tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89087914675085756652024-02-19T12:37:00.140+01:00The Mee Noi Thai Movie ReviewNinja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-44249946786443452132015-01-21T16:39:00.000+01:002015-01-21T16:39:37.841+01:00Cannibal Mercenary (รับจ้างตาย,1988)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNB-bD2OpNw3gsx75G1ptA0YL6BAOjU-KbJ4-g_9tfBOWs_kOT3mYrrDVNiuekC5KwEd4FpdJwZnhUciuK1PyKBIDmoNjETvDsy5WsBCvCrubVLfIcUlQCWz_1eVz7Fm8vuqPKlgXRAm4r/s1600/Cannibalmercenary.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNB-bD2OpNw3gsx75G1ptA0YL6BAOjU-KbJ4-g_9tfBOWs_kOT3mYrrDVNiuekC5KwEd4FpdJwZnhUciuK1PyKBIDmoNjETvDsy5WsBCvCrubVLfIcUlQCWz_1eVz7Fm8vuqPKlgXRAm4r/s1600/Cannibalmercenary.JPG" /></a><br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">One of the
most legendary Thai cult films people know about is <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122013/combined">Cannibal Mercenary</a>. There’s
a lot of incorrect information out there, but the director is Chao Meekunsoot -
a quite popular action director, working for big companies like Five Star and
Sahamongkol Films, but when the business declined he became independent and
started shooting quick, violent films for the rural market in Thailand - this
was at the end of the eighties and Employ to Die (aka </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">รับจ้างตาย</span><span lang="EN-GB">) was one of them. In the lead we see Chatchai Plengpanich, a pretty big
TV-star at the time - mostly for his work in the popular action TV-series Tee
Vai (aka </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">ตี๋ใหญ่</span><span lang="EN-GB">, 1985). So now everyone knows that,
okay? Correct the whole internet, please.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Plengpanich
plays Wilson, a depressed and hard hitting soldier who accepts one final
mission. He's deeply disturbed by his experiences in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vietnam</st1:place></st1:country-region>, but goes out in the once
jungle again so he can get money and save his sick daughter. He gather his old
gang of misfits; a sex-maniac, a wife-killer and so on, and they starts the
journey. On their way they meet a lot of Vietcongs, innocent villagers and
traitors... and finally the main bad guy and his hoard of cannibal henchmen!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I think few
fanboys out there have realized that Cannibal Mercenary is - more or less - a
rip-off on Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. The first scene is very
similar to Coppola’s movie, with our leading man being depressed in a sad hotel
room somewhere, with the fan in roof slowly spreading the hot air, making it
even more sweaty and dirty. On the wall is a poster very similar to the
Apocalypse Now poster also, with the rising sun over the jungle. The mission
Plengpanich goes on is to kill a renegade high military who have barricaded
himself out in the jungle together with his followers. But there the
similarities end, because Cannibal Mercenary is one crazy, low budget ride to
hell!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">If you’ve
seen once war movie from the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Philippines</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>
you’ve seen them all, to be frank. but Cannibal Mercenary proudly goes too far,
like Meekunsoot was fucking angry at the time. Like he wanted to show all those
bastard big companies that his movie can beat them all. And in a way he was
right, because still today this one - not even the sequel to it - is talked
about, discussed and analyzed. Not that it’s much too analyze! Chatchai
Plengpanich is really good as the complex, kinda sad hero, and his colleagues
on the mission are shallow but crazy motherfuckers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">It’s so
filled with action it never becomes boring, and boy, is it bloody! Yeah, this
deserves to be called jungle splatter with it’s fine sortiment of
decapitations, stabbings, limb-choppings, squibs, explosions, fights and no
less than two scenes involving people pissing on each other! The torture scenes
is extreme and no one escapes the violence, from adults to kids. The only movie
I can compared it with is Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo from 2008, but I consider
Cannibal Mercenary a better movie - mostly because it misses the conservative,
republican message that violence is good for you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I once sat
on a café in Bangkok dealing with the rights owner to Cannibal Mercenary, an
old frail man with a plastic bag filled with VCD’s of the movies he had the
rights not. Nothing came out of it, he wanted too much money for me and he
could only deliver a cut master anyway. But if anyone out there, a serious
distribution company, wants to get the rights and put together a composite of
the bootleg available on DVD (ignore the version called Jungle Killers, it
lacks the gore and adds scenes of some stupid western “actors” walking around
in the jungle), just contact me and I will give you the contact info to one who
can help you.</span> </div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Cannibal
Mercenary delivers everything you expect it to deliver, that makes it so good!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-50914768282829001822013-05-18T14:28:00.000+02:002013-05-18T14:28:07.100+02:00The Kick (วอนโดนเตะ!!, 2011)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_62ZVSF_oeB8E9xg9rC3pzFPuamw2N5llMVuptCWoswlhAgwyo4OJnQAMlHuXEcP6BJLztqRe2bsiwoa3BbANZxbF4Rc-0gH5PX4fir7YNxhs1JQFtRasx-U2xHu25PB_GYiPqvFghfCe/s1600/the+kick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_62ZVSF_oeB8E9xg9rC3pzFPuamw2N5llMVuptCWoswlhAgwyo4OJnQAMlHuXEcP6BJLztqRe2bsiwoa3BbANZxbF4Rc-0gH5PX4fir7YNxhs1JQFtRasx-U2xHu25PB_GYiPqvFghfCe/s640/the+kick.jpg" width="520" /></a><br /></div>
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Last year I visited Thailand for the second time and even if I bought at least 50 movies there, met movie legends and had a blast in every way possible, I think <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2020110/combined">The Kick</a> is one of the first Thai movies I've watched in almost a year. It's not that I got tired of Thai films, it's that I miss Thailand (and Bangkok) so damn much. Watching these flicks makes me go into some kind of post-Thailand depression - and it happens every time. I never travel to Thailand to drink cheap booze or lay on the beach, for me it's about meeting fanastic people, getting lost in the labyrinth of Bangkok streets... I feel at home there, which is odd - I dislike when it's people everywhere. But Bangkok makes me feelt at home. Need to go there soon again...</div>
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The Kick is director Prachya Pinkaew (Ong-Bak, Tom yum goong) latest movie to be released, and it was in 2011 (I'm ignoring Elephant White from the same year, which just felt like another boring American action film). But it's never been released in any easy accessible English (or Swedish)-friendly release - until I noticed that Swedish company Njuta Films would release it! One way or another it found it's way to me and hey, this isn't bad at all!</div>
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A South Korean Taekwondo family have emigrated to Thailand to (I guess) run a school and stuff like that. By a coincidence they help saving a national treasure, an ancient knife (the McGuffin of this movie, it could have been an elephant, a Buddha or something else - it's just not that important). The baddies wants revenge and the knife, and attacks the family and kidnaps their youngest kid - and the family is forced to help them steal the knife again! But of course they want to make everything right - together with their Thai relatives, masters of Muay Thai!</div>
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The films of Pinkaew (and stunt choreographer Rittikrai) have never been famous for their elaborate plots and it's the same with The Kick. It's a very simple story, almost too simple, but works because one of the best casts so far in one of their movies. The South Korean actors are all very good, and handles both the drama and action very well. The main Thai actors are the BRILLIANT JeeJa Yanin, one of the best female fighters I've seen and also a fine actress, and the famous comedian Petchtai Wongkamlao aka Mum Jokmok. I like him, but he's a very aquired taste - and I'm happy to say that he's bringing us a low-key, realistic performance here with very little of his trademark comedy - and he's great. I hope to see him do stuff like this more. He's perfect as a grumpy middle-aged uncle.</div>
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But like all of these films the action is the number one star. Now, this is a family friendly action film so don't expect the bloodshed and ultra-violence of the Ong-Bak or Born to Fight, but it doesn't mean it's spectacular. The fights are as usual filmed in a way so we can see what's happening and they're getting gradually more spectacular the further the story goes. The highlight is the when the teenage son uses his dance moves to fight a bunch of baddies in the jungle. It's a brilliant example of how Pinkaew and Rittikrai always tries to evolve the fights, makes them a bit more unique than the usual stuff. Another fun scene is in a kitchen when Mum Jokmok and the South Korean mother creates a chaotic symphony by destroying everything around them in order to kick the shit out of the bad guys. </div>
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It's a lot of action and some very fine stunts during the last half of the movie. So I'm sure you won't be disappointed. It's a fine co-production between South Korea and Thailand and I'm surprised I haven't it seen it getting better distributon outside Asia. I hope more fans of creative martial arts will get a chance to see it. </div>
Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-54371445453102222482012-10-19T11:40:00.001+02:002012-10-19T11:40:28.543+02:00Bin Bunluerit - Chainsaw Hunk<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2BNYbulh0ohOmuI3ySoWxDn5uDNiT3xL8GgPGxcGJNO5xdyhAJNVKEtBDSaxP3H6MIFctLUGzvJSg4-H4obqPqVKkqhG0eJx5hT01N4e2ppAMkGaSky6WjzlbLf2SKn5P4tcAYzEkU1xQ/s1600/chainsaw-thai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2BNYbulh0ohOmuI3ySoWxDn5uDNiT3xL8GgPGxcGJNO5xdyhAJNVKEtBDSaxP3H6MIFctLUGzvJSg4-H4obqPqVKkqhG0eJx5hT01N4e2ppAMkGaSky6WjzlbLf2SKn5P4tcAYzEkU1xQ/s640/chainsaw-thai.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is Bin Bunluerit and it's a still from the movie Roy Pah (ร้อยป่า, 1986). I think I don't have to write more. It's brilliant in every way possible. I will buy this DVD and review it sooner or later. Watch this space. </span></div>
<br />Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-54630981831863718382012-10-18T14:56:00.000+02:002012-10-19T06:59:23.261+02:00Krai Thong 2 (ไกรทอง 2, 1985)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdM48DsXYv_F35WKI5GEfKwt8HF7raS2PDZLweZoH0WtNa3vvR5kpr4J4FTWKq_p-DVX9wTfpD2kWDt8O8veS2rTyysog1G6e6uhXlQM06D0YXlQWYJfuPbh5clFa3BefJVlDJjUk2z7Ju/s1600/kraithong2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdM48DsXYv_F35WKI5GEfKwt8HF7raS2PDZLweZoH0WtNa3vvR5kpr4J4FTWKq_p-DVX9wTfpD2kWDt8O8veS2rTyysog1G6e6uhXlQM06D0YXlQWYJfuPbh5clFa3BefJVlDJjUk2z7Ju/s640/kraithong2.jpg" width="440" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">A couple of
years after the last movie Krai Thong is now back in another exciting
adventure, <b>Krai Thong 2</b>, unfortunately watched without subtitles so I'm not 100 % sure about
the story this time. Not that it seems any complicated at all. The whole movie
is just one crocodile attack after another and not much more. "Well, thank
you Sompote Sands!" I say and raises my hand in a respectful gesture,
because that's exactly what I want with a movie like this: a rubber monster and
gore!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">A new evil wizard
is in town and has taken over Chalawa's old golden cave. This guy also have to
women down there, if they are kidnapped or not I have no idea, but they seem to
like it. Anyway, it might be them - or the evil wizard - who goes on bloody
rampages along the river, eating, killing and maiming everyone from little
babys and children to old people and... yeah, about everyone else coming it the
crocodiles way. Of course Krai Thong (Sorapong Chatree) is called into action
again, probably believing it's his old nemesis Chalawa who's back in business
again!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Yeah, while
the story seems uncomplicated, it's a movie packed with action - a lot more
than the first one and maybe much of it is stock footage from some earlier
film, I don't know because I don't recognize the main set-pieces from any other
proejct, but on the other hand, I haven't seen them all yet. What's a little
bit of a disappointment is how little screen time Sombat Metanee has, he's just
have a glorified cameo at the end and Sorapong Chatree has fairly little screen
time compared to the first movie. I mean, these are the starts - and both is
always brilliant whatever they do. Sorapong gets most to do, including flying
on an angry crocodile...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGC5DA0oKWONeIreuyTqxdaEQsumGS29Gsa_koMoIJGil5B1fGM6_hb9xgrP_FOr7PF_lzkXqje0NPp6YydalMYyaG-RwZMAoEhvuznKrVq2Lc54OqXx0GNuoeTKqDCciXwl_u0cQT4Fs7/s1600/kraithong2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGC5DA0oKWONeIreuyTqxdaEQsumGS29Gsa_koMoIJGil5B1fGM6_hb9xgrP_FOr7PF_lzkXqje0NPp6YydalMYyaG-RwZMAoEhvuznKrVq2Lc54OqXx0GNuoeTKqDCciXwl_u0cQT4Fs7/s400/kraithong2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">... and
Sombat just participates (in human form) in one action scene, which is a quite
nice fight between him and the new evil wizard down in the golden cave. The
highlight here is when the evil wizard sends several mini-crocodiles towards
Sombat who has to battle those completely immovable, dead, puppets like a madman
- if you need a comparison, think about Bela Lugosi vs. the giant octopus in
Bride of the Monster. Another good thing with Kraithong 2 is that it's a lot
gorier than the first part. First of all, there's a lot of blood-pumping
attacks in the water, but during one sequence the crocodile crawls up on lands
and starts tearing people apart with very gory and bloody fashion. Sompote
Sands here uses real-life amputees who have fake-limbs attached to their stumps
and the crocodile-puppet can chomp away as much as possible on them! It looks
quite good, or at least gory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">To simplify
the story and focus more on action is good for a movie like this. There's no
need to follow the storyline of some ancient legend and the production actually
has a less heavier tone. It's more fun, more action and more blood - but also
less involving because or more undefined and weaker characters. Sombat and
Sorapong is good and so is the new guy playing the evil wizard, but the rest of
the characters gets lost in storyblivion and is easy to mix up with each other.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">But it's
clearly a better and more sellable movie, much to the joy of a popcorn cinema
fan like me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-6042589561883386682012-10-17T10:11:00.000+02:002012-10-17T10:11:00.412+02:00Krai Thong (ไกรทอง, 1980)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj5Q5fWwLei_spCWTuOftbG7JyI7cdnSNPL286QyLboJWyCwBpx0vPLv8I5T5_axN1ai2-2eX0LveUcHGu3kwj1iqP5wGk4yKaIWpirAskuIYq4HboheNKgT9XKsZQm9lbiCDlB7MSxUPb/s1600/krai-thong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj5Q5fWwLei_spCWTuOftbG7JyI7cdnSNPL286QyLboJWyCwBpx0vPLv8I5T5_axN1ai2-2eX0LveUcHGu3kwj1iqP5wGk4yKaIWpirAskuIYq4HboheNKgT9XKsZQm9lbiCDlB7MSxUPb/s640/krai-thong.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">When
visited Sompote Sangduenchai (aka Sompote Sands) earlier this year I got a
unique look into a fantastic film factory like I never seen before. The only
problem was that it was destroyed by the recent flooding in <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country> and
the whole area was roughed up by the water. The doors into his house still had
marks from the waterline, way way above what's even could be considered close
to normal and it was shocking to understand how much props, posters... yeah,
Thai movie history, that was destroyed during that disaster. Before we left the
place we stopped by one of the big studios, now more or less empty because of
the destruction - and I saw this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWg0V46ssbJySNAP9vrxWmpEgQCooGQTgn5IZrYwwuHNfbuKUvWmIK6q12ON80Dq6YAtyoBnalAh-4fLwpWXVUD7igmaiMJk0ey1oAt40rcTT2vJrkYFHLYi02nqMTr3vweUNG7Vee6DSN/s1600/IMG_6686.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWg0V46ssbJySNAP9vrxWmpEgQCooGQTgn5IZrYwwuHNfbuKUvWmIK6q12ON80Dq6YAtyoBnalAh-4fLwpWXVUD7igmaiMJk0ey1oAt40rcTT2vJrkYFHLYi02nqMTr3vweUNG7Vee6DSN/s400/IMG_6686.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIgt_FnBeWmz29y3HsESKK26pgpp9UZohAHLmIQTJwRLemj1QWkE5SVnEhkW84bilAsyEHKGlJeXYQd1iI69vKLKKx2Pz9YMgMdp0udCzP_3pkO8OhCDLnteWJ4dJgJNr6GcNgzu7QvbZ/s1600/IMG_6698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIgt_FnBeWmz29y3HsESKK26pgpp9UZohAHLmIQTJwRLemj1QWkE5SVnEhkW84bilAsyEHKGlJeXYQd1iI69vKLKKx2Pz9YMgMdp0udCzP_3pkO8OhCDLnteWJ4dJgJNr6GcNgzu7QvbZ/s400/IMG_6698.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Yeah, it's two of the crocodiles he always used in his movies. One with a wider nose and this one, with a more pointed snout. It
might not say anything to you, but for me it was like being close to a legend -
a cult movie legend in the form of a crocodile puppet being used to eat so many
Thai stars over the years. What's even more bizarre, I never seen one of his
more famous creations, the super-hit <b>Krai Thong </b>starring Sombat Metanee,
Sorapong Chatree and Aranya Namwong. Today, after failing to see one single
Thai movie for many months I finally sat down to watch it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Chalawa
(Sombat) is a might Crocodile Wizard living in a golden cave deep down under
the water. One day he falls in love with two beautiful women, daughters of a
rich man, and kidnaps them. They seem happy about it, but not the father who
calls out for someone to save them - and here Krai Thong shows up, played by
Sorapong - and he takes it upon himself to find and battle the wizard and stop
his crocodile terror once and for all!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Like many
of Sangduenchai's films it's a bit rough around the edges. It's closer to some
Thai opera than a typical monster movie. And with Thai opera I mean it's very
theatrical, filled with colourful costumes and sets that might not look
realistic - but still works fine because the rest of the movie is so over-the-top.
Actually, that description could work on most of Sangduenchai's films! But I
think you know what I mean. The story it's more clear and understandable than
usual, but it's also based on a classical folk tale and having a more defined
storyline than if it was his own creation. It's actually not directed by
Sompote, at least not according to the credits - but he's the man behind it,
it's easy to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I love big
rubber crocodiles and so do Sompote, as we all know. Krai Thong is packed with
crocodile attacks, people getting chomped by the monster and everything is
mixed with real crocodiles who hardly look like the rubber one at all. In one
short shot the croc is about 500 times bigger than in the rest of the movie,
which probably means that this shot is just stock footage from some earlier
film he made. The attacks are pretty well made with a lot of pumping blood and
kids being eaten over and over again. Fun for the whole family! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The actors
do what they do best, looking cool. Sombat is mostly down in his cave making
out with two ladies and Sorapong is mostly on the ground trying to find Sombat.
They're both good and knows what they're doing after 500 movies behind them
both. That's something called experience like few other actors have!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Krai Thong
might just be for us, the most obsessed, but if you feel for watching it
there's some good news: the Thai DVD and VCD actually has English subs!
Amazing, and it makes everything much more clear! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-58365025046103632342012-09-10T19:48:00.000+02:002012-09-10T19:48:17.689+02:00Farewell, Pearl of Asia...<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/09/10/70.jpg"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/09/10/s_70.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" width="285" /></a></div>
<br />
It's with shock and sadness I hear today that Pawana has left us. Yeah, that's the shittiest start of a Monday ever. According to Bangkok Post she was found drowned in her pool and some other sources says they also investigation her death as a possible murder.<br />
<br />
Earlier this year I went to Thailand, both to meet dear friends and to have a well-deserved vacation. I met up with monster-maker Tong in Bangkok and we set out to hook up with actors and filmmakers we admired. One of them was the Pearl of Asia, Pawana Chanajit - star of countless Thai action movies and several Hong Kong films opposite David Chiang.<br />
<br />
I met her at a restaurant outside Bangkok. She was a bit late, but when she arrived - an elegant, colorful, woman with a big smile - she welcomed this big, pale, bearded Swedish geek with open arms. Thanks Pawana! I will never forget that!<br />
<br />
We sat down, me and Tong, for an hour or so, with her and talked movies and how she by chance became a movie star - and she made me eat some strange food also! :) She retired from acting in 1979 and was since then a successful business woman.<br />
<br />
She was in a hurry – she actually forgot about our meeting – and was on the road to do other things, but took time to meet us , and after signing some posters for us she asked me when I would return to Thailand. Maybe in a year, or earlier I told her. She smiled, "Then we must meet again and talk longer, eat dinner and just hang out!" she said in excellent English.<br />
<br />
I promised her that. And said goodbye.<br />
<br />
She signed these for me, sorry for the bad quality. I will treasure them like no other posters in my collection.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsPfefMNEpgCU9eAOxplg8pCG-IrZawnYdXLKtqwQnzkiNsz4xKQ9FUZ0Qtbg3g_-__9IZuk8C7ywzYjP7XFAl4WCVeH6SmlFwQmRfpodxE09nROclxej7LTLvP5Wst4dAQu-exu257c0x/s1600/pawana01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsPfefMNEpgCU9eAOxplg8pCG-IrZawnYdXLKtqwQnzkiNsz4xKQ9FUZ0Qtbg3g_-__9IZuk8C7ywzYjP7XFAl4WCVeH6SmlFwQmRfpodxE09nROclxej7LTLvP5Wst4dAQu-exu257c0x/s400/pawana01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DwxF7nqPrY2ziyVgvLY8nGqqLViIEPGp9SwxeRd1Hvs2m-WT1EtnoJ0UrgUkzaozVKpEEqXiNYU2rCX0ORrodcj6fzL_woN5ZAe6nxGR3Rt7PnFhVt5K2eEE_YfArrJ4YOawE8aq7NB3/s1600/pawana02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-DwxF7nqPrY2ziyVgvLY8nGqqLViIEPGp9SwxeRd1Hvs2m-WT1EtnoJ0UrgUkzaozVKpEEqXiNYU2rCX0ORrodcj6fzL_woN5ZAe6nxGR3Rt7PnFhVt5K2eEE_YfArrJ4YOawE8aq7NB3/s400/pawana02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Farewell you pearl of Asia, may you forever glimmer among the other stars that's left us.<br />
<br />
/FredNinja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-83347896375939850812012-08-11T19:44:00.002+02:002012-08-11T19:44:47.997+02:00This blog is......is pretty dead. I'm not sure if I will let it stay alive. <div>
I'll give it until the end of the year. Need to find a good reason to actually keep writing.</div>
<div>
/Fred</div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-76045414339827952802012-06-30T07:07:00.000+02:002012-06-30T18:35:02.568+02:00Headhunter (2004)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqnuDwmEmWBWrDItMGthlycrhYfNms0XCFm6ti3G6tmxz_EgI7WxcDACcmcI4cCfT4Sj1W_pSSlRrORvHK8SObd5wTRcgz_A3H7h-tLfqzj63KOsGYIflb5KY3eh54jSCFsYNcadc_AE2l/s1600/headhunter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqnuDwmEmWBWrDItMGthlycrhYfNms0XCFm6ti3G6tmxz_EgI7WxcDACcmcI4cCfT4Sj1W_pSSlRrORvHK8SObd5wTRcgz_A3H7h-tLfqzj63KOsGYIflb5KY3eh54jSCFsYNcadc_AE2l/s640/headhunter.JPG" width="456" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It's
trash-time at The Mee Noi Thai Movie Review!<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It’s not
often nowadays, I know. But I will be better, promise folks! There seem to be
tons and tons of cheap shot on video movies in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and during a period cheap
3D-movies shot on video was even more popular. They never reached outside <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region> and
its VCD and DVD-market, and I guess most people just are happy because of that.
Me, a brave man, likes to dive into the unknown and therefore I’ve seen – so
you don’t have to – <b>Headhunter</b>!<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">A serial
killer (no, actually two serial killers) are murdering their way thru <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bangkok</st1:city></st1:place> (I think…) and is
collection body parts. Their dad is a man with black magic as a speciality and
he want to create a new man, a “Frankenstein’s Monster” more or less, but will
make him alive with magic instead of electricity.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">After one
of the sons is killed by the police they want to take revenge on them, and
kidnaps and chops up the brother of our hero-cop. Not soon after that, they
have a zombie, a living dead super-strong killer built of body parts – and the
head of the brother!<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Yes,
Headhunter is cheap trash with cheap gore and cheap acting. It’s not boring, I
can’t say that, but a lot of the story is destroyed by two other characters – a
nosy female journalist and her very stereotypical gay photographer. They are
written like two morons and is totally unnecessary for the story. They’re just
there to be some kinda silly, idiot non-funny comic relief.<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The gore is
cheap, but its quite bloody – though it’s nothing to some other Thai movies
I’ve seen. What works though is the 3D, which looks fine and a lot better than
I expected. The colours look realistic and the depth is ok, at least when the
camera is moving around on rail or on a steady cam. Even if you would see this
in 2D, there is not chance in hell that you would have missed the 3D-feeling
because there’s something always pointing towards the camera, always!<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Headhunter
is crappy, cheap entertainment. </span>Nothing else.</div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-7459815236428855002012-06-29T07:05:00.000+02:002012-06-29T07:05:00.153+02:00Slice (2010)<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitvrhNx3zQjagzJvd3Kb_bam-7pXqw5iNtu9zvDm9LzaVLWrs21qGDhUNkmg8kq9n73_-BUGd5oRBtJJ_qvafPH8gm4aMMXPLiic10zKsEsFxdwOuvFEaCPHSSC1OKnLtmS95P5zKJyarr/s1600/slice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitvrhNx3zQjagzJvd3Kb_bam-7pXqw5iNtu9zvDm9LzaVLWrs21qGDhUNkmg8kq9n73_-BUGd5oRBtJJ_qvafPH8gm4aMMXPLiic10zKsEsFxdwOuvFEaCPHSSC1OKnLtmS95P5zKJyarr/s640/slice.jpg" width="446" /></a></div>
<br />Wow, shit. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1603807/">Slice</a> is a heavy piece of Thai cinema. It wasn't really what I expect, actually it was a good thing - but I was kinda into watching a more commercial and "simple" serial killer-movie, but got a very brutal, downbeat serial killer/childhood-drama with some stunning visuals and excellent acting. It starts of with a farang pedophile getting stabbed in his hotel room - the little boy as a witness - by a person in a big read cloak. The man's genitals are then cut off and he's stuffed in a red bag and dumped into the sea. This isn't the first victim for the killer, who attacks virtually everyone that has some special sexual fetisch - neither it's illegal or not.<br />
<br />
The police handling the case, the nasty Papa Chin (Chatchai Plengpanich) get's fifteen days to solve the case when the son of the chief of police is killed and get his anal ripped open, and hanged up-side-down outside in the public - wearing female underclothing! He remember that his old friend Tai (Arak Amornsupasiri), an ex-cop - nowadays in prison for killing another officer - once talked about a friend of his, Nat, who might be involved in the case. He get's Tai out of prison, gives him a gun and a cell phone and tells him to find the killer in fifteen days - and so Tai goes back to his childhood village and soon we learn the tragic story of Nat, a boy that wanted to be his friend and maybe more...<br />
<br />
I guess this could be one of the most graphic and controversial Thai thriller ever and the style of the movie, a lot of non-shaky handcamera, experimental visuals and naturalistic acting was probably something that turned of the normal Thai audience - it became a flop to, which is a damn pity because it's one of the best Thai movies I've seen in a very long time. This is a movie that never lets the audience calm down and go back to that normal state of non-thinking, non-controversial relaxation. When some shit happens here it happens big, and it won't take long until something even worse happens. The stuff in this movie is something that never, and I mean never, would happen in an American movie. The story deals a lot with pedophilia, which is a very rare subject in Thai cinema (I think this is the first time I see it), and the abuse that both children and women are victims off.<br />
<br />
But because the murders are so fierce, it's hard to first connect to the killer - understand why he or she is doing this - but after every detail of abuse, every crappy person that lives in the earth shows up, fuck someones life up over and over again, it's starting to make sense. Everything comes together in the end in a way I think is good, but I would have prefered a slightly different ending. Good or bad means nothing in Slice, which makes it even more interesting.<br />
<br />
And yes, for fans of gore and violence, you have a lot to see here - but I doubt you will find any enjoyment from it. The only scene that might pass as "entertainment" is a shoot-out at a sex-club, which is filmed very arty, in slow-motion, with lots of blood and violence. The set is also a weird carousel and the first thing that came to my mind was a Roman orgy! It's hard to describe, so give the movie a try and see what you feel about it.<br />
<br />
Because feeling is everything here, thinking and analysing is further slices down in the cake.</div>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkp_ms_Gt_v-sFZmFRciwGvZg5tvqVh4qQmoi_36djn2xSyhu8N6EVwOuD9l6sJxcubDV43b2EME5VNQbt-xrba76gKEMxOjQpBIQJrUXmIkL56ph4JfKnfgtOjRv29Z7J4rYx1KhD1z8/s1600/slice01.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495705260353812914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkp_ms_Gt_v-sFZmFRciwGvZg5tvqVh4qQmoi_36djn2xSyhu8N6EVwOuD9l6sJxcubDV43b2EME5VNQbt-xrba76gKEMxOjQpBIQJrUXmIkL56ph4JfKnfgtOjRv29Z7J4rYx1KhD1z8/s320/slice01.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 214px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-85911165920145294282012-06-28T07:00:00.000+02:002012-06-28T07:33:27.889+02:00Operation Bangkok (เพชรตัดเพชร, 1967)<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Operation Bangkok</span> is an awesome Thai/Hong Kong co-production from 1967. Starring the only and only, Mitr Chaibancha and leading ladies Regina Pai Ping and (of course) Petchara Chaowarath, this a action-packed, fun and visually strong action movie with enough kitch for everyone. No subtitles of course, but Chaibancha's character seem to go undercover (as usual) in some crime organization and gets in to a lot of fistfights, always with a perfect hair cut. Yes, except a slower half-hour during the last hour of the movie (it's almost two hours long), this is a damn effective and good-looking piece of action cinema. There's more the one fistfight, often violent and with excellent editing. Shoot-outs, car-chase with helicopter, a fight on a speeding boat and even more fistfights!<br />
<br />
Shot on what looks like 35 mm, it look less cramped than some of Chaibancha's 16 mm-movies from the same era, and the co-production with Hong Kong probably brought a lot more money into the production than usual. It's also shot in Hong Kong, some parts at least, and boats a big cast of cool actors. The production is slick and looks like a much bigger movie than it probably was, and the only thing that makes this film suffer is the very scratcy master - but still, it's probably the only version left and this is as good as it ever will look nowadays.<br />
<br />
Chaibancha is as usual an excellent leading actor, and this time he's also paired with another guy who I don't know the name of, but he has a great face and has a lot of chemistry together with Mitr. One of the fights in the end, where both of them are fighting each other in some old warehouse is one of the action-highlights of this charmer of a movie. Another wonderful thing is the cool music numbers. Because this movie is set in couple of different nightclubs, so there's always a new Thai-pop/beat group playing on stage, probably real groups doing cameos. Most of the time we're allowed to see the whole numbers too, so it's a great way of watching kitchy Thai-versions of western pop/rock/beat!<br />
<br />
I have a lot of good things to say about Operation Bangkok, because it deserves it. Even with out subtitles and with a constant rain of scratches, this is one of the best and coolest Chaibancha-movie I've seen so far.Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-18342811458166144292012-06-28T06:54:00.000+02:002012-06-28T06:54:00.226+02:001 2 3 Monster Express (1-2-3 ด่วนมหาภัย, 1977)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcHEae2oH1oW2mNhQIeNSSJEmT_g9vku7TfcK3v9bjzs1d8WvTGvB0XIllCicMruLTIzmDpIYShMOzkrBIi6xvKBYfGsDHdwqOMZ0eIApXARKLcrplTE-lVGa9E7EMUmSf1hsTeHnEtHz0/s1600/123-monster-express.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494885343844549218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcHEae2oH1oW2mNhQIeNSSJEmT_g9vku7TfcK3v9bjzs1d8WvTGvB0XIllCicMruLTIzmDpIYShMOzkrBIi6xvKBYfGsDHdwqOMZ0eIApXARKLcrplTE-lVGa9E7EMUmSf1hsTeHnEtHz0/s640/123-monster-express.jpg" style="display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 314px;" width="628" /></a><br />
<div>
First of all, I'm not sure when this movie was released - most sources say 1977, but some claims 1970 or 1971, and one say 1975. Sorapong Chatree looks very young here, so it could be the early seventies. Anyway, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075607/">1 2 3 Monster Express</a> was the biggest blockbuster that year in Thailand and I can understand why. First of all, the story is very, very, very simple...<br />
<br />
We have the usual suspects in a seventies thriller: the pregnant woman, the teenagers, a young military (Sorapong of course), one more typical leading man (Krung Srivilai, who I've mentioned <a href="http://ninjadixon.blogspot.com/2010/04/all-things-thai-in-big-boss-part-2.html">here</a> before), an eldery man and so on. All of them are traveling with a long distance bus, but someone really want to stop that bus. First a couple of robbers are following them and tries to stop the bus, but one man on the bus has a weapon and stops them - and they we realize that he's a gangster too - and that he has a couple more collegues on the bus! The passengers stops them too after some fighting and shooting, but are ambushed again by more baddies and is brought to a prison camp! From there they escape AGAIN with the bus, after a lot of action of course... and they more bad guys takes up the chase... and I even have to mention that there's a bomb on the bus?<br />
<br />
I think everyone understands, this is non-stop action from start to finish (actually, the first ten minutes is quite slow but has a big fight and the last ten minutes is a bit slow, but has a pregnant woman giving birth on the bus) in the classic cheap but spectacular way we all learned to love from the Thai's. The fights are of course only fistfights and stuff like that, but it's violent and with a lot of energy. Bloody squibs, explosions and a few good stunts here and there makes this a damn fun movie - and even without subtitles it's easy to understand the twists and turns.<br />
<br />
Visually it looks better than I thought it would. The claustrophobic setting on the bus is used with talent (and my god, it must have been warm on that bus when they shot the movie - no studio here, just a moving bus in the hot sun all the time) and the movie looks very fine. It also has two stylish slow-motion shots during the last half, but it could have been more if I could choose. What helps the movie even more is the stolen soundtrack, probably from similar American thrillers and disaster movies. It fits the mood and style, and it's nice to hear something else than cues from the Bond-movies, Pink Floyd or The Pink Panther-theme for once!<br />
<br />
The Thai VCD looks quite good, even during the night shots, but is (of course) cropped on the sides. But it's one of the better looking VCD's of such an old Thai-movie I've seen. Recommended.</div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-35131527396835011032012-06-27T06:51:00.003+02:002012-06-27T07:01:54.295+02:00War of Devils (199?)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOlOAER7PDCzxtPCgKlA81xxfbiA7hMf6Iuz7NJHGxVWSueQ_74Dhoe6gsIHWMmSE9Hzh9zqzIlaAaCEzPUpgUYcDaGXkbXVl6M6IgBmwLtwiIa79KgMAyPwWCX3lTP60417rOXfjfJZW/s1600/war-of-devils.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469161207194855202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOlOAER7PDCzxtPCgKlA81xxfbiA7hMf6Iuz7NJHGxVWSueQ_74Dhoe6gsIHWMmSE9Hzh9zqzIlaAaCEzPUpgUYcDaGXkbXVl6M6IgBmwLtwiIa79KgMAyPwWCX3lTP60417rOXfjfJZW/s320/war-of-devils.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 282px;" /></a><br />
According to IMDB, Tony S. Suvat wrote two movies around 1990: The Lost Idol (with Erik Estrada and Sorapong Chatree) and In Gold We Trust (with Jan-Michael Vincent and Sam J. Jones, got good reviews in Variety in 1992)), both directed by one "Philip Chalong". If Tony is just a writing-alias for Philip Chalong I have no idea, but Tony S. Suvat (or maybe his name is Buncherd Dhawee?) is credited as the director and writer of this little known movie, <strong>War of Devils</strong>. The only place I've seen something that resembles a review say it's from 2007, but that's not correct. It look more like early nineties.<br />
<br />
Inspired my American horror-movies, it starts of with a couple of teenagers (but I guess they are well above 25, going with the tradition of slasher-movies) in a Scooby Doo-van, looks like something right from the seventies with the famous peace-mark embedded in a a very trippy paint-job.They are rocking to the max while listening to a, probably, unlicensed Highway Star with Deep Purple! After a few hours on their trip they are far out in Reckneckistan and stops by a little store - where some hillbillys, here represented by local gerillas or something, starts bugging them. Soon they are out in the jungle and meet an old (floating in the air) man that warns them about going further, but they don't listen to him.<br />
<br />
Not long after this the rednecks is catching up and wants to have little fun with the girls, and maybe kill their boyfriends, but they are stopped in the last minute by a forest ghost, a flying woman with a manic laughter and with the power to transform herself to a rotting corpse - still flying, waving her arms like a bird! The rednecks wants to take revenge for her stopping the fun, and finally manages to kill one of the kids - and this starts a war! Finally one of the bad guys uses his black magic to invoke a couple of monsters: a vampire dwarf, a rotting zombie, a Thai-warrior with two faces and a bat/ape-esque demon from Hell!<br />
<br />
The kids takes shelter in a house and has to defend themselves against the monsters outside!<br />
<br />
The inspiration from the US slasher movies obviously stops with them leaving the rednecks at the store, because after that it's traditional weirdo Thai-territory! War of Devils is a good-looking little movie who are more ambitious than a lot of the other movies set in jungle thats been produced in Thailand. The direction is inspired and way better than usual, and it also looks damn good. The first half is a bit slow, with too much talking, but it builds up to the Night of the Living Dead-style finale and delivers a lot of fun during the time. The special effects are good, sometimes very good. The flying woman and demon from hell works very good and looks cool and convincing. They also added some animated sparkles to the woman, which actually works fine. The rotting zombie is disgusting, the vampire dwarf is cooler than you would think and the Thai warrior is a bit scary with his huge deadly sword.<br />
<br />
It also delivers some gore, though not in any big amounts. There's a nice chopped of arm, some impalings by sword and other pointy things, a quite dark scene of the zombie ripping out the intestines from a character, some squibs and a little bit more. But the best thing is just the monsters attacking the house in different ways, the black magic vs the white magic. It's a bit childish, but with a mean-spirited feeling of sadism.<br />
<br />
I have the Thai VCD, and the cover don't look that exciting. But it's a fun movie (and the picture quality is ok) that belongs to the old style of Thai-filmmaking, still low budget and quite obscure. I was afraid that the generic (but competent) beginning would set the course for the rest of the movie, but it takes a wonderful quirky turn and shows us that the Thai's always know how twist our expectations a little bit extra.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRmP4Pfs-LDKbCiOYVzU8wdVhZ0p4DCP4Grzat3DpzYHdFs52y0shRd24RKe6YMfKzN5f0jyCpbb1O4NUGnWYpqGWss0cqlsnRhmk7ImDeVz-WDG3-KDI4raK9HX1iH9n7hwmD1lSZ4JG/s1600/war-of-devils04.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469161634926109154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRmP4Pfs-LDKbCiOYVzU8wdVhZ0p4DCP4Grzat3DpzYHdFs52y0shRd24RKe6YMfKzN5f0jyCpbb1O4NUGnWYpqGWss0cqlsnRhmk7ImDeVz-WDG3-KDI4raK9HX1iH9n7hwmD1lSZ4JG/s320/war-of-devils04.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 166px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjkaOGr2a98X1luUmK_ycOPuwaIYQEmiBPb3FqHpjqm2BDpSmOx-2G04TKQHsxsdmKSbmCLBxyj9ULt_mxjH1O9meE6gtx3gAlOhdISQ3-557M171mp7GkHYZM6oEOCwgQFln-CrZO2kn/s1600/war-of-devils02.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469161625229499650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjkaOGr2a98X1luUmK_ycOPuwaIYQEmiBPb3FqHpjqm2BDpSmOx-2G04TKQHsxsdmKSbmCLBxyj9ULt_mxjH1O9meE6gtx3gAlOhdISQ3-557M171mp7GkHYZM6oEOCwgQFln-CrZO2kn/s320/war-of-devils02.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 166px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cYURegsHQcVOYfHiIgbK9K3oBMhFk281zqaeWzEEaly4vWylG0t8viOmXFqtP8djwFQZ4rGY4zSqk3IR-IT8ACvJHE2ESdB0f_4SfxjUG7Rl5M47xJouOxtfKs00ShyMFvDvJFL2F-TZ/s1600/war-of-devils03.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469161616439129842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cYURegsHQcVOYfHiIgbK9K3oBMhFk281zqaeWzEEaly4vWylG0t8viOmXFqtP8djwFQZ4rGY4zSqk3IR-IT8ACvJHE2ESdB0f_4SfxjUG7Rl5M47xJouOxtfKs00ShyMFvDvJFL2F-TZ/s320/war-of-devils03.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 166px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJhVUp7ZLczvY9072rTdtruiEJ78sIFmqwfk8LFvy5fk5LjGhyXw_bWvmr5T3FuW2Nl6sCgCiC6GpdFVA5ojBsNKgQLrjSLk-ClQap0-hrNijrlWBLXY5wFiqS-xrh3lPeoF7drE2VI8F/s1600/war-of-devils01.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469161608159889842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGJhVUp7ZLczvY9072rTdtruiEJ78sIFmqwfk8LFvy5fk5LjGhyXw_bWvmr5T3FuW2Nl6sCgCiC6GpdFVA5ojBsNKgQLrjSLk-ClQap0-hrNijrlWBLXY5wFiqS-xrh3lPeoF7drE2VI8F/s320/war-of-devils01.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 166px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNWelzZVpSktN0ES6XeQP9i4uB2vFbv5HqdCO6rmyMFGMrwPomGu5YMdkWa8IR9gDmOnMcz0JsLbNkxPXPE4Ut7r64Mb7FzXV2mPROzksKwq9STl6X2Haco0DYb8fuQC36TqwE_YM8EEv/s1600/war-of-devils05.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469161642535895666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNWelzZVpSktN0ES6XeQP9i4uB2vFbv5HqdCO6rmyMFGMrwPomGu5YMdkWa8IR9gDmOnMcz0JsLbNkxPXPE4Ut7r64Mb7FzXV2mPROzksKwq9STl6X2Haco0DYb8fuQC36TqwE_YM8EEv/s320/war-of-devils05.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 166px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-65810441970470956972012-06-19T21:19:00.001+02:002012-06-19T21:19:57.775+02:00Aussawin Darb Gaiyasid (อัศวินดาบกายสิทธิ์, 1970)<div style="text-align: left;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGmhxwkJ1oJF6GSXRSLQcAHT26B2UmltCxSftRYu5B2r-CENuImIvXoijEabbCZ9GEe01paUF2EmNaDwPMu1EST_CfLjqM2uWiUhLn3SozSw3bPiHxLj5kPK7_kAXJs4XAluvualFJkcQ/s1600/_DSC6539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnGmhxwkJ1oJF6GSXRSLQcAHT26B2UmltCxSftRYu5B2r-CENuImIvXoijEabbCZ9GEe01paUF2EmNaDwPMu1EST_CfLjqM2uWiUhLn3SozSw3bPiHxLj5kPK7_kAXJs4XAluvualFJkcQ/s640/_DSC6539.jpg" width="440" /></a><br /><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">From the
first of October 1970 to the fifth, the same year, just under a week, Mitr
Chaibancha was in Hong Kong and Taiwan and shot one of the few foreign (or
co-productions) movies in his career. A couple of days later he was back in
Pattaya and did the final scenes in Golden Eagle, the first movie he produced
and starred in at the same time. As we all know, that final take was the take
that led to his death and he left behind 266 feature length movies in fourteen
years and 18 unfinished productions that had to be shut down or re-shot
because of his death!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I don’t
know the original title of <b>Aussawin Darb Gaiyasid</b>, but most of the cast seem to
be Chinese – and the only actor I can identify is the great and awesome Kien
Shih. The female lead is played be a Thai actress in this version, but I heard
that it was a Chinese actress doing the part in the <st1:place w:st="on">Hong
Kong</st1:place> version. Anyway, because I watched it without subtitles and
it has a lot of story and characters it was kinda hard to follow. But what we
have is the traditional love story, two enemy families and one of them owns a
salt mine. Chaibancha plays the son in one of the families and seem to be
fighting a lot with another dude, maybe someone from the other family. In one
sequence I get the idea that one of them has some kind of psychic powers,
because he can move heavy objects. Maybe making them magnetic. Yeah, that’s
about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I’ve been
trying to decipher the Thai Wikipedia about this movie with the help of Google
Translate, and after Chaibancha died the director also brought in another actor
with a similar face and body to shoot rest of Chaibancha’s scenes. I didn’t
notice this when I watched it, so either it was very little or the other actor
had very similar look.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Even if I
didn’t understand a friggin’ word of the movie I enjoyed it immensely. The
action was more or less non-stop with a lot of fun and bloody sword-fighting. Maybe
because of the print quality, it had a very nice gritty feeling. Especially
those scenes shot outside of the studio, around beautiful <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Taiwan</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Cool
angles, some smart use of handheld camera and lots of energy. Sure, it might
just be the result of the low budget and fast shooting schedule, but it still
looks and feels very impressive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Mitr
Chaibancha impresses in the only serious role I’ve seen him in so far (when this review was written, which was a while ago...). After
all the tongue-in-cheek action flicks from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region> it was cool to see him in
such a meaty, blood-soaked, part. Petchara Chaowarat also appears, and she's a fantastic actress that worked together with Chaibancha for many, many movies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The Thai
DVD from Triple X is not bad at all. Anamorphic widescreen and, I think, uncut.
The print is quite rough, but for us that appreciate these kind of movies it
just makes it even better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-27439194176427856112012-05-28T11:41:00.000+02:002012-05-28T11:41:18.442+02:00303 Fear Faith Revenge (303 กลัว/กล้า/อาฆาต, 1999)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRcT3GjtNWbtmS7w-oC7UA4n0fHUCtZg3YRb3JlAVuRjsYxtkm0-Ar8XIBHySiZ8ZYeZNFO01m0IVWeNTDKM_3JiIq0dX2tjP0lzocGxsUnkRNl4x1dn_qpZdOfozhyphenhyphenMwmdXFg2zd7hI2A/s1600/303FearFaithRevenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRcT3GjtNWbtmS7w-oC7UA4n0fHUCtZg3YRb3JlAVuRjsYxtkm0-Ar8XIBHySiZ8ZYeZNFO01m0IVWeNTDKM_3JiIq0dX2tjP0lzocGxsUnkRNl4x1dn_qpZdOfozhyphenhyphenMwmdXFg2zd7hI2A/s640/303FearFaithRevenge.jpg" width="435" /></a><br /><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219682/">303 FearFaith Revenge</a> was the first Thai movie I bought on DVD and it's still a movie I
revisit from time to time. If you ask me which the first Thai movie I saw was,
I would say something by P. Chalong - because several of his movies was out on
VHS here in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sweden</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
But back to 303. It was the years after Scream and the industry was flooded by
slick and very mainstream slasher movies, so it didn't take long until <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region> did
their own take on the American tradition of a crazy killer chopping up kids.
The Thai's did their own twist and brought back the supernatural twist, which
is fine by me - as long the body count won't stop!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">St. George
boarding school, a Catholic school during the late fifties or early sixties.
New students arrived, among them Ghu (Ananda Everingham) who's supported by the
church to get a place at the prestigious school. In the Hall of Fame he and his
new friends find a photo of Prince Daovadueng, who according to rumours killed
himself. They start to investigate the suicide and decides to use an ouija
board to contact their dead former school mate - but instead they unleash
something much worse, someone who wants to kill everyone at the school! What
dark secrets do the school hide?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The story
and twists are a bit to convoluted to completely follow, but don't let that
stop you to check out this well-made and very visual supernatural slasher. I
find it interesting that it uses the same clichés like all movies set on an all
girl school (this is a school for boys), including shower scenes and some not too strong homoerotic undertones
(just check out the first scene when two of the boys see each other - it's like
from an American romcom!). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">That's just
a small part of a movie that focuses heavy on the mystery behind the school -
what do the priest/principal and school hide? Here famous character actor
Suchao Pongwilai make a flawless and complex role as the head priest and Micheal
Pupart as his colleague, Brother Wiwat. I guess I'm not the only who noticed
the anti-Catholic atmosphere (which I like!) in this movie, from the
encouragement of bullying to downright hiding serious crimes and washing away
the sins of the past. Its actually very interesting to watch a Thai movie that criticizes
the church and very nicely interweave Buddhist faith and traditions from an
completely other direction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The cast is
filled with boys who just years later became the brat pack of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region> and
still turns up in genre movies. Most famous of them all is Ananda Everingham
who starred in the CRIMINALLY underrated Red Eagle (from director Wisit
Sasanatieng in 2010) and still makes the hearts of young girls do somersaults
of excitement whenever he show his face. All the grown-ups are very good, much
more low-key than usual., Pongwilai of course, but don't forget the always fun Charlie
Sungkawess as one of the teachers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I still
don't know what the title stands for or exactly what happens in the movie and
it's many twists, but one thing is for sure: it's still a good horror movie
that deserves a wider DVD release.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-83594376661664796182012-05-24T10:07:00.000+02:002012-05-24T10:07:42.545+02:00Cat With the Diamond Eyes (เพชรตาแมว, 1972)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99Ch8W4JurJvqfuh7WDzhDKUJBi5v1Fx2GVyM5grxtyFt4_ld6YvyUemvKD5RrpxZEGqfF4kj-1upY8UeaaKSjsGNiOjCc7UEIdO0tZFM_6Bhgq-FyHUFpRgjltf-UM6-94Vg9McuvqeF/s1600/Cat+With+the+Diamond+Eyes+(%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B2%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%A7,+1972).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99Ch8W4JurJvqfuh7WDzhDKUJBi5v1Fx2GVyM5grxtyFt4_ld6YvyUemvKD5RrpxZEGqfF4kj-1upY8UeaaKSjsGNiOjCc7UEIdO0tZFM_6Bhgq-FyHUFpRgjltf-UM6-94Vg9McuvqeF/s400/Cat+With+the+Diamond+Eyes+(%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B2%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%A7,+1972).jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">During my
latest trip to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Thailand</st1:country-region> I
bought a bunch of bootlegs from at lady at the Khlong Thom market in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangkok</st1:place></st1:city>. This place is
also called the flashlight market because you need (or needed, I don't know how
it is now) flashlights during the night to be able to see something - must be a
dream place for pickpockets! This lady specializes in OOP Thai movies or stuff
that's never been released official. But it's still bootlegs of questionable
quality of course! <b>Cat With the Diamond Eyes</b> is one of the movies I bought,
mostly because the cover - you can see it above - and a guy like me who have no
knowledge in the Thai language often buys movies if the covers looks
interesting. It starts good...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">...with a
jungle expedition chasing a big, black cat! And when I say big black cat that's
what I mean. No panther or something, this is big ol' normal cat but big as a
human and play buy someone wearing a cat-suit. They trace the cat into a deep
cave - filled with cats! Small ones! Cute ones! The hunter wrestles with the
big cat and cuts out it's eye - a
diamond! Many years later, a colleague to the hunter is in a wheelchair and he
has the eye. But his greedy lawyer (that's just my imagination, because he
looks like a sleazy lawyer!) wants the diamond and tries to steal it time after
time - but the cat, of course a supernatural being, also wants it back and
starts to terrorize those who wants his eye! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Oh, did I
mention it also have three song-numbers? I have seen very few Thai genre movies
who has singing in them, but this one actually starts with an absurd number
when the whole expedition sings together and the black cat is screaming of
anger somewhere in the jungle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I know this
sound like fun! But it's a long movie, 2,5 hours and most of it is just actors
walking around in a suburban villa talking with each other. The start is
awesome and weird and fun, but it never really takes off from there. Sure,
every time the cat arrives or the sleazy lawyer tries to kill someone it gets
more interesting, but it's way too talky! What makes that part better is the
good actors with Phairoj Jaising as the male lead and Naiyana Shewanan
(unbelievable beautiful) as the female counterpart. There's a couple of veteran
actors around also, but I can't identify them. Maybe in a few years when I've
become better in recognizing faces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I wish I
could write a meatier review but there's not so much to write about and I can't
take screenshots for the moment. I guess you need to be quite into Thai cinema
to really appreciate this, or maybe it's hard even for Thai's. Me, for one,
would appreciate some more horror to consider it a movie I could recommend. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-36980587963734469882012-05-23T10:48:00.000+02:002012-05-23T10:48:39.437+02:00Choompae (ชุมแพ, 1976)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhysU6mcqcS56DML_om4piTZA-6t796I2wI87rOsQXupIX9id6fvoD2thTy-37NzBzpgNEoBRmeZBB3BCesTOg3MWCGvZ5c0iHHfWE4vf8y3ATXq9PX35S1PNoZYR0ozA8zn4hVDlkU5aHS/s1600/Choompae-(1976).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhysU6mcqcS56DML_om4piTZA-6t796I2wI87rOsQXupIX9id6fvoD2thTy-37NzBzpgNEoBRmeZBB3BCesTOg3MWCGvZ5c0iHHfWE4vf8y3ATXq9PX35S1PNoZYR0ozA8zn4hVDlkU5aHS/s640/Choompae-(1976).jpg" width="478" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Did you
know that every single movie Sombat Metanee did was released in 1976? No, just
kidding - but that year seemed to have been a very productive year not only for
Sombat but for a lot of filmmakers in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>. I have no idea why, but
it was in the middle of the seventies, freedom probably got bigger and bigger
and I'm sure most directors tried to boost themselves into making more and more
spectacular movies. <b>Choompae</b> was one of the biggest hits that year and is still
considered a classic, but the story is quite much like the other movies from
the same time...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Pherg
(pronounced Peeh) Chompae (which also seem to be the name of the town) comes
back his old village to take revenge on the gangster, played by Kecha
Plianvithee, who killed his father. Pherg is also a gangster and he's come back
not only for revenge but to take over the crime business in the little town. No
one wants him back, not the other bandits and not captain Chaiyo (Nard
Poowanai). It won't take long until everyone is out to get Pherg and soon
they're also going after his family, his old girlfriend and everyone close to
him! It's time for Pherg to really clean up the trash!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">What makes
Sombat unique is his willingness to take on quite complex roles and his string
of anti-heros from the seventies often outdoes both the Italian and American
counterparts. Pherg is most of the movie quite un-sympathetic, but we're still
willing to root for him. It's not only that he's very brutal, his behaviour
towards women are more than nasty and in this movie he threatens with rape not
only once but twice. But it's also a play with stereotypes, because he never
goes that far - he just like to use the words to gain power. And compared to
the real bad-bad guys he's nice in comparison. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Sombat has
always been a good-looking fellow, but it wasn't until the middle of the
seventies I think he really started to evolve when it came to the art of
acting. I think most of it is because of the anti-hero parts he got offered.
Not just playing nice and handsome, but doing more complex, multi-layered
characters. His hair got wilder together with his performances. The rest of the
cast is the usual suspect, all great: Kecha Plianvithee (who always reminds me
of Joseph Wiseman), Dam Datsakorn (really nasty in this movie), always the
good-guy Nard Poowanai and Pipop Pupinyo always doing his famous henchman with
his classic biker-moustache! There's a bunch of other actors also, of course,
but I haven't learned their names yet!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Choompae is
a good start for you who wants to start watching old Thai action movie. It has
everything and is also very well made. The direction, especially in the action
and chase-scenes, is flawless and we're also treated to some insane stunts. The
highlight being a nice fight on top of a bus that actually looks quite
dangerous! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-GB">Another reason to start with this one is that the
Thai DVD actually have English subs! Wow. It's also uncut, almost 2,5 hours and
is correct ratio. It's still possible to buy, for example at <a href="http://www.ethaicd.com/show.php?pid=20518">eThaiCD</a>. Buy it before
it's gone, because these are one of those movies that will disappear sooner or
later.</span>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-11458882303503936262012-05-22T12:47:00.000+02:002012-10-17T10:55:46.936+02:00Top Secret (คนเหนือคน, 1967)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrl_YDuHFEo5UNjSzPOiJEWH8OnDfv-QPuXrUiIMWH_lJK6sngy499cEi2BanaI4ZRdbaTbw5nEECrAoag87QCrLh4XJJvvTJotqFvaK0aXi0-tCJz7cYTzuWajMoD3h4USWoydASi7H-E/s1600/Top-Secret-(%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%99,-1967).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrl_YDuHFEo5UNjSzPOiJEWH8OnDfv-QPuXrUiIMWH_lJK6sngy499cEi2BanaI4ZRdbaTbw5nEECrAoag87QCrLh4XJJvvTJotqFvaK0aXi0-tCJz7cYTzuWajMoD3h4USWoydASi7H-E/s640/Top-Secret-(%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%99,-1967).jpg" width="449" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I love the
armada of James Bond rip-offs that came during the sixties. 1967 was a
practically good year with new Bonds from all over the world. <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country>, with
their leading man and ultimate movie star, Mitr Chaibancha also had to jump on
bandwagon and produced several very inspired movies in this genre. Operation <st1:city w:st="on">Bangkok</st1:city>, a co-production with <st1:place w:st="on">Hong
Kong</st1:place> might have been the best one, but <b>Top Secret</b> is a very
charming and confusing entry. The story is kinda convoluted, but my guess is...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">... that
super-villain Kecha Plianvithee wants to rob the world of a lot of gold. Maybe
to build an even bigger crime syndicate. He has his own army of actually very
cute soldiers and the usual easily fooled femme fatale girlfriend that gets
dumped in the end. But beware, heroic cop/agent Chaibancha is after him! Thanks
to Sombat Metanee, who's undercover inside Kecha's crime syndicate, he gets
inside - but gets caught and spend most of the time in a cell, doing gymnastics
and flirting with the female guards! Eventually the baddie is traced to his
island (what else) and the action starts!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Okay, there
is action even before the ending - a couple of fun fist fights and some chases,
but the money and time is spent on the low budget spectacular war scenes with
tanks, soliders, helicopters, boats etc. It looks good! The movie also starts
with some very nice-looking aerial scenes involving fighter airplanes. My wild
guess is that the Thai army sponsored this movie both with vehicles and men. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">What's
interesting is that Chaibancha kinda takes the backseat in Top Secret. He's
always there, but mostly talking or looking at other people, and Sombat - who
looks terribly young at the tender age of thirty - takes care of most the
action and even has a very cute and romantic song-number in honour of some girl
he's interested in. And don't forget, his famous curl is always there to set
the hearts of teenaged girls (and gay men I guess) on fire:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyn-nBtBgPf4rMXHBKUnRVm32VBI4evC4KhqOqo-XVibGWvg7C0BGZYs2CtY0oS6HoayzCGSEAu-HAjpI05uiwhaIlYKlLMccps4RK5gjrLoOTt0MbF389PPtsoUkyryNy_EM1N9Y1sUv7/s1600/the-curl-of-Sombat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyn-nBtBgPf4rMXHBKUnRVm32VBI4evC4KhqOqo-XVibGWvg7C0BGZYs2CtY0oS6HoayzCGSEAu-HAjpI05uiwhaIlYKlLMccps4RK5gjrLoOTt0MbF389PPtsoUkyryNy_EM1N9Y1sUv7/s320/the-curl-of-Sombat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Even of the story itself is quite generic, Top Secret still have a couple of wonderful and
bizarre set-pieces. The song-number by Sombat is nice, but we're also treated
to a big song- and dance-number on rollerskates! If every movie had that! Top
Secret is also filled with the ancient and prestigious art of killing dummies.
Yes, stunt-dummies pretending to me real humans are thrown from houses and
cliffs and blown to pieces by hand grenades. Always a welcome sight and during
many years a tradition in the real Bond-movies. I mean, we all know they're not
killing people for real so why not go all out with limbless dummies? I dig it!
You dig it! Another awesome sequence is when Chaibancha falls down a trapdoor
and ends up in a really "far-out-man" psychedelic room belonging to the
super-villain. And it seems to hurt when he glides down on that metallic slide!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-GB">Top Secret is a groovy, action-filled slice of
sixties action. Not unique, but it has a lot of entertainment value and not bad
production values. I have a bootleg DVD (ripped from the official VCD) and the
quality is terrible. It looks like an army of dwarfs first tap-danced on the
print for a few hours and then put under water for 25 years. But it's possible
it watch it and it's not un-sharp. Just VERY scratched. </span>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-1865827015104176792012-05-21T08:59:00.001+02:002012-05-22T10:26:02.622+02:00Phra Aphai Mani (พระอภัยมณี, 1966)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6kRhul64_ggh3uEB7Fblu5xMjoAjiz8I-CjZLGtwVxl6QBlDtGNSZC_eMKTN8v7m1rYxj9scpMH-IyqJWQ53ygzjY9NE4mW1QqCdAkdWMbQTxOHqOuGCd40VO_oFW1eOykJin4fV6K0Kl/s1600/Phra+Aphai+Mani+(%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%B5,+1966).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6kRhul64_ggh3uEB7Fblu5xMjoAjiz8I-CjZLGtwVxl6QBlDtGNSZC_eMKTN8v7m1rYxj9scpMH-IyqJWQ53ygzjY9NE4mW1QqCdAkdWMbQTxOHqOuGCd40VO_oFW1eOykJin4fV6K0Kl/s640/Phra+Aphai+Mani+(%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%B5,+1966).jpg" width="444" /></a><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">MitrChaibancha was undoubtedly THE biggest movie star <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region> ever had, and during thosefifteen years he was active in the movie biz he starred in 266 movies (165 ofthem together with female superstar Petchara Chaowarat). He died during atragic accident during the shooting of Insee Thong in 1966 and has since thenelevated from not just a movie star, but almost a holy man. Still people aretraveling to his shrine in Pattaya to show their gratitude, put flowers and incensefor good luck and look at the magnificent statue of him posing with a knife anda gun. I've been there of course, what else did you think?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Phra AphaiMani</b> is based a part of Sunthorn Phu's epic poem with the same name and tellsthe story of Kramon (Chaibancha) who after studying abroad is stranded on anisland together with his brother and their friends. He starts playing his fluteduring the night a female giant, Yak, with the teeth of a wild boar, hears himand falls in love instantly! She sneaks up to the island and kidnaps him to hersecret island, keeping him prisoner inside a mountain. To make him moreattracted to her she transform herself to a beautiful young woman (PetcharaChaowarat) and seduces him. Life there is quite nice and soon she's pregnantand gets a son. But after a few years Kramon starts missing his family againand with the help of his young son he escapes... but Yak won't let him go soeasy!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Phra AphaiMani is one of the cheapest fantasy movies I've seen. It's not a surprise. IfChaibancha made 266 movies in fifteen years I guess not all of them would looklike Ben-Hur! It starts of quite good with the lady giant kidnapping him, butafter that it's mostly talk for an hour until they escapes and there's a littlebit of adventure and then more talk and talk and talk. I guess it would be moreentertaining if there was subs, as usual. But it sure has it's highlights. Ireally adore the cinematography, clothes and actors - even if the only excitingprint is in pretty bad shape. Both the pre-credits and probably some scenes inthe middle of the movie is lost for example and the print has a lot of damagesand scratches. But it's amazing of Triple X, as the Thai company is called, tohave released this! s<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">When thereis action it's fun and cheesy, with unconvincing - but charming - specialeffects. The Yak is, for example, destroying a big boat and drowning theseamen, which looks cool. But the best thing is that this is probably the firsttime underwater-zombies made an appearance on film! Yeah, what we have here areliving dead guys with skeleton faces and looks like they're dressed in burialshrouds! Very cool!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It's niceto look at and has cool actors and underwater zombies, but Phra Aphai Manidrags a little bit too much without subtitles for me to recommend it to folkswho hasn't that extreme interest in odd genre movies. It's out on a very niceDVD in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Thailand</st1:country-region></st1:place>and I've also scanned the other side of the cover to show you the gorgeousposter they printed there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;">Enjoy!</span><br /><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieAm_ewcZnSG6u4zfB9T6_vd3z7uLQp5sXxOU3vQ3Di1y0Oy36FfiD1OdvEjnrWcHXGZDMcLZX04qSVBywQpqljWt8XD9wqc-NSNC1OX_EI7Edd18PtlywUvCJmn-r6D62XcXUcFYGgDbq/s1600/Phra-Aphai-Mani-(%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%B5,-1966)-poster-small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieAm_ewcZnSG6u4zfB9T6_vd3z7uLQp5sXxOU3vQ3Di1y0Oy36FfiD1OdvEjnrWcHXGZDMcLZX04qSVBywQpqljWt8XD9wqc-NSNC1OX_EI7Edd18PtlywUvCJmn-r6D62XcXUcFYGgDbq/s400/Phra-Aphai-Mani-(%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%B5,-1966)-poster-small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-3589464558361383952012-05-19T20:12:00.000+02:002012-05-19T20:12:46.468+02:00The final appearance of Thep Thienchai?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6aY5wamywBFE00CtfS-LYX-5ybJrftseNcIrnVQQdUS4wMJ3WLimG9jhZRse60Xyn5bsqLyjjQRcRDYYtOkoVhYb1I47xG3DHU2BzLLWGLtSMK1EbDXK4lDIy1YzRjXpDuxCHS3k4tXe/s1600/Thep-Thienchai-in-Surf-Ninjas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6aY5wamywBFE00CtfS-LYX-5ybJrftseNcIrnVQQdUS4wMJ3WLimG9jhZRse60Xyn5bsqLyjjQRcRDYYtOkoVhYb1I47xG3DHU2BzLLWGLtSMK1EbDXK4lDIy1YzRjXpDuxCHS3k4tXe/s400/Thep-Thienchai-in-Surf-Ninjas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
I always enjoy movies shot in Thailand, and even if I actually didn't watch Surf Ninjas, I had to check if it's correct that veteran Thai comedian Thep Thienchai makes an appearance as "Gong Man". The movie itself is a dreadful, unfunny, mainstream crap-heap starring some unknown "talents", the non-talent of Rob Schneider and Leslie Nielsen cashing in another easy paycheck during his golden years. But to be fair, it has some glorious locations - among them, I think, that fantastic cave from countless of Thai action flicks from the eighties (it was a popular location of Philip Chalong). <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyway, it took some time and some logical thinking - and I found the five seconds Thep Thienchai appears, doing is trademark silly grin to the camera and then running to the gong and performs his... gonging. That's it. But it's also the best in the movie. Could this be his last feature film performance? Maybe, and I like it. He takes over the screen totally, does his job and then leave the disaster to the rest of the unfortunate cast and crew. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Lets end with a vintage grim from one of his most famous productions, James Band 007, a movie everyone must see before they die. Seriously.<br /><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg96E7VfB1M_tPzECzoFXNTnyby1n9RA0iTNIziXwMwDFpnMSNzPDRwktiAbl5XZVgfjYgf9gE3VGSBTs28zdYyf2Nt56ZVnkUs8PWgHJVSunEBMSFF7Qs0yMiH80I3C86OWSSb6kLEDJre/s1600/Thep+Thienchai+James+Band.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg96E7VfB1M_tPzECzoFXNTnyby1n9RA0iTNIziXwMwDFpnMSNzPDRwktiAbl5XZVgfjYgf9gE3VGSBTs28zdYyf2Nt56ZVnkUs8PWgHJVSunEBMSFF7Qs0yMiH80I3C86OWSSb6kLEDJre/s400/Thep+Thienchai+James+Band.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-77654830237925855642012-05-19T12:03:00.000+02:002012-05-19T12:03:21.061+02:00The Three Tigers from Suphan (สามเสือสุพรรณ, 1981)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BqnXdLPrkYVIKGln4ur92SQY_gwmFyze5qYyHBl4f1Y6etA41lNvAksKN2JJrdI9640dL-qmq5XvY4CfJi353196qA4nIg-LNuutnNhuw8x6Na7JU6nbIGg8_8K56TaKt0iUJah-z9nq/s1600/The+Three+Tigers+from+Suphan+(%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%93,+1981).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BqnXdLPrkYVIKGln4ur92SQY_gwmFyze5qYyHBl4f1Y6etA41lNvAksKN2JJrdI9640dL-qmq5XvY4CfJi353196qA4nIg-LNuutnNhuw8x6Na7JU6nbIGg8_8K56TaKt0iUJah-z9nq/s640/The+Three+Tigers+from+Suphan+(%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%93,+1981).jpg" width="441" /></a><br /><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The
influence of westerns, both American and European, is hard to deny when
watching Thai action movies. Most countries have tried their hands one this
very American genre, but except <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>
few have succeeded. What's interesting with the Thai westerns is that they
never pretend to be set in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
They still keep Thai traditions, environments, religion and music (well, not
always - how many times have Morricone's music been "borrowed" for
Thai movies really?) but still manages to sneak in lone gunslingers, bandits,
thrilling duels and bar fights? Wisit Sasanatieng's masterpiece from the year 2000,
Tears of the Black Tiger both celebrated and poked fun at Thai westerns - but
it's mostly a loving tribute to the past of Thai cinema (going so far with
casting Sombat Metanee as the bad guy, a brilliant choice). <b>The Three Tigers
from Suphan</b> is supposedly based on a true story, but I don't know so much about
it. So don't ask me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The story
revolves around a band of thieves and criminals, bandits, dressed identical
uniforms and cowboy hats - only in black of course. They call themselves
"The Black Panthers", and they steal from the rich and give to the
poor (I think). Most of the story is centred around three of them, one of them
played by Thai movie stalwart Sorapong Chatree. But the group, led by en
elderly man, seem to lose focus on their moral and some of the members starts
to give themselves little treats - for example attack innocent villagers,
stealing and raping. This is not the only problem of course, because the police
is near and wants to stop them once and for all!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I saw a
bootleg-version, ripped from TV. So I guess this is a bit shorter than the
supposed to be. The story goes very fast sometimes and I'm not sure about the
exact storyline because of this (the one above is just a guessing, because as
usual there's no subs). It's still an pretty engaging movie with one big action
sequence, the money shot of the movie: a very spectacular ambush of a train, filled
with nice stunts and a high body count - and one juicy chopped of arm by sword!
I'm not sure who they're attacking, but it almost looks like a Japanese army or
something! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The rest of
the movie has some shoot-outs and fistfights, but the train-sequence is very
hard to beat when it comes to action here. Because of the quality of the DVD
it's hard to say what the budget was, but somewhere behind that lousy
VHS-quality it looks like a quite expensive and ambitious movie. I mean, if
they can afford squibs it's usually a bit more money in the bank. One sub story
is quite interesting and I wish I had could understand the dialogue. One of the
three tigers keeps contact with his wife and mother, and the drama around this
is good and gives some depth to the bandits. Because usually it's hard to keep
an interest in criminals who have no strong motive for robbing people - but I'm
sure that would be much clearer with subs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Yeah, I
know. A pretty pointless review of a
movie I could understand to 50 %. But because there not other English info
someone needs to write something. Please correct me if you feel that the
storyline is way wrong and if there's something more I should add about the
movie or the history behind it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-85716656370748992822012-05-18T16:25:00.000+02:002012-05-18T16:25:14.400+02:00Land of Grief (แผ่นดินวิปโยค, 1978)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsqJVKIueTkrSIhYKADqtG9pZhR34uzyt19Q0XFjd-f5OvRc-IAGsa9ePzl6AAFjp_EDg0PqXvgHzZl8bXwDajCfqHgQwwedVyLud0imfY8y1z3FFEcxemDrX3LzOAxpE5oR_CqJ28isG/s1600/Land+of+Grief+(%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%9C%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%9B%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%84,+1978).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsqJVKIueTkrSIhYKADqtG9pZhR34uzyt19Q0XFjd-f5OvRc-IAGsa9ePzl6AAFjp_EDg0PqXvgHzZl8bXwDajCfqHgQwwedVyLud0imfY8y1z3FFEcxemDrX3LzOAxpE5oR_CqJ28isG/s400/Land+of+Grief+(%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%9C%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%9B%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%84,+1978).jpg" width="341" /></a><br /><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">In July
2011 a disaster would strike <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Triggered by the tropical storm Nock-ten, flooding destroyed properties to a
value of 45 billion dollars. 65 provinces was affected by the water and over
500 people died. It's the fourth most costly disaster ever. It ended in the
middle of January 2012, but when me and G visited the country in March this
year we could still see damage and it was something that caused a national
trauma that won't be forgotten for a long time. When disasters happen in Thai
movie it's often water involved. Sompote "Sands" Saengduenchai's 1978
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">disaster-drama</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on"><b>Land</b></st1:placetype></st1:place><b> of Grief</b> is probably his most
serious movie, even if I had a hard time following the story without subtitles.
I don't think it's worth even trying to, but what we have here is Sorapong
Chatree playing a the hero. It's set around a small town plagued by a gang of
bandits, killing and robbing people. It all ends in a disaster, a terrible
disaster, cleaning the land like an act of god. In the centre of it all is an
ancient pagoda and the last we see in the movie is how it's rebuilt (it's a
real pagoda) and reconstructed after what once happened. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It takes 75
minutes for something to happen in this movie. Ah, I'm sure a lot of things
happen in the first hour also - but the lack of subs made it virtually
impossible to understand what was going on. It's drama, some comedy, some
romance and of course the sadistic gangsters doing their evil deeds. It all
ends when they brutally kill a family, executing them one by one, and maybe
that's what sets of the disaster. A fury from mother earth herself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">First
strikes winds, a nasty storm. Then an earthquake and finally tidal waves... and
yeah, then some more store another earthquake! This is old-school disasters.
Miniature houses and landscapes ripped apart by thundering earthquakes,
families flushed away in slow-motion from the tidal wave, lightning attacking
the bad guys and one character dies a bloody and graphic death when he's
impaled by a tree! Sompote learned from his mentors at Toho, from Kurusawa and
Honda. To make the audience suffer he must make the characters suffer - and
with delivering a lot of character-development in the first hour it feels a lot
more engaging when they die one after another in the last half. The effects is
fairly well done also. Like always, it's easy to see that their are miniatures
- but works fine considering the probably very low budget. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The mood
also changes during the last hour. It's darker and nastier, far from the family
friendly thrills in the beginning. Sorapong Chatree, an excellent actor, does
his traditional hero - a free spirit who walks from village to village. Hardly
anything new from him, but he's good - as usual. Like always, the only bad
things in this movie is a couple of scenes with animal-killings. Well, I don't
think we actually see them kill the animals (snakes and a lizard), but it's
enough for me seeing them getting ripped in pieces by medicine men and chefs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I was
prepared to just skip this movie, but the last half made it so much more
interesting. It also reminds me of what we saw in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>. One day me, G and Tong
visited Sompote in his office and home outside <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ayutthaya</st1:place></st1:city>. After a couple of hours talking
and walking around we left, but we asked if we could stop by the studio close
to the entrance. "Of course", which was good - I wanted to take a
photo of the giant crocodile we saw on our way inside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The studio
was more or less wiped out by the floods. Thousands of posters laid out on the
floor to dry. Many of them melted together from the water. But there, leaned
against a wall, the pagoda stood. The original miniature used in the movie.
This time it made it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It defeated
the disaster...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0z_kOqBg7KyWod9U2pzWo__9YuQCWQLFegDjgfugZztAcvsAgwGpNFdiRkPUZSVwNoV9woDKyoFYFgAEXJuVdY4lRCXAh2uPwc7swikExqoqNPnQe10-Imum2vgcVeIbZHk1AAGKJDf7E/s1600/pagoda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0z_kOqBg7KyWod9U2pzWo__9YuQCWQLFegDjgfugZztAcvsAgwGpNFdiRkPUZSVwNoV9woDKyoFYFgAEXJuVdY4lRCXAh2uPwc7swikExqoqNPnQe10-Imum2vgcVeIbZHk1AAGKJDf7E/s400/pagoda.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-10296090349167131142012-05-18T10:05:00.000+02:002012-05-18T10:05:16.235+02:00Tah Tien (ท่าเตียน, 1971)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SGCHI_l22wCiZ-Qyoj0s3xx9v6Ih5J0rRIaPYx6DegL41NwX64uR8shBL81XUdYG7dPb86SU2-93pAs3Dr8fQ3VPlznaDR-_X3vaNJ3bTX7ufJSNZHzcNnb7mU7ecTNQhH5Q04wRZ_3A/s1600/tah-tien-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4SGCHI_l22wCiZ-Qyoj0s3xx9v6Ih5J0rRIaPYx6DegL41NwX64uR8shBL81XUdYG7dPb86SU2-93pAs3Dr8fQ3VPlznaDR-_X3vaNJ3bTX7ufJSNZHzcNnb7mU7ecTNQhH5Q04wRZ_3A/s400/tah-tien-poster.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Fresh after
many years in Japan under the supervision of both Kurusawa and Ishiro Honda,
Thai visionary and all around monster-fan Sompote Saengduenchai (aka Sompote
Sands) came home to Thailand with a whole new concept: Kaiju, something that's
never been done in Thailand before - and Sompote had to be first. I manage to
collect a budget of 120 000 dollars (which was quite much in bath during this
time, as you can imagine), hired hot star Sombat Metanee and set out to do the
ultimate first Thai monster movie. The result became <b>Tah Tien</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It's a bit
hard to follow the storyline, but it seems to be a mix of Thai mythology and
just the wacky imagination of Sompote. A giant snakes swims ashore, vomits an
egg and swims away. A frog crawls out from it's cave, eats the egg and vomits
it again! The egg explodes and a small woman appears. She then transfers her
soul (or something like that) to the frog who not long after this befriends an
old and they smoke huge cigarettes together. Just look at this:<br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gcuyd6B22stg4ew5u3k5sXJC5EUQ733H3JqEc4Cqo6pK-cVBetUj6Z_adt99Yln37sg_EBabo7oNmxDa9ARrCpLwpyi3WNNXW_qwuq6-HlDm68zp3C8uG-LWayqy-O_9yBvjtGTnv3fI/s1600/frogsmoking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_gcuyd6B22stg4ew5u3k5sXJC5EUQ733H3JqEc4Cqo6pK-cVBetUj6Z_adt99Yln37sg_EBabo7oNmxDa9ARrCpLwpyi3WNNXW_qwuq6-HlDm68zp3C8uG-LWayqy-O_9yBvjtGTnv3fI/s400/frogsmoking.jpg" width="287" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Anyway...
the snake (or maybe we should call it a serpent?) transforms into a man who
starts searching after his egg...woman...frog. At the same time Sombat Metanee
is a hunky jungle-adventurer with his trademark curly hair and muscular, manly
arms (sorry, got carried away there...). He and his team meets a gorilla, a
rhino and in the end even a couple of dinosaurs fighting each other! Their
adventure leads back to Bangkok where one of two statues outside Wat Arun, Thosakan
the demon guardian and a Chinese old man with a club becomes Godzilla-size and
starts tearing down the scenery and slowly fighting each other!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Tah Tien is
one of the most bizarre monster movies ever made, mostly because it completely
lacks a coherent storyline and it seems like Sompote and his team just created
scenes that I wanted to see in a movie, ignoring basic dramaturgy. Now, this is
what I like. I like the chaos, the freedom. Sure, it's cheap and sometimes not
very smart - just watch the comedy scenes - but that's the whole point. And it
was a big success, not only in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Thailand</st1:country-region>
but in the rest of <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place>. Just don't expect
something of Toho-quality. This was Sompote's first movie and he was trying
everything for the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The
monsters are very simple rubber constructions, some of them are probably just
papier mâché (for example the rhino). The are stuff and hardly movie - but I
think in the case of the statues at Wat Arun it's the meaning, because they are
statues and not traditional living creatures. Yeah I know it's a movie, just
trying to force some logic into everything here! ;) The miniatures are also
very primitive, but it didn't stop Sompote from filming them in close-up and
really showing us the goods. I like that. I hate when miniatures are used in
the background. Even if they are primitive I want to see them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Most people
would probably loath Tah Tien but I can't get enough of stuff like this. It
brings out the eight year old boy inside me - or at least his happiness over
seeing a movie which just is fun, bizarre and fun. I'm not saying it's a movie
for children, because it has both blood and nudity - but mixing that with
family entertainment makes this movie even better!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">When I was
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Thailand</st1:country-region></st1:place>
I actually visited the area where the final of Tah Tien was shot, and I got a
chance to meet one of the statues... but the wrong one!</span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOketb1XBNI502eMgda5aTRealpt8EfQ-fXGPwR4XIfMEPJmqHTmsnCCBZcpx5AheacOgTjIik7tg44Avmfq21l9B1jMO-vv1sYos1jFOvdhJKq3GSdtsbtfR1NdlzVnAJ1RWJCIG4Xru/s1600/tah-tien.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOketb1XBNI502eMgda5aTRealpt8EfQ-fXGPwR4XIfMEPJmqHTmsnCCBZcpx5AheacOgTjIik7tg44Avmfq21l9B1jMO-vv1sYos1jFOvdhJKq3GSdtsbtfR1NdlzVnAJ1RWJCIG4Xru/s400/tah-tien.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the last shot you can spot the one, on the right, <br />that's not doing anything in the movie!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5A2Rpj1MLV6IpO0CTKAHnkgVi8azHc-4VCX7erLpY5cLa60HZflpLmTqWYUJi9ML42CMR749RlRA3q8rG4fWoqnZnd0XeU5NwAbdnVqSdrUWWw0BnwMnohfchFlYusHiNPxEDLf9W4XM/s1600/Wat-Arun-Guardian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5A2Rpj1MLV6IpO0CTKAHnkgVi8azHc-4VCX7erLpY5cLa60HZflpLmTqWYUJi9ML42CMR749RlRA3q8rG4fWoqnZnd0XeU5NwAbdnVqSdrUWWw0BnwMnohfchFlYusHiNPxEDLf9W4XM/s400/Wat-Arun-Guardian.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm doing my best posing in front of the wrong statue. <br />Well done Fred!<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"></span><br /><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"></span><br /><span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-26496254978870434172012-05-13T23:47:00.004+02:002012-05-14T10:20:27.739+02:00Tiger from River Kwai (ข้ามาจากแม่น้ำแคว, 1975)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgm1rRLcSVkcfGPkxOWnig9YrpKqPsPAFgNtItJK8giyuakJx1x_fV3aT2YCEXs8rHo7y7ZvVQZRRWdJS4J7DxnOzgr8mWOZGQ7-WEbJWiYi56szGD2mQbvYylYO9EC_SDmXvhLDjaMya6/s1600/tigerfromriverkwaithaiposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgm1rRLcSVkcfGPkxOWnig9YrpKqPsPAFgNtItJK8giyuakJx1x_fV3aT2YCEXs8rHo7y7ZvVQZRRWdJS4J7DxnOzgr8mWOZGQ7-WEbJWiYi56szGD2mQbvYylYO9EC_SDmXvhLDjaMya6/s640/tigerfromriverkwaithaiposter.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I smell a
co-production here. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211042/">Tiger from River Kwai</a> is a western movie (probably) shot in
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Spain</st1:country-region> with an Italian crew
starring a Thai movie star and a <st1:place w:st="on">Hong Kong</st1:place>
nobody as heroes plus an American actor doing his usual bad guy routine. And
that's cool! Krung Srivilai is the Thai actor and Kam Won Lon, who I never
heard of in my entire life, plays the other hero in this light-weight
western-adventure directed by Franco Lattanzi. The Spaghetti Western Database
mentions a <st1:place w:st="on">Hong Kong</st1:place> producer, Fu Sheng, and
it wouldn't surprise me if there was Thai money involved also. Why would they
use a Thai actor and shoot scenes in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>? Like I wrote above, I can
smell an international co-production miles away and here we have one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Krung is playing
a nice Thai guy who goes to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to deliver the ashes of a dead friend to his family. Well, not only that, but
also an elephant statue filled with gemstones! Somehow a gang of bandits have
heard this and they decided to rob the "Thailander", but they make a
mistake and tries to rob a Chinese restaurant owner instead, Kam Won Lon, and
this makes him involved in protecting his new Asian friend. But the bandits
won't give up, and the leader (Gordon Mitchell) does everything in his way to
get the stones... including innocent families and fucking around with the wrong
sheriff... Luigi Montefiori!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Tiger from
River Kwai is a quite entertaining western, but neither original or creative.
Putting martial arts in westerns is nothing new and the odd thing for me is
just putting a Thai and a Chinese together against Gordon Mitchell. THAT's
original, but never makes any sense. It's even hard to understand why they
would hook up and fight together. But Krung is a good actor, and one of the
finest action actors from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
He had a bit rougher look than Sorapong and Sombat and also played more
unsympathetic characters (at least before Sombat decided to go more dark later
in his career). Here he's very good in a western environment and his fistfight
against Gordon Mitchell is hardly unique, but very good entertainment. What
makes him more bizarre is the strange English dub they given him - some very
odd accent, it's not Thai, that's for sure. But that Chinese dude has it even
worse. He's dubbed by someone who sounds like a valium-drugged child-molester!
Yeah, it's a very slimy and weak voice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Also watch
out for Luigi Montefiori, but his character is more of a cameo than anything
else - but he's a nice addition to the cast if nothing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Tiger from
River Kwai is an interesting East meets West, but lacks the personality and
spectacle it needed to be something special. Why not use more traditional Thai
stuff? Why just let Krung kick around like some normal drunk? Why choose such a
pale <st1:place w:st="on">Hong Kong</st1:place> actor as... I already forgot
his name? It's never boring, or badly made, it just needed that extra boost
of... something. If I was the producer I would have taken Gordon Mitchell and
his gang to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Thailand</st1:country-region>,
followed by Montefiori - and letting them be confused over a much more exotic
and interesting country than the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. That would have resulted in
some pretty interesting action sequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">But hey,
that's just my imagination! To see this movie you either have to own the VHS or
download an VHS-rip, but rumour says that MYA Communications will release it on
DVD, which would be awesome. I would be first in line to buy it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-87649031075865465842012-05-10T12:40:00.000+02:002012-05-14T20:27:59.478+02:00The Thai actors in The Man from Deep RiverI'm a big fan of Italian exploitation and today I watched Umberto Lenzi's groundbreaking cannibal-adventure The Man from Deep River. Shot in Thailand - the beginning in Bangkok and then the hero travels with train to the countryside (and I can spot a sign saying Wang Poh) and after getting himself he guide to travel out in the jungle he gets caught by a local tribe and... romance and cannibalism occurs. Like life itself.<br />
<br />
Shooting in Thailand means Thai actors and there's a whole bunch of what I think is experienced, professional actors. The only one I know about is Pipop Pupinoy and he's hard to recognize without his trademark biker-moustache!<br />
<br />
Here's the other Thai actors with bigger or more advanced parts. Their name is in the credits, but if someone can tell me more about them I would be grateful!
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXmVajYpkvMwa3qeRY5FQhddyqLOgXJJ8hRQ-F9lOzZz5Kdf6g_auCIfGlc7ZnRFDydyyTHHYuLcne7lQReFLx3g4U8V2T6rrAvQIm92dE-G6p0mkWDw4Ik98imIsWZ6Tv5NeGpz-f0oq/s1600/manfromdeepriver01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXmVajYpkvMwa3qeRY5FQhddyqLOgXJJ8hRQ-F9lOzZz5Kdf6g_auCIfGlc7ZnRFDydyyTHHYuLcne7lQReFLx3g4U8V2T6rrAvQIm92dE-G6p0mkWDw4Ik98imIsWZ6Tv5NeGpz-f0oq/s400/manfromdeepriver01.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can swear I've seen this guy before - but where and what's his name?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilyUOBDgBpWeleVhF4EPMdyNZzMOytagT_YVjUo5ziU0bqeFFPFf_mOkHLUetx9kd6T7QBea-QrJe_nztluXN_Sbm5bhKJ_ZFmkoAQs6fO7snwXuithIjRphjI1ej3vHgHCYAu8h-piWdU/s1600/manfromdeepriver02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilyUOBDgBpWeleVhF4EPMdyNZzMOytagT_YVjUo5ziU0bqeFFPFf_mOkHLUetx9kd6T7QBea-QrJe_nztluXN_Sbm5bhKJ_ZFmkoAQs6fO7snwXuithIjRphjI1ej3vHgHCYAu8h-piWdU/s400/manfromdeepriver02.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prapas Chindang</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKI_TojSfCC8-BhJEr1sh6xCuzg2Zfru4geDFjVN40gDQHebebojD301REdgThwfOH6GMoRGP0fUqP0XvBvPpTbejxoIkKrkpTOssjWYwl-OCJ-gEROa9EPZDPNXrZ43avyEX0a0O0O5Tt/s1600/manfromdeepriver03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKI_TojSfCC8-BhJEr1sh6xCuzg2Zfru4geDFjVN40gDQHebebojD301REdgThwfOH6GMoRGP0fUqP0XvBvPpTbejxoIkKrkpTOssjWYwl-OCJ-gEROa9EPZDPNXrZ43avyEX0a0O0O5Tt/s400/manfromdeepriver03.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(?)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiuBvkX5Mf89VtJFBICWbJ4pmQb3Z3cV4VFX0SqbqbpDuiiW18vTtvRhZFtKRI5klnXi3gE_YhCKVDP01h_gzieweiomu6Ytk4fEpHj0YXTpf976eIo3QbTKAjrrhlDBiDCBkd-M8V3fIt/s1600/manfromdeepriver04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiuBvkX5Mf89VtJFBICWbJ4pmQb3Z3cV4VFX0SqbqbpDuiiW18vTtvRhZFtKRI5klnXi3gE_YhCKVDP01h_gzieweiomu6Ytk4fEpHj0YXTpf976eIo3QbTKAjrrhlDBiDCBkd-M8V3fIt/s400/manfromdeepriver04.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Song Suanhud</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfY6Ibv-b_dCJ_o0KylfL5Og-dt9wIsas0dB3jitYnocidrE-0Ixdf9M_fcy7w2NUEnPADJs-XAPrqFheG8N_B7IVDLTXb7Qa2CYf9bUsShSknCufjgOpkEhSPRjanKHlvifqH_UZdLETK/s1600/manfromdeepriver05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfY6Ibv-b_dCJ_o0KylfL5Og-dt9wIsas0dB3jitYnocidrE-0Ixdf9M_fcy7w2NUEnPADJs-XAPrqFheG8N_B7IVDLTXb7Qa2CYf9bUsShSknCufjgOpkEhSPRjanKHlvifqH_UZdLETK/s400/manfromdeepriver05.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sulallewan Suxantat
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8908791467508575665.post-7087112605035479072012-05-03T00:06:00.002+02:002012-05-03T00:08:18.213+02:00The Vampire (จอมเมฆินทร์, 1985)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HBpNUCs2pyxX9zdQZZqd6pgfA5ApUssunW-DmgwyWreYXs3jwa54GkmvL15y-pq-jFw07g2R5sZON2Q8Q5At_u2wMRusGzp5ogCUzqZSFfRpo2QG4Be_YzGY9LIt7HAMCeAWrXGT9vVp/s1600/Thai-Dracula+(%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%86%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C,+1985)+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HBpNUCs2pyxX9zdQZZqd6pgfA5ApUssunW-DmgwyWreYXs3jwa54GkmvL15y-pq-jFw07g2R5sZON2Q8Q5At_u2wMRusGzp5ogCUzqZSFfRpo2QG4Be_YzGY9LIt7HAMCeAWrXGT9vVp/s640/Thai-Dracula+(%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%86%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C,+1985)+poster.jpg" width="444" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">In 1973
Sombat Metanee starred in his only, I think, vampire movie. Since then it's
considered a lost movie and the last pieces of film probably deteriorated many
years ago. What we're left with is posters, lobby cards and the nice photo that
I've added last in this review - but maybe most important, the 1985 remake
starring <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Thailand</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
favourite baddie Rith Luecha. So I decided to take a look at that version, the
first Thai vampire movie I ever seen. But first of all, <b>The Vampire</b> is only a title
I made up. If I translate </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Tahoma;">จอมเมฆินทร์</span><span lang="EN-GB"> it's "Private Cloud", and I have no idea what that means!
After discussed it with friends and some thinking hear at home and decided to
use this generic title until someone suggests a better one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">A crazy
scientist with an eye so lazy it literary hangs out from its socket somehow
makes a dangerous vampire, maybe even Dracula (Rith Luecha) comes alive again.
Dracula quickly kills the old sleazebag with a bloody spear through the throat
and infects another man with the vampie disease, so he can have himself a
vampire-slave. Now he wants young female meat and starts to attack women every
night until the villagers (it's always villagers in these movies!) decides they
have to do something. A holy woman, armed with powerful magic, sets out to kill
Dracula once and for all!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">This is a
very fun and entertaining movie, even if I don't get all of the story. Rith
Luecha is not bad at all as the nasty vampire and seem to have a lot of fun
with his fangs and cape, and being able to suck the blood from young virgins.
The director goes all the way with scary eyes, shadows and jump cuts to make
Dracula disappear. It's a good old-fashioned vampire-movie with more interest
in entertaining than maybe telling a good story. Except the spear through the
throat and a few squibs (in Thai movies from the eighties they always find an
excuse for some traditional gun-fighting) it's not really blood, but cozy and
silly - just like I expected it to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">What I miss
is maybe a castle, to make it even more old-fashioned than it is already. They
could have used the crazy scientist more, maybe made him a slave to the vampire
or something - but he's fun while he's alive at least. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Out on VCD from Lepso - and believe it or not, it's
the same movie on the discs as on the cover, which with a release from this
certain company can be quite rare nowadays. The quality is OK crap-quality.
It's possible to watch, but expect a nice brutal headache after ninty minutes
of blurry and dark vampire-action.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fy968NLvS5xkQFX_FzWcnfJh0oALnW9yeVYFSrQ3xOuUXYwRlBRNYBQL6bJNawyaSbdPPF1-TVwhUNyKxa9ZGyrC55JLLGe9HO1Q7Px3AJK_L4q73_LoMn2u9JBnDlxRTPKUbjJB6AAu/s1600/sombat-vampire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fy968NLvS5xkQFX_FzWcnfJh0oALnW9yeVYFSrQ3xOuUXYwRlBRNYBQL6bJNawyaSbdPPF1-TVwhUNyKxa9ZGyrC55JLLGe9HO1Q7Px3AJK_L4q73_LoMn2u9JBnDlxRTPKUbjJB6AAu/s640/sombat-vampire.jpg" width="468" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>Ninja Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13211571098475743546noreply@blogger.com