BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT: FAUST IN THE PHILIPPINES

For horror fans the name John Ashley means one thing and that’s the series of films he made in the Philippines on low to know budget with the most gruesome names and images used for ad campaigns ever seen. BEAST OF BLOOD and MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND come to mind immediately. But among the many movies he made in the Philippines there was one that was a solid horror film and thought provoking as well and that was THE BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT.

Opening in WWII we find Joseph Langdon (Ashley) trying to survive after being hunted down as a traitor. Willing to do anything to survive he’s approached by Satan (Vic Diaz) who will help him in return of his soul. Langdon agrees and is soon put to use by Satan who has more nefarious plans for him.

Over the next 25 years Satan inserts Langdon into various bodies to do his will until he ends up in the body of Philip Rogers. His face scarred in an accident and with doctors saying he doesn’t have long to live his wife Julia (Mary Charlotte Wilcox) and brother Earl (Ken Metcalfe) arrive at the hospital to see him recovered. When the bandages are removed from his face he now appears as Langdon, explained by the damage in the accident.

Rogers/Langdon also has a new attitude towards life, making up with the wife that he neglected for years and eliminating the board of directors of his company. But it’s all short lived and in reality a way for Satan to attempt to gain access to more souls. He soon tells his brother that he plans on divorcing his wife knowing he’ll be bored with her and suggest that he step in to comfort and marry her since he’s had a thing for her for years. The hope is this will make both of their souls prime targets.

But Julia doesn’t give up easily on her husband and she supports him in everything he does. In an attempt to force him to do more damage, Satan turns Rogers/Langdon into a werewolf who prowls the streets by night killing those he comes across. Unlike the villagers seen in many European movies the villagers here are having none of it and try and stop him, forcing him to seek sanctuary in an old warehouse. There he meets Sabasas Nan (Andres Centenera), a once feared crime boss who is now old, blind and at ease having settled his debts and cleansed his soul. This gives Langdon hope that he can do the same. But will he be able to do so or will Satan force him to continue on the only life he’s known for the past 25 years?

In all honesty while I was aware of these Philippines based films the only one I’d ever had a chance to see before was TWILIGHT PEOPLE and it was always a favorite of mine more because of memories it stirred than how great it was. But it was an entertaining film that I still enjoy. So I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. I was pleasantly surprised to find it more thought provoking than one would think considering the budget was so low.

It was also my first exposure to Ashely in these films and he does a great job here, another thing that caught me off guard. Even more surprising was the performance of Vic Diaz as Satan. I’d seen him in numerous films throughout the years but always in more cardboard cutout type roles. He presents a wonderful Satan here more cunning and conniving than frightening in a visual sense.

The entire film turned out to be a movie I enjoyed from start to finish, passing what I call the fast forward test. I call it that because there are times when watching movies that you feel compelled to press that fast forward button when a film bogs down or gets boring. That never happened with this one.

VCI has done a great job with the film too. This is no cheap knock off edition of the film with a scratched print, terrible sound and no extras. They’ve done a nice transfer here with a great picture with a 2K restoration from the 35mm picture negative and archival print. Extras include a new audio commentary track with film historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson, a video interview with director Eddie Romero, a tribute John Ashley, expanded interviews with the cast and crew taken from Mark Hartley’s 2010 documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed!, TV spots and trailers and reversible alternate cover art for the sleeve.

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SHOWDOWN: VIDEO STORE MEMORY

MVD Rewind is a series of films being released by MVD that celebrates the heyday of the video store era, a time when movies were made just for video stores to fill the shelves and take care of the needs of movie fans looking for something to watch when the hottest new releases were flying off the shelves and not always available. Those movies have provided some of the fondest memories for video store fans who missed having them available with the loss of those mom and pop stores and who are now clamoring to replace their old taped copies of those films. MVD Rewind is filling that void.

Back when video stores were the rage the martial arts movie made a strong comeback having slowed down with the death of Bruce Lee. New stars popped up on direct to video tapes of the time, stars like Cynthia Rothrock, Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Billy Blanks. It is Blanks who takes on center stage in the new release SHOWDOWN.

Blanks stars as Billy Grant, a police officer who breaks up a fight and accidentally kills one of the troublemakers. Guilt takes over and Grant leaves the force, his future uncertain.

Fast forward 7 years as we meet Ken Marks (Ken Scott), the new kid in town on his first day at a new high school in his senior year. Given the odd look by almost everyone he’s a fish out of water. Where the school he came from everyone was friendly, here everyone seems distant. Things go from bad to worse when he says hello to Julie (Christine Taylor), the girlfriend of school bully Tom (Ken McLeod). A small tussle leaves Ken on the ground and Tom threatening him not to get near Julie again.

Ken soon makes friends with Mike (John Asher), the class clown. Mike warns him about Tom and the way things take place in the school. Mike ignores his new friend’s warning and says hello to Julie again in the school library. Which of course leads to another potential beat down in the school gym. Fortunately for Ken the school janitor is there and makes short work of Tom and his friend. Word soon gets out that it was Ken who did the deed in spite of his protests to the contrary.

At the dojo where Tom trains his sensei Lee (Patrick Kilpatrick) shows his displeasure at the news of his being beaten by beating Tom. While no one else know we viewers are immediately aware that Lee is the brother of the man Billy killed in the opening sequence. Tom is then shown to the ring where he fights in an illegal fight game that Lee is involved with along with Kate (Linda Dona).

Ken tracks down the janitor and lo and behold it’s Billy. After seeing him beaten up again Billy decides to train Ken and the process begins. Visions of Mr. Miyagi from THE KARATE KID pop in your mind and Ken even makes a joke about it. But the process is the same with Billy teaching him all he knows so that Ken can defend himself.

All of this will eventually lead to a showdown between Ken and Tom. But that really isn’t the showdown of the title. While their fight goes on Lee steps in about to use his dirty tricks and cut throat attitude to take down Ken. But Billy steps in and the two face off in the battle for the ages.

As I said movies like this lined the shelves of video stores across the country during their time. And they all did good business. They were low cost action flicks that satisfied the needs of fans and made stars of those who were in them. Blanks went on to star in numerous films and eventually created his own exercise video series called Tae Bo. To this day he continues to act on occasion.

MVD Rewind is doing a great job with the release of the film. Once more they have the video store cover for fans with long memories. Extras include a mini-poster for the movie, interviews with Blanks and director Robert Radler, an image gallery and trailers for this and other films. But it’s the video store experience and the movie itself that will be the draw here. And if you loved those classic video store martial arts films then you’ll want to add this one to your collection.

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NEMESIS TRILOGY: TRIPLE THREAT

(I've included the trailers for the first four NEMESIS movies here as they were posted that way on YouTube)

Oh how I wish I could say that I loved these films. I did enjoy the first NEMESIS film quite a bit. But as I began watching these films they slowly erased those fond memories from my mind and left me wishing they had at least given Albert Pyun some money to make a better film than any of these. With films like THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER and CYBORG under his belt there is evidence he can make a good movie. But none of these three would leave you thinking they were made by the same person.

This set from MVD Rewind once more brings to life the movies that lined the shelves of mom and pop video stores when they were THE place to find movies. And many stars saw their careers begin in those direct to video films. Fortunately female bodybuilder Sue Price was not one of those stars even after appearing in all three of these NEMESIS sequels. But all three are gathered together her for fans of the series to enjoy if they loved them.

First up is NEMESIS 2: NEBULA. In this film we learn that Alex Rain, the hero of the original film has failed the human race and cyborgs now control the world. A set of renegade humans have constructed a new strain of DNA that will give the human with this strain extra abilities. The impregnated mother of the experiment is sent back in time to 1980 in East Africa (yeah that seems like a safe place) with the baby. It isn’t long before she’s killed and the baby raised by African tribesmen. Alex grows up to become a musclebound women who wants to be a warrior. At the same time a cyborg from the future has tracked her down in time and is out to kill her. Plenty of running across the desert, explosions and more follow before the film ends with an opening left wide for a sequel.

Which happens with NEMEMSIS 3: TIME LAPSE. Waking up in the desert with a severe head wound and found by man named Farnsworth 2 (Tim Thomerson), he attempts to help her regain her memory. Which of course provides a reason to use almost 25 minutes of footage from the previous film taking up quite a bit of its 1 hour and 25 minute running time. It turns out that Alex has a half-sister who came back in time to recruit her to the future to fight the cyborgs. Farnsworth 2 turns out to be a cyborg sent back to stop them. More running, more explosions and more action with the end opening the door for part 4.

And here we have part 4 or NEMESIS 4: CRY OF ANGELS. A truce between the cyborgs and humans has taken place and Alex is now employed as an assassin. When she accidentally kills the wrong target and kills a mob boss instead, a bounty is placed on her head and every killer around is tracking her down. While that might sound like it would entail plenty of action there is actually less of it here than in the previous 2 films, the same when it comes to explosions as well. What replaces it are long sections of dialogue and conversations between characters that would cure the most difficult insomniac. It was bad enough that Price couldn’t deliver a few lines of dialogue in the past but giving her more than some actors get in several films is painful to watch. And rather than go with the action in this film it seems they decided to go with sex instead. Price’s body is on full display quite often here sans clothing.

I know there are fans out there who love every movie in this series. I respect that. If you love them then more power to you. You’ll have a great time watching these films and with MVD Rewind behind them you’ll be getting the best presentation of them you’ve ever seen. You’ll also get Pyun discussing each film, trailers for each film and a mini-poster for the set. If you’re a fan buy this one today. If you’re curious give it a look. All others should most likely steer clear though.

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