Far more synonymous with the Chanbara genre, Hideo Gosha brings his taste for the anarchic to the early 70s explosion in Yakuza movies. Cheap and popular, they became a dime a dozen in the late 60s, a taste which Japanese audiences would carry over into the new decade. Gone was […]
Ben Jones
Horror, Cult, Grindhouse & Psychotronic B-Movies. Celebrating the Trashy side of Cinema. Crowned “Trash King” by podhard & Official NWPPVIP of
The New World Pod
The Executioner Collection (1974) Sonny Chiba’s Lucky Stars (Review)
Japanese cinema carries with it a certain gravitas in the minds of many. It evokes images of great chivalry (Seven Samurai), dreams and heartbreak (Ikiru), honour and justice (Hara-Kiri) and the importance of family (Tokyo Story). Names such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujirō Ozu loom large over its […]
Big Time Gambling Boss (1968) An Essential for anyone with a penchant for Yakuza Cinema (Review)
Big Time Gambling Boss is the fourth entry in the Bakuchi-uchi series (a series that ran for ten films in total between 1967 to 1972 and was released by Toei studios). Starring Koji Tsurata (Sympathy for the Underdog) as a suave and chivalrous gambling Yakuza general, he has everything we’ve […]
The Witch Part 2: The Other One (2022) Korean Superpowered Franchise, reheated (VOD review)
In July 2006 the South Korean government, in a trade agreement with the United States of America, halved the number of days dedicated to South Korean films being shown in their own domestic market. This went from 146 days to just 73. This had a significant impact on the types […]
The Spine of Night (2021) A shining example of what can be done with a singular vision (Blu-Ray Review)
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it”. John Dalberg-Acton Never has this quote been more applicable than to The […]
Angela Mao: Hapkido and Lady Whirlwind (1972) – a must for any connoisseur of the Kung Fu genre (Blu-Ray Review)
There is a long tradition of on-screen female action stars in Chinese cinema history. Sometimes referred to as 打女/Du Na (see THIS excellent video by Accented Cinema for a deeper dive into this tradition) and starting back when Shanghai was the centre of the Chinese film-making world in the 1930s […]
A Fugitive from the Past (1965) A ruthless Japanese Masterpiece FINALLY makes its UK debut (Blu-Ray Review)
Tomu Uchida isn’t a name that immediately jumps out to western audiences when discussing the greats of Japanese cinema. A director that had been around since the silent era but lacking a distinctive style like Mizoguchi or Ozu, and whilst he would show a flair for many a genre and […]
Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash (2021) Entertainingly Rustic Genre Mashup… with Caveats (VOD review)
I do love a good mashup of genres in a movie. From Horror Musicals to Sci-Fi Actioners, a blending of ideas and rules often hits my cinematic sweet spot and probably explains my penchant for Korean cinema. So when I heard of Edwin’s 2021 Indonesian film Vengeance is Mine, All […]
The Deer King (2021) Too many characters fail to spoil this sumptuous anime (Cinema Review)
Once upon a time the name Production IG carried a certain gravitas. With works such as the 1995 film adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, the eerily seductive Blood: The Last Vampire and later to be recognised by the great Hollywood machine in the form of Quentin Tarantino (who requested […]