Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Bat Without Wings

Bat Without Wings (1980)
Director: Chor Yuen
Starring: Derek Yee Tung-Sing, Ching Li
Personal Rating: 3/5

"When a notorious fiend known as the "Bat Without Wings" returns to his small village after a five-year absence and snatches up a prominent young maiden, it's up to her family and a resourceful swordsmen to brave the horrors of the underworld to bring her back home alive. With ghosts, a bamboo labyrinth, and a series of treacherous bat traps to contend with, these brave souls will be lucky just to make it out of the diabolical villain's lair alive."-© Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Madame O

Madame O (1967)
Director: Seiichi Fukuda
Starring: Michiko Aoyama
Personal Rating: 3.5/5

"At the tender age of sixteen, Seiko (Michiko Aoyama) was sexually abused by three men. This horrifying attack scarred her mentally and resulted in her getting pregnant and infected with syphilis. Now a well-respected doctor in Japan, she practices medicine by day and prowls the city streets at night in search of lovers. Possessing a raging desire for revenge against man, she destroys them with the one weapon they cannot resist...sex! Finally marrying and settling down, Saeko’s life changes for the better. But, her new husband (Akihiko Kaminara) may have a dark secret of his own."

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Black Sunday

Black Sunday (1960)
Director: Mario Bava
Starring: Barbara Steele, John Richardson
Personal Rating: 4/5
"Generally considered to be the foremost example of Italian Gothic horror, this darkly atmospheric black-and-white chiller put director Mario Bava on the international map and made the bewitching Barbara Steele a star. Steele plays Princess Asa, a high priestess of Satan who is gruesomely executed in 1600s Moldavia by having a spiked mask hammered into her face. Before she dies, Asa vows revenge on the family who killed her and returns from the grave two centuries later to keep her promise. In a striking resurrection scene replete with bats, scorpions and fog, Asa rises from the tomb to claim her bloody vengeance. With vampires, bubbling flesh, dank crypts, undead servants and torch-bearing mobs, the plot is a little ripe, but the visuals are Bava's primary consideration. The atmosphere is so heavy and the imagery so dense that the film becomes nearly too rich in texture, but the sheer, ghastly beauty of it all is entrancing. Although this was only the second of Bava's twenty-six films as director, it is undoubtedly his best and the one upon which most of his considerable reputation rests." -© Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

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Monday, July 21, 2008

Hanzo The Razor: Sword Of Justice

Hanzo The Razor: Sword Of Justice (1972)
Director: Kenji Misumi
Starring: Shintaro Katsu
Personal Rating: 5/5

"The first film in the notorious Razor trilogy introduces Hanzo Itami (Shintaro Katsu), a renegade samurai cop whose investigative methods are only slightly more extreme than his sexual prowess. His refusal to sign a constabulary oath that his code of honor cannot accept puts him on a collision course with his corrupt superior and on the case of the Shogunate. With the loyal assistance of two former criminals, Hanzo defies orders, takes on all comers, and leaves female suspects begging for more. Great samurai action, geysers of blood, and graphic sexual content make Sword of Justice one of the most outrageous outlaws of samurai cinema."

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Bloody Parrot

Bloody Parrot (1981)
Director: Hua Shan
Starring: Pai Piao, Liu Yung, Jenny Liang
Personal Rating: 3/5

"Let’s get one thing straight right away. There is no blood-splattered bird in this fast paced fantasy kung-fu film, but there is a swashbuckling mercenary of that nickname, who seems to be helping the Chief of the Imperial Vault recover the Emperor’s stolen riches until the Chief is stabbed to death by the imperial concubine. Then it’s up to mercenary swordsman Pai Piao to brave blades, poison pins, and several booby-trapped mazes to save the royal jewels."

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Monday, July 14, 2008

The Machine Girl

The Machine Girl (2008)
Director: Noboru Iguchi
Starring: Minase Yashiro
Personal Rating: 5/5

"A teenage girl shows the mob who's boss in this over-the-top blend of action, horror, and comedy. Ami (Minase Yashiro) is a seemingly ordinary Japanese schoolgirl who refuses to turn a blind eye when thugs at her school subject her little brother to needless cruelty. Ami retaliates against the vicious kids and their folks, which turns out to be a dangerous decision when she discovers some of them are connected to local gangsters. Ami is kidnapped by strong-arm men whose intimidation tactics include cutting off one of her arms, but Ami refuses to let the criminals go unpunished. With the help of a mechanic sympathetic to her cause, Ami's arm is replaced with a high-caliber machine gun, and she is transformed into a single-minded killing machine in a school uniform."-© Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Intruder

Intruder (1989)
Director: Scott Spiegel
Starring: Elizabeth Cox, Dan Hicks
Personal Rating: 2.5/5

"Gory slasher mayhem from Evil Dead co-writer Scott Spiegel, this claustrophobic thriller is set entirely in a small supermarket, whose owner is preparing to go out of business. This doesn't sit too well with the film's resident maniac, who busily butchers the night crew using the tools of the trade (hooks, axes, knives, power tools and so on). The victims include Spiegel's pal and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi as the butcher-shop buffoon who meets a nasty end on a meathook; even Raimi's favorite lantern-jawed star Bruce Campbell puts in an eyeblink cameo as a brutish cop. Though the film sports some clever, audacious gore effects from KNB FX Group, most of this footage is absent from Paramount's home video print."-© Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

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Sunday, July 6, 2008

The House By The Cemetery

The House By The Cemetery (1981)
Director: Lucio Fulci
Starring: Catriona MacColl, Giovanni Frezza
Personal Rating: 3/5

"This cult horror film from director Lucio Fulci lurches along with a certain amount of disjunction due to cutting, perhaps, if not to an innate Fulci disposition. When the Boyle family temporarily moves into a mansion near Boston so the father can do some research, the son Bob (Giovanni Frezza) starts seeing the ghost of a young girl motioning to him, and eventually he discovers the basement's terrible secret. A certain Dr. Freudstein (Giovanni de Nari) has been hanging out there since 1879 when he was banned from the medical profession, and he has kept himself alive although in miserable physical shape, by murdering the various inhabitants of the house and using their cells to keep his body going. An oversize bat attacks the father, floors come apart and crush unsuspecting victims, and at one point little Bob's blond head is held to the basement door by the evil doctor while the father is wildly swinging his axe through the door to save his son. Scenes like these and others are the real objective of the movie -- the strange and irresolute ending, and leaps and gaps in the plot, are indications that all else is dispensible pretext - gore is the goal and it is delivered in sickening doses."-© Eleanor Mannikka, All Moive Guide

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Human Lanterns

Human Lanterns (1982)
Director: Sun Chung
Starring: Liu Yung, Chen Kuan_Tai, Lo Lieh
Personal Rating: 3/5

"Chao Chun-fang (Lo Lieh), a mentally unbalanced lantern maker gets a chance to avenge his mistreatment by two rich and powerful men when one of the men (who are enemies, in fact) asks him to make special lanterns for an approaching festival. Chao then methodically kills three female family members of the two wealthy men and peels off their skin to use as a covering for the lanterns."-© Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

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