clue, and with the help of sassy hitchhiker Tong Xin, Li Ziwei must outrun killers and cops while racing to clear his name of the mysterious murder.

Amnesia stars newcomers Ocean Wang, Anna Yao, Zhang Lan-Xin (Kung Fu Jungle), Ken Lo (Special ID) and Yu Rong Guang (New Police Story)

The original Who Am I?, which was directed by Benny Chan (Shaolin), had Chan playing a secret agent who loses his memory after falling from a crashing helicopter. He is then chased by a number of other agency operatives, but he has no idea why.

Pre-order Amnesia from Amazon.com today!

For coolest dog clothes and hip pet fashion, visit Frank and Beanz.

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles, News |

Brace yourself for South Korea’s answer to ‘The Exorcist’

Posted on October 21, 2016 by JJ Bona
The Priests: Exorcism | DVD (CJ Entertainment)

The Priests: Exorcism | DVD (CJ Entertainment)

Jang Jae-hyeon’s “Korean version of The Exorcist,” The Priests (read our review), will be arriving to DVD on January 10, 2017, courtesy of CJ Entertainment. If you can’t wait to face the evil spirits on DVD – or just need something to watch in the days leading up to Halloween – The Priests is currently available through Amazon’s streaming service.

The film, which has been retitled for its U.S. release as The Priests: Exorcism, stars Kim Yoon-seok (The Thieves) and Kang Dong-won (Kundo). The two play a pair of priests who hope to exorcise what they believe to be an evil spirit possessing the body of a young girl in a coma. Also in the cast are Park So-Dam (Veteran) and Lee Hyo-Je (Hidden Time).

COF’s Paul Bramhall calls The Priests “a refreshingly straight forward horror movie, which is successful in being both suspenseful and delivering a few jump in your seat moments.”

Pre-order The Priests: Exorcism from Amazon.com today.

Posted in News |

Men Behind the Sun (1988) Review

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Paul Bramhall
"Men Behind the Sun" Theatrical Poster

“Men Behind the Sun” Theatrical Poster

AKA: Camp 731
Director: T. F. Mou
Producer: Fu Chi, Hung Chu
Cast: Gang Wang, Hsu Gou, Tie Long Jin, Zhao Hua Mei, Zhe Quan, Run Sheng Wang
Running Time: 105 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Men Behind the Sun comes with the reputation of being one of the most controversial movies ever made, often mentioned in the same sentence as the likes of Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust, and Japan’s Guinea Pig series. The facts certainly indicate the same – it holds the distinction of being the first movie to be rated Category III in Hong Kong, has been released in very few territories uncut, was originally banned in Australia, and caused such an outcry in Japan that the director received death threats.

The man in the director’s chair is T.F. Mou, and while Men Behind the Sun is the title he’s most well-known for, prior to making it he directed such Shaw Brothers productions as the gritty crime thriller Lost Souls, and the dark kung fu flick A Deadly Secret. It was while directing the 1983 Mainland kung fu movie Young Heroes, that he learnt about the horrors of Japan’s wartime experimentation on Chinese and Russian human subjects, and became determined to make a movie to document the atrocities. It wasn’t an easy task though, at the time China wanted Japan as an economic ally, so the idea of such a production wasn’t met with much enthusiasm. On top of that, almost all research and evidence of the experiments had either been destroyed, or handed over to the Americans prior to the beginning of the Korean War.

As Mou’s wife was an American citizen, she helped to negotiate for Mou to have access to the rarely seen documentation, kept to this day under lock and key. U.S. Forces had come into possession of the data because General Ishii, the man behind Unit 731 where the experiments took place, was offered immunity from being trialled for war crimes if he did so. Agreeing to work with General McArthur (most recently played by Liam Neeson in the Korean movie Operation Chromite) and the American government, Ishii escaped trial up to the time of his death. Perhaps knowing that justice was never done, the Chinese government eventually gave Mou permission to make the movie, and production went ahead with a small budget of $200,000. Based on his struggles to convince the Chinese government to let him make Men Behind the Sun, the movie opens with the ironic onscreen text – ‘Friendship is friendship, history is history’.

One of Mou’s main goals was to achieve historical accuracy with his production, going to the extent of casting Chinese locals in many of the roles (a view of the cast list will reveal that for many, Men Behind the Sun is the only credit to their name), chosen based on Mou’s belief that they resembled Japanese people during the war. Most of the kids in the movie (the plot is framed from the viewpoint of newly recruited Youth Corp members) are actually Koreans that were living in China, again chosen as Mou felt that they looked more Japanese than the local Chinese kids did. Perhaps most interesting of all though is that the location used for the headquarters of Unit 731, was actually the real site, located in Harbin, Manchuria. At the time of filming it was being used as a school, and in an interview Mou remembered that the erecting of a Japanese flag outside the building didn’t sit well with many of the elderly locals, who were alive during the war.

The real controversy around Men Behind the Sun comes from Mou wanting to show the various horrific experiments, conducted on both humans and animals, which make up the bulk of the movies mid-section. I’ll cover these in more detail later, but I think it’s important to point out that, unlike so many other reviews on the internet, Men Behind the Sun is much more than just exploitation, an accusation frequently levelled at it. It’s not difficult to see why the exploitation label gets thrown at Men Behind the Sun, however it’s more a bi-product of Mou’s ambition to document everything he’d read in his research, rather than an intentional exercise in disgust.

The plot itself concerns a group of newly recruited Youth Corp members, who are assigned to the secretive Unit 731, and their gradual dehumanisation to everything they witness. Set during the final years of World War II, General Ishii, a formerly discharged military surgeon with a keen interest in bio-warfare, is assigned to run the Unit. Ishii, again the actual General who run the Unit in reality, is insistent that bio-chemicals are the way to win the war, and believes that the only way to achieve success is through using live subjects, in order to speed up the process. The newly recruited Youth Corp members are initially disgusted at what they witness, and in one particularly powerful scene, they are presented with a naked male subject dragged up in front of them. When the General asks what they’re looking at, one says “a man”, and is badly beaten, two more boys proceed to answer with “a Chinese man”, and “a bad Chinese man”, and receive the same treatment. Finally, the General explains that they’re looking at “a log for a fire, material for experiments.”

What stands Men Behind the Sun apart from many Chinese and Hong Kong productions, is that through the members of the Youth Corp, and also a disillusioned soldier, the Japanese are never stereotyped to all be completely evil. At the heart of the experiments is Ishii and his scientists, whose only desire is to figure out a way to effectively use bio-warfare for mass killings. How they do that really makes up the movies most shocking scenes. Mou was a resourceful director if nothing else, and with China having no special effects industry as such, there are several instances were real corpses or body parts are used, acquired by Mou through various means.

In one scene a woman is tied outside with her arms outstretched in the sub-zero temperatures, to test the effects of frostbite on the body. With her arms outstretched, a soldier douses them with water at regular intervals, causing more and more ice to form over the flesh. It’s a disturbing scene, made more disturbing by the fact that the actress playing the part, who was in fact Mou’s niece, is holding out a pair of real severed arms. In a case of art reflecting life, it was revealed that she almost contracted frostbite for real, due to the amount of time spent filming outside. In another scene, a child is chloroformed and then given an autopsy while unconscious. Mou had made an agreement with the local police to use a real body for the autopsy scene, and when a child was killed in an accident, with the parents agreement the autopsy was conducted with the coroners dressed in Japanese army clothing, the procedure filmed for the movie.

The two scenes that caused the most outrage though ironically don’t involve any corpses at all. One see’s a cat being thrown into a room infested with hundreds of frenzied rats, which proceed to eat it alive. There are varying stories of what actually took place during this scene, in a 2010 interview with Mou, he explained that the cat was soaked with water then covered with red dyed honey, and it’s this that the rats are eating, explaining that the cat was rewarded with a couple of fish once it wrapped. However in a 2008 blog post written by a behind the scenes crew member, it’s explained that the cat was killed in order to get the final shot of the unmoving body being swarmed by rats. The truth will likely never be known. In a latter scene, the same rats are burnt alive, and filmed running throughout the building while on fire. Equally cruel, however it was said that Mou found favour with many of the local farmers for performing such an act.

It would be a spoiler to detail the rest of the experiments, however despite the episodic nature in which they’re presented, the scenes in-between never feel as if they’re filler, which is what stops me from calling Men Behind the Sun a piece of pure exploitation. A group of the Youth Corp members relationship with a mute Chinese boy, who watches them from behind the barbed wire fences, is particularly well handled, reflecting their humanity when not forced to view all Chinese as nothing but material for experiments. Likewise, the solid acting performances from the cast, despite their lack of experience, adds an authentic feel to proceedings, making it a harrowing experience to watch even today almost 30 years later.

The reputation of Men Behind the Sun would further find it vilified by its cheap cash-in sequels, the Godfrey Ho directed Laboratory of the Devil in 1992, and Narrow Escape in 1994, although notably Mou would return to the same subject matter for 1995’s Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre. While other productions such as Russia’s 4-hour epic Philosophy of a Knife, from 2008, have looked to also tackle the atrocities of Unit 731, none have been able to match Men Behind the Sun in terms of pure visceral impact and shock factor. While today the term ‘torture porn’ is used to describe movies which present gruesome scenes of people being tortured, for little else than viewing pleasure, Mou has, as was his intention, made a movie that stands as a powerful document of what happened in Unit 731. While some of his filmmaking methods are arguably disagreeable, they shouldn’t take away from a movie which is, at its heart, a look at man’s cruelty against man.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

Posted in All, Chinese, News, Reviews |

Halloween Top 5: Bloodiest Shaw Brothers ‘Venoms’ Films

Posted on October 19, 2016 by JJ Bona
"Masked Avengers" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Masked Avengers” Chinese Theatrical Poster

With their ornate costumes, eclectic masks and sinister weaponry – not to mention some of the most blood-drenching flicks ever put on celluloid – we consider The Venoms (aka Philip Kwok, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, Lo Meng, Sun Chien and Wei Pai) to be the ultimate link between kung fu and Halloween. For this reason, City on Fire proudly presents the Top 5 Bloodiest Venoms Films:

Masked Avengers (1981)

If you’ve ever watched a Shaw Brothers kung fu film and found yourself thinking: “This flick is good and all, but what it REALLY needs is a bunch of blood-drinking, Satan-worshiping, mask-wearing villains and a whole lot more violence,” then Masked Avengers is the movie for you.

This is a dark, dark flick, and those who require comedic antics with their kung fu need not apply. It has hardcore violence equal to Five Element Ninja. Some disturbing imagery, from masked cultists drinking human blood to intestines dangling from tridents. Then there are the traps in the cultists’ lair, which gouge, crush, and eviscerate. It’s almost as if this flick was made for Halloween.

"Flag of Iron" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Flag of Iron” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Flag of Iron (1980)

With its intricate choreography, colorful villains, fantastic sets, and of course, excessive violence – Flag of Iron is one of the better Venoms movies. It’s similar to Masked Avengers, in that both are heavy on plot, both lack main Venoms Lo Meng and Sun Chien, and both are impressively brutal.

In its uncut state, Flag of Iron is not only more fleshed out, but also more violent. In addition to blood sprays, hackings, and unusual deaths, there’s also a flag thrown all the way through a victim (it flies through the dude and embeds itself in a wooden beam, drenched in blood).

Don’t let the film’s non-threatening title fool you. There’s a reason it’s titled The Spearmen of Death in other territories.

"House of Traps" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“House of Traps” Chinese Theatrical Poster

House of Traps (1981)

Not much carnage via weaponry. Instead, most of the violence in House of Traps comes from the traps themselves. The bottom level has spikes that come out of the floor, and a steel staircase that will clamp shut (in other words, feet get cut in half and men are impaled and torn asunder). Spear-tipped nets ensnare those who make it high enough, trapping them while guys on the bottom floor come out and shoot up at them with arrows.

The ending of House of Traps is especially bizarre, with one of the heroes hacking open a corpse, to root out the contents of its stomach. PETA beware: A live chicken buys it in a moment of pure exploitation!

"Two Champions of Shaolin" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Two Champions of Shaolin” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Two Champions of Shaolin (1980)

In Two Champions of Shaolin, Lo Meng llsically vomits blood in the best display of “spitting out blood when injured” since Fu Sheng in Heroes Two. In addition, Chiang Sheng rips some guy’s balls off, and later bashes someone’s brains out. Look close, you’ll see them.

Two Champions of Shaolin is drenched with acrobatic displays of martial fortitude and blood-drenched violence. The best part of the movie arrives with a tournament between the top Wu-Tang fighters and Chiang Sheng and Lo Meng. Squaring off in one-on-one combat, this segment puts Mortal Kombat to shame.

I’ve done the math: Two Champions of Shaolin = total carnage.

"The Kid with the Golden Arm" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“The Kid with the Golden Arm” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Kid with the Golden Arm (1979)

The Kid with the Golden Arm opens bloodily with an escort service member crawling into their headquarters, “Chi Sah gang” etched onto his bare back by a sword. There’s a memorable scene in which someone off-screen is stabbed, and his blood literally jets across the set.

The violence level is pleasantly high – we’re talking Lone Wolf and Cub-level bloodshed, with multiple hackings, slicings, and cleavings. Blood erupts from sword gashes, people get hacked apart, and those beaten by fists bleed profusely from the mouth

Despite its comic book-like title, Kid with the Golden Arm is certainly one of the more violent Venoms movies.

Thanks to Joe Kenney for his bloody contribution. If you’re interested in any of these films, please visit DDDHouse.com, Amazon.com or Shawbrothersuniverse.com for availability. For some of the greatest Venoms prints and T-shirts money can buy, visit Shaolinchamber36.com. Looking for dog clothes? Visit Frank and Beanz Doggie Apparel. How’s that for some plugs? 

Posted in News |
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 229
  6. 230
  7. 231
  8. 232
  9. 233
  10. 234
  11. 235
  12. 236
  13. 237
  14. 238
  15. 239
  16. ...
  17. 492