Sword Of The Dead
THE HIT LIST: June 4, 2018
My energy level was sputtering all weekend. I had some much needed fun though and got to decompress and meet some new and beautiful people. Happy start to my summer.
L to R (top): Masami Kosaka, J.C. Leuyer, Sadiqua Bynum, Cyrus Leisy, Bobby Nickels
L to R (bottom): Sonalii Castillo, Peter Syckelmoore, Seydina Balde, Frans Steyn, Sarah Chang
I’m also where the independent action and stunts are as we commence with this week’s return of the Hit List after a period of catching up and a little more rest in between. We begin with the familiar name of Judit Szvia and I couldn’t be more proud to start her at the top of this week’s playlist of stunt and athetic reels followed by contributions from Ryan Robertson, Darin Hicks, Cyrus Leisy, Peter Syckelmoore, Sadqiua Bynum, Frans Steyn, Robert Linden, Lexter Santana and J.C. Leuyer.
Promotional items are quite a handful with Kamen Ramen Studios off and promoting their June 7 online Tokusatsu short, Homemade Hero G starring Gee “Lil’ Bomb” Jay, and actor and filmmaker Sam Puefua’s latest offering to neon-lit female-centric revenge thrills with the Oniros Film Fest-selected Mamba starring Sonalii Castillo.
Third in the playlist is a teaser for a television/webseries proof of concept that garnered my interest for a few weeks before I heard back from its star, actor and martial artist Seydina Balde. Protection Fantome is the name with Seydina leading the story of an officer whose elite witness protection agency out for retribution against a powerful criminal organization when he fails for the first time.
Last and WAY FAR from least is the official trailer for The Division, a short-form proof of concept making it’s way to exclusive screenings in London this summer. It’s the latest brainchild of film and fighting duo, actors Jean-Paul Ly and Law Plancel and you are more than welcome to read all about the details by clicking here as well.
Following that are some pictorals straight from Instagram, firstly with a raft of on-set production stills from Bobby Nickels’ latest piece of work, Flux Action. This was a project that Bobby himself launched crowdfunding for last summer and a year later, this little independent feat is nearing the finish line before going into post-production.
Below is at least one still of several you can now catch at Instagram, while the second photo just beneath hails from actress Kerry Lacy who is currently on the way with a second chapter to follow up Stacey Maltin’s thrilling character study, Viola, which brings us to this week’s action treats from around the web and thus, we begin with the aforementioned inaugural shortfilm thriller that got some festival attention in the past year or so before being quietly released online. Stuntman Paul Varrachi who coordinates the calamity in the second half, plays opposite Kerry in a tale that delves into the dark confessionals of a woman who, in a word or more, is, well… pretty sick of everyone’s shit. Paul plays a fugitive rapist on the loose and as narratives like these usually go, it doesn’t end well for one of these two.
Bobby Nickels in FLUX ACTION
Kerry Lacy in VIOLA 2
Viola is currently prohibited from viewing on other sites, so click here to watch it in full. Beyond that, it’s off to the races this week for the playlist in tow and with plenty of fisticuffs to make the rounds courtesy of filmmaker, action actor and stuntman Marques Zaror with performances by Zaror himself along with Branden Arnold, Pat Chu, Rabon Hutcherson II, Darin Hicks, Mark Hudson, Cycerli Ash, Amber Lamarca and many, many more.
Zhanna Sattseva and PeiPei Alana Yuan keep the monentum going with a short interlude of their own followed by K Dynamique’s OTT proof of concept, G1NMAN KILL with music by Tom Konidas, Hymson Chan shepherds the action and comedy in Where’s A Cop When You Need One?, the almighty Bryan Sloyer contains his kill zone in Night Watch, Joseph Roark reaps what he sows in revenge short, Unforgiven with the aforementioned Branden Arnold, Tolga Degirmen with a small band of players led by Kai Fung Rieck for action concept, Slice And Shoot and Anton Simpson-Tidy kills ’em all in Ashley Beck’s anime-inspired Afro Samurai: Vexed.
Second to last is the amazing jidaigeki shortfilm opus, Sword Of The Dead whose director, Stephen Vitale was recently the subject of an interview you can also now catch here. Last and far from least is the inaugural outing of Jeremy Weiss’ thrilling new short, The Teacher, filmed at the vast and newly-opened Wanda Film Studios in China and starring Sarah Chang forced to whip out her syllabus of fists and fury to lay the past to rest one last time.
This is a really fun playlist if you ask me. Enjoy it all!
L to R (top): Zhanna Sattsaeva, Kai Fung Rieck, Cycerli Ash, Anton Simpson-Tidy, PeiPei Alena Yuan
L to R (bottom) Gee “Lil’ Bomb” Jay, Robert Linden, Amber Lamarca, Bryan Sloyer, Branden Arnold
If you missed the Hit List from two weeks ago, catch it here. Also, subscribe to these creators and their pages online and SHARE the Hit List with friends and, as always, if you or someone you know performs or creates splendid action and stunts on film and you think it deserves a place in our Hit List, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com and we’ll be pleased to vet your goods accordingly!
MUSINGS OF A RONIN: A Word With SWORD OF THE DEAD Director Stephen Vitale
As important as it is to know how to make a film to begin with, what also matters is your vision, and how well you package it. Such is the case for the lot of independent content that I’ve covered in the last five years, and surprisingly, of which only a handful I notice are given the festival treatment. And I’ve seen my fair share of short films to be fascinated and amazed, as well as even befuddled that they would go straight online.
THE HIT LIST: October 23, 2017
I’m actually a little upset that I came across a few of this week’s entries as late as I did, particularly having tried to been on top of it. Such is why I need at least two more of me (especially since one could use the extra sleep ?).
At any rate, tireless and forever tired as I am (a phrase coined by my friend Philippe), my quest continues to help bring notable independent content and stunt talent to the spotlight per our weekly vehicle here at the Hit List. Let’s load up on paramount stunt talent with the latest stunt and training reels from today’s talented stunt performers beginning with Dylan Rampulla, Jessica Barfoot, LeRoyal Tutt, Alina Andrei, Kage Yami, Damali Ross, Tony Vittorioso, Donny Nichols, Niko Dalman, Camran Bostanabad, Johnny Zhao Haitao and Darrell McLean. We round out this playlist with a tasty teaser reel by a fantastic group from the land down under called Dauntless Movement Crew, and a delighful and adventurous parkour mini doc by performer and filmmaker Remi Girard.
Onto a few promotional bits this week and we revert to an earlier piece I did for Stephen Vitale’s upcoming chanbara horror proof of concept, Sword Of The Dead. The teaser is available in the campaign video I wrote up on here but you’re more than welcome to view an isolated version just beneath. And, by all means, stay tuned for our forthcoming interview.
Last and far from least is the latest creative effort from Chasing The Dragon and London Has Fallen co-star, actor Bryan Larkin with Dead End, the latest entry in a series of shorts here from director and co-star Carter Ferguson. Filmed on a shoestring budget, London, Hong Kong and the U.K. serve as the backdrop for the narrative with Larkin starring as a contract killer whose latest job with a young hitman goes awry, forcing the two to question their motives.
Larkin wrote the self-funded Dead End which was also crowdfunded in an effort to help circulate through festivals, so keep an eye out for this one.
And onto the business we go of bringing hearty fight action by way of a select number shorts and action practice gems, starting with a pair of offerings via Vimeo with Ulrik Bruchholz and Andy Long having brought their six-year old test bout to my attention over the weekend with Do Not Disturb. The second comes courtesy of one of my favorite people in film and action, Tanay Genco Ulgen who harnesses his strengthening storytelling for a gripping crime thriller capped off with brutal action featuring Starlise Waschuk in One Eight Seven.
For the playlist just beneath, our good friends at Lunar Stunts warm up the crowd with an L.A.-set installment of Eric Nguyen’s The Fighting Journey while Kai Ferris and Ben Van Huis aim to please with a slick new lightsaber gem, and Gaetan Caillot trades fisticuffs and prop-knife warfare with Gabriel Senges over at Stunt-Do Fighting as the start of this week’s Fights And Films playlist. Following that is David Lavallee‘s own triskadekaphobic action short offering with The 13th Friday as one of two shorts this month reviving the Jason Voorhees fandom – the other being Flawless Films‘s newest fanfight pitting the resurrected killer against the Gingerninja himself, Aaron Gassor as Spider-Man.
Filmmaker and fight choreographer Lawrence Yip assembles his own throwdown with performers Sam Jaikaran and Nhan Du for hitman short, Just Another Job, before we take a Critical Coffee Break with a couple of guys named Trevor and Orion and learn their swift and applicable techniques for breaking a werewolf’s curse, Troy Sandford and Vladmir Ershov delve right into a spectacular action short with an anime twist for Said Chaou’s My Revenge, and Rooster Teeth’s latest shortfilm thereafter ties into the Volume 5 premiere of RWBY, focusing on the rising underdog, Yang, and I highly recommend watching the series now available online via YouTube or Rooster Teeth, or Crunchyroll.
Inanna Sarkis and Anwar Jibawi return with a second episode of spy comedy webseries, Secret Life (watch the first installment HERE), while Brian Lee and Matthew Sumner clown around over at Beat Down Boogie for an Epic Clown Fight that’ll slap you so hard your momma will feel it.
Brazen Action Design sets forth an impressive debut this month with Jackie Zenders’s action proof-of-concept, Providence, set in a dystopian world as we witness seeds of betrayal and family upheaval between forces of law and order, and lingering factions of chaos. Zenders directs from her own script, co-written by Veto Swarn who stars along with Jonathen Wallace, Monique Avila, Jake Moore, Daniel Masterson, Austin Durden, and Hayden Lam among the B.A.D. cast.
Last and far from least is a brand new comedy short by stuntman and filmmaker, actor Marcus Shakesheff who is never one to shy away with his love and fandom for all things comic book and DC. Here in The British Superman, he leads as mankind’s ill-gotten and unpopular savior named Neville at the center of his own documentary in which a professor puts our less-than-enthusing hero through a series of trials to prove he’s from the planet Krypton. It’s a less-action oriented affair but Shakesheff plays the role fittingly and entertains viewers from start to finish.
Enjoy the hits!
There’s plenty more where hits like these came from and you can catch them by clicking here. Share The Hit List with friends and help grant these creatives the audience they need to grow and thrive in the name of awesome cinematic action, and by all means, if you or someone you know is in the market for support as a filmmaker or a stunt performer with a kickass new demo reel or a project with Hit potential, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
SWORD OF THE DEAD: Help Stephen Vitale’s Inspired New Chanbara Horror Rise From Its Grave!
Of course, this still leaves us with Vitale with his freed-up time to continue his craft in ways that hit all the notes required for the audiences he seeks. There’s no question he achieves just that with his latest teaser for inspired chanbara horror proof-of-concept, Sword Of The Dead, which has already completed principal photography and now requires the good graces of loyal and financially able fans and cinephiles to help finish with perks available per contribution.
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