What asian film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

[chazgower01]

The Rat Catcher (Hong Kong, 1974) fansub 2.5/5

Eight years before Sammo’s ‘Carry On Pickpocket’ there was Shaw Brothers’ director Kuei Chi-Hung’s ‘The Rat Catcher’, about a young pair of pickpocket/con artists.

More of a romantic comedy where the main character (Lau Luk-wa) consistently gets the bad end of the deal with fellow con artist (the young, hip, sexy Tanny Tien Ni) all while time after time getting caught by a chubby traffic cop who continues to get promoted. Finally, the ‘real’ bad guys are introduced, drug dealers, and they all team up to foil them.

Extremely light-hearted throughout (there is a fight scene late in the movie that tries to be comedic) with a more Western style of humor - sort of a Bennie Hill-esqe zany music as characters run around to under-cranked footage.

[HungFist]

Banned Book: Carnal Prayer Mat (発禁 肉蒲団) (Japan, 1975) [VoD] - 4/5

Cool. Added this to my watch list, though I don’t think will enjoy it as much as you did. I’m not a hot a huge fan of period-pink comedies (Sone’s Secret Chronicle: Prostitute Market is an exception), and I don’t really share the common enthusiasm for Yamatoya whose work I tend to perceive as “some fun ideas”.

(the always great Nobutaka Masutomi!)

He was the unsung hero of Roman Porno. So many good performances in a genre that wasn't exactly fertile ground (ehm) for male actors.

[chazgower01]

The Prodigal Son (Hong Kong, 1981) youtube Eastern Heroes dub 4.5/5

Yuen Biao stars as a spoiled rich kid who thinks he’s the greatest Kung Fu Master in all the land. Unbeknownst to him, all his fights are paid off by his father. When a visiting Peking Opera star exposes it (the great Lam Ching-ying who is a fighting dynamo in this), Biao decides he wants to train with him.

He’s not keen on that idea at all, even when Biao’s rich father buys his troupe to try and force the issue. A visiting lord who also thinks he’s a Kung Fu master (Frankie Chan in peak form) along with his henchmen (including an always bad ass Dick Wei) end up complicating things and Biao and Lam go on the run.

That’s where they meet up with Lam’s brother (Sammo Hung) and his daughter and Biao finally starts to learn the skills he needs, leading to the fantastic finale - plain and simply one of the cool fights in Hong Kong movie history.

Slapstick comedy, great fights and action, well paced - this is one of the greats of the genre and a must see for anyone who loves martial arts movies!

[grim_tales]

Sister Street Fighter (1974): 4/5

Violent ass-kicking with a cool funky soundtrack. Great fun

[Guro Taku]

Wet Lust: Opening the Tulip (濡れた欲情・ひらけ!チューリップ) (Japan, 1975) [DVD] - 2.5/5
A Tatsumi Kumashiro film that was recently released on DVD by Happinet. It's set in the world of pachinko parlours and follows two lowlives called Akira (Masami Ishii) and Hiroshi (Kiyoyasu Adachi). Hiroshi is a ladies man but constantly loses at patchinko. Akira always wins but is still a virgin at age 25! When his friend tries to get him laid, the woman initially agrees but ultimately refuses because he has "a face like a stoned dog". The film doesn't develop much of a plot until the last third when Akira is informed that his father, whom he never knew, has died and he's to inherit 88 million yen - under the condition that he marries until the next day. This leads to a bunch of women who previously couldn't have cared less about him throwing themselves at him but he's not interested because the only one he really wants is Makiko (Meika Seri), who is in love with Hiroshi. Meanwhile, Hiroshi tries to recruit a woman from his harem to marry Akira for the sake of the money. He does that from public phones that are all at the zoo? So in one scene he's calling women while a gorilla is looking over his shoulder and another scene starts with an extreme close-up of a hippo's asshole before zooming out and revealing Hiroshi and his phone. Anyway... Naomi Tani is in this film as well as a stripper called Sayuri but her role is small and she doesn't get tied up or poop into a paper bag. This is appreciated.

[HungFist]

Railroad Man (鉄道員) (Japan, 1999) [VoD] - 1/5
Old man devoted his life to work instead of family and spends most of the movie seeing b&w and sepia toned flashbacks. Popular Takakura movie could just as well have been women's sappy TV drama because nothing sets it apart from those other than the occasional widescreen landscape shot. Shinobu Otake's wife character so exceedingly tailor made for female TV audiences that any other viewer's head is likely to explode à la Scanners.

Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread (女必殺拳　危機一発) (Japan, 1974) [BD] - 3.5/5
Fun Shihomi flick suffers from some shaky cam excess, something that director Yamaguchi invented in late '74 (probably a Fukasaku influence) but gradually let go off in 75. It's still a lot of fun with guest star Kurata, Hideo Murota in rare main villain role, sleazy smugglers operating jewels into girls' arses, that awesome apocalyptic shot near the end, and some kiddie porn (is that Eva Ionesco? She seems to have been big in Asia with her Playboy photos in one of the Shaw Bros.'s Criminals films) that EVERYONE had forgotten was in the film until BBFC made it front page news.

[chazgower01]

Killers On Wheels (Hong Kong, 1976) dvd 3/5
A Shaw Brothers youth rebel exploitation flick directed by Kuei Chih Hung. Starring a young enough Danny Lee to still have a full head of hair. Lee’s girlfriend and another couple are harassed by a gang of bikers who are obnoxious and lawless, etc., even going so far as to squirt ketchup through their car window (no seriously)! But it just starts off somewhat harmless...

When they try and fight back, the violence escalates more and more leading up to the bloody finale. It tries to give us some class warfare BS to add some lofty intentions to all of this stuff, but it’s pretty laughable. Lots of motorcycle action, ultra-violence, misogyny - this is no women’s revenge flick - they get the bad end of everything here… it’s all kinda dumb, but strangely entertaining, in a pure exploitation way.

[chazgower01]

Hex (Hong Kong, 1980) dvd 2.5/5
Director Kuei Chih Hung’s homage to the 1955 French thriller Les Diaboliques, is a worthy if uneven remake. The first 30 minutes are really good, the 2nd 40 minutes are somewhat lesser in their attempt at psychological suspense/small budget horror, and the last 20 minutes veer into outright exploitation.

For most of the movie, the mood and atmosphere is great, though the horror is fairly cheesy by today’s standard’s and the fully nude seance dance at the end went on forever (and was pretty revealing). Don’t get me wrong - she’s attractive and worth viewing, but after 6 minutes of it, you realize the movie’s kind of run out of steam and it’s time to go home.

[Guro Taku]

Scissor Dick (本当はエログロいイソップ寓話 シザーチンＰ) (Japan, 2018) [DVD] - 2.5/5
A highly anticipated film for me and ultimately a disappointment. Director Naoyuki Tomomatsu again uses much of the running time for insane rants about misandry and how anti-molestation laws will lead to mankind's extinction. There's a digression that lasts at least 20 minutes where the enlightens us about the Japanese idol industry and how it dates back to the Virgin Mary, who, if I remember correctly, is also responsible for starting moe culture. Tangents and nuclear-warhead grade political incorrectness are nothing new with Tomomatsu's films but this latest entry in his filmography lacks the fun world-building of the Rape Zombie saga and the New Century Amazones duology. Instead, this story, as eventually and tenuously glimpsed between rapid-fire monologues, is about a guy called Kametaro Debe, who wants to find love, loses his grip on reality, grows a three-pronged knife-cock and kills a bunch of women with it. His adversary is a young woman called Usako (Sasa Handa in bunnygirl suit). You see, they are destined for each other because he has a murder cock and she has a guillotine pussy. They ultimately have a kid with a propeller made of swords growing from his ass. I will say that the film's last third is its best, the splatter effects are mostly practical and there are some inspired bits of psychotic nonsense. But it's not the film of the year.

[chazgower01]

Hex vs Witchcraft (Hong Kong, 1980) internet 1.5/5
Director Kuei Chih Hung’s follow up to Hex was NOT a sequel, despite its name, but rather a comedy involving the supernatural. Or I should say an attempt at comedy involving the supernatural. Whoever thought James Yi was a good idea for a movie lead is sadly mistaken. He was neither funny or sympathetic as the down on his luck loser that ends up married to a ghost.
The whole movie is neither funny or spooky, though I did end up chuckling a few times just because something was so incredibly stupid. Far and away the most entertaining moment of the whole film is Jenny Leung getting fully nude in an early scene.

[HungFist]

Scissor Dick (本当はエログロいイソップ寓話 シザーチンＰ) (Japan, 2018) [DVD] - 2.5/5
A highly anticipated film for me and ultimately a disappointment. Director Naoyuki Tomomatsu again uses much of the running time for insane rants about misandry and how anti-molestation laws will lead to mankind's extinction. There's a digression that lasts at least 20 minutes where the enlightens us about the Japanese idol industry and how it dates back to the Virgin Mary, who, if I remember correctly, is also responsible for starting moe culture. Tangents and nuclear-warhead grade political incorrectness are nothing new with Tomomatsu's films but this latest entry in his filmography lacks the fun world-building of the Rape Zombie saga and the New Century Amazones duology. Instead, this story, as eventually and tenuously glimpsed between rapid-fire monologues, is about a guy called Kametaro Debe, who wants to find love, loses his grip on reality, grows a three-pronged knife-cock and kills a bunch of women with it. His adversary is a young woman called Usako (Sasa Handa in bunnygirl suit). You see, they are destined for each other because he has a murder cock and she has a guillotine pussy. They ultimately have a kid with a propeller made of swords growing from his ass. I will say that the film's last third is its best, the splatter effects are mostly practical and there are some inspired bits of psychotic nonsense. But it's not the film of the year.

I don't doubt your overall assessment, in fact I might enjoy the film less, but all of that sounds quite amazing

[chazgower01]

Bewitched (Hong Kong, 1981) dvd 2.5/5
What starts out as an interesting, yet predictable guy-goes-to-Thailand-and-gets-cursed Hong Kong movie turns into a semi-worthy effort by director Kuei Chih Hung to scare, gross-out and frighten the audience. It's atmospheric, but much of the thrills here don't hold up all that well with time. Still, I give him credit for the effort.  Now from a personal perspective, I enjoyed seeing 1981 Bangkok and the fair amount of filming they did there, showing (some) landmarks virtually unchanged from almost 40 years ago. 
Overall a pretty average movie though.

[HungFist]

Bewitched (Hong Kong, 1981) dvd 2.5/5
Overall a pretty average movie though.

Whaat? This is perhaps my favorite SB horror!

Bewitched (Hong Kong, 1981) [DVD] – 4/5
Superb Shaw Brothers horror “based on” "stories" by Chinese and Thai men who became victims of black magic. As usual, a woman (a dumped Thai girlfriend who hired an evil magician to take revenge for her) is behind it all. There’s an amazing duel between a Buddhist monk and an evil magician, both using mental powers trying to defeat each other from 100 kilometres apart, halfway into the film. Although the rest of the film can’t quite retain that level of quality, it’s still a very solid film packed with gore, great special effects, scares, and a bit of boobs and bush. The film was followed by a goofier, slightly less effective but equally entertaining sequel The Boxer’s Omen (1983).

[chazgower01]

Bewitched (Hong Kong, 1981) dvd 2.5/5
Overall a pretty average movie though.

Whaat? This is perhaps my favorite SB horror!

Bewitched (Hong Kong, 1981) [DVD] – 4/5
Superb Shaw Brothers horror “based on” "stories" by Chinese and Thai men who became victims of black magic. As usual, a woman (a dumped Thai girlfriend who hired an evil magician to take revenge for her) is behind it all. There’s an amazing duel between a Buddhist monk and an evil magician, both using mental powers trying to defeat each other from 100 kilometres apart, halfway into the film. Although the rest of the film can’t quite retain that level of quality, it’s still a very solid film packed with gore, great special effects, scares, and a bit of boobs and bush. The film was followed by a goofier, slightly less effective but equally entertaining sequel The Boxer’s Omen (1983).

I wanted to like this so much, especially because of its Thai locale, but ultimately it just didn’t hold me. I usually like the way Kuei Chih Hung frames his stories, but for some reason it just felt bland at times to me as if he was going through the motions in the 2nd half of the film.

Maybe it caught me on a bad night, but even the monk/magician duel I thought was ok - the movie just never really wowed me, much less creeped me out, scared me or filled me with any kind of dread. And I watched it at 3 in the morning with all the lights out!

I rated them the same, but I personally liked Hex better. Ah well, different likes for each!

[Guro Taku]

I like BEWITCHED but I liked it more when Kuei Chih Hung himself basically remade it as THE BOXER'S OMEN. Also thanks for reviewing the HEX "sequel". I've been curious about those for a while and so far I think I'll gladly stay ignorant.

[chazgower01]

Mr. Vampire (Hong Kong, 1985) dvd 4/5

The great Lam Ching-Ying stars as a supernatural witch doctor who, along with his bumbling assistants (Ricky Hui and Chin Siu-Ho) take on a vampire (and a few of his victims) and a ghost who seduces Chin Sui-Ho. The physical comedy is excellent (and creative), the fighting is fun, and even most of the goofy comedy is enjoyable. Moon Lee sort of unofficially joins the team, and even though we get no martial arts fighting from her, she’s as cute as ever.

To some degree, it reminded me of those horror comedy movies I watched as a kid (Abbot and Costello meet the Wolfman, etc.)...

[HungFist]

Outcast Man (日陰者) (Japan, 1972) [TV] - 3/5
Surprisingly good later day Kosaku Yamashita film with a beatiful depiction of honorable Tsuruta and his relationship with lover Kayo Matsuo. This kind of love based sentimentality was rare in the genre. Tsuruta's theme song a bit of a mismatch though, and the plot with evil Bin Amatsu building a factory and deceitful Kyosuke Matsuda being deceitful is thoroughly disposable (aside the fun fact that for once it's the good guys who want to blow up something!). The more soulful moments carry the film, however.

Love - Zero = Infinity (いやらしい人妻　濡れる) (Japan, 1994) - 3.5/5
Hisayasu Sato's Shinjuku: a lonely protagonist observing strangers on the streets, a young couple injecting each other's blood into their veins, reports of a vampire killer on the loose, AIDS spreading via medical blood products. Slightly underwritten and falling short for its potential, this is still a fascinating existential pink film with a haunting score and great 90s aura.

[chazgower01]

Enchanting Ghost (Hong Kong, 1970) dvd 3.5/5
What a beautifully sad movie.

Li Hua Yang plays a woman who is swindled out of her home by an evil uncle who wants to live off the wealth and build a concubine of pretty girls. She is left with nothing and leaves town, settling into the ‘haunted house’ on the outskirts. There she is scared at first but finds out it’s actually inhabited by a woman (Mei-Yao Chang) and her dying mother.

After the mother passes away, the two women, scorned by the local village, fall in love in what is NOT an exploitative way, but rather a really slow, and sweet, kind way - there’s no onscreen sex in this Shaw Brothers feature. But the town isn’t done with these two yet, and the movie shows us the greed, and pettiness of humans and the things they’re capable of.

Very well done film, that is slower paced than some of the Shaw Brothers style we're used to, but I really enjoyed this.

[chazgower01]

Ghost Story (Hong Kong, 1979) dvd 4/5
Now THIS is a ghost story!

Directed by Li Han-Hsiang, it tells the story of a female ghost (Hu Chin) and her interactions with lustful men -all done on great sets, with weird happenings, and naked women. One of his least successful films, in a highly successful career, I found this to be more entertaining than much of what passes as the horror genre of this era.

Interesting story, as told by an old Chinese man speaking to a gathering of listeners at night. It doesn’t have to overly rely upon the dated effects of the time, and features quality performers, and… well yeah, there's a fair amount of full frontal nudity.

Hu Chin, in particular, and not surprisingly, is naked a lot in this, but she looks darn good at 33, and truth be told, her charm is at an all-time high. You can see why these men make some bad choices!

But it’s not just that… the story, or ‘legends’, are entertaining, and the final ten minutes of the finale is pretty awesome with the ghost as a human statue shooting lasers from her eyes, four naked ghosts in sheer outfits battling the Taoist priest, and a beheading.

To me, this is underrated, great semi-exploitation entertainment.

[chazgower01]

Naked Comes the Huntress (Hong Kong, 1978) dvd 3/5
Three hunters lost in the snowy wilderness (giving this a unique look), encounter a naked girl laying out in the snow.
She uses her body to attract and trap minks, and invites the men back to her home where her father welcomes and puts them to work for their temporary lodging.
One of the hunters the next day follows the girl (Carrie Lee) out to her naked work area and tries to rape her, but she is saved by one of the other hunters (Chan Sing). Having saved her, they end up sleeping together and falling in love.
But the father offers the third hunter (James Tien) her hand in marriage (as well as a nice dowry) and suddenly we have a problem... and we find out just how much of friends one of them ISN’T.
An interesting film that moves at a good pace, but featuring just a smattering of martial arts fighting (Sammo was the action director). It’s pretty entertaining film with some clever surprises.

[HungFist]

Sex-Crime Coast: School of Piranha (肉体犯罪海岸 ピラニヤの群れ) (Japan, 1973) [VoD] – 1.5/5
Male and female delinquents dubbed as “Piranhas” (no, not the Toei guys) have sex on beach, take captives in a house, then have sex the house. Hitomi Kozue is the main bad girl getting jealous when shag partner Ryuji Nakamura gets intimate with rich girl Masumi Jun. Dull home invasion Roman Porno with a Sun Tribe flavor and a bit of gang content. Director Shogoro Nishimura merely slaps the genre premises together and proceeds to do nothing with them. Last reel action aside, it's embarrassingly unambitious for an early Roman Porno.

Return of the Sister Street Fighter (帰ってきた女必殺拳) (Japan, 1975) [BD] - 3.5/5
The most excessive film in the series. Shihomi goes through her entire Chinese wardrobe, wheelchair villain Rinichi Yamamoto organizes a fight tournament reminiscent of Wang Yu films (one fighter is a fucking Zulu!) and my idol Osman Yusuf appears for 10 seconds as strip joint customer. Only a notch away from overly goofy, it still remains on the cool side and is mostly well paced at lovely 77 minutes. Shunsuke Kikuchi's score rocks the socks off as usual, and Yamaguchi thankfully does away with the shaky cam. But the storyline is a rehash of the first two films (how many relatives / friends / friends' relatives to be kidnapped does she have?) and Ishibashi is again denied the finale he deserves, which slightly hamper the enjoyment.

[Killer Meteor]

Enchanting Ghost (Hong Kong, 1970) dvd 3.5/5
What a beautifully sad movie.

Li Hua Yang plays a woman who is swindled out of her home by an evil uncle who wants to live off the wealth and build a concubine of pretty girls. She is left with nothing and leaves town, settling into the ‘haunted house’ on the outskirts. There she is scared at first but finds out it’s actually inhabited by a woman (Mei-Yao Chang) and her dying mother.

After the mother passes away, the two women, scorned by the local village, fall in love in what is NOT an exploitative way, but rather a really slow, and sweet, kind way - there’s no onscreen sex in this Shaw Brothers feature. But the town isn’t done with these two yet, and the movie shows us the greed, and pettiness of humans and the things they’re capable of.

Very well done film, that is slower paced than some of the Shaw Brothers style we're used to, but I really enjoyed this.

Li Hua Yang's character is a man.

[chazgower01]

Enchanting Ghost (Hong Kong, 1970) dvd 3.5/5
What a beautifully sad movie.

Li Hua Yang plays a woman who is swindled out of her home by an evil uncle who wants to live off the wealth and build a concubine of pretty girls. She is left with nothing and leaves town, settling into the ‘haunted house’ on the outskirts. There she is scared at first but finds out it’s actually inhabited by a woman (Mei-Yao Chang) and her dying mother.

After the mother passes away, the two women, scorned by the local village, fall in love in what is NOT an exploitative way, but rather a really slow, and sweet, kind way - there’s no onscreen sex in this Shaw Brothers feature. But the town isn’t done with these two yet, and the movie shows us the greed, and pettiness of humans and the things they’re capable of.

Very well done film, that is slower paced than some of the Shaw Brothers style we're used to, but I really enjoyed this.

Li Hua Yang's character is a man.

Interesting. I can sort of see that, but... at no point in the movie did I think it.

[chazgower01]

March of Fools (South Korea, 1975) internet 4/5
Two college friends manage to avoid military service and stay in school (centered around their philosophy department), where they explore life, chase girls, get drunk and ponder life. This isn't a 'youth rebellion' or juvenile delinquent movie though - even though the drinking, and minor rebellion is there... this is a character study. A life study of young people.

Byeong-Ta is a little more freewheeling and fun, Yeong-cheol more serious and introspective and it reflects in their approaches to two girls they meet, Young-ja and Soon-ja, though neither has much luck with romance. Director Ha Kil-jong's film was censored as early as the scripting stages to remove much of the 'radical' ideas (student protests, real rebellion), but in many ways, seeing the lives of these normal students, gives it an even more intimate feeling. Kil-jong was educated in America and his worldly influence shows with mentions or posters of Charles Bronson, Waiting for Godot, Elvis Presley, Bridget Bardot, even streaking! (With their clothes on. It’s “Korean style”!)

Ultimately this movie got me more clearly into the head of a young 1970's South Korean than I ever thought I could be, and the final two scenes really hit home in an understanding of how much we're all alike and moments in time are so precious... from what I've read the final scene between Byeong-Ta and Young-ja is a classic of Korean Cinema and I won't lie, it teared me up and made me happy all at the same time. I'll never forget it. It's great to find movies like these, primarily unknown in the United States...

[Guro Taku]

The Little Match Murder Girl (マッチ売りの殺人少女) (Japan, 2014) [DVD] - 3/5
Erotic horror offering from Naoyuki Tomomatsu with a much better and more engaging script than I expected. There is only one overlong lecture early on during a sex scene where a guy explains how the attempted military coup from 2.26 led to urban ghost stories like Red Cape and Toilet Hanako! The film itself follows a reporter from a local TV station (former AV star Rin Ogawa) as she and her crew investigate stories of a ghost in a tunnel who is said to make those who see her spontaneously combust after haunting their dreams. Tomomatsu's sleazey approach adds some much-needed variety to what would otherwise have been just another low-budget J-horror entry, at least 15 years late to the party. That the ghost's backstory involves radical students from the 70ies and their unusual interpretation of free love was an interesting twist. You also got to love dream/time-travel allowing the protagonist to witness her own birth.