THE HIT LIST - August 3, 2015

There weren't a lot of new stunt reels to host this week - I share a lot of them anyway so I wouldn't really be surprised if I covered every working stunt professional who had a reel. 😀 Still though, I have a few gems to share in this week's Hit List which also grants us a look at a small variety of some upcoming independent projects, as well as the usual assortment of exciting independent fight action that goes out in epic fashion, and a little something special end!

Toby Fuller, James Mowat, Benjamin Redic II and Jenna Hellmuth outline this week's playlist of stunt performers with fantastic reels, in addition to an awesome featurette by stuntwoman Cheryl "In Action" Lewis, on location in Jersey City, New Jersey back in June to rappell 480 feet down a building in the name of fighting cancer. Check out the goods!

Getting into some cool new promotional content is a set of four titles, two of which will need help of public support.

The first is a campaign pitch by the folks over at DC Stunt Coalition (MAGfest, Swords Of Insurgency) for their upcoming Spartacon Live-Action Gladiator Stunt Show debut in Maryland. The event page is live on Facebook where you can join in on the fun as the show, hosted by Red Serpent, L.L.C. sets out to premiere a bold reenactment of daring action sequences inspired by the Starz hit series. In the meantime, the team itself is well into its current Indiegogo campaign to help raise money to reimburse its members with a reasonable bit of pay, as well as to reassure future live-performances for audiences across the country.

Watch the campaign video below!

Next up is the first of several trailers now online for The Hit List - this one is for an inspired Batman fan film directed by James Campbell which is set to arrive this October provided current post-production crowdfunding goes according to plan. Ripper is the name of the project and puts a uniquely impressive conceptual spin on the Batman storyline with a late nineteenth century London setting as it sets up for a decisive final battle between darkness, and the one vigilant Knight lurking within. Find out more about it at the Indiegogo page right here!

The second trailer comes in the wake of the latest digital download release in the form of the new documentary, From Here To There. Professional freerunning athletes Jesse LaFlair and Cory DeMeyers are the center of this newest profile with segmemts by fellow stunt performers and friends alike as it looks into the various aspects of what it really means to chase your dream as a freerunner. You can find the documentary right now on iTunes, Google Play and wherever digital downloads are sold, including links in the description of the video in the player below.

The third trailer is for upcoming short dark dramedy, The Recovery from A Mindful Samurai Productions. Filmmaker A.J. Singh wore multiple hats for this one while directing this latest gem clocked in at just forty-two minutes with actor and producer Jon Bailie starring in a story of a drunken loser's last ditch effort to get himself together when life takes an expected turn.

It's not heavy on action but does present glimpses of what looks to be typically British comedy and drama with a few hits to the face to boot. Not to mention the soundtrack here has some extra good energy, courtesy of Ace Records and Selrec International, Ltd. It's heading to festivals first and foremost, so mind the poster just beneath the trailer and keep this on your radar if you see fit.

And now we get to the fight stuff, with action actors Betim Alimi and Agron Pajaziti in Special Forces, Delivery Man from the folks at CBR Stunts, indie filmmaker Anthony Pho's latest Monkids offering, Candy Thief, the latest superhero Minute Match-Up from the ismahawk channel pitting Green Arrow against Hawkeye, Nathan Quattrini's latest test fight stunt gathering titled Poison and a Neo-Geo-inspired experimental Final Fight fan short from the gang over at EMC Monkeys that will literally have you spinning in circles (open it with the YouTube app and you'll see what I mean)!

Of course, I'm going to save the best for the last. It's the latest upload from the amazing crew over at stellar action choreography and film team, Reel Deal Action and having seen it for myself many moons ago, I have been waiting and hoping it wouldn't be too long before I could share this to you. Yes, it's director Christian Pfeil's MULTI award-winning shortfilm, Evil Twin, with Can Aydin in a dual role in a story that takes place following a robbery involving two teleportation jewels, and an epic fight between two brothers on opposite sides of the moral compass.

This is from the same team that's about to unleash its feature film and without dissent, it'll be well worth it to see what happens on that end. For now though, I welcome you to watch Evil Twin in all its explosive, hard-hitting and spectacular NSFW glory, and follow the Facebook fanpage right here. Who knows what that could that could accomplish, if not the hopes of a forseeable feature or a sequel?!

And now for that special little something - no, I'm not too familiar with her music, but it's still worth taking an ear to even if you don't speak the language. Taiwanese hip-hop artist and musician, Miss KO, unveiled her latest music video dedicated to domestic violence awareness with a special message shedding light on how her own survival inspired her to help carry the message forward. Let It Go (Stop The Violence) is the name of the song with actor, stuntman and filmmaker, Ron Yuan, sitting in the director's chair. Granted, most of the lyrics aren't in English but the imagery here is just as compelling and transcending in nature.


....Wow. I can't wait until next week and hopefully I don't bleed the inrernet dry! 😁 Last week's Hit List was even more loaded with action and I highly recommend bookmarking it for later viewing if you've missed it . Beyond that, if you make movies that kick just as much ass or do stunts that are just as daring, bold and sensational, send them to me directly at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!

THE HIT LIST - December 29, 2014

It's been another amazing year of presenting independent action to help their respective creators attain bigger audiences. There were a few that were supposed to come out by now, but unfortunately some of those (as usual) tend to take longer, whether or not they have to do with post-production or other plans for allocation. Maybe 2015 will bring better, much deserved prospects. Action films need to get better, and the folks included in this week's Hit List are just a handful of people worthy to help in this cause.

What better way to celebrate post-holiday cheer than to watch two Santas duke it out to see which one is more badass?! It's Good Santa vs. Evil Santa performed by Italian stuntfighting team D-Unit's own Mirco Cazzol and Loris Ripamonti in Mission: Impossible - Christmas Protocol!

Here is another new gem from Canadian stunt team, Eclipse Stunts with a newly released trailer for Jingle Bell Rocked. The project never got finished, as always with a lot of independent shorts that fall ill to lack of time and busy scheduling of its performers, but it still presents a nice little glimpse of what could have been. Maybe one day we will get to see a full fight scene from it, although I'm not sure. At any rate, the trailer is up for viewing.

Seven years after mixing it up on YouTube, stuntmen and brothers Alfred Hsing and Alvin Hsing are following up on their holiday tradition with another installment of Holiday Hsing Fight. It's got a nice little set up and both of these guys have have sharpened greatly over the years within their repsective careers. It shows and hopefully you've already taken notice. If not, then it's not too late to do so now.

Independent filmmaker and martial arts enthusiast, Eric Nguyen re-launched his official website for his film platform over at Lunar Stunts Action Cinema. As such, he's accompanied his latest update with fresh new content in the form of some cool behin-the-scenes footage showcasing Nguyen with performers Irvin Nguyen and Mickey Arce on the set of his own recent short, El Guerrero. It's not often shorts like these get their own making-of featurettes, so its great to have these little windows that allow us to look at these up-and-coming professionals from a genuine perspective; In my own humble opinion, one thing I've noticed is that Irvin smiles a lot. He can literally kick your ass with a smile on his face and not even know it... I guess some of us have yet to reach that level of "cool".

Take a look below and feel free to visit the website and check out Nguyen's entry along with a couple of set pictures for good measure.

Up next is another little bit of back and forth from Wolf Stunts' own David Conk behind the lens, collaborating with screenfighters Anthony Anderson, Blake Roach and Neil Bogucki. It's shorter than a minute but still cool to check out as a pre-requisite for what will hopefully come next this year. Check it out, in addition to two more reels featuring Conk, and fellow collaborator, action actor Ben Aycrigg.

French stuntman and filmmaker Godefroy Ryckewaert first came on my radar about a year ago. He's got a great eye for the lens and he's back to highlight that fact once again with the new comedic action short, Tatapis Tami, which I can only summarize as gang warfare at its most prepubescent! I thought this was funny, charming and well executed, and I'm hyped to see what Ryckewaert comes up with next after this.

Filmmaker Fernando Jay Huerto's year has proven quite fruitful, with a feature film in development with an official cast announcement pending, and a flurry of online action collaborations with a number of young and inspired performers at home and abroad. You can check out a glimpse of those in his newest 2014 martial arts action reel, featuring clips of previous and upcoming shorts to come!

There isn't much I can say about this particular video. It intially released online back in July as a concept for a new series titled Interface, which aims to introduce a story that crosses between the visionary strengths and urban, gritty tone of films and TV shows like The Raid, Inception, Blade Runner and The Wire. Blood And Bone helmer Ben Ramsey and actor, martial artist and writer Arnold Chon are behind this ambitious project, and not more has been built on it except what has been left with a Facebook page to further champion the concept with news articles devoted to innovative science and technology relative to the subject matter. If this all suits you, feel free to take a look and subscribe to the page, and hopefully it will mean this concept will be done some cinematic justice. For now though, the video is below. Oh, and for good measure, there's some more Interface footage in stunt performer Christopher Balualua's summer reel from earlier this year just beneath!

For this segment, we have some previz footage featuring UK stuntmen Jean-Paul Ly and Law Jhon for the new martial arts action short, Deep Pan Fury from filmmaker Charlie Dennis. Both are attached to the project with Ly (Lucy, Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist) directing the action in a spiritual thriller about a Japanese fighter in search of redemption with no choice but to reclench his fists once more when local Yakuza underlings threaten his grandfather's pizzeria.

I'm a pizza lover so I'm proudly partial. I can't wait to see the ass-kicking that awaits, and I hope it gets funded as it deserves to be. Check out the video and head over to Kickstarter to watch even more solid concept footage within the campaign video!

French action director Cedric Tellier delivered an impressive action short earlier this year in the form of Elit Unit prior to puttng up a small teaser for another upcoming fast-paced short titled La Casse back in October. This month, he's offered another small teaser, now with an additional kick in the eardrums courtesy of Metallica, and you can now check that out as well.

It's been quite a while since I last wrote about Danny Vega's upcoming directorial debut, A Dance With The Devil. Mainly, the production has hit a few snags between now and last year, so the project is now undergoing some reconstruction and it may be a while before we learn what that means. Nevertheless, Vega has taken to the interwebs to share one of the project's pivotal fight sequences. Hopefully we see more of this, because it really looks worthy of something larger in scale. Check it out!

Dardrex Productions's latest piece of work showcases what happens when a teacher becomes weary of his student's suspicious absenses. Missing Student is the name of the project with Darren Holmquist and Frank Hernandez working the lens with performances by Martin Chan and Eddie Ramos.

Swedish stuntfighter, up-and-comer Betim Alimi's latest showreel is online, and it's worth a look. Alimi has been aspiring for this particular field for close to ten years now, having been a martial arts purveyor since he was five. Endulging on a staple diet of the Hong Kong classics of yesteryear was what led him to start cutting his teeth in 2005. 2009 saw the worst of it when he broke his leg, and his screenfighting recovery has largely been a slow and steady one as more projects have followed, and I've had the good fortune of sharing a few of them on this site this year.

The stunts, the takes and the injury are among all you will see summarized in the following reel, highlighting Alimi's driven spirit to keep going.

Epic Bully Fight is a bit of a throwback. It's a little over a year old and features performances by YouTube personalities Dominick Sandoval and Jerel Mascarinas, and to be honest, I don't remember if I shared this on my blog or not, and I don't really care, because it's worth sharing as its one of the most fluid and slick videos I've seen in my time as a blogger. It's got action, goofball comedy and some spectacle to boot, and even though these two aren't known for making these kinds of videos, I certainly wouldn't complain if they made more.

If you watch enough online tutorials on martial arts, you probably know who Wing Chun expert Master Wong is. He talks a lot of shit, but backs it up pretty awesomely, and it's all very informative and entertaining as well. Moreover, I've been curious as to whether or not he would accomodate doing an action film someday, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that opinion. Well, to those it may concern, our curiosity here gets somewhat rewarded in his latest video pitting Wing Chun against boxing.

It's the stuff of all sorts of martial arts fanboy chatter when compairing styles, so take a look and feel free to decide who wins in the end. This should be interesting!

With this year's induction of vampire slasher comic book pitch, Heartbreaker, and sword-wielding samurai short, Bladed Minds, former adult entertainer-turned-screenfighting temptress, actress Celine Tran has already set herself up for potentially greater prospects in the action genre, provided that her efforts remain continued. The responses from online netizens have been nothing short of positive, and action fans can only hope we see much more sooner. And if you're one of those fans as of late, then you'll be delighted to take a look at Tran's newest action short, Burst, with director Vincent Gatinaud back behind the lens and Mathieu Lardot directing the truly cutthroat action!

And lastly, freerunner Ryan Doyle has something he wants you to know. And you know what? I believe him!

Subscribe to these channels right now, and if you have a QUALITY action movie project you would like shared on Film Combat Syndicate, email your inquiries at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com. CLICK HERE to view previous entries!

THE HIT LIST - December 22, 2014

Christmas is approaching and hopefully you all have your gifts and stocking stuffers ready. With any luck, this could mean more of what is listed below from the creators and performers in today's installment of The Hit List!

Kicking things off with something a bit more holiday-spirited is Italian stuntteam Flying Without Fear and their new short, Stunta Clause: Una Visita Inaspettata (Stunt Claus: An Unexpected Visit). Stuntman Daniele Balconi takes the lead once more as the not-so-big guy in red as he's forced into another annual epic battle. Good thing he's in shape, because this creature looks pissed!

This week, I have at least two reels that I feel are worth adding to the Hit List, featuring stuntmen and action actors Vonzell Carter and Eric Jacobus. Carter is best known for his collaborative efforts for the last several years with the folks over at Thousand Pounds Action Company, performing and even directing much of their action-packed projects. He's currently partaking in some projects he can't talk about publicly, but its safe to say he's on his way up.

Of course, the same can also be said for Jacobus, founder of The Stunt People and a tentpole of the martial arts film community whose new reel is host to a number of accomplishments,  including Mortal Kombat Legacy 2 and horror anthology, The ABC's Of Death 2, as well as upcoming shorts like Rope-A-Dope 2 and his latest performance in the new short, Sensitive 70's Turtleneck Tough Guys from director Jose Montesinos.

Commence endulging!

Here, we have another test fight short project from the folks over at Cinematic Fight Studio titled Seven Seven. The short was constructed as one of the deals included by the studio for its clients, including Olie Brown who has already been training with studio founders Lang Yip and Adam Lee, in addition to performing in a few projects as well. Brown is joined by Matt Healey this week, and you can check them both out below.

Having followed aspiring action auteur Eric Nguyen and his work over at Lunar Stunts Action Cinema, I can honestly say that what I love most about his projects is the amount of contemplation and focus he puts in developing the characters he writes. He's only gotten sharper in the years since and he's back to prove that once more before the new year with this week's shortfilm, El Guerrero (The Warrior), the story of a bounty hunter whose own ego will serve as litmus test when he goes toe-to-toe with an enigmatic tattooed killer in the desert.

Lunar Stunts regulars Mickey Arce and Irvin Nguyen star, and hopefully you've already taken notice of this fine group as it continues to make strides to showcase their talents in filmmkaing. They're seriously good at what they do, and I hope their respective careers and visions take them to higher plateaus in 2015.

Up next is a commercial recently unveiled commercial produced for a massage chair company called Kawaii. The commercial was directed by up-and-coming filmmaker Ken Dinh whose Dallas-based group, P & K Company Productions, has been operating for close to a year now while working to set things in motion for some feature-length projects. Their most recent efforts can be seen in the new horror thriller, True God, for which a trailer has been going viral for about a year now, although the creamy center of their modus operandi leans more toward martial arts action, so with any luck, we will see some more progress from Dinh and his team in the next two weeks. In the meantime, Stairway To Heaven is the name of the theme for Dinh's contribution to Kawaii, starring lead actor and martial arts expert, Peter Tham with fight choreography by Vu Thach. Take a look!

The next video comes from stuntman Dylan Hintz over at DC Stunt Coalition with fellow performer John Soares. The two convened over at Soares's location in Nashville, Tennessee following Hintz's 16-hour bus ride, and while its one of the first test fights Hintz has ever done, its one he's considerably proud of. And rightfully so, with some great hand-to-hand and weapons choreography, and some noteworthy camerawork to boot.

There's a huge backstory Hintz will have available on his own blog which should appear in the description of the video following this write up. At any rate, this video was pretty entertaining!

Martial Club is probably one of the most prolific sports groups out there in the martial arts community. Martial artist member Andy Le who recently sat down with the folks over at Just Kidding Films to chat a bit about his roots and his future with the team, in addition to other current and developing plans. Of course, film is also a part of the plan, as per the latest trailer for the new Martial Club shortfilm, The Greatest Adversary, a story that puts Le's character on a warrior's journey leading to a climatic final fight against a mysterious foe.

Check out both videos below!

Newly on our radar is director and cinematographer Sergio Herencias who's dabbled a bit in the action genre in earlier years, including with the 2010 short, The Prague Assignment. Nowadays you'll catch him with folks like Swiss actor and aspiring action director and screenfighting athlete Betim Alimi as they've just put out a fresh new test fight project from Guave Studios titled Knuckle Heads, with Fetim Fetahi also starring. It's a genuinely awesome, simple story set in a futuristic underground game for the rich where the players are literally in control. And I do mean literally. It's worth every minute and I highly recommend it.

This next little gem is something I caught a bit late since it was uploaded a month ago. This one is titled The Take Back from director Isaul Trinidad, and I don't know much about him or his resume. However, I hope to learn more about him if there is more where I can find this, because it's pretty solid work! Principal performances include that of William Christopher Ford, Jacob Saphir and David Bezeau.

Busy trying to find your happy place on the job? Well, the folks over at U.K.-based Storm Freerun have you covered in their latest collaboration video to push the new HP Stream, accompanied by their usual assortment of epic feats of stuntwork they've become known for since 2010. Just follow the Twitter hashtag #WorkFromHappyPlace and see your way to newer heights!

And here, we have Jela Oka Okpara, a longtime advocate of kung fu cinema with a vision that harkens back to the glory days of Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers. You can see hints of this among other colorful tropes in his latest of two recent shortfilms now available online; The first is Asceneded Masters with Nick Den and Oscar Perez, highlighting the story of Yeshua long before entering his prime as the Biblical savior of mankind himself, Jesus Christ. The project is set to be the first of twelve parts and it is not yet known when the second will arrive since Okpara is busy with other things, so time will tell. The second is a condensed eight minute version of Okpara's 2013 dystopian kung fu desert thriller, The Last Girl, which is reportedly in development for a hopeful feature expansion. Den is joined by Lincoln Centeio, William J. Hill and actress Marissa Pistone in a story of two men battle between good and evil for the Earth's last female.

Both shorts are easily two of the best pieces of online work you'll ever spot, earning Okpara some much-deserved accolades as a rising figure in martial arts action cinema. The man deserves some studio backing for a feature and I see no reason why that should take any longer.

At long last, we now have two projects well on the way from Japanese action director favorite Shimomura Yuji leading the way on two fronts. The first is a new training featurette with action star Sakaguchi Tak whose final film Re:Born, will commense filming in the Spring of 2015. Close quarters combat expert Inagawa i is coordinating the stylishly brutal and deadly bladed fisticuffs as we await details about the story and characters that will set up this last action-packed hoorah for Sakaguchi fans everywhere.

The other is a trailer that's been around for a while in lieu of a new shortfilm, Hero, once more with Sakaguchi joined by Mimoto Masanori - the latter recently known for his role as the Yakuza opponent in helmer Tsujimoro Takanori's Bushido Man. Hero is being slated for a screening at the Yubari film festival in February following an official announcement on January 15, 2015. If you're an action fan and you happen to be attending, feel free to take notice. (UPDATE: The Facebook embed code has been replaced with a YouTube player code in its place.)

Check out both videos below!

...And finally, a moment of holiday cheer and clarity from Master Ken.

Subscribe to these channels right now, and if you have a QUALITY action movie project you would like shared on Film Combat Syndicate, email your inquiries at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com. Click the dates to browse previous collections: 12/15/14, 12/8/14, 12/1/14, 11/24/14, 11/16/14