5 Crammed Into 1

MIGHTY PEKING MAN-1977-Nutty stuff from Hong Kong about a legendary giant hairy ape-man (guy in a suit) living on an island with a scantily clad normal sized white woman named Samantha (Russian born Evelyne Kraft; later in the German made LADY DRACULA). Their odd relationship is interrupted by Johnny (Danny Lee) an explorer looking for the big guy. She and Johnny kind of fall in love and MPM gets a little upset when he sees the two having sex. Johnny convinces Sam to bring “her friend” back to Hong Kong. (He’s strapped to a ship in a sitting position) After pulling (toy) trucks on TV, MPM loses it totally when he sees Samantha being abused by a sleazy promoter. He wrecks the town looking for her. Parts of it are pretty funny. Leading man Lee had previously used the name Li Hsiu Hsein and appeared in several film including the very wacky INTRA-MAN. He later made his mark in Hong Kong classics like BETTER TOMORROW, CITY ON FIRE and THE KILLER.

RONIN GAI-1992-Interesting Samurai drama is more of a character study than an action film. They include several prostitutes, a drunken Samurai, a guy who tests new swords on corpses and a drunken bouncer named Bull who acts a lot like Toshiro Mifune! It takes place in a village where The Shogun is cracking down on prostitution. The climax is excellent.

HEROES OF SHOALIN-1979-Boring Kung-Fu drama with the usual duels and bad dubbing. Shing Chen (AKA Chen Xing) is the hero. Yuen Biao and Corey Yuen were the action directors (and have small roles). One of the villains is played by Lo Lieh from 5 FINGERS OF DEATH. Director William Chang also worked as a film editor. There is a William Chang who works as a production designer for director Wong Kar-Wai (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE) but I’m not sure if they are the same person.

PHONE-2002-Very intriguing Korean horror film featuring a haunted cell phone. Mysterious phone calls, apparitions and computer messages plague a young woman. Her sister’s child seems to become possessed and does a lot of weird things. The little girl who plays this role gives an incredible performance.

BIO-ZOMBIE!-2000-Cantonese horror-comedy features toxic infected zombies terrorizing morons at a mall. The two main characters are idiotic “wise guy” wannabes. The Zombies attack and there’s some gore but too much stupid humor with everyone screaming and acting foolish.

Thanks for reading!