Well, it’s about that time. The last Hit List entry for 2017 is upon us, and while it will be a little limited in content what with the slowdown of the holidays, it should still suffice. At any rate, it’s not like I haven’t told you all to subscribe to the hundreds or thousands of channels I’ve been sharing from. Quite the opposite! ?
As always, we begin our weekly dining experience of Hit List thrills with an appetizer of terrific stunt reels, beginning with none other than stuntwoman and actress Heidi Moneymaker and stuntman and actor Jake Guinn. Just beneath those is a playlist ripe with stunt reels courtesy of Anita Clay, Cheech Vitale, Ari Loeb, Ben Hinnant, Dan Reardon, Jacqueline Holloway, Rabon Hutcherson II, Stephon Reynolds, Max Fisk (more on him later), Alexander Burgos, prolific Thai stunt team The Action Guys, and Ryan Glass’s latest parkour showcase with the one and only Omar Zaki. Enjoy!
We only have one item to promote this week and for that, we turn to the Netherlands with Steam, from director Pau Han Kho and set in a steampunk world where a train engineer gets into a tussle with a batch of seedy gangsters. Kho’s work looks fairly young while his win at the Imagine Film Fest earlier for kung fu sci-fi, Dìyù, is also noteworthy and you’re more than welcome to follow his progress on Facebook. Peep the trailer:
At long last, the Hit List of 2017 brings you a meaty main course of talent, the first of which levels-up the catfighting between Tara Macken and Monica Lopez, followed by a pair of sword practice clips pairing Tiffany Abney opposite Ishida Sachiko, and Stunt-Do Fighting with Gaetan Caillot and Bastien Frendo.
Tyler Schulze helms the destructive food fighting craziness that ensues in Thanksgiving Gone Wrong before we touch back briefly with Lunar Stunts on their Chill Day, and we catch up with the Schoenke sibs and their most recent Super Power Beat Down putting Star Lord against Boba Fett; Bat In The Sun just released its alternate ending but I prefer the one I missed from the summer so I’m sharing it, and it starts at the 5:44 mark.
From there, we head over to the North Pole with a pre-Christmas slam-bang protest in progress between the elves and Santa himself, played by Derek Russo in Here Comes Santa Claus from Greene Monster Stunts. Next on the playlist is a fight-hearty silent physical comedy with Michaela McAllister in The Unlucky Penny, and the aforementioned Max Fisk with my own discovery of his own telling of action and comedy with Heart Break-In, also starring Sarah Smith.
Near topping off our initial playlist is an exciting shortfilm that I’ve actually been chasing since reporting on its crowdfunder since 2014. The new Zoë Bell/Heidi Monkeymaker headliner, No Touching, came out on the Crypt TV YouTube channel just in time for Halloween back in October after keeping folks in suspense and I couldn’t help but add this to this week’s Hit List finale, even if I am a few months late (And a much-deserved hat tip to Ms. Moneymaker for keeping me abreast of this lovely haunted house beat ’em up fest! ?)
Rounding it all out from there is a sprawling new fan film series pilot inspired by the DC Comics Batman franchise from Palm Drive Productions and writer and director Jordon D. Foss. For this, the story begins with Knightmare, starring Damien Chinappi in the title role as we venture into a telling of our hero forced to confront his darkest demons and looming fears in wake of Jason Todd’s death. The pilot also includes info on how to help fund the second episode for next year over at the official Kickstarter campaign page.
That’s one playlist down with the second just beneath comprising entirely of season one of Art School Dropouts’s alluring martial arts comedy series, The Forgotten Kingdom: A Kung Fu LARP Story – now including its season finale as of last week.
Enjoy the hits!
It’s been a terrific year of independent action and I couldn’t be more proud to have shared space and time in some capacity with these fine creatives over the course of the past year. Feel free to observe each weekly entry through links to the week prior like this one, or simply click this tag for an abbreviated listing of The Hit List for 2017. Otherwise, follow their channels and SHARE The Hit List with friends.
The Hit List will return for your weekly delight of creative independent action and worldwide stunt community support on January 8, 2018. Until then, as always, if you or someone you know has an amazing stunt or training reel, or a project worthy of The Hit List audience, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!
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