SEVEN GRANDMASTERS

Oh yeah, this is what it's all about. I've wanted to show this movie forever, but there were no known 35mm prints. Last month I found a film collector who had dug a print out of a dumpster behind a movie in the late 70's. It sat in his basement ever since, until he sold it to me. The print is in excellent condition, and this is one of the top five kung fu movies of all time! This is Joseph Kuo's masterpiece, and that's saying a lot for the man who also directed Mystery of Chessboxing, 18 Bronzemen, and Born Invincible. The movie is pure, non-stop kung fu mayhem, with all the best old school sound effects, fighting styles, martial arts weapons, and silver-haired villains with huge sideburns and maniacal laughter. It also features the best monkey-style kung fu fight in movie history.

Saturday June 27th at 7:45 on the Hollywood Theatre's 50 foot screen. I don't care where you live, don't miss this!

TRUCK TURNER!

Tomorrow night in 35mm, Isaac Hayes:

Bone Cruncher

Great arm snapping action from South Shaolin Master. Also note the Lau Kar Leung-inspired fight scene camera movement:

35mm Throwdown

A week from today I'm taking on Lars and Zack from the legendary Alamo Drafthouse in a 35mm battle, TRAILER WAR! Info and advance tix are on the website, I highly suggest buying advance tickets. This is the cinematic event of the year.

To warm up, let's take a look at another classic throwdown, the pre-basketball game battle of The Cold Crush Brothers vs. The Fantastic Freaks in Wild Style:

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow

TONIGHT! Ng See Yuen producing. Woo-Ping directing. Jackie Chan in his breakthrough role. The great Hwang Jang Lee as the Eagle Claw Villain. Simon Yuen as the old Snakefist Master. Kung Fu Jesus. A classic training sequence. And a cat vs. a fucking cobra.

TORSO/PIECES

On Saturday January 31st if you live anywhere remotely close to Portland, make sure you don't miss the hacksaw/chainsaw Horror Double Feature of Torso and Pieces. Sergio Martino's Torso is an amazing piece of sleazy 70's Italian cinema, and is my personal favorite Giallo. Pieces is one of the most batshit crazy horror movies you'll ever see.

Hit the website for all the info, and watch the trailers below:

Torso:



Pieces:

Posse in Effect

The cast of Avenging Eagle

Foul Fight

Nothing ruins a fair fight like a shit talking, vomit spewing ninja:

Raising the Dead

"The Dragon never died...he was just waiting...for the moment...to return from the grave!" In case you didn't know about Bruce Lee's deal with the black angel of death, here's the trailer for Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave:

Cold Business

Me and Cool Breeze have something in common. We've both got a plan to stick it to the man. But that's all I can say right now. Check it:

Silent Night, Deadly Night!

It's that time of year again. On December 21st come see the axe-wielding psycho Santa Claus in Silent Night, Deadly Night in glorious 35mm! Classic scenes include the sledding beheading, the toy store montage, the bloody box knife as little girl's Christmas present, and crazy Grandpa terrifying little Billy with his tales of a rampaging killer Santa Claus. Somebody needs to get the Austin Film Society to post their footage online of Tarantino and Rodriguez acting out this scene at QT6.



Also, here are Siskel and Ebert hating on the movie upon its release. Siskel gives a great description, it's just that his attitude is all wrong.

Crotch of the White Lotus

Over on Film Forno, Joe D posted a great image of Gordon Liu as Pai Mei in Kill Bill (Joe was lucky enough to work on this movie with Gordon) The Master Killer gave an amazing performance as Pai Mei, which was a character he fought against in his Shaw Brothers heyday.

For centuries Pai Mei has been a legend of martial arts mythology. A white eyebrowed villain with a kung fu crotch who raided and destroyed the Shaolin temple. When Lau Kar Leung made Executioners from Shaolin about the revenge of the Shaolin students for the destruction of the temple, Lo Lieh stepped into the role of Pai Mei, and burned an iconic image into celluloid of an unstoppable kung fu villain. Lo Lieh was barely on screen, but commanded an incredible presence with fiery eyes, overconfident laugh, and foot-catching crotch. Here's the opening credit sequence to this movie, which introduces Lo Lieh as Pai Mei, and the danger of attacking him between the legs (this opening scene is mysteriously missing from American bootleg VHS copies. Until recently this was the only way to see this movie, so this scene was unknown here until the Celestial restored dvds came out)

Five Element Ninjas

This was a huge hit last night! Chang Cheh's career went from epic swordplay films of the 60's, to knife fighting movies like Vengeance in the early 70's, to his Shaolin temple movies (my favorites) of the mid 70's, to campier Venoms movies of the late 70's and early 80's. This is the trailer for the classic Venoms movie Five Element Ninjas (aka Chinese Super Ninjas) Youtube doesn't come close to watching it in 35mm Shaw Scope though:

Back By Popular Demand

Returning on Tuesday Nov. 25th:

RIP - Rudy Ray Moore

Rugged and rough to the very end, Dolemite is gone. I was just talking to David Walker about Rudy Ray Moore this last weekend, and he's written a nice piece here after the news of Moore's death.

Now watch the trailer for Disco Godfather. This always brings the house down:



RIP

Chained Heat

Tonight:

Three Mad Monkeys

Three mad monkey trailers. First, Lau Kar Leung's Mad Monkey Kung Fu. I have this on 35mm:



"Leopard Fighting with Snake!" Mighty Peking Man:



And Shakma!

"They will pay...in rivers of blood!"

This Saturday night:


Photo credit: I think I jacked this photo from Blake at some point.

The 18 Bronzemen

The Bronzemen might look like they're made out of styrofoam, but as Black Rob will point out, styrofoam doesn't sound like this when you hit it:

Hitting the Big Time

Brett Weldele is a master comic book artist. His best work to date is the graphic novel The Surrogates which is currently being made into a movie starring Bruce Willis. Now comes the news that another graphic novel of his, Julius, is also going to be a movie. Congratulations to Brett! Besides being an artist, Brett's also a huge fan of horror movies and spaghetti westerns, which has obviously greatly influenced his work. For the last three and a half years he's done artwork for me, with posters that became synonymous with the Grindhouse Film Festival. Here are all four: