Archive for the ‘Worse News’ Category

Even thou there’s been a number of H.P. Lovecraft adaptations over the years there’s only one man who made a whole career out of it. Brian Yuzna either produced Lovecraft adaptations directed by his long- time friend Stewart Gordon or produced and directed them himself and depending on how you count it- he made at least 6 of them which must be a record or some kind. And he’s not done yet.

Starting with the production of 1985 cult- classic Re-Animator (that also introduced us to my favorite character actor- Jeffrey Combs) Yuzna continued with the completely insane From Beyond (1986) that needs to be seen to be believed, then the sequelBride of Re-Animator (1990), anthology Necronomicon (1993)- also debut of one of my favorite French directors Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf, Crying Freeman), Dagon (2001) and then finally part 3Beyond Re-Animator (2003). Even his adaptation of Costello’s Beneath Still Water (2005) that he produced in Spain still had recognizable elements of H.P. Lovecraft.

Cheers!

Now, you’d think that after more than 35 years (impressive run for a Horror producer/ director no doubt) he’d have no more Lovecrafts left but- you’d be wrong!

Little while back we heard that Joe Lynch (Mayhem, Everly, Knights of Badassdom) is directing a lose adaptation of Lovecraft’s The Thing On The Doorstep in Mississippi, Texas with Heather Graham (Boogie Nights), Judah Lewis (The Babysitter), Bruce Davison (X-Men) and Johnathon Schaech (That Thing You Do!)

Turns out it brought back some familiar faces together too. Legendary Scream Queen and the star of the aforementioned films Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond) both acts and produces the movie and is also reunited with Yuzna as a executive producer. So, the circle is finally complete. And while we’re at it- the movie is also written by Dennis Paoli (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Dagon)!

The film is an erotic body-swapping horror, in which a psychiatrist (Heather Graham) becomes obsessed with a young client with multiple personalities. And if we’re going by experience, expect pure madness.

After a successful run at festivals including FrightFest, Fantasia Festival and Tribeca the movie will be out in theaters and VOD on October 27, just in time for Halloween, and will also hit Shudder in January of 2024.

Fresh off his Enter the Clones of Bruce documentary, actor and filmmaker Michael Worth (Acapulco H.E.A.T. , Fists of Iron) with producer Frank Djeng & Severin Films– are prepping their next project, continuing their homage to the awesome 70s Hong Kong cinema.

“Dragon Gate Inn meets John Wick” as a group of American assassins hiding out in a rural Chinese restaurant discover the owners of the establishment serve up much more than just good food!

An all- star cast includes such Kung Fu movie luminaries such as Angela Mao (Lady Whirlwind, Enter The Dragon)- in her first role since ’92(!), Dragon Lee (Clones of Bruce Lee), Bruce Leung (Kung Fu Hustle), Bruce Li (Return of the Tiger), Bruce Le (Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger) and also the “newcomer” Don Wang (Slaughter in San Francisco).

Action choreography will be handled by the renowned Jackie Chan Stunt Team member Andy Cheng (Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings, Into The Badlands, The Scorpion King).

As always you can support the movie on their Indiegogo page right here.

Now playing at Tribeca Festival to rave reviews, long gestating documentary on the Bruceploitation phenomena- Enter the Clones of Bruce finally has it’s first trailer too!

So, for us not lucky enough to see it on the big screen here’s a little taste:

The gang is all there, from Bruce Le to Dragon Lee to Bruce Liang (hell, even to Bronson Lee) and I’m also overjoyed to see the late, great Roy Horan (Tower of Death, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, No Retreat, No Surrender 2) interviewed. Documentary also gets bonus points from me for the inclusion of the Ninja B-movie maestro Godfrey Ho. If someone knows exploitation cinema that’s Mr. Ho.

So, it was a long time coming but as far as I can see, Clones more than delivers. Hopefully we get a release date from Severin Films before long and we can all enjoy it.

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.

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

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.

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/

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.

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 OgnenoviskiInvitation 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: 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.

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 franchiseSilent Night , Bloody Night 3 (not to be confused with a sequel to the awesome Silent Night Deadly Night 2).