5 comments about No Contest.

1. I have been wanting this movie for a long, long time. Originally it was ONLY available on VHS, but thanks to miracle that is DVD, this "cult" CLASSIC may now be enjoyed for many years to come! Andrew Dice Clay ROCKS!...



2. This movie is Dice's best since Ford Fairlane and Crime Story! He turns out a fantastic performance as a bad guy. Shannon Tweed, in her best role yet, plays the kick boxing heroine who, stunt double or no, really kicks the tar out of the bad guys. Other B-Movie greats are here, including Robert "Showgirls" Davi, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and a few other familiar faces. Piper gets the stuffing beat out of him with a bag of ice in one of the film's best scenes. Don't miss this one, watch it late at night, but be sure to watch it!



3. I liked to movie it was a little on the lame side but I like
   it anyway.
   J



4. The description of this movie made it sound like it was in the Die Hard mold. But it not only falls far short of those intelligent, elaborate movies. It does not even measure up to copies like Sudden Death, with Van Damme. Even a 1994 film called Crackerjack -- with Thomas Ian Griffith as a cop and Christopher Plummer as a neo-Nazi, clashing at a mountain resort over a complicated plan to steal millions in mob diamonds and to cover it up -- which is also hampered by lame writing and acting, manages to be a better low-budget knockoff than No Contest.
   
   No Contest is about a big-shot bad guy taking over by force of arms the penthouse of a hotel that hosts a beauty pageant in which a Senator's daughter is a contestant, setting bombs all over the entrances, and then demanding millions in diamonds. The villain is "Bryce," Andrew Dice Clay. He talks tough and piles up bodies as the man who had been in charge of the corrupt Senator's Florida transport company. That operation had been in bed with Colombian drug-lords and was sold out to the DEA, after which Bryce supposedly died in a firefight.
   
   The heroine is Shannon Tweed, talking tough and packing Uzis as the former pageant winner who went on to star in martial arts films (it is interesting to see Tweed in more of a straight role than her usual soft-porn fare). She spouts limp lines like "I'll eat a tub of Ben & Jerry's Jerry Garcia ice cream" and, after beating in the head of wrestler Roddy Piper (as bad-guy "Ice") with a satchel of ice cubes, "I iced Ice." On the outskirts is a hapless Robert Davi as a gimp-legged former State Department embassy security specialist who was hired and fired by the Senator after his daughter was taken hostage and who, naturally, in addition to talking big throughout the movie, manages to hang underneath a scenic elevator, horn in on the rooftop action, and get wounded near the end. John Colicos plays the cliché, all-bad Senator. Computer and bomb wizardry is thrown in as well, of course.
   
   The large-scale, high-stakes plot, some cheesy elements, and some recognizable actors create some interest and barely nudge the movie above one star. But none of this is an excuse for the glib, sloppy "reviews" that give the movie an easy pass, saying, "come on, guys, this is supposed to be bad." That kind of shallow assessment, and the lazy, unintelligent flicking of the "not helpful" button on any review that refuses to settle for it, does nothing but contribute to the impression that moviegoers are suckers. The many other reviews have it right that the writing and acting in this movie are half-baked and half-hearted. As a result, the movie does not even manage to be bad in a fun-to-watch way. Instead, it ends up feeling like a thin, overblown, incompetent disappointment.



5. I've seen many of shannon tweeds movies and this one in my opionion is the best. It has a good cast as well as action. Robert Davi and Andrew Dice Clay play their roles well. Clay as a disgruntled ex-mercenary betrayed, by a crooked drug running senator, decides to take hostage a miss galaxy pageant in which the senator's daughter is a contestant. Shannon tweed plays Sharon Bell a former winner and now action star who use's her beauty and karate talents to dispatch the bad guy's. While most of her action scenes are clearly done by a stunt double, the acting is for the most good, and the movie doesn't come off as exploitive which is unusual for a B movie. Overall a good production that keeps the action going at a steady pace. If you are a Shannon Tweeds fan this movie is a must!!

5 comments about Black Mask 2: City of Masks.

1. ok, nice touch trying to tie wrestling to a movie that had nothing to do with it in the first place, but it didn't work that well. The only wrestler that was even remotely good as an actor was Adam Copeland (Edge) and he didn't even get that big of a part in the first place. It's not that great of a movie, but it's fun if you like bad movies with 'alternative' casting.



2. what do you get when you mix the power rangers' villians with wrestling? this load of crap called black mask 2. the computer animation was par with lets say the old apple computers that they had in schools back in the 80's. the acting was just about as bad as you could have in a movie mass produced. i will not be surprised if i learn that they lost money on this project. maybe i will make "black mask 3: crap kicked sideways" with my personel cam corder and use my pc for the special effects and they will release that for me. that would be about as entertaining as this, but i guess i would need some wrestlers like triple h or booker t as the main characters.



3. I agree with many reviewers when I say "What the hell is this movie on?" Black mask versus a giant brain versus evil wrestling mutants? Very strange. But in the end I think that's a good thing.
   
   You're not going to see many movies like this. For its uniqueness alone it earns 4 stars in my book. While not nearly as good as the original Black Mask (the loss of Jet Li doesn't help) it is a heckuva lot weirder. The story seems cobbled together from different elements, but they still managed to make something coherent.
   
   Tsui Hark's direction is always more interested in being cool than clear, and here it shows. The action scenes can be hard to follow. But how many mutant martial art movies are there? Guyver 1 & 2 are the only ones that come to mind. This movie is better than Guyver 1, not nearly as good as Guyver 2.
   
   But a unique film experience and well worth seeing if only for the "Wow, did that snake guy just swallow a security guard?" moments.



4. This movie definitely brings the franchise down several notches. The first movie gave you Jet Li in an exciting superhero/martial arts film with plenty of makes Hong Kong action movies great. This time not only don’t you get anything even close to resembling a Hong Kong action film you get a completely mess from what apparently is supposed to be a revamped version of Black Mask.
   
   When I say revamped I mean butchered. As in they changed the whole concept of who the Black Mask is and what his past is. No longer is the Black Mask a military experiment gone rogue. He’s now a genetically enhanced mercenary who works for a giant brain… gone rogue. The plot is something I would expect from Roger Corman when he was making quickie monster movies in the 50’s. Basically the first movie didn’t even exist. Why did they even call it a sequel? The story kind of branches out into two different plots that seem to get mixed up with each other more than compliment each other. Character development on the good guys was entertaining enough with characters like Dr. Leung (Teresa Herrera) but the bad guys were hard to peg. You can’t really tell if you should either like or hate some of them and it stays that way throughout the entire movie.
   
   The acting is functional with much of the main characters. Traci Lords and Teresa Herrera did give some depth in their performances. John Polito is always a good actor to have in your pool. He can give a shine to any script. The rest are average. The action itself is very lacking compared to the first movie. This being an American made film maybe they just couldn’t get the same choreographers I suppose. Still the martial arts are what made the first movie really stand out. Without that same level of action the sequel severely lacks. The worst part about this movie is the special effects. ALL of it is CG. Not just any CG. Bad CG. It’s painfully obvious every time a computer animated whatever happens. About the only good thing in production is the design concepts for our hero the Black Mask and the main mercenary villain.
   
   Where the first Black Mask was a thrill to watch this one hardly measures up to even the most basic of martial arts or superhero movies. The plot feels contrived and the special effects are terrible. If you are a die-hard martial arts fan you might find this movie worth checking out if there is nothing else to do. For the rest of you I would just recommend doing something else. Anything else.



5. okay, i have watched this movie a couple of times, and i cannot disagree that it is terrible. however, i think it is one of those movies which is so utterly pitiful that it becomes comical.
   there really isn't any redeeming quality to this whole movie; acting, special effects, choreography, character development, plot, ect. - all bad.
   Thing is they are over the top bad, so when you watch it the first time don't go into it thinking that it will be some great martial arts movie like the first, otherwise you'll just be bitterly disappointed. Instead, you should watch this for the goofy action and ridiculous storyline, then its entertaining. I like to get a large group of friends together and watch bad movies like this to laugh sometimes.

5 comments about The Defender.

1. After Christy Chung wittness a mob killing she needs protection 24/7. Jet Li a secret agent is sent to protect her at all cause. Her house has nothing but hidden cams to watch for bad guys. At first Christy didn't want Jet Li's help and start giving him a hard time until she was being chased in a mall by the mob tring to kill her. Lucky for Li he kill all of them and saved her. Now she is starting to appericate him and tring to get to know him even be his lover. But it's good for Jet Li to blow her off cause she should of gave him a chance at first. She thought she was too good for him so served that Bi*ch right.



2. I'm a big fan of Hong Kong action movies, but Bodyguard from Beijing was merely okay. Jet Li stars as a doughty tough bodyguard from the mainland hired to protect a spoiled rich girl from Hong Kong. Sparks fly when he tries to restrict her movements and jet-setting lifestyle. The two eventually fall in love, despite the fact that his new girlfriend is already the mistress of a wealthy man.
   
   I liked the film, but didn't find it anything to shout about. The girl's nephew Billy was way irritating. Jet Li was handsome and there were some great martial arts feats but this DVD was nothing to write home about. 3 stars. Average.



3. 
   This movie was made in Hong Kong, starring Jet Li, directed by Corey Yuen. Although it is not Jet Li's best, it is nevertheless worth watching.
   
   The bodyguard (Jet Li) is assigned to protect the rich Christy Cheung, the only remaining witness to a murder case (the other two witnesses were killed weeks before the trial). At first, they don't get along, largely due to the stiff bodyguard violating her privacy, installing security cameras not only throughout the house but also her bedroom. However, a romantic relationship develops after she violates security procedures and goes shopping, only to be saved from being narrowly killed by several assassins, due to the first rate fighting skills of the bodyguard.
   
   The movie starts slowly but it builds up to excellent martial arts towards the end. The major disappointment is that the producers forgot that this was supposed to be a martial arts movie and introduced guns unnecessarily, which spoils the action. The action is not as much as I would have wished. However, the fight, towards the end is first rate, particularly when Jet Li fights Ken Lo (Jackie Chan).
   
   However, for those who like guns and also like martial arts, then this movie will excite you.



4. The Defender is perhaps one of Jet Li's more different and original of all his HK made films. The movie relies on a pretty good story filled with multiple aspects of conflict and suspense, rather than a lot of action. The lesser amount of action never phased me because I thought the movie does well without it. Thats not to say there isn't any, just not as much as most of Jet Li's movies. Fortunately, if you can't help but desire a good fight, the finale of the movie presents one of Jet Li's better fights scenes I have ever scene, a fight of originailty etched with emotion.
   
   There are a few set backs from getting a 5 star rating. The English dubbing, as always, gives the movie a cheesy feel sometimes and makes the acting seem a little week. Aside from the dubbing, there are some moments in the movie that are a bit cheesy. Jet Li's character and the woman he is ordered to protect endure continuous scenes of tension that are great to watch, since he takes his work seriously and she has a rich boyfriend who has hired the bodyguard. Though entertaining and suspenseful moments arise from these two, they also present the cheesy moments, especially the ending of the film.
   
   The Defender is a great addition to anyone who loves Jet Li movies. I'd have to say this is one of his better ones overall. Great story filled with suspense, and a wonderful final fight scene that is amongst the best. If you are looking for movie filled with action throughout, it may not please, but this is a good all-around film, giving more than most martial art films would.



5. the eng dubbed version i find kindna cheesy, so i'm glad i purchased the original version. although the video quality is poor (Average) and the eng sub (harddubbed) is hard to read, quality of the eng sub is excellent; that's what I always look for - good to excell eng subs. i wish/hope that in the near future the producers can optimize this movie with better vid quality and same quality eng subs (not eng dubbed, that is). also, yes, i highly recommend this movie to any jet li fan/collector.

No comments about The Deadly Duo.

5 comments about The Secrets of the Warrior's Power: Kung Fu.

1. Ancient Chinese martial arts are revealed in this important documentary that is always intriguing and never pandering. A well-conceived discussion with excellent commentary from noted scholar David Bannon, Ph.D. and interviews of some of the finest LEGITIMATE kung fu masters alive. A rare look into the real world of Kung fu from those who know it best!



2. INSTEAD OF SHOWING SOME OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE WHO HAVE GONE TO AMERICA,THEY SHOULD HAVE GONE TO CHINA TO INTERVIEW CHINESE MASTERS.THERE ARE PLENTY OF STYLES IN CHINA THAT THEY CAN SHOW BUT NOT.
   DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS DVD.YOU WON'T FIND SO MUCH INFORMATION (EXCEPT IF YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING OF MARTIAL ARTS)



3. The DVD wasn't made correctly. I have an all region DVD player and the DVD kept stopping every couple of seconds.



4. Being a Shaolin Student in the NYC Metro area, I found this movie very informative and worth watching more than once. My Sifu is a Kung Fu brother of one of the monks featured and I found the similarities between the two of them quite interesting. ALSO, parts of this are narrated by David Race Bannon. IF you don't know who he is, you should check out his autobiographical account of the time he spent working for Interpol. The name of his book is "Race Against Evil" not for the weak hearted.
   
   If you buy this movie and have a clue about the martial arts world you'll not be sorry.



5. The reason why I gave this 4 out of 5 stars is that it is deceived me. It states Grandmaster Pan practices a technique (Bodhidhrama called "linking energy" ) I flew in to Canada from South America to learn this from the master. He and his assistant Dianne (who wrote up these great stories about him in Kung Fu magazine) told me they would teach Chi kung. They asked that I bring a partner. So I did.
   I walked into the class full of energy and life. I mentioned how grateful I was to meet him and learn this special chi kung skill that I flew form over seas and even brought my girlfriend to learn. The 4 hour class were spent on watching him show off his stretching ability (it is impressive but do I need to pay for this?), then listening to him tell stories of how great he is ( example, how Billy banks is scared of him) Then we did some basic kicks and punches that you learn from any half ass wannabe kung fu school. Then class was over. I asked about the chi kung that was on the video that it claimed he practiced and said he would teach me.. He "said" its garbage, don't worry about it" I asked about his students in the video. He said "I don't know them, the producers of the video brought them in and they pretended to be my students" I asked about the white guy with the pony tail on his head. Both of you looked like you had a special connection between student and teacher. He said "no, it was all staged".
   I was asked about the next class. I mentioned I had no more money and that I spent it all to fly all the way to Canada form South America and to bring over my girlfriend because you requested a partner. Grand MAster Pan then said "the next class is starting soon. If you don't have any more money you have to leave now" In shock and broken hearted I started walking out the door as requested but I was able at the last second to turn around and barley put the words together. In a soft and stuttering voice I asked ""linking energy chi kung? It was in the video...what happened ?" He gave me this look like he was going to kill me and he raised his iron fist in the air like he was going to hit me . Now I was even in more shock. Not only was I lied to by him and his assistant , but he was now physically threatening me to get out. I was in fear, stuttering, my heart broken and in the pit of my stomach :(
   My girlfriend squeezed my hand and said I know your dream has just come crashing down but we have to leave now. Let's go !
   So I left and for the next two days I ran over the sequence of event from that day in my head. I asked myself where did I go wrong.? Did I misunderstand something? It's not possible that a video like this would make things up and then have a kung fu legend go along with to make more money, is it? I asked my girlfriend these questions too. She confirmed that the answers to these questions was yes.
   This video was very inspirational l for me, but on the Grandmaster Pan footage I can say they definitely stretched the truth. Maybe they did it also for the other parts of the video. I would wouldn't doubt it. Every once in a while I see this type of behavior in humans and it always blows me away. It's hard for me to understand how we put money above people and community to achieve our own shallow and greedy ambitions. Is it so hard to see that we are all interconnected? and what we do effects the other and continues into a chain effect? I forgive Grandmaster Pan for scamming me, because I know his greed causes him to suffer in great ways to blind him form seeing this. I forgive the producers of this video who went out of their way to do the exact same thing. I still feel a little sad about the whole thing but I learned a great lesson about life here. I hope you can learn from my mistakes :) All the best to you !!!

3 comments about Baguazhang - 8 Trigrams Palm (YMAA).

1. Make no mistake, this killer DVD is the source for comprehensive info on the art of Pau Kua. It contains the complete 3-volume video series done by the two masters, with easy navigation. Includes everything from Qigong, solo and partner conditioning training demonstrated by Yang and Laing, solo and partner forms, to the martial applications, and weapons. Amazing. To get into the esoteric depths of the subject, pick up the companion book to this DVD and read the ancient texts. Awesome.



2. Definetely presents a lot of material with excellent application footage. A bit misleading, however, in that the majority of forms are presented by people other than Master Liang Shou-yu. Master Liang, whose skill is clearly very high, is shown demonstrating applications and single movements of the form but it's difficult to piece together the energy of his movements into a connected whole as the flavor is quite different from the young lady demonstrating the continuous sequence.
   The DVD, is however, definetely worth the price provided you are willing to watch it in slow motion several hundred times as the movements are quite complex.
   I would recommend it to anyone with a background in internal martial arts or access to a teacher of this particular style. I would not recommend it to someone without experience in any of the internal styles or at least some basic Qi Gong under a qualified teacher as unfamiliarity with relaxation and correct joint alignment could lead to some serious discomfort and possible injury in attempting these forms.



3. First let me say that I have years of experience in various martial arts, mostly both Chinese & Japanese.
   My focus & forte is self-defense with joint locks & Dim-Mak/Kyusho-Jitsu that is effective with efficient movements.
   This DVD & the companion book are very good & someone with experience & focus can get a lot out of them both.
   I find the Qi Gong very useful & well done.
   My main complaint is about the woman that demonstrates the first long sequence. She dances well, but I can't see why she was chosen to demonstrate the form. Maybe her ballet like movements would translate better into combat than I give her credit for, but I am doubtful(sorry).
   And, truth be told, I am probably too critical of her movements.
   Other than that, you can always learn so much from great masters such as Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming & Master Shou-Yu Liang.

2 comments about Shaolin Legend.

1. This is the true Shaolin Kung-Fu Spectacular! It's a much better DVD than Wheel of Life. No cheesy acting, or goofball mimics. Everything is real! The stunts, and the weapons. Great Booklet to go with it.



2. The production quality is very good, and the African beat music is also very good (even if it doesn't match the sloppy gymnastics by Chinese performers), but the circus tricks are poorly done, the acrobatics are sloppy, and their supposed kung fu is attrocious.

4 comments about Twilight Samurai.

1. I titled this movie under that name because if by purchasing this film you are thinking that you are buying a samurai sword fighting movie think again. This is a love story with only maybe two fight scenes in the whole film one in the middle and another at the end, now mind you that this is also a fairly long movie. The reason I gave it 2 stars is because I thought I that was buying a fight movie which this isnt.



2. This is absolutely one of my favorite movies. Sanada's performance as the reluctant warrior at the beck and call of lesser men who are his social seniors draws you into his world. This man is a fighter who has no real interest in fighting. He has children whom he loves and he aspires to nothing greater than caring for them. When he gets a second chance at a love life you hope he can pull it off but circumstances seem to work against it...
   
   This isn't an "action" movie per se. It is definitely a love story; between the man and his family, between the man and his childhood sweetheart. But the lack of action filled fight scenes doesn't mean that you aren't aware throughout the film that this man is "special". As a martial artist and swordsman I felt that the two fight scenes that were in the film were really excellent in terms of technique and drama. Every time I watch this film, I enjoy it more and more.



3. Wow! This is a story about a man of character. He is the epitome of a master swordsman so skilled, so unrivaled that he has nothing to prove. His loyalties are to his family in the true selfless manner of a noble Samurai. The film's 2 fight scenes are all the more poignant because of his deference to just about everyone.
   
   If you're looking for a film that has a fight scene every other minute with no plot (the plot being the gratuitous violence, I guess... not that there's anything wrong with that) this will not satisfy you.
   
   This is one of the most amazing films I've ever seen; from the story, to the acting, to the direction.



4. This movie is not for the person who wants a slash em up style Samarai film, but it is a gem. It starts off real slow, and gives you subtle clues as it develops unvarnished characters. The first time I watched it, I was very bored the first 20 minutes. I watched it again and enjoyed it more. After you see this, the "Last Samarai", will almost seem like a joke of an over-acted movie. I dont want to rag Tom Cruise too much, as Vanilla Sky was one of the few remakes I've seen that were better done to me than "Abre los Ojos". The worst remake being "Shall We Dance", what a massacre remake of a gorgeos Japanese film. Sorry to deviate...
   
   You get to see the realistic life of a Samarai, and the townfolk of that period, not some overly stylized version. You get to experience the class and casted systems, and their imprisonment of people at their level. The fights in it seem very very real. They are not as flamboyant as other films, but their realism keeps them very dramatic. They really have very little to do with the film, and there are only two of them, its true.
   
   Like many of my favorite films, it really drew emotion from me, especially when he reveals his hopes for a second chance to the woman he loves, who is beyond his class level. Its a story about caring about other people, and sacrificing for your family. Its about people not knowing who you really are inside, and judging you based on assumptions.
   I rank it among the best movies ever. Some of my other recommendations are Central Station, Amelie, Once Were Warriors, Shall We Dance (original Japanese version).

3 comments about Tiger Claws 2.

1. Even if you don't think your time is valuable, it would be better spent and enjoyed if you stared at the off-white wall in your bedroom. At least your wall has texture. This movie is total trash. A big waste. And the martial arts, if you can call them that, are a joke.



2. A good Martial Arts B movie. This is one of my Bolo Yeung Favorites, he is just dirty in this flick. Both 1 & 2 are good, 1 is better. Why is Tiger Claws 1 not on DVD but 2&3 are? I don't know what they are thinking but I like to see my movies in order! Wait for part one on DVD First(on Widscreen) before buying two.
   Nuff said!



3. I'll start off by being honest and saying I have not seen part 1 yet. There were some clips at the beginning of this film from part 1, and they looked somewhat decent...mostly the Bolo Young character in some fight scenes. At first I was not expecting much from this movie, and really bought it cause it had one of my favorite B-movie martial arts villains, Bolo Young. I realized that the overall cast list was pretty good, consisting of Bolo, Jalal Merhi, Cynthia Rothrock, Eric Lee, Evan Lurie, and Ong Soo Han. There are even plenty of other extra guys, with great physicall build and abilities for the martial arts tournament in the film. I was prepared for some great fights among some great movie martial artists.
   
   Most of the movie has a pretty good feel to it, and I think the music helps a lot - it almost sound like similar music used in Terminator 3. Pacing was good and I actually never realized that there wasn't too much action taking place. By the end of the film I longed for the action, and was pleased to see there was a tournament. The fights were short though, and only a few were decent. Bolo gets to fight too, but only in a couple of very short fights. The biggest dissapointment was the use of Ong Soo Han and Eric Lee, yet without little to no fighting from the 2 and both usually have excellent fights in most of their movies. Ong Soo Han's character's fate was a huge disappointment. The other big dissapointment was the finale with Bolo - I was hoping for a great fight scene with him and Jalal or Cynthia - didn't happen. He uses a few seconds of Tiger Claws on some guys, but its pretty stupid when each time he executes, the sound of a roaring tiger follows.
   
   The plus is the final fights between the Cynthia Rothrock charcater and a couple of bad guys, and the Jalal Merhi charcater vs the bad guy character played by Evan Lurie, which ended up being the best fight of the movie - more evenly matched and longer.
   
   Tiger Claws 2 ends up being average overall. The decent list of characters should have provided an extremely great action movie, but the best guys don't get to fight much. Hopefully Tiger Claws 3 will have a great fight with Bolo...oh wait he isn't in part 3....major doh!

5 comments about Terror Beneath the Sea.

1. Wow! I can finally toss my old clumbersome vhs version release back
   in the '80's by Montery video. This low budget scifi gem was and is
   still a kick in the pants. A Creature Feature favorite this flim is
   one of Sonny Chiba's 1st roles before he would later become stapled
   in the "Street Fighter" series. The story concerns that of a madman
   bent on ruling the world thru the underworld (the under "sea world"
   that is) by using a procedure that changes men into "seacyborgs" He
   then uses these god forsaken creatures to carry out his evil plans,
   like kidnapping scientists or mucking up submarine targets which is
   what brings the coastal Navy into the fray. Atomic waste piles, Sub
   battles, step by step man into monster transformations,Underwater
   cities and of course that great Peggy Neal ("Ken,Ken!") are just
   a few of the old fashion Saturday morning thrills waiting ye! And
   in widescreen to boot I can finally all of that "Underwater snow"



2. Yes, you can finally toss away your old, crummy VHS copies of Terror Beneath the Sea (1966) as Dark Sky Films, in their infinite awesomosity, has provided an excellent looking DVD release of this rather obscure and offbeat film. It's worth mentioning up front this is the 73-minute U.S. version, and not the 90-minute Japanese version. Directed by Hajime Sato (House of Terrors, Body Snatcher from Hell), the film features Peggy Neal (The X from Outer Space), Erik Neilson, Franz Gruber (The X from Outer Space, The Last Days of Planet Earth), and Sonny Chiba, who had yet to garner the popularity soon to follow with his popular `Street Fighter' films released through the 1970s. Chiba, approaching 70 years of age, can still be seen kicking ash in recent releases like The Storm Riders (1998) and Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).
   
   Ken (Chiba) and Jenny (Neal) are a pair of reporters, who seem more than just professionally involved, currently aboard a futuristic submarine, covering the navy's testing of a newly developed homing torpedo. After a spiel by a navy spokesman, who seemed to give away an awful lot of what I would consider classified information, the test begins, and everything goes well except for the brief appearance of an odd looking creature across the view port. Being good (nosy) reporters, Ken and Jenny take it upon themselves to do a little follow up investigating, diving near where they saw the anomaly, which happens to be near an underwater, atomic waste site (skin diving near radioactive toxic waste? Where do I sign up?). Eventually the pair gets separated, Jenny has a run in with a sea monkey man, snaps a photo, drops her camera, and, as a result, has no proof the event ever happened, so no one believes her except for Ken, and even he seems a bit skeptical. The plucky pair, returning to retrieve Jenny's camera, find an underwater cave, are captured by a small group of sea monkey men, and end up in a vast, underwater facility developed my a egomaniacal scientist type named Dr. Rufus Moore (Neilson), who has grandiose visions of a fabulous, futuristic, utopian society under the sea, one in which he's obviously in charge. As a means to an end, Dr. Moore has been turning poor schlubs into water cyborgs, altering not only their outer appearance, but their innards too, in an effort to create an army of computer controlled, sea monkey men to do his bidding (he can even make them fight like Rock `em Sock `em Robots). As the navy continues to search for the two, missing reporters, Ken formulates a plan to escape (one that involves throttling a woman and stealing her access card...you da man!), but Dr. Moore, being the rotten no-goodnik he is, has different plans for the couple, nefarious ones that involve turning them into mindless water cyberborgs (that might be an improvement for Jenny, especially if it puts a stop to her endless shrieking). Soon after the navy does find Moore's secret underwater base, there's some missile action, and the stuff hits the fan as navy rockets knock out the controls that keep the sea monkey men in check, causing them to not only turn on their masters, but anyone who doesn't sport gills, including Ken and Jenny...
   
   I enjoyed the hell out of this film, produced at Toei Studios, mainly because it was just so weird. It's sort of a strange hybrid between the spy films of the 1960s and a creature feature from the 1940s/1950s. The acting is lousy, even ridiculously so at times, but that ended up being part of the fun here, for me, at least. This movie is worth watching if only to see the scene featuring the main scientist working for Dr. Moore spouting off pompously and dramatically about all they've achieved, and their goals for the future. Another great scene occurs near the end, aboard the navy submarine, right after a sort of play by his own rules navy guy orders the firing of some super powerful, awesoma weapon called the X-4 ("Not the X-4 you'll blow up the whole ocean!"). After successfully nailing the intended target, the one navy guy says to the other, with an incredulous look of surprise on his face, "Wow! You've hit the jackpot!"...as for what follows, you have to see it for yourself, as I can't adequately describe it...one thing's for sure, Sonny Chiba and Peggy Neal have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. Neal, who has the personality of a wet noodle, runs around for about a third of the film screeching, squealing, and shrieking, in no particular order, continually throwing her hands up in a defensive manner to avoid looking at whatever unpleasantness there is to see (turns out for the viewers, she was the `unpleasantness'), and just flogging the `damsel in distress' routine within an inch of its life. Her character is a useless piece of flotsam whose only purpose is to look good on the screen, and provide a sort of love interest for the hero...not that I mind that sort of thing, but one doesn't have to make it so obvious. As far as Sonny, it was kinda neat seeing him prior to his Street Fighter days, with his fashionable uni-brow coming in nicely. He does get in some decent fight sequences, but it's all kind of tame compared to some of his later movies. The sea monkey men looked funky, but I think maybe back in 1966, when the movie was released, they probably looked better, perhaps even scary. I thought the special effects were pretty cool, especially the sequence involving the transformation process of human to fish man, including a surgical process to install a new set of organs (none of which we actually get to see) for a more amphibious lifestyle. The miniature work was very strong, matching most anything coming out of Toho Studios at the time. The story moves along pretty well (if you don't mind a few, plodding scuba sequences up front), and then picks up a whole lot more after the fish men, who've been trained extensively of the use of automatic weapons and spear guns, turn on their human overlords once the computer controls are disabled, making use of their acquired talents to do a whole lot of killing. Woo hoo! All in all this is a silly movie, but a whole lot of 1960s swinging fun with some decent production values, a third rate James Bond villain, some scaly, hostile gill men, a young Sonny Chiba, dubious science fiction, some blood, and a really irritating blonde girl with a propensity for screaming unnecessarily.
   
   The picture quality on this Dark Sky Films DVD release, presented in widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic, looks excellent, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio comes through beautifully. There's zippo, nada, zilch for extras, but there are English subtitles available.
   
   Cookieman108
   
   If I learned anything from this film its that sea monkey men are a hostile bunch, and wouldn't hesitate for a second to fire a spear into your guts...and if you're going to construct a vast, advanced, futuristic, undersea base, avoid doing so near an unstable navy atomic dumping site.



3. Being a fan of 50s style sci-fi and Japanese Hero television shows like ULTRAMAN, I recently heard of TERROR BENEATH THE SEA and thought I'd rent it and give it a shot. I wasn't disappointed. This, by far, is not Academy Award material, but neither are any of the other sci-fi B movies which I enjoy. But, a cool science fiction story? This film's got it. A secret base 3,000 feet beneath the sea? This film's got it. A pretty girl? This film's got it. A diabolical leader wanting to conquer the Earth? Got it. Evil Nazi-esque scientists doing experiments on humans? Got it. Men in monster suits? Radioactivity? Human beings getting captured and changed into Water-Cyborg slaves? Ditto, ditto and ditto. Sure, the acting is not the best and many times the audio is not synchronized with their mouths, but the story is fun and the special effects are good. The monsters in the film (the so-called "water cyborgs") are reminiscent of the Creature IN THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Obviously, the creature costumes aren't done half as well as Universal's Creature, but they're adequate and serve their purpose. One of the neat things about the half-man-half-monsters is their ability to be remotely controlled. They work, fight and "freeze" all on command ... is that cool or what? If you enjoy watching GODZILLA, ULTRAMAN, or any of the sci-fi B movies from the 50s and 60s, I think you'll like this modest little monster flick, I know I did.



4. A very well made sci-fi movie of late night tv. If your into horror/sci-fi and love the late night films that were shown during your favorite horror host(s).. then this movie will be very good in your DVD collection. Recommended!



5. Great classic film from the 60's. Seen this on Saturday night monster show loved it ever since. A scientist creates people into under water beast. Kind of graphic for its time. Especially when the two monsters fight with each other. Great scene! Dark Sky films did a excellent job on this dvd release. I like this movie more then Universal monsters the creature.