I actually planned on seeing John Wick: Chapter Two this past weekend but ultimately ended up staying in. A few things factored into that with lack of sleep being one of them – as tasking as the Hit List is, I kinda needed the energy.
Alas, we’ve come into another week with some more online gems from around the web. That means more stunt demos, action shorts and things to promote that I’m sure you’ll enjoy and we begin with the usual set of stunt reels in the very first set beginning with an amazing 2nd unit workreel by Brett Chan, the man behind the stellar action design seen in Netflix series Marco Polo and the upcoming Iron Fist.
The playlist just beneath keeps the action going courtesy of Greg Poljacik, Jean-Paul Ly, Kenny Wong, Ellette Craddock, C.J. Thoms, Jay Kwon, Reuben Maldonado and Gabriela Rodriguez, with choreography and directing reels by Andrew Kim, Tripp Pickell, and an extensive and amply kick-ass reel by Ulrik Bruchholz.
Onto just a few promotional goods and for this, we first bring you a new poster for El Testigo helmer Andres Ramirez’s latest project, Uncompromised, starring actor and martial artist Jose Manuel as a former mafia enforcer struggling to redeem himself until he’s forced back in to fight for his brother. Manuel has been hitting the pavement to promote some of his work in the past year and from the looks of things it appears we can expect some announcements this week courtesy of the series’s fan page which you can view by clicking here. While you’re at it, the project also has an official poster which you can check out below!
Up next is a project by director Nico Raineau who impressed me greatly last year with his 2016 short, Brix And The Bitch. It stars Dre Swain and Alex-Marshall Brown with Tim Storms and David Carey Foster, and tells of an underground fighter forced into the toughest decision of her life. Having finished its two-year festival run with more than eleven wins in its wake, a brand new trailer has since gone live with the full shortfilm set to arrive this Tuesday on Valentines Day via Vimeo.
Lastly, we have a crowdfunding move by a good group of folks out in the U.K. who have newly established themselves online via Eastern Heroes. Here and now with director Leif Johnson and actor and stuntman Tien Hoang, the two are making their pitch for the ambitious new short Kowloon Killers, a retrospective tale centered on a group of Vietnamese surviving in Hong Kong, only to find themselves cornered by bloodthirsty triads in a fight to the finish at a Mong Kok supermaket following a deadly double cross.
Johnson and Hoang assert this one will pay true homage to daring Hong Kong action and heroic bloodshed. Thus, what they’re going to need most importantly for the project to work are £2,000, and as always, there are great perks attached to each listed amount. Check out the pitch below and the IGG page by clicking here!
Down the wire for this week’s Hit List is some camera test action courtesy of Michael Lehr with Bryan Sloyer and Amy Sturdivant performing, followed by Jerome Gaspard and his Action Cascade guys demoing some bullet-time brutality, Team Cascade working out some fight choreo of their own, and actress Alexandra Balda getting in some screenfighting time with Anthony G. Elias of Team Genesis. Actress Mia Speight keeps the pace going sampling some swordplay and wire-fu choreo in her latest fight reel before filmmaker Darren Holmquist takes us into his latest twofer with the first installment of Initiation Of The Black Wolf starring Leonard Zhang, Deal’s Off by Kent De Mond and Niko Dalman. And, just in time for the release of the sequel thriller currently in theaters, Nathan Quattrini’s inspired fan film with director Paul Drechsler-Martell, John Wick Origins: Kirill, kicks things a few more notches up with Matt Healey in the title role.
Rounding out the playlist is a proof-of-concept that was sent to me directly by Swedish filmmaker Dennis Petersen late last year titled Redeem: The Beginning. The project itself has actress Moa Malan leading the dystopian sci-fi tale of a woman spirited back from the verge of death by a supernatural entity and granted a second chance to enact justice against the militarized death squad that brutally raped and stabbed her.
Malan reportedly trained some seven months for the role, and not for nothing either with several awards to its credit and as it stands, prospects of becoming a fully-fledged feature film. I initially tried responding to Petersen about the status of the feature film to learn more about its proximity and I never heard back. At any rate however, the shortfilm itself presents an exciting piece of work and if a feature film does come of it, I certainly look forward to it.
You’ll find Redeem: The Beginning at the tail end of the playlist below. As always, just push play, and enjoy!
Last week’s entries are still available in case you need to catch up or if you still have time to spare. Check those out and be sure to sub to the channels for your show of support, and as always, if you or someone you know has a thrilling demo to show off their skill sets in stunts and screenfighting or even a shortfilm project you think is worth a spot in our weekly Hit List, don’t hesitate to hit us up via e-mail at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!