What Asian Films Have You Been Watching Recently?

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Caught the 1981 South Korean horror film, SUDDENLY IN DARK NIGHT directed by Go Young-nam. About a wife's descent into madness at her husband's real or imagined infidelity with the new nubile young housekeeper. Interesting visual play with a liberal use of filters and kaleidoscopic effects to build and heighten tension. Apparently, US distributor Mondo Macabro is going to be releasing this on blu ray in the not too distant future with a bunch of extras.

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Speaking of MM, I rewatched the Indonesian supernatural horror thriller, MYSTICS IN BALI. Fun ass movie with a a lot of cheese. Would make a nice double bill with the Filipino flick, THE KILLING OF SATAN but MYSTICS IN BALI had even better and cheesier effects.

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Caught Parkman Wong's 1991 flick, RED SHIELD. Entertaining buddy cop gunfu movie featuring Danny Lee and Beardy (Leung Kar-Yan) in the lead roles. You can see a real young Nick Cheung in this too. I enjoyed it for the most part except for the husband/wife comedy play. Beardy and his wife's interactions were annoying but the running gag & relationship between Lee and Teresa Mo was actually endearing. Some gritty violence on display as well and a really brutal scene with Dai Sor getting hacked up by a chainsaw wielding Ben Lam and his body parts strewn across the HK shoreline. The ending was a bit lackluster after the build up though. Still a solid movie all round plus Yuen Wah looked bad ass with the pony tail. Also, jackson lau had an uncanny resemblance to a less yoked Alistair Overeem -- eerie.

[AngelGuts Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AngelGuts]

I saw and enjoyed RED SHIELD upon its initial Chinatown Cinema release.

Some good action and unexpected grue.

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I saw and enjoyed RED SHIELD upon its initial Chinatown Cinema release.

Some good action and unexpected grue.

You were very fortunate to have seen these movies theatrically. I would give my left nut to have seen some of these during their original run.

Ok, so I'm a glutton for punishment as I continue with my Wong Jing/Nat Chan Shaw Brothers collabs and one of the last for the studio. I watched GIRL WITH THE DIAMOND SLIPPER aka MODERN CINDERELLA (1985) starring Maggie Cheung. I saw this years ago and decided to revisit it again. I don't know -- maybe it was because I was boozed up this time around or I'm mellowing with age but I actually thought this wacky slapstick parody of the Cinderella tale wasn't half bad.

Yes, I still wanted to kick Wong Jing in the nads when it finished but not as vehemently as I recall after my first viewing. I can generally tolerate the comedic antics of Nat Chan and he doesn't annoy me as much as some of the other SB's comedic actors of that era. One of those comedic actors that I never liked was Wang Yu but he plays his cop character straight in this one and even has a decent fight sequence with ubiquitous villain, Wang Lung-wei at the end. Some nice stunt work as well including the aforementioned fight scenes plus some rather dangerous looking jumps from high places.

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Recently caught Shigehiro Ozawa of STREET FIGHTER fame, 1970's ninkyo-eiga, A WAD OF NOTES starring Koji Tsuruta. It was pretty lackluster until Hiroko Sakuramachi comes on strong at the end.

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Caught a double bill with first up being Hideo Jojo's 2005 flick, NINETEEN. Low budget shot on video about a couple gals who our out for payback after discovering the sweet talking cad they both been seeing is a conniving low life who is blackmailing one of them with a sex tape. the last third is actually the most interesting part of this rather dull flick with the two gals going on the lam ala THELMA AND LOUISE & even tossing the bones of the deceased out of their car along the way. Speaking of which, there is a graphic COLD FISH type dismemberment scene with the poor sap's flesh and organs being pulverized by a blender and the rest flushed down the toilet.

















The other film was Kenji Yoshida's 1975 ATG flick, OH SEAGULL, HAVE YOU SEEN THE SPARKLING OCEAN: AN ENCOUNTER.

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Continuing with my ATG folder and next up was Yoichi Takabayashi's 1977 film, DOUBLE SUICIDE AT NISHIJIN.

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Went with another Yasuo Furuhuta/Takakura Ken one in GLORIOUS FIGHTS. Ken playing his usual honorable Yakuza character here whose health is beginning to fail due to radiation sickness from being an orphan during the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Internal conflict arises as he must weigh being loyal to the Yakuza don who raised him as his own son and his growing love for a woman whose brother is a headstrong cigarette boat racer who refuses to lay down and fix races.

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a blu ray rip of VILLAGE OF DOOM recently made the rounds. Much better PQ than my old Arts magic dvd. I've always enjoyed this Noboru Tanaka exploitation film adaptation of the infamous Tsuyama massacre. Fave scene -- the point blank shotgun blast to that one fool's dome that results in a Scanners like head explosion. :gory:

[The Silly Swede Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Silly Swede]

In the Line of Duty 4

Never noticed it before, but the music score is very much ripping of big hollywood action movies like Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop 2. One of the best in the series though, and a top notch HK-actioner.

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Caught another Yusaku Matsuda one in NO GRAVES FOR US. Pretty entertaining action crime thriller. All the usual tropes here including car chases, double crossings, & shootouts but it has a very "cool" vibe about it, due in no large part to the presence of Matsuda. Directed by Yukihiro Sawada who is known for his roman porno output and co-directing Sogo Ishii's PANIC HIGH SCHOOL. I love the subs on this version because it reminds me of Animeigo with the additional notations -- here the subs relay what background music playing in the bar of one of the supporting characters and you can tell he is a big PINK LADY fan. Also, there is a scene where Matsuda remarks about co-star, Kaori Takeda who is known for her role in the RP PINK TUSH GIRL. :p

[AngelGuts Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AngelGuts]

Must catch this Sawada film. Is this a legit or "semi-legit" release with the subs? What's the source?

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Must catch this Sawada film. Is this a legit or "semi-legit" release with the subs? What's the source?

Nah, it's not legit. One of the usual ichiban cannibal king fan subs. A buddy made me a copy from the dvd he bought a while back.

[Keeth Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeth]

I'm going through the Angel Guts set. So far I've watched Red Classroom & High School Co-Ed. I don't think I've watched any of the films since the year the set was released so I only remember bits n' pieces. The underage stuff in Co-Ed is a little creepy especially the nudity.

It'd be nice to hear these films were getting new HD transfers but I don't see it happening but I'd love to be proven wrong.