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Mute Witness by Eric Cotenas (26th July 2024)
Saturn Award (Best Horror Film): Mute Witness (nominee) and Best Actress: Marina Zudina (nominee) - Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, 1996 Sitges (Best Film): Anthony Waller (nominee) - Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival, 1995 Special Jury Prize: Anthony Waller (winner) and Special Mention: Marina Zudina (winner) - Gérardmer Film Festival, 1996 Nika (Best Producer): Grigory Ryazhsky and Alexander Atanesyan (winner) - Nika Awards, 1995 Mute make-up effects artist Billie Hughes (Gold Diggers' Marina Sudina) is working on a low budget horror film in Moscow with her script superviso... |
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Ransom by James-Masaki Ryan (26th July 2024)
"Ransom" (1974) British Ambassador to Scandinavia Mr. Palmer (played by Robert Harris) is held hostage in his home by a group of stocking masked terrorists led by Shepherd (played by John Quentin). At the same time, there is a plane hijacking led by Petrie (played by Ian McShane) who holds and crew and passengers hostage at the airport tarmac until the ambassador is escorted on board in exchange. Called in to diffuse the situation is Scandinavian head of security Colonel Nils Tahlvik (played by Sean Connery), as they have a time limit on how to proceed, or the explosives that were carried on board would be detonated with all on board. It is a race against the clock, and though Tahlvik might be dealing with something much more than he anticipated... "Ransom" is in line with a number of thrillers of the 1970s in which plots involving corrupt politics and international terrorism mirrored a number of real-life counterparts in the daily headlines. With the mysteries ... |
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To Kill with Intrigue by Eric Cotenas (22nd July 2024)
Fortress maiden Qian-qian (The Killer Meteors' Yu Ling-Lung) slips away from the birthday celebration of her master Jinfeng (The One-Armed Boxer's Ma Chi) for an assignation with his son and heir Lei (Operation Condor's Jackie Chan); however, he rejects her when she tells him she is pregnant and she runs off into the night. Returning to his father's home Lei behaves boorishly with his father's esteemed guests and they take their leave. Jinfeng demands an explanation only for Lei to present him with a severed hand tattooed with a honey bee which tells him that the "Killer Bee Gang" have come to exact revenge upon him for trying to wipe them out fifteen years before. Jinfeng implores his son and wife (The Sword's |
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Fearless Hyena II by Eric Cotenas (22nd July 2024)
After their elder brother is killed by the Luk Hop Bagua Klan's Heaven and Earth Devils (Once Upon a Time in China's Yen Shi-Kwan and Miami Connection's Best Kwon Yeong-Moon), Ching Tsun-pei (Raining in the Mountain's Chen Hui-Lou) and Ching Tsun-nam (The Big Boss's James Tien) flee with the former's two sons Ching Lung and Ah Tung but they get separated and Tsun-nam and Ah Tung are sheltered by Master Siu (The Killer Meteors' Ma Chiang) of the Beggar Clan who finds them a safe place to hid... |
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The Music Lovers by James-Masaki Ryan (21st July 2024)
"The Music Lovers" (1971) Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky (played by Richard Chamberlain) makes a drastic change to his life that would ultimately become a dangerous downward spiral. His compositions have created both praise and controversy with people and critics, with some rejoicing in the music's powerful force, while others criticize the stances and tones against conventions. He marries Nina (played by Glenda Jackson) to further his social status, though he is hiding his homosexuality, and his longtime friend and confidant Anton Chiluvsky (played by Christopher Gable) sees this as a betrayal to their personal and professional friendship. While Nina is ecstatic that she has become the wife of a dignified artist, Pyotr is unable to satisfy her sexual urges, and it affects the marriage to a violent breaking point as well as purring a strain on his creativity. Classical music has been a favorite subject of filmmaker Ken Russell whether as documentaries or biopics.... |
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To Kill with Intrigue by Eric Cotenas (21st July 2024)
Fortress maiden Qian-qian (The Killer Meteors' Yu Ling-Lung) slips away from the birthday celebration of her master Jinfeng (The One-Armed Boxer's Ma Chi) for an assignation with his son and heir Lei (Operation Condor's Jackie Chan); however, he rejects her when she tells him she is pregnant and she runs off into the night. Returning to his father's home Lei behaves boorishly with his father's esteemed guests and they take their leave. Jinfeng demands an explanation only for Lei to present him with a severed hand tattooed with a honey bee which tells him that the "Killer Bee Gang" have come to exact revenge upon him for trying to wipe them out fifteen years before. Jinfeng implores his son and wife (The Sword's |
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Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings by Eric Cotenas (20th July 2024)
In 1955, the local badasses of Ferren Woods brutally murdered deformed backwoods orphan Tommy (The Day After Tomorrow's J.P. Manoux) who was believed to be the hell spawn of a demon and a woman. In present day 1993, Sean Braddock (Hellraiser's Andrew Robinson) returns home from New York with his wife (Teen Witch's Caren Caye) to take over the job of sheriff, hoping the small town life will keep his resentful teenage daughter Jenny (Ticks' Ami Dolenz) out of trouble. Unfortunately, she's already hanging out with the town's new generation of badasses: Danny Dixon (... |
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Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum by Eric Cotenas (19th July 2024)
Grand Bell Award (Best New Actor): Wi Ha-joon (nominee), Best Planning: Won-guk Kim (nominee), and Best Editing: Hyung-ju Kim and Yang Dong-yub (nominees) - Grand Bell Awards, South Korea, 2018 Blue Dragon Award (Best New Actor): Wi Ha-joon (nominee), Best New Actress: Park Ji-hyun (nominee), Best Editing : Hyung-ju Kim and Yang Dong-yub (winners), and Best Technical Award (sound): Ju-kang Park and Yong Ki Park (nominees) - Blue Dragon Awards, 2018 Chunsa Film Art Award (Best New Actor): Wi Ha-joon (nominee) and Best New Actress: ... |
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Madman AKA Legend Lives (The) AKA Madman Marz (Blu-ray 4K) by Paul Lewis (18th July 2024)
Madman (Joe Giannone, 1982)
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Victims of Sin: The Criterion Collection by Noor Razzak (17th July 2024)
"Victims of Sin" (1951), directed by Emilio Fernández, stands as a testament to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, renowned for its dramatic intensity and social commentary. Set against the backdrop of post-revolutionary Mexico, the film delves deep into the lives of its characters, exploring themes of poverty, exploitation, and societal injustices. The narrative unfolds with Carmen, played by the captivating Ninón Sevilla, a nightclub dancer whose life is a labyrinth of struggles. Carmen’s character is compellingly portrayed as she navigates a world where men wield power and women are often relegated to roles of subservience and objectification. Sevilla’s performance is a tour-de-force, embodying both vulnerability and resilience, making Carmen a sympathetic yet complex figure. Fernández’s direction is masterful in capturing the gritty realism of urban Mexico City, juxtaposing the glamour of the nightclub scenes with the harsh realities faced by Carmen and those around her. The cinematography by Gabriel Figueroa is striking, using chiaroscuro lighting to heighten the emotional int... |
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The Crippled Masters by Eric Cotenas (16th July 2024)
After running afoul of his ruthless master Lin Chang Kung (Li Chung-Chien), escort Lee Ho (Shun Chung-Chuen billed as "Frank Shum") is punished by having both of his arms chopped off by order of the master's current favorite Tang (Thomas Hong Chiu-Ming, billed in some territories as "Jackie Conn" and others as "Bruce Leei") and is tossed onto the street with orders to get out of town fast. When Lee Ho begs his way into a restaurant, he is unable to feed himself and is further humiliated by the waiter (Pei De-Yun) and then nearly beaten to death by the bouncer (Pang San). Lee Ho is nursed back to health by the local undertaker who is aware of Lin Chang Kung's brutality having regularly provided him with coffins. When Lin Chang Kung's sadistic second-in-command Mr. Pow (Hsiang Mei-Lung) discovers Lee Ho is still in town, he sends Lin Chang Ku... |
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Shinobi: Limited Edition by Eric Cotenas (16th July 2024)
"Starring “the Japanese James Dean” Raizo Ichikawa (Sleepy Eyes of Death, Conflagration) alongside Tomisaburo Wakayama (Lone Wolf and Cub, the Bounty Hunter trilogy) and Ayako Wakao (Elegant Beast, Red Angel), the Shinobi series was an epoch-making success and became a social phenomenon that left deep marks on Japan of the 1960s, from children’s playgrounds to the leftist counter-culture. Packed with spectacular and oft-copied action scenes, it also established the ground rules for all ninja movies that followed, introducing such classic tropes as the shuriken throwing star and the iconic black mask and suit." Band of Assassins: In his ambitious ascent to become Shōgun, Oda Nobunaga (Shogun Assassin's Tomisaburô Wakayama) has made victories by persecuting and eradicating clans of the ninja class, but it is his burning down of the temple at Mount Hiei and the resulting deaths of sixteen-hundred clergyman that has made him an enemy to Buddha, and thus, an enemy to all ninja. Upon l... |
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Shinobi: Limited Edition by Eric Cotenas (16th July 2024)
"Starring “the Japanese James Dean” Raizo Ichikawa (Sleepy Eyes of Death, Conflagration) alongside Tomisaburo Wakayama (Lone Wolf and Cub, the Bounty Hunter trilogy) and Ayako Wakao (Elegant Beast, Red Angel), the Shinobi series was an epoch-making success and became a social phenomenon that left deep marks on Japan of the 1960s, from children’s playgrounds to the leftist counter-culture. Packed with spectacular and oft-copied action scenes, it also established the ground rules for all ninja movies that followed, introducing such classic tropes as the shuriken throwing star and the iconic black mask and suit." Band of Assassins: In his ambitious ascent to become Shōgun, Oda Nobunaga (Shogun Assassin's Tomisaburô Wakayama) has made victories by persecuting and eradicating clans of the ninja class, but it is his burning down of the temple at Mount Hiei and the resulting deaths of sixteen-hundred clergyman that has made him an enemy to Buddha, and thus, an enemy to all ninja. Upon l... |
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Shinobi: Limited Edition by Eric Cotenas (16th July 2024)
"Starring “the Japanese James Dean” Raizo Ichikawa (Sleepy Eyes of Death, Conflagration) alongside Tomisaburo Wakayama (Lone Wolf and Cub, the Bounty Hunter trilogy) and Ayako Wakao (Elegant Beast, Red Angel), the Shinobi series was an epoch-making success and became a social phenomenon that left deep marks on Japan of the 1960s, from children’s playgrounds to the leftist counter-culture. Packed with spectacular and oft-copied action scenes, it also established the ground rules for all ninja movies that followed, introducing such classic tropes as the shuriken throwing star and the iconic black mask and suit." Band of Assassins: In his ambitious ascent to become Shōgun, Oda Nobunaga (Shogun Assassin's Tomisaburô Wakayama) has made victories by persecuting and eradicating clans of the ninja class, but it is his burning down of the temple at Mount Hiei and the resulting deaths of sixteen-hundred clergyman that has made him an enemy to Buddha, and thus, an enemy to all ninja. Upon l... |
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Stopmotion by Eric Cotenas (11th July 2024)
Ella Blake (The Nightingale's Aisling Franciosi) has lived in the shadow of her stop motion animated mother Suzanne (Nicholas Nickleby's Stella Gonet), creatively- and emotionally-stunted – to intimidated into silence whenever she tries to voice her own ideas – merely the hands to her mother's brain as she endeavors to finish her last film before dying. When her mother falls into a coma, Ella vows to finish her mother's project, moving into a loft in a warehouse scheduled for demolition with the help of her part-time musician boyfriend Tom (Poldark's Tom York). Ella's progress is frustrated not only by her own lack of confidence in her creative abilities but also by visits from an inquisitive young girl (Caoilinn Springall |
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Homework by Eric Cotenas (11th July 2024)
Seventeen-year-old high school senior Tommy (Michael Morgan) has been impeached as school president, his grades have slipped significantly, and his attitude towards his teachers leaves much to be desired; the reason: he is still a virgin when it seems that everyone else around him is getting laid. He has a girlfriend in Sheila (Mack the Knife's Erin Donovan) but her failure to place in the swimming team trials has caused her to neglect her relationships with Tommy and her best friend Lisa (Cheerleaders' Wild Weekend's Shell Kepler); in fact, Tommy finds himself spending more time with Sheila's mother Diane (Revenge's Joan Collins). Discussing the dearth of substance in today's music, Tommy and his pal Ralph (... |
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You'll Never Find Me by James-Masaki Ryan (7th July 2024)
"You'll Never Find Me" (2023) Patrick (played by Brendan Rock) lives alone in his caravan in a rural trailer park. On one stormy evening, a young woman (played by Jordan Cowan) knocks at his door, looking for shelter as her car broke down. While slightly reluctant, he offers her some tea and dry clothes until the storm clears. But as they talk throughout the evening, some things don't quite add up, with Patrick questioning how the woman came into the closed off trailer park, and some of Patrick's stories that he is telling her may or may not be true. "You'll Never Find Me" is a chamber film taking place almost entirely in one enclosed location, this being the caravan of the character Patrick. In addition, there are basically only two characters for most of the feature with the unnamed woman and Patrick. It can be difficult to sustain audiences for a feature length runtime with such constrictions placed as there is no change in scenery and no change in characters on screen. While it has its flaws and imperfections, it does a good job in leading audiences down ... |
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The Flesh and Blood Show - The Horror Films of Pete Walker by Eric Cotenas (4th July 2024)
"Celebrated as the 'Godfather of British Horror', Pete Walker is one of the most controversial exploitation filmmakers of the '60s and '70s. Graduating from saucy sex comedies and gangland dramas, Walker finally found tabloid infamy making gore-splattered horror movies (or "terror movies" as he preferred to call them)... Die Screaming, Marianne: Marianne “The Hips” MacDonald (Straw Dogs' Susan George) lives life on the run, from go-go dancing in Portugal to shacking up and intending to marry Sebastian (Deep End's Christopher Sandford) after he picks her up hitchhiking and spirits her away to the relative safety of London. In spite of a two-week courtship, Marianne is suddenly having misgivings about marrying Sebastian and negotiates a clerical error that finds Sebastian’s best man Eli (... |
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The Flesh and Blood Show - The Horror Films of Pete Walker by Eric Cotenas (3rd July 2024)
"Celebrated as the 'Godfather of British Horror', Pete Walker is one of the most controversial exploitation filmmakers of the '60s and '70s. Graduating from saucy sex comedies and gangland dramas, Walker finally found tabloid infamy making gore-splattered horror movies (or "terror movies" as he preferred to call them)... Die Screaming, Marianne: Marianne “The Hips” MacDonald (Straw Dogs' Susan George) lives life on the run, from go-go dancing in Portugal to shacking up and intending to marry Sebastian (Deep End's Christopher Sandford) after he picks her up hitchhiking and spirits her away to the relative safety of London. In spite of a two-week courtship, Marianne is suddenly having misgivings about marrying Sebastian and negotiates a clerical error that finds Sebastian’s best man Eli (... |
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The Flesh and Blood Show - The Horror Films of Pete Walker by Eric Cotenas (3rd July 2024)
"Celebrated as the 'Godfather of British Horror', Pete Walker is one of the most controversial exploitation filmmakers of the '60s and '70s. Graduating from saucy sex comedies and gangland dramas, Walker finally found tabloid infamy making gore-splattered horror movies (or "terror movies" as he preferred to call them)... Die Screaming, Marianne: Marianne “The Hips” MacDonald (Straw Dogs' Susan George) lives life on the run, from go-go dancing in Portugal to shacking up and intending to marry Sebastian (Deep End's Christopher Sandford) after he picks her up hitchhiking and spirits her away to the relative safety of London. In spite of a two-week courtship, Marianne is suddenly having misgivings about marrying Sebastian and negotiates a clerical error that finds Sebastian’s best man Eli (... |
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The Flesh and Blood Show - The Horror Films of Pete Walker by Eric Cotenas (3rd July 2024)
"Celebrated as the 'Godfather of British Horror', Pete Walker is one of the most controversial exploitation filmmakers of the '60s and '70s. Graduating from saucy sex comedies and gangland dramas, Walker finally found tabloid infamy making gore-splattered horror movies (or "terror movies" as he preferred to call them)... Die Screaming, Marianne: Marianne “The Hips” MacDonald (Straw Dogs' Susan George) lives life on the run, from go-go dancing in Portugal to shacking up and intending to marry Sebastian (Deep End's Christopher Sandford) after he picks her up hitchhiking and spirits her away to the relative safety of London. In spite of a two-week courtship, Marianne is suddenly having misgivings about marrying Sebastian and negotiates a clerical error that finds Sebastian’s best man Eli (... |
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The Flesh and Blood Show - The Horror Films of Pete Walker by Eric Cotenas (3rd July 2024)
"Celebrated as the 'Godfather of British Horror', Pete Walker is one of the most controversial exploitation filmmakers of the '60s and '70s. Graduating from saucy sex comedies and gangland dramas, Walker finally found tabloid infamy making gore-splattered horror movies (or "terror movies" as he preferred to call them)... Die Screaming, Marianne: Marianne “The Hips” MacDonald (Straw Dogs' Susan George) lives life on the run, from go-go dancing in Portugal to shacking up and intending to marry Sebastian (Deep End's Christopher Sandford) after he picks her up hitchhiking and spirits her away to the relative safety of London. In spite of a two-week courtship, Marianne is suddenly having misgivings about marrying Sebastian and negotiates a clerical error that finds Sebastian’s best man Eli (... |
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The Flesh and Blood Show - The Horror Films of Pete Walker by Eric Cotenas (3rd July 2024)
"Celebrated as the 'Godfather of British Horror', Pete Walker is one of the most controversial exploitation filmmakers of the '60s and '70s. Graduating from saucy sex comedies and gangland dramas, Walker finally found tabloid infamy making gore-splattered horror movies (or "terror movies" as he preferred to call them)... Die Screaming, Marianne: Marianne “The Hips” MacDonald (Straw Dogs' Susan George) lives life on the run, from go-go dancing in Portugal to shacking up and intending to marry Sebastian (Deep End's Christopher Sandford) after he picks her up hitchhiking and spirits her away to the relative safety of London. In spite of a two-week courtship, Marianne is suddenly having misgivings about marrying Sebastian and negotiates a clerical error that finds Sebastian’s best man Eli (... |
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The Flesh and Blood Show - The Horror Films of Pete Walker by Eric Cotenas (3rd July 2024)
"Celebrated as the 'Godfather of British Horror', Pete Walker is one of the most controversial exploitation filmmakers of the '60s and '70s. Graduating from saucy sex comedies and gangland dramas, Walker finally found tabloid infamy making gore-splattered horror movies (or "terror movies" as he preferred to call them)... Die Screaming, Marianne: Marianne “The Hips” MacDonald (Straw Dogs' Susan George) lives life on the run, from go-go dancing in Portugal to shacking up and intending to marry Sebastian (Deep End's Christopher Sandford) after he picks her up hitchhiking and spirits her away to the relative safety of London. In spite of a two-week courtship, Marianne is suddenly having misgivings about marrying Sebastian and negotiates a clerical error that finds Sebastian’s best man Eli (... |
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Floating Clouds by James-Masaki Ryan (1st July 2024)
"Floating Clouds" 「浮雲」 (1955) Following the end of WWII, Yukiko (played by Hideko Takamine) returns to Japan from Indochina, where she was working as a secretary for the colonizing Japanese government. She first goes to the home of Kengo (played by Masayuki Mori) who worked with her in Indochina. Though he was married at the time, the two had an affair during their time overseas, but upon returning to Japan, he was obligated to take care of his wife who had become ill. Yukiko’s prospects in the postwar country is limited, as is for Kengo who is also finding it difficult with a sickly wife to take care of and not having a steady job. Their lives move in separate directions, yet they are continuously drawn back to each other, looking to find the spark they had. But timing is not on their side... Famed writer and journalist Fumiko Hayashi started publishing the dramatic postwar story of "Ukigumo" in serialized form from November 1949 and concluding in April of 1951. Her fictional work on many ... |
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Amsterdamned by Eric Cotenas (1st July 2024)
When the gutted body of a hooker is discovered hanging from a bridge, the mayor is worried about the impact on tourism of a "psycho killer in Amsterdam's famed canals," especially once the shredded bodies of two fisherman turn up on the docks, a Salvation Army officer turns up in the canal garbage, and a bathing beauty is eviscerated in broad daylight. All Detective Eric Visser (Knockin' on Heaven's Door's Huub Stapel) and his partner Vermeer (Soldier of Orange's Serge-Henri Valcke) have to go on is a bag lady's claim that it was a "monster who came out of the water." A fragment of rubber, a depth gauge, and the wounds on the victims suggest to Visser and river police colleague John (Wim Zomer) that the killer is a diver, and the twenty-five miles of canal crisscrossing the city provide him ideal cover and access to victims. With more than eight-thousand registered div... |
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Man of Violence/The Big Switch by Eric Cotenas (26th June 2024)
Man of Violence: When gangster Hunt (Snake Dancer's Kenneth Hendel) smashes up one of a handful of dive clubs on London's West End recently bought up by "respectable" businessman Sam Bryant (The Wicked Lady's Derek Francis), he suspects his partner Charles Grayson (Die! Die! My Darling!'s Maurice Kaufmann) from his past days of dodgier dealings of being behind it. Rather than expose his past to the public, Bryant has his right-hand man Nixon (Come Play with Me's Derek Aylward) hire the titular "man of violence" Moon (... |
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A Queen's Ransom by Eric Cotenas (24th June 2024)
In the aftermath of the Indo-Chinese, the Royal Hong Kong Police have had their resources stretched with the influx of refugees from various Asian territories. With Queen Elizabeth II set to make a landmark visit to Hong Kong, British security forces alerts the police chief (The Frogmen's Ko Chun-Hsiung) of an IRA plot to assassinate the Queen during her visit with the help of the Chinese Red Army. The British security officer identifies the chief operatives – Irishman George Morgan (On Her Majesty's Secret Service's George Lazenby), demolition expert Miyamoto (The Assassin's Chang Pei-Shan), Thai boxer Ram (Double Impact's Bolo Yeung Sze), Chinese sharp... |
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Man of Violence/The Big Switch by Eric Cotenas (24th June 2024)
Man of Violence: When gangster Hunt (Snake Dancer's Kenneth Hendel) smashes up one of a handful of dive clubs on London's West End recently bought up by "respectable" businessman Sam Bryant (The Wicked Lady's Derek Francis), he suspects his partner Charles Grayson (Die! Die! My Darling!'s Maurice Kaufmann) from his past days of dodgier dealings of being behind it. Rather than expose his past to the public, Bryant has his right-hand man Nixon (Come Play with Me's Derek Aylward) hire the titular "man of violence" Moon (... |
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The Valiant Ones by Eric Cotenas (21st June 2024)
For three centuries, Japanese ronin have teamed up with local bandits to ravage the Chinese coasts of Fujian and Zejiang, smuggling, robbing, and raping wherever they go. Entire armies sent by the Chinese government to annihilate the threat have never returned while efforts on the part of the King Court to the Japanese emperor have also failed due to the collusion of the Japanese consulate and Chinese officials with the pirates. Chinese Emperor Jiajing (The Beauty of Beauties' Chao Lei) complacently rules over a court rife with corruption but his treasury is suffering from the plundering of the pirates, so he appoints General Zhu Wan (filmmaker Tu Kuang-Chi) as Governor of Zejiang and tasks him with eliminating the pirates known to be lead by Hakatatsu (Eastern Condors' Sammo Hung in one of his first assignments as action director), Xu Dong (... |
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