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GAME OF DEATH: THE SIX DOORS TO HELL: A Look At Timo Rose’s Psychedelic New Fantasy Martial Arts Indie Thriller [EXCLUSIVE]

German filmmaker and musician Timo “Norris” Rose’s resumé might stand familiar for anyone in the niche who regularly consumes indie horror. He’s got thirty years in the field and his latest now comes primed with martial arts fan fare in English-language indie fantasy actioner, Game Of Death: The Six Doors To Hell. Rose is directing the film from a script he wrote with Asian film expert Nando Rohner, who birthed the idea. It features actor and martial arts master David Ruessel (The Last Kumite), Deena Unverzagt (SOKO Hamburg), Carlos Nikolai (Gunpowder Milkshake), Maya Trojanowski (Death Wish Zero), Annelie Harner, and Li Yan-Long of 1984’s South Shaolin Master fame. Touting a blend of elements from “Dante’s Inferno” and Bruce Lee’s seminal final film, Game Of Death, Rose’s film is billed as a love letter to Hong Kong cinema and manga/anime nods like Story Of Ricky and Fist Of The North Star. […]

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THE RITUAL: XYZ Films Takes Worldwide Rights To Horror Thriller Starring Al Pacino And Dan Stevens

Al Pacino (The Godfather trilogy) and Dan Stevens (Godzilla X Kong) will star in exorcism horror, The Ritual. David Midell reteams with fellow creative partner on The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, Enrico Natale, and directs from a script they wrote. Based on a true story, The Ritual follows two priests – one questioning his faith (Stevens) and one reckoning with a troubled past (Pacino) – who must put aside their differences to save a possessed young woman through a difficult and dangerous series of exorcisms. The film is an authentic portrayal of Emma Schmidt, an American woman whose demonic possession culminated in harrowing exorcisms. Her case remains the most thoroughly documented exorcism in American history. The Ritual also stars Ashley Greene and Abigail Cowen. Natale is also producer alongside Andrew Stevens and Mitchell Welch. XYZ Films acquired worldwide rights to the pic. The label will take the title to the […]

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GAROUDEN: THE WAY OF THE LONE WOLF Trailer Brings Fightin’ Men Back To The Anime Front!

I’m currently in the midst of a serious anime catch-up on Netflix nowadays. Martial arts and fighting shows are par for the course here in my consumption, and come May 23, the syllabus will include Atsushi Ikariya’s new series, Garouden: The Way Of The Lone Wolf. On the run from his troubled past, Juzo is forced into competing in a deadly underground fighting tournament. Skilled in the respected martial art Takemiya-ryu, Juzo must navigate a path filled with formidable foes and his personal demons — all while dealing with a bounty of three million yen on his head and a detective on his trail. The show is based on Baku Yumemakura’s serial novel, and in its framework, enhances its fight action through capturing the movements of real martial artists via varying styles. Ryota Takeuchi heads up the V.O. cast which also lists Tetsu Inada, Shunsuke Takeuchi, Rintaro Nishi, Tessho Genda, […]

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LAST SAMURAI STANDING Reteams ‘Hard Days’ Star And Director For New Netflix Japan Samurai Drama

Production is underway on new Netflix series Last Samurai Standing. The film reteams actor Junichi Okada and director Michihito Fujii for their latest pairing since Hard Days, last year’s Japan revamp of hit Korean crime thriller, A Hard Day. Last Samurai Standing is adapted from Naoki Prize-winning author Shogo Imamura’s ongoing manga, “Ikusagami.” Set in the late 19th century during the Meiji period, the series centers on Shujiro Saga (Okada), who sets out to save his ailing wife and child as one of 292 skilled warriors gathered at Tenryuji Temple to compete in a deadly game to win a grand prize of 100 billion yen. Okada, whose select credits include films like manga adaptations The Fable and The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill, as well as Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai, Sekigahara and Hell Dogs, will also serve as producer on Last Samurai Standing, as well as action choreographer. “When Netflix […]

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HE BLED NEON: Joe Cole Action Thriller Adds Three

Rita Ora, Marshawn Lynch and Jack O’Connell are set to join Joe Cole in the action thriller, He Bled Neon. Award-winning music video director Drew Kirsch, who came to prominence co-helming videos “You Need to Calm Down” and “Lover” with Taylor Swift, will make his feature directing debut. Written by Tim Cairo and Jake Gibson (Lowlife, Night Patrol), and storied by Nate Bolotin, Cole stars as Ethan, who journeys to Las Vegas for the funeral of his estranged brother (O’Connell). Soon, he unravels a dark web of crime, forcing him to confront his past as he delves into the city’s gritty underworld to uncover the truth, risking everything he holds dear in the process. XYZ Films (BlackBerry, Skywalkers: A Love Story, The Raid, Mandy) will produce alongside Two & Two Pictures (Under the Shadow, I Came By). He Bled Neon is the latest project from both companies who are also […]

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DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Trailer: Ryan Reynolds Brings Hugh Jackman Jack Into The Fray For The Next MCU Chapter

I feel like the early photo leaks ruined things a bit for Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine. This is especially given the excitement surrounding actor Hugh Jackman’s long-awaited debut of franchise “Wolverine” donning the iconic yellow and blue hero outfit. Nonetheless, it was only a matter of time before the studio decided to reveal an official look at both Jackman and franchise main Hugh Jackman in costume, and I’d like to think the film has plenty more to offer beyond the previous photos and its first teaser from a few months ago. The official trailer now running online seems to hint at this aplenty, exploring Jackman’s return to the character long after the fatal recapituation seen in Logan. I suspect some handy surprises are abound. July 26 is the date from 20th Century Studios, so enjoy the NSFW trailer footage below ripe with nostalgic flashbacks, R-rated jabs and claws to […]

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THE GOLDFINGER Review: Tony Leung And Andy Lau Push Law And Order To Its Limits In Felix Chong’s Latest Epic Crime Drama

The Goldfinger opens on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital in the UK from Trinity CineAsia on May 20. Fictionalized or otherwise inspired retellings of the travails of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) continue to reap creative fruit for filmmakers. Several years ago saw Felix Chong take the leap for his own focused tale dating as far back as the beginnings of the ICAC in the 1970s, and therein, the tale of an engineer-turned-billionaire fraudster in the new crime drama, The Goldfinger. Reteaming with one of the key shepherds of the Infernal Affairs trilogy, actors Tony Leung and Andy Lau take center stage from a script by Chong which sees Leung take on the role of Henry Ching (Tony Leung), struggling to find decent work until he links up with real estate developer K.K. Tsang. As the film tells it, their friendship marks the early embers that ignite the spark […]

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BLACK MASK Eureka Blu-Ray Review: Two Discs. One Movie. No Mercy!

This review was previously published for my supporters exclusively at Buy Me A Coffee. Consider being a contributor and/or sharing my page with friends to help support my work. Eureka Entertainment is the latest banner to carry the mantle for director Daniel Lee’s 1996 action sci-fi, Black Mask. The release marks the latest since the film’s transition to overseas markets, with U.S. labels Artisan Entertainment and Distant Horizon nabbing the title for its own remixed version a few years later. Based on a 1991 manhua by Pang Chi-Ming and Li Chi-Tat, the Jet Li starrer centers on the former member of a clandestine unit, once subject to a government experiment to create supersoldiers. Tsui-chik (Jet Li), formerly of Squad 701, maintains a low profile as a librarian who spends his time buried in books. He gets along with his co-workers, and his best friend is Shek (Lau Ching-wan), a Hong […]

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THE PLOT Teaser Reveals Gang Dong-Won At The Center Of Some Not-So-Accidental Truths

Writer/director Lee Yo-sup’s new thriller has taken a long road until now. As of early Monday, The Plot unravels for the new flick starring Gang Dong-won in the first teaser ahead of the film’s May 29 release in Korea. Gang plays a hitman named Brain who has to get to the bottom of his latest and deadly riddle when a hitjob goes awry. Lee’s The Plot takes its inspiration from the Soi Cheang-directed 2009 flick, Accident. The Plot also stars Lee Mu-saeng, Lee Mi-sook, Lee Hyun-wook, Tang Jun-sang and Kim Hong-pa. Check out the teaser and a pair of posters below!

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LIFE AFTER FIGHTING: Bren Foster Mean-Mugs New Key Art For Summer Martial Arts Action Thriller Debut

It’s been close to a year since the campaign began for actor and martial artist Bren Foster’s directorial debut, Life After Fighting. Foster directs from his script the story of Alex, a martial arts teacher whose life takes a dark turn as he finds himself treading into the human trafficking underworld in hopes of rescuing his two kidnapped students. Life After Fighting also stars Cassie Howarth, Annabelle Stephenson, and Luke Ford. Details are scarce at the moment but the plan is for an early June theatrical window coupled with digital and on-demand rollouts in North America and the UK. The film will definitely see a theatrical release in its home region in Australia. Posters are now making the rounds as well, and special thanks to Foster for sending these to us. Check out the ink below, and follow the movie on Instagram.

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ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE Review: An Integral Vertebra In The Backbone Of Kung Fu Cinema

It is my firm belief that every martial arts cinema fan eventually comes to a certain fork in the road. It’s at this fork that they must take one of two paths: the path to Bruceploitation or the path of Bruceploitation ignorance. Many will take the path of ignorance. I did. All those years ago when I picked up a copy of Fist of Fury 2 thinking I was going to watch Bruce Lee once again display his magnificent physical prowess. Instead, I got Bruce Li. I was incredulous. It was there I faced my fork and I rapidly headed down the path that was as far away from Bruceploitation as one can be. I lived peacefully with this decision for around twenty-five years. Until someone in the online kung fu cinema community convinced me to watch Bruce Li’s magnum opus, Dynamo. I was awakened. Enlightened, even. Fast forward to […]

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Streaming Sleepers: Indie Martial Arts Comedy CONTOUR Takes Off, Uncut And In All Its 4K Heavenly Glory!

Friday evening marked another milestone in independent action cinema with the online release of Contour, exclusively on writer/director Eric Jacobus‘s YouTube channel. The helmer kicked off the launch alongside several of the film’s co-stars including Dennis Ruel, Ray Carbonel, Troy Carbonel, Edward Kahana Jr. and Stephen Reedy, in a three-hour livestream that went well into the wee hours of the weekend in my time-zone, so I definitely wasn’t awake for it. At any rate, the film’s release online via YouTube proffers a humble and exciting revisit of the cult classic since its DVD releases (one of which contains a shorter edit) in the last decade-and-half. Jacobus has since kept the habit going on the film and stunt front in a few other features like Death Grip, Micah Moore’s Dogs Of Chinatown, and more recently in hit shortfilms like Rope-A-Dope and its sequel, and 2016’s Blindsided. There’s more to be learned […]

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MOURNING ROCK Teaser Reveals A Chilling Look At Stuntman Jeff Wolfe’s Chilling Horror Debut

MOURNING ROCK Teaser Reveals A Chilling Look At Stuntman Jeff Wolfe’s Chilling Horror Debut

Actor and industry stunt multi-hyphenate Jeff Wolfe has been in his field for more than three decades, working with the likes of Sammo Hung, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Daniel Bernhardt, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan to name a few. In that timeframe, he’s accrued enough experience and interest to muster up a screenplay of his own. For this, the first official teaser is out for zombie thriller Mourning Rock, starring Billy Burke (Drive Angry, Twilight franchise, Breaking In). A Psychological Thriller about a state park ranger husband and his wife struggling to come to terms with their missing teenage son while dealing with a local mystery that questions their relationship and in the end, their grip on reality. Wolfe makes his feature directorial debut six years in the making with Mourning Rock, from WolfePride Productions and SilverCrest Entertainment LLC. The project was granted a SAG-interim agreement as the strikes persisted, allowing […]

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Streaming Sleepers: In MICKEY HARDAWAY, A Gut-Wrenching Profile Of Youth Endangerment

Psychological turmoil and generational trauma are front and center for the topical subject matter of Mickey Hardaway, the writing/directing debut of Marcellus Cox. A concept born from a shortfilm produced several years earlier now sees Cox featuring Rashad Hunter in the title role, spotlighting a cautionary coming-of-age tale now available on select digital and streaming platforms, including Tubi. The meat and potatoes of Mickey Hardaway mostly cut right to the thick of things in direct, cerebral fashion. Cast in black-and-white for most of its duration, the first few minutes of the film make it crystal clear just what you’re in for. The first act nonetheless prepares you for the events and nature in which things firstly develop, immersing you into the hardship faced by Mickey (Rashad Hunter), and the first of his weekly therapy sessions with Dr. Harden (Stephen Cofield Jr.) at the behest of loving girlfriend, Grace (Ashley Parchment). […]

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NATSUME ARATA’S MARRIAGE Pops The Question In The First Killer Teaser

Taro Nogizawa’s 2019 manga is now the subject of a new psychological crime thriller adaptation from Warner Bros. Japan. That film, Natsume Arata’s Marriage, now has a teaser signaling the latest from director Yukihiko Tsutsumi (12 Suicidal Teens). Natsume Arata’s Marriage centers on Natsume, a child protection agent who, at the behest of a former client orphaned by the deaths of his parents and in search of answers, decides to moonlight as the letter-writing correspondent to a suspected serial killer on death row. In an effort to be as convincing as possible and keep the act going, Natsume takes the leap and decides to pop the question, unraveling a series of chilling and explosive events that could fall short of his own “happily ever after”. Natsume Arata’s Marriage stars actor and last year’s Japan Cuts CUT ABOVE award-winning actor Yuya Yagira (Under The Turquoise Sky), and actress Yuina Kuroshima (Fullmetal […]

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SERPENT’S PATH Teaser Reveals Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Latest Revenge Thriller Revamp

With upcoming horror Chime also in the pipeline, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is now off and about as Kadokawa ramps up its promo on his latest crime thriller, Serpent’s Path. The film is a remake of Kurosawa’s 1998 Sho Aikawa starrer, and now employs a French-language framework that accomodates Poor Things and The Edge Of The Blade actor Damien Bonnard, along with actress Kou Shibasaki from Don’t Call it Mystery: The Movie and The Three Sisters Of Tenmasou. In the suburbs of Paris, Albert, a freelance reporter, vows to take revenge for the brutal murder of his young daughter while Sayoko, a Japanese female doctor, assists him in his quest for revenge. With Sayoko’s skillful guidance, the two get closer to the truth behind Albert’s daughter’s death, but it turns out that a mysterious cult and human traffickers are involved in the case. When they finally get close to the truth, […]

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Celina Jade bursts back onto screens in the teaser trailer for OPERATION BLACK OPS

Celina Jade bursts back onto screens in the teaser trailer for OPERATION BLACK OPS

It looks like Celina Jade (Triple Threat) is ready to flex her action chops again with the upcoming military actioner, OPERATION BLACK OPS (not to be confused with the 2023 Tito Ortiz vehicle with the same name). The plot is still currently under wraps but, if the first teaser is anything to go by, it’s going to be jam-packed with action. Shootouts, hand-to-hand combat, car stunts, explosions… It’s all here! Action cinema regulars, Shawn Yue (Invisible Target) and Jiang Luxia (Bad Blood), also star and I, for one, am super excited about seeing Luxia and Jade on screen together as both should be superstars by now. Chung Siu-Hung (Kung Fu Mahjong) is in the Director’s chair. Check out the new poster and teaser trailer below!

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[UPDATED] TRANSFORMERS ONE Trailer Goes Intergalatic With New Origin Tale

Catch the trailer now! Earlier: For the first time in four decades, the Transformers franchise is back with a new animated feature. Transformers One is the name, directed by Toy Story 4 helmer Josh Cooley and a voice cast led by Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm. Hailing from Paramount Animation and Hasbro, Transformers One is penned by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, and proffers up a never-before-told origin tale set on Cybertron. The story chronicles Orion Pax and D-16 – the younger versions of Optimus Prime and Megatron – and the events that led both brothers-in-arms to become sworn enemies. Fans of the franchise can now take a gander at what’s to come following the trailer’s premiere at CinemaCon last week. For this, the studio has since taken to some online spectacle in the form of a debut launch […]

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Exciting HAKKENDEN Teaser And Poster Reveal Cannes Darling Koji Yakusho As The Man Behind The Immortalized Samurai Tale!

After spending a good portion of the past decade bringing Fullmetal Alchemist to life on the big screen, director Fumihiko Sori is back to take on a new property with Hakkenden. Sori directs from a screenplay he adapted from Futaro Yamada’s novels in the early eighties, with a cast led by Koji Yakusho who scored Best Actor at the 76th edition of Cannes for his role in Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days. For this, we get a full-on dive into the imaginative and spectacular samurai-themed world explored in Hakkenden, or “The Legend Of The Eight Dog Samurai” as some would know it. Sori’s Hakkenden casts Yakusho in the role of Edo period novelist Bakin Takizawa, who spent 28 years writing 106 volumes of his heroic tale (even as his health deteriorated) with the help of ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai, played by actor Seiyo Uchino (Fullmetal Alchemist 2 & 3). Also starring […]

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TACFEST 2024 Brings The Heat Back To Illescas With Loads Of Action And Martial Arts Fanfare In May

Our own Mike Garcia has been busy previewing some of the stuff that’s ramping for the sophomore edition of the Toledo Action Films Festival And Expo, or TACFEST & EXPO. You can check out his select write-ups by clicking here, while the word is now out for the five-day event kicking off in the Spanish municipality at the Illescas House of Culture on May 15. Action cinema, despite being one of the most watched genres in the world, still does not have the respect it deserves, and has always been undervalued in the most important festivals and awards ceremonies, which is why it makes a year TACFEST was born, where they wanted to pay tribute to the genre that has given us more action heroes to admire than any other. TACFEST & EXPO 2024 hails from Castilla la Mancha Film Association, in collaboration with the Association International of Martial Artists […]

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