Onna hissatsu ken aka Sister Street Fighter - Kazuhiko Yamaguchi - Japan - (1974)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073714/

Plot by Imdb: "Lee Long is a martial-arts champion who the police use as an undercover agent to infiltrate a drug ring responsible for importing heroin from Japan to Hong Kong. When he is identified and imprisoned, the police pressure his sister, Tina Long, to help them locate and free him. She gets the help of Lee's martial-arts school, including the powerful Sonny Kawasaka, for the inevitable battle-royale with the drug gang, which includes masters of many different 'schools' of fighting."

Ultra classic plot for this little martial art flick, with the mythical Sonny Chiba playing only a small part, most of the action revolving on Etsuko Shihomi (aka Sue Shiomi on the posters). There are some good fights despite the extremely ridiculous 70's Japanese fighting  style of "Karate with  funny faces", that Chiba popularized. The main character is cute enough and , of course, deadly...Her onscreen adversaries are over the top villains from all kind of different martial arts and martial crafts. The main focus is more oriented toward Shorinjin Kempo, witch is a mix between Japanese and Chinese martial arts, with a much more realistic approach. Rare enough in a movie to be mentioned. Average "kung fu" movie but still enjoyable for having a women as the main character and the usual excess of a 70's pop Japanese exploitation movie. Check out the German trailer, it'll make fall from your seat ! Hajime !

German Trailer:

Opening Credits:

Bajrang Bali - Chandrakant - India - (1976)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157845/

Plot by Imdb:" Bhagwan Shri Bajrangbali has had super-natural powers at a very young age which includes swallowing the sun, lifting mountains, just to name a few. Bajrangbali has always regarded the skies and universe as his playground and could leap and fly around at will. Non could be super-natural as Bajrangbali, he could make himself small and large, if needed, burn down a whole colony all at once. Bajrangbali makes it his duty to serve Bhagwan Shri Ram all days in his life. He will make this comes to light when Ram's wife, Devi Maa Sita, has been kidnapped by Shivbakht Ravan, and is being held captive in far off Lanka. He displays this as he locates Sitaji, kills Akshaye, Ravan's son, mocks Ravan, and even sets Lanka afire, before returning back to Ramji, and tells him that he has 30 days to get Sita back before Ravan forcibly marries her. Watch as events unfold what Bajrangbali will do to make Ram locates his wife, Sita, how he will save Ram's brother, Laxman from dieing and a good result at the end"

What an amazing movie ! A 3 hour treat for the lovers of Indian mythology, filled with fantasy and magic, as we watch Hanuman battling against the villains for the honor of his lord RAM. Quite a mesmerizing spectacle, Bajrang Bali really is a masterpiece of a kind: the art direction is impressive, sets are beautiful, the super old-school fx are great and flashy, the music is catchy (some songs are excellent),  the fights are funny, the actors are good overall and one dance act just left me with a stupid smile on my face (I guess I am a sucker for Indian extravagant choreography by sexy dancers). How can we ask more from a 1976 Bollywood movie about mythical events ? Guess Bajrang Bali would need to be rediscovered because it's really great fun.

Hail, hail Bajrang Bali !!!

Trailer:

From Beyond - Stuart Gordon - USA - (1986)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/

Plot by Imdb: "Scientists create a resonator to stimulate the pineal gland (sixth sense), and open up a door to a parallel (and hostile) universe..."

I like Stuart Gordon. His movies are fun and really appealing to an all-time Lovecraft fan, like myself. It reminds me of my childhood when, with  a friend of mine, we put our money together to buy the first french edition of the Lovecraft biography by Sprague de Camp. Good ol' times ! 

Back to  Stuart Gordon. Good director of fantastic movies, he went on to direct some weird movies of his own that I particularly like: King of the ants, Edmond and Stuck, for example, are a rare mix of social / cultural comment, dark humor and plain insanity. Ironic and poignant, they left you wondering if you have to laugh or cry.

In From Beyond, no problem, you can laugh. Adding to Lovecraft's strange and paranoid story, Gordon injects some 80's humor in  the dialogues and delivers a movie that's packed with action, silicon makeup and  old-school CGI. The resut is a blast for the fan of horror comedy genre, like myself. Get a beer, sit back and relax for a nice ride that will get you through psychiatry, parallel universes, monsters, a frantic Jeffrey Combs (Re - animator) with a giant hypophys gland growing out of his head, Ken Foree (Dawn of the dead) in a blaxploitation baddass mockery and Barbara Crampton, sexy as hell  in an SM outfit...A 10 in my checklist.

Trailer: