In Hollywood, considering its current obsession with doing remakes, recycling hasn’t proven an unmitigated success. So a recent film from the Philippines is taking a different tack. Resiklo [aka Recycle] (Philippines-2007; dir. Mark A. Reyes) may be recycling tropes as old as the hills, but the SFX-heavy scifi epic is also rather unusual for the local film industry and has a plotline that is all about recycling. Alien invasion, post-apocalyptic rebellion and giant robots made from recycled junk: that’s the deal.
Click the image above for the full “wallpaper” version
Synopsis:
2021. A global devastation that was brought about by an alien invasion has left the planet in shambles. In the Philippines, a rag-tag group of survivors strives to survive in a secret sanctuary called “Paraiso”. Crisval Sarmiento, an ex-military colonel, is the reluctant leader that defends the whole compound from two threats: that of the “Mutanos” or mutated humans serving the insect-like alien race (aptly called “Balangs” by the humans) and the alien invaders themselves.
Crisval, together with other human survivors, soon discovers the real reason that the “Balangs” have invaded the Earth … the conversion [read “recycling”] of humans to serve their needs. In order to survive, the remains of the human race must go up against a technologically-advanced alien race using robots they have engineered from recycled parts of derelict everyday machines and military components.
In the midst of this war for human survival, love and faith become the greatest weapons we have.
Is the film any good? Well, reports from fans have been mixed (though as many of those are based on the viewing of poor-quality pirated copies, it’s hard to take them seriously), but critics have been more positive and the film won the 33rd Metro Manila Film Festival Best Picture Award in 2007. Resiklo is now on official DVD (from Star Home Video, a Philippines-based company), so we’ll be able to see for ourselves — in a decent format (assuming your player can manage Region 3 DVDs, I assume).
Below is a collection of stills, behind-the-scenes shots and robot designs:
Gallery:
For even more pictures, see the film’s official website Photo Gallery pages.
We haven’t had a giant monster commercial for a while. So here’s a new one, hot off the presses (well, last month). Very appropriate in this year of the really big robots.
Cool, eh?
And, no, it’s not an ad for the new Ghostbusters movie.
What amazes me most is not that someone actually comes up with these concepts, but that when the hangover passes, they decide to go ahead and make the film anyway!
On that note, I apologise for exposing your poor battered minds to the following film, but what can I do? It’s too weird to pass up.
El Ataque del Pene Mutante del Espacio [aka Attack of the Mutant Dick from Outer Space] (Spain-2007; dir. Dani Moreno)
Synopsis (as translated by Kaiju Search-Robot Avery, who is fitted with translation software):
Basically it’s a 50s sci-fi parody about a mission to space to discover a cure for the lobo children of Mexico, but during the mission the spaceship is bombarded with cosmic rays. While masturbating to some incredible photographs [art photos *wink wink nudge nudge*] the scientist is turned into a giant mutant penile monster that spews sulfuric acid sperm from his dick head! [No, really! That’s what it says!] The spaceship then returns to Earth and the man-monster-penis starts attacking people and must be hunted down.
Anyway, to make matters worse, the film is apparently in 3-D Penevision and when the… umm…. Thing explodes it all gets a bit personal!
The “Super Robot” genre of Japanese anime arguably began with with Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s 1956 manga Tetsujin 28-go, which was subsequently animated in 1963 and released abroad as Gigantor. But it was Mazinger Z, created by Go Nagai in manga and on TV in 1972, that most people believe defines the genre. The central feature is a huge robot piloted by a controller (often youthful) from within the robot itself. This trope became popular in innumerable manga, anima and TV shows.
Robot Taekwon V (known in the US as Voltar the Invincible) was the Korean answer to the popularity of Mazinger Z, and was arguably driven by political, or rather patriotic, sentiments in the sense that Taekwon V was designed to be a “Korean hero for Korean children” (as stated by creator Kim Cheong-gi). The Super Robot starred in an animated feature film that was released in 1976 to enormous box-office success.
Taekwon V remains a significant cultural icon even to today. The image below is of a statue of the Super Robot at Seoul Animation Center:
Incheon Metropolitan City is even planning to build a Robot Land park — to be opened in 2012 — which will feature a 40-floor high Robot Taekwon V Tower:
The original print of the influential Robot Taekwon V film was long thought lost, with remaining prints being of very poor quality and incomplete. However, when a duplicate print was found in a warehouse of the Korean Film Commission in July 2003, the Korean Film Council undertook a mammoth restoration project at a cost of 1 billion won. The pristine result was released to theatres in 2007 and set a new box-office record for domestic animated films, sparking renewed interest in Taekwon V. This interest manifest as large statues of the robot in various parts of Seoul, in art galleries across the country and even in front of the National Assembly building. Below is a rather humorous ad that utilises the Super Robot — you can work out what’s going on for yourself:
For some time now, word has been going around that Robot Taekwon V is being made as a 20 billion won (approx. US$20 million) live-action feature film by director Won Shin-Yeon (A Bloody Aria, The Wig, Seven Days), for release in June 2009 — in opposition to Transformers 2 perhaps. That plan may be optimistic, as very little has emerged about the film, including cast.
What we do know seems to rest in a few images and some robot test animation sequences (very impressive ones at that). They are gathered below. Click on the images to see them bigger (some are very big).
As you can tell from the following movement test footage, Robot Taekwon V takes its name from its use of taekwon-do, of which martial art its pilot is an expert practitioner.
Synopsis of the original animated film:
Dr. Kaff (or Dr. Cops; 카프 박사 in Korean), an evil scientist bent on world domination, creates an army of giant robots to kidnap world-class athletes and conquer the world. To fight off this attack, Dr. Kim creates Robot Taekwon V. Kim Hoon, the taekwon-do champion eldest son of Dr Kim, pilots Robot Taekwon V either mechanically or through his physical power by merging his taekwon-do movements with the robot. (Wikipedia)
For your viewing pleasure, an unnerving 20-minute horror film of the slow-burn variety — in the Evil Doll subgenre. Don’t skip to the second half (where things really get nasty). You need to be drawn into the right headspace — something this director does well. Stick with it. It’s worth it.
Dollface (US-2008; dir. Jon Springer)
Consumed by loneliness and sexual anxiety, Maxine retreats into her own psyche, only to be attacked and absorbed by a grotesque, parasitic doll.
So one evening in early 2009, I went to the Landsdowne Hotel, Broadway with Kaaron Warren (the horror writer) to see an old friend’s band and catch up with some other folks. We sat up the front, sipped our gin and squashes, had a bit of a chinwag and watched Alastair’s band The Blindfolds do their stuff. Other friends turned up and we moved away from the stage to talk as another band performed — a duo whose name I didn’t catch. They sounded good, but I complained to Monika about their boring clothes. I dunno, is it too much to ask for a bit of stylish costuming from performers? These two looked like they’d popped on some shorts for a dash to the supermarket when they realised they were out of milk…
Anyway, we were all sort of starting to work out where we might go next for some dinner when this dude walks up to the bar garbed from head to foot in black and red ninja gear, plus a velvet cape with a logo emblazoned centre back. He checks us out and says “You gonna come sit down the front or what?” in a snarky tone. So we did. And f**k me if Ninjaz with Attitude didn’t turn out to be the most entertaining thing I’ve seen for years.
Three hot guys in pseudo ninja getup, all crotch grabbing, groin thrusting, ax-posturing, leaping, cape twirling, strutting, screaming and dancing ego frenzy. Their songs — and banter inbetween — were all about the way of the Ninjaz, which, as we all know, is killing guys and getting it on with hot chicks. Their song titles include “I’m Awesome”, “Polygamy” and “Propensity for Violence”. The Ninjaz are: Shinoko (Vocals), Jintu “Hammermoto” Moto (Guitar/vocals), and Jubei Kibagami (Drums).
Kaaron and I agreed that for the first and only time in our lives we wished we were music industry executives so we could snap them up in an instant.
Instead, I got in touch and decided to do an interview with Shinoko.
Cat Sparks: Hello, Shinoko, and thanks for dropping by and for agreeing to be interviewed at Undead Backbrain today. Just a few questions as I know you’re very busy, the life of a Ninja being so hectic and fraught with danger, mystery and intrigue.
Shinoko: Thanks, Cat.
CS: So where are you from and how did you become a ninja? Were you abandoned at the temple door by black-robed strangers when storm clouds obscured the moon, the scandalous illegitimate progeny of a high priestess and the banished heir to a righteous throne? Or not? Tell us your origin story.
Shinoko: Well, I certainly wasn’t abandoned. You’d have to be out of your mind to abandon this perfectly designed piece of machinery that I so casually refer to as “my body”… No, I was born right here on Earth back in 1772. My father had migrated to Earth from planet Ninjitsu because the new Emperor was a dick, so he came to start a new life on Earth and found some Earth babes and had me and my two brothers Tadaki and Hammermoto a few years later. As for how I became a ninja, I was born a ninja. It’s a common misconception that ninja are trained to be ninja and then are thus ninja, no. Ninja are a race, the inhabitants of planet Ninjitsu. We’ve always dug the music from Earth though, so a lot of ninja have come here seeking awesomeness. Most ninja did migrate to Japan, or “Little Ninjitsu” as it was known before it became so heavily colonised. So yeah, I was born a ninja but my mother is full human, so I’m a halfy, I guess.
CS: About your war on Mediocrity. Mediocrity = white sliced bread, the colour beige, 4-wheel drives, cardigans… so what the hell have you got against this stuff? Without it, cool and rad would be invisible, don’t you think?
Shinoko: Well, to be honest beige, 4-wheel drives, etc. don’t bother me so much, not that they wouldn’t but I just think we have bigger fish to fry. Reality tv, poor text msg abbreviations, Australian Idol? We’ve got Johnny Rotten from the sex pistols judging a crap tv comp for bands and its just shit. Crap bands on myspace so desperate just to be noticed so they are spamming the hell out of every one instead of just making something awesome. It bothers me, pop music has never been so bad. Everyone is so terrified of standing out so they spend all their creative energy figuring out ways of blending in and being cool, trying to get on the door to Ivy pool bar drinking $10 peroni’s (beer) even though it tastes like shit and not enjoying themselves because they can’t relax! That’s mediocrity and I’m fixing to take a blade to its heart.
CS: Rumour has it you killed the band’s former bass player Machete. Was that in hand-to-hand combat, by stealth attack, unfortunate lawn mowing accident, a midnight duel? Details, please. Why did Machete have to die?
Shinoko: Machete, God love him. We were on a yacht moored off the coast of Thailand chilling with some babes over a few beers and I looked over him and I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity. I realised that I just didn’t like him, or rather I just wasn’t terribly fond of him. He’s was boring so I just got up from my chair walked over to him and gently eased a small blade into his Cervical Vertebrae, which pretty much paralysed him and I rolled him off the boat. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Machete, I always will but sometimes you have to kill that which doesn’t excite you.
CS: Rock star, Ninja assassin, chick magnet… So how hard is it achieving that elusive work life balance? What sacrifices have you had to make for fame and how far are you prepared to go?
Shinoko: We do whatever we want, whenever we want. If you are a ninja, that is all that is required. Over the past couple of hundred years we’ve made enough cash to live on for as long as we like and we’ve been the worlds highest grossing band for 10 years now. I still call Australia home so we’ve made a strict point of keeping our Australian crowd intimate. It’s great doing stadium shows in Europe and America but when we come back to Australia we just want to reconnect with friends, have a few beers and pork a few babes — not come off stage to have 30 guys with clipboards shouting at you about where you need to be.
CS: Do Ninjaz fight crime in their down time? Who scores highest on your arch nemesis list? Are superpowers involved or are your limbs swift blades of death, etc?
Shinoko: Sure, we love to fight and the most fun is in rescuing people from dickheads. Generally we prefer to save girls if at all possible — it’s just that little bit more awesome. But if there’s no one to rescue and we want to fight, we’ll find someone. Bolivia is a great place to go because they’ve always got a bunch of renegade armies good to go. As for weapons, the guys and I barely use them anymore because it means the fight is over too quick and there’s less sensory stimulation, I like to feel what I’m doing and that experience is lost with a blade for example. However those of the bloodline of the ninja are able to generate energy balls in our hands which are sometimes fun if you want to take out a helicopter though.
CS: What is the best method for getting blood stains out of a velvet cape?
Shinoko: No idea, I have an amazing dry cleaner in Haymarket who’s very reasonable and doesn’t ask too many questions.
CS: Where does the inspiration for your music come from? Who writes the songs? Do the Ninjaz ever fight over lyrics?
Shinoko: Generally inspiration comes during a big battle, I’ll be fighting away and all of a sudden a chorus will come into my head for example “you wanna fight?” came from a time when I was sleeping under a tree in Spain with a few babes in the early 1800’s and this militia group tried to take me by surprise while I was asleep. I ended up having a great time, there was so many of them! They kept coming and I kept whooping them, they were so passionate! Anyway, the chorus popped into my head so when I was done I got together with the boys and we put some music to it. The song has changed over the years and in the early 90’s when streetfighter came out I liked some of the sound bytes so I sampled some and put them into the song.
CS: Which bands have influenced NWA so far?
Shinoko: Well, I think the real question is which bands have WE influenced the most. A few of the bands that have us listed as influences in their bio include Faith No More, Judas Priest, Ludacris, Jay Z, Dungeon, Ynwie Malmsteen, Metallica, Public Enemy and Devo. However, I consider them all great artists in their own right and we are honoured to be such an inspiration to them. Except for Jay Z who’s kind of lost his way over the past few years.
CS: Which is the most important element for success: cool threads, smooth moves or a powerful shriek?
Shinoko: The most important element for success is awesomeness. Some people have it, some don’t. I think many people have it buried within them but never find it because they’ve wasted their time trying to sound like someone else… Like “Indy Bands”. Holy shit, one day I am going to head down to Oxford Art Factory and murder anyone and everyone inside.
CS: If Godzilla attached Sydney, would the Ninjaz defend it?
Shinoko: Absolutely, but in fairness we’re not going to be thinking about valour and honour or what not, that’s just going to be an awesome fight! If Godzilla is real and I pray to god that he or she is, I dare you… Attack Sydney, or attack somewhere, we’ll come to you and you will squeal like Paris Hilton in a Datsun.
CS: And finally, what advice would you give aspiring Ninjaz who might be reading this blog?
Shinoko: Stay true to your heart. This world will try to judge you, tell you that killing is wrong. That if you kill a man in cold blood then that makes you a murderer. Stay true. There will come a time when Ninjaz can coexist with human kind in peace and social killing will no longer be such a taboo. Until then my brothers, keep the faith.
You can hear complete and completely awesome songs by the Ninjaz on their MySpace page, which is, of course, totally awesome.
For those in the Sydney area (or those compelled to undertake a spiritual journey from distant parts), upcoming gigs by Ninjaz with Attitude are:
11 March 2009 @ The Annandale Hotel
17 Parramatta Rd, Annandale, Sydney, New South Wales 8pm. Cost: $5.
19 March 2009 @ The Landsdowne Hotel
2-6 City Rd, Chippendale, Sydney, New South Wales
Free! 8pm
28 March 2009 @ The Landsdowne Hotel
2-6 City Rd, Chippendale, Sydney, New South Wales
Free! 8pm
Archangel Alpha (US-[in production, 2009]; dir. Aaron D. Martin) is an independent scifi film with a post-apocalyptic scenario, a love story, a futuristic war and giant robots. Backbrain has mentioned it on and off (last time here), and while we haven’t been able to get a look at the robots yet, we have received a bunch of images from the film (viewable below), along with a link to some brief behind-the-scenes videos.
Synopsis:
Three friends (Elena, Alexandra and Grigori) have their relationship pushed to the breaking point when they find themselves on opposite sides of a devastating war. In the midst of the final deciding battle, Grigori is killed by Alex. Elena and Alex are both shot down. They confront each other just as The Beast, a merciless AI weapon, is released onto the battlefield. The Beast goes rogue and turns against both sides, annihilating both armies and initiating a nuclear launch between the warring nations. In the aftermath, Elena and Alex must escape the killing grounds while coming to terms with their actions.
A reluctant heroine, Elena (above) is drawn into a civil war just as she finds love for the first time in her life. She finds qualities she didn’t know she had and discovers the strength to fight for a better world. Elena is an Esper, a small group of people born with the ability to control computers with their thoughts. As part of a misunderstood and oppressed minority, she has kept her ability a secret. A native daughter of the city-state of Praetoria, Elena joins her rebellious nation in its fight for independence from the Socialist Republics Directorate (SRED). This brings her in direct confrontation with the friends she left behind. Elena is played by Nikki Meauvais.
Alexandra (pictured above) is the top ace of the Red Army Air Corps. A hero of the SRED, she’s feared by her enemies and reverred by the other Red pilots. “Alex” has two overriding goals: To server her country. To win. She’s a born fighter and prides herself on being a fearsome killer. Until now little else has mattered to her. This all changes when she meets Elena. The connection between the two is immediate and soon leads them to a secret affair. For the first time in her life, Alexandra is able to look past the constant warfare to something more hopeful. But it’s short-lived. Soon the SRED is on the move to crush the rebellious breakaway nation of Praetoria. Alex is an orphan. She was raised by the state and is dedicated to protecting the regime. Her loyalty to the SRED is unwavering. This sets her against Elena and Grigori when they side with Praetoria. Alexandra is played by Katherine Joan Taylor.
Gallery:
You can view some Behind-the-Scenes videos on our subsite Undead Brainspasm here.
