Cult Classic Trailer: Q: The Winged Serpent

There can never be enough love in this world for an underrated filmmaker like Larry Cohen, so excuse me while I briefly plug this release of his 1982 monster flick Q the Winged Serpent. Modern viewers may recognise his name on the screenwriting credits of films like Phone Booth and Cellular, but a few decades earlier, when Cohen was in his prime, he was cranking out one terrific B-movie after another: everything from gritty blaxploitationers (Black Caesar, Hell Up in Harlem) to horror gems (It's Alive, God Told Me To) to offbeat thrillers (Perfect Strangers, Special Effects).

The low budgets of his films didn't always meet his ambitions, but this rarely mattered when he could pull off genre pics with the sort of scrappy charm, economy and personality that's sorely missing from contemporary filmmaking. A fan favourite, Q, with its herky-jerky Harryhausen-style creature effects, is a perfect example of Cohen's work. Hats off again to Vendetta Films for putting it out on DVD and Blu-ray! Check out the trailer below  (taken from an old Roadshow VHS tape):

Cult Classic Trailer: No Retreat, No Surrender

Junkies of cheesy '80s action movies will be pleased to know that Corey Yuen's 1986 martial arts flick No Retreat, No Surrender is getting re-released on DVD and Blu-ray from Vendetta Films on April 17. The film is probably best known for featuring the first big feature-starring role for Jean-Claude Van Damme (who plays a Russian baddie named Ivan Kraschinsky), and maybe more infamously, as the one where the main character, young karate champ wannabe Jason Swillwell (Kurt McKinney), trains from the ghost of Bruce Lee. Click on the youtube trailer below to soak up some '80s karate goodness:

Cult Classic Trailer: For Y'ur Height Only

If you had told me, 7 years go (when I started working here), that we'd be stocking For Y'ur Height Only in our library, I'd probably think you were punkin' me. This Filipino midget-spy-spoof insanity was one of the treasures from the days of Pete Tombs' Mondo Macabro (the DVD label released it in 2005) and I never thought I'd see the day when it'd be getting a local release. So props to Vendetta Films, whose October 19th release of this nutty gem (and its sequel The Impossible Kid) will be getting my award for Most Surprising Local DVD Release of the Year. Check out the trailer:



Also worth checking out is Machete Maidens Unleashed! a documentary about low-budget Filipino filmmaking in the '70s from the director of the superb Not Quite Hollywood. Long live Weng Weng!

Cult Classic Trailer: Heathers

On May 18th, Vendetta Films will be releasing the DVD and Blu-ray of Michael Lehmann's super-dark 1988 high school comedy Heathers. It's a true cult classic that's influenced everything from Election to Mean Girls, and we've had plenty of requests for it so we're pretty stoked to see it finally come out here. Check out some killer shoulder-pad action in the trailer: