THE HIT LIST – June 20, 2016

Save for any attempt at a relaxing weekend, I had a list of stuff to do. Ultimately that included a review and two interviews which are still being edited and will air this week.

That wasn’t all though, as yet another installment of the Hit List is here and is absolutely packed with awesome demo reels and action gems from the web! As always, we begin with some terrific new reels by some of today’s talented stunt performers in various categories. On that note, I think it’s safe to say that stuntwoman Amy Johnston is gaining quite a good footing at becoming an astute actress. She’s shown her progress immensely with projects like Kung Fu Femmes and Clandestine, and with a raft of leading roles in films like Lady Bloodfight, Female Fight Club and Kellie Madison’s upcoming feature, The Gate, I can’t wait to see what comes next from Johnston whose new 2016 reel is full of meat for action fans, and no filler.

The remainder of the playlist is comprised of the latest reels by French freerunning talent Alex Lopoka, John Burnecker, Skylar Ward, Keith Mowatt, James Morley, T. Ryan Mooney, Dre Swain., Pip Andersen and Germany-based Action Concept’s own Ramazan Bulut.

Up next is a playlist jam-packed with some more impressive freerunning feats from some of this year’s video submissions for the Red Bull Art Of Motion competition this October in Greece. The qualifier runs through July 6 and you can learn more about the event by clicking here, but in the meantime, if you’re new to the Red Bull Art Of Motion, the playlist below should amply introduce you to some of those you might expect to catch running the rooftops of Santorini, including Alexandre Jacquet, Remi Girard, Nikita Teterev, Nathan Weston, Bob Reese, Guang Song Xie, Dennis Mezaros and Abderrahim Arradi.

Onto some promotional goods, and to start things off, we have a set of eleven stills from Prizrak. Ronnie James Hughes makes his latest foray into film here with Cinematic Fight Studio’s own, filmmaker Lawrence Yip with a story tentatively being packaged as a proof-of-concept which is already wrapped filming and is currently in post. Guess what you may of the plot, however, while the title itself is Russian for the word “Ghost”, and its stills are now available for you to see Hughes in ghoulishly badass form.

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From there, we have two videos following up on projects we’ve covered before here in some form or another. Actress and stuntwoman Olivia Dunkley headlines the first, a webseries teaser for Robert Griffith’s The Sandra West Diaries: Silencers & Miniskirts, spinning off Griffith’s most recent successful 60’s-themed Super7even webseries and indie feature. The second is the teaser for episode two of Six Feet Down Under, the newest webseries from Machinima and the folks over at Truly Indie Studios starring Guy Grundy in the story of a hired gun whose adherances to loyalty and honor make him a target for his employer’s evil treacherous son. Actors and martial artists Brian Le and Power Rangers: Dino Charge star Yoshua Sudarso also star.

Off to the cookies-n-cream of each and every Hit List long after the stunts are demoed and reeled: The fights! Tokusatsu filmmaker Bueno gives us a light-sampling of his work at B.O.S. Action Studio in Tokyo, Japan while LBP’S Emmanuel Manzanares is back behind the lens for another exciting fight gem between Nate Hitpas and Tony Vittorioso – The two have been training together since 2009, so you can pretty much guess if there were any two performers who can gel nicely on screen together, it’s these two.

Following that is a slick new gunfight concept from a group led by Jason Mello, Formula Arts Movement’s prequel outing, The Package: Godfather with Noah Fleder, Brian Le and Yoshua Sudarso, and a dose of brutal slapstick and fisticuffs with Christopher Troy and James Croak in Leo Kei Angelos’s Hobo Fightttt (yes, you read that correctly).

The next video is perhaps one of the best three minute gems I’ve ever seen, and in turn, wish I caught last month while Hit Listing the My Røde Reel findings. Dognap is the title from JKK Films – a fast and furious threeway all-girl brawl with Rachel Lynn David playing an agent assigned to rescue a specially gifted dog from its captors. Break out the pats, sticks and knuckles, because it’s truly one you’ll enjoy if you love action and gore, and with an in-your-face ending full of suprises.

Rounding out the playlist is a Ryan Connolly’s latest Bar Brawl with Trevor Addie, and a brutal new short story of warring siblings with Amy Sturdivant and Haley Wright in Big Sister by Bryan Sloyer.

The last of the lot now brings three great pieces of shortfilm content this week and we’re going to start with Narayana Cabral’s latest offering, The Set Up, in which two undercover cops – the other played by Bruce Concepcion – pair up to infiltrate a mob boss…that is if they can get past his main henchman, played by Spencer Thomas. Following that is a two-part action horror comedy that really takes the bite out of couples’ therapy in Aaron Martz’s Dr. Hackam: Vampire Therapist with Vanessa Bojanowski and Peter Scale.

Last and far from least is something I think is truly refreshing from filmmaker and actor Shahaub Roudbari. When Kids Grow Up is the title, described as a short action drama that explores the harsh pathology behind sexual assault and the violence that it breeds. I won’t add anything else here, but I do invite you to watch Marissa Labog in what, I feel, is one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from her on screen, on top of Roudbari’s terrific action direction. It is simply NOT to be missed. Enjoy!

Last week’s Hit List is still up for grabs for anyone with a taste of independent action and film fun, so check it out and support the channels. Moreover, if you or someone you know has a stunt reel or an action short that’s equally cool and amazing as these above, hit us up at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!