Mystics in Bali aka Leák - H. Tjut Djalil - Indonesia - (1981)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097942/

Plot from Imdb: "The true story of an American girl who learn the dark magic of LEAK BALI from a Rangda, a widow-witch."

I dare you ! I dare you to watch this movie and not imitate the devilish laugh of the Dark Magic priestess.I found it impossible to resist. Mouhahahahahahahaaha !

Based on the feared belief of "Leyak", the actual black magic of Bali, this movie is a treat for all the lover of old-school fx and surreal imagery based on ancient witchcraft. Apparently, the movie was banned in indonesia for quite some time. It's distributed in DVD by Mondomacabro.

The production values are pretty low as far as the  main story, the love affair, is concerned but the emphasis is really on the black magic ceremonies and spells. And they'll really rock your socks off. A flying head  with entrails attacking a pregnant woman and sucking out her baby, a woman turned into a wild pig before your very eyes,  the dark priestess turned into a snake, the spitting of rats, a deadly battle of magic powers, etc....All of this made in a genuine and naive way that shows a certain respect to the original belief.

At the same time, there are some hilarious moments in the movie: the priest trying to exorcise the decapitated body of the american woman by putting 3 toothpicks in her cut-off neck, this way the flying head of the Leàk cannot re-attached itself to the body (!!!) or the American woman is asked casualy by her lover: "Catherine, what's the matter with you?" after she spits rats all over the place.

Imaginative, funny, another classic from South Asia.

Some kind of trailer:

Mutant Girls Squad aka Sento Shojo: Chi no Tetsu Kamen Densetsu - trailer - Japan - (2010)

Co-directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), Tak Sakaguchi (Samurai School), and Noboru Iguchi (The Machine Girl and Hypertrophy Genital Girl). 

Looks insane as usual.

Hypertrophy Genital Girl aka Hidai Kasei Utsuwa shojo - Noboru Iguchi - Japan - (2009)

Strangely not on Imdb (;-D)

Plot:  Well, it's a porn movie with chick with hypertrophied genitals so, let's skip this part, shall we ?

After Robot geisha and The Machine Girl, Noburo Iguchi went on doing this absolutely insane AV. If you liked his "grand guignol" grotesque gory movies, I guess you have to be interested by his views on porn. And interesting it is: after an encounter of the third kind with a penis head alien, the main protagonists, two innocent young women grow gigantic sex organs: massive tits, a massive dong and a massive vagina ! They start immediately to find "interesting" use to it. Tsubomi is cute and quite funny in a difficult role (sic), as the lady with the gigantic phallus. The directors imagination seems to have very few limits : masturbation and auto-fellatio, forced orgasm ( a classic of Japanese AV) of the giant clitoris with electric dildo and the penis head of the alien from space, lesbian sex that end up quite logically as straight sex with a giant rod up the giant vagina (how perfect is mother nature), etc...This movie needs to be seen to be believed. An ideal choice for a romantic night with your loved one.

This should be a mandatory viewing for all readers of this blog.

Trailer:

And we even have a making of:

Working Safety Video - Mythical stuff.

This is one of the best video ever. Watch it until the end, it's well worth it. Thanks to Alexis once again.

Lialeh aka Black Lialeh - Barron Bercovichy - USA - (1974)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0143378/

Plot by Moviegroove: "The movie (also know as "The Black Deep Throat") is about a girl named Lialeh who wants to make it as a soul singer. Legendary drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie composed, produced and performed Lialeh's score, while between projects with Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, The Last Poets, The Rolling Stones, James Brown."

A porn movie that is half Blaxploitation, half musical (soul/funk) is just the right type for this blog. This is obviously exploitation but it still feels fresh, the porno sequences are a bit lame but have this "natural" feeling from the 70's sex revolution. The musical parts are surprisingly nice and doesn't seems out of place. The ultimate sequence with an interracial "quartet" humping on the stage of a live theater, with the band playing just behind, reminded me of the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre, in San Francisco (the Mitchell Bros were the producer of all-time classic porn movie "Behind the Green Door" with Marilyn Chambers). 

Nice little adult gem.

Music intro:

Tropa de Elite - José Padilha - Brazil - (2007)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0861739/

Plot by Imdb: "Two childhood friends decide to enlist in Rio de Janeiro's Military Police Department. After juggling their police jobs and college, both make up their minds to try out for a Special Operations Squad whose mission is to take down the drug-lords that plague the city. Both men struggle to survive, facing the daily challenges of dealing with pressure at home and fighting an unnamed war on the streets."

Like everybody else I saw "Cuidade de Deus", a great stylistic movie about the violent history of a favela and its inhabitants lives. This movie, however, is the perfect counterpart. It's based on the everyday life of the police /armed forces that have to ensure the security in the favelas of Rio. 

As quickly demonstrated, the corrupted Police is not up to the task and a Special Tactical Unit is handling all the "hardcore" operation: BOPE. Apparently, just mentioning their name frightens a lot of people in the favelas. People who are not easily frightened. And you can see why. The BOPE, as depicted in this movie, is the "vengeance arm" of the state, the "no rules, no prisoners taken" unit, that goes in when things get out of control. And things are almost always out of control. It's very frighteningly close to a fascist "Cleaning Unit" and you quickly feel they are evils, but you can't help but  wonder: what else can we do ? What else can a society do to get rid of these problems ? The movie doesn't give you an answer. 

It's really frightening as everybody personal lives are shredded to pieces by poverty, drug trafficking, psychological scars from the job (for the BOPE/Police officers) or fanatism. 

The good will - middle class youngsters that try to help by other meanings (like working with humanitarian associations and such) are depicted as naive (if not accessories to the criminals) and ends up also being the victims of the violence from both sides. At the end, it seems we have a complete meltdown of society as one side thinks they have no choice but to live a life of crime and trafficking and the other side has decided to get rid of them, at all costs. A recipe for civil war. The doom of democracy.

Impressive movie, absolutely gripping from start to the end, impeccable work from the actors, and a mind blowing experience for the fat western viewer, sitting on his couch, expecting the usual action/crime movie.

A wake up call from Brazil. 

PS: Just a quick note to say that its always nice to ear "Rio Baile Funk", as I'm a great fan of it. Brazilian street culture never stops to fascinate me.

Trailer with English subtitles:

Bang Rajan 2 (2010) - Trailer

Liked the first one, let's check this one soon.

And remember not to mess with Thai villager's daughters (a reminder for Alexis).

Zebraman 2 - T.Miike - (2010) - Trailer

Seems ultra cheap and interesting at the same time. Sho Aikawa is going back to his "Zeburaman" character for our guilty pleasure. Well, anyway, I'll check anything Miike.

Boogie el Aceitoso - Animation - Trailer

Look sweet ! Review coming up !