Courtesy of M Pictures
Those in the mood for midnight movie fare need look no further than Premika, an absolutely bugnuts karaoke-themed horror movie out of Thailand. It’s funny, it’s gross, and it’s even a bit heartbreaking. Premika is gonzo filmmaking at its best, and I kind of loved it, stupid as it is. Continue reading
© 2017 Universe Entertainment Limited
The Big Call, the latest from Oxide Pang, is so hilariously overwrought (even by Hong Kong standards) for its subject matter that I spent most of the first half of the movie convinced it was a sly parody. No such luck tough, this police thriller about the glamorous world of telephone scamming is dead serious. Continue reading
Courtesy of Strawdog Studio Production
Richard V. Somes’s film, We Will Not Die Tonight (Philippines 2018) has its World Premiere tonight, June 29, as part of the 17th New York Asian Film Festival. The film stars Erich Gonzales as Kray, a down-on-her-luck stuntwoman who stumbles into a dangerous situation with her friends and ends up having to fight for her life against a vicious gang. I had a chance to speak with Somes, in NYC to present the film, about shooting on a tight schedule and budget, stunt work in the Philippines, and the greatness of The Warriors.
CSB: I understand you shot this film in eight days. How did you manage that?
SOMES: It was all about making the crew and the actors feel comfortable with long hours of work and long hours of action and fight scenes. I said to them, “This has no budget, and this is a passion project for us, you can always say no.” But, of course, the main actress, Erich, she really wanted to do the film. So I surrounded her with a lot of friends, and most of the actors I tapped to be producers. They didn’t ask for compensation or anything, but my offer to them was that they would be producers and get back-end, hoping we could distribute it or sell it somewhere. And the plan totally worked. They were more passionate because they were also producers, so they wanted to do their best, so that we could sell the project someday. Continue reading
© 2018 “Dynamite Graffiti” Film Partners
The 17th New York Asian Film Festival kicks off tonight at Lincoln Center and I could not be more excited. I’ve been coming to Subway Cinema’s annual extravaganza’s since before they even were the NYAFF, and they’ve never once failed to put on a good show. This year’s fest promises to be no different, with the now customary assortment of crowd-pleasers, big budget action, serious arthouse, and midnight movies. All the favorite genres are out – we’ve got the gory Korean historical epics (Age of Blood), the Hong Kong crime thrillers (Beast Stalkers), the indie Japanese zombie horror (One Cut of the Dead) and freak-outs (Smokin’ on the Moon), a Thai surprise (Premika), and a robust selection from the upstart film industries of Malaysia and the Philippines. Continue reading
As a region, Scandinavia only has a few instantly recognizable cliché cultural exports. Smoked fish, 70’s art porn, IKEA … and the blackest of black metal. I’m not much for the others, but I’ve been fascinated with the Scandinavian metal scene for years, since reading a Spin article on intraband murders and church burnings 20 years ago that pinned my ears back. Since then I’ve had a chance to see a catch a few of the greats, like Abbath, and develop a healthy appreciation for the sound. The genre is easily mockable, because of its tendency to take everything to extremes (see the great, loving Metalocalypse), but still an absolute blast.
The new Finnish comedy Heavy Trip, about a small-town metal band trying to make the big time, is well aware of the absurdity, but pokes fun at the genre without ever crapping on it. Continue reading
I watch a lot of horror movies, and while I love them, I’ve become pretty jaded over the years. Maybe one out of every hundred are actually frightening, and then usually only for a moment or two. So when I say Satan’s Slaves is genuinely terrifying – indeed, for me, quite literally hair-raising – I mean it. Continue reading
CSB’s Jeff talked up the glories of this low-budget hicksploitation movie for years, so when the Brooklyn Alamo screened it, we had to go. Fortunately, the movie lived up (lived down?) to its reputation, with plenty of go-go dancing, race-baiting, and trash-talking, and rarely a dull moment. Continue reading
The Quad Cinema in New York will be continuing its Chang Cheh retrospective – “Vengeance Is His: Chang Cheh’s Martial Lore” – over Memorial Weekend. There are still lots of great films to see, including the stone cold classic Five Deadly Venoms, which combines the athleticism of the Venoms Mob with solid murder mystery plotting. Continue reading
Downrange is the latest step in Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura’s gradual move into the US market. Kitamura follows in the footsteps of luminaries of Asian cinema like Tsui Hark and John Woo, who were also set out to toil in minor films, but Kitamura never aspired to their artistry. That may be to his benefit in Downrange, because instead of a try-hard wannabe blockbuster, Kitamura plays to his strengths, making a nasty, gory, little low-budget sniper thriller that largely achieves its limited goals. Continue reading
Mom and Dad, the latest film from Brian Taylor, one-half of the pair of madmen behind the miraculous Crank films, is similarly … well, apeshit bananas for lack of a better term. Taylor, working from his own screenplay, posits a world where a mysterious affliction is causing parents to turn on their own children, murdering them in the most expedient way.
