indie action

THE HIT LIST – February 9, 2015

This week’s Hit List was another adventure. I managed to do this while accomplishing five write-ups this week for my friend over at The Action Elite and I still have a ton of work to finish regarding interviews I’m working on putting together. So, hopefully you’ll like what’s presented here. It’s another epic mix of stuff and some of it may be a little too R-rated for your tastes, but I hope I made up for it in the end. At any rate, these should still be great vids to enjoy along the way. First off is a real from an awesome director who has already cut his teeth quite well in stunts and fight choreography. Remember the name Beau Fowler and be on the lookout for a trailer later this week for his most recent proof-of-concept action sci-fi short, Chameleon. His most recent director’s reel from late last year […]

Screener Review: UNLUCKY STARS (2015)

Lee B. Golden III

SYNOPSIS: When Peru’s Biggest Action Film Star and Jordan’s newest rising talent find themselves pursued by a notorious Bookie, a pair of private investigators are forced to choose between their job and their conscience. REVIEW: It’s been well over a decade since I first discovered independent martial arts shortfilms online and I have humbly stood by and watched over the years as companies like Zero Gravity, The Stunt People, Reel Kick, VJ Films, Montanick Pictures, LBP Stunts Chicago and other individual stunt professionals around the country have woven into a thriving community that nourishes itself with immense talent for projects in and outside of Hollywood. Of course, the goal has been, and still is, to keep creating enough content to generate interest in feature-length kung fu and martial arts films on larger scales, a campaign that couldn’t have come at a better time as the genre itself had taken a […]

THE HIT LIST – February 2, 2015

Lee B. Golden III

This week’s list has some amazing new content out this week, including one video which has only seen its way to film festival audiences. It got pretty busy for me this week and it’s going to get a little more busier with the write-ups I’m working on for another site, so hat tips to those of you who pointed me in the right direction for a few of these gems. This list is going to be a little more star-studded, and a few of these videos were exclusive to Facebook so I hope their playability remains and I hope you enjoy these entries. Shall we? The first video I’m listing here is likely one of the most important you’ll see this week, especially if you’re a Toku fan. MMPR, director Dominick Sivili‘s long-awaited fan series has been in limbo for quite a while, and it’s only now that he’s getting […]

Indie Kung Fu Comedy Homage, UNLUCKY STARS Wraps Post-Production!

Lee B. Golden III

Top Row L to R: Sari Sabella, Vlad Rimburg, Dennis Ruel, Ken Quitugua, Emmanuel Manzanares, Lucas Okuma, Steven Yu, Gui DaSilva, Alvin Hsing / Bottom Row L to R: Bryan Cartago, George Crayton, Andy Leung, Shaun Charney, Tony Chu, Adam Phelps, Roy Chen The road has been a long one for debut director, actor and stuntman Dennis Ruel whose long-awaited crowdfunded kung fu comedy homage, Unlucky Stars has been heavily in post-production for the past couple of years in a process lasting several. The last we heard was an update dating back to the start of last year when the film finally wrapped picture lock with plans to finally release the film sometime back in the Fall or Winter while the next phase of post-production needed completion. Well, that process took a bit longer, but thankfully, that part of the job is finally over as of last month, as per […]

Nothing Is Sacred In The New Shortfilm Trailer For BLACK SCAR BLUES

Lee B. Golden III

It certainly comes with great pleasure that I finally get to talk about the longstanding work from filmmakers Lester “Leroy” Nguyen, and Edmond Shum and the folks over at independent filmgroup, Rising Tiger Films. While I had known of them for some time, I’ve come into the new year with an ample opportunity to finally observe more of their material with an eye on several of their latest projects, namely their latest shortfilm crime drama, Black Scar Blues. Clocked in at about forty-five minutes, the shortfilm is the team’s biggest project so far, featuring Nguyen and Shum in a gritty, gruesome character study centered on a friendship between two low-level drug pushers, and the destruction that ensues when high ambitions deepen personal wounds. Its neo-noir setting, coupled with some great performances by Nguyen and actress Queen Sayat, and strong color contrasts between the intense drama and violent imagery make for […]

ROPE-A-DOPE 2 Gets An Online Date And Poster!

Lee B. Golden III

Internet martial arts action sensation, actor and stuntman Eric Jacobus has made a name for himself with over a decade of innovative choreography and storytelling to fulfill the voracious needs of genre fans everywhere. He certainly achieved great notoriety with last year’s shortfilm release, Rope-A-Dope, which became a festival hit prior to its acclaim online earning the approval of fans virtually everywhere. However, if you thought he was just going to rest on his laurels and end it there, think again. Hopefully you managed to catch the last batch of set photos from principal photography from the summer. The first installment started things off pretty small, and rightfully so, as you can expect an even larger ensemble cast of performers for an even crazier set up of comedic action featuring Jacobus as our lead against fellow Stunt People member, stuntman and actor Dennis Ruel reprising his role. Only this time, the […]

Kabuki Masks, Gore And Samurai Swords Highlight New Set Pics From Paul Nicoletos’s Upcoming Short, DRAGON'S BLADE Starring Morgan Benoit

Lee B. Golden III

Those who often attend film festivals may be familiar with the work of filmmaker Paul Nicoletos, best known for delivering recent notable short films like the sci-fi thriller, Icarus Down, and last year’s sci-fi action hit, Kill Shelter. Nowadays, he and producer Viet K. Huynh have moved on with other endeavors, namely working on another proof of concept they hope to turn into a feature film in 2015 in the form of the new fantasy martial arts thriller from Reloaded Films and Teru Media, Dragon’s Blade (CLICK HERE for disambiguation). Nicoletos spoke exclusively to Film Combat Syndicate about the production and where plans to take it between now and in 2015. “Our goal with the short is to get people interested and find potential producers and investors who would like to make this into a feature.” he said. “I feel like this story truly has potential to be not so […]

Watch The Stylish New Teaser For Australian Martial Arts Feature, THE CHALLENGE LETTER

Lee B. Golden III

Not a lot of kung fu instructors take an interest in acting or screenfighting. As for those who do, it’s always appealing when you find that number of such people who are keen on expanding their craft to such a field, and impressively so. Such is the case with martial arts instructor Sifu Robert Chen of Chang Sing Tong Kung Fu Academy in Australia where he is now in the midst of his latest foray into feature length martial arts action with their current production, The Challenge Letter. An untitled teaser released back in November prior to getting an official branded teaser as of earlier this month, and while the plot is unknown at this point in time, the footage itself is nothing short of amazing, scored with a great montage of Chinese, Japanese and Brazilian fighting styles among others likening a bit to tones similar to hits such as […]

Reel Time: MARINA VORUZ (2014)

Lee B. Golden III

More often than not, there’s always the usual shortfall of discovering a page with fundrasing campaign that has already ended for a project that looks like it would have been appealing to talk about had I caught the damn thing in time. That said, I want to help shed some light on something that really blew me away over the weekend. Meet Kyrgyz American actress, fitness model and filmmaker as of late, Marina Voruz whose brewing career in the last ten years here in the states will finally see her on the big screen as of next year. Meanwhile, she has also been busy working on her inspired new shortfilm, Blue Hope, a story about two lovers and assassins, Lana and Jack, who come to a deadly impasse when Lana finally re-emerges following her sudden disappearance long before. The project initially fell short on Kickstarter over the summer. Needless to […]

The New Shortfilm Teaser For ASCENDED MASTERS Reveals The Son Of God In Training

Lee B. Golden III

Director Jela Oba Okpara is currently working on transitioning his latest desert martial arts thriller, The Last Girl into a feature film. The details are under wraps, some of which will hopefully come to light soon enough. In the meantime, Okpara‘s newest endeavor from his Spectacle Pictures banner is now available for viewing in the form of the new shortfilm trailer for Ascended Masters, a conceptualized story centered on the unwritten pages of Jesus Christ’s life between the ages of 12 and 30, entertaining the idea of a possible existence of a “kung fu Jesus” so to speak. Nick Denbeigh stars as “Yeshua” along with Oscar Perez as the wandering monk “Siddhartha”, with action sequences designed by Chibi. Ascended Masters is expected to arrive before the year is out, so in the meantime, check out the trailer below addition to a small gallery of stills and BTS pics courtesy of […]

RUN HOME JACK: Help Fund Enligh10 Media's New Martial Arts/Parkour Crime Short

Lee B. Golden III

The Austin, Texas branch of independent film company Enligh10 Media is less than a week from the end of their campaign to help fund their newest action-packed short, Run Home Jack. Shortfilm director Mathew Ruybal is set to helm the project with his own script, telling of a mild-mannered introvert in his 30’s whose chance encounter with a group of men seeking to hire him for his “skills” puts him in a moral dilemma that forces him to choose between his new life, or a return to that which he once thought to have abandoned for good. They have a cast and crew ready to go whilst enlisting the services of Texas-based martial arts coordinator and producer, Lascelles McCarthy III and Robert Brown of I Am Water stunt team, designing the hybrid of stylish martial arts, gun play and freerunning that fans of the genre can expect. If funding is […]

Swordplay, Freerunning, BTS Fun And Much More In This Week's Batch Of Action Shorts!

Lee B. Golden III

From L to R: Jeremy Tristan, Jerry Quill and Jay Kwon in ONE RULE by Bryan Sloyer Lots of great shorts continue to make way through the internet, and hopefully you’re out there finding some yourself. As always, if you missed out on any, you can find a batch of the most recent ones right here, and don’t forget to check out Siren, Whipping Boy and the most recent Lobo fan trailer from action director favorite Jesse V. Johnson (The Package). In the meantime, let’s get started, and be sure to check out last week’s line-up in one of the links toward the end… First in line is a short from Cinematic Fight Studio with actress Kadia Saraf and actor/fight trainer Adam Lee titled Duel: Katana vs. Dao. There’s a lot of slo-motion edits here that get in the way of the action, but still serves up a nice little gem […]

Watch The Thrilling New Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Action Short, SIREN

Lee B. Golden III

Independent filmmaker Gabriel Simon was once a film student back in 2009 with a bold idea in mind for something that sounded as crazy as much as he and his team felt was also possible. Now, five years in the making with two years of production and $3,000 to work with, Simon‘s latest half-hour foray into the sci-fi genre, Siren, is looking to generate more traction among the masses upon its official online release in early November. Martial artist and lead actor Chris Barbis is joined by actress Kelsey George Mogensen in this post-apocalyptic tale of two unnamed characters cornered on a secluded island where an amnesia-inducing toxic agent is periodically released into the air, while defending themselves against three masked killers. There’s no dialogue in the first half as we witness Barbis‘ character struggle and rummage through the ruins for basic essentials and much of the action doesn’t pick […]

Kung Fu Kids, Rogue Ninjas, And Sci-Fi Galore Load This Week's List Of Action Shorts!

Lee B. Golden III

Photo: Agent Odyssey by Shaun Charney Getting right down to the nitty-gritty, feel free to click here to take a look at some previous entries of test fights now available online. Hopefully you’ve been keeping up, because there’s nearly a ton more you’ll find just below, including some competitive short projects, fan fights and even some pre-viz stuff, all of which are worth looking at, and hopefully we’ll see plenty more from these amazing folks. Carry on!… Kicking off this list is a fun little collaborative gem hosted by independent filmmaker and vlogger Adande Thorne in a hilarious homage to classic kung fu flicks with scenes involving cocky fighters challenging a packed dojo. Kung Fu Kids is the name of the project, filmed on location at Yoon’s Martial Arts in Delaware, and if you watch YouTube regularly, keen eyes may also spot the appearances of Devin White (a.k.a. Kid Haru) […]

Here's Another Batch Of Online Action Shorts From Around The Web!

Lee B. Golden III

As many of you all know in partaking in our collective readership, I also try to share the spotlight with all the various talented performers out their presenting their own short test fight samples online. I do try to cover as much as I get my hands on or whatever comes my way, although it’s challenging at times to lend individual coverage for each project I spot. So, in the spirit of keeping up with independent artists, I’m now presenting clusters of micro articles like this. It probably won’t be a weekly thing, but if it helps entertain and grant folks an opportunity to share their craft more, then all the better. So, here goes! An active team since 2010, Kung Fu Heroes recently unveiled a new promo reel to headline some of their previous and upcoming work. A few of their members I know of already have projects of […]

Watch The New Teaser For Upcoming Short, VENGEANCE…MAIS From Aballa Stunts!

Lee B. Golden III

Screenfighting and filmmaking company, Aballa Stunts is still thriving from time to time. Support is close to nil on their home territory despite aiming to put their native Algeria on the map for action cinema, a circumstance shared by many parts of the world, and its safe to say that achieving this kind of goal will ultimately take some time, as well as effort. This month, that effort can now be seen continued in the upcoming short, Vengeance…Mais, a French-language crime thriller directed by Mohammed Besbas and centered on a story of one cop’s search for vengeance against the men who killed his little brother. No English-subs here, but clearly the footage seen in the new teaser is something that aims for something cool to present, especially for fans of martial arts and indie action. Check it out below and support the channel by subscribing!

Upcoming Action Short, BREED OF HUNTERS Gets An Extended Intro Clip

Lee B. Golden III

Independent productions can take great lengths of time to put together, a fact known full well for actor and martial artist Wildchild Gil Sanabria following an earlier teaser for his upcoming shortfilm thriller, Breed Of Hunters. The project was already on its way a bit before then, but slowed down due to necessary rewrites following a departure from one of the actors involved. Rewrites are currently being done for the project which is now expected to fully commense hopefully earlier next year with a new script and cast (and possibly a new title) to accommodate an otherwise great-looking, original project. Breed Of Hunters follows the story of Giovanni Fierro, an inside man for hire, who gathers and sells information in the underground world. He later gets caught in between two sides of justice when he comes across top secret government information revealing an ulterior agenda. While we await further info […]

Check Out The Teaser For This Mystery Project From Danish Action Team, STUNT 360

Lee B. Golden III

European Stunt School founder, filmmaker and longtime stuntman Jacob Sebastian Malm is currently in his eleventh year of activity with Copenhagen-based international stunt and screenfighting performance team, Stunt 360. It’s been a busy year for Malm and his team, and will continue to be so in 2015 as he and his team make their way in the industry on an international level, and fortunately, these plans won’t infringe on what they currently have going on for their own projects as well, as indicated by a recent teaser they have available on their channel showcasing U.K. martial artist and stuntwoman, actress Lauren Okadigbo. The teaser is quite short, but there are plans to extrapolate this project into something much larger with more parts. What that could mean is still a mystery, but Malm has clearly become comfortable in the past year or so while working with Okadigbo, whose background includes Cecily […]

Intimate Impact Presents: THE RAISE: REDEMPTION

Lee B. Golden III

Owning your own screenfighting and stunt team isn’t easy. It takes the dedication of others in addition to yourself, and hopefully with time, that dedication will bring some results. Such is the case with Colorado-based stuntfighting group, Intimate Impact, originally established in 2008 prior to rebranding itself in the last few years. Spearheaded by its founder, actor and stuntman Jeremie Shaw, the team finally put out a new team reel back in September to highlight a handful of what’s on the way, featruing himself among members Ryan Taylor, Emmamuel Hernandez, Nate Harper and a few others. And this week, the team has debuted their first project with an experimental action comedy short that clearly lends a few nods to the Hong Kong comedy with a certain twist on a recent cult hit, and based on its title, The Raise: Redemption, you’ve probably guessed it already. Yes, the acting is campy, […]

What This Kid Filmed On His Smartphone Will Make You Wish You Owned One!

Lee B. Golden III

Shameless clickbait headline, I know, but this latest video from director Robert Angier over at Arnhem Pictures was too adorable and awesome to leave alone and not share, especially for one with such an emphatic, personal message. Titled When Bad Guys Attack, the shortfilm sees actor Myron McClure and young actor Dani Dare in a cool little story about how a youthful imagination can overcome ones’ own fears, and by fears, I mean ninjas… ninjas everywhere. Out of the blue and in the cold light of day, just random ninjas. With lasers and stuff. Moreover, the project is also sort of a love letter to fathers everywhere who remain superheroes in the eyes of children. On that note, I only ask that the next time you pull out your phone to film a loved one, beware ninjas. Either that or get a replacement if your device is ensured. Just sayin. […]