chuck johnson

EASTBOUND TRAFFIC Flows With Behind-The-Scenes Photos From Chuck Johnson’s Feature Directing Debut [EXCLUSIVE]

Film Combat Syndicate was allowed to present a raft of exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from the set of upcoming crime drama, Eastbound Traffic. The film is written and directed by Tokyo-based actor, stunt performer and filmmaker Chuck Johnson who just completed the first full rough edit of the film following pre-production a little over a year ago, and rolling cameras late last year.

Vincent Soberano’s WE ARE WAR Seethes With Dystopian Chills And Fight Fare In The First Official Teaser Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

As expected, films like Blood Hunters: Rise Of The Hybrids and The Trigonal won’t be the last we hear from director and actor Vincent Soberano. The emerging film talent on both sides of the lens is now taking an even greater stage in recent days with his work now central to the attention of a number of industry figures, one of which enlists his latest thriller, We Are War.

The film takes its cues from the work of writer and author Ruben Payan Jr. for a film set in 2029 as world governments collapse, and remnants of military might are deployed to Japan to seize control and ownership of what little remains of the world’s purest natural resource: water. Soberano stars and is also joined by Liang Shih and Death Trance co-star Chuck Johnson.

Other news is seldom known about the film other than what we get to see with the earliest artwork, in addition to a first trailer which stops nothing short of impressive and as thrilling as one would hope for an actioner. It’s a stirring week in Beijing for Soberano as his films now line up for some much needed profusion this week, including We Are War for which its trailer is available just below.

THE HIT LIST: January 8, 2018

Lee B. Golden III

Frankly, I was getting used to being away for so long that I thought about foregoing The Hit List another week into the new year. Then I realized all these reels, practice fights and shorts that were emerging as I was collecting them were piling up on me and…well… I guess now its time to relieve myself some ?.

Top: Tanja Keller, Eric Watson, Sherry Rene, Tanguy Guinchard, Acei Martin
Bottom: Arman Ansari, Ryan Carr, Nathan Peoples, Samantha J. MacDonald, Stephen Koepfer

Alas, it’s 2018 on the evening of Monday, January 8 as of this post, thus, signaling the return of our aforementioned weekly column of said contents giving way to an audience for some of today’s top stunt performers and creatives.

First up is a prime offering of two Vimeo uploads by stunt professionals, actress Tanja Keller and stuntman Paul Varacchi. The stunt hits continue via YouTube playlist starting with Jackie Chan Stunt Team member and founder of his own stunt and film unit, actor and martial artist Andy Long who debuted last year in Vietnam with the action comedy, Luc Van Tien: Tuyet Dinh KungFu.

Stuntman and podcast host Ryan Carr continues this week’s full scale attack followed by reels courtesy of Sherry Rene, Jared Losano, John Nania, Acei Martin, Kent Lloyd, Jared Beaulieu, Taylor Castriota, Jonathan Mercedes, Bridgette Bentley, Stephen Koepfer, Lovel Johnson Jr. and Samantha MacDonald. Closing out the playlist are reels by Australia’s own Bluesanyu Films, Michael Yadvish’s New Jersey-based Yad-Fu Films, Art School Dropouts with a delightful, musical highlight reel of their previous year and Kamen Ramen Studios with an energizing wrap up of their own as well!

Actor and stuntman Aidan Pringle proved quite the hurdle in title form for the protagonist in Sean Kohnke’s 2017 action short, I’m Out Johnny. Not to be outdone by a one-and-done scenario though, Kohnke and writer/producer and cinematographer extraordinare Tanay Genco Ulgen have since already gotten the band back together for a second outing now titled I’m Out Johnny: Volume 2.0, for which he’s granted us a teaser brimming with Yakuza brutality to come.

Following that is an announcement teaser for upcoming action short, Omega Unit: The Last Option, from producing duo, actor and stuntman Jae Greene and director Mark Cheng who previously helped manifest Cheng’s featute debut, Ghost Source Zero. Also on deck is a trailer for Rising Tiger Films’s hotly anticipated Sony game adaptation shortfilm collaboration with Team Red’s Joseph Le for Shenmue: Yokozuka Blues, as well as a gripping teaser for Vanessa Wenzel’s Indiegogo-funded revenge drama, Auryon, from Prairie Kitten Productions, and Anthony Javier over in Winnipeg with a trailer for Kuya from

The Auryon poster is pretty fierce too!

And… at long last, we’ve reached the bottom of the hour with the first of this year’s weekly serving of stunt fights and shorts. FYI: I scrapped up a LOT of these between last month and now, and so I will be rolling them out as steady as I can with each week as the playlists accumulate. Quiet Flame Productions is the first to tune us in with a few seconds of fun from Chuck Johnson and a fellow by the name of Yutaka, followed by I AM WATER Stunts over in Texas with Robert Steven Brown and Benjamin Redic II trading a few blows of their own.

Rustic B. and Eric Shamm Watson keep the pace going with Assassin followed by a montage of fight practice clips hosted by LBP Stunts Chicago, and a pair of Kali-based packages first at Matt Philliben‘s YouTube channel, and second from Lauren Mary Kim’s fourth and newest entry this month in The Kali Diaries this time going head-to-head with Guro Marie Sia. Selwyn Huqueriza and Ed Mecate sharpen and heat things even further with a little knife action just before Spencer Mulligan cools it all off with a stormy new group piece featuring a cameo performance by that miserable bastard over the past week in the Northeastern U.S. known as Snowstorm Grayson.

Rapier Wit Studio is host this week to two practice fight clips out of Toronto before we pivot over to David Conk at Wolf Stunts for The Endangered with some elite performances by Eric Mbanda and Nik Pelekai, and then onto snow-covered scenery in Georgia for some more fight action by Lloyd Pitts and Ruben Maldonado. Following that is the continued work of someone who constantly continues to impress with his work, now adding Hand Over Fist to Bryan Sloyer’s stellar cinematic fight content with Kodaline providing the thematic, emotive musical backdrop.

Capping it all off is a slick, quality half-hour action comedy thriller from Team STAMA in the form of USB Protocol, a story centered on one man’s neck-deep troubles after finding himself in possession of sensitive material. Swiss action actor and stuntman Tanguy Guinchard leads the narrative for this one and you’re definitely going to want to dig into this bit of Swedish badassery.

Enjoy the hits!

Stay tuned for more where these hits came from and look for FCSyndicate on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also, SHARE the Hit List with friends who love great action and stuntwork, and if you’re a creative or performer with something up your sleeve that deserves an audience, contact us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!

Top: Jared Losano, Bridgette Bentley, Lloyd Pitts, Taylor Castriota, Eric Mbanda
Bottom: Ruben Maldonado, Joseph V. Oreste, Lauren Mary Kim, Nik Pelekai, Sean Kohnke

Happy New Year everyone!

THE HIT LIST: September 21, 2015

Lee B. Golden III

Off the heels of my most recent three year anniversary piece, I sit here writing this at the wonder of seeing so much content floating online. I feel proud to share it all in my weekly Hit List and I sincerely hope it further benefits everyone I share…

…and that includes those currently comprising this week’s entries, starting off with a meaty playlist full of stunt and tricking montages. First up is a drone-shot view of a recent Battle Of Fury 2015 tricking gathering thanks to lensman Nick Marino, with a slate of reels hosted by Trevor Logan, and a finshing round of female talent with Haley Wright, Cheri Haight, Amy Lynn Tuttle, Deanna Graci and PeiPei Alena Yuan all showing out their best.

As for trailers, quite a few are circulating right now including Daren Nop’s latest short film twofer, Shadow Of 13, the story of a homeless man who often risks his own life for the good of his neighborhood. Both shorts released between last year and this year and were tentatively removed as per requirements for their run at Cannes this year. They’re going back up soon, and so we have a compilation trailer now running.

Other trailers include a fight concept from actor and stuntman Alfred Hsing inspired by the Death Note manga and movie franchise, T.C. De Witt’s long-awaited Halo fan film, Fallen and the latest promo from Nathyn Masters for Crashing Darkness.

Trailer SHADOW OF 13 from Madjinn Films on Vimeo.

It’s been a while since I shared any real freerunning and parkour videos, so I thought I’d snag a few for another brief playlist full of snazzy urban tumblers, firstly with a trailer for Omar Zaki‘s channel, along with an update from Jesse LaFlair, a cool gathering of trickers by way of the Ronnie Street Stunts channel, a montage of stunts in Lepzig from the [IF] Crew, and footage from the summer from the Hurgan debut gathering in Mongolia!

And now it’s time to get fighting, and kicking this segment is a nifty little playlist of short test fights. Mykola Galagan starts things off with a robust little samurai bit followed by Joey Min’s latest spectacular testament to epic pillow fighting and Dylan Hintz in a challenge of water bottle etiquette courtesy of DC Stunt Coalition. Rounding out the playlist are fights also featuring Alex Au‘s latest exchange between Kaitlin Hiller and choreographer Joseph Le, a newly edited and isolated CQC scene from a 2011 short courtesy of Dardrex Productions, a stellar piece of high-flying “Evil Kung Fu” fight work by Airon Armstrong, and Cinematic Fight Studio’s newest piece, Roomies.

Now we move on to the longer-form material and first to the list here is the latest from Saudi Arabia-based Stunt Guys titled The Escape, directed by Helal Mohamad. It’s a little loosely produced and it’s entirely in Arabic with no subs, but it serves up a nice little action and comedy experiment with a few noteworthy set pieces and gags, including a woman on a cell phone and a jar of Vaseline (no, this is not that kind of video.). Watch!

Up next is the latest induction from EMC Monkeys in their newest short story centered on a boxer who makes a comeback against a few neighborhood bullies led by Robert Dill.. what a meanie!

Check it out below and don’t forget to support them on Patreon in the description!

The next short hails straight from filmmaker, actor and stuntman Michael Lehr whose career progression remains in training and helping out with various productions. Otherwise, he’s working on his own gems to share with action fans, including his current webseries in conjunction with Fight Factory Stunt Team, VerseS, which marinates our anti-hero, Finn, in a world of poetic violence, justified or not. You be the judge and catch the latest webisode below!

On our way out, Rising Tiger Films has been on a roll this year with the film festivals as they’ve been ramping up their channel on YouTube. As such, we now have their latest short, These Dog Days, making the rounds ahead of its Urban Action Showcase and Expo this November; a short and brutal tale of vengeance with Leroy Nguyen and Daniel Sim in the ring, and Buddy The Dog spectating!

And last but far from least, who knew that a good drink and a pair of sneakers would be the answer to life’s problems? Brian Parker directs Fists of Absinthe アブサンの拳 in association with YouTube Space Tokyo and Quiet Flame Stunts, and starring Chuck Johnson, Kawahata Masahito and Hayakawa Tomoko. Have a brew and enjoy this drunken and feudal tumble through time with ninjas, samurais, and bad teeth!

Wicked. And you know what? The same could absolutely be said for last week’s Hit List, so take it all in if you have time. As for beyond here, link to the channels and show your love and support. And also, if you make kickass action movies and/or have a superb stunt reel that are up to par, share it and send it to us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!