In this film by Chih-Hung Kuei (Ghost Eyes, Virgins of the Seven Seas), three stories of the supernatural are told. It started as 45 minutes of footage and then became an anthology film, with the original footage being the third episode.

In the first story, “The Haunted House,” finds Li (Chung Wang) and Wang (Locke Hua Liu) taking a bet — Castle of Blood-style — with their friend Chou (Wei Szu) that they will all stay overnight in what is said to be a haunted house. Each of them has a plan to frighten the others, but everything backfires and they all die, potentially being the spirits that haunt the next person to take this dare.

The second story, “The Cold Skeleton,”is about a mother and her son Chang Sung-Ken (Lin Wei Tu) who sell flowers in the village. They have a bond that goes beyond death, as she has promised him that she would come back when she passes on to be there for him. Her body keeps showing up again and again, even after he keeps reburying her. The secret? In his sleep, he’s been digging her up so she can come back home. He joins her in death by committing suicide.

In the final episode, “Wolf Of Ancient Times,” a college student named Sung Li Ho (Hong Hoi) and his assistant keep getting kicked out of different places because the scholar — bucktoothed and on the make, like a mix between a Jerry Lewis character and the protagonist of a nude-cutie — keeps attacking women. They finally make their way to a woodcutter’s house in the fog, where he has two gorgeous daughters who team up to seduce the student, yet before they do the deed, they reveal themselves as jiangshi, or the traditional Chinese hopping vampires. Luckily, the assistant is prepared with a charm around his neck! This was going to be called The Sex Wolf if it had been a full feature.

I love that each of these stories switch tones, whether that means that they’re like an EC Comics story, a poignant story about grief or almost a parody of sex films that ends with the intrusion of the unknown.

Directed by Chun-Ku Lu, this is a movie that I described to my wife as a psychedelic drug film that is also a martial arts epic and at times, feels like it has the colors of an Italian movie. You remember how Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon make people go nuts when they saw it? Could you imagine the uninitiated going directly into this, mainlining it into their eyes and trying to keep their sanity?

Keep in mind that this was made completely with physical tricks and what special effects were available in Hong Kong in 1983 and then be amazed that no computer touched this.

Yin Tien-Chou (Max Mok) and his sister Tu Chuan-erh (Ching-Ching Yeung) lost their parents when they were just born, thanks to their murder at the hands of Tsing Yin (Leanne Lau) and Monster Yu (Jason Pai), who wanted the Holy Flames, two swords that make people unstoppable. Our heroes have been split up ever since, with “The Phantom” You-ming Elder (Phillip Kwok) raising Yin Tien-Chou and Tsing Yin teaching Tu Chuan-erh, so while the two start on opposite sides, they soon learn that the Holy Flames can only be handled by twins who are male and female, like them. Also, You-ming Elder just sits in lotus position and laughs his head off for most of the movie and I would love to hang out all the time with him.

This has it all and by all, I mean finger lasers, flying fights, a Snake Boy, a mummy, ghosts. vampire blood sects, female fighters devoted to maintaining their virginity, enough wire work for a hundred movies and colors so neon and garish that Mario Bava looking down from Paradise and said, “Wow. That’s really bright.”

When I watch movies like this, I start to wonder if I should ever watch another film afterward. They are too perfect and that nothing will be better than what I have just seen.

Also known as Abbot of Shaolin, this is all about Chi San (David Chiang), who has been sent by his Shaolin masters to learn a special kung fu from a Wu-Tang priest. There, he befriends Wu Mei (Lily Li) and runs afoul of the priest’s brother Pai Mei (Lo Lieh) and nephew Dao De (Ku Kuan Chun), who support the Quin. Well, before long, those evildoers have burned the Shaolin Temple to the ground and with his dying breath, the master tells Chi San he must travel to bring the Shaolin back to life. Drunk with power, Pai Mei kills his brother and attempts to seek out our hero, who has been gathering new students and preparing to rebuild the Shaolin Temple.

Director Ho Meng-Hua gets a Shaolin monk vs Tibetan lama fight in this, as well as a giant white eyebrow villain in Pai Mei that can shut off all of his body’s pressure points, which makes him one of the unbeatable Shaw Brothers final bosses that seemingly can defeat two or more good guys at the same time.

I’ve seen the Shaolin Temple burn so many times and even another film with Pai Mei — Executioners from Shaolin — and his brother White Lotus try to get revenge — Clan of the White Lotus — but I’ll watch it over and over again. Gordon Liu even showed up as Pai Mei in Kill Bill Volume 2, so when Westerners think of Shaw Brothers movies, he may be the exact character they imagine.

Thanks to Erich Kuersten, who correctly pointed out that I confused Lo Lieh with Gordon Liu. Check out his site, Acidemic. It’s awesome.

Directed and written by Chor Yuen, this is the story of Little Flying Dagger Li (Ti Lung), who has such strong ideals that he has lost almost everyone in his life, including Lin Hsin-ehr (Li Cheng), the woman he loves, who he feels unworthy of after a rival sword fighter saves his life. Now he wanders the countryside, drunk all day, for ten years with his assistant Chuan Jia (Fan Mei-Sheng). He then learns that the Plum Blossom Bandit is endangering his homeland. When he comes home, he meets Ah Fei (Derek Yee), another warrior who is looking for a gold armor shirt that can protect its user from any strike. Seeing as how the Plum Blossom Bandit kills with darts, this vest is very important.

Based on Gu Long’s Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword, this finds its hero wine drunk and pining for someone he knows he should have fought for. Seeing as how he’s the third best fighter in the world, he has a lot to deal with and all he wants to do is look at nature and, yes, drink to numb the pain of losing the only perfect woman he’ll ever know. Even when the bad guys poison his wine, he drinks more wine to get over it.

Funny enough, Li doesn’t use a sword but a fan. The name works for him, I guess, because it sets up all those people coming to fight him up to think he has a blade and instead he whips around a metal fan, which is a pretty interesting weapon and one I figure not many people have prepared themselves for.

Chor Yuen made seven movies in 1977 and its amazing that this looks as good and works as well as it does. That’s hard working.

Director Cheng Chang-ho (King Boxer, Temptress of a Thousand Faces) moved from Korea to Hong Kong to spend several years at Shaw Brothers before moving to Golden Harvest, making five movies that were set in modern times.

Detective Lung (Shin Il-ryong) is trying to find out who killed his father when he discovers that his father was a smuggler and that his business partner was the murderer. Now hiding under a new name — Wang (Chao Hsiung) — that man thinks that he is safe from Lung. He’s wrong. Our hero quits the force and heads to Bali, ready to get revenge for his father. He’s joined by his old man’s former partner, Chang (Chan Sing), who has a love for explosives.

Even better, you get the inked up Michael Chan Wai-Man and a John Lennon-glasses wearing Sammo Hung as the henchmen that they battle. Whether they’re chasing the bad guys — well, badder guys — in cars, on foot or riding motorcycles, this is a high action fight to the finish.

The Eureka! blu ray release of The Double Crossers has  1080p HD presentation from a brand new 2K restoration of both the Hong Kong theatrical cut and English language export cut. There’s new audio commentary on the Hong Kong theatrical version by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng, as well as new audio commentary on the export version by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, plus a trailer. It’s all inside a reversible sleeve featuring original poster artwork, as well as a limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling and a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by James Oliver. You can get it from MVD.

How weird was it when The Guyver just randomly showed up in my local video store, unannounced, bringing Japan weirdness into my 19-year-old movie rental obsession life?

When Dr. Tetsu Segawa steals the Guyver unit from the villainous company he’s been working for, his daughter’s boyfriend Sean accidentally finds it, puts it in his backpack and has it fuse with his body after he’s attacked by a street gang. That makes him a marked man by Fulton Balcus (David Gale) and his gang of Zoanoid mutants, which includes Lisker (Michael Berryman), M.C. Striker (Jimmie Walker) and Weber (Spice Williams-Crosby).

Directed by Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, this movie has some of the wildest effects I’ve ever seen, full body suits that still look great thirty years after I first watched this. I’m also still surprised that Mark Hamill is in this, while not as surprised that Jeffrey Combs and Linnea Quigley are in this.

Based loosely on the Yoshiki Takaya manga, this takes a lot of liberties with its inspiration, but for someone in the very landlocked small Western Pennsylvania town that I grew up in, finding this on the shelves of Prime Time Video was like some kind of magic, bringing something I thought I would never see to a place that I thought I would never get out of.

The Unearthed Films release of The Guyver is amazing, putting a movie into my collection that I thought I would never have. It has a 4K restoration of the original R-rated 35mm camera negative, along with the soundtrack on CD and a book. Extras include commentary with co-directors Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang, moderated by Dom O’Brien, the author of Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films, interviews with Brian Yuzna and Screaming Mad George, suit tests, outtakes, a gag reel, a production and art gallery, an alternative title sequence and trailers. You can get it from MVD.

Directed and written by Albert Band, this was the last Ghoulies movie to have any involvement from Charles Band, who sold the rights to Vestron Pictures to save Empire Pictures.

The ghoulies hit the road in this one, hiding in a truck that’s carrying a dark ride for a carnival. If Satan’s Den doesn’t start bringing in some cash, the carnival is going to close. So Larry (Damon Martin), his drunken Uncle Ned (Royal Dano) and a Shakespeare quoting smaller man named Sig Nigel (Phil Fondacaro) are going to give it all they’ve got. What they don’t know is that the scares are being created by actual demons. Or ghoulies. You know what I mean.

Shot on a soundstage in Rome’s Empire Studios, this was the only Ghoulies movie to play in theaters. I kind of love that W.A.S.P. has “Scream Until You Like It” on the soundtrack. What was it with W.A.S.P. and Empire Pictures movies? Their song “Tormentor” is also in The Dungeonmaster (and Ghost Warrior, which is not an Empire film).

This movie believes in viewer feedback. After many people complained that no one was killed on a toilet in the first Ghoulies, this was fixed here.

Also: This movie got me to make a Letterboxd list of 80s horror and science fiction movies where Royal Dano plays a drunk. And a list of movies where W.A.S.P. shows up, too.

The MVD 4K UHD release of this movie has a 2024 4K (2160p) restoration of the film presented in its original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio in Dolby Vision. It includes both the 90 minute Theatrical PG-13 cut and the restored 91 minute R-Rated Director’s Cut of the film. Plus, you get an introduction by Screenwriter Dennis Paoli, a trailer, a reversible cover, a collectible 4K LaserVision poster, a making of, an interview with Paoli and a trailer. You can get it from MVD.