Archive for the ‘Tribute’ Category

Worse News: First poster for the Albert Pyun inspired Slave and the Sorcerer!

Posted: 18/05/2023 in Tribute, Worse News
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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.

https://i0.wp.com/bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Princess-Meyra-Briony-Monroe-scaled.jpg?resize=1018%2C1536&ssl=1

As always for those interested in supporting the movie on Kickstarter you can do that right here.

Worse News: Poster and release date for the Enter the Clones of Bruce Lee!

Posted: 26/04/2023 in Tribute, Worse News
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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 Lee lookalikes 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 finally now.

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.

And If you can’t wait- you can check our Top 5 Brucesploitation Movies and start getting ready right now.

Worse News: Bolo Jr.- David Yeung cast in the upcoming 80’s Martial Arts tribute- The Last Kumite!

Posted: 04/04/2023 in Tribute, Worse News
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Who says you can never go home again.

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 excellent Martial 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.

For those who can’t wait to support The Last Kumite, it’s on Kickstarter right now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thelastkumite/the-last-kumite/

Worse News: Bolo Yeung is back (in The Karate Weirdo)!

Posted: 20/03/2023 in Tribute, Worse News
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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 in production.

This film will be Bolo‘s first since his previous return for the Kazahstani’s Diamond 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 and Olivier 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.

Worse News: Long lost Frank Dux (Bloodsport) War Movie is finally available! (also featuring Brian Thompson)

Posted: 06/03/2023 in Trash movies, Tribute, Worse News
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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.

Worse News: Richard Norton and Cynthia Rothrock reunited after 30 years!

Posted: 22/02/2023 in Tribute, Worse News
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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: Fury Road, 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.

Worse News: Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys) on Hawk The Slayer sequel!

Posted: 17/04/2022 in Tribute, Worse News
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Here’s something for those who missed our previous article– and those who want to learn some more about Hawk the Slayer sequel comicbook published by the Rebelion. 2000 AD Thrill-Cast conducted a fun interview with the writer Garth Ennis where he explains his lifelong fascination with the movie and his approach for the comic. He talks about everything from getting a blessing from John Terry to why is Hawk more memorable than Krull (not sure I agree). Surprisingly he also touches upon another WM classic– Laserblast! Enjoy the interview right here:

You can find the first one on the stands now packed with Judge Dredd Megazine #440 and here’s an awesome cover for the second issue – coming out (just after my birthday) 8 June 2022.

Cover art by Rob Steen

Tribute: Mark Gregory R.I.P.

Posted: 05/03/2022 in Tribute
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Quite often a discovery of a beloved B-movie celebrity after decades of obscurity is a moment of joy and celebration by the fandom (see Matt Hannon or Eric Freeman). I hoped we’d get another one like that but it just wasn’t meant to be.

This time things took a dark turn- Mark Gregory aka Marco De Gregorio was finally found and it turns out he quietly passed away in Castel Madama in 2013.

Starting his film career in the late 70’s Marco De Gregorio beat hundreds of competitors to get cast in Enzo G. Castellari’s post- apocalyptic epic Bronx Warriors (1982). He reprised the role for Escape from the Bronx (1983) and acted in the Ramboesque trilogy Thunder (1983- 1988). He even themed up with another B-movie stand out- Frank Zagarino in Ten Zan- The Ultimate Mission (1988) , movie with the
unusual distinction of being one of the only Western productions to ever shoot in North Korea! After ’89 being disillusioned with the movie industry he returned to his first love- painting, occupation he would continue for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately in the early 2000’s he ended up being a victim of a vicious scam and lost his house and almost all of his belongings. That strained his relationship with his family and sent him spiraling into depression. He moved to Castel Madama (Lazio), with only his guitar as his luggage. He lived quietly there continuing to paint and occasionally selling his works in Rome. Unfortunately his depression never went away and he ended his life with prescription pills in January of 2013.

We would like to extend our condolences to his family and fans.

Info: https://cinemaitalianodatabase.com/2022/03/04/in-memoria-di-mark-gregory/

Worse News: Brian Yuzna’s Tales of Blood Island comics + tiki mugs Kickstarter!

Posted: 19/07/2021 in Tribute, Worse News
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Our old acquaintance Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator, Society) is at it again! And he is actually working on a comic series which kinda makes sense when you think about it. I mean Yuzna movies did tend to be completely over the top and comicbooky as it gets.

Now, Tales of Blood Island is a tribute to the 60’s and 70’s B-horror movies made in Philippines, especially Eddie Romero/ Kane W. Lynn Blood Island series, consisting of Beast of Blood,  Terror Is a Man, Brides of Blood and The Mad Doctor of Blood Island. Interestingly Yuzna was actually born in Philippines so this is a bit of a full circle for him.

                                            Yuzna single-handedly  bringing the tiki- horror back!

Comic series is written by Mark Cerulli and David Sehring, drawn by Stephen Sistilli and colored by Dexter Weeks based on concept art by Anthony Palumbo. You can see the Kickstarter campaign here. It has everything from comicbooks to t-shirts to tiki mugs. And if it proves to be a success I’m sure a Yuzna produced Blood Island movie is sure to follow.

 

Worse News: Chiodo Bros are back!

Posted: 23/08/2019 in Tribute, Worse Interview
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Earlier this week we saw Fox’s The Return of the Killer Klowns from Outer Space (in 3D) as one of the number of projects (including The Sims movie?) that Disney has canceled after the acquisition. But now it seems that things are actually looking up for the Chiodo Brothers.

In a Hollywood Reporter interview Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Jungle Book) casually mentioned an animated project with Chiodo Brothers, and it seems it’s a done deal.  He said “…even talking to [an outlet] like Quibi about doing short-form stop motion, working with Netflix on a stop-motion Christmas special. I’ve been trying to work with these guys the Chiodo brothers, who did the stop-motion on Elf, it took over 15 years, only because the business model changed.”

Then the brothers let it slip that the special is actually based on their ’15 Christmas picture book ALIEN XMAS.

Nothing says Christmas like marauding aliens who mistake Santa’s workshop fora weapon-building facility.

 

Color me interested! We don’t know how far along it is, but hopefully we’ll get it this Christmas on Netflix.

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