Some recent purchases and viewings of....
"Dying Breed".
http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvbreed.php
Beware!!!
Inbred cannibals be in those woods!
Packed with the well loved elements we actually want from such a plot set-up, "Dying Breed" delivers them all with razor sharp, sadistic, unforgiving precision.
Nothing particularly original here but, some pacing and one FX fault aside, it's a harsh, uncompromising, extreme and cruel Horror film that can sit proudly next to that other Australian nasty "Wolf Creek".
Highly recommended.
"Camp Blood"
Oh dear.
Something went wrong with the mix Grandma, this ain't chocolate...it's shit.
Barely watchable amateur Slasher fare with a crap killer and lots of tedium.
Has a couple of okay deaths, but mainly it's just good old Tom Savini's 'machete with a half moon cut out of it' type FX as annoying people get hacked in the arm or head.
Acting varies from bad to okay, with top marks going to a spot on 'loony old fart who forewarns doom' performance from a guy who seems to have trouble standing up straight.
The film's real failing though is the Christ awful picture quality.
The video camera images are generally crisp and clear but the colour is shot to hell!
Red blood becomes either dull orange or a dirty gold colour resulting in seriously compromised FX and murders.
Skin-tones vary from green to yellow to yellowy-green and the rest of the colour spectrum seems to be missing.
So a weak home made Slasher flick (with a naff ending) slips even further down into the toilet and becomes almost unwatchable thanks to the dire colour quality.
"Camp Blood II"
Blimey! A large improvement over the first film. Who would have thought?
Not only does the picture quality look much better, especially the colours (Yay! no more yellow people and orange/gold blood) but this time it seems the makers have also added some okay intentional humour (the scuzzy film guys are fun), more action, more nudity (a very nice pair of breasts during the opening of the first film I have to say...but a full frontal shower scene here tops it) and much better and more satisfying deaths and FX.
Though the film still stinks as far as plot and dialogue goes (though the lead actress is doing better here than in the first film, despite still looking shockingly ungainly when running) and you have to wonder how a suspected, judged insane, multiple murderess is allowed out alone, back to the place she supposedly killed, to help make a movie!
But the fact the film shoehorns in lots of verbal plot explanation and footage from the first film at least means you don't actually need to own the crappy first film to watch this. Hooray!
Whereas the deaths in "Camp Blood 1" were nothing but a bit of blood and a machete with a half moon cut out of the blade that was placed over arms and heads, in the sequel we actually have proper FX set-ups.
The deaths are all more violent and gory and even rather nasty.
Sure the effects work is primitive, but it still works, still delivers and it's nice to see some good, on-set, CGI free, old school FX anyway.
Highlights are a messy machete through the mouth/back of the head, a pulpy burnt face, a hacked off hand with spurting stump, a machete through the chest and much general blood spraying.
It's cheap, it's got some bad lines for even worse actors to say, it has a major plot holes, looks cheap (though better) and has many moments of badness that should never have seen the light of day.
And yet i still quite enjoyed it! Unlike the first film.
The sometimes nasty deaths, large body count (also helped by the kills from the first film appearing again), the fun gore FX and an incident packed screenplay were all the positives that the first film never had, and here they help to counteract the many negatives.
Shucks! Give it at least one go, just avoid the first one.
"Broken Oath"
The glorious Angela Mao blazes a trail of vengeance against the men that killed her parents.
Perhaps the ultimate Angela Mao movie, this is packed with wonderful old school fights as Angela (the 2nd best thing in "Enter the Dragon" damn it) expertly uses her fists, feet, poles, swords and handy scorpion filled lace scarf (!) on anyone in her way. To dazzling effect.
The odd acrobatic doubling aside the fighting is all the work of Mao as well whose blistering spin kicks are a sight to behold.
We have a slight bit of under-cranking to speed things up occasionally (though only one bad moment, during the finale swordfight, that seems out of place) but basically this is majestic martial arts skill at its old school best.
We also have a bit of 'Fire Breathing Fu', which is a total riot, and wacky Chinese healing tricks that are totally la la land but fun.
But there is more!
Not only is Mao herself in top flight fight form but she is joined by a wealth of martial arts film greats, all working under the action choreography guidance of the legendary Juen Woo-ping.
The Demi-God that is
Sammo Hung makes an appearance, sporting funny big black beard and wielding a great 'double fan of knives on a chain' weapon.
The much missed
Lam Ching-ying ("Magic Cop", "Mr Vampire") has great fun as nasty Kung-Fu assassin who looks like Rob Zombie's lost Chinese uncle.
'Bruce' Leung ("Kung Fu Hustle", "The Dragon Lives Again") has a reunion with Sammo and Angela following their stunning
"Hapkido", and has a great one-on one battle with Lam Ching-ying.
Billy Chan (Award winning action choreographer on Sammo's classic "The Prodical Son") pops up.
And both
Corey Yuen (future director of "Ninja in a Dragon's Den" and "The Transporter") and the superb
Yuen Biao ("Prodical Son", "Project A", "Above the Law") make early appearances...Biao more than likely doing much of the stunt and acrobatics work.
Even
Dean Shek (who almost ruined "A Better Tomorrow 2" with his overacting, but does better here) pops up as a brothel janitor.
Some overly complicated plot twists (most definitely not helped by some badly translated English subtitles) and a couple of pointless comedy scenes early on are the only bad things here, as Mao cuts a gorgeously ruthless swathe though this classic bit of Old School 70's mayhem from 'Golden Harvest'.