2007: The Digital Scrounge

[cal42]

It is. I will post a review at some point, though I'm no expert in 70's Shaw stuff, so keep your expectations low!

Great, cheers! My mate isn't into HK films, but is a horror nut and apparently this film has a bit of a "reputation" amongst gore-fiends. I was surprised he'd heard of a Shaw Brothers film and I hadn't!

[Mike Thomason]

Things I have purchased since I spent two days in hospital with a diagnosis of blood clots in the lungs...

*Black Emanuelle's Box; boxset entailing:
-Emanuelle In Bangkok (Italy) (DVD)
-Emanuelle Around The World (Italy) (DVD)
-Sister Emanuelle (Italy) (DVD)
*Dasepo Naughty Girls (South Korea) (DVD)
*A Dirty Carnival (South Korea) (DVD)
*The Fox Family (South Korea) (DVD)
*Maundy Thursday (South Korea) (DVD)
*Over The Border (South Korea) (DVD)
*Save The Green Planet (South Korea) (DVD)
*Show Show Show (South Korea) (DVD)
*The Siamese Twins (Hong Kong) (DVD)
*The Unborn (Thailand) (DVD)
*Zombie Pack Box-set; entailing:
-Zombi 3 (Italy) (DVD)
-Zombi 4: After Death (Italy) (DVD)
-Zombi 5: Killing Birds (Italy) (DVD)

[Bearserk]

Decided to go all out and order a big pile of discs, so here's Part 1


All of Me


Amorous Lotus Pan - HKMDB


Be Out of Control - HKMDB


Bloody Lie - HKMDB


Bully


Chuai Shi Hao Bin - Kuan Cha Gang Ku


Crazy Emperor - HKMDB


Cruel Zone - HKMDB


Curse - HKMDB


Debt Lover


Deep in Night - HKMDB


Devil Killer - HKMDB


Dial D For Demons - HKMDB


The Direct Line - HKMDB


Erotic Hero Tale - HKMDB

[Bearserk]

Part 2


Evil Sex Party


The Fatal Day - HKMDB


Fourteen Days Before Suicide - HKMDB


Gambling Baron - HKMDB


Gangster Waver


Ghost House - The True Story - HKMDB


Guns of Dragon - HKMDB


Hanky Panky Houseband


Hard Touching - HKMDB


The Hotelier


The Huan Concubines


I Love You Baby


I Will Eat You - HKMDB


It's a Drink, It's a Bomb - HKMDB


Ladies Killer - HKMDB

[Bearserk]

Part 3


Last Ghost Standing - HKMDB


Lesbian Murder Story


A Lustful Night - HKMDB


Mainland Prostitute


Masseuse


The Mystery of Big Boobs - HKMDB


Nightmare Zone - HKMDB


Over the Rainbow, Under the Skirt - HKMDB


Part-Time Lady - HKMDB


Playboy


Portrait of a Serial Rapist - HKMDB


Prince of Phoenix


Psycho


Quenchless Desire - HKMDB


Rape and Die - HKMDB

[Bearserk]

4th and final part


Rapist - HKMDB


Satyr Monks - HKMDB


Sex Beyond the Grave - HKMDB


Sex Killer


The Sexy Lady Driver - HKMDB


Shadow Cop - HKMDB


Sword of Damocles - HKMDB


Tong Chee Yi Li Nan


Two Faces - HKMDB


War Game


The Way of the Lady Boxers - HKMDB


Who's the Assassin - HKMDB


Oh! Yes Sir!! - HKMDB

[j.crawford]

Nice selections!

Bully

This is just a great image, isn't it? This is an AKA for Fighting Fist (1992)

Psycho

This is a new AKA for Deception (1989)


Prince of Phoenix is AKA for Magic Warriors (1989)

[Bearserk]

Thanks, getting all the titles from them can be a real hassle sometimes

See if we can't fill in the missing information on it given some time, and that I get most of the stuff I've order, always seem to be missing somthing when I order from them, they're not really up to date with their stock on the older titles

I usually goes for the ones with "interesting" covers and titles, so you have to excuse the selection can hardly wait till summer comes, so I can start to dig into the pile I got laying there at home, I'm in desperate need of some more free time

[Brian Thibodeau]

Decided to go all out and order a big pile of discs...

Wow, no less than FOUR titles from the vastly under-appreciated Bond's Angels series starring the legendary Simon Loui. Good work, my friend. Good work.

Those covers are amazing...Love the Carrie Ng/chainsaw art!

Some of these Category III flicks are tricky. I picked up a few (not on your list) on VCD at the last Poker sale and found them to be little more than 1-hour softcore peep-show romps with cool sleeve art. One was actually an unsubbed Japanese roman porno (SEX ROOM, or something like that) with fogging used to disguise simulated sex (to make it look more like "real" sex, I guess), and a couple of others were trilogies of lengthy fake (and in one case real) sex scenes with a minimum of story and a maximum of flesh. I guess I'd call them the Hong Kong equivalent of the naughtier Japanese pink movies: not quite hardcore, but trying hard to look it. with a bit of Penthouse Video polish (not that I've ever seen that sinful, dirty trash. How dare any of you even suggest it!).

I suspect some of the titles on your list—perhaps SEX KILLER, EVIL SEX KILLER, MASSEUSE, LUSTFUL NIGHT, RAPIST, etc—could be in that category, which brings up a bit of a poser: these are films (or videos), they are made in Hong Kong, some of them are reasonably well acted, and they are (mostly) NOT hardcore pornography, but are they worthy of inclusion in the database? Part of me leans toward yes, simply because they are out there, and they're bound to be picked up by other distributors and viewers in the decades ahead. A smaller part of me leans towards no, because of their very narrow audience, virtually unknown casts (even when honestly credited), minimal story set-up, and all-around forgettable nature.

Having skimmed through them on something like 8x speed once I realized what they were, I originally set mine aside, unsure of whether to post credit grabs, etc., but now I'm having second thoughts...

Of course, having seen those sleeves, I suddenly realized that the music & movie warehouse place where I've been stocking up on $2.50 VCDs these past few months has an "adult movies" section where I'd probably find most of them, but which I've always avoided for fear of looking like the stereotypical gweilo perv once I got to the checkout counter! Problem is, sometimes legitimate Category III movies are often mistakenly filed in with the harder stuff by inexperienced staff, not they'd believe me if I told them that!

[Brian Thibodeau]

Things I have purchased since I spent two days in hospital with a diagnosis of blood clots in the lungs...

I trust this is something that can be treated and all is well, or will be soon? Hope you're doing better now that you're out.

Just curious, is KILLING BIRDS the one with Robert Vaughan? I seem to recall picking that up in an R1 zombie box-set from Shriek Show that had it under the title ZOMBIE 5 (or was it 4?).

I'd be seriously interested in your take on DAESEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS. Seems to be an opinion-splitter based on all the reviews (both legit and amateur) that I could find of it. I watched it with absolutely no prior knowledge—having bought it largely thanks to its kooky sleeve art and a couple of cast members—and was left with some pretty strong thoughts!

[Bearserk]

Well Simon needs to be in there you know

Lots of nice covers and interesting titles, one have to have some criteria to chose them from

Yeah I know, I've had the same problem myself from time to time, I've left out some, but added others as I've recognized some of the "actors" from other movies where they where doing real acting, but it's hard to set a border to what should be added and what should not, but I usually fall back to that it can't hurt to add them as long as there are a somewhat proper attempt to act and have something which can resemble a story, and I like to have as complete a filmgraphy as possible for the actors, even though they do the odd movie where acting is in the backseat so to speak.

A Lustful Night is already in the DB, only containing one actor so far, Chui Bo-Lun so I expect that to be a proper movie, for the rest, we(or rather I) will just have to wait and see

[Mike Thomason]

Things I have purchased since I spent two days in hospital with a diagnosis of blood clots in the lungs...

I trust this is something that can be treated and all is well, or will be soon? Hope you're doing better now that you're out.

Just curious, is KILLING BIRDS the one with Robert Vaughan? I seem to recall picking that up in an R1 zombie box-set from Shriek Show that had it under the title ZOMBIE 5 (or was it 4?).

I'd be seriously interested in your take on DAESEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS. Seems to be an opinion-splitter based on all the reviews (both legit and amateur) that I could find of it. I watched it with absolutely no prior knowledge—having bought it largely thanks to its kooky sleeve art and a couple of cast members—and was left with some pretty strong thoughts!

Blood clots: small, but serious enough to put me in hospital for two days, off work for two weeks and on blood thinners for six months. Effectively I am not meant to be doing much of anything for the next couple of weeks and I have visits to hospital every other day as well as monthly check-ups ahead. But hey, better than the alternative...

Zombie Birds: Yes, that's the very same box-set I just bought -- for about $20AUD for three Italian exploiters it was a no-brainer.

Dasepo Naughty Girls: Give you my thoughts once I've seen it -- a couple of folk whose word I usually trust slated it; but a couple of others whose casual opinions have counted on occasions gave it decent feedback. I like silly films based on comics and stuff, so there's a good chance I'll probably like it.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Blood clots: small, but serious enough to put me in hospital for two days, off work for two weeks and on blood thinners for six months. Effectively I am not meant to be doing much of anything for the next couple of weeks and I have visits to hospital every other day as well as monthly check-ups ahead. But hey, better than the alternative...

That's for sure!

If nothing else, I don't think you'll be lacking for entertainment during those two weeks!

[cal42]

Bully

Where exactly is that gun coming from??!

[MrBooth]

Blood clots: small, but serious enough to put me in hospital for two days, off work for two weeks and on blood thinners for six months. Effectively I am not meant to be doing much of anything for the next couple of weeks and I have visits to hospital every other day as well as monthly check-ups ahead. But hey, better than the alternative...

Sorry to hear that - get well soon.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Great, cheers! My mate isn't into HK films, but is a horror nut and apparently this film has a bit of a "reputation" amongst gore-fiends. I was surprised he'd heard of a Shaw Brothers film and I hadn't!

No reviews for awhile, but BLACK MAGIC 2 finally has a nice image gallery :
http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/images.mhtml ... ay_set=eng

[cal42]

Thanks...looks very 70's

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

I'm kinda the same way on these. I find most of them tremendously boring, but there are a few that I kinda like—including the first GODZILLA/GOJIRA (that new special edition is phenomenal!),

Agreed (just watched the Raymond Burr edition; I like the Ed Woodian approach to this film). Are you going to get the other (or have) Toho double disk releases (Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla vs. Mothra)? Also did you watch the first Black Magic (feelings)?

After watching the Image/Celestial Water Margin I have to say it is a beautiful transfer (amazingly good). I picked up Vengence Is A Golden Blade (I'll eventually probably pick up all 30 (I believe this is how many Image will put out) of the Shaw Brothers Celestial/Image releases).

Now to borrow a topic from the Twins Mission thread: I am actually a fan of so many different genre's and countries that I am always trying to watch as much "classics" of the genres (and always straying of course) that I tend to prefer "older" films to recent films (regardless of genre/country; there is so much out there you can spend a lifetime on just one country if you wanted to; I have other reasons for prefering older films but that tends to deal with aesthetics as well as I am always in a quest to be a more sublime cinema scholar ). I find it hard enough to watch the plethora of classics/popular (for example I finally watched Bicycle Thieves which would go on to influence everything from Beijing Bicycle to Pee Wee's Big Adventure ).

[Brian Thibodeau]

Agreed (just watched the Raymond Burr edition; I like the Ed Woodian approach to this film). Are you going to get the other (or have) Toho double disk releases (Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla vs. Mothra)? Also did you watch the first Black Magic (feelings)?

I'll probably grab those two G-movies in the next Deep Discount sale as neither of them were favourites, but then I only ever saw them on TV or on fullscreen tapes, and given the treatment the first one received, they might be worth a revisit. If they don't do it for me, off to Amazon Marketplace they go!

I did indeed watch the first BLACK MAGIC. Figured since most of the cast returns in the sequel in different roles, it would still be good to see what warranted a sequel in the first place. I thought BLACK MAGIC was just-above-average, but the sequel really blows the doors off! The first one plays with the usual "mysterious Asia" tropes that have turned up in many a Hong Kong horror film since, but it just seems like the filmmakers held back a bit too much on exploitation elements in order to test the waters. By the time of the sequel, all bets were clearly off! Don't get me wrong, if you approach BLACK MAGIC 2 expecting STORY OF RICKY or ETERNAL EVIL OF ASIA level silliness, you'll be disappointed—this was 1976 after all—but taken in the context of the time they were made, they really do push the envelope nicely (especially the sequel) and make a pretty decent double bill IF you watch them in chronological order.

After watching the Image/Celestial Water Margin I have to say it is a beautiful transfer (amazingly good). I picked up Vengence Is A Golden Blade (I'll eventually probably pick up all 30 (I believe this is how many Image will put out) of the Shaw Brothers Celestial/Image releases).

I've got two Image Shaw discs so far, BLACK MAGIC, mentioned above, and BOXER'S OMEN, which I simply read too much about NOT to pick it up (actually, I won it on ebay for something like $2, as mentioned earlier in this thread ). They seem to do a nice job with these, although I'd imagine Celestial did most of the hard work for them, which is why I still prefer to pick up the HK discs when possible. Of course, with so many of the originals seemingly out of print, I suspect there will be a few holes here and there!

Now to borrow a topic from the Twins Mission thread: I am actually a fan of so many different genre's and countries that I am always trying to watch as much "classics" of the genres (and always straying of course) that I tend to prefer "older" films to recent films (regardless of genre/country; there is so much out there you can spend a lifetime on just one country if you wanted to; I have other reasons for prefering older films but that tends to deal with aesthetics as well as I am always in a quest to be a more sublime cinema scholar ). I find it hard enough to watch the plethora of classics/popular (for example I finally watched Bicycle Thieves which would go on to influence everything from Beijing Bicycle to Pee Wee's Big Adventure ).

I was kinda hoping someone else would bring this up before I started to sound like a broken record around here! Obviously, I attend this school of thought, and have in fact discovered things about the themes and techniques in NEW movies by watching OLD ones (and not just standard action rhythms and stuff like that). I would think that goes without saying for any film buff. And since there appears to be no expert out there who has literally watched every new Hong Kong release from the 1960's onwards, I've simply whipped up my own batch of bondo to fill in the cracks left by those who came, saw, bought and/or told us which movies were the only ones worth seeing, and moved on (a certain Canadian author of a hefty Hong Kong cinema book comes to mind ).

All the new releases get into my hands sooner or later, as I'm sure they do for others hereabouts. The sad thing is that by the time I'm able to discuss them, Mike Thomason won't want to discuss them anymore , so I guess I'll have to make do with the rest of you reprobates!

[cal42]

I did indeed watch the first BLACK MAGIC. Figured since most of the cast returns in the sequel in different roles, it would still be good to see what warranted a sequel in the first place. I thought BLACK MAGIC was just-above-average, but the sequel really blows the doors off! The first one plays with the usual "mysterious Asia" tropes that have turned up in many a Hong Kong horror film since, but it just seems like the filmmakers held back a bit too much on exploitation elements in order to test the waters. By the time of the sequel, all bets were clearly off! Don't get me wrong, if you approach BLACK MAGIC 2 expecting STORY OF RICKY or ETERNAL EVIL OF ASIA level silliness, you'll be disappointed—this was 1976 after all—but taken in the context of the time they were made, they really do push the envelope nicely (especially the sequel) and make a pretty decent double bill IF you watch them in chronological order.

Any idea if it's going to get a release on DVD?

[Mike Thomason]

The Birth Of A Family (aka: Family Ties) (South Korea) (DVD)
Darkness Bride (Hong Kong) (DVD)
A Day For An Affair (South Korea) (DVD)
Don't Look Back (South Korea) (DVD)
Fighting To Survive (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Fu Bo (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Let's Love Hong Kong (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Love Is Butterfly (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Loving Him (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Mapado 2: Back To The Island (South Korea) (DVD)
Market's Romance (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Public Toilet (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Reunion (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Sorum (South Korea) (DVD)
Three Fellas (aka: Bar Legend) (South Korea) (3-disc SE w/Bad Utterances) (DVD)

* An Autumn Diary proved to be OOP -- which is okay with me as I've since discovered that it was a DV movie.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Has anyone seen Ichikawa’s Fires on the Plain (1959)?

Yes, I saw it many years ago on my local public TV station. I don't think you'll be disappointed, especially, if you liked The Burmese Harp.

I just bought Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad (1965; Criterion). Quick note: this is going OOP (for Criterion) so now is a good time to buy (if you want this edition before it goes up in price). Because of the high price I will not buy anything new until Saturday .

[Mike Thomason]

A Cruel Attendance (aka: Educating Kidnappers) (South Korea) (DVD)
Cruel Winter Blues (South Korea) (DVD)
The Haunted School (Hong Kong) (DVD)
The Host (South Korea) (DVD)*
Lady Iron Chef (Hong Kong) (DVD)
My Wife Is A Gangster 3 (South Korea) (DVD)

* yes, I already had two copies, but I wanted the 3-disc Korean edition!

[Brian Thibodeau]

I just bought Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad (1965; Criterion). Quick note: this is going OOP (for Criterion) so now is a good time to buy (if you want this edition before it goes up in price).

Thanks for the heads-up on this one! I've had this wish-listed at various places for what seems like years now, but always keep putting it off. Any word on when it's going OOP? It would be cool if I could nab it at the next Deep Discount sale and save a few bucks.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

I just bought Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad (1965; Criterion). Quick note: this is going OOP (for Criterion) so now is a good time to buy (if you want this edition before it goes up in price).

Thanks for the heads-up on this one! I've had this wish-listed at various places for what seems like years now, but always keep putting it off. Any word on when it's going OOP? It would be cool if I could nab it at the next Deep Discount sale and save a few bucks.

Now (so when current supplies are gone). From the April 2007 Criterion Newsletter (yes I subscribe ):

... I took out mention of La Haine and Brute Force

Also, we wanted to let you know that our special edition of Kon Ichikawa’s astonishing documentary Tokyo Olympiad is now out of print. If you haven’t yet seen it, check with your favorite retailer—there may be a few copies left! You can read more about the film below in From the Collection.

As always, happy viewing!

...end of article

There are so many new (older) Japanese films that will be coming out on Criterion like Vengence is Mine, Sansho the Bailiff and Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara. Other Asian films could definitely be improved on this label though.

Brian, what are you thoughts on uber-fan Toby Russell (I just recently found out he was behind rarescope in UK and through BCI)? Here's a decent little interview discussing BCI and Ronin and Rarescope: http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2007/04/ ... illan.html. I subscribe to this RSS feed.

[Brian Thibodeau]

I think there may be others here better able to comment on Toby Russell. Perhaps members of out Euro or Aussie contingents? I've heard of his efforts at various places online, and even have most of the BCI Rarescopes, but I know very little about the guy. I do have an old documentary he made called called DEADLY FIGHTING DOLLS or DEADLY CHINA DOLLS or something like that? Pretty weak as far as production values go, but the clips are pretty fun and at least one of the interviewees (fairly certain it was Sharon Yeung Pan-pan) becomes visibly stressed when talking about what she clearly felt was the one-note nature of her career.

Not a big fan of his dad's films, though!

[cal42]

I think there may be others here better able to comment on Toby Russell

He's a lovely guy.

[Brian Thibodeau]

He's a prat.

Well, no doubt about that one coming from the British contingent!


Anyhoo, got a couple of parcels today that I wasn't expecting until next week. Some new stuff, some old stuff, some shameful stuff, and a few I'm sure I'll regret:

ROSE ROSE I LOVE YOU (1993 Universe; Tony Leung Ka-fai, Carina Lau)
HOT AND SPICY (2002 Wing Artist; Fan SIu-wong, Cherrie Kong)
MY COP (2006 Kam & Ronson; Ken Wong, Loletta Lee)
Mr. 3 MINUTES (2007 Panorama; Ronald Cheng; Cherrie Yin
TWINKLE STARS (2005 Modern; Amanda Lee, Grace Yip, Lam Suet)
GHOST IN THE HOUSE (2007 CN, Anya, Annie Wu; looks like this one needs a credit upgrade in the DB!)
MY NAME IS FAME (2006 Joy Sales. Lau Ching-wan. Thought I had this until I tried to find it after he won the acting award! )

And a couple of naughty bits:
TRUE LOVE 2003 (2003 Joy Sales; Sophie, Grace, Lily, Emily, etc... )
EMOTIONAL GIRL (1993 Universe; Julie Lee, Ng Suet-man)


And finally, grabbed an odd couple on the way home from work tonight, and can only imagine what the store clerk was thinking as I walked out the door!

TWINS MISSION (2007 Kam & Ronson 2 disc; Twins, etc. etc.)
MY HORNY GIRLFRIEND (2003 Universe; Grace Lam, Bessie Chan. Found it on the $4 DVD rack in this store, which meant I just HAD to have it! out of respect for Grace, you see...)

[Mike Thomason]

I think there may be others here better able to comment on Toby Russell

He's a prat.

...and also a member of these very forums!

[cal42]

I think there may be others here better able to comment on Toby Russell

He's a prat.

...and also a member of these very forums!

Hey, I never said that!

Seriously though, I was a little "tired and emotional" when I posted that, and I was thinking of Rick Baker , who you have probably never heard of (and have no need of knowing about). I've nothing against Toby Russell except for his involvement with the Eastern Heroes venture, which I felt to be a little "misleading" at times with its claims on certain video titles, i.e. some would claim to be with remastered subtitles when they just had the standard burnt-in Chinglish titles and the unneccessary exploitative retitling of certain movies (Chinese Untouchables, for example).

All of which probably has nothing to do with Toby Russell. And might not have anything to do with Rick Baker, either. But that kind of thing sticks with me.