Tubi Thursday: TNT Jackson (1974)

 Let me hit two events at once here!

In honor of Black History Month and the beginning of Chinese New Year, I present...

In a Cold Open, a black man is killed by some bad guys and ends up onstage during a Show!

TNT Jackson comes to Hong Kong and pretty much immediately finds trouble!

She meets up with a guy named Joe Wong, who agrees to help her.

This Film was originally Written by Dick Miller to be made in China, but was then rewritten to be shot in The Phillipines.

As such, Joe actually gets TOP BILLING on that version- Dynamite Joe Wong and TNT Jackson.

He'd also hold Elected Office in his hometown of Makati!

Jackson reveals to him that the dead guy from the beginning was her Brother.

He agrees to help her get close to the bad guys, since they were likely the culprits.

Said bad guys include Charlie (left) and, of course, the Token White Bad Guy.

They deal in drugs, but are running into issues.

All but Charlie immediately blame TNT for this...for no good reason!

She proves herself to Charlie in a fight and he agrees to hire her.

However, she's then not there for the next drug drop (at Charlie's request).

Lots of chopping.
Lots of shooting.

It all comes down to TNT Jackson vs. Charlie again and she basically reenacts how Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon- just with her fist alone.

Also, as these usually go, the Film just immediately ends right there.
Kind of like this.

A fun time, even if it is shallower than a puddle.

Long stretches of this Film are people circling each other and fighting.
It is fun.  There's just SO much of it.

They occasionally stop for the Plot- which involves the blonde lady being a Cop- and then it is back to fighting.

Our Lead- Jeanne/Jeannie Bell- looks good and bad here.  Her fake fighting looks very fake, but she does look good while doing it.  
She's apparently an Instagram Fitness Influencer going into her 80s, so good for her.

This is pure exploitation fun for 42nd Street or to watch between making out at a Drive-In.  Don't expect anything complex or deep her.

Thems the breaks.

A fun bit of exploitation and mindless violence.  Lots of real fighting, lots of fake fighting and everything you'd expect from a Movie from this time and with this Title.

Tubi Thursday: Black Mama, White Mama (1973)

Watch another crappy Slasher Film or Pam Grier?

I made the right call.  This is...

A bunch of women are sent to a Women's Prison in The Philippines.

A cheesy '70s Film made in The Philippines?!?  I'm shocked.
Well, not really.

Two of them- a Prostitute and a Revolutionary- make enemies of the Warden (who's a full on sexual predator in classic '70s Gay Panic) and get sent away for worse punishment.

Guerillas attack the bus and they escape.

They want to get either off of the Island or to the Rebels that the latter supports.

As you can see, they don't get along.

So now they are escaped Prisoners with the law after them.

That's not enough, however, as this Mob Boss (Vic Diaz, who racked up 164 Credits between 1950 and 2001 in The Philippines!) wants them dead too!

The Law, meanwhile, hires a bad guy- Sid Haig!- to catch them.

I like his Dayglo Buster Scruggs Cosplay.

Grier needs to get off the Island.

Will the Revolutionaries be enough?
In real life, it took about another 13 years to boot out Ferdinand Marcos, so good luck.

Let's be honest- do you really expect this to be good?

Do you expect Classical Writing Structure?
A unique Plot?
Amazing Editing?

No- you expect a sleazy, drive-in Movie.

You sure as hell get it!

Nothing is subtle here.  None of the Acting will blow you away.  The Script is really basic.  It is very, very sleazy.

That said, I'm here all day for it.  Everyone understood the assignment and has fun with their roles.

It is not remotely unique (Women in Prison Films being an entire Subgenre, after all).  It is fun and looks great in HD, thanks to a restored Print on Tubi (and Blu-Ray).

I guess I need to see this as the follow-up, no?

A Film that gives you what you'd expect from the Title and Plot Description.  Expect nothing more and enjoy!

Tubi Thursday: The Thirsty Dead (1974)

 An obscure '70s Horror Film?  I need more.
It was shot in The Philippines?  So what?  Like 100 Films were!

It is the only Film Directed by 'Sharkey' from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea?
Now I'm interested in watching...

A random Dancer from a Nightclub is kidnapped by strangers literally after hearing about the kidnappings of 7 women on the radio.  What timing!

Another woman- the actual Lead- is kidnapped next and ends up in the Jungle with the previously seen victim (below left), another blonde and a local woman named Betty (below right).

This was all done by a Cult...for reasons.

I'll get to them, but, first, that cape.

The Cult's main proctor- who looks like the Brady Bunch version of Doctor Strange- says that our Lead is the 'chosen one.'

Why?

Well, he made a painting that looks like her, so...

Laura here is told that the Cult is full of people who drink the blood of young women to stay young.  Ah, that old chestnut.

If she joins them, things will change...somehow...I guess.

She refuses, so we never actually find out what she is supposed to do for them.

They demonstrate by cutting the necks and drinking about 2 oz of blood.  

If the 'donors' don't give good blood, they are left to rot and decay.

It sure is a shock when Laura tries to escape with the others, eh?

To find out what happens to them, stream the Film now.

It is...not very interesting.  It sure sounds like it should and could be though.

4 Women kidnapped by a blood drinking Cult in the Jungle?  That sounds exciting.

The problem- not much actually happens.  As a result, everything is drawn out.

If they cut out the extended parts of them being led through the Sewer, the Jungle and later the opposite direction in the Jungle, you'd lose a good 10 minutes- easy.  Just think about the prolonged bits in the beginning of The Horrors of Spider Island for comparison.

Terry Becker (aka Sharkey) has a Co-Writer Credit here too, so hopefully that wasn't his work.  Kowalski would have written that, but not him.

This is a real cheapie Drive-In kind of Film.  If you could just stop paying much attention after the first 10-20 minutes to make out with your Girlfriend/Boyfriend, you don't miss much. 
Hell, the ladies escape TWO DIFFERENT TIMES during this one.

For fans of sleaze, there's no Nudity (just implied), some minor bits of 'freaky looking' people and a little bit of blood.  Otherwise, it is pretty by-the-numbers stuff.  While it is only 90 minutes, it sure feels quite a bit longer...

Fans of these kinds of Films will probably still like this.  It is familiar stuff, but, at the same time, it is familiar stuff, so...

'70s Trash?: Project- Kill

 A Film who's Plot predates a more famous 'source material' that its Director didn't even live to read.  This is 1975's Project: Kill by William Girdler.  Quick story on this one and why it was picked- a saw a VHS of it at a Thrift Store, saw that I could also download a free copy of it and then did so.

Not all Stories that interesting and I never promised that it was.

Speaking of Stories that are interesting however, there is a big similarity between this Film's Plot and The Bourne Identity.  That Book was written in 1980.  As hinted at, Girdler- sadly- died in an accident in 1978.  Given how he got involved in a big lawsuit to get his profits from his Films internationally, I wonder what he would have done with the Book came out and sold lots of copies.

In this one, an Agent learns that his Company is training assassins and not Security Agents.  He flees to The Philippines to leak the information, but is followed.  Can he expose his old Bosses?  Can he escape the criminals?  To find out, read on...

A group of Agents is shown a confusing Film about how they are supposed to protect High Value Targets.  It seems to be shot from one location, but then there are lots of cuts and camera angles.

It turns out to be a professional Film, which I guess they hired Sam Peckinpah to do.

The young Agent shown in the Film is apparently our Hero- Leslie Nielsen.

Hey, if Richard Chamberlain can be Bourne, then so can he!

Anyhow, he quickly- in the runtime- learns that his Company is actually bad and leaves.

In The Philippines, his Assistant/Fellow Agent arrives to track him.  We follow him like he's the good guy, even though he's after the guy we know wants to expose the corrupt Agency.

Here's a thought- don't show that Intro and just start here.

Learning that Nielsen is not evil would be a nice twist, but...nope, do it your way, I guess.

Speaking of evil, some criminals want to capture Nielsen, since the CIA said he stole some government plates (to make him seem like the bad guy).

He finds a friend to help him...but you know how that ends in these kinds of Films.

Speaking of him, he falls for a nice young lady.

She doesn't know who he is, but is quite easy to convince.  2 Scenes later, she's not freaked out when he engages in a high-speed escape in her car.

That's love.

So we see the 2 Agents doing their own thing in, basically, their own Movies.

The non-Leslie Lead has some bad-ass moments- like trapping a bad guy in a room with his own, live grenade and blocking the door with luggage- but also fights in what I think is supposed to be CQC.

It leads to some silly poses on strikes, like this one.

It all comes down to a big showdown at the Docks as Nielsen tries to escape.  The bad guy- played by the guy who's seemingly in every Film made in The Philippines- is killed by Nielsen via off-screen punches.

The final showdown- which is the first time the pair have shared a Scene since the Intro- is set.

Who will win?

Despite controlling most of the fight, Nielsen is downed and struck by the fictitious 'strike your nose into your brain' strike.

He lives long enough to tell his friend that he'll be the target now (will he?) and dies.  The (bleak because its the '70s) End.

A pretty enjoyable, if not-too-creative Film.  As I said, I'd like to see a Film like this subvert the storytelling clichés and not reveal that the target is actually the good guy until later.  It would just add some nice drama and mix things up.

The basic Plot is fine, but, again, not too exciting.  The pair are basically in their own mini-Movies until they meet up in the End.  They each get a Character Arc too, making this structure pretty odd.  If you have them, for instance, meet once in the middle and get separated, that could help.

The adventures they have are pretty stock.  That said, seeing Nielsen in the role doing fake Karate/CQC has its own appeal.  His Co-Star, as noted, does pretty well too.  He just wasn't in Airplane.

Project: Kill is one of those Films that could do for a Remake.  It helps that its not famous enough- Troma distributes it now, so...you know, figure it out- to offend the Internet.  Speaking of the Internet, this Film gives you something to focus on- a Leslie Nielsen Thirst Trap.  La-a-adies.

Next time, I finally get around to doing a Film I bought ages ago.  Will a South Korean Film I bought solely based on knowing nothing about it be good?  Stay tuned...

Tubi Thursday: Demon of Paradise (1987)

 Let's go to The Philippines...I mean, Hawaii for this '80s Thriller.  It's Italian, but distributed by Roger Corman, so you know it's classy...

In definitely Hawaii (for real), a creature lurks in the Water.

It's the Ancient Creature Worshipped as a God Version of this Story.

I guess the dynamite fishing woke him up.

In the surrounding Area, a Resort manages to turn a recent death and talk of a creature into big business.

Here I thought I had the worst hair when you first woke up...

The creature will sporadically show up throughout the Film, but this Film is like 75% B-Plots.

Herpetologist wanting respect.

Sheriff trying to live down past failure.

Small Business Owner endangers lives.

A Drug Dealer with lots of dynamite causes trouble.

Pad that runtime!

As you can see, the folks at the Resort are taking the threat seriously.

Can our Heroes- including the Filipino Police in Hawaii (?!?) save the day?

Well, they've tried shooting the creature, so...I guess keep trying that.

As you can see, this creature is quite dangerous!

Can they stop it?

Well, yes.  

They just need to chase it into a Cave, chase it back OUT of the Cave and throw some grenades.  Easy peasy.  The End.

This one is...alright.  It could be alot more interesting.  The Plot itself is pretty nothing, but it is like 6 different nothings happening at once.  I guess you can't be bored.

The big draw here is the titular creature.  It...looks quite good at first.  Specifically, the head looks good.  Once you get below there, the trouble begins.

The full design is just not sleek.  It's wide in the middle- like the average American-, has a tail (I think, it's not clear), is covered in random seaweed and doesn't move too well.  How did older Creature Features- like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Island of the Fishmen and Humanoids from the Deep- do it better?

As far as these things go, Demon of Paradise is enjoyable, but there's no subtext or bigger thing to be seen here.  It also doesn't feature the Cover Scene, since A) the woman is topless and b) the woman is not attacked.

Basic Creature Feature stuff here that is still kind of fun.  Just set that bar nice and low, folks.

Tubi Thursday: Beyond Atlantis (1973)

 Is a famous Poster hiding a good Film?  Is there more comedic gold to be mined from The Phillipines?
Let's find out...

A strange woman pays a man- aka The Guy Who's In Every One of These- in pearls, which turn out to be worth lots of money.

This gets the attention of a man- Sid Haig- who sets about a trip to get lots more of the pearls.

Dragged along for the ride, you get a Criminal (John Ashley, who's also in all of these), a woman interested in studying the Natives, a Diver and his Companion.

Is the 'Heist' Crew all together now?

They go to the Island and learn that the Natives are all sorts of weird, having bug eyes and swimming without needing air.

What else are they hiding?

Well, they need her to mate with a foreigner to save their race from extinction.

No pressure, eh?

The group continues to go just for the pearls- running into trouble with the people there- and a love triangle breaks out as the Diver and the Archaeologist fall in love.

That's going to get in the way of the Island Girl mating with him, no?

They inevitably fight, which leads to our Heroine winning and surviving.

Well, that Race is doomed.  Oh well.

Stay tuned for the random humor at the end to make up for this downer Ending.

A pretty run of the mill Film for such a great Poster.  It is what is advertised though, so I guess I can't complain.

Does it feature bug-eyed Natives?  Yes.  Does it feature a Blond Queen?  Yes.

Does it also feature prolonged Scuba Diving Scenes that go on forever?  Yes.  Does it feature so-so Acting?  Yes.  Does it feature mild bits of Action to (barely) spice things up?  Yes.
Does it feature zero footage of Atlantis?  Also yes.

Beyond Atlantis is an Eddie Romero Film, so you should know what to expect.  It was produced by John Ashley- behind the Blood Island Films- so you also know what to expect.  It's nothing special, unlike this other bonkers Film that it was marketed with...

A pretty fun Film that is definitely for a certain kind of audience.  If you like this Films from the Philippines and know what to expect from them, enjoy.