CHECK THESE GUYS OUT!!!

THE YOUNG MASTERS from Germany, from their short film Shadow Plant.

This is fucking awesome! Serious old school choreo, with good camera work, and editing. This is the best amateur stuff i've seen so far. And waaaaaay better than a lot of professional movies of the last 20 years!


Video: http://www.youtube.com/v/hVdJrzJLBic?fs=1&hl=en_US

Taiwanese actor and action director, working mostly with Lee Tso Nam. Tommy was a decent fight choreographer when he wanted to be. But according to Don Wong Tao, pretty lazy. A good screenfighter as well, with some cool badguy´roles to his name.  Most memorably as the albino hunchback in "The Hot, The Cool And The Vicious" and another hunchback villain in "Along Comes The Tiger". What's with the Quasimodo complex, Tommyboy?





Another Taiwanese guy. Lung was not always the main villain, but a solid badguy, right hand man, henchman in countless movies. A very proficient fighter on screen, Lung could adapt to any style, and look good doing it. Most memorable as the vampire fanged, okinawan master from "One Armed Boxer" and as the treacherous japanese fighter "Win without a knife Yakuma" in the follow up "Master Of The Flying Guillotine".






A korean kicker with a face, only a mother could love... I kid, I kid. But damn he looks evil. Which worked to his advantage in numerous movies, playing asskicking badguys. Kwan worked in Shaw Bros., Golden Harvest, Indie, and korean films, respectively. Always bringing the heat with his blinding bootwork. Featured in flicks such as "Return To The 36th Chamber", "The Loot", "My Young Auntie" and many more.





Another Korean import, working mainly at Golden Harvest throughout the 70's and early 80's, in a slew of great movies. Wang was a Hapkido master, and a truly formidable prescence on screen, fighting with or alongside every Golden Harvest star, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan. Wang only made a decade worth of films in Hong Kong, but most of them are classics, like "Hapkido", When Taekwondo Strikes", "Young Master" and "Dragon Lord" etc.





One of the three opera school trained guys from the Venoms. Lu Feng had a mean look to him, and was a genius with weapons. He was almost always the badguy in the Venoms flicks, but played the occassional good guy as well. After the Venoms split up, He kind of vanished from the scene, making the odd appearance now and again. You can enjoy Lu Feng in such classics as "Five Venoms", "Crippled Avengers", "Two Champions Of Shaolin" and many others.




Wilson Tong aka "The Foot Doctor". Actor, director, fight choreographer, and perfect badguy, with his stone face, cold eyes and deadly kicking skills. Wilson worked primarily at Shaw Bros. and various indie companies, playing almost exclusively villainous roles. A path he would continue well into the 80's, and beyond. You can check out his fancy footwork and fast movements in such flicks as "The Victim", Daggers 8" and "Snake Deadly Act" among others.





Another opera school student. Started with Shaw Bros. in the 60's, playing, for the most part, benevolent roles. Later he would make the rounds at Golden Harvest and different indie companies, playing both good and bad guys, respectively. But by the mid to late 70's, he was typecast as the standard main villain. Having to scowl through white beard, wig and bushy eyebrows. Chang delivered one commanding and scene stealing performane after another. But in the end, all these white haired villain roles started blending together, and parts dried up, during the 80's and early 90's. But that shouldn't stop you from still enjoying the Great Chang Yi, as evil head honcho in golden oldies like "Eagle's Claw", Fatal Needles VS Fatal Fists" and "The Victim" to name a few.





One of, if not the first badguy in HK cinema , roped in from Japan. Kurata was a student of several japanese fighting styles. But was quick to adapt to the intricate HK style choreography, and proved that, in a parade of memorable, villainous performances. Playing everything from ninja to hitman, to vietcong officer, and everything in between. He also made some movies in his native Japan. But did the bulk of his filmwork in Hong Kong. In a career that spans almost four decades. Kurata has maintained a seemingly ageless persona, along with great acting performances and high level screen fighting skills in such movies as "Heroes Of The East", "Legend Of A Fighter", "Fist Of Legend" and so on.





Former Taiwanese army captain, Taekwondo exponent and dog lover, Dick Wei, started with Shaw Bros. in the early 70's. But was never really used to full potential, in a multitude of minor roles, at the studio. He only, really came in to his own, when switching to Golden Harvest. Fighting Jackie, Sammo and more or less everybody else, in a myriad of monotonous, but memorable badguy roles throughout the 80's and early 90's. Dick, eventually fed up with typecasting, retired to his native Taiwan, some time around the new millenium. But his swift leg work in films such as "Project A", "Yes Madam", "Heart Of The Dragon" and a slew of others, still stands the test of time.





Opera school alumnist, acrobatic wiz and all purpose double, Yuen Wah, toiled as a stuntman, and bitplayer on the lots of Golden Harvest and Shaw Bros. throughout the 70's. But only, really hit his stride in the 80's and onwards, playing a bunch of unforgetable and slightly off the wall villains. Often across his opera school brothers, Jackie, Sammo and Yuen Biao. He has a few good guy roles to his name. But will always be best remembered for his manic bad guy portrayals in classics like "Dragons Forever", "Eastern Condors" and "Iceman Cometh" to mention a few.





This beautiful, burly, bald bastard has played more villain roles than I care to count. Shaw Bros., Golden Harvest, Independents, you name it, he's done it, and done it well. Originally an opera school student and Wing Chun practicioner, Lee had very imressive handwork. But was also proficient in the kicking department, and handy with whatever weapon he was asked to wield. He could play good guys or bad guys equally well. But due to his hulking physique and shady looks, he was mostly cast as the latter. To experience his talents, you can really take your pick from his 70's and 80's output. But a few that springs to mind are "Last Hurrah For Chivalry", "Descendants Of Wing Chun" and "The Magnificent Butcher".



With a face like a wiley weasel, former opera school student, child actor, stuntman and bit player, Fung Hak On, had the looks and skills to move up in the ranks. And played one slimy badguy after another, in countless Shaw Bros., Golden Harvest and indie flicks, throughout the  70's, 80's, 90's and beyond. He was really the guy you loved to hate, and has, as far as I know, very few good guy roles to his credit. But still a good and very sought after, all rounder, in front of and behind the camera. Used to great and memorable effect in classics upon classics, like "Iron Fisted Monk", "Warriors Two", "Police Story" and many more.






One of the coolest cats from the golden era of HK action cinema. Cooler than a polarbears nutsack, with the skills to match. Stuntman, actor, fight choreographer, director, producer, and just all around badass. Ko Fei worked with everyone, any studio, anytime, anywhere. And his cheapo, filipino flicks aside, I have never seen a bad performance from him. I bet he looks cool, taking a dump, or picking lint out of his navel. He certainly looked cool, beating the living piss out of all his co stars, in countless badguy roles, for about three decades. Who could forget him, bringing the pain, in movies like "Mar's Villa", "Duel Of The Seven Tigers","The Challenger", "The Loot" and so on and so forth. A great man.





The villain's villain, the Darth Vader of Shaw Bros., the prolific and always evil, Wang Lung Wei. There isn't one type of cool and coniving badguy that this man hasn't played. if you're watching a Shaw Bros. movie from the latter half of the 70's, there is a 90% chance that Wang Lung Wei is the villain, in one form or another. And damn it, he is brilliant every time. I can only think of a few good guy roles in this mans illustrious career, and even in those, he was kind of a hardass. He continued to make movies for about three decades, and picking out only a few worthwhile examples of this guy's greatness is almost impossible. But here we go... "New Shaolin Boxers", "The Kid With The Golden Arm", "The Master", "The Martial Club", "My Young Auntie", "Eight Diagram Pole Fighter" and so and so on, the list is endless. Wang Lung all the Wei, baby.




The baddest of the bad, the coolest of the cool, the meanest motherfucker, to ever grace the screen. Hwang Jang Lee is still the undisputed heavyweight of kung fu movie villains, after this many years. You can't beat him... and if you try, he'll come to your house and kill you. Just the fact that he worked primarily outside of the big studios, and is still the number one badass, is a true testament to the man's formidable screen prescence, skills as a fighter, and just overrall awesomeness. Maybe some of the movies he worked in, weren't always great. But he was always great in them. He was the saving grace in so many low budget productions. And nearly every movie in his filmography, is worth watching for his performance alone. I love this man as much as a heterosexual man, can love another man. And my respect for his talents, are hard to put into words. Grandmaster Lee, you are still the king. And Buddah bless you, where ever you are. Now, people... pay your respects by watching this great man's insane bootwork, in such classics as "Secret Rivals 1&2", "Drunken Master", "Hell's Windstaff", "Tiger Over Wall", "Hitman In The Hand Of Buddah", Tower Of Death" or any of his other awesome movies. You haven't lived, till you've seen Hwang Jang Lee do his flying triple kick... so get to it.

As far back as I can remember, i've always loved movies... especially action movies. I was a kid in the 80's, raised on ROCKY, RAMBO, JAMES BOND, STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES and so on. But in between all that, there was kung fu movies, a whole world onto itself. A world I loved to watch, but didn't fully understand at the time. Sure,  I understood the basic themes of revenge, honor, respect etc. And I understood and appreciated the beauty of the fight scenes. But as a little white kid from the cold north, watching a bunch of chinese people, in strange enviroments, wearing colorful robes, beating the piss out of each other, was very exotic and foreign to me. But most importantly, it was intriguing. I didn't always know exactly what it was that I was watching, but I knew I liked it.
I still remember, sitting on the floor, in front of the TV, watching such classics as KING BOXER, WAY OF THE DRAGON, THE 36th CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN and WHEELS ON MEALS, to name but a few. Movies like this, was only shown on the german channels, dubbed into german. So I had no idea what they were saying, but that didn't matter, it was all about the visuals. The colors, the sets, the action.





I taped this movie, off german TV, back in the day. So hearing Lo Lieh proclaim "Japanischer scweinhund, ich will, mit meiner stahlfaust, dich umbringen!" Makes perfect sense to me.



Later on, when the home video market really took off. I started scowering every dingy, little video rental joint for anything that had kung fu dudes, samurais, ninjas, or basically just asian people on the cover. I went through piles of IFD trash, cheap Bruceploitation flicks and ninja B-movies, to catch the occassional classic. I didn't know trash from treasure, how could I? There were no internet or movie guides back then. You just had to dive in, and take the good with the bad. And once those twinkling rectangular squares of the Golden Harvest logo, or the embossed gold lettering of the Shaw Bros. intro appeared on screen, in all its glory. You just knew that you were in for something special. I loved it all. It was different, and that was all that I cared about. As I grew a little older, I naturally became more discerning. I really loved Jackie, Sammo and Yuen Biao. Whenever I discovered a new movie with those guys, it was like christmas eve. And just when you thought that you had seen it all, something new popped up.






Look at that. That's art in my eyes. And symbols of impending guaranteed awesomeness.



One rainy sunday afternoon, in the early 90's. I made my usual pilgrimage to the local video store. And picked up a movie with a cool looking chinese dude, holding two guns, on the cover. I didn't know John Woo from Adam. Or who the hell this Chow Yun Fat cat was. But I liked the cover, and rented the flick. That Movie was A BETTER TOMORROW. And holy shit, did it ever kick my ass on every level! This was something totally new, and out of left field. I had never seen something so badass, so bloody, so cool and at the same time, so emotional before. To this day, I still get chills when Chow takes out the taiwanese gangsters to "Birdy's flight". This movie, not only changed the way I viewed asian cinema, but cinema as a whole. Eventually, an import video store opened up, and I became a genuine collector. Spending most of my hard earned money on the new releases from great old labels such as MADE IN HONG KONG and EASTERN HEROES.




How cool is this guy... seriously?! I was inspired to try this novel way of lighting up, myself. Worst hundred bucks I ever spent... but it was pretty damn cool, for about two seconds.



In the 90's I became sort of derailed. Running with some pretty bad people, doing some pretty bad things. I even sold my entire video collection for some quick cash. Not my finest hour. But by the new millenium, I was out of that life, and got my shit together. I slowly rediscovered my love of HK and asian cinema. And now faced the tiresome task of having to buy all my favourite movies... again. Luckily that coincided with them being released on DVD. So I started getting all the HONG KONG LEGENDS, VENGEANCE VIDEO and CELESTIAL releases I could find. Discovering all these great new films and timeless classics, all over again. I had come full circle. Today I still buy a fair amount of flicks every month. But I am in deeper, this time. Involved in the fan community, reading, researching, watching, listening and learning. And I also write my own scripts now, just for fun. I have other things in my life. But HK cinema will always be a part of it. My ultimate dream would be to live in HK and work in the industry, as a writer. Making sure that other kids around the world, can grow up, having the same great experience that i've had with the wonderful world of HK action movies. That is my hope. But even if that doesnt happen, i'll still have all the classics on the shelf. And will continue to watch them, till the day that I die.