Martial Arts | Wildside Cinema

Film Review: Ling Pan’s ‘Brutal Sorcery’ (1983) Casts a Spell on Taste

Asian Cinema, B. Harris, Exploitation, Hong Kong, Horror, Martial Arts, Revenge No Responses »

Mar 292011

Poster Artwork

Born in a bad year and month, on a bad day and time, Alan Chang finds himself plagued by disturbing ghostly encounters. Local medium Lady Luck informs his family that he must dig up the bodies of two spirits in particular and bring them to Thailand where they can be reunited in death in order to end the nasty mojo afflicting him. During his trip abroad, Alan hooks up with the sister of one of the deceased and a short love affair ensues. Agreeing to return to his lover in three months time, he heads back to his family in Hong Kong and gets on with his life. When three months come and go without a trip back to Thailand, Alan once again begins experiencing strange occurrences but this time it’s no mere haunting, it’s the blackest of black magic… Continue reading »

Film Review: ‘Ghost Shout’ (2004) Offers Love, Ghosts and Everything In-Between

Action, Asian Cinema, B. Woodell, Comedy, Japan, Martial Arts No Responses »

Mar 132011

DVD Artwork

Ghost Shout, aka Ghost Negotiator according to the opening credits of the film, is a fun little Japanese slapstick comedy dealing with the supernatural and love.

A singing spirit who has the power to turn all who listen to her songs to stone, returns to haunt the rehearsal of a ceremony for a school’s principal. The Ghost Negotiators are called in to determine why the spirit is there, and to help her move on to the next world. Yoko, the girl who is sent to help out, is the best negotiator on the team, but she desperately wants to quit. She now has a fiancé and has a dream of opening up a tofu shop. Her boss convinces her to do one last negotiation with the promise of his friend’s tofu Continue reading »

Film Review: ‘Wasteland Tales’ (2010) Resurrects the Post-Nuke Sub-Genre in Style

Action, Adventure, Anthology, B. Harris, Exploitation, Fantasy, Martial Arts, Sci-Fi, Zombies No Responses »

Dec 172010

DVD Artwork

“The Last Warrior” – A deadly virus ravages the globe, killing all males on the planet. Now a desert wasteland, the world is filled with violent barbarian women all searching for one thing, The Last Warrior! One woman must defeat an entire tribe in order to free a mysterious prisoner, a prisoner that could very well be the last man on Earth! (Writer/Director: Shaky González)

“Eastern Army” – The world is in ruins after the apocalypse and there are only two kinds of survivors, the hunters and their prey. A loner wanders into a camp full of people filled with hope that he’s a member of the fabled Eastern Army, a new government Continue reading »

Film Review: HK Action Star Donnie Yen “Wows” in ‘Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen’ (2010)

Action, Asian Cinema, Drama, Horror, Martial Arts, P. Escott No Responses »

Dec 132010

Theatrical Poster

Donnie Yen really has come into his own during the latter half of the noughties, starting with his lead role in Kill Zone (Sha Po Lang) in 2005. It’s been a long time coming too, ever since 1992’s Once Upon a Time in China II in which he played a villainous General pitted against Jet Li’s legendary Wong Fei-hung, all the way through to his attempts at cracking Hollywood with the likes of Highlander: End Game and Blade II to finally landing some good guy roles in the likes of 2002’s acclaimed Hero (once again duking it out with Jet Li). Even his production company, Bullet Films, failed to bring him wide-scale international recognition the likes of which Jackie Chan and Jet Li enjoyed. However, turn to 2010 and all of Yen’s Continue reading »

Box Set Beatdown: Grindhouse Experience Vol.1 – ‘Raw Force’ (1982)

Action, Adventure, B. Harris, Cannibals, Exploitation, Horror, Martial Arts, Zombies No Responses »

Sep 142010

All aboard for Warrior Island! A karate class looking to get in touch with their martial arts roots decide to vacation on a little rundown ship bound for a remote island rumored to be the final resting place of disgraced martial arts masters. According to local superstitions, and their tourist brochure, the island is also home to a group of isolated monks who supposedly possess the ability to raise the dishonorable dead! Where in the hell did they get that brochure?!!

As if bloodthirsty, black magic monks, Karate cadavers and evil Kung Fu corpses weren’t enough, a Nazi criminal, who runs a kidnapping ring, and his hired gang of thugs are looking to kill anybody that attempts to go to the island in Continue reading »

Undisputed III: Redemption (2009)

Action, B. Harris, Crime, Drama, Martial Arts, Thriller 4 Responses »

May 272010

DVD Release

After suffering a crippling, knee-snapping leg lock in Undisputed II, Yuri Boyka returns once again to prove that he is the world’s most perfect fighter. With leg stable enough to fight and an iron will, Boyka enters an international prison fighting tournament to win the ultimate prize, freedom. Boyka must face some of the deadliest martial arts fighters in the world but the true test of his courage and strength will be to beat the odds and help a friend.

Scott Adkins stars, once again, as the deadly Boyka but this time he plays the anti-hero alongside soap opera hunk and antagonist Mykel Shannon Jenkins. It’s hard to really connect with Boyka because the character, as carried over from part 2, is still the “bad guy,” only this time he’s a little less Continue reading »

The Warrior (Jaka Sembung – 1981)

Action, Adventure, Asian Cinema, B. Harris, Drama, Exploitation, Fantasy, Horror, Martial Arts, Thriller 5 Responses »

May 192010

U.S. DVD Release

Oppressed by a murderous Dutch regime, the people of Indonesia have only one hope for freedom, a warrior with incredible strength and cat-like reflexes with enough faith in Allah to move mountains, he is Jaka Sembung (Barry Prima)! The Warrior, Parmin, must prepare to lead his people into battle against Dutch military and dangerous mercenaries and wizards, can the rebels prevail or will Parmin fall at the hands of the deadly, black magician Rawe Rontek (W.D. Mochtar)?

What’s not to like about The Warrior? This Gope Samtani produced, Indonesian action film contains everything a cult cinema fan requires for a genuinely entertaining viewing experience including fantasy, martial arts Continue reading »

Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (2009)

Action, Adventure, Asian Cinema, B. Harris, Comedy, Crime, Exploitation, Extreme, Fantasy, Horror, Martial Arts, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Zombies 5 Responses »

Mar 182010

Goofy As Hell!

Yoshihiro Nishimura. If the mere mention of the man’s name sends shivers down the length of your geek bone, then you’ve probably been anticipating this film as well. Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl has been at the top of “Must-See” lists across the net for months now so I was truly excited to get my hands on this film for review. That’s an understatement actually, giddy is more like it.

I wasn’t disappointed to be honest, everything I received from Meatball Machine: ROD and Tokyo Gore Police was here as well! There was off-the-wall gore, hot schoolgirls, shockingly offensive stereotypes, social commentary (believe it or not) and even a little story! Did I mention monsters Continue reading »

Ninja Assassin (2009)

Action, B. Harris, Martial Arts No Responses »

Mar 082010

Great to see Sho again!

Ladies and gentlemen, there are some simple truths one must understand before one can truly learn to appreciate all that life has to offer. The first lesson is that you never pay for sex when you can get it for free, in front of your computer. The second is passable ninja cinema must contain black-clad, superhuman, supernatural ninja warriors. If your ninja cinema passes this test, you may hold your head up high!

Forget “originality,” ninja cinema must only tell the tale of some kind of ninja rivalry, preferably between two siblings within the same clan. You can also throw in a female love interest but it’s always best to leave her one-dimensional as nobody really cares about a love interest when watching Continue reading »

Isaac Florentine’s Ninja

Action, B. Harris, Crime, Drama, Martial Arts No Responses »

Feb 012010

DVD Release

A Ninja clan facing the possibility of extinction decides to send their most trusted member, a Westerner named Casey, to deliver their most sacred relic (a legendary box of ninja weapons) to New York for safe-keeping. It doesn’t take long for a rogue ninja, kicked out of the clan for breaking its laws, to track down Casey and his companion’s whereabouts, as well as the location of the trunk.

Brother against Brother. Ninja versus Ninja. East meets West. Evil challenges Good.

If you’re getting the distinct feeling that you’ve seen this film before that’s probably because you have Continue reading »

Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

Action, B. Harris, Martial Arts, Sci-Fi, Thriller No Responses »

Feb 012010

DVD Release

The UniSol Program is back and this time a band of Russian freedom fighters strike a deal with a rogue U.S. scientist to provide a highly sophisticated next generation UniSol to aid them in their efforts to free political prisoners by kidnapping a high ranking official’s children. Positioning themselves within Chernobyl, the rebels threaten to detonate the remaining reactor, forcing America to send in their own UniSols. When things go south for both sides, the scientist resurrects the most dangerous UniSol to come from the program, GR13 Andrew Scott. In response the military reactivates their best, now in a rehabilitation program, GR44 Luc Deveraux.

Are GR13 and GR44 prepared for the next Continue reading »

Film Review: ‘The Japanese Wife Next Door 2′ (2004) – When a Regular Enema Just Won’t Do

Asian Cinema, B. Harris, Erotic, Exploitation, Japan, Martial Arts No Responses »

Jan 102010

DVD Artwork

After ending a rather tumultuous relationship, Takashi takes a friend’s advice and attends a mixer in order to meet new people, specifically women. When two beautiful women, Ryôko and Sakura, show interest in Takashi, he finds himself tasked with deciding which woman to focus his attention on. In the end he chooses Ryôko and six months later they marry.

Takashi soon moves in with his new wife and her family but not all is well; Ryôko’s father is a shady businessman with an irrational fear of crows and pigeons, his mother-in-law keeps pushing a large life insurance policy on him and his sister-in-law believes Continue reading »

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