THE HIT LIST: April 10, 2017

I may have to take a break from the Hit List next week so as to catch up on projects as well as movies. I miss watching movies these days…it’s funny.

Of course, there’s always the chance I’ll have one ready for next week so we’ll see. For now, all matters pertaining to this week’s installment are now front and center for your viewing, and we begin with a hearty playlist of demo reels from some of today’s top and rising stunt performers, and included are Hayley Wright, Duke Jackson, Eimar O’Grady, Chris Schmidt Jr., T. Ryan Mooney, Sarah Laidler, Allen Quindiagan, Elissa Cadwell, Carl Langlais, Jean-Paul Ly, PeiPei Alena Yuan, Tom Caserto and Shaun Alphonso with stunt coordinator John Kreng rounding things out via Vimeo with an extended workreel following last week’s entry.

Enjoy!

There are only three items on the promotional end of things this week and with the first, we have Mike Carr in his latest reunion with director Glenn Harris for a project called Honour. I suspect there will be ninjas involved and only due to the ambiguity of the latest teaser poster which Carr himself offered below over the weekend via Twitter:

As for the playlist: Riot (2016) helmer John Lyde tickled my curiousity a few years ago when a certain image popped up on social media invocative of a Shaw Brothers-style silhouette. Little did I know that it was part of a concept he had apparently been looking to find backers for and to no avail as of yet for which we are offered something of a Frank Miller-style, action packed and brutal take on a fairy tale classic with Snow, and starring Melanie Stowe in the title role and featuring solid action by CBR Stunts. For the record, my immediate reaction to this not having backers was as livid then as it is now, because it looks frickin genius!

The second promo thereafter comes courtesy of filmmaker, martial artist and actor Ronny Vega with Santos, a gruesome character study ripe with darkness and intrigue as we observe a day in the life of a man armed as the ultimate crimefighting avenger of restless spirits against evil doers among the living. Santos was once a proof-of-concept for Vega and co-creator Khalil Barnett in their current efforts to build bigger-scale projects, though the process eventually waned and took its tool through a number of hurdles during all phases of production, including the untimely passing of co-star Steve Villalobos. Vega graced followers of the project late last month for early bird viewing and now Santos is staking his claim for wider consumers via Amazon Prime.

Check out the trailer in the playlist below and feel free to bookmark Santos for later viewing!

Getting a move-on next are two interesting playlists and the first gets things started with what is now a two-part entry in Where!!!?, a concept initially presented by Alex Van Duong that now has a second helping with West Empire’s own Lovel Johnson Jr. with Duong playing a man seemingly unable to ask for directions without haphazardly getting into a brawl with the locals. Stuntman Chris Campos also stars.

Afterwards we have two quick interludes with Jennifer Tse in her latest random act of violence against stuntman Alfred Hsing, Felix King lensing the latest test fight tussel between T. Ryan Mooney and Alex Hashioka and Corey DeMeyers and Remi Bakkar going toe-to-toe with PeiPei Alena Yuan behind the camera. From there, Vi-Dan Tran and Koa Huynh keep the pace going with some nifty swordfight action for the T7production channel while maverick Tokusatsu filmmaker and actor Bueno continues the bodycount with another installment of Futureman. Emmanuel Manzanares follows through with a cool reupload featuring Anthony Pho, and Joey Min trades Nerf bullets and blades in the latest installment of Nerf Assassin with Stephanie Pham and Angela Jordan.

Rounding it all out are two great new long duration shortfilms: Up first is director Ivan Kander who impressed netizens a few years ago with his take on a Miles Morales-inspired live-action portrayal of Spider Man and his next continues to further right the wrongs of comic book movielore with the thrilling new short, Von Doom. Director Paul DeNigris caps things off with an inspired new take on author Vince Flynn’s famed IP in lieu of the upcoming feature length thriller, American Assassin, and with none other than Andy McDermott in the title role for Mitch Rapp: Off Book, co-starring James Morrison and Ayman Samman, Steve Briscoe and stunt coordinator Richard O. Ryan.

Last and far from least is a 6-part endeavor from creators Sam Benjamin and Sam Bradford titled The Few, sporting heavy suspense and sci-fi appeal with the story of a rogue detective on a mission to stop a pair of maverick pair of superpowered renegades. I found this one as I was doing research for a review on another project and clearly the degrees of separation worked in my favor upon finding this gem given some of the press it has received. For the audience it has grown, I think its worth sharing here too, and so it is.

Enjoy!

Follow up on our weekly Hit List articles frequently for more amazing content from inspired and talented creatives and stunt performers. And if you’re one of them, buzz us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!