THE HIT LIST - July 13, 2015

It's never a dull week when finding content online to share. Indeed, a new batch of stunt reels with an extra dash of tricking are now online, followed by new trailers as well as a couple of stellar action gems which keep things nothing short of exemplary...thus why the Hit List exists. Let's get to it!

First up are two playlists with the first showcasing this week's stunt packed demo reels from Lukaz Leong, Greg Rementer, Adam Chase, Benjamin Hoffman, Dan Dargan Carter, Dom Kegel and stuntwoman Elisabeth P. Carpenter. The playlist beneath features a small batch of tricking samplers led by the gang over at Martial Club, Micah Karns, Matt Emig, John Franks, Lee Hye-Ji, a video highlight reel from a preliminary round at a Red Bull jam in South Korea late June, and a fun little demo reel featuring Jimmy James Pham.

Moving forward, there is a TON of content here and coming soon and fortunately some of these projects are offering preview clips and trailers. To start things off, a clip has since gone viral for director and actress Jennifer Linch's new shortfilm, Flowers Of The Night, a tale of three assassins on their quest for vengeance. The film earned the iCannes Film Festival Grand Prize on July 7 in Beverly Hills, California in the wake of the sudden passing of festival co-host, Londy Pictures founder Rebecca Guzman who died at the age of 32 the same day. (H/T: Examiner) The other three videos come courtesy of Bat fan-flick Beyond: Rebirth helmer, filmmaker and action director Phillip Forteza with a new trailer for his next project, Ghost Ops starring Stef Valencia, the Dragon Ball Z: Light Of Hope creatives over Robot Underdog's newest contribution to Stan Lee's online heroic universe in the form of Vigilantes - due for an August release, and a trailer for Matthew Salanoa's Golden Gun-inspired 007 fan film, I Only Need One.

Alas, the fighting begins for this last leg of the Hit List this week and the first load comes straight from indie actioner Shaun Charney at Dragon Phoenix opposite actress Tatiana DeKhtyar, Cinematic Fight Studios's latest fight scene with inductee Nhan Du, David Conk's latest from Wolf Stunts called The Fugitive, and two collaborations between filmmaker Federico Berte and industry stunt coordinator Geo Corvera for the action short, Knock Out, and a stellar ensemble gathering of masked stunt perfomers at war in Combatants.

But FIRST..let's liven things up a bit. The first video in this portion is a promotional contribution from Epic Rival to the forthcoming Playstaion 4 release of the 16-bit game, Phantom Breakers: Battle Ground Overdrive with actress Gemma Nguyen in a dazzling cosplay of sword-wielding epic epicness. The game itself is available online as of July 21 and you'd be wise to click here to learn more about it, otherwise, watch Ms. Nguyen do her thing in the video below, and then enjoy the rest!

And now, for some of the longer form material, and kicking things off is Blood And Bone helmer Ben Ramsey's latest proof of concept short, Interface. Highlight of this have been previously seen in stunt reels performed by stuntman Christopher Balualua who principally performs the action designed by Arnold Chon as per the theme - a cyberpunk dystopia where virtual gaming is taken to a whole new level.

Maverick cinematographer and filmmaker Devin Graham (handled as @devinsupertramp) can pretty much film the shit out of any freerunning sequence, and there's a good chance you've sampled his work on Youtube (or Facebook, as typical as is the nature of viral video). And so it is, once again with his second fan-offering attributed to the new game, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, shot in 4K. The organically-performed stunts, as seen by French Freerun Family are nothing short of breathtaking with a filmic standard that dares to put Hollywood to shame! (H/T: Reader Ben Hoffman)

Up next is another offering from the folks over at Singapore-based JUO Productions (formerly branded as Jaze Phuaductions) with a new fan film spoof on the hitman genre Lucky Strikes, centered on Jaze Phua as a hitman assigned with eliminating the luckiest man in the world. The audio and acting aren't much here, but it brings plenty to the table stylish and impressive action and choreography toned with plenty of laughs, and even ornamented a little bit toward the end with some Gun-fu action, which I'm sure fellow contributor James Couche should be pleased with.

This was a treat to catch and you might enjoy it yourself.

Multifaceted filmmaker and stuntman Ulrik Bruchholz shares the same lineage as any fan of the action genre. Point in fact, it was at the age of ten that his evident love for film would ultimately bring him to the foray of German martial arts action cinema with credits that now include Kampfansage: Der Letzte Schüler and Arena Of The Street Fighter, whilst experimenting with aspects of the craft both in front AND behind the camera. Bruchholz has since compiled footage highlighting all of his achievements in a massive new career demo reel titles 22 Years - chronicling more than two decades of doing what he's loved since childhood. The evolution starts at around the six-minute mark.

And lastly, an action-packed Donnie Yen hero mashup...because why the hell not?

Talk about a Hit List...boy oh boy. Last week's Hit List was a trip too, so be sure to check it out if you've missed it. Otherwise, feel free to subscribe to these channels for future content, and if you yourself are a QUALITY content creator or a stunt performers with a kick ass reel, share it with us at filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!

THE HIT LIST - January 19, 2015

Well, I finally did it! ...Nope, I still ended up gathering a lot of videos. Most of these are reels, but it still makes for quite an ample list entertaining material. It's amazing, sometimes...it really is. On that note...Ikimashou!

Actress Kiki Sukezane has been around for about four years and she now has a few credits in television and film after traveling back and forth between Japan and the States. Of course, with the trade she pursues comes with quite a bit of training in screenfighting and action, even working on her craft for a while with Gun Caliber star/director, filmmaker Bueno who helped her put a demo reel together late last year. Take a look!

Actress and stuntwoman Vera Lam has only been doing stuntwork for about a year and she's already gained some momentum with quite a few previous AND upcoming TV credits. Her training with New York City-based screenfighting facility, Cinematic Fight Studio continues to serve its purpose to this day, so I hope to see plenty more from Ms. Lam as the year rolls on. In the meantime, here's her reel as well!

Aspiring stuntwoman Lee Wei-Hsin now manages Apex Martial Arts Academy in Toronto after seventeen years of immersing herself in Wushu and competing nationally until 2011. She's also collaborated with a handful of prominent up and coming stunt performers I've followed in the last few years and she shows a lot of promise, so this, on top of being a genuine martial artist truly makes her an example to follow for any actress looking to play action roles. I, for one, certainly hope Ms. Lee gets her day.

In the meantime, here's her new reel as well!

It was back in 2013 when I first learned of Hit Girl and Fist Of The Dragon co-star, actress Juju Chan, and she's come quite far from her years at NYU Tisch prior to her pageant days in 2009. Since then, her growing resume in film and television, book and accolades in competitive and demonstrative martial arts pretty much speak for themselves, and she's not resting on her laurels either. Still a working actress to date, you will find her back on the big screen once again in martial arts directorial master Yuen Woo-Ping's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend, this August.

Until then, keep your eyes peeled for more info following her latest reel which is now up on her IMDb page. (H/T: Danny Shamon)

Stuntwoman PeiPei Yuan is someone whose work I've enjoyed covering in the past two years. Needless to say, I still have my eye on her, because she's been busy on both sides of the camera, and now she's got two newly edited action reels out, including one with tons more swordplay action, as well as some camerawork on one of the latest videos from indie filmmaker Shaun Charney. In addition, she currently has a clip available from her scene as a deadly assassin in an upcoming buddy cop webseries titled Kode Orange: Los Angeles, from director Nancy Criss, with awesome fight choreography by Vonzell Carter. You can catch its trailer beneath the other videos along with its following clip!

...of course, I also had to share Charney's more recent video other than the one mentioned above. I've been following his work for a while now it's always refreshing to see him put out new content, and so here he is in his second video of the year performing a solo array of martial arts forms between several costumes and editing changes.

I look back at the last couple of years and I can't help but wonder "What could have been?..", particularly in the wake of not ever seeing action star Johnny Tri Nguyen's crime pic, Cho Lon. It's probably something that I'll never get over while I stubbornly wait for its release, which is also unlikely at this point.

Hell, I don't see how anyone could watch a leaked unfinished product and still have the mind to review it. I admit, I even tried to look at it on YouTube and I couldn't. After the first few minutes, I was done as it really needed those post-production edits badly. So, to the jerk that leaked it...well, you certainly didn't do me any favors.

At any rate, here's some of that lost movie footage in Nguyen's reel from last year and you can check out a shorter version of the reel by clicking here as well.

Johnny, wherever you are, don't stop this.

Capoeira purveyor and aspiring stuntman and Darin Hicks already has a few credits of his own on his IMDb page in addition to training with his fellow members at Georgia-based Dragon Spirit Productions which I started discussing on my site back in 2013. His reel is up, so I take it as a sign that he's on to something this year, so I hope to catch onto it as soon as possible.


Eight year stunt veteran Mykola Galagan, hailing all the way from Ukraine, has a brand new reel out as well to kick off 2015. In it, you will also see footage from director Alexey Shaparev's internationally produced cerebral detective thriller, The Price Of Freedom which centers on the story of a young woman who suffers from Stockholm Syndrome, caught at the center of a 20-year feud between her begrudged kidnapper and her father, a rich tycoon whose company specializes in extracting African diamonds.

The project, a feature length/serial work from Ukraine-based Good Morning films completed last year before being presented at the 10th CentEast Market in Warsaw during the latter of the 30th Warsaw Film Festival back in October. As of then, a trailer has been made available which you can also check out just above Galagan's reel.

The next reel comes courtesy of Ulrik Bruchholz who, on top of writing and directing films is also an accomplished stuntman. The last we heard from him was a shortfilm he put together in the form of his stellar action short, Hard Boiled Cop with actor Mathis Lamdwehr which made quite a splash online last year, so I'm eager to see what he puts out in 2015. In the meantime, his latest reel is online featuring our multifaceted action man taking an assortment of blows and throws alike. Do watch!

If you caught the 12/29/14 Hit List, you might have caught the most recent trailer for the incomplete Holiday action comedy short, Jingle Bell Rocked from Canadian martial arts stunt team, Eclipse Stunts. Unfortunately, post production fell short due to scheduling among crew members and it was never completed, but now we've been granted a rough glimpse into the hard-hitting three-on-one fight finale which you can check out below!

The next video comes from another independent studio called Studio Shiners where filmmaker Taj L. Cooper has a new anime-inspired short now available online titled Aya's Mirage. Actress Ishida Sachiko stars and also came up with this project and I love that she's stretching her creative muscles on top of her screenfighting. It's a nice little concept that plays in different realms and delivers somewhat of a confusing, rushed finish, but it goes to show that some ideas would be nice to expand on and evolve. Terry Taneie, best known for working on the Kung Fu Femmes series, directs the action.

This next one hails from independent filmmaker Luis Correa (or Luis KO), based in Argentina with twenty years of training in multiple styles of martial arts prior to finally dabbling into the world of stunts and film with his own indie banner, The DiosGuerrero. Correa's latest short is called Post, a short story about two Olympic martial arts competitors who decide to take their grudge away from the judges in a no holds barred street brawl. Principle performances are by Emax Ayala and Alex Fun with Correa's own choreography.

This segment gets a little musical with the next three videos: The first is a throwback to 2013 featuring Roy Chen in a music video titled Shadow Boxing, performed by Zion I. A little backstory: The indie action video I ever saw was incidentally the first I would see Chen in, a little fight compilation with members of Zero Gravity titled Battle Of The Stunt Monkies. I hadn't really seen him in anything since then until I found the music video while lurking on Chen's profile as I awaited his response to my request which he eventually accepted. So, I figured I'd take the opportunity now to share it, particularly in lieu of his upcoming appearance in at least a few more projects later this year. It's hip hop enfused with old school kung fu tropes, which is always fun.

The other is a newly-released song by Argentinian composer Nicolás Iaconis IV titled Shaolin. It's an awesome little piece which last three minutes and had me imagining some sort of epic shaolin kung fu brawl in my head which was fun too; Iaconis has been working in film composition since 2007 and has several credits to his name, including an upcoming independent project with actor Bernardo Iaconis titled El Rastreador (The Tracker), which is currently in post and has a teaser with some footage as of 2013.

Watch all three videos below!

Truly Indie Studios's own actor, stunt coordinator and filmmaker Shaun Piccinino (The Lackey, Phase Two) has done some amazing work in recent years, notably applying his style of superheroic fight design for Bat In The Sun's own Machinina series, Super Powered Beat Down with producer and director Aaron Schoenke. Since then, the two, in the good company of their respective banners, have begun collaborating on a project of their own with a trailer now online for the new upcoming action-packed webseries, Six Feet Down Under, centered on an the story of Mick, an assassin now fighting for his life when his employer's son betrays him and makes him a target.

Martial arts guru and co-writer Steve Pisa co-directs with Piccinino, with The Lackey co-star, series lead actor Guy Grundy also directing.

U.K. based independent film company, Light Films Ltd. made some significant progress in the months since attempting to crowdfund Wasteland helmer Tom Wadlow's latest survival thriller, Rat Catcher. Nowadays the film is gearing up for something even bigger to befit its initial narrative and thankfully, Wadlow has taken to a new announcement video to discuss just a little bit of what that means, in addition to some cool action footage from the project featuring SG Action stunt group's own Jim Key, and much more!

And lastly, many of us know Alexandr Gisych can do parkour...

...and we know that the boys over at Just Kidding Films WANT to do parkour just like Ben Jenkin can...

...but can Ryan Higa do parkour?

Subscribe to these channels right now and CLICK HERE if you missed any videos from last week. If you have a QUALITY shortfilm, reel or teaser/trailer of any kind you would like showcased on Film Combat Syndicate, send them to filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com!