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Imaginator Magazine Issue 10!

August 28, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Issue 10 of Imaginator Magazine is available via Amazon and other fine retailers…

Amazon UK:
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Or, if you’re in the UK or USA, you can order below (at discounted price) direct from the publishers:
https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=Pqy6VZ7sWzwPmYp03DIgflewd9MAsyTD9PP2sw2evZy

This issue boasts loads of mouth-wateringly marvellous Godzilla-related contents, plus a massive celebration of the bloody & brilliant cult classic SHOGUN ASSASSIN. There are other goodies too, including reviews of a bunch of entertaining movies, including MONSTER SHARK and RIVER OF BLOOD.

Posters for River of Blood and Monster Shark

Forming part of this issue’s massive Godzilla movies zone is a series of 12 mini-articles, written by a selection of creative people (artists, actors, directors, publishers, and so on), who each choose their favourite Godzilla film to praise!

In this issue…

A TRIBUTE TO GODZILLA
51 pages are devoted to Godzilla – the King of the Monsters!

The Godzilla-tastic contents include:

JORG’S TOP FIVE GODZILLA MOVIES
Director Jörg Buttgereit, famed for his transgressive arthouse-horror movies NEKROMATIK (1988), DER TODESKING (1990), NEKROMATIK 2 (1991) and SCHRAMM (1993), shares with us his top 5 Godzilla movies!

RUSSELL FOX PRAISES… GODZILLA (1954)
Russell Fox, the comic book illustrator who has credits that include work for 2000AD and cover art for Dynamite Entertainment’s PURGATORI comics, explains why this Godzilla flick influences his style.

ALLAN BRYCE PRAISES… MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA
Allan Bryce, the convivial editor of the very popular magazines THE DARK SIDE and INFINITY, gushes about his fave Godzilla film.

WILLIAM MARTELL PRAISES… GODZILLA MINUS ONE
William Martell, who is the writer of films including NINJA BUSTERS, DROID GUNNER and HARD EVIDENCE (and the author of the incredibly helpful how-to book on writing for the movies: THE SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING), informs us why this Big G film ticks all the boxes!

KEN MILLER PRAISES… DESTROY ALL MONSTERS
The editor of IMAGINATOR magazine loves this film – and now he’s going to tell you why.

HANS KAUFMANN PRAISES… GODZILLA (2014)
Hans Kaufmann, the director, writer, editor and producer of the social-drama-meets-Taxi-Driver movie THE WORKING MAN (2019), fills us in on why he thinks this US Godzilla release is so good.

DAVID FITZGERALD PRAISES… SHIN GODZILLA
David Fitzgerald, the FX artist & actor who helped create the barbaric outfit worn by the god-monster in RAWHEAD REX (1986) and starred in the M.R. James parody horror film SQUEAK AND I’LL RUN TO YOU (2021), reveals that he likes the look of Shin Godzilla’s teeth!

RICKY BAKER PRAISES… GODZILLA MINUS ONE
Ricky Baker, editor of the kung-tastic magazine EASTERN HEROES and the co-author of THE NEW ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO HONG KONG MOVIES, highlights what makes this modern Godzilla classic rock!

DIALLO JACKSON PRAISES… KING KONG VS. GODZILLA
Diallo Jackson, the writer/creator whose work includes short stories, novels, and the comic book THE PARANORMALS, reveals why this film was appointment viewing for him.

RAIMUND HUBER PRAISES… GODZILLA MINUS ONE
Raimund Huber, the director of thrilling, kinetic actioners like BANGKOK ADRENALINE (2009) and KILL ‘EM ALL (2012), divulges why he thinks this Godzilla movie stands out.

JOE CASTRO PRAISES… GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER
Joe Castro, the special effects artist who has created numerous great-looking practical (often very splattery) FX gems for productions including BLOOD FEAST 2: ALL U CAN EAT (2002), BONEHILL ROAD (2017), THE BEAST COMES AT MIDNIGHT (2023) and TERROR TOONS (2002), reveals how this Showa era Godzilla film inspired him to join the movie business.

RUSSELL SHAW PRAISES… GODZILLA MINUS ONE
Russell Shaw, the actor who has starred in WITCH (2024), ADVENTURE BOYZ (2019), THE LOCKDOWN HAUNTINGS (2021), ESCAPE (2023) and many more films, describes why this is, for him, a truly impressive Godzilla movie.

Actor Russell Shaw praises Godzilla Minus One

MARK DUFFIELD PRAISES MONSTERS FROM AN UNKNOWN PLANET
Mark Duffield, who is the writer, director and cinematographer of the Thai-based supernatural movie GHOST OF MAE NAK (2005), and the writer, director, producer, editor, art director and cinematographer of the fine Victorian-set Gothic horror film DEMON (2012), fondly remembers seeing this Godzilla film in the cinema back in the 70s…

GODZILLA VS. MARVEL
Read about GODZILLA VS. AVENGERS, and find out why the one-shot comic GODZILLA VS. THOR is so very, very good!

GODZILLA – KING OF THE KAIJU
A 16-page appreciation of EVERY ONE of the city-trashing behemoth’s many, many movies!

Godzilla - King of the Kaiju title page - detail

THE MISSING MONSTER FROM GODZILLA VS. KONG
Hollywood Creature Designer Ken Barthelmey talks about a beast he designed for GODZILLA VS. KONG, which never made it into the movie…

GODZILLA POSTER GALLERY
Feast your eyes on a sumptuous selection of stunning Godzilla artworks.

ULTRA HD HAVOC!
Johnny Burnett raves about Godzilla movies released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray!

Detail from 'Ultra HD Havoc!' title page

A CELEBRATION OF SHOGUN ASSASSIN

40 pages are given over to honouring SHOGUN ASSASSIN and the LONE WOLF AND CUB films & comics! This includes an overview of the superb, gory samurai flick SHOGUN ASSASSIN, plus a quick lowdown on every LONE WOLF AND CUB movie and TV show, and there’s a dive into the world of the original manga too!

VOICE OF DAIGORŌ!
Gibran Evans, who gave Daigorō his voice in SHOGUN ASSASSIN, talks to us!

MASTER POSTER PAINTER!
An interview with Jim Evans, painter of the iconic SHOGUN ASSASSIN poster!

Plus – SHOGUN ASSASSIN and LONE WOLF AND CUB Blu-rays & DVDs are reviewed!

RADIOACTIVE REVIEWS

Movies reviewed include THE LAST SACRIFICE and MONSTER ISLAND. Guest reviews from horror novelist Ramsey Campbell and scriptwriter William Martell!

Shot of creature from Monster Island — Monster Island

LIGHT AND SHADOW
Plunge into the striking b&w world of artist Russell Fox’s fantastical comic book illustrations!

Some of these articles originally appeared in issue 2 of FILM FRENZY, a magazine Ken Miller edited and co-published through Eastern Heroes. Now that he’s running his own publication, Ken decided to share some of those contents, notably the SHOGUN ASSASSIN features, because, well, they’re great, especially the interviews with two key figures connected to the making of the movie: Jim Evans and Gibran Evans. Hopefully more readers will now get the chance to enjoy this material!

Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995)

August 26, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Promo art — Get ready for lots of low budget blood and gore!

Starring Shinichi Fukazawa, Masaaki Kai and Asako Nosaka. Written, directed and produced by Shinichi Fukazawa.

Naoto (Fukazawa) is asked by his ex- girlfriend, Mika (Nosaka), to take her to the haunted house that Naoto has inherited from his deceased dad. They are accompanied by a psychic (Kai), who is able to pick up on an ominous presence in the building. Later, the face of Naoto’s dead father (also played by Fukazawa) appears on a TV screen to warn his son that the psychic is possessed by the ghost of his murdered lover, who has the power to prevent them from leaving the house… and Naoto is informed that the only way to deal with the psychic is to hack him to bits!

Low budget gory things occur throughout the film

This very low budget film from Japan, also known as THE JAPANESE EVIL DEAD, looks really grainy (it was shot on Super 8) and manages to make Sam Raimi’s 1981 movie look like a big budget IMAX production in comparison! Shinichi Fukazawa filmed most of this flick in 1995, but it wasn’t released on DVD in Japan until 2012. It received an official international release in the UK by Terracotta Distribution in 2017, and since then Visual Vengeance has released the film on Blu-ray in America.

Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell artwork — Artwork for the Visual Vengeance release

There are lots of lo-fi FX to keep you watching BLOODY MUSCLE BODY BUILDER IN HELL, such as when the ghost drops a pendant into the psychic’s mouth, after which the pendant slithers from the victim’s mouth via jerky stop-motion effects, then bores through his eye, into his head! We also get to see a knife rammed through a head, skewering an eyeball on the blade’s tip. Some of the visual gore gags are fun, like when Naoto uses his chest expander as a kind of catapult to fire an iron bar through a zombie’s head. These effects are far from realistic, but I guess it’s the willingness of Fukazawa to try and put this stuff onscreen not matter what that counts.

As much as Fukazawa tries to emulate Sam Raimi’s first two EVIL DEAD movies (at one point the lead character even says “Groovy”), there’s a lack of real verve and bravura camera techniques compared to Raimi’s productions. The location lacks atmosphere too, with everything shot in close-up. But perhaps it’s churlish to be too critical about the film’s shortcomings, as there’s an I’m-doing-the-best-I-can determination to the proceedings, with Fukazawa trying to get as much up on screen as his budget (and his skills) will allow. Thus we get a severed head zipping about on a severed hand, more cheap and cheerful stop-motion footage, and a sequence where the dead girl uses body parts and blood to regrow herself à la a bargain basement version of what happens in HELLRAISER (1987).

A shot from Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell

The film ends with shots of a decomposing zombie body, again accomplished by stop-motion and amateur gore effects, that apes the finale of THE EVIL DEAD (1981), though it’s all done in a far less accomplished way, of course.

If you’re partial to do-it-yourself horror productions and you’re happy to ignore the many shortcomings, the non-existent budget, and a lack of professional technique, then this short, inexpertly-made, unpretentious homage to Sam Raimi’s classics just might be your cup of (tarnished) tea.

Imaginator #10 Coming Soon!

August 8, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

IMAGINATOR ISSUE 10 boasts loads of new, mouth-watering, marvellous Godzilla-related contents! Plus – there are excellent features that originally appeared in issue 2 of Film Frenzy magazine – so, if you missed that publication, you can enjoy reading some of those awesome articles now in this new issue!

Imaginator #10’s look at the King of the Kaiju is a MASSIVE, MULTI-PAGE TRIBUTE…

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS
An adoring look back at the incredibly colourful 1968 creature-fest: this film features SO MANY monsters! It’s Kaiju-fan heaven!

THE MISSING MONSTER FROM GODZILLA VS KONG
Hollywood creature designer Ken Barthelmey (Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs Kong, The Tomorrow War) shares the incredible monster designs he did for a truly cool-looking Hollow Earth creature that didn’t make it into GODZILLA VS KONG (2021)!

GODZILLA – KING OF THE KAIJU
A huge 16-page overview of ALL of Godzilla’s feature length films!

Godzilla - King of the Monsters UK poster

FAVOURITE ZILLA MOVIES
Directors, artists and writers talk about their favourite Big G movies! Find out which Godzilla flicks are liked by folks including: director Raimund Huber (Bangkok Adrenaline, Kill ‘Em All), director Mark Duffield (Demon, Ghost of Mae Nak), director Hans Kaufmann (The Working Man), publisher & writer Ricky Baker (Eastern Heroes, The New Essential Guide to Hong Kong Movies), editor Allan Bryce (The Dark Side), author and scriptwriter William Martell (Steel Sharks, Black Thunder), actor Russell Shaw (Witch, Bone Keeper), special FX artist Joe Castro (Terror Toons, Blood Feast 2), FX expert and actor David Fitzgerald (Squeak and I’ll Run to You), and comic book artist Russell Fox (Angela and the Dark, Vampirella vs Purgatori)!

GODZILLA POSTER GALLERY
Check out a bunch of sumptuous-looking Godzilla movie posters!

GODZILLA TOP FIVE!
Cult filmmaker Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromatik, Schramm, Nekromantik 2) is a Godzilla super-fan! He selects his top five favourite Big G movies and tells us why they’re so good!

GODZILLA VS AVENGERS
A review of the mighty Marvel crossover comic, which includes guest appearances from Jet Jaguar… and Marvel’s very own kaiju: Fin Fang Foom!

GODZILLA BLU-RAY REVIEWS
Johnny Burnett, the YouTube reviewer known as the Fanatical Dragon, checks out some Godzilla Blu-ray releases!

GODZILLA VS THOR
A look at the awesome Marvel comic that pits the King of the Kaiju against the God of Thunder! It’s a brilliant issue!

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

SHOGUN ASSASSIN – A CELEBRATION
This is a 40-page celebration of the gory, extremely enjoyable cult classic SHOGUN ASSASSIN!

The magazine’s many SHOGUN ASSASSIN features include:

VOICE OF THE WOLF CUB
An interview with Gibran Evans, who provided the voice of Daigorō!

MASTER OF POSTERS
A chat with poster artist superstar Jim Evans, who talks about creating the SHOGUN ASSASSIN poster!

CLASSIC MANGA
The lowdown on the totally brilliant LONE WOLF AND CUB comics!

SHOGUN ASSASSIN OVERVIEW
A look at what makes the film so bloody good!

LIGHTNING DISCS OF DEATH!
SHOGUN ASSASSIN and LONE WOLF AND CUB Blu-rays, DVDs and boxsets are reviewed and rated by Johnny Burnett!

Imaginator magazine’s CREATURE FEATURE SPECIAL EDITION!

May 28, 2025 Ken Miller Leave a comment

There is SO MUCH monster-tastic wonderfulness enclosed in this issue!

Imaginator magazine’s CREATURE FEATURE SPECIAL EDITION is available all over the world (UK, US, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, etc) via Amazon and other fine retailers!

Amazon US:
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Amazon UK:
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INTERNATIONAL BOOK RETAILERS…

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Or, if you’re in the UK, you can order below (at discounted price) direct from the publishers:

Buy Now

Okay… let’s check out the issue’s contents…

PREDATOR
Award-winning creature designer/creator STEVE WANG talks about designing and building one of the most iconic alien characters ever created for the screen… the original PREDATOR!

DRAGONSLAYER
Special effects & make-up effects titan CHRIS WALAS recounts what it was like helping to bring to life the greatest-looking movie dragon: Vermithrax Pejorative!

ALIEN
Actress VERONICA CARTWRIGHT is interviewed about working on the classic genre movies ALIEN, INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS and THE BIRDS! She describes the day they shot the bloody Chestburster scene!

WEREWOLVES
A look at the awesome practical creature FX used in WEREWOLVES (2024)! One of the actor-producers tells us what it was like to work with Frank freakin’ Grillo!

ELDRITCH ENCOUNTERS
Horror fiction author, editor and critic RAMSEY CAMPBELL reviews two films made by the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society!

CREATURE FEATURE REVIEWS
Noah Kneal, Simon Pritchard and Ramsey Campbell review a bunch of monster movies! Titles include BOGIEVILLE and ALIEN FROM THE ABYSS!

THE DEADLY SPAWN
JOHN DODS chats about making the gorgeously gooey, triple-headed monster star of THE DEADLY SPAWN (1983), plus he covers other pivotal moments in his career, including building creatures for SPOOKIES (1986) and NIGHTBEAST (1982)!

INTO THE DEEP
2025 is the 50th anniversary of the release of JAWS… and it is also the year that Richard (Hooper) Dreyfuss is unleashed upon the world in a brand new shark movie: INTO THE DEEP! Action director CHRISTIAN SESMA tells us all about it!

BEASTS OF BLOOD ISLAND
A dive back into the lurid, tropical, colourful world of Eddie Romero’s Filipino fright flicks!

SQUIRM
Director JEFF LIEBERMAN reminisces about his incredibly enjoyable killer bloodworms opus SQUIRM!

HORROR QUEEN
Exploitation movie star GERETTA GERETTA chats about starring in RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR (1984) and the insanely kinetic DEMONS (1985) – plus she even reveals what the recipe is for making demonic movie drool!

MONSTROUSLY TALENTED
This interview with KEN BARTHELMEY, a mega-gifted concept designer and illustrator who focuses on Creature & Character Design work for big Hollywood movies, includes lots of very impressive concept artworks for such films as THE TOMORROW WAR, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS and GODZILLA VS. KONG!

SHE’LL BLEED YOU DRY
MADALINA BELLARIU ION stars as a sultry and sometimes savage vampire in the impressive UK horror movie DRAINED! Here she chats about playing a vampire and playing a werewolf, and also fills us in on what it was like co-starring with Scott Adkins in a recent action flick!

NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE
The supremely talented Creature Designer KEITH THOMPSON discusses how he conceptualised the surreal and wonderfully macabre god-monster that appears in the memorable finale of NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE (2021), the movie adaptation of the Adam Nevill novel!

Keith Thompson creature design for No One Gets Out Alive

THE FLY
Oscar-winning creature-creator CHRIS WALAS returns with a second interview this issue! Here he talks about the amazing work he did creating Brundlefly for David Cronenberg’s utterly wonderful THE FLY!

A VVITCH – GRAPHIC NOVEL UPDATE
Artist and writer Russell Fox treats us to another sneak peek at more sumptuous-looking illustrations that’ll be appearing in his upcoming folk horror graphic novel A VVITCH! (More of his work can be viewed in issue 8 of Imaginator)

BONE KEEPER
This is a new movie, which has recently finished principal photography, about a group of friends being hunted by a malevolent monster in a cave. Director HOWARD J. FORD and creature effects VFX supervisor GIORDANO AITA talk about working together on BONE KEEPER, and they share with us some ace images of the development of the cave creature!

THE MAN WHO WAS MOLASAR
Actor Michael Carter is asked what it was like to wear the incredibly distinctive and damn cool Molasar muscle suit in THE KEEP. He also speaks about the makeup application process he underwent to become Bib Fortuna in RETURN OF THE JEDI, and he chats about playing a memorable London subway victim in the all-time 80s horror film classic AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON!

RADIOACTIVE REVIEWS
To finish off this issue there are a couple of non-monster movie reviews, including one for the Italian Mad Max ripoff 2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS!

Wow! So much lovely stuff is jammed inside this single issue!

LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
You can buy two Limited Edition Creature Feature Prints, signed and numbered by Imaginator’s cover artist ZillaMan, via this LINK!

The Strange World of Planet X (1958)

July 30, 2024 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Starring Forrest Tucker, Gaby André, Martin Benson, Alec Mango, Wyndham Goldie, Dandy Nichols and Richard Warner. Screenplay by Paul Ryder, based on the book by Rene Ray (which was a novelisation of the 6-part television series also written by Rene Ray). Directed by Gilbert Gunn and produced by George Maynard.

'Every second your pulse pounds they grow foot by incredible foot!' — ‘Every second your pulse pounds they grow foot by incredible foot!’

Also known as COSMIC MONSTERS and THE STRANGE WORLD, this b&w British science fiction horror movie tells the story of experiments with magnetism that unleash cosmic rays that turn a hobo into a burnt-faced strangler and enlarges all the local bugs.

This modest production meanders at an unhurried pace to start with, though it’s interesting to check out the mixed acting styles on show here, with Forrest Tucker, as scientist hero Gil Graham, delivering a dependable performance, whilst most of the Brit actors surrounding him come across as really quite stilted. French actress Gaby André, playing fellow scientist Michele Dupont, injects a little Gallic exoticness to the mix, and Martin Benson adds a smidgen of mystery to proceedings as the visitor ‘Smith’, who turns out to be a Klaatu-like alien on a mission to warn Graham and the others that their meddling with Earth’s magnetic field will have deadly consequences.

Michele Dupont (André) and Gil Graham (Tucker) are work colleagues who become fond of each other

After rather too many scenes set in the local pub, the plot thankfully kicks into gear, once all the cosmic ray-affected insects, grubs, millipedes, spiders and even a newt become monster-sized and do battle with soldiers in the woods next to the lab. Woot!

There are a few pub scenes in this movie — There are several pub scenes in this movie

Michele realises that this is a giant insect egg!

The filmmakers certainly include a diverse bunch of critters in this flick, that’s for sure, including a larval dragonfly and cockroaches. Les Bowie, who supplied the special effects (lots of magnified close-ups of creepy crawlies, etc), does a quite decent job, especially if you consider what little time or money he must have had to bring his low budget wonders to the screen.

Watch out! It's a big larval dragonfly! — Watch out! It’s a big larval dragonfly!

The best moment comes when a huge spider fights with a giant cockroach, as the heroine, trapped in the spider’s web, looks on in fear. This sequence is achieved using rear projection, and it looks pretty cool, with tree branches and white strands of prop spider web strung over the rear projection screen, adding a sense of depth and dimension to the visuals. But, when Gil runs up to save Michele, the rear projection image (of the spider) is turned off for some reason, so that the blank rear projection screen can be clearly seen beneath the prop webbing. But, hey, it’s a memorable creature-tastic sequence all the same!

Michele, stuck in the web, watches as the enlarged spider fights the giant cockroach — Michele, stuck in the web, watches as the enlarged spider attacks the giant cockroach

THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X is definitely a cheap and threadbare production, but Tucker brings some much-needed verve to his role, thus preventing the film from becoming too stilted as we wait for the monsters to show up. Along with this production, Tucker also added his gruff, American vigour to the UK-made sci-fi-horror films THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN (1957) and THE TROLLENBERG TERROR (1958). The fact that he was in these three flicks means that I can’t help but rate Tucker highly! What a dude!

Tucker as scientist Gil Graham in THE STRANGE WORLD OF PLANET X

Ultimately, this movie is worth a watch, as it also features a wobbly flying saucer saving the day by blasting the (model) science lab to bits, and the film includes a brief, surprising moment of gore too, as we see a soldier getting his face eaten by a killer bug!

A bug eats a soldier's face! — A bug eats a soldier’s face!

Here are some lobby cards…

Here’s a US poster for the flick…

The poster claims 'this ravaging death overruns the earth...' but the whole story is set in a small UK village! — The poster claims ‘this ravaging death overruns the earth…’ but the whole story is actually set in a small UK village!

Finally, this is a COSMIC MONSTERS promotional sheet that used to form part of a Seven Arts Associated binder. Seven Arts Associated was a television syndication distributor and they published a yearly binder in the 1960s, which showed the films that would be available for television airing/syndication. These binders were sent to the television stations. Anyway, I like the COSMIC MONSTERS artwork used for this promo sheet…

I love the giant spider illustration! — I love this giant spider illustration!

Project Wolf Hunting (2022)

March 23, 2024 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Starring Seo In-guk, Jang Dong-yoon, Choi Gwi-hwa, Sung Dong-il, Park Ho-san, Jung Moon-sung and Jung So-min. Written by Kim Hong-sun, directed by Kim Hong-sun, and produced by Gu Seong-mok.
Cheum Film/Contents G

Wow! This is a really visceral, cool & bloody action-horror-sci-fi flick!

A group of South Korean prisoners are transported from the Philippines in the cargo ship Frontier Titan, overseen by a large team of Korean police officers, led by Seok-woo (Ho-san). The surly cons are kept in line by the cops, but it all gets very bloody as a murderous team takes over the vessel, the prisoners are freed, and then an unstoppable being escapes from his restraints in the bowels of the ship…

There's a lot of stabbing in this flick — There’s a lot of stabbing in this flick

Just to reiterate: this ultra-violent flick is fond of knifings (and shootings, bludgeonings, etc)!

The start of PROJECT WOLF HUNTING is paced nicely, showing us around the ship and introducing the cops, the cons and the ship’s crew members. But soon the killings start and we’re left in no doubt that director Kim Hong-sun intends to deliver a non-stop, blood-drenched, action-filled movie where the visceral, violent aspects of the story take precedence over the plotting and characterisations. This approach has been criticised by some reviewers, but I appreciate Hong-sun’s commitment to making such a no-holds-barred production where the brutal carnage and action is the whole point of the movie. And, anyway, this isn’t to say that the characters are blandly sketched, because the director still manages to imbue many of the bad guys with a warped, sick charisma, especially the tattooed psycho Jong-du (In-guk) and the ruthless, machine gun-toting inside man Kim Gyu-tae (Moon-sung).

Kim is a cold-blooded killer, like many of the other characters!

When the superhuman killing machine Alpha (Gwi-hwa) begins his murder spree at the midpoint, the carnage intensifies. Alpha, who has swollen flesh around his eyes that are sewn shut with outsized staples, stomps loudly about the ship like a part-zombie terminator. This monstrous dude cannot be reasoned with and is revealed to be a lobotomised human weapon test subject for the Kemono Project, a Japanese-run experiment dating back to the Second World War. We’re even treated to a flashback that shows Alpha bludgeoning a team of Japanese soldiers to death with a human skull!

Alpha is initially in storage below deck... — Alpha is initially in storage below deck…

...but once the zombie-like Alpha awakens he really goes on a killing spree! — …but once the zombie-like Alpha awakens he really goes on a killing spree!

An extra layer of complication is added for the surviving cops (and several ‘nice’ cons) when it’s divulged that the pharma company Aeon Genetics is behind the presence of Alpha on the ship: they’d been bringing Alpha to South Korea to find out why he doesn’t age. With chaos reigning on the cargo vessel, Aeon flies in a helicopter full of mercs, but these all end up dying in grisly ways too, just like most of the cast.

This isn't merely 'a super soldier extravaganza', it is an 'extraordinarily gory super soldier extravaganza'! — This isn’t merely ‘a super soldier extravaganza’, it is an ‘extraordinarily gory super soldier extravaganza’!

In a film where various characters are revealed to be the super-powered results of experimentation, arterial blood-jets go off like lawn sprinklers, and heads get caved-in on a regular basis, this well-shot, ultra-violent sci-fi-horror-actioner keeps you constantly guessing as to which characters might stand a chance of surviving until the end of a movie that’s awash with puddles, squirts, rivulets and torrents of blood. In case you didn’t know already: I think this flick is bloody ace!

This scene doesn't end well for all the Japanese characters! — This scene doesn’t end well for all the Japanese characters!

Alright then, one more shot from the movie…

Seo In-guk, as a tattooed psycho-killer, kills yet another victim! — Seo In-guk, as a tattooed psycho-killer, knifes yet another victim!

The Heroic Trio (1993)

March 9, 2024 Ken Miller Leave a comment

Starring Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, Anthony Wong, and Yen Shi-Kwan. Directed by Johnny To, with action by Ching Siu-Tung.
China Entertainment Films Production/Paka Hill Productions.

A villainous Evil Master (Shi-Kwan) dwelling in the sewers below a city sends an invisible assailant out to kidnap children, one of whom may be the preordained ‘King’ of China’…

...and here's what he turns into later! — …and here’s what he turns into later!

THE HEROIC TRIO is the gold standard Hong Kong sci-fi/comic book-style super-femmes movie (okay, I know that there were not exactly loads of this specific kind of movie back in the early 90s!)

Though directed by Johnny To, the film has action director Ching Siu-Tung’s stylistic fingerprints all over it. This is a prestige, sumptuous genre production dripping with lush lighting, large sets and audacious, over the top action moments, spiced up with humour, violence and lashings of manga aesthetics.

It's the Heroic Trio! — It’s the Heroic Trio!

Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung play heroines Wonder Woman, Invisible Woman and Thief Catcher, in a preposterous yarn about an Evil Master (Yen Shi-Kwan) forcing the Invisible Woman to steal babies in the hope that one will turn out to be the next Emperor of China. Invisible Woman switches sides, after some face-offs with the other two super-babes, and the trio clash with the Master and his roaring, bird-eating super-minion Chan Gau (a fit, agile Anthony Wong).

All right then, I know that in today’s world one shouldn’t objectify women… but, boy, these three actresses were at their beautiful best here. The late Anita Mui demands the viewer’s attention whenever she’s onscreen, playing the most empathetic of the three and looking great in her silver mask. Michelle Yeoh is always a good reason to watch a movie, and here she gets to play both a (blackmailed) associate of the bad guy and also a hero. Maggie Cheung, as Thief Catcher, wearing kneepads, small black shorts and stockings, gives her character an irreverent, mouthy attitude at first, but she begins to add more gravitas to her role after being poisoned by needles and suffering from guilt after the death of a baby.

When I saw this on its release, when Hong Kong films were still at their zenith, it was perhaps easy to take THE HEROIC TRIO slightly for granted, but now I appreciate much more the full-on commitment the filmmakers’ had to producing a colourful, outrageous entertainment, using all the techniques and skills at their disposal, piling on tons of wirework stunts and practical effects.

A fight in the Evil Master’s underground lair

The film features some great sets, including the Evil Master’s subterranean lair beneath the city, where babies lie in numerous bird cages suspended from crisscrossing lengths of chain. There’s also a big train station set, which is rigged so that a full-scale train can be slammed through a wall in a standout set piece action scene!

Battlin' babes at their best! — Battlin’ babes at their best!

The film is full of incident and fun visuals: the Master looks evilly resplendent in a grand costume, Chan Gau goes on a killing spree with a flying guillotine, and Wonder Woman’s cop husband gets to stoically put his life on the line several times. But the main focus is always on the three heroines, who are willing and able to use throwing weapons, dynamite, swords and machine guns to beat their enemies!

With on-the-nose sentimental scenes that work within the heightened, pulpy world of the story, and a mad finale in which the skeletal corpse of the Evil Master latches onto Invisible Woman by entwining around her with his limbs & ribcage so that he can use her like a human puppet to battle her friends, THE HEROIC TRIO may occasional contain action shots in which you can see the wires, and maybe the Invisible Woman is not invisible very often in the story, but who really cares? This is the kind of production that was made by Hong Kong creatives operating at their peak, something you’ll never see again.

The Evil Master becomes a raw-fleshed, skeletal monster!

Close-up of one of the living skeletal corpse's legs! — Close-up of one of the living skeletal corpse’s legs!

Invisible Woman (Michelle Yeoh) gets grabbed!

If you haven’t seen this film before, track it down and give it a watch!

Devoted to every kind of movie and TV monster, from King Kong to Godzilla, from the Blob to Alien. Plus monsters from other media too, including books and comics.