Matango | aka Attack of the Mushroom People (1963) Review

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"Matango" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Matango” Japanese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Fungus of Terror
Director: Ishiro Honda
Cast: Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno, Kenji Sahara, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kenji Sahara, Kenji Sahara, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Miki Yashiro, Hideyo Amamoto
Running Time: 89 min.

By Kelly Warner

Before 1954, director Ishiro Honda worked in multiple genres, including romantic dramas, documentaries, and war pictures. After directing the original Godzilla in 1954, Honda became Toho’s go-to man for their kaiju films and special effects extravaganzas thanks to his skill, speedy productions, and a good working relationship with special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya. Honda was quite proud of his work in the sci-fi genre (as he should’ve been), but he’d never envisioned himself as a sci-fi director and he longed to have more variety in his filmography. Toho liked what he did for Godzilla, though – Honda remains the fan-favorite director of most Godzilla fans – and by 1960 they rarely let him work in other genres. Even when he got away from the kaiju, Honda still mainly worked in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, though on a more human scale. Films like The Human Vapor, The Mysterians, and Matango may lack the name-recognition of Honda’s kaiju flicks, but the quality was still there. I’d even say that Ishiro Honda’s human scale fantasy films are some of Japanese cinema’s least appreciated gems in the West.

Matango is Honda’s darkest film since the original Godzilla. It’s a cynical story about a group of seven friends and colleagues who go on a boating trip, get lost in a storm, and end up stranded on a deserted island. Things get worse from there. The island has no animals or safe edible vegetation. At one point, the men are out hunting for birds when a gull flies towards the island, only to turn around and head back out to sea. The survivors find a derelict ship meant for scientific research washed up on the shore. It’s covered with thick, colorful mold. The logbooks tell of a new mushroom native to the island called matango. If eaten, the matango mushroom causes hallucinations and poisons the body, making you grow hideous, turning you into a mushroom.

You are what you eat.

The matango mushroom is the only plentiful thing on the island. With food stocks running low, it’s not long before someone takes a bite. Once the mushroom is eaten, that person finds bliss as they lose their humanity. Matango becomes a film about paranoia as no one knows who they can trust. Old friends turn on each other. The mushroom people try to spread the joy of their new lifeform. It’s dark, grim stuff. Think Gilligan’s Island meets The Thing and you’re not far off.

Matango meant a great deal to Honda at the time and it was something of a passion project for the director. Thanks to the money he’d made for Toho with the Godzilla series, Honda had earned the right to make a film for himself. And while Matango would go on to be a financial success for the studio, Toho cut down on similar personal projects afterwards. Matango’s screenwriter Takeshi Kimura was so displeased with Toho’s decision on the matter that he would continue under a penname for many of his future films. Kimura was credited as Kaoru Mabuchi for kaiju classics War of the Gargantuans, Destroy All Monsters, and the wonderfully weird Godzilla vs. Hedorah. As film historian David Kalat noted in his book A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series, Matango’s themes can be compared to selling out. The only way to be happy was to eat the mushroom/work with the studio, whereas going it alone leads to madness and isolation.

In Japan, the special effects and the drama were commonly handled by two different crews and directors. In the good old days at Toho that meant that Honda directed the actors and Eiji Tsuburaya would shoot the kaiju and destroy the miniatures. Since Matango was a horror story shot on a human scale, that allowed Tsuburaya the rare chance to work more directly with the cast. His makeup art turned actors into hideous monsters with impressive results. The older mutated mushroom people more closely resemble giant mushrooms and are kind of silly, but the eerie sound effects make the monsters work. Supposedly Matango was nearly banned in Japan because the mutated people resembled the victims of the atomic bomb.

The cast reads like a who’s who of Ishiro Honda’s regular players. Akira Kubo (Destroy All Monsters) plays the professor, the moral center of the group and the film’s main character. The beautiful and talented Kumi Mizuno (Monster Zero) plays a singer who enjoys the fact that multiple men lust after her. Yoshio Tsuchiya (The Mysterians) plays the wealthy owner of the boat and thinks that money can buy him anything. Hiroshi Koizumi (Mothra vs. Godzilla) plays the ship’s skipper who feels disrespected by Tsuchiya’s character, as he’s the skipper in title only. Kenji Sahara (Rodan) plays against type as the ship’s scruffy first mate. Even Godzilla suit-actor Haruo Nakajima is in the film, here playing one of the mutated mushroom people.

When the film was released in America it was given the unfortunate title of Attack of the Mushroom People. The film has a cult status and is either remembered as one of the worst horror films of all time or one of the most underrated and underseen classics of the genre. Me, I love Matango, it’s one of my favorite films. I realize that my rating will seem high to some people, but that’s just how I see the film and I feel like rating it any lower would make for a dishonest review.

When asked for his favorite of the films he’d directed, Ishiro Honda apparently chose Matango. While my favorite Honda film remains the original Godzilla, I would probably rank Matango as my second favorite. Sure, some it is dated and other parts were probably cheesy back in 1963, but I love it anyway. I rewatch the film at least once a year. As a fan of Ishiro Honda, Japanese cinema, and horror films in general, Matango has just about everything I’d want from a classic Toho genre film.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 9/10

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

Golden Cane Warrior, The (2014) Review

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"The Golden Cane Warrior" Theatrical Poster

“The Golden Cane Warrior” Theatrical Poster

Director: Ifa Isfansyah
Writer: Jujur Prananto
Cast: Eva Celia, Nicholas Saputra, Reza Rahadian, Tara Basro, Christine Hakim, Slamet Rahardjo, Aria Kusumah, Darius Sinathrya, Prisia Nasution
Running Time: 112 min.

By Kyle Warner

I have not seen many Indonesian films. And interestingly the only Indonesian films I’ve seen in recent years were actually filmed by Western directors. Welsh born director Gareth Evans is well-known for his action films The Raid and The Raid 2, and he’s also worked in Indonesia on the martial arts film Merantau and his fantastic short Safe Haven from the horror anthology V/H/S/2. The documentaries of American director Joshua Oppenheimer are also widely seen and highly praised, telling the chilling story of Indonesia’s political killings during the 1960s in the films The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence. The Golden Cane Warrior might actually be the first Indonesian film I’ve seen that was made by an Indonesian director, in this case Mr. Ifa Isfansyah (The Dancer).

The Golden Cane Warrior is an old-fashioned martial arts tale given new flavor by a country and a fighting style largely unfamiliar to genre fans in the West. The film is about a martial arts master named Cempaka (Christine Hakim, Merantau), who has grown weary of the inevitability of death that comes with the life of a martial artist. In one of her lessons to her students, Cempaka reiterates, “The greater a fighter’s skill, the more likely he will be attacked from behind,” a line which helps set up the central conflict of the story. Three of her four students are the orphans of rivals she has killed in fights. As she grows old, Cempaka knows she must pass on her knowledge and the famed weapon the golden cane to one of her students. Cempaka makes the unexpected choice of giving the cane to young Dara (Eva Celia), perhaps the weakest martial artist of her four students. As you might expect, this decision is met with resentment from Cempaka’s older and more gifted martial artists, who plot to murder their master and fellow students in order to take the golden cane for themselves.

The plot feels familiar, playing a bit like a classic Shaw Bros. film with betrayal, training montages, and the journey of the warrior. And while the film yields few new surprises to genre fans, there’s still some enjoyment to be found in watching a familiar tale well told by a cast and crew with good intentions.

The cast does admirable work, with some of the most entertaining performances coming from the youngest actors. The female lead Eva Celia manages to play her character as both a strong warrior and a frightened child, someone thrust into the world of life and death long before she is ready. Perhaps the most noteworthy performance comes from newcomer Aria Kusumah, a young boy who makes his mark as the film’s most badass character, Angin. The boy barely speaks a word, preferring to make his intentions known with action instead of dialogue. The ‘strong silent type’ sort of tough guy is a role usually reserved for someone much older but the kid really impresses in the part, making him easily my favorite character in the film.

Director Ifa Isfansyah finds unexpected grace and beauty in the dramatic scenes, making good use of Indonesia’s beautiful outdoors. In these moments the film is reminiscent of a Zhang Yimou picture, and Insfansyah shows he has a good eye for color. Sadly this grace does not follow over to the action scenes, which are poorly edited and filmed too close-up for my liking. The martial arts choreography looks fine, but thanks to the filming style I wasn’t always sure what was happening in certain moments of the film’s various fight scenes. Thankfully the film saves the best for last and the final fight scene is considerably more entertaining than those that came before it.

The film utilizes a fighting style that’s rarely showcased in such detail: silambam, or stick-fighting. Using a long stick or the film’s golden cane, the fighters are able to dispatch multiple opponents at the same time. In the film’s climax, four fighters square off using the same style, giving viewers the best chance to admire the martial art. As mentioned earlier, sometimes the film’s choice to film the fights up close hurts the entertainment value. This stylistic choice is especially strange when considering the fact that the golden cane is a long weapon, and it seems like it would’ve been wiser to step back a bit and give the weapon and fighting style a chance to dominate the screen.

Despite some nagging issues, The Golden Cane Warrior is an entertaining film. It feels familiar and yet somehow new, an old-fashioned story played out in an unfamiliar land. Apparently this was one of Indonesia’s most expensive productions. The money spent makes for a handsome picture, one with breathtaking natural beauty and solid production design. I wish that the film had filmed its fights with a calmer hand but overall it’s an enjoyable film, especially if you’re a fan of old-school martial arts movies. The setting and the silambam fighting style should help The Golden Cane Warrior stand out from the crowd, making it a noteworthy entry in today’s martial arts cinema.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 7/10

Posted in All, Indonesian, News, Reviews |

Jean-Claude Van Damme is planning a ‘Heist’ in March

Posted on October 26, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Pound of Flesh" Japanese Theatrical Poster

"Pound of Flesh" Japanese Theatrical Poster

Jean-Claude Van Damme (Swelter) and director Ernie Barbarash (Falcon Rising) are joining forces for the fourth time in Antwerp Heist, a Belgian-Canadian co-production that starts shooting in March (via HLN).

The film is presumed to be loosely based on the real events of the 2003 Antwerp Diamond Heist, dubbed the “heist of the century,” which was the largest diamond heist in history – with stolen jewellery valued over $100 million.

Van Damme and Barbarash previously collaborated together on 2011’s Assassination Games, 2012’s Six Bullets and 2015’s Pound of Flesh.

Other Van Damme projects supposedly in the works include The Penrose Affair and The Tower. His long-awaited, unreleased Eagle Path (aka Full Love) is rumored to be finally getting a release early next year.

Stay tuned on the latest updates regarding Antwerp Heist.

Posted in News |

Maggie (2015) Review

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"Maggie" Theatrical Poster

“Maggie” Theatrical Poster

Director: Henry Hobson
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin, Joely Richardson, Douglas M. Griffin, J.D. Evermore, Rachel Whitman Groves, Jodie Moore, Bryce Romero
Running Time: 95 min.

By Kyle Warner

I don’t get the zombie craze. However, I do like that it’s given storytellers the chance to experiment with genre and try new things. Maggie is one of the most interesting films to come out of the zombie boom, a sad drama about a family dealing with a child’s terminal illness in a world that’s given up hope.

The film’s setup is the usual zombie stuff, but it quickly becomes apparent that the execution is different this time. There’s a virus going around. It turns people into zombies but it goes beyond that, killing crops and infecting the earth. The world is barely clinging on and everywhere you go farmers are burning their crops and the dead are locked behind closed doors.

Here’s the main thing that sets Maggie apart: the film cares about the infected. Some people wonder if zombie films are popular because it allows human characters to kill each other while dehumanizing the infected on the other end of the gun barrel, like it provides some kind of sick thrill without the guilt of seeing a healthy, normal dude getting his brains splattered on the wall. That could be part of it but I’m sure it doesn’t explain every zombie fan’s fascination with their favorite genre. I just know that most zombie films feature the infected as little more than monsters fit for shooting, bashing, stabbing, and setting ablaze. In Maggie, the infected are our family and neighbors, and that feels like it matters.

The film opens with Arnold picking up his daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) from the hospital. She’s been bitten. She probably shouldn’t even be turned over to her family, but the police are trusting the family to do the right thing when the time comes. Maggie will turn in approximately eight weeks. At that time, they must notify the police, who will take Maggie to the quarantine center. The only other responsible alternative is to do the deed themselves. (There’s hopeful talk about a cure, but this is mostly fairy tale stuff. The quarantine center is where the infected go to die. And they die painfully.) Maggie’s family spends what time they have left with their daughter while counting the days and watching her get sicker and sicker. When the time comes, will the father be able to kill his daughter? Is there any hope for a happy ending?

Maggie is more of a drama than a horror film, but it simply could not work without the horror parts of its DNA. It’s a sad film, surprisingly heartfelt and real. The film is anchored by two great leads in Schwarzenegger and Breslin. When you see Arnold Schwarzenegger’s making a zombie movie, your natural first thought would be that he’s preparing to kick zombie ass. Indeed, some posters for the film show explosions and weaponry not featured in the film. Instead of Arnold cancelling the apocalypse, Maggie gives him one of his most dramatic, human characters ever. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rarely been this restrained, playing a defeated man who knows that the worst is yet to come. As he approaches 70, Arnold may be forced to experiment more with his roles. Maggie is an unexpected choice, yet it yields interesting results. Here’s hoping we see more dramatic performances of this level from the actor in the future.

Though Arnold’s the easy name to talk about, it’s actually Abigail Breslin that delivers the best performance here. Since earning an Oscar nod for Little Miss Sunshine, the actress has been one of the better young talents in film. One can never tell how a talented child actor is going to transition to a grown-up actor, but Breslin seems to be doing all right. Her work in Maggie – essentially playing a terminally ill youth whose sickness will make her inhuman – is one of the most interesting characters in the zombie subgenre. The sadness and surprising sweetness shared between actors Breslin and Schwarzenegger is what makes the movie stick with you after it’s over.

I really liked Maggie. It’s not perfect and one wonders if the PG-13 rating holds the movie back some, but it’s a compelling and strange little film that I keep thinking about in the week since I watched it. It’s easily the most human zombie tale I’ve seen and it’s one of my favorites from the overcrowded genre.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 7/10

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

Exclusive: Enter the ’36 Styles’ T-Shirt & Poster Giveaway! – WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Posted on October 25, 2015 by JJ Bona

Shaolin Chamber 36 is giving away 2 T-Shirts (of your choice, size, etc) and 2 Kung Fu Bob 11×17 prints (of your choice) to four lucky Cityonfire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, this video.

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. Will ship prizes worldwide!

CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by October 27th, 2015 to qualify. 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.

WINNERS: Joey David (T-Shirt), Brenda King (T-Shirt), Chad Harry (Print) and QualityChimp (PRINT).

Posted in News | Tagged |

Deal on Fire! First Strike | Blu-ray | Only $7.49 – Expires soon!

Posted on October 25, 2015 by JJ Bona
Jackie Chan’s First Strike | Blu-ray (Warner)

Jackie Chan’s First Strike | Blu-ray (Warner)

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Jackie Chan’s First Strike, (aka Police Story IV) directed by Stanley Tong (Police Story 3: Supercop). Please note that this Blu-ray is most-likely the English-dubbed, U.S. edited version of the film.

In post-soviet Russia nothing is as it seems. When members of the Russian mafia pose as KGB agents to steal a nuclear missile, the CIA calls on martial arts master Jackie Chan to stop them. Also starring Jackson Lou (The Last Blood), Annie Wu (Ballistic Kiss) and Bill Tung (Rumble in the Bronx).

Order First Strike from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

Full Strike (2015) Review

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"Full Strike" Chinese Theatrical Poster

“Full Strike” Chinese Theatrical Poster

Director: Derek Kwok
Co-director: Henry Wong
Cast: Ronald Cheng Chung-kei, Josie Ho Chiu Yee, Ekin Cheng, Tse Kwan Ho, Edmond Leung, Shaw Yum Yum, Wilfred Lau, Andrew Lam, Grace Yip Pui Man
Running Time: 108 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Movies about racquet sports hardly have the most successful track record, either at the box office or critically. Even thinking of one seems liken an unnecessarily difficult struggle. It took me a whole minute before I dragged the 2004 romantic comedy Wimbledon from the depths of my memory, and I was just as happy to return it there. That was a movie about tennis, which you can at least imagine the potential to appear dynamic on the big screen – the speed of the ball, the size of the court, the gracefulness of the players movements. Ok I’ll confess, I’m clutching at straws, but my point is, if it sounds difficult to make a movie about tennis, why even bother attempting to make one about badminton!?

However that’s exactly what directors Derek Kwok and Henri Wong have done with 2015’s Full Strike. If anything, the production had the odds stacked against it even more, thanks to the release of a title during the same year which revolved around another cinematically dull sport, Dante Lam’s To the Fore, which focused on bicycle racing. Having Dante Lam’s name behind To the Fore saw most fans of Hong Kong cinema keeping their gaze firmly locked on his latest effort, and ultimately its failure to exceed anyone’s already low expectations, seemed to result in Full Strike barely registering.

This is a shame, because Kwok and Wong’s effort is one of the most energetically insane and funny Hong Kong movies to come out of recent years, hardly stopping to catch its breath during the entire run time. Kwok is best known for his 2010 kung fu throwback Gallants, co-directed with Clement Cheng, which displayed a keen sense of awareness of what made Hong Kong cinema so great in the past. Full Strike marks Wong’s second time as a director, having both written and directed 2013’s Hardcore Comedy. However the pair have collaborated before, firstly on Kwok’s fire-fighting drama As the Lights Goes Out, in which he was a member of the special effects team, and also on a stop-motion short using Batman action figures. Go figure.

Bringing both of their talents to the directors chair, as well as writing the script, for a full length feature should be a winning combination, and within the first few minutes it becomes apparent that it is. Opening like an old-school kung fu movie, complete with a stern voiced narration tracing the origins of the sport from India to England, there’s no doubt we’re not going to be watching a normal sports drama. Soon we’re introduced to Beast Ng, played by Josie Ho, a lowly worker at her brother’s restaurant who, 10 years ago, used to be the ‘Queen of Hong Kong Badminton’. However thanks to her violent temper, her reign was short-lived.

All that changes though, and bear with me here, when she witnesses a large shuttlecock shaped meteorite fall to earth. Soon she’s being chased by an alien, or it could be a homeless person, and ends up in a run-down badminton school, which happens to be home to a trio of former ex-criminals. All three have some kind of physical impairment, the leader, played by Ekin Cheng (of the Young and Dangerous series fame), is hard of hearing. His two cohorts, one of which is played by Edmond Leong, only has one hand, and the other, played by Wilfred Lau, has poor eyesight. All three of them want to put their life of crime behind them, and redeem themselves through playing badminton. The question is, can Josie Ho rekindle her passion for the sport in time to get them in shape and compete in the Fantastic 5 Badminton Championship?

If the plot outline sounds like a completely random concept for a movie, you’d be right, and the above events also all take place in the first 10 minutes alone. Josie Ho holds the whole thing together though as a likeable anchor to which the craziness revolves around. Ho has been in the Hong Kong movie industry for over 20 years, a highlight of which was her lead role in 2010’s Dream Home (she also had a role in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, but we’ll forgive her), and Full Strike adds another highlight to her filmography. Paired with Ekin Cheng, fresh from starring alongside Jean Claude Van Damme in Jian Bing Man made the same year, they have a good chemistry with each other, with both characters serving to motivate the other to better themselves.

At its heart that’s really what Full Strike is about, bettering yourself regardless of the outcome, however it’s wrapped up in a Looney Tunes paced package that, to some degree, sometimes feels reminiscent of Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle. Kwok and Wong throw in plenty of subtle kung fu references, with characters names splashed onscreen in Chinese calligraphy to introduce them, nicknames like the Flying Devil, and a team logo that looks remarkably similar to the Shaw Brothers shield. There’s also a drunken master type character, who used to be a former badminton champion, but has fallen on hard times. Played by Andrew Lam, recognizable from Sammo Hung movies like Pantyhose Hero and Encounters of the Spooky Kind 2, some of Full Strike’s biggest laughs belong to him. From teaching badminton strokes using a couple of giant meat cleavers, to his random outbursts of English, to a fantastic projectile vomit scene.

Full Strike is very much reminiscent of the Hong Kong movies from the 80’s and early 90’s, especially Stephen Chow’s mo lei tau style of wordplay. Some of the interactions are no doubt lost in translation, however just as many hit the mark, with an expletive filled script that doesn’t shy from some hilariously foul language. Also just like those Hong Kong movies of old, it doesn’t shy from bad taste rape jokes either. I guess you have to take the bad with the good. However with such an anything goes approach, proceedings move on so quickly that nothing dwells in the mind too long before another left of field joke comes along, and reminds you it’s just a movie.

Throw in some nice references to kung fu movies of old, from a sequence which has Andrew Lam training the trio of ex-criminals Crippled Avengers style, to a match played with a steel capped shuttlecock. Full Strike could well be the badminton movie that fans of classic Hong Kong cinema never knew they wanted. Much like Gallants, from the music through to the set design and camera work, Kwok and Wong have constructed a movie that captures the essence of why we love watching these productions in the first place. The energy, the action, and most importantly, the heart that seems to have been missing from many of the Hong Kong film industries recent output, is here very much alive and well. For that alone, Full Strike warrants a watch.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10

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

Nick Cheung’s new thriller proves he’s a ‘Keeper of Darkness’

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Sam the Man
"Keeper of Darkness" Teaser Poster

"Keeper of Darkness" Teaser Poster

Looks like a certain someone feels right at home on the dark side: Nick Cheung’s (Helios) new thriller, Keeper of Darkness. In the film, Cheung plays a streetwise exorcist (Cheung) who becomes an overnight sensation when his extraordinary exorcism goes viral online.

Keeper of Darkness is Cheung’s sophomore directorial follow-up to last year’s Hungry Ghost Ritual. The movie is written by Sin Ling Yeung (The Bullet Vanishes) and stars Amber Kuo (Triumph in the Skies), Louis Cheung (The Legend is Born – Ip Man) and Sisley Choi (Overachievers).

Updates: The film’s trailer has just arrived. It is not only full of darkness but also special effects. Check it out here.

Posted in News |

Untold Story, The | aka Bunman (1993) Review

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Martin Sandison
"The Untold Story" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“The Untold Story” Japanese Theatrical Poster

Director: Herman Yau
Cast: Anthony Wong, Danny Lee, Emily Kwan, Lau Siu-Ming, Shing Fui-On, Parkman Wong Pak-Man, Yee Ka-Fat, Lam King-Kong, Julie Lee, Leung Hung-Wah
Running Time: 96 min.

By Martin Sandison

One of the most notorious Category 3 Hong Kong films ever made, Bunman (what a title!) features everything that makes extreme HK cinema so unique: brutality, seriously dark comedy and insane energy that spills off the screen. Only in Hong Kong in the 90’s would an actor as great as Anthony Wong star in such a disturbing film, and then win the Hong Kong film award for best actor for it! At the time Wong was making a name for himself, having appeared in amongst numerous others Ringo Lam’s bizarrely demented and uber stylish Full Contact and John Woo’s utter masterclass in action (and my favourite movie) Hard Boiled. 1993 was a very busy year for Wong, with his stand out roles in The Heroic Trio and another Category 3 thriller Taxi Hunter (also directed by Herman Yau) – only the tip of the iceberg.

Bunman gained a reputation for being nihilistic yet darkly comic, and it’s a testament to the idea and Wong’s performance that the film rises above its exploitative base to deliver a serious message about the nature of man and the realities of modern society. The very premise – purportedly based on a true story – is profoundly sick but humorous like the rest of the film. Wong plays Wong Chi-Hang, a restaurant owner who has inherited it from a gambling friend. As body parts start to pile up on the beach and Wong’s behaviour becomes increasingly psychotic, the police start to move in.

The film manages to maintain an edgy, dark atmosphere that is punctuated by silly comedy (what more would you expect of a 90’s HK film?) and Yau must be given credit for this. Without Wong’s performance the film would suffer however, and what a towering one it is. Wong constantly looks like a real psychotic throughout, a real nasty piece of work. Later in the film I grew to feel sorry for him though, despite his despicable actions. He gives shades of humanity to a real monster of a human being, deserving all the accolades he received. Subsequent Wong performances in everything from Category 3 shockers like Ebola Syndrome or gangster flicks like Johnnie To’s Exiled have proven his range, but none come close to the intensity on show in Bunman.

The film is produced by and co-starring Danny Lee, that legend of HK cinema. The previous year he had directed another Category 3 classic Dr. Lamb, the subject matter of which is similar to Bunman. Other than these two instantly recognisable faces, most of the cast are second or third tier HK actors. Emily Kwan Bo Wai features as Bo, the female officer who is the butt of most of the (sexist) jokes. She appeared in Dr. Lamb and Ringo Lam’s Full Alert among others. Lau Siu Ming has a small part as Cheng Lam, the friend of Wong’s who suffers greatly in his only scene. He is a veteran HK bit part actor, having been in Tsui Hark’s new wave fantasy extravaganza Butterfly Murders and Corey Yuen’s pure 80’s actioner (and the first HK film I ever bought on VHS) Righting Wrongs. Shing Fui On (Big Sillyhead to his fans) has a very small part as Lau’s brother, making Wong’s short spell in prison pretty horrible.

The catalogue of horrors that are depicted in the film are seriously twisted, and test even the strongest stomach. The worst of them comes midway through, with the murder of Cheng Lam and his family (including his three very young daughters). This scene is up there with the most harrowing moments of all cinema. Other ones feature Wong’s torture by the police – wherein a nurse who Wong had previously tried to use as a hostage injects him with water that creates blisters all over his skin – and his suicide attempt that culminates in him biting the artery on his wrist.

Despite not being for everyone, Bunman is a very engaging and intense film that anyone with a penchant for extreme cinema must check out. Obvious faults are the lack of a consistent style and the limitations of a low budget, but these can be overlooked. After watching Wong take on the role with so much gusto, I would be slightly worried if I met him! By all accounts he is one seriously cool and relaxed guy in person, giving credence to his unbelievable depiction of Wong Chi-Hang.

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 8/10

By Numskull

“We seem to be the only species who truly goes crazy without benefit of disease or a sharp blow to the head.” -Jessica Horsting, MIDNIGHT GRAFFITI (copyright 1992, Warner Books)

“Masterpiece” is not a word that I throw around lightly. Pardon me for saying so, but there are certain “critics” on the net who dole out perfect ratings way too easily. It’s feast or famine with some people; either a movie is “flawless,” “perfect,” and “tied with (72 other films) for Greatest Movie Ever Made,” OR, it’s “worthless,” “dog shit,” and “enjoyable only by those with I.Q.s of lower numerical value than their shoe sizes.” No middle ground? Bollocks.

If you ask me, there’s no such thing as a perfect movie, but there are a select few that are so impressive that I can forgive their shortcomings unconditionally. Like what? There’s BRAINDEAD (Yours Truly’s all-time favorite flick), POLICE STORY (Jackie Chan has yet to top it and probably never will), SEVEN (yeah, that’s right, a Hollywood movie…you got a problem with that?!?), and now, THE UNTOLD STORY (which, by the way, is only the second film I’ve ever reviewed on this site and given a 10/10 rating).

How about music? Can you think of any albums (do they still make those? I guess I should just say “CDs”) where you can listen to the whole thing through and not be even remotely tempted to skip a song or fast forward through a small part of one? I can…VEREHRT UND ANGESPIEN by In Extremo, and Kreator’s brilliant ENDORAMA (which, by the way, includes “Chosen Few,” a song I am going to insist, come Hell or waters high, be played at my wedding reception, in the unlikely event that I ever have one). Not even Skyclad…the greatest band ever to walk the Earth…has such a CD in their discography (which, by the way, has been growing steadily since 1991).

Books (you know, those things with words in them)? Well, the “masterpieces” I had to read in school bored the living shit out of me, and served as a solid basis for my theory that English teachers want to turn kids off of literature in general to prevent them from wanting to become English teachers themselves, thus ensuring their own job security via lack of competition (except for Alexander, of course). So what would I happily slap the “M” word on? Definitely TITUS GROAN and GORMENGHAST by Mervyn Peake, and maybe SURVIVOR (which, by the way, has nothing to do with that crappy TV show) by Chuck Palahniuk, author of FIGHT CLUB (which, by the way, has a much cooler ending than the movie).

Now that I’ve lost about 70% of my audience by talking about books and the other 30% by shamelessly plugging stuff, I can get on with THE UNTOLD STORY. It’s a deliberately nasty, brutal film based on a tragic, real-life story (which, by the way, means it is no longer “untold”). How accurately the events are presented…how much fiction is mixed in with the facts…I do not know. Perhaps it doesn’t even matter, because there’s so much senseless violence in the real world anyway; the movie painfully drives home the reminder that all sorts of terrible things can happen to anyone at anytime…especially at the hands of another human being.

Anthony Wong is brilliant as the psychotic Wong Chi Hang. He strikes a perfect balance between ultra-violent dementia and false normalcy. The most dangerous sort of lunatic is the one who gives an outward appearance of being a mentally stable, unremarkable (if a little obnoxious, in Wong’s case) member of society, letting their insanity out to play only when it is safe to do so (or when they’re going to kill all the witnesses…). That’s what you can expect to see in this movie. A lesser actor probably would have played the role like an obscene Saturday morning cartoon super-villain, mindlessly slobbering over child pornography and laughing hysterically while beating people to death in public. Wong resists the temptation to play a Satanic Jim Carrey on crack and instead gives us a thoroughly impressive and utterly plausible performance. Small wonder he won the 1993 Hong Kong Best Actor award for it.

Meanwhile, Danny Lee plays a cop for about the 847th time. He regularly picks up prostitutes (or at least loose women) and he bosses around a few men who alternately try to please him, try to score with his chicks, and needle their female colleague about her lack of ladylike characteristics. They get slapped a lot. The darkly comic aspects of The Untold Story revolve around these decidedly UN-Supercops; witness their childish “Eww, gross” reaction to the human body parts that wash up on a beach at the beginning of the movie.

Too much has been made of the whole “people getting chopped up and fed to restaurant patrons in the form of meat buns” business (which, by the way, is somewhat perpetuated by the restaurant-style DVD menus…nice touch). Yeah, it happens, but to say that that’s what the movie is “about” would be doing it a great disservice.

There can be no argument that the Category III rating is warranted. Little is held back in terms of raw brutality. Two scenes in particular stand out for being shockingly explicit. I don’t want to give too much away; you’ll know which scenes I’m talking about when you see them. After reading EXQUISITE CORPSE by Poppy Z. Brite and AMERICAN PSYCHO by Bret Easton Ellis (which, by the way, is so gruesome it makes the movie look like a Disney cartoon by comparison), you can handle pretty much anything, so I wasn’t bothered too deeply. YOU might be. And I wouldn’t blame you. Watching women get raped and children get butchered ain’t for everyone. Remember, though: stuff like this happens to somebody, somewhere, every single day.

The script is very well-done. It would have been easy to throw together a cheesy teen slasher flick-type flow of events where Wong remains on the loose until the very end, when the last fine officer of the law finally brings him down. Mercifully, a much more realistic and satisfying road gets taken. I find it a little hard to believe that the cops would have found the evidence in the garbage truck THAT quickly (and in the dark, no less), but, when my first and foremost quibble is something as minor as that, I’m perfectly willing to look the other way.

I’ll definitely be checking out the other Herman Yau/Anthony Wong collaborations, such as TAXI HUNTER and NEW TENANT (which, by the way…oh, shit, I haven’t seen it yet so I guess I’ve got nothing to add here). I’ll be one deliriously happy camper if I enjoy them half as much as I enjoyed The Untold Story.

Which, by the way, was one hell of a lot.

Numskull’s Rating: 10/10

Posted in Chinese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , |

‘Legend is Born – Ip Man’ star forms a new film company

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Sam the Man
"The Legend Is Born – Ip Man" Japanese Theatrical Poster

"The Legend Is Born – Ip Man" Japanese Theatrical Poster

If you are a fan of The Legend is Born: Ip Man, you may be wondering where main actor Dennis To Yu-Hang is up to these days. Since The Legend is Born, he has appeared in a number of films but hasn’t had many opportunities to really show off his skills as a martial artist again. His last film appearance was in Wong Jing’s 2013 film Princess & Seven Gongfu Masters.

But it looks like To may be making a major comeback soon. Hong Kong media has just reported that he has formed a new film company and the company’s first projects will include a horror film and an action movie. To will be starring in both films and it will certainly be interesting to see whether he can really shine in his own productions.

We’ll keep you updated on this story as we hear more!

Posted in News |

Cityonfire.com’s ‘Northern Limit Line’ Blu-ray Giveaway! – WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Posted on October 19, 2015 by JJ Bona
Northern Limit Line | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Northern Limit Line | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Cityonfire.com and Well Go USA are giving away 3 Blu-ray copies of Northern Limit Line to three lucky Cityonfire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, this video.

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. Additionally, you must ‘Like Us‘ on cityonfire.com’s Facebook by clicking here.

The Blu-ray & DVD for Northern Limit Line will be officially released on October 20, 2015. We will announce the 3 winners on October 21st.

CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by October 20, 2015 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.

WINNERS: Alan Tan, Sito and Bernie W.

Posted in News | Tagged |

Advocate: A Missing Body, The (2015) Review

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"The Advocate: A Missing Body" Korean Theatrical Poster

“The Advocate: A Missing Body” Theatrical Poster

Director: Huh Jong-Ho
Cast: Lee Sun-Kyun, Kim Go-Eun, Lim Won-Hee, Jang Hyun-Sung, Hong Sung-Duk, Kim Yoon-hye, Kwak In-joon, Choi Jae-woong, Park Ji-yeong
Running Time: 117 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Korean cinema has a habit of churning out inferior copycats to the movies that make an impact both on home soil and overseas. That’s why for every The Man from Nowhere we have a Man of Vendetta, and for every Masquerade we have a Memories of the Sword. Whether it be a suspiciously similar story, or the casting of a certain actor in an almost identical role, the copycats rarely stand up on their own two feet, and tend to become quickly forgotten. Part of this comes down to the fact that, regardless of the quality of the production, there’s no escaping the obvious fact that the movies in question would never have been given the green light, if not for the success of the title they’ve been inspired by

A Hard Day was one of the surprise hits of 2013, directed and written by Kim Seong-hoon, the movie has Lee Seon-gyoon playing a cop frantically trying to cover up the body of a man he accidentally kills in a hit and run incident. As much as it’s a thriller, A Hard Day also works just as effectively as a dark comedy, punctuated with some brief bursts of entertaining action. A couple of years later, and we have The Advocate: A Missing Body, which gives us Lee Seon-gyoon playing an incredibly confident lawyer, who’s frantically trying to find the body of a female that’s been the victim of a brutal murder. It just so happens that he’s the lawyer of the number one suspect. So in 2 years Seon-gyoon has gone from being a cop trying to hide a body, to a lawyer trying to find a body.

The Advocate: A Missing Body is directed by Heo Jong-ho, and the movie marks his sophomore effort after 2011’s thriller Countdown. Working from a script by Choi Kwan-yeong and Lee Gong-joo, the pair have put together an effective piece of crime storytelling. Kwan-yeong was himself involved in adapting the previously mentioned A Hard Day, and was also responsible for scripting the fantastic 2009 effort Bedevilled. Gong-joo on the other hand is clearly the less experienced of the pair, having only previously scripted the average horror Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp, and the Ryoo Seung-beom starring Suspect X. Regardless of this though, the pair have crafted a nicely constructed tale of blind sides and double crosses.

Where The Advocate: A Missing Body really goes wrong then, is in the execution. When we’re first introduced to Seon-gyoon’s lawyer character, for the first 30 minutes he’s almost insufferable. Overly confident to the point of arrogance, swaggering about, and clicking finger guns to the female staff at his office, it’s difficult to describe him as anything other than annoying. He’s paired with Im Won-hee, a familiar face of mid-budget Korean productions and favorite of director Ryoo Seung-wan (most notably he played the title role in Dachimawa Lee), however as performers they don’t really seem to gel, and never become entirely convincing as partners.

Seon-gyoon’s lawyer thankfully has a serious blow delivered to his confidence when, at the 30 minute mark, the suspect he’s worked so hard to try and convince the courtroom of is innocent, stands up and confesses to the murder. Having convinced a pair of the suspects friends to lie in court about the suspects relationship with the victim, when this revelation also comes to light his reputation is left in tatters. The only catch is that the body of the victim was never located, which remains Seon-gyoon’s sole piece of information to try and piece together exactly what’s going on and redeem himself as an upholder of justice.

While his reputation has been tarnished, his wits certainly haven’t been, and part of the appeal of The Advocate: A Missing Body comes down to watching Seon-gyoon smartly figure his way out of various conundrums he finds himself in. He has a capable match in actress Kim Go-eun, who goes from initially playing the prosecutor in the case, to someone that comes around to Seon-gyoon’s feeling that everything may not be as clear cut as it seems. Go-eun is one of Korea’s best up and coming actresses. After making her debut in 2012’s erotically charged drama A Muse, she turned in an equally impressive performance in Coin Locker Girl, and does so again here. While she’s made a couple of missteps along the way, notably with roles in flops like Monster, and most recently Memories of the Sword, there’s no denying Go-eun has a lot of talent.

Despite the caliber of the performers involved, and the quality of the script, there’s no escaping the pedestrian direction that the production suffers from. In many ways it’s easy to draw comparisons to Chronicles of Evil, also released in 2015, which similarly draws on the success of A Hard Day, crafting a tale of a cop trying to cover up the accidental killing of a random stranger. Both productions seems to suffer from the fact that neither have the same budget behind them as the movie that inspired them, and more importantly, neither seem to have the same passion. Despite the various predicaments that Seon-gyoon finds himself in, and there are many, there’s a distinct lack of urgency that surrounds any of the action taken as a result of circumstance. Even when he has to resort to chasing a motorcycle on foot, the lack of any excitement or danger sticks out like a sore thumb. As an audience we’re watching it, but we’re far from being involved in it.

During the final third, Jong-ho also makes a fatal error that perhaps points to his lack of experience as a director. By this time it’s been well and truly established how smart Seon-gyoon is, and his ability to stay one step ahead of those wanting to tarnish his name. However when a plot revelation is revealed which sees him deciding to side with the villains, there’s no way on earth any self respecting audience member would believe he’s truly become a bad guy. Jong-ho should be aware of this, so at the very least could have delivered a visual wink to the audience, assuring us that we’re along for the ride. However it seems he also presumes we should fall for his act of siding with the villains, making the whole episode a chore to get through, as we’re simply left waiting for it to be revealed that he’s still a good guy, rather than being told the obvious from the beginning.

Ultimately The Advocate: A Missing Body is difficult to review precisely because of how average it is. It’s not that bad, but at the same time it’s far from being good. Both here and with Chronicles of Evil, I was left with the distinct impression that both productions would have benefited from being made in the TV drama format, rather than a feature length production. There’s nothing decidedly cinematic about Jong-ho’s movie, and it’s mostly strung together with scenes that consist of characters talking to each other to propel the plot forward, in other words – perfect Korean TV drama material. As it stands though, judging The Advocate: A Missing Body as a mid-budget crime thriller, it passes the time much the same way as an episode of Columbo or Ironside. Whether that’s a compliment or not, is for the audience to decide.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10

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

Deal on Fire! The Last Dragon | Blu-ray | Only $9.99 – Expires soon!

Posted on October 18, 2015 by JJ Bona
The Last Dragon | Blu-ray (Sony)

The Last Dragon | Blu-ray (Sony)

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for 1985’s The Last Dragon, starring Taimak, Vanity (Action Jackson), Christopher Murney, Julius Carry, Glen Eaton and Ernie Reyes Jr. (Red Sonja).

An enjoyable pastiche of martial arts, romance, music, and video, The Last Dragon presents a likable young hero, Leroy (Taimak), who aspires to become a kung fu master. Though black and living in Harlem with his family, Leroy lives like a Chinese. Trouble arises in the form of a huge black man who calls himself “Sho’ Nuff, who is determined to prove himself the kung fu master of the neighborhood. Watch the trailer!

Order The Last Dragon from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

Tran Quoc Bao delivers kung fu action in ‘The Challenger’

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Sam the Man
"The Challenger" Promotional Poster

“The Challenger” Promotional Poster

Here’s an awesome short film (below) for all of you kung fu fans to enjoy. Titled The Challenger, the short is the prequel for an upcoming feature film from Vietnamese-American filmmaker Tran Quoc Bao. Tran is writing, directing and editing the film, which stars Martial Club’s Andy Le and Ken Quitugua of ZeroGravity Stunts.

Tran says he wants his film’s audience to rush out of the theater screaming and punching the air. The film is slated for production in North America, late 2016. Trans is currently looking for additional investors, sales partners, and production collaborators.

For more information on The Challenger, visit the film’s official site.

Posted in News |

Simon Yam is either ‘Inside or Outside’ the action!

Posted on October 15, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Inside or Outside" Chinese Theatrical Poster

"Inside or Outside" Chinese Theatrical Poster

Simon Yam (Cross, Wild City) is back to doing what he does best in Inside or Outside, an upcoming action-thriller helmed by Mak Wing-Lun (SDU: Sex Duties Unit), a filmmaker prominently known for being the assistant director for Bodyguards and Assassins (2009) and The Grandmaster (2013).

Yam stars alongside Wallace Huo (Sound of Colors) and South Korean star, Jang Hyuk (Windstruck, The Flu). According to soompi.com, Inside or Outside follows a man with a mysterious past who gets caught up in a series of accidents and becomes the target of an assassinator.

Inside or Outside hits Chinese theaters on November 10, 2015. Don’t miss the film’s trailer!

Posted in News |
  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. ...
  5. 257
  6. 258
  7. 259
  8. 260
  9. 261
  10. 262
  11. 263
  12. 264
  13. 265
  14. 266
  15. 267
  16. ...
  17. 495