Daily Archives: May 2, 2016

A Brighter Summer Day / Gu ling jie shao nian sha ren shi jian (1991) Edward Yang, Chen Chang, Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang, Crime, Drama, Romance

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Among the most praised and sought-after titles in all contemporary film, this singular masterpiece of Taiwanese cinema, directed by Edward Yang, finally comes to home video in the United States. Set in the early sixties in Taiwan, A Brighter Summer Day is based on the true story of a crime that rocked the nation. A film of both sprawling scope and tender intimacy, this novelistic, patiently observed epic centers on the gradual, inexorable fall of a young teenager (Chen Chang, in his first role) from innocence to juvenile delinquency, and is set against a simmering backdrop of restless youth, rock and roll, and political turmoil.
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The Devil Hunter / El caníbal (1980) Jesús Franco, Ursula Buchfellner, Al Cliver, Antonio Mayans, Horror, Sexploitation, Erotic

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The story is set amongst jungle tribes that live in fear of the devil. Laura Crawford is a model who gets kidnapped by a gang of thugs whilst working in South America. They take her into the jungle and demand a huge ransom. Laura is guarded by some ridiculous looking native who calls himself “The Devil” and has to go through all manner of unpleasantries until the gang get their ransom. Chained maidens are offered in supplication and the devil demonstrates eating pussy in a grossly excessive literal manner. Enter Peter Weston, the devil hunter, who goes into the jungle in true Indiana Jones style to try and rescue her.
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Hold Back Tomorrow (1955) Hugo Haas, John Agar, Cleo Moore, Frank DeKova, Drama

Hold Back Tomorrow (Hugo Haas, 1955)
Joe Cardos, a death row inmate in some unidentified country, is to face the gallows in the morning for strangling three women. Filled with bitterness at the world, and perhaps himself, Joe lashes out at the warden and guards’ attempts at making his final hours a little easier, and refuses to see either his sister or the prison chaplain. However, Joe does change his mind about being granted a last request, one the prison is obligated by law to fulfill: He asks for a woman’s company so he can have some “fun” in the time that’s left. After asking around, two police detectives show up at the prison with a down-on-her-luck former “waitress” named Dora, who earlier that night had tried to drown herself. Dora, totally broke and feeling she has nothing to lose, has agreed to spend the night with Joe in his cell. As she sees it, the money she’s being offered should be enough for “a decent funeral.”
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