Monster of the Day #1380

I saw a pretty great movie over the weekend, but it didn’t provide enough still. So we’ll start the week with a great zany Philippine horror movie I showed Sandy several years ago.

The Toxic Avenger’s stats went way down after he had to give up the ‘roids, though.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Now I’ll get to see if those non-Japanese Asian horror films are really as nutty as folks say.

  • Gamera977

    BTW: does anyone know anywhere I can rent off-the-wall Asian stuff like this? I’ve heard Netflix is cutting back to more mainstream stuff. I was reading recently about a Korean horror movie about a Kitsune (Japanese term, I can’t remember what you call them in Korean), a fox spirit that can take human form that I’d really like to see.

  • Netflix seems to be cutting back on EVERYTHING WORTH WHILE. Used to be I could find a few decent Horror flicks. These days, squat.

    On the off the way stuff, you might wanna check out Amazon’s Instant Video section. I’ve been noticing more and more Asian flicks popping up there. They also have a decent selection of old school stuff.

  • Gamera977

    I’ve picked up some oddball stuff like ‘Mystics of Bali’ from Amazon but didn’t think to check their streaming service. I’ll give it a look, thanks!!!

  • Flangepart

    “Sir, might I ask you’re help in putting my eye back in my face? No? Well, good day to you then…”

  • Rock Baker

    I’ve seen a handful of Filipino monster movies, but not nearly enough of them. This doesn’t look familiar to me, so it must be one I’ve missed.

    Filipino genre pictures tend to have solid production value (most shot over a period of months as opposed to days or weeks), but very wacky central themes. In this sense, they’re kinda relative of the Mexican monster movies. The bulk of Filipino film production is geared toward war epics. At least it was back when.

  • I’d also give HULU a shot, they have a lot of international stuff, usually broken down by country. They tend more towards TV than movies, but not entirely, so it’s worth a shot. They certainly have a few odd Russian horror things right now. And they have a lot of Korean stuff, although, again, they lean toward k-dramas rather than features.

  • Crap, I didn’t even think of Hulu. That might not be bad, either.

  • Eric Hinkle

    The Korean kitsune is a Kumiho, or Gumiho (which was the title of the movie, I think; always wanted to see it!).

    In legend the Kumiho uses human bones to transform into the duplicate of a human woman. Then she murders the original, joins the family, and manipulates and slaughters everyone.

  • Gamera977

    Hey thanks CW, GJ, and EH!!! Yeap that’s the movie ‘Gumiho’ or ‘The Fox With Nine Tails’. Apparently Amazon Prime does have it but I also found it at a site called Play-Asia for ten bucks so I went ahead and ordered it on DVD. I’ll let ya’ll know how it turns out. Headed out to look at the HULU site now, I forgot about them too.

  • Gamera977

    The only Filipino horror I’ve seen so far is ‘The Beast of the Yellow Night.’ It did sorta remind me of a Mexican flick now that you mention it.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks for letting us know about Play-Asia, I’ll have to check that site out.

  • Gamera977

    No problem. How did I live before the internet?!?

  • Eric Hinkle

    Just asking, what title was the DVD under on Play-Asia? I’m looking there now myself and I’m not finding it.

    EDIT: Never mind found it after all.

  • Rock Baker

    If you get a chance, check out BRIDES OF BLOOD, a sort of middle ground between the monster movies of the 50’s and the more gritty exploitation films of the 70’s.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I finally read up on that movie over at Amazon. So, someone did a movie about the penanggallan? (I think that’s how you spell it.) Ye gods! The thing sounds like the entire crew dropped acid and then started the cameras.

  • The Rev.

    Mystics in Bali was good fun. Never bogs down enough to get boring, or give you time to think too much about whatever nutzoid crap you just saw. I think the T-Fest gang enjoyed it on the whole; I know it was right up my alley.

    There are actually a few penanggalan movies out there; along with Mystics there’s Witch with Flying Head (1982), Mystery of the Merry Widow (1991), Penanggal (2013), and one I can’t remember, although I know Teleport City had a review of it at some point, and I think mentioned the penanggalan fighting against a toy helicopter in a highrise or something. (Yes, I really want to see it, how’d you guess?) Also, Tamnan Krasue (2007) features a creature that is pretty much a penanggalan by a different name; said creature has apparently popped up in a few movies over the years, as well.

  • The Rev.

    So, what is this, Ken? You’ve apparently stumped us all.

    Filipino exploitation movies are something I really should be more familiar with. I saw Superbeast in high school, just saw The Twilight People and the “Cinematic Titanic” riff on Brides of Blood in the last year, and I think that’s about it. Oh, Vampire Hookers, too. If nothing else, I really need to get around to all the “Blood Island” movies.

  • Gamera977

    Oh wow, there are more penanggalan movies!?! I’m writing all of these down, thanks!!!

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks for that list. Never knew the penangggalan was that popular.

  • The Rev.

    I didn’t, either. Mystery and Penanggal I was unaware of until I found them while checking the dates on the other two. And honestly all the krasue movies might as well count for penanggalan ones.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Krasue movies? What are those? I never even heard of them before.

  • The Rev.

    The krasue is the Thai version of the penanggalan, which is Malay. Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia have different names as well, but they’re all the same basic thing: A floating woman’s head trailing its viscera with a ravenous, vampiric appetite. The creature in Mystics in Bali is technically a leyak/leak, rather than a penanggalan (the movie is Indonesian; indeed, they call it a leyak in the movie), but no doubt due to “Dungeons and Dragons” the western world thinks of that creature as a penanggalan. Anyway, due to Thailand having a more robust movie industry than most other countries in Southeast Asia, it’s unsurprising that there are quite a few more krasue movies than penanggalan ones.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks. One of these days I need to track down a book about

    the monsters of Southeast Asia.

  • James Wallestein

    what is the name of this movie? the monster coming from the sea, is he? Thank you for your help