Obviously we’ve been experiencing an 80s revival of sorts for a while now (everything from Stranger Things to Motley Crue’s Stadium Tour) but this one I really didn’t expect.
We at WM are giant fans of the old school Barbarian aka Sword and Sorcery films that unfortunately aren’t really made today (what happened with that King Conan movie that we’ve been waiting for for years now?).
But, seemingly out of nowhere we now have a new crowdfunded movie The Slave and the Sorcerer– that (even in it’s title) pays direct homage to the great, late Albert Pyun– his early movie Sword and a Sorcerer and is also inspired by other 80s Sword and Sorcery flicks such as Beastmaster and another favorite of ours, Roger Corman produced Deathstalker.
Now here’s a first poster and it definitely looks close to something you could see in video store when returning a VHS tape.
When Princess Meyra is kidnapped by the evil wizard Akaris, the slave Tyrol volunteers to lead a mission to his cursed dungeon lair to save her from his clutches. Along with a band of heroes of questionable loyalties, he must battle the ancient and diabolical creatures that protect Akaris’ fortress, and overcome his devious tests. Ultimately, Tyrol must slay a dragon to save the princess, and the realm, from a reign of endless darkness.
Movie is produced by Hex Studios & Needle’s Eye production, written by Lawrie Brewster & Sarah Daily directed by Romeo Franco and staring Chris Black as Tyrol with Megan Tremethick, Jon Vangdal Aamaas, Lawrie Brewster, Richard Pate and Briony Monroe.
As always for those interested in supporting the movie on Kickstarter you can do that righthere.
If you’ve been following our blog for some time you may remember us doing a short analysis of a Bruceploitation phenomena, explosion of Bruce Leelookalikes trying to fill the void left by the death of a real thing, trend that kept rolling and mutating into weird and unexpected direction. But now we finally have some updates on perhaps the biggest research that has been done on the subject.
Michael Worth (Acapulco Heat) beside being an actor and a director is also an author of Brucesploitation Bible and co-host of the Clone Cast– (so he must be recognized as one of the foremost experts on the subject ) has been promising us a documentary feature on the phenomena for at least 6 years and it seems the time is finallynow.
Long- gestating Enter The Clones of Bruce Lee will have it’s premiere at 2023 edition of the Tribeca Filmn Festiva (on June 10th with follow up screenings on the 11th and 17th) as a part of their “Escape from Tribeca” section promoting genre movies. And I must say I’m impressed.
“Get ready to play a game of death … and another … and another. The wild documentary Enter the Clones of Bruce dives into the Bruce Lee exploitation craze.”
So be prepared for some Bruce Le, Bruce Li, Bruce Liang and even some Dragon Lee action too!
“Enter the Clones of Bruce is a feature length documentary that explores the Bruce Lee exploitation craze, otherwise known as Bruceploitation.”
Directed by David Gregory, Enter the Clones of Bruce is Produced by David Gregory, Carl Daft, Frank Djeng, Vivian Wong, Michael Worth. It’s a Severin Films release.
The Last Kumite will be an action packed old school fighting movie in the style of Bloodsport, Kickboxer and No Retreat, No Surrender.
Directed by Ross W. Clarkson (Undisputed 2 & 3) movie will be starting a bevy of 80s and 90s Action Movie luminaries like Michel Qissi (Kickboxer), Abdel Qissi (The Quest), Cynthia Rothrock (No Retreat, No Surrender 2), Billy Blanks (The Kings of Kickboxers), Matthias Hues (Dark Angel) and even Kurt McKinney (No Retreat, No Surrender) making his action movie return.
The movie will be about Michael Rivers (Mathis Landwehr), who is a skilled martial artist and is forced to fight in an illegal fighting tournament in order to save his daughter.
Stunt coordinator is the German Martial Arts sensation Mike Moller(One Million K(l)icks).
And in the latest news they will be joined by none other than David Yeung aka Bolo Jr.– son of the original Bloodsport villain Tang Po (Bolo Yeung). Like his father before him David is a former bodybuilder and an excellentMartial Artist to boot! This casting couldn’t be more perfect for this movie and I really hope they use David‘s talents to the fullest extent.
Legendary Hong Kong action movie bad guy Bolo Yeung is back from his temporary retirement, and officially a part of the Jonas Filho‘s The Karate Weirdo– now inproduction.
This film will be Bolo‘s first since his previous return for the Kazahstani’sDiamond Cartel (2017) where he was surrounded by other veteran actors and Martial Arts practitioners such as Peter O’Toole, Michael Madsen, Cary Tagawa, Armand Assante andOlivier Gruner & Don “The Dragon” Wilson. Decade before that he returned in another Kazahstani production- Blizhniy Boy: The Ultimate Fighter (2007), featuring professional fighter Cung Le in the lead role, but unfortunately that movie never got a proper distribution.
Movie will also feature a Karate Legend Fumio Demura (Karate Kid, Ninja) so it will surely be a treat for us old school Martial Arts movie fans. Producer/ Director is Jonas Filho, himself a Karate instructor at the Traditional Karate of Newark– so I’m sure we’ll see some authentic Martial Arts displayed in what looks to be a Karate Kid for the new generation:
Sofia Correia with the original Miyagi, Sensei Fumio Demura
Beside The Karate Weirdo (2023) this year we should finally see the long gestating documentary on his life Chinese Hercules: The Bolo Yeung story and hopefully there’s still chance for that third collaboration with Jean Claude Van Damme that we heard whispers about last year. All in all- it’s a good time to be a fan.
Most of us learned the legend of the international Man of Mystery and renowned Ninja Master Frank Dux from Cannon Films‘s cult Martial Art- tournament movie Bloodsport. The movie supposedly draws on a real life stranger-than-fiction story of the aforementioned Shidoshi Frank W. Dux, founder of the American Ninja system Dux Ryu Ninjutsu. (I now it all sounds insane but that was quite the norm in the 80s.)
But who is this mysterious man really when he is not being played by young Jean Claude Van Damme? Like a Ninja that he is he would pop in an out of movies, sometimes just for a moment like in this film by Macedonian Martial Artist/ Politician Jorgo Ognenoviski– Invitation to Die(1995).
But you can almost never see him actually in action. Well in this short film we finally have the opportunity to see Mr. Dux play- more of less- himself. In Firefight (1983) we see him commanding a squad in Vietnam (something that’s been debated since he was in the Military from 1975 to 1981) consisting of John Scott Calough, Neil Davis, Seth Kaufman and even a future genre movie staple Brian Thompson (Cobra, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation)!
It features a rag-tag group of soldiers on a hilltop attacked by a large force of Vietcong, unable to get Medivac helicopter to help their wounded comrade.
Movie itself is more comical than dramatic, with both sides looking completely lost and disorganized at times. But I have to admit some of the explosion and helicopter scenes are surprisingly well done. (Interestingly they ended up being reused in Stryker’s War aka Thoe Shalt Not Kill…Except (1985) staring Bruce Campbell among others.)
Also you have to get a kick out off seeing Phillip Rhee and Simon Rhee (of Best of the Best fame) kicking ass with their Taekwondo kicks. It makes you want to root for the Vietcong.
Conclusion:Dux is much more impressive when played by Van Damme, but let’s be honest- most of us would gladly have JCVD play us in our life story.And this movie does have a bit of a historical value too ’cause while editing Firefight Sheldon Lettich met Mark DiSalle and the two of them adapted Frank Dux‘s story of his exploits in a secret Martial Arts tournament Kumite to script, giving birth to Cannon Film classic Bloodsport (1988) in the process.
In news almost too good to be true for the fans of VHS Martial Arts movies like ourselves we have the information that our favorite Aussie ass-kicker Richard Norton has joined Cynthia “Lady Dragon” Rothrock‘s project Black Creek (2024).
Known as the Martial Arts version of Fred Astair & Ginger Rogerst, Norton and Rothock started working together in the 80s Hong Kong under Sammo Hung in Millioner’s Express and Wong Jing in The Magic Crystal (1986).
They would continue their partnership in an American (but still Golden Harvest produced) China O’Brian (1988) and China O’Brian II (1990)- directed by Robert Clause (Enter The Dragon). They followed that up with actually the first Rothrock flick I’ve ever seen, her trademark Lady Dragon (1992). Their last full- on collaboration would be Rage and Honor II (1993) shot in Indonesia a year later. (Their last off- screen collaboration was when Norton served as a fight choreographer on Guardian Angel (1994), job he would continue to excel in in years to come– working on movies like Condemned, Mad Max: FuryRoad, Suicide Squad 1 and 2, Triple Frontier and the upcoming Furiosa.)
It’s incredible that we had to wait 30 years for these “old gunslingers” to get back on the horse, but I’m so glad they did. You of course could never tell it’s been so long just by looking at them.
Black Creek, Western/ Martial Arts hybrid marks the first movie Cynthia has a complete creative control on and features a bevy of B-movie action legends beside Norton, from Olivier Grunner (Nemesis, Automatic) to kickboxing champ Don “The Dragon” Wilson (Bloodfist, Ring of Fire) to Kevin Sorbo ( Hercules, Andromeda) and is currently #01 movie project on Kicktarter blowing all the expectations out of the water. If you’re so inclined there’s still time to support it, so just click here.
With the Avatar: The Way of Water in the news for hitting two billion dollars (and on the verge of unseating Avengers: Infinity War as the 5th highest grossing movie of all time) I think its about time we go all the way back to the beginning of James Cameron‘s illustrious directing career and no I’m not talking about the Terminator(1984).
You see Cameron originally began his career as a poster illustrator and the miniature model builder for non other than B-movie legend Roger Corman. He graduated to being an art director for Corman‘s probably most expensive movie at a time (still pretty modest by regular standards) Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) and more notably did special effects for John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981).
He continued working for Corman on movies like Galaxy of Terror but his first opportunity do direct opened up when the director for Piranha (another Corman production) sequel Piranha II: The Spawning (love the title) left the production after clashing with the producer Ovidio Assonitis. Cameron would then be upgraded from special effect director to regular director and the rest is history. Well, not quite yet- we’ll get back to you on that…
Cameron’s sketch via Icollector.com
So, the movie starts with we kid you not- an underwater sex scene. Young couple decided that it would be a good idea to do it close to a sunken US ship. As you can presume- it doesn’t end well. They get attacked by the mysterious creatures and soon there’s blood in the water.
Then we cut back to a black man called Gabbi and his son fishing using dynamite. Steve, the police officer catches them but let’s them go with a warning.
Diving instructor Anne‘s student is one of the victims, but her estranged husband Steve (Lance Henricksen) who’s a police officer refuses to let her see the body. So, naturally she decides to ignore him and break into a morgue? That’s not rational thinking, quite the opposite. Tyler Sherman, tourist who can’t stop hitting on her also tags along.
They actually manage to enter the morgue but the nurse catches them and throws them out. Unfortunately she not knowingly seals her own fate- turns out one of the piranhas was hiding inside the body!? I mean, who’s really prepared for that. It bursts from the corpse like a damn Alien and the nurse is toast.
I love how the piranha just escapes trough the window when it’s done!
Anne on the other side gets a bit more lucky. She finally accepts Tyler’s advances and has a one night stand with him. Unfortunately her estranged husband shows up, turns out she lost her credit card in the morgue/ scene of the crime.
She tries to warn him about her suspicions but he is too angry (with her having another man in her bed) to really listen.
Anne desperately tries to cancel all the diving lessons but that only gets her fired. Tyler finally confesses that he isn’t here just as tourist, he is actually a biochemist who was on the team that developed a genetically modified piranhas, capable of flying (although actual flying fish glide- not fly like the birds but that’s B-movie logic for you). He suspected the cylinder of the fish they lost is the reason for the killings and he is proven right.
Gabby’s son ends up being the victim of the piranhas too and he decides that the only way to stop them is with dynamite. Anne tries to dissuade him but there’s no changing his mind.
To make things worse the manager Raul insist annual fish fry must go on- with disastrous results.
Anne and Tyler decide that the only way to end this is of course- take all that Gabby’s dynamite (Gabby also unfortunately met his son’s fate) and blow up the ship wreckage and all the piranhas with it.
In the meantime Steve (in a police helicopter) keeps searching for their son with the who in a completely unrelated and unnecessary plot point ends up stranded with a young, hot daughter of a rich British boat owner Dumont. I mean he probably got a better deal than most of the folks in this movie.
Anne and Tyler manage to dive to the wreckage and plant the device but they end up attacked by piranhas and end u stuck in the boat with a timer on a bomb still running.Tyler doesn’t make it out and ends up eaten alive but Anne manages to reach the surface just in time. There she is helped by Steve who found the young couple so I guess- family reunited (if only Tyler didn’t have to die for that to happen)!
Verdict: this movie suffers (for better or worse) from the usual 80’s syndrome, so expect lots of crude sexual jokes, idiotic characters and nonsensical plot points that go absolutely nowhere. On the other hand they are moments where Cameron’s potential shines through, the scenes of underwater photography are masterfully done and it’s pretty incredible that we can still see some of those elements in his movies some 40 years later.
Virtually Identical!
Epilogue: After an apparent food poising in Rome and struck with a high fever, Cameron had a vivid nightmare about a chrome skeleton burning in a fire – the rest is history.
JAMES CAMERON'S first sketch of THE TERMINATOR, which came to him in a fevor dream. He awoke and drew this. pic.twitter.com/ygRLImWAFg
So many horror sequels get announced every day yet never come into fruition. So when Buddy Cooper announced a sequel to his 80’s cult favorite slasher Mutilator aka Fall Break (1984) after almost 40 years(!!!) we had every right to be skeptical, but by golly he promised us a Mutilator 2 and that’s what we got!
New movie features a returning cast of Ruth Martinez and Bill Hitchcock and some new fresh faces like Terry Kiser (Friday The 13th, Part VII), Damian Maffei (The Strangers: Prey at Night) and Eva Hamilton (Death Kiss).
And now we have the first (surprisingly meta) trailer for you here via Fangoria, enjoy!
Trivia:Cooper seemingly want to keep the sequel streak going because he is producing another sequel, this time to a revived 70s franchise– Silent Night , Bloody Night 3 (not to be confused with a sequel to the awesomeSilent Night Deadly Night 2).
As we all may know Christmas is pretty stressful holiday for huge number of people. There are many traditions, like ripping a bottle of wine and arguing with your shitty cousin about inane things, hostility over the course of family dinner, followed by watching holiday themed horror movies while ignoring the rest of your family and so on. So this really sets you in the mood for a really depressingly wonderful Christmas Movie. If so then look no further than Christmas Evil.
This one’s pretty straightforward so I’ll get right to it. The year is 1947. It is Christmas eve. A kid named Harry is traumatized when he sees his mom and dad getting it on whilst his dad is in full Santa garb (Santa performing oral on Mommy). Really ruined it for him. Also it doesn’t help that his brother did not believe in Santa. So Harry runs away to the attic where he intentionally cuts himself on piece of broken snow globe. I guess this is intended to represent his rebelion towards Santa. Flash forward takes us to present day (aka 1980) and adult Harry (played by Brandon Maggart) is in some middle management role at a toy company that makes Christmas toys. He’s also obsessed with Santa. Like really obsessed. Like spies on the neighborhood children and keeps a Santa-esque book of who’s naughty and nice, crazy. He even sleeps in Santa pajamas. You can sort of see where this is going.
She has been very naughty
While Harry takes great pride in his workmanship, wanting to make toys that some girl or boy will love for years, he finds his co-workers to be lazy wage slaves who think he is a fool and a sucker for working so hard. When he is promoted off the assembly line to a desk job, he finds the management is more concerned about the bottom line than the quality of the toys. Thats when he snaps. Harry dons his Santa suit, paints his van to look more like slay and makes the rounds of the city, distributing toys to deserving people.
I‘ve never felt better!
As good people get presents so naughty people get punishment. And where can you find wrong doers on Christmas eve? In church, of course! So Harry dispense some justice with sharp toys and an axe! Next, he comes back to his company Christmas party dressed as a Santa where he dances and sings and has a time of his lifetime like he hasn’t had killed bunch of people 10 minutes ago. He distributes some presents and leaves the place. Of course, none of his coworkers recognized neither Harry nor the toys he had stolen from the very same factory.
Christmas is not over yet so Harry visits home of his greedy coworker Frank (played by Joe Jamrog). He couldn’t quite fit through the chimney so he had to resort to other of Santa’s many feats – lockpicking. He leaves presents for Frank’s children while Frank himself receives death from decorational star from Christmas tree, all next to sleeping wife who doesn’t suspect anything. The police, meanwhile, based on eyewitness accounts, are also making the rounds of the city arresting every Santa they find. Why not play safe?
Meanwhile, Harry’s brother Philip (played by Jeffrey DeMunn) suspects something is wrong since Harry has never ditched him for Christmas before. His doubts arouse even more after watching news regarding church massacre. Harry comes by Philip’s house later that evening and confronts him, blaming his brother for everything because Philip said he didn’t believe in Santa when he was 6. Things get out of control and Philip strangles Harry. Believing he killed his brother he drags his corpse and place it into the van. Harry wakes up, notably angry, and gives pedal to the metal. Just in that moment angry lynch mob shows up and, while avoiding them, Harry drives off the bridge. But that’s not all! Instead of falling to his death his van flies off towards the Moon while Christmas music is playing in background in one of the most confusing endings in cinema history.
Conclusion: While the movie is considered a slasher flick (which it is to an extent) I think that it is more appropriate to call it a psychological thriller as it is more focused on Harry going crazy and that is where we can see Brandon Maggart’s brilliant performance. Director Lewis Jackson has to thanks only him that the movie wasn’t pissed on the moment it premiered. I really don’t agree with John Waters on Christmas Evil being “The best Christmas Movie ever made” (we all know it is Die Hard). I mean, there are almost no dialogues, most of the movie we listen to Harry talking to himself and humming Christmas carol. The sound design is shitty, especially at the beginning of this film. As for the effects it looks and sounds horrible for most of the film’s runtime. Still, I recommend seeing this movie if you’ve exhausted your other holiday-themed options.
By this time you probably heard about the lost 1984 Ninja movie- New York Ninja (featuring John Liu) that Vinegar Syndrome painstakingly restored and completed. But did you hear about an equally old- school comicbook sequel that followed it? Well, that’s why you have us.
Our favorite White Ninja recently returned in a 44 page magazinesuper- special by Charles Forsman of “The End of the Fucking World” and “I Am Not Okay With This” fame. Comic is on sale from November 30th and you can find your copy right here on Floating World Comics website.
As a fan of the 80s Ninja comics– I hope this special is just the first of the many.
Worsemovies 