Shortfilms

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HENRY’S COURAGE: Choice Skinner To Charge Into Battle With Proof-Of-Concept Harlem Hellfighters Shortfilm Next Year [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

Independent filmmaker Choice Skinner is ramping up efforts to direct upcoming short film, Henry’s Courage, which he intends to shoot as a potential feature film pitch. Aiming to crowdfund a February 2020 shoot, Henry’s Courage takes its cues from the historic, heroic tale of the Harlem Hellfighters, prolifically known as the first African American unit of the U.S. Army to engage in combat during World War I. Actor Akono Dixon will tackle the key role of Henry Johnson, a black U.S. soldier who fought off a German raid in hand-to-hand combat while suffering numerous wounds. Johnson was recognized and awarded with a Croix De Guerre with star and bronze palm by the French and was the first U.S. soldier in World War I to receive that honor. Dixon will be joined by actor Dalon J. Holland who will portray fellow U.S. soldier, Needham Roberts. Henry’s Courage marks Skinner’s return to […]

petals. by Bryan Sloyer: A View To Remember In A Violent World

Lee B. Golden III

Next week will see a new installment of The Hit List, jam-packed as always with a continued stream of inspired action shortfilm from some of the best and most exciting creatives and stunt performers around the net. Stunt performer, choreographer and filmmaker Bryan Sloyer has been nothing short of fitting in those aspects in the years since I began covering him in 2014, growing his craft into something I can wholly deem as indicative that he’s ready to take on a bigger arena. His latest, styled as petals., builds up even more on this notion, delivering an emotively-driven story that mingles violent action as a co-star with the kind of poignance and heart he emits in his writing and imagery. Sloyer also appears with a primary cast of performers listing Caitlin Hutson, Justin Chang and Andrew Franklin with cinematography by Kyle Potter. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it […]

Now On Seed & Spark: Daren Taylor’s THE SPRING Revealed

Lee B. Golden III

An action-packed new series is birthing right as we speak with a proof-of-concept now running for The Spring. Director Daren Taylor and co-creator/choreographer Sean “Fresh” Redding took to Seed & Spark last week to launch their campaign to crowdfund as many as a hopeful raft of six action-packed shortfilms to encompass their ambitious vision. Kaiden is one of the last remaining Vessels, individuals that can tap into the magic of The Spring. Struggling to survive in a world that would rather see him dead, Kaiden uncovers a dark secret about The Spring that could save his people from extinction, or destroy civilization as we know it. The proof was shot close to a year ago, the next step in a process that lasted three years and now looks to evolve into a full-fledged original action series centered on superpowered characters whose abilities are activated through movement. They’ve since enlisted Film […]

LADY 2: Watch Stephanie Pham Mutilate A Room Full Of Sex Traffickers In The Relentless New ASDO Action Short (NSFW)

Lee B. Golden III

March 2018 saw a brief change of pace for director Joey Min with Lady, a three-minute experiment with a more “gritty and serious” direction apart from his usual kung fu comedy formula. Lady was a hit with fans and followers on YouTube, coalescing with the following success of Min’s highly-celebrated My Asian Auntie sequel, Yes, Auntie!, and so Min and actress/martial artist Stephanie Pham are back and in brutal and bloody fashion with Lady 2. The action is the total package here with Pham front and center, and in the kind of principal role you’ve NEVER seen before. It’s a first for Art School Dropouts and it’s anbeye-popping, mind-blowingly violent and fun turn for the ASDO crew this go-around. Moreover, I especially love Pham’s sign-off here and the depth it adds to the character. …It also sucks that this project is only eight minutes. Imagine what Min and Pham could […]

COMBAT GODS: Jhanzou’s Stickman Fighters Duke It Out In Death-Match Fashion!

Lee B. Golden III

The Xiao Xiao stickman fighters of the early two-thousandsies were a thing of young, viral video internet glory (I made quite the shameless use of KaZaA back in day). Nowadays you’ll find the legacy has lived on in top-notch form, ever-changing with the times thanks to animators like Jhanzou on YouTube. His latest as of last month is called Combat Gods and I seriously hope this phenomenon continues to stay as fresh as it has been – point in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some producer saw this as an idea for feature film investment. …and there it is. I’ve said it. No taking-it-back now.

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THE HIT LIST: June 10, 2019

Lee B. Golden III

The Hit List has taken a pretty interesting turn of late now that I actually get to host some video files on behalf of creators. It’s a blessing and I’m real thankful to those of you investing in my own YouTube channel to share your craft. You’ll see a bit of that later, while we begin with the usual raft of demo reels from some of today’s top and emerging talent in stunts and action performance. Up first is someone who rightly deserves the proliferation he’s gotten since throwing down in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Mission: Impossible – Fallout. His name is Liang Yang and his reel is up first followed by reels featuring Aaron D. Alexander, Jennifer Mitchell, Diego Ramiro, Eric C. Sun, Taylor Krasne, Danny Rivera, A.J. Gagliardi, Lauren Nguyen, Ben Tardif, Patrick Dunham, Bronte Coluccio, Jon Beal, Daniel Pera, Michelle Fisichella, Phillip Wainwright, Oliver Gough, […]

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MAD LORD: SAMURAI OF 1000 DEATHS Depicts Eight Images Of Madness In These Stills From Samuel Smith’s New Short [Exclusive]

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been a few years since filmmaker Samuel Smith stirred the festival crowds with short duration epics and thrillers like Tengu, Birdmen of the Mountains and I Am Not The Devil. He’s back and in tow with a longer feat of action and drama from his Imageclever Films banner with Mad Lord: Samurai of 1000 Deaths, and he’s also obliging our site with a raft of exclusive stills which you can take a gander at above. When a great samurai Lord’s mind is infected by devils, his loving Sokushitsu comes to his aid. Knowing of this weakness, the neighbouring Red Samurai seek to deliver the final blow that will end the Black Samurai once and for all. Sokushitsu demands that General Ekei travel to the borders of the Shoguns palace to collect some illegally acquired medicine to aid the ailing Lord. The General returns from his mission with more than […]

HIT-LIST HEADS UP: Official Trailer For Michael David Charles Hicks’ EUGENE VS HUMANITY

Lee B. Golden III

Award-winning director Michael David Charles Hicks just recently unveiled the final trailer for his upcoming short, Eugene vs Humanity. A June release is in tow though no date yet known, and stars Colin James O’Gorman from a script by Hicks, and original music by To Kill A King front man Ralph Pelleymounter. When a misanthrope finds his ever-growing frustration with society too much to bear, his temper boils over, leading him to commit an act of violence. I’ve had my eye on this one since late last year when production announced Pellymounter was scoring this little project. I look forward to sharing this on the Hit List in due time.

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THE HIT LIST: May 13, 2019

Lee B. Golden III

At long last, it’s been another two weeks since then and so it’s time to present the latest finds from around the web for another installment of The Hit List. We first begin with an exhilirating raft of stunt training and demo reels in the first playlist headed by Kyle Freemantle, Rubie Planson, Andre Nurse, Victoria Lee Parella, Kyro Wavebourne, Mao Asou, Tom Caserto, Pam Wellington, Daniel Rivera, Shannon Beshears, Nick Epper, Mollie Wilson, Alexander Mack, Anita Clay, Justin Krall, Claire Hoogenboom, Bryan Durant, Caitlin Hutson, Alexander Burgos, Myra Mala, Kyle Murillo, Kayla Longshore, Joe Daru, Lexie Kay, Lance Jemison, Sara Holden, Shawn Patrick Lane, Milena Brewster, Brian A. Prince, Michael Yadvish with a Lightsaber Comp promo reel for Yad-Fu Films, and a hype reel teasing past and future work of Deviant Children Productions. The crowdfunding campaign may have expired so things will take a bit longer for Team Red […]

THE DIVISION Has Arrived To Kick Terrorist Ass In The Newly Released Action Short (NSFW)

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been a rousing five years of entertainment following along with the efforts of actors Jean-Paul Ly and Law Plancel. From respective background credits on Green Street Hooligans 3 and Marvel’s Doctor Strange to officiating a film production partnership with 2015 short, Dead End, as well as on Jimmy Henderson’s award-winning action comedy, Jailbreak, the two have more than proven themselves to be the real deal. A few years ago, they set upon their own banner to reiterate this fact with The Division, an ambitious pilot project starring Ly and Plancel in a fast-paced counterterrorism thriller about two members of an elite team out to foil a deadly plot targeting London. Clocked in at about 27 minutes, The Division is every bit of fanservice for folks who follow this website and the action genre with a narrative that easily follows an equally entertaining format similar to the likes of hit […]

Phillip Ray Tommy’s VAJRA Unleashes Its Wrath In The Official Shortfilm Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Now three shortfilms in with his mini biblical fantasy crime/horror saga with Cain & Abel and Creep, actor and filmmaker Phillip Ray Tommy has big plans and hopes for his current folder for Phratos Entertainment. Enter Vajra, which sees Tommy front and center once more for an action-horror take of biblical, martial arts and gunplay-infused proportions. Cain is arrested by a mysterious task force and taken to a high security facility where he is questioned by the ruthless Oscar Reid. As the interrogation continues, Oscar begins to realise that Cain may have orchestrated his arrest and that a greater supernatural danger is looming behind the scenes. Tommy’s career also extend to feature film work in action acting and stunt performance as you’ll also see in the upcoming release in Avengement opposite Scott Adkins in a few weeks in the U.S. and later in the U.K.. As for Vajra, he’s looking […]

Peter Jang Makes A Move With Official PAWNS Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Actor and filmmaker Peter Jang’s Simplicity Pictures banner will have plenty to present to the film community at large with a sizeable package of shortfilms and proofs going forward. One includes Pawns, featuring Jang opposite actor and stunt performer Rustic B. as two top-line hitmen manipulated by their dueling criminal underworld bosses to fight to the death as a means of avoiding all out war. The pending proof of concept, which also stars Jeff Hohimer, Eduardo Roman, Mary Vincenti and actor and stunt multihyphenate, Simon Rhee (Best Of The Best, Best Of The Best 2), is also what currently precedes its own feature-film project in the form of King as we reported back in January. More developments are needed, but the trailer now running for Pawns ought to suffice while you can still check out his recent release of brutal crime preface, Nothing Is Sacred, which also stars Christian Howard.

BEWARE: Sinatra Croons To The Latest Beat ‘Em Up Action Short From Distinctive Light

Lee B. Golden III

It’ll be a few more days before the next installment of The Hit List, but I don’t mind lending an audience anyday to the feats of those over at Distinctive Light Entertainment with their latest, Beware, now making the rounds. A bit of Sinatra and some Bible-learnin’ package this contained beat-em-up gem with Felix King performing and directing and Yadi Nieves lensing. They’re joined by the ravenous wolfpack consisting of Veasna Keo, Luis Vallardes, Joseph Ray Roark, Ruben Maldonado, Deej Christopher Harley, Christopher Llorca, Ruben Maldonado, Cory Dunson and Kawui Joa. Watch and keep an eye out for the next installment of The Hit List on Monday!

DEEP PAN FURY: Watch ‘Warrior’ Star Andrew Koji Slay Gangsters In This Incredible Martial Arts Action Short

Lee B. Golden III

I know I’m not earning any particular points for this, but the mood is definitely about right this week just shy of 48 hours until Cinemax’s series premiere, Warrior. For those not yet familiar with one of starring actor Andrew Koji’s recent exploits, indie director Charlie Dennis’s kickstarter-backed action short, Deep Pan Fury, I humbly invite any and all to check it out above. Deep Pan Fury is a short martial arts film about Katashi Kimoto, a young Japanese street fighter trying to change his ways. After leaving his native Japan for a small English town, Katashi soon learns that Oni, a ruthless chinpira of the notorious 9th Shade Clan, has been extorting his Grandfathers struggling pizza shop. Old habits die-hard and Katashi finds himself fighting for a new cause. Family honour. I’ve shared and covered this project on multiple occasions as it hosts some of the best and brightest […]

DEAD END III: Award-Winning Hitman Shortfilm Saga Shoots Trilogy Installer This Spring

Lee B. Golden III

Actor and producer Bryan Larkin (Chasing The Dragon, Angel Has Fallen, Vengeance) is maintaining his stride this week stemming from director Carter Ferguson’s multi-award winning 2018 shortfilm hit, Dead End. With a sequel already in tow, the shortfilm series following the story of a hitman stopped short of his way out from a world of violence with an apprentice under his wing, is going full-service in trilogy fashion as of this Spring, releasing in whole later this year. For Dead End III, Larkin is reteaming with Vengeance (a.k.a. I Am Vengeance) helmer Ross Boyask who will direct the third installment, with filming set for London and Munich between March and April. Larkin reunites with actor Julian Gaertner for the back-to-back series, and with a cast that also lists Greg Burridge pictured (London Rampage, upcoming Avengement and Vengeance 2) Rebecca Yeo (Strangers, Stan & Ollie), Fenfen Huang (Operation Red Sea) Leander […]

Hit List Heads-Up: Trailer For Bryan Sloyer’s ARTHUR

Lee B. Golden III

Independent filmmaker, career stunt performer and professional Bryan Sloyer has a direct penchant for delivering some of the most impactful, contemplative cinema in his shorts. With many of them choc-filled of the hearty and heavy fight kind, action fans would especially be wise to browse his channel and gain a window into his robust online repetoire. That’s where Arthur comes in, along with a trailer and whatever you may defer to from the footage it presents. No plot summary or general explanation needed, except all I and, really, anyone reading this should know is that Sloyer is somebody who is damn good at what he does. Otherwise I wouldn’t have spent the last five years touting him in The Hit List on here or at Screen Anarchy. Peep the Arthur teaser and someone… please get in touch with someone who can give this cat a proper feature directing debut. The […]