A contemporary of Kinji Fukasaku, Sadao Nakajima was another hit-maker for Toei Studios during the ‘70s, who found success across genres, especially softcore and exploitation with titles like Twisted Sex (Japanese: Sekkusu dokyumento: Seitôsaku no sekai, 1971), The Kyoto Connection (Japanese: Poruno no joô: Nippon sex ryokô, 1973), and Girl Boss: Escape From Reform School (Japanese: Sukeban: Kankain dassô, 1973). He grew into an influential figure during a wave of popular jit

The so-called spaghetti westerns were a series of European films set largely in the American west, made mostly by Italians, shot in Spain, and often co-financed by West Germans. They were designed for multiregional release and utilized international casts to aid sales in other countries. These efforts ensured that the spaghettis were popular across Europe, North America, and Asia, especially in Japan, where the genre’s connections to samurai cinema weren’t forgotten, and in H

Welcome back to Wizard Jail – a limited run series from Director’s Club, Tracks of the Damned, and 96 Greers podcast co-host Patrick Ripoll and Genre Grinder creator Gabe Powers where they talk about, what else, but the 1987 syndicated cartoon series Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light. We’ve been off the clock for about six months now, but we’re back with the penultimate podcast, covering episode twelve, Honor Among Thieves – a mile a minute mish-mash of new monsters,

1978 was the big turning point year for young Jackie Chan. Director Yuen Woo-ping had finally unlocked his comedic potential with a pair of hits, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master, Chen Chi-hwa utilized his newfound charisma in Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin, and, finally, producer/director/production company head Lo Wei tapped him for two more films, Spiritual Kung Fu and, the subject of this review, Magnificent Bodyguards, which was no

Arguably, the most important figure of the first Hong Kong New Wave (along with Ann Hui), Tsui Hark became best remembered for directing and producing lavish special effects fantasies, supernatural comedies, wuxia melodramas, and heroic bloodshed shoot ‘em ups that re-introduced Hong Kong filmmaking to Western audiences, eventually legitimizing the region’s box office viability alongside the likes of Jackie Chan, John Woo, Sammo Hung, and...

Post-WWII, following many years of decline, the Australian film industry was rescued by a concerted, government-supported effort to fund new films and train new filmmakers via the Australian Film Television and Radio School. As a result, more than 400 new movies were released between 1970 and 1985. Starting (arguably) with Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout (1971), international audiences were introduced to a new brand of artistic drama, followed by a new brand of rowdy comedy in Bruce

Independent animation mogul Ralph Bakshi worked his way up from cell polisher to animation director at Terrytoons, the B-grade studio behind Mighty Mouse (1960), before striking out on his own with Bakshi Productions in 1968. Against impossible odds, through sheer tenacity and stubbornness, Bakshi built his solo career off of his 1972 feature debut, Fritz the Cat, which was the first officially X-rated cartoon released in US theaters. It was made with producer Steve Krantz an

Long before he had his Hollywood breakthrough with Rush Hour (1998) or his international breakthrough with Rumble in the Bronx (1995), Jackie Chan had his Hong Kong breakthrough with a pair of kung fu comedies in 1978 – Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master – both made under choreographer-turned-director Yuen Woo-ping. Chan had been groomed as a possible replacement for the late Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest as early as 1976, when he starred in Lo Wei’s New Fist of Fur

In February of 1996, after a decade of trying, Jackie Chan finally had an actual stateside hit, when New Line Cinema released an edited and dubbed version of Stanley Tong’s Rumble in the Bronx. Chan’s earlier, failed attempts to break into the American market – Robert Clouse’s The Big Brawl (aka: Battle Creek Brawl, 1980) and James Glickenhaus’ The Protector (1985) – were tailored to international audiences (The Protector more so than The Big Brawl). Rumble in the Bronx prove

BENEATH THE WAVES ROILS A MURKY STEW OF KILLER ALIENS, MONSTROUS MUTANTS, PSYCHOTIC SOLDIERS, AND EVIL CORPORATIONS!! Welcome to another of Genre Grinder’s patented deep(sea)-dives into a single year in cinema when a specific genre fad peaked. This time, Gabe and Patrick Ripoll are looking at a strange moment in time, the year 1989, when seven different undersea sci-fi/horror/adventures were released*. How did this happen? Your intrepid podcasters will attempt to answer that