Welcome back to another installment of The Hit List! Nope, no sponsors, no commercial breaks, just me, you, and the creatives out here putting their craft on display for the world, and there’s a lot to cover so let’s get to it!
As always we start with a playlist of meaty action and stunt training reels and the first comes from actor, martial artist and stuntman Marcus Shakesheff who has been immersing himself into filmmaking for a few years now. Having established a milestone in Wales with the first Welsh martial arts action pic, Kamikaze, he’s been staying sharp on his own YouTube channel with a slate of videos including his latest kicking reel which kicks things off rightly in the playlist below (more on him later).
Following that are reels by Deanna Page, Vonzell Carter, Troy “Taz” Castaneda, Katie Schwartz, Yarett Harper, William Rodriguez and rising star actress and stuntwoman Natascha Hopkins, along with Edwin Quinones, Trent Fogelman, Mami Spéede, Spencer Davis, Ayami Sakaeda, Koreena Goslin and Cédric Chavin.
Up next is a raft of promotional goods beginnings with stills from Johnny Balasz’s new proof-of-concept noir actioner, Dancer. It is still in post-production following a few teasers which have already made the rounds, thus proving himself to be one of the best-suited directors I’ve seen with great material apart from his previous collaborations and surely boasts something exciting to come from his new solo outing.
Hailing from Prima Lux Films, James Conrado and Zoe Thornburgh star in the a story of a man, infatuated by a local club stripper with aspirations for a new life, who finds himself fighting for her freedom away from Melbourne’s seedy criminal underbelly. Beneath is an album of stills from the upcoming shortfilm as well as a fight teaser clip from the film’s Facebook page.
Furthermore, in case you missed the teasers, both are viewable in the playlist below followed by a third teaser for Maneesh Sasikumar’s Power Rangers-inspired fan short, The Rise Of The Green Ranger from Berte Productions, and the latest campaign video from Jabronie Pictures to help raise funds for a slate of new action-packed serial websiodes centered on DC Comics femme fatale, Harley Quinn, starring Jacqui Verdura whose initial performance can be seen by clicking here!
Off to a final round out with some slick fight action from around the web and we begin with a trio of test fight gems from Lovel Johnson Jr. at West Empire Productions, followed by Samuel Ericsson and Naomi Willow with a test fight from February, the latest from Stanton Chong at Eunoia Creations featuring Jennifer Li, stuntman Reuben Maldonado with a fight reel mixing some of his recent material, Kristian A.K. Mogensen with Brian K. Anderson in comedic action bit called Rivals, Ukraine-based XGST with a test fight of their own, and a group of Marvel Universe live show performers led by Patrick King in a little action gem they filmed after their European tour. Afterwards is a fresh new return to the Hit List with the Raging Phoenix-inspired action short, Where!!!?, Finnish filmmaker Mikko Lopppnen with another bruising contained action thriller with Escape Room, and Singapore’s own Chee Hong embraced with a brusing Hong Kong welcome from Andy Long and Kerry Wong.
Afterwards we have the first episode of Nerf Assassins from Art School Dropouts and Kamen Ramen studios with action comedy fan film, Indie Sentai: Chroma Squad, inspired by the Behold Studios role-playing video game print released in 2015, and once more – with feeling – Marcus Shakesheff in a life-or-death bloody brawl to the fatal finish with a knife wielding teddy bear in Bear Attacks Family.
Rounding out the playlist, we begin with Julian Higgins with a melodious nod of violent song and dance by way of Beauty And The Beast’s Gaston through the majestic voice of the Merc-With-A-Mouth himself, Deadpool. Actor and filmmaker Robin Deeter follows through with the web pilot for Project: Child – Absolution starring himself and actor Pip Anderson as the first of an action-packed webseries now in development for more episodes, followed by Bryan Sloyer whose latest, The Magician, packed with sleight-of-hand action featuring Jay Kwon opposite Jerry Quill and Yoshua Sudarso among an ensemble of stunt talents.
You know what to do…
Last and far from least is a warm and welcome hug from the internet that has since seen a long, enduring cry for growth into feature film status. Efforts to make that happen are already underway with Stephen Reedy’s The Man From Death telling a tale of one man’s fantastic, bloody and explosively ultra-violent quest of revenge and redemption, laden with comedy, gore, some of the most relentless, NSFW action sequences you’ll ever see.
Check out the proof of concept below and you’ll see what actor and director Eric R. Lim and Stephen Reedy are aiming for, and be advised to sit in a comfortable distance and position, because this proof is even more a spectacle on the eyes than you might be ready for. As for the movie, feel free to check out our previous coverage here and explore how you can help!
Hat tips to Hector Soria, Spencer Davis, David “Dax” Bauer and Patrick King for their contributions!
