El Día de los Albañiles (1984)
If you have even the slightest interest in latsploitation, it’s only a matter of time before you come across El Día de los Albañiles (The Day of the Bricklayers). Released in 1984, this film embodies everything that was “wrong” with Mexican cinema in the 1980s. However, the film managed to become somewhat popular and was...
Death Before Dishonor (1987)
Before 9/11, the action genre often utilised scenery-chewing Middle Eastern terrorists for villains. The terrorists would always be evil cowards with no explanation of their motives beyond mad shouts of “praise Allah.” Subtlety was nonexistent and xenophobia ran rampant. Post 9/11, Islamic terrorism has become a touchy subject not fit for action films. Hollywood has...
Chelsea Girls – US poster
Here’s an interesting situation… I rank the following theatrical poster for ‘Chelsea Girls’ as perhaps my favourite of all time. Despite this, I have never seen the film in question. I figure it could never possibility live up to this beautiful design and, as such, haven’t bothered. So this is a rare case of a...
The Fruit of Paradise’s garden of psychedelic eden delight
This is the stunning opening sequence from Vera Chytilová’s, Ovoce Stromu Rajských Jíme (The Fruit of Paradise). This is one of my personal favourite films – one that everyone should watch. Let the following sequence tempt you: [youtube=http://youtu.be/vE4eDHu9sCw&w=540]
Naked Blood: Megyaku (1996)
My last Nihon Nihilism post focused on Hisayasu Satō’s excellent Rape Climax, which left me gagging for more Satō. Satō – probably the most internationally acclaimed/reviled of the “pinku shitenno”, a collection of four well known pink directors – has often been met with comparisons to David Cronenberg. I’m not one for making comparisons based...
Artificial Artificial Eye DVDs
Earlier this year I spent some time doing something incredibly stupid yet incredibly fun. Most movie buffs with internet access have probably stumbled upon the fake Criterion phenomena. For those who haven’t, this is where movie fans use the iconic Criterion look and create covers for films they haven’t released. Some of these are excellent...
Taxi Hunter (1993)
TAXI HUNTER Hong Kong, 1993, Herman Yau Herman Yau, who directed such classic nasties as The Untold Story (1993) and Ebola Syndrome (1996) teams up with the star of both aforementioned movies, Anthony Wong, in the nasty, yet not quite as nasty, little film Taxi Hunter. In Taxi Hunter, Wong stars as Kin, a...
A Bell from Hell (1973)
Bell from Hell comes with a tragic behind the scenes story (which, as is usually the case, some releases used to market the film). On the final day of shooting, director Claudio Guerín fell to his death from the bell tower constructed for the film. He left with only two features under his belt, and,...
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Turkish poster
As great as it is, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is not the sort of film we write about on Mondo Exploito. Unless, that is, we’re talking about its ridiculous Turkish poster. I don’t think I really need to explain why this poster is amazing, but if you click on the image for a...
King Kong kills Gorosaurus
Posting about Mechani-Kong’s appearance in King Kong Escapes (1967) yesterday, I mentioned that Gorosaurus – who would go on to appear in Destroy All Monsters (1968) – dies a truly horrible death at the hands of King Kong. In a jaw-breaking move that would be repeated in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), King Kong destroys the...
Mechani-Kong (メカニコング Mekanikongu)
NAME: Mechani-Kong (メカニコング Mekanikongu) FIRST APPEARS IN: In cartoon form – The King Kong Show, Episode 9, 1966 In live-action form – King Kong Escapes, 1967 DESIGN FEATURES: – blindingly bright torch-eyes – detachable hypno-headpiece – a deceptively friendly face SKILLS: – a belt of bombs – fainting at the sign of “Element X” –...
Mechte Navstrechu (1963)
Anyone who has made a point of following my entries of ‘The Sound of Trash’ will get the sense that I am fond of abstract sci-fi electronic scores. This post has the dual purpose of confirming that feeling as well as giving you a taste of an upcoming regular article I will be beginning soon....
