THE HIT LIST – September 7, 2015

The Hit List is back this week once more with some more new reels and gems, as well as some great new and exclusve insight and imagery with the fall festivals kicking off after this week. For this, I can certainly promise there will be MUCH more to share in the weeks and months ahead.

For now, there’s only one way I’m starting off this Hit List: Stunt reels aplenty! Actress Mayling Ng gets this week’s stunt reel playlist started with a weapons showcase, sampling a taste for viewers who will soon see her next year in Chris Nahon’s action thriller, Lady Bloodfight starring Amy Johnston. The playlist rounds it all out with an updated reel by Brett Easton, and new reels by Karine Mauffrey, Cole Petty, Jake Eavey, Nick deKay, Donny Nichols, Jessica Erin Bennett, a two-part showreel completed this week by Taiwanese stuntman Scott Hung, and the latest from Czech fall guy, Jiří George Kosorinský.

Up next we have a new video from the folks over at Noobtown Monkeys which seemingly continues a running theme of competitiveness among their screen personas, which is always fun. Watch and learn how John Youk and Gong Bao Level Up In Real Life!

And now we get to the fighting. Firstly however, I want to talk just a bit about a few of the shortfilms you can expect online within the remainder of the year and thereafter.

A few days ago I managed to snag a look at director Kevin Barile’s newest Action On Film Festival 2015 entry, Fight For Your Life, with Barile starring opposite Die Fighting co-star Davis Chong in a story focused on one man’s epic battle with Death at the crossroads of the afterlife. Fight For Your Life runs higher on subtlety in place of dialogue which is a huge win one top of Barile’s amazing choreography, and once it’s allowed, Fight For Your Life is getting a place in the Hit List for sure.

The next title I want to discuss comes in the throes of long-developing efforts to bring a feature-length production to life from the current martial arts action comedy concept, UCHMUCSM (You Can’t Hear Me, You Can’t See Me). Starring actors Andrew Suleiman and Verdy Bhawanta, it’s a story of two friends: Mickey – a blind soldier and Mo – a mute cat-burglar, who are forced to fend off a horde of robed and masked assailants bent on kidnapping their female host – a blind hipster songstress whose own music tunes out all other noises around her.

The shortfilm itself is a great pitch to expand on, and my fingers have been crossed ever since I had the pleasure of reviewing it myself. Point in fact, I fully stand by my quote in the new festival poster for the project which you can view below along with twelve exclusive promo images with Suleiman and Bhawanta in character!

…But…first thing’s first.

Two quick new skits are up this week, one from DC Stunt Coalition with Natalie Strasser and Gene Rush, and another from French action purveyor and helmer Godefroy Ryckewaert. In addition, we also have more fight practice material from award-winning Rising Tiger Films, as well as Emmanuel Brown‘s latest champion athlete fight experiment as Floyd Mayweather opposite David Armstrong as Jerry “Golden Boy” Trimble. Enjoy the playlist!

Getting on now with some slightly longer-form shortfilm gems, we’ve got some great new action shorts to showcase, and I’m happy to share actress and stuntwoman Ilyana Eberhardt‘s newest experimental debut in fight choreography with Intruder! (Brooklyn T-shirt for the win by the way, Ilyana. ^o^/) Beneath that, you’ll see an awesome new fan entry Kick Rox’s own Andrew Dismuke in The Last Dragon: The Return as his own depiction of iconic kung fu villan, Sho-Nuff!

The next video is, at the very least, a huge one since last week’s tralier and earlier reports. The EMC Monkeys are making a huge comeback with regular content featuring tons of surprises to come, from here on out, they’re going to need your help. Alas, feel free to glance over at their Patreon campaign trailer and help support EMC Action Design for their new wave of exciting content to come. And while you’re at it, Xin Wuku and Malay Kim are back as your favorite Nerf-shooting detectives in the latest first of the new split action short, Super Nerf Cops in the first episode below!

Winding down to the end of the Hit List for this week, we also have a brand new video from Dardrex Productions with the latest episode of Redding Takedown featuring C.J. Riot who goes back to his old stomping gronds to clean up his list of old grudges to square away. This is just one of several indie projects fans can expect from Dardrex before the end of the year, so watch this space!

And last though far from least, one has to ask in how many ways can Bryan Sloyer direct a kick-ass action short with such veracity and artfulness, and a clear adherence to a seasoned view of storytelling. Or, more importantly… how often do you hear a classic American love ballad by Nat King Cole being used as the driving force for a fight practice project reimagining one of the most brutal and memorable action scenes in comic book movie history? Because clearly this one is right up Sloyer’s alley, and if I may humbly say so myself, even Zack Snyder would be delighted.

Watch this unforgettable Watchmen fan fight shortfilm with Sloyer and fellow stunt player Jerry Quill!

As a note worthy mention, director Alex Chung is still on deck with several more projects, including the upcoming Toronto Independent Film Festival premiere of his latest Process Of Elimination follow-up, Reverse. You can view a teaser here and buy your tickets here, as well as visit the official festival site to view the current schedule for the festival which kicks off on September 10, and you may feel free to keep an ear close with the upcoming Fall release of Chung’s long-awaited action horror, Werewolf Assassin and martial arts comedy trilogy, Hit Me: Apocalypse!

Beyond that, last week’s Hit List was also a thing of greatness you should leer at as well. Do that and by all means, subscribe to these channels for more exciting content like it. As for future Hit Lists, if you or someone you know has a kick ass new martial arts and action short or a stunt/fight reel that deserves a place on the Hit List, greet us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!