1984 • Hong Kong • Directed by Chia-Liang Liu
After one of its lead actors (cherub-faced action icon Alexander Fu Sheng) unexpectedly died midway through production, master director Lau Kar-leung (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin) retooled his latest martial arts epic, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, as the ultimate action spectacular in tribute to the fallen star. Loosely based upon the legendary Yang dynasty chronicled in Chinese folklore, the film starts as the family patriarch and all but two of his sons are brutally wiped out in a bloody battle. One surviving son (Fu Sheng) returns to his mother and two sisters, deeply traumatized; the other (Gordon Liu) escapes and joins a nearby monastery while in hiding. Once he learns his sister (Kara Hui) has been captured by their enemies, however, the warrior-turned-monk realizes he must renounce his peaceful ideals in order to mount a rescue mission and avenge his family. Made during the legendary Shaw Brothers studio's twilight years as a filmmaking powerhouse, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter is often regarded as director Lau’s masterpiece, as elegiac and suffused with anguish as it is thrillingly violent (not least in its bone-crunching, teeth-smashing climax).
1989 • Italy • Directed by Jeff Kwitny
Shy American college coed, Beverly Putnic, has been invited to go on a class trip to a remote part of Yugoslavia to witness and take part in an ancient cultural rite. But what Beverly doesn't know is that she's actually being lured to Europe in order to be ...
1988 • Spain • Directed by José Ramón Larraz
A young, married couple move into the wife's aunt's estate after inheriting the sprawling property. Soon, weird occurrences begin to happen around the house, and they start to suspect the tenants are responsible.
1985 ･ United States ･ Directed by Simon Nuchtern
The residents of a small border town find themselves under siege by a vicious biker gang who get their kicks from unfettered brutality. When Stryker, a hardened Vietnam veteran who's in the area visiting an old friend, learns of the goings-on, h...
