Shaolin Drunkard

Shaolin Drunkard - 1983 - Hong Kong - Kung-Fu/Comedy

Shaolin Drunkard is a downright silly movie.  It feels like an Asian version the The Three Stooges doused in heavy doses of crack and LSD.  The comedic aspects of Shaolin Drunkard are most present through its slapstick style fighting and stunts, as well as its wacky actors and their facial expressions. this flick also uses a wide range of hilarious sound effects, and has monumentally bad and cheesy dubbing.

On top of being silly, this film is equally bizarre.  Shaolin Drunkard is so damn weird that I wouldn't hesitate to say that it gave me a bit of a surrealist vibe.  Many of the stunts, unique weapons and contraptions, and strange monsters are not only hilarious and bizarre but impressive and inspired.  All these great effects and stunts are complimented by vibrant and colorful set design.

I wont delve to deep into the plot, as it isn't all that interesting and often is squandered by several subplots, but I will say it revolves around an evil wizard held prisoner that escapes from the temple he is held in.  Its up to the old drunkard with obnoxiously big buck teeth and his unlikely sidekick to stop his path of destruction.

This particular Kung-Fu flick doesn't have a dull moment.  It moves at an extremely fast pace throughout. The fighting itself doesn't particularly stand out, but when the weapons and magical powers are brought into play, such as the metal rings, (wielded by the evil wizard), things get real interesting and the stunts become quite complex and fun to watch.  The director Woo-Ping Yuen has an impressive resume in stunt and action director work, including films like Drunken Master, Kill Bill Vol. II, and Kung Fu Hustle (which happens to bare a strong resemblance to this film)

Overall Shaolin Drunkard is an extremely entertaining film.  The FX are great, the laughs come often and the cheese level is high.  If you're a fan of Kung-Fu and general silliness give it a watch.

You probably wont have any luck finding the DVD, whole thing is on youtube though! Shaolin Drunkard youtube link
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Plot - 4/10
Action - 9/10
FX - 8/10
Laughs -  8/10
Blood n' Guts - 2/10
OVERALL - 8/10 



The drunkard does some silly nonsensical shit.

The evil wizard prepares his escape!

Getting slapped around by a spinning boxing glove booby trap.

Wielding the power of flame!

A scheming street merchant.

An enormous evil toad lurks behind the drunkard!

Nekromantik

Nekromantik - 1987 - Germany - Horror/Shock/Art-House

Nekromantik is an infamous German video nasty from director Jorg Buttgereit.  Out of print for many years and infinitely hard to find on DVD or VHS without dropping a small fortune, it only built intrigue for years in the minds of those like myself who haven't seen it.

Rob, a morgue attendent, lives with his girlfriend Betty.  Right off the bat it becomes apparent that this couple is a little off, and might have a few screws loose.  Rob keeps jars of preserved body parts sitting on his shelves, and Betty is first shown taking a bath filled with blood.  It isn't long before these two are overtaken by their obsessions with death and succumb to more sinister urges.

It only becomes more apparent of Robs fascination with the macabre as he performs an autopsy.  Intertwined with this scene is stock footage of a real live rabbit being killed and skinned by a farmer, an uneasy scene to sit through particularly for an animal lover like myself.

The weirdness grows exponentially after Rob steals a corpse from his workplace to bring home to show his wife.  In no time a love affair between the rotting corpse, Rob and Betty starts.  Quickly they begin engaging in taboo acts of necrophilia.  These scenes, macabre and gross as they may be, aren't portrayed so in the film, as they are accompanied with a romantic piano score and are artistically shot.

I hesitate to call Nekromantik an art house film, but that's essentially what it is.  Rather than relying on plot points to tell the story, this film jumps from scene to scene rather sporadically and uses symbolism and metaphors to convey its message.

Essentially, Nekromantik is a film about not only accepting the prospect of death, but embracing it.  Embracing it to the point where one can gain sexual arousal from it.  Nekromatik, overall, is a happy film i think.  Despite the dark subject matter and all the blood and guts thrown in, we find our lead character liberated, and finally able to feel happiness through the prospect of dying and death, shown tenfold in the beautifully absurd ending.


Plot - 8/10
Acting - 7.5/10
Blood n' Guts - 7/10
Macabre - 9/10
Action - 4/10
OVERALL - 7.5/10



Rob examines one of his specimens

Dead guy in a wheelbarrow

Getting intimate with a corpse.

Taking a literal bloodbath.

Rob in a hallucinatory state.

Major headache!