THE GOLDEN BAT

a.k.a Ôgon Batto (original title); Gold Bat

Japan, 1966

Starring Sonny Chiba & Wataru Yamagava

Directed by Hajime Sato

Toei (Japan); Widescreen; Japanese with no subtitles

KARATE WARRIOR

a.k.a Il Ragazzo dal Kimono D'oro (original title); The Boy in the Golden Kimono (USA); Fist of Power (international)

Italy, 1987

Starring Kim Rossi Stuart, Ken Watanabe, Jared Martin & Janet Agren

Directed by Fabrizio De Angelis

Exiting (Japan); Widescreen; English with japanese subtitles

RAIDERS OF THE MAGIC IVORY

a.k.a I Predatori della Pietra Magica (original title); Predators of the Magic Stone (international)

Italy, 1988

Starring Chris Ahrens, Clarissa Mendez & James Mitchum

Directed by Tonino Ricci

HMV Movies (Japan); Widescreen; English with japanese subtitles

Bizarre mixture of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rambo and some sci-fi. It's not particulary "good" as in well-made but arguably one of the more entertaining films in the deadly dull genre of italian Indiana Jones-copies. At least it's action-packed, offbeat and never gets boring. By hack director Tonino Ricci, of all people.

ROBOWAR

a.k.a Robowar - Robot da Guerra (original title)

Italy, 1988

Starring Reb Brown, Catharine Hickland, Mel Davidson & Jim Gaines

Directed by Bruno Mattei

Columbia (Japan); Letterboxed; English with japanese subtitles

STRIKE COMMANDO 2

a.k.a Trappola Diabolica (original title); Utan Återvändo (Sweden video title)

Italy, 1988

Starring Brent Huff, Richard Harris, Mary Stavin & Vic Diaz

Directed by Bruno Mattei (with help from Claudio Fragasso)

TCC Video (Japan); Letterboxed; English with japanese subtitles

This sequel is even more fun than the original Strike Commando.

BLOOD TRACKS

a.k.a Heavy Metal

Sweden / USA, 1985

Starring Kee Marcello, Ziny Zan, Jeff Harding, Michael Fitzpatrick & Naomi Kaneda

Directed by Mats Helge

CIC (Japan); Fullscreen; English with japanese subtitles; Uncut

Another entertaining miss from the great swedish auter Mats "Ninja Mission" Helge, this time he's in slasher territory! The hair metal band Solid Gold (played by real life hair metal band Easy Action) and a bunch of horny models are shooting a rock video in an abandoned (?) factory in the snowy mountains - but guess what, the factory is also inhabited by a family of deranged mutants who have not grasped the concept of hospitality! Bad but entertaining flick with lots of cheezy moments, bad fashion and clumsy gore. In what other film can you watch Kee Marcello from Europe get decapitated?

I also have a DVD-R of the cut swedish release.

CROSS MISSION

a.k.a Fuoco Incrociato (original title)

Italy, 1988

Starring Richard Randall, Nelson de la Rosa & Brigitte Porsche

Directed by Alfonso Brescia

Columbia (Japan); Widescreen; English with japanese subtitles

OK italo action, a little better than average (which is not saying much). What makes it a keeper is the warped scenes with the world's shortest actor Nelson de la Rosa, from Ratman, as the magic midget mascot (!) of the evil drug baron.

CRUEL JAWS

a.k.a Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws (USA); The Beast; Jaws '96 (Japan video title)

Italy / USA, 1995

Starring a bunch of n00bs

Directed by "William Snyder"... you're not fooling anybody, Bruno Mattei

SHVY (Japan); Widescreen; English with japanese subtitles

BAAAAD scene-by-scene "remake" of Jaws, with lots of liften scene from The Last Jaws, Deep Blood and, I think, even some tinted scenes from the original Jaws! And the soundtrack is liften from Star Wars!!! Theaving de luxe, braindead script and some truly atrocious acting makes for hilarious Grade Z entertainment. Just like Troll 2 you sometimes wonder if the director was in on the joke.

DEEP BLOOD

a.k.a Sangue Negli Abissi (original title); Sharks (Japan)

Italy, 1989

Starring Franco Baroni, Allen Cort & Keith Kelsch

Directed by Joe D'Amato

SHV (Japan); Fullscreen; English with japanese subtitles

Lame shark movie by D'Amato. I liked the old indian guy though. Parts of this film ended up in the lovely killer shark turkey Cruel Jaws.

FINAL SCORE

Indonesia, 1986

Starring Christopher Mitchum, Mike Abbott & Ida Asha

Directed by Arizal

Columbia (Japan); Fullscreen; English with japanese subtitles

Amazing indonesian "B" (or even "C") actioner with Chrisopher Mitchum blowing stuff up for 90 minutes straight. Another Arizal classic, it's almost up there with The Intruder and The Stablizer.

FORBIDDEN WORLD

a.k.a Mutant

USA, 1982

Starring Jesse Vint, Dawn Dunlap, June Chadwick & Linden Chiles

Directed by Allan Holzman

Columbia Video (Japan); Fullscreen; English with japanese subtitles

Dumb, entertaining Alien-ripp off from Corman's b-movie factory. This tape has the longest version released but unfortunelt the nudity is fogged. There's also an uncut german DVD, but the quality is nothing to cheer for. You can't have it all sometimes...

GUNGALA LA VERGINE DELLA GIUNGLA

a.k.a Virgin of the Jungle (USA); Djungelflickan (Sweden)

Italy, 1967

Starring Kitty Swan, Linda Veras & Conrad Loth

Directed by Romano Ferrara

Toshiba (Japan); Widescreen; Italian with japanese subtitles

COP GAME

Italy, 1988

Starring Brent Huff, Max Laurel, Werner Pochath & Alex McBride

Directed by Bruno Mattei

Toshiba (JAP); Letterboxed; English with japanese subtitles

SPYDER

Phillipines, 1988

Starring Blake Bahner, Ronald William Lawrence & Gary Rooney

Directed by Joe Mari Avellana

RCA/Columbia Pictures (Japan); Fullscreen; English with japanese subtitles

TOP LINE

a.k.a Alien Terminator (UK)

Italy, 1988

Starring Franco Nero, George Kennedy, William Berger & Deborah More

Directed by Nello Rossati

SHV (Japan); Letterboxed; English with japanese subitles

This movie has a little bit of everything: action, science fiction, horror, nazis, aliens, Indiana Jones-influences and even some The Terminator thrown in for good measure! Franco Nero ones again plays a drunk, cynic journalist with some issues with women. Good fun.

WILD TEAM

a.k.a I Cirque del Condor (original title); Thunder Squad (International)

Italy, 1985

Starring Antonio Sabata, Ivan Rassimov, Werner Pochath, Sal Borgese & Andrea Aureli

Directed by Umberto Lenzi

Columbia Video (Japan); Widescreen; English with japanese subtitles

The fun cast and the all the absurd action & hard-to-believe plot-twists makes this more fun than most italian Rambo type films. Depending on how you view these films you may also think it's another stinker in a stinker genre...

WILD WILD PLANET

a.k.a I Criminali della Galassia (original title); Gamma I Quadrilogy, Volume 1 (USA TV title); The Criminals of the Galaxy; The Galaxy Criminals

Italy, 1965

Starring Tony Russell, Lisa Gastoni, Massimo Serato & Franco Nero

Directed by Antonio Margheriti

MGM/UA (Japan); Fullscreen; English with japanese subtitles