“Gringo is a slang word used in Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries in Latin America, to denote foreigners, often from the United States. The term can be applied to someone who is actually a foreigner, or it can denote a strong association or assimilation into foreign (particularly US) society and culture. While in Spanish it simply identifies a foreigner, without any negative connotation,in English the word is often considered offensive or disparaging.” – from Wikipedia.

Well, in this particular case, we’ve got ourselves a no ordinary Gringo (Scott Adkins), who arrives at a sleepy little town of El Fronteras with a bag full of money and dark past that follows him.

The deal is that Pedro (as he gets called a couple of times throughout the film) is a cop, who got set up along with other fellow cops in a Mexican Desert. The set up turns into a bloody shootout, where Pedro is the only one who survives.

So naturally, he takes the drug money, and wants to vanish. To be exact, he wants to vanish in Acapulco, but the road leads him to El Fronteras. Being a good shot and a martial arts expert, Pedro quickly realizes that those are the skills he would have to use to stay alive, as towns authorities are corrupt and on the same side with the “skeleton” group of local killers.

The story develops further as Lieutenant West (Christian Slater) is assigned to handle the case, and he’s now on the trail to track down Pedro and bring him back along with the cash bag. Pedro of course has no idea, and the only thing he tries to do is to get on the bus that takes him to Acapulco. If he’s lucky enough to stay alive that long…

At least several times throughout the film, I caught myself thinking that “El Gringo” heavily reminds me of Robert Rodriquez’ cult film “Desperado” with Antonio Banderas.

To me, the story had similar elements, the directing was somewhat similar, even “El Gringo” himself reminded me of “El Mariachi”. Of course, one on one Mariachi wouldn’t stand a chance against Gringo, but that’s another story.

Scott Adkins gets plenty of screen time here, he’s pretty much given the carte blanche in the film, doing everything an action hero should be doing (kicking asses, shooting down bad guys, getting the girl, and ultimately surviving), and he’s a joy to watch. Being one of the most skilled and gifted martial artists on screen today, Adkins shows some acting skills as well, since the film is not a straight up martial arts flick.

While “El Gringo” is pure entertainment, having fights, shootouts, jokes and amusing villains, there is one big goof that I noticed – a goof that most people would not notice.

Towards the end of the film, we see Christian Slater’s character Lt. West is driving a black car, looking for Pedro. The car that West drives is a on old Russian “Gaz-21″ model, that… simply could not be in Mexico, let alone El Fronteras.

The goof can be explained though: “El Gringo” was shot on location in Bulgaria, which explains the Soviet “Gaz” car. The filmmakers could have envisaged that.

Another thing that I noticed, director Eduardo Rodriquez seems to have this problem with dragging in his films – something I felt while watching “Stash House” and same with “El Gringo”. Both films should have been shorter by least 10 minutes each.

Aside from these negative nuances (include sometimes bizarre scene cutting during fight scenes) – “El Gringo” is one hell of a ride. There are amusing villains, cool hero, fight scenes, shootouts and a cool soundtrack. Give it a try.

BZFILM SCALE: 6/10

One project that has caused some attention recently is “White Tiger”, a martial arts film with quite an impressive cast: Matt Mullins, Don “The Dragon Wilson”, Joe Lewis, and Cynthia Rothrock.

It should be noted, that Rothrock is playing a villain in the film, and she revealed more details on the story of “White Tiger”:

“This is basically a revenge story. Matt Mullins’ partner played by Joe Lewis is killed on a job, and Mullins teams up with Don Wilson, a retired mercenary,” Rothrock told BZFilm.

She also confirmed that she’d be playing a villain in the film, and revealed that she has a fight scene with Wilson in the end of the movie.

Rothrock said the shooting has already been completed, and the film is now in post-production.

White Tiger was shot in Bangkok, and with such stars as Rothrock, Wilson and Mullins, the film better deliver what the fans want.  Check out some pictures from “Whilte Tiger” below:

It would also be great to see Joe Lewis back on screen, as despite being one of the greatest fighters of all time, Lewis rarely did movie parts, and his last movie appearance, according to IMDB was back in 1997.

In 2011 Lewis announced on his Facebook page, that he had brain cancer, and was given from 6 to 8 weeks to live. As we can see now, Lewis is still “kicking it” with two movies scheduled to be released this year, “White Tiger” and “Kill’em All”, both are martial arts films.

As for Cynthia Rothrock and Don Wilson, the two already starred together in “Sci-Fighter” back in 2004, however “White Tiger” would be the first film where they face off against each other.

Among other projects, Cynthia was to make a film with her long time friend and movie partner Richard Norton, called “Downward-Facing Dog”, however, as Rothrock told BZFilm, the project never got off the ground due to financial problems.

To improve your results, your movie art must create an immediate impact and touch the audience on the right emotional level.

The starting point of your overall brand strategy is your movie poster design.

But before designing any graphic elements you should decide on the message you want to communicate. Here are three aspects of a great movie poster design from FilmmakingStuff that you should consider

HAVE STYLE

Decide what kind of movie your poster is going to represent. You should try to convey the general mood of your film to its graphic design. For example, if you work on an action or horror movie poster, you should create an intense or dark atmosphere, if it’s a comedy – it would be better to choose a funny and light style. Your poster should be striking, memorable and focused on a single, clear message. When you are working on your graphic design, always make sure you think about your target audience!

RIGHT TEXT

The next thing to focus on is the text. Apart from the movie title, your film poster must also contain a tag line (a striking sentence or branding slogan the conveys the movie’s message), the name of the director, names of main actors (or characters in some cases), the release date and a billing block (credits at the bottom).

If you need to emphasize a presence of someone famous in your movie, or highlight some other particular aspect of the film, you may write it on your poster, along with making sure this information is really indispensable. Your movie poster must say just enough to make the sale – don’t overload it.

CHOOSING IMAGES

The most difficult step is choosing images. You should hire yourself a graphic designer, unless you think you can do the job yourself. But even with the professional assistance, choosing the correct graphics can be difficult. So the best way to find out what to put on your poster is to look at other similar works or to watch some films in the same genre for inspiration.

If you don’t have any good pictures of your actors or movie scenes, think of that in advance, and make some, specifically for the posters. In the future they may become handy. Or on the other hand you could try substituting them with symbolic images. Try googling as well – you may find a lot of interesting photos that can express the mood of your film. Otherwise, you may choose to forgo photos for representative drawings, which would make your poster illustrated rather than photographic.

Although the need to print a poster may seem secondary in digital distribution era, you should always consider that most video on demand marketplaces will require your art in a relatively large format. That’s why anything you do should be created using a high resolution. Make sure you do not skip such things as consistent graphic design in all areas of your marketing, including website, DVD cover and all other visual collateral associated with your film.:

Elements of a Great Movie Poster Design (from WebDesigner’s Depot)

The four-step formula – attention, interest, desire, and action – has been used as the basis of thousands of successful movie advertising campaigns.

Iconography – showing without telling. Most effective movie posters represent the film’s themes without actually telling what it is about. A close-up of a character or item that’s a major plot point, or a simple graphic to “explain” the film’s plot.

Interest – create an incentive to see the film. If  icons and more abstract imagery doesn’t work with your film – try using an image that provides viewers with an idea of the story. Many of the best modern film posters use pictures that put the viewer in the middle of a scene from the film, creating tension and a major incentive. The incentive is that in order to resolve the situation, the person looking at the poster needs to see the film and find out what happens.

Using unique style – whether its an art film or a blockbuster. Some of the most memorable film posters out there have used bold, unique artistic styles to their advantage. What separates these posters from their ineffective art-for-art’s-sake rivals is that they’re consistent with style, in both the movie’s promotional materials and throughout the film itself.

Lasting Appeal – a look that suits other formats. Here’s the danger in getting too ‘arty’ and delicate with your film poster: it’s eventually, after release and theater shows, going to be shrunk to a fraction of its original size for the DVD release. While some films now use different designs for their DVD cover than their in-theater promo posters, most of the classics and high-budget blockbusters still use the same poster for both. Think “Jurassic Park” – it uses imagery that’s just as visible and clear when it’s small as when its big. For your poster to work for the long-term, it needs to have scalable, clear, and lasting design appeal.

Recognizability – if it’s a sequel, make it obvious. If you’re making a sequel (or a prequel) to your film, make sure the poster is related to the first release, generally with a giant title in the top third of the canvas and instantly recognizable imagery throughout it. “The Godfather” and the two sequels in the franchise are a great example – all three use the same style and design, using the critical and commercial success of the previous films in the franchise to draw in would-be viewers.

To others, who are arrogant and disrespectful, he’s just “some guy who looks like Huey Lewis”.

While Dennis Hayden did not reach the heights of Stallone and Schwarzenegger, and did have some resemblance with singer Huey Lewis, he’s a little more than that.

Former football player, a skilled writer, actor and just a cool tough guy, Dennis Hayden has come a long and hard say.

In this exclusive interview, Hayden tells it all – from his difficult childhood and football days to his path in Hollywood and beyond.

Growing up

Hayden’s childhood was not an easy one, according to his own words.

“I grew up on a farm outside a very small town in southeast Kansas. My mother was a lovely lady, but she ruled with an iron fist to discipline her children,” he recalls.

“As for my dad, he had the post traumatic stress disorder, left from World War II. He was great guy who loved his family and worked hard to take care of us,” Hayden told BZFilm, adding that his father also had a big problem – booze.

Hayden’s father did not have a drinking problem before he got enlisted, Dennis says, noting that the war turned his father into a full-fledged alcoholic.

“Sometimes, he would have these combat flashbacks and think his family was German soldiers out to kill him,” Hayden says.

Further on, Dennis reveals some shocking moments he experienced as a child.

“Dad would grab a butcher knife and chase my mom and us kids around the kitchen table. Later me and my elder brothers worked out a system – I would hide under the table and trip my dad, and they would tackle him high, and we’d all hold him down on the floor until he passed out,” Dennis says.

Hayden continues: “When Dad sobered up the next day he wouldn’t remember a thing. I’d ask him – Dad, why were you trying to kill us last night?, and he would always say: No, son, I wouldn’t do anything like that! I love you kids!”

Hayden’s problems with his dad and booze were not the only problems that he encountered while growing up. Tough childhood times were filled with poverty as well. As Hayden recalls it, “life was hard for my family”.

“My grandpa lived with us, and we were all crammed into a little three bedroom house set amid a few hardscrabble acres. We raised, grew, or hunted every scrap of food that was put on the table. There was no going to the grocery store because we rarely had money to spare,” Hayden says.

He goes on by saying that his family “did not have a phone, and sometimes even went without electricity because no bills could be paid”.

Hayden says he first started working at a very young age.

“We had running water only because we ‘ran’ down to the well and drew it out with a rope and bucket,” he says. “That was my first job as a small child: drawing water from the well and carrying it out to the fields to water the livestock”.

Dennis meets the “evil nuns”, enters school

As Hayden puts it himself, “after miraculously surviving the age of six”, his mother hauled him over to “what we called the nunnery in the town of Greenbush to register for school”.

“Greenbush wasn’t really even a town. About twenty people lived near a small grocery store and the Catholic Church. The church was a powerful entity in our area, and nuns were used as teachers,” Dennis recalls.

“I was very tall for my age, and to this day I still remember the head penguin giving me an evil eye when she first saw me and saying: “Oooooh, now here’s a big one.” as if I was already, somehow, destined for religious troublemaking,” Dennis notes.

“Once I started school my daily routine would go something like this: before dawn my brothers and I would hand-water three hundred hogs, chickens, and ducks, then head out to the fields and milk thirty cows. Then we would walk two miles to the town of Greenbush for morning mass at the local church before going on to school,” Hayden recalls.

He also recalls “unfair” treatment he got from the nuns.

“I remember being so excited that first day, because I would get to play with my new friends at recess. But when the recess bell rang and the other four kids went outside to play, the head nun stopped me at the door and said I couldn’t play with them because I was too big. So now they had to figure out what to do with me for three recesses a day,” he says.

“One nun came up with a bright idea of having me perform plays and skits. So while everyone else was having fun outside, I would be in the classroom acting out one-man shows. By Christmas the nuns decided I should be allowed outside to play with others”.

Hayden also says the nuns were mean, sometimes to the point of being wicked.

“Their favorite instruments of torture were rulers and paddles, and they used them often on the school kids. They only hit me once. A nun cracked me across the back of the hand with a ruler edge for coloring outside the lines. I grabbed the ruler from her and broke it with just my thumb and told her: “The next time you hit me, I’m going to hit back.” They pretty much left me alone after that,” he laughs.

Back to work

“To make a little money, my brothers and I would hire ourselves out to the neighbors for manual labor,” Hayden says.

After we’d finished out chores at the farm, we spent most of our time after school and on weekends and holidays making hedge posts, stringing barbed wire fencing across the prairie, and cleaning animal shit out of barns. In the summer months, when school was out and the fields were being harvested, we mostly hauled hay. We were paid fifty cents a ton, and if we worked really hard we could haul twenty tons a day. To me, at the time, that was big money, Dennis recalls.

“My dad would load me and my brothers into the truck and drive us out to the city dump, where we’d would fill the truck bed with whatever scraps of lumber and toys we could find that other people threw away, Hayden recalls. “Sometimes my dad, who now had some money in his pocket, would disappear for a few hours into the area’s backwoods bars. When he returned to the dump he was too drunk to drive, so one of us boys would have to drive the truck home. I learned to drive when I was six years old. Being tall, I was able to reach the floor pedals and see over the steering wheel.”

First spark towards acting and television

Hayden remembers the moment – the day when his brother Bill came back from the dump with an old black-and-white television.

“We fashioned an antenna out of a coat hanger and baling wire and, lo and behold… contact with the outside world! The first show I ever saw was Whirly Birds, and I was fascinated by it,” Dennis recalls.

“That old busted-up tv gifted me with my first true moment of clarity: my brother Bill said all those actors we saw on the television made a lot of money. Something inside my head clicked like a light switch being turned on, and I realized that being paid money to act was what I wanted to do when I grew up. And, thanks to a few evil nuns, I had been training in the craft since I was six years old,” Dennis says.

6’4, 200lbs Hayden goes to high school

“After graduating, I was enrolled as a freshman at Girard Unified District High School, which was about ten miles from the farm,” Hayden says.

High school was mind-blowing, Dennis says.

“I went from being around a handful of other classmates to being in the midst of 600 other students and so many pretty girls it made my head swim! I signed up for football, basketball, and track, because those sports covered the entire school year”.

He also vividly remembers the first day at school.

“On that first day, at noon when we went to lunch, I couldn’t believe it. They gave me all this food to eat and I didn’t have to hunt or kill any of it myself! Since I’d already put in a full day’s work at the farm that morning before going to class, I was starving. I ate all the food they gave me, plus all the food the other kids sitting next to me left on their trays,” he smiles.

“Son, did you sign up for football?”

Hayden remembers a small patio outside the high school, where where all the kids hung out after lunch until it was time to go back to class.

“I remember this big senior kid walked over to me and kicked me in the balls. Well… growing up with three older brothers who always tried to beat the shit out of me, and having learned defensive knife skills from fighting off my dad during his war flashbacks, I threw that kid to the ground and started to beat the snot out of him,” Hayden says.

“Suddenly, I felt someone grab me from behind,” he says. “Thinking it was another senior trying to hit me, I reached one of my long arms behind my back, grabbed this other guy by the throat and shoved him against the wall. I was just about to deliver a haymaker when I realized the guy I had by the throat was the High School principal Frank Jameson.”

“I quickly let go of him and told him how sorry I was. I thought for sure I was going to be expelled. Instead, he looked me over while rubbing his throat, and then he said: “Son, did you sign up for football?” I said: “Yes, sir, I did.” He smiled and patted me on the shoulder and said: “Good. See you at practice later.” And as he walked away he added: “The guy that kicked you in the balls; don’t beat him up too bad. He’s our starting fullback.”

For the next four years, Principal Jameson was the best ally I had at school,” Hayden laughs.

“Meat Hook” and size 17 shoes

“Football was easy for me. From the time I was young, I’d hire myself out during the summers for migrant work on the wheat harvests. In hundred-plus degree temperatures, I’d work from dawn to dusk cutting fields from Oklahoma all the way up to Canada,” Hayden says. “That was long, hard, manual labor often in the middle of nowhere. If an 800lb. header broke on a combine, I would have to fix it myself. If a wheat truck broke down, I’d have to repair the motor myself with whatever meager tools and parts I had on hand.”

Considering all this hard physical work, its no surprise football seemed like an easy ride for Hayden.

“When school started and I went to my first football practice as a freshman, the coach wanted to see just how tough I was, so he sent the entire offensive line out to take me down during a tackling drill,” Dennis says. “I got rushed be eight guys. I knocked every single one of them to the ground. The coach told me I was going to be a starting lineman on the varsity team”.

“Because of the way I tackled people, my coach gave me the nickname ‘Meat Hook’. I’d grab the ball carrier with one hand and throw him to the ground. I got rid of a lot of my aggression on the football field,” Hayden admits.

“Now, looking back on it, I actually feel kind of sorry for those kids I played against, because they suffered for every time my father had tried to stab me in a drunken rage; every time one of my brothers had tried to beat the crap out of me,” he said.

“I never realized how good a football player I was. Every Monday morning the coach would post write-ups from the local newspaper on the school bulletin board about how well our team was doing, and my name was mentioned a lot. But I never really noticed. I was so busy with chores in the morning before class, and then working until late at night for whichever neighbor I’d hired myself out to for farm work. School became just a place for me to get a few hours sleep in between jobs,” he said.

Dennis also admits that he was very surprised when scholarship offers started coming in.

“I didn’t really have anybody to ask for advice, and I remember thinking to myself: if I go to a school too far away or even out of state, I won’t be able to help out on the farm. So I decided to go to a junior college in Fort Scoot, Kansas, which was about thirty miles away. They had a solid football program, and offered to pay all my tuition and books, which at the time was a whopping $400,” he recalls.

Hayden admits that his football program at Ft. Scott College took off badly, and went downhill from there.

“It began the moment I walked in the locker room,” he says. “I wear a size 17 shoe. The biggest cleats they had was size 13, and the coaches didn’t really seem to care about getting me a pair of shoes that fit. Believe me, competing in athletics while wearing shoes four sizes too small is a painful experience”.

“The most vivid memory I have is practicing in 100-degree heat in mid-August. For some reason the coach had singled me out. He was really giving me a hard time.

“Knock Hayden on his ass!”

“During the scrimmage our star running back went down with cramps. This guy was something to watch on the playing field: fast, smart, a body chiseled with muscles. During the scrimmage, when he went down with cramps, the coach just stood there screaming at him because he couldn’t get up,” Hayden says.

“After a few minutes of that bullshit the coach just walked away, leaving the guy writhing on the sidelines. They ordered the scrimmage to resume, and the coach told us guys on defense to go at half-speed. Then he walked over to the offense and called a play for them at full speed, directed straight at me. I heard him tell the offense: “Knock Hayden on his ass!” Well… I wasn’t going to just stand there and let that happen,” Dennis notes.

“The ball was snapped – a running play directly at me. I stacked up the three offensive linemen trying to block me, and then slammed the fullback to the ground so hard it caused him to fumble. The coach was enraged, running over and screaming in my face. All that did was piss me off even more. I heard the coach call another running play to the other side of the line, this time away from me,” Hayden says.

“When the ball was snapped again, I pulled from the line, ran to the other side, laid out three more blockers and plowed another running back into the turf. The coach was so mad he called an immediate stop to practice and ordered everyone off the field,” he added.

“Meanwhile, our star running back was still lying on the ground moaning, his body all cramped up. The coaches left him there. No one tended to him. Later that night, one of my teammates told me the running back was taken to the hospital. He died a short while later,” Hayden recalls.

Hayden says the very next day a lot of guys quit the football team. Dennis however was not a quitter.

“At the funeral for our fallen teammate, the coach came over to me. He was so humble; a completely different person than the screaming psycho I’d come to know on the playing field. He begged me to not quit the team,” Hayden recalls.

What Dennis did next – he asked the coach to get him size 17 shoes, in which case, he would not quit the team. A quite hostile reaction from the coach followed.

“The guy immediately snapped, completely freaked out, yelling at me so loud in the church that spit was coming out of his mouth. Who the hell was I to ask for a new pair of shoes! I tried to reason with him; told him that if he got me a pair of shoes that fit I would probably be an even better football player,” Hayden says.

“However this only turned him more psychotic. I listened to him for a moment, screaming at me in a church filled with mourners, and finally told him he really should buy a pair of size-17 shoes… and then shove them up his ass, because I was never going to play another down for a prick like him. If I ever played football again, it would be in the movies.
And with that, I walked out of the church and started making my plans for Hollywood,” Hayden concluded.

Action Jackson Dies Hard

Dennis Hayden set his sights for movies, and was building up his acting resume, after a string of acting jobs. In 1988 he starred in “Action Jackson”, with Carl Weathers.

“Action Jackson was a fun movie,” Dennis recalls. “In my opinion the Director of that film, Craig Baxley, is the coolest director I’ve ever worked with”.

Hayden says while he was working on “Action Jackson”, he got a call from his agent, about another film project on Fox Studios. Jackie Burch Casting wanted Hayden for another film.

“I show up for the meeting at Joel Silver’s office, and Jackie suddenly hands me a script and says I’ll be reading such-and-such scenes. Well… nobody told me I’d be doing a cold reading. I’d have no time to even look at the pages and digest my character,” Hayden says.

“All of a sudden Joel Silver’s voice comes booming out from one of the executive offices: Dennis Hayden doesn’t have to read for me, Jackie! He’s starring in one of my movies now, and he’s going to be starring in my next movie Die Hard! I just wanted you to meet him!”

“I appreciated Joel saying that, but I also remember thinking to myself: “After being yelled at like that, I bet Jackie Burch Casting never brings in for another movie ever again.” And I was right,” Dennis says.

Hayden claims before the filming of “Die Hard” started, actors were sent to a real military boot camp for basic training and advanced weapons instruction.

“Since my character in Die Hard would be wearing cowboy boots, that’s what I wore throughout the entire rigorous program,” Dennis says. “Not only that, I finished the training rated at the top of my class. The head honcho from Special Ops came over to me afterward and said that if I wanted to do this kind of thing for real, he could get me work. I thanked him for the offer, but said I’d stick to acting”.

Hayden says in the original version of “Die Hard”, his character (Eddie) died about halfway through the film, which of course was cool, but not that cool. Luckily for Dennis, the situation changed.

“While the project was still in development, I stopped by to see a friend of mine who had a recording studio. And it just so happened that Bobbie Marcus, a renowned publicist who handled such clients as Herby Hancock, etc., had an office there,” Dennis recalls.

“I walked right into her office and introduced myself. I said I’d just finished starring in a string of box office hits, numerous television shows and commercials, and wondered if she might be interested in doing publicity for me. She said she would, and wanted to know what projects I had coming up”.

“I told her I’d just been cast in another Joel Silver film called Die Hard. She looked at me and said: “My future brother in-law, Steven deSouza, is one of the writers on that film.” Once again, the light bulb went off in my head, and I said: “Well, Bobbie, If you can get your future brother-in-law to rewrite the script so that my character ‘Eddie’ lives until the end of the movie, I’ll hire you as my publicist.”

She called me back about a week later and said: “You not only live until the end of the movie, you’re the last villain Bruce Willis shoots.” And the rest, as they say in Hollywood, is celluloid history,” Hayden said.

Die Hard film, which was destined to become one of the best action movies of all time, was in fact based on a 1979 novel “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp. Hayden said he never read the novel.

Despite film’s success, it was not all so smooth for Dennis, as he tells the story.

“When Die Hard first came out, a Los Angeles newspaper said: Huey Lewis did a great job in the movie’, so Huey got some good press,” Hayden recalls.

The point is, Hayden, as some people believed, looked like american singer Huey Lewis. And, some media outlets, even after some time, continued with their disrespect towards Hayden.

“Animated TV series The Cleveland Show showed a Christmas skit called ‘Semi Die Hard’ and used my character ‘Eddie’ but called him ‘The Guy Who Looks Like Huey Lewis’,” Hayden said. “To top it off, they actually hired Huey Lewis to do the voice-over.”

Despite this, Dennis also recalls how he encountered Bruce Willis years after the released film, and spoke to him about the “Die Hard” ending.

“I ran into Bruce a while back and I said to him – You didn’t really kill me, as you shot me in the head, but I had a steel plate in my skull from the war, and the bullet just knocked me out. After everybody left the building, I woke up, stole an ambulance and escaped. I don’t think Bruce found that as funny as I did,” Hayden laughs.

Philippines, martial arts and crazy taxi drivers

BZFilm also asked Dennis to talk a little about his movie “One Man Army”, the one he did in Philippines, with his friend, former martial arts champion Jerry Trimble. According to Hayden, he has nothing but great memories of the Philippines.

“I got a call one day from my friend Jerry Trimble, who said he was over in the Philippines working on a film. The writer of the film had written himself into the script as lead bad guy, but then developed cold feet and didn’t want to do it. Jerry wanted to know if I was available and if I would come to the Philippines and play the lead villain,” Hayden recalls.

“A few days later I was on a flight. I have to tell you, that was one long-ass flight. Being 6’4, the plane ride for me seemed to take forever,” Dennis smiles.

Then Dennis went on to tell about the “philippino style of driving”.

“When I arrived in the Philippines I took a cab over to the director’s mansion, and felt lucky to get there alive. You wouldn’t believe how they drive over there! Those cabbies think they’re in the Indy 500; it’s like organized chaos,” Hayden notes.

When Hayden finally got to the destination point, he was in for a surprise.

“I met Jerry at the mansion and we went in to see the director Cirio Santiago. He’s sitting on a sofa with a script in his hand. He tells me the villain role is written as a cripple. Obviously they weren’t going to play me as a cripple, so he tosses the script to me and says: Dennis, you will have to rewrite the script,” Hayden recalls.

He further explained why there was really a need for him to rewrite the script.

“Cirio Santiago hired a writer to do the rewrite, but this guy hadn’t been to the United States since the 1950’s, and was really clueless as to what modern American society was like,” Hayden explains.

“As I went through the pages I realized the original writer had written himself a villain role in the movie much bigger than the hero,” Hayden says. “Since I had an easy first day on the set, I spent the next thirty-six hours rewriting the script; taking out a ton of my character’s overwritten dialogue, and updating story elements”.

As it later turned out, Santiago also hired another writer to do the rewrite. Santiago then compared what Hayden wrote, and what the other writer wrote, and the film eventually went on with Hayden’s version of the story.

“That little movie played on HBO for several years,” Hayden recalls. “The action sequences are real. When you see a stuntman jump on a speeding car or jump off a building without any pads on, that’s about as real as it gets”.

Not surprisingly, Jerry Trimble did all his stunts in the film by himself, according to Hayden.

“He did all those fights sequences himself. No stunt double. He was such a great professional to work with,” Hayden says.

The Man in the Iron Mask

As most people know, in 1998 “Man in the Iron Mask” film was released, starring Leo DiCaprio, Gerard Depardieu, Jeremy Irons and John Malcovich. The film was based on Alexander Dumas’ novel.

However, just a couple of months before film’s release, another “Man in the Iron Mask” was released, also based on the same novel. This was an independent picture, starring Edward Albert, Dennis Hayden, Meg Foster, Timothy Bottoms and Jerry Trimble.

“Our Man In The Iron Mask, was an independent epic filmed without a major studio backing it,” Hayden says.

“The film was intended as a starring vehicle for River Phoenix playing the dual role of the King and his twin brother, but River’s tragic death squashed that. Instead Timothy Bottoms, William Richert as Aramis, myself as D’Artagnan, Edward Albert as Athos and Rex Ryan as Porthos, were cast, along with Dana Barron and Meg Foster, who provided wonderful performances as the female leads,” Dennis recalls.

Hayden claims that the studio film with DiCaprio did not hurt their independent film, however in their case, casting became an issue. He explains further:

“Both studios made million-dollar offers for the script, but casting became an issue. Richert wanted the Musketeers to be real tough guys. That’s how I got involved. I remember that, after our film was screened in theaters, several women came up to me said they couldn’t believe how many macho men were in it,” Hayden said.

According to trivia, prior to 2006 all previous releases of “The Man in the Iron Mask” on DVD and Video were unauthorized and incomplete. Hayden explains why this happened.

“Richert’s original idea was to a shoot a rough draft of the movie, pre-sell it to raise additional funding, and then finish the project. Several of the distributors we dealt with promised us presale money, got greedy and instead released the rough cut,” he says.

“These people, especially foreign distributors, have a lot of different ways and sneaky tricks to steal your money. Richert and myself are still working on the film, using all the new digital and editing technology that’s available now. An artist’s work is never done”.

Semi-retired, yet thinking more films

Hayden’s film career has been sleepy – since 2000 he appeared in only 16 movies. In 2010 and 2011 he did not make any film appearances at all. Former football player and “Die Hard” star says he’s simply enjoying life.

“I am basically semi-retired, and enjoying life. I learned a valuable lesson from my father about booze, and haven’t touched a drop of liquor in over thirty years,” Hayden said. “Nowadays I mostly work only on movies that my friends are directing or producing”.

He continues: I never did have a big Hollywood agent. My old agent William Kerwin still submits me for parts, but I rarely get called in for interviews.

“Most well-connected agents won’t take on new clients unless they’re already on a tv series or currently booking big studio pictures,” Hayden says. “I find it funny when an agent says when he already has someone like you. In my thirty-plus years in the film business, I have never run into ‘me’ yet”.

Hayden however does not sound like an artist who’s ready to quit what he’s been doing for so long.

“I would love to make my own films, and that was always the plan,” he says. “But these film markets and distributors – especially the overseas markets – are just a den of thieves. They have multiple ways of hiding profits or just flat-out stealing the project”.

Hayden notes that it is hard to make enough money on an independent film to be able to finance another.

“Once you finish one movie, you basically have to start from scratch in order to get another one financed,” he admits.

“I have written some very good scripts that got a lot of interest from independent producers and other actors – even some investors willing to risk the equity in their home to finance the project – but with the economy still in a slump and the unions either going on strike or threatening to, it just kills the effort.”

The film begins with a young teenage couple making out in a car when an insect looking monster attacks.

The local sheriff must find out what’s causing the killings. Meanwhile, the mayor is breathing down his neck.

The mayor wants to keep a lid on the deaths so a multi-million dollar amusement park will be built.

MOVIE TITLE: The Alien Factor
YEAR: 1978
GENRE: Horror / Sci-Fi, 80 minutes
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Don Dohler

WATCH FULL MOVIE BELOW:

David Nash (Sean Faris) purchases a great, beautiful house for cheap, for him and his young wife Emma (Briana Evigan) for her birthday. Gated, serene, and surrounded by friendly neighbors, it seems too good to be true.

The young lovebirds move in, only to soon find out that their house is in fact a “stash house”, where walls are lined with bricks of heroin. Aw, a perfect evening spoiled!

It gets worse though – soon enough two villain characters enter the film: unstable, trigger-happy Jaffe (Jon Huertas) and tall, calm and ruthless Andy Spector (Dolph Lundgren).

Since it is a stash house that David and Emma are in, the windows are bulletproof, there’s also a security system, and the couple barricades itself from the assassins.

At first it seems that Spector and Jaffe just want the drugs, however later their true plans are revealed, and the young family will have to outsmart the armed killers, and survive the night.

While the film is among those distributed as “After Dark Action” series, it can hardly be called an action movie – this is purely a dark thriller.

I noticed that most of the time when Dolph Lundgren plays villains (and he does not do that often), they’re all interesting and more exciting to watch than his usual macho parts.

With a few exceptions, Lundgren’s villains stand out and they’re memorable (Ivan Drago in Rocky, Street Preacher in Johnny Mnemonic, Andrew Scott in Universal Soldier), and Andy Spector from “Stash House” is somewhere in there as well.

While Lundgren has aged, he still got that look on his face that makes you want to root for him, even when he’s not a hero (Expendables, anyone?).

“Stash House” might be boring for those, expecting Lundgren to tear everything apart like he used to in his earlier films, because here Andy Spector is a cold, calculating villain, that mostly uses his brains to solve problems, instead of muscles.

While Lundgren is the star of the film, others should be mentioned as well. I’ve seen only a few Sean Faris movies, and I admit I like the guy – he gets entertaining projects (Free Runner, Never Back Down, King of Fighters), and “Stash House” is a nice change for both him and Lundgren.

Like already mentioned, “Stash House” is a thriller, which, like every other movie, does have its flaws. For me personally the film could have been 10-15 minutes shorter – some scenes drag, and there’s really not much going on.

The film lacks intensity in some parts (mainly in the middle), and you can handle films that tell the story in only one location (stash house in this case), you can give it a look.

Clearly not a sensational film, but somewhat original and the tension really starts building up towards the end. Trailer for the film is below.

BZFILM SCALE: 5/10

The film started off really strange with a “voice” giving us some bizarre introduction about some “harvesters, for whom past, present and future exist as one”… I did not pay any attention to that, and continued watching. Towards the end of the film, I realized what those words mean.

“Jack the Reaper” follows a bunch of some school kids that did not complete their school project – a paper on industrial revolution. So now, their teacher takes them on a tour, since they still have to finish their 10 hours of study. As you’ve probably guessed already – this will be their last ride…

First, the students are taken to a railroad museum, where a mysterious Mr. Steele (legendary Tony Todd) tells them about the railways, and also a little about the “Railroad Jack” – some giant that was supposedly killed on these railroads in the early 20th century, and has been killing people since then.

Once the group leaves the railroad museum, on their way back, their bus breaks down, and they end up strangled in the middle of a desert, near some strange carnival. Of course our unsuspecting teens leave the bus to get some help. Meanwhile, “Railroad Jack” is already waiting for them at the carnival, armed with a pickaxe…

If going deep, it is obvious that the film’s idea is nothing new, it has been done before a number of times. The film drags in the beginning a lot, since the first “manhunt” starts only with 40-45 minutes into the film.

Douglas Tait, who’s no stranger to playing various creatures and monsters, does his job well. Although despite being the central character of the story, Railroad Jack has limited screen time, and most of his kills are either off camera or just plain weak.

Other actors that stand out among the rest are of course Sally Kirkland and Tony Todd. Being an actor that he is, heavyweight horror icon Tony Todd manages to shine, delivering boring and dull monologue about railroads and Railroad Jack, while Sally Kirkland only has one scene in the beginning of the film. She, and Douglas Tait (Railroad Jack) were also the producers of the film.

Obviously a low-budget production, “Jack the Reaper” gets entertaining way too late, and leaves a few story questions unanswered (like why none of the teens use their mobiles after the crash, instead going to the carnival searching for help).

For a first time effort, Kimberly Seilhamer did very good, and it was rewarded – being shot in just 13 days, “Jack the Reaper” somehow managed to win a “best horror/sci-fi film award” at the 2011 Cannes Independent Film Festival.

I wonder if the film could have done better having a different title, since if we already have “Jack” in title, why not name the film “Railroad Jack” or “Harvesters” or something like that. In my opinion, would have been better than “Jack the Reaper” which of course confuses people with “Jack the Ripper”.

Anyway, had the film (being a slasher after all) more gore or more exciting moments, it would have been more entertaining. Seilhamer (who by the way is a former United States Marine) should keep this in mind, when making her next feature film.

BZFILM SCALE: 4/10

That is no wonder since Tristano is arguably the most famous supplier of various arms and weapons related props to the entertainment business.

Tristano and his “Mike Tristano & Company” worked on countless films of all budgets, music videos, TV series, reality shows, Cable TV projects, short films, and God knows what else.

Tristano also directed more than 10 movies himself, some of which (The Flesh Merchant, Cyber Seeker, Body Count, Never Look Back) became cult.

However, Tristano himself admits that his plans are to continue to expand his weapons inventory and weapon-related prop collection, and continue working onmovies and TV projects.

Below is an interesting interview that Tristano gave exclusively to BZFilm, where veteran weapons supplier recalls how he started in the business, tells about his work with Adult industry, and reveals how he expands his already impressive collection of various weapons.

INTERVIEW

Mike, you are said to be an expert consultant and technical adviser for several periods of military history. Was this something you wanted to learn yourself, or it was “part of becoming” Mike Tristano that is known today?

I’m considered to be a Historical Expert and Technical Consultant for several specific historical periods: “The Golden Age of Piracy, 1650 to 1750″, “The Old West and Indian Wars, 1865-1915″, “The roaring 20s – Gangsters and G-Men” and “The Vietnam War”.

Those are the periods that I specialize in because of my particular personal interest in those historical periods, and because of the extensive collections of weapons and props that I have acquired for use in movies and TV shows set in those periods.

I try to be well versed in Military History from most historical periods throughout history, and to have the weapons and accompanying props for every period as well, because you never know when some one will call you for a project set in a specific period of history.

How does one become a weapons supplier for the film? How hard is it to get into this specific niche of work? What would you suggest to those who are willing to start this kind of profession?

It is very difficult to get into the business of being an Armorer in the Entertainment business today and be really successful at it. I got into the business 25 years ago when the licensing wasn’t so restrictive and expensive to get. I built up the Arsenal of over 1,000 weapons that I now have, over the years in the business when weapons were more readily available and cheaper to acquire.

Also, there was much more work in the 1980s and 1990s, and even the early 2000s. Now, a large majority of the work has gone to other countries and overseas, thanks to the unions here in the states making it too expensive to shoot film and TV projects here in the US.

How competitive is your particular sphere of work? Does “Mike Tristano & Company” limit itself to only movies or your service apply to other areas as well?

There are not that many companies that have our extensive weapons inventory and military historical prop selection, so we don’t have that much competition.

I work on movies, TV series, music videos, reality TV series, Cable TV projects, shorts, Military Contract work, and others. Pretty much any project that needs weapons, I’m the guy to call.Nobody can beat my deals or the quality of the weapons and service that my company provides.

One thing in particular that is interesting to me – where do you get all your impressive weapons inventory that you supply for the movies?

I have been constantly adding to my weapons inventory since I started the business over 25 years ago. I am always going to gun auctions, gun shows and antique weapon sales to acquire new firearms. I think that our inventory of Western period firearms is one of the best in the business, with a lot of original period weaponry that no one else has.

The same for our “Golden Age of Piracy” inventory and 1920s gangster era weapons. Of course, modern era films and contemporary weapons are always the majority of our work and rentals, and we have an excellent inventory of those as well. If a client is looking for a specific weapon, and if I don’t have it, I can usually find it for them.

Mr. Tristano, your bio says that you are the only “true” non-union supplier of movie weaponry and armorer services…meaning that most of the people who work in this niche are parts of companies, and do not work independently like you?

When I say that I am he only ‘true” non-union supplier of movie weaponry and armorer services”, I am referring to the fact that I have the only non-union weapons company in the Entertainment Industry.

I am an independent company, with about 8 professional armorers and special effects people working with me, and we work on both union and non-union shows. The majority of projects that we work on are non-union independent movies, TV projects, music videos and reality TV programs.

I have always believed that independent movies are the most interesting and creative projects to work on, and I always try to give independent producers and directors the best quality weaponry and Armorer services that they can get – equal to any A-level movie.

To me, being an Armorer in the entertainment business is about giving producers and directors the best looking and performing weapons, the best gun battles, and the best Armorers in the business, to get what they want on film, and for a price that they can afford on the budget that they have.

You’ve worked with international military intelligence, did freelance weapons advising, K&R consulting and executive security, before coming to the U.S. and establishing your company. Would you please tell in detail where you’ve worked abroad, and what were your duties there?

I left home, which was New York City, when I was quite young to work with the government for four years, and then after that I freelanced as an independent weapons adviser, security consultant and private contractor, working all over the world for another ten years.

I worked extensively in Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia, and Europe. That’s about all of the detail that I can into about my background.

Does your company provide services to films/productions that are made outside of the United States? Say, in Europe, Asia or Middle East?

I used to work regularly on films shooting outside of the US during the 1990s, but after 9/11, transporting weapons internationally became very tough and very complicated. Right now, I’m just working on films and TV series shooting here in the United States.

Among your many movie credits as an arms expert and weaponry supplier there are also hardcore porn films, like “Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge”… wouldn’t such “credit” badly affect the reputation of your company? How does that fit into the list of mainstream films you worked on?

I have provided weapons and special effects for many Adult films over the 25 years that I have been working in the Entertainment business. I treat every customer the same and give them the same high quality service and weapons, no matter what kind of project they are doing.

The Adult Film business is portrayed by the news media as sleazy and evil, which could not be further from the truth. I have found most Adult Film companies to be very professional and honest to work with, and I have never had an Adult Film company bounce a check on me or try to not pay me, which is more than I can say for some of the so-called “mainstream” companies.

I don’t believe that working with Adult Film companies has ever hurt my reputation, and if a potential client doesn’t like the fact that I have several Adult Film companies as clients, they can look elsewhere for weapons and Armorers. I don’t discriminate about who I do business with just because of the subject matter of their project, unless it is a project where people or animals may be injured or worse.

Working on Adult Films is very much like working on mainstream films, and there are a lot of crew people and performers who work both mainstream and Adult – they just don’t talk about it. I have a lot of friends and clients in the Adult Industry, and they’re all great people.

You’ve done some writing and directing work. In your earlier movies you’ve worked with such B-movie legends as Robert Z’dar, Joe Estevez, Charles Napier… what was your most vivid experience as a director?

I was writing and directing a lot of low-budget films all through the 1990s and early 2000s, which was an era that was sort of a “golden age” for B-movies. I really enjoyed writing and directing, but I did it as a sideline. I never did it with the intention of making a full-time career out of it. The weapons and special FX business was always my first priority. The main reason that I liked directing was because I really enjoy working with actors.

Robert Z’dar and Joe Estevez were both wonderful to work with. I had Robert in two of my films, and Joe in five of them. They were part of a kind of “stock company” of actors that I created, all of who were good friends of mine, that I hired all of the time, and that I really had a lot of fun working with.

Most of them are what you would call B-movie legends, like Don Stroud, Richard Lynch, Neil Delama, Michael Christian, William Smith, Vernon Wells, Christopher Mitchum, Frank Zagarino, Michelle Bauer, Ashlie Rhey, Wings Hauser, Lisa Comshaw, Martin Kove, Miles O’Keeffe, and the late Charles Napier.

I was also lucky to have a couple of A-list actors, Burt Young and Charles Durning in one of my films as well. I remember one day being on the set of one of my films, “Never Look Back”, and getting ready to direct a scene with Burt Young, Charles Durning, and Charles Napier in it.

My script supervisor told me that I had a nice low key directing style. I turned to her and told her that you really don’t need to “direct” a scene with actors of this caliber in it, you just need to tell them what you want from the scene, and they’ll just give it to you. And they always did!

Do you have any plans of, maybe, changing your film career into a different direction, or you will remain to work in your weapons related niche?

Right now, my only plans are to continue to expand my weapons inventory and weapon-related prop collection, and working on as many movies and TV projects that I can. Historical period films and TV projects are always my favorites to work on, but I just love being an Armorer and weapons expert on all types of movie and TV projects. To me, it’s the best job in the world!

The film is based on a true story, a Canadian Caper that took place during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980.

As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA ‘exfiltration’ specialist Tony Mendez concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.

His plan is to convince the Iranian government that they are a film crew scouting locations for a fictitious film entitled “Argo”, and organize the safe escape of  the hostages.

The Iranian hostage crisis went on for 444 days, shaking America’s confidence and sinking President Jimmy Carter’s reelection campaign.

Americans were soon haunted by the grim visage of Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini – leader of the Iranian 1979 revolution, as well as  by well-armed Islamic militants who would parade blindfolded hostages across the nightly news and threaten trials for the “spies” that they’d captured.

52 Americans were trapped at the U.S. embassy and the failed rescue attempt a few months later that ended with a disastrous Army helicopter crash in the Iranian desert.

But not many know the long- classified details of the CIA’s involvement in the escape of the other group — thrust into a hostile city in the throes of revolution. and that’s the story Ben Affleck has decided to tell the world.

Affleck himself plays Tony Mendez, and some claim this part clearly does not fit him, but it is what it is.

The film has a great supporting cast – Alan Arkin, Tate Donovan, John Goodman, Clea DuVall, Bob Gunton, Victor Garber and Bryan Cranston. Not surprisingly, the film was mostly filmed in the U.S. and in Turkey, and not in Iran (I doubt Affleck and his crew would have been allowed anywhere near Tehran).

The trailer for the film looks interesting, and the film should be quite entertaining. One of the worrying issues here is the time, which is quite irrelevant for this kind of film.

This month of May is crucial and important for Iran, as this month Islamic Republic prepares to hold two talks in two different countries, regarding its nuclear program. First on May 13-14, Iran will host talks with the IAEA in Vienna, regarding Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and its technical aspects.

Then, on May 23, following the Istanbul meeting on April 14, Iran will once again meet with the “5+1″ group (Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States plus Germany) to talk about a wide range of issues, including the nuclear issue.

So why bring up the 1979-1980 revolution in Iran to the big screen now? The screenplay for “Argo” was based on the 2007 Wired article “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran” by Joshuah Bearman. Producers George Clooney, Grant Heslov and David Klawans set up a project based on the article in the same year, and Affleck’s attachment to the project was announced in February 2011.

It seems like people just stumbled on the interesting article, and decided to use it for a new film.

In a different case, it would have been usual, however here, it is a little different.

The currently hostile relations between the U.S. and Iran, which have deteriorated a lot since the Islamic Revolution days, and “possible military strike” talks still float around.

Releasing a film that centers on the same rather sensitive issue, might cause unexpected reaction from Iran.

The film will probably not be shown in Iran, firstly because of the film’s sensitive nature as was stated before. And another reason is much more simple – Iran considers Hollywood “evil”, and tries to limit its people from seeing particular films.

As for me, this is probably the first Ben Affleck film I am really interested in seeing. By the way, with that 80s look, Affleck really reminds me of cult Italian actor George Eastman.

Something tells me that stories like this one happen in America every day. Some people truly continue to believe that by taking a “dark shortcut” in life, they can become rich quick. Some of them are lucky, others fail miserably and pay the high price. Gangster Rudy Wright (Andrew Pressman) is just another one of those people, who took the wrong turn, and isn’t bright enough to turn back.

The film starts off with Rudy being just a small-time crook forming a bond with Mexican-American Chico (Jose Pillado), another gangster. On their first joint “job”, the gang gets busted by the cops, and Rudy ends up in prison. Not wasting any time there, Rudy makes new connections, educates himself, and upon leaving prison in three years, he already has big plans. The biggest of which is – to become the gangster of gangsters so to speak.

Reunited with Chico, friends form an organization and plan to takeover Los Angeles. While Rudy’s girlfriend begs him to stop and reconsider his future both for himself and his family (our leading gangster is a father now), Rudy continues to do his business, selling dope to the gangs on the streets, and eyes capturing more and more territory.

What he forgets is that in this kind of business it all comes down to simple loyalty and trust. If it isn’t there – one man’s life doesn’t worth a lot. Rudy has his hands full with FBI and cops one step behind him, plus there’s an informer in his crew, and his big plans just might get shattered sooner than he realizes it.

To be honest, I was surprised to know that “The City is Dark” was shot for only $25,000. Director, writer (and actor as well) Andrew Pressman managed to get some great downtown L.A. locations for his low-budget feature film.

While IMDB has the film listed under the name “The City is Dark”, with a runtime of 109 minutes, another version of the film (the one I saw) is entitled “Alleged Gangster Rudy Wright” and it runs only 79 minutes. I would assume, it is a cut, more fast-paced version of the film, however “The City is Dark” was shot in 2010, while this film is said to be of 2012. Anyway, let’s go on.

Shot in black and white, the film is a low-budget nod to such classic films as “Little Caesar” (1931) and “Scarface” (1932). Presenting itself as a modern crime thriller with a noir touch, “The City is Dark” is technically well made, while the acting could have been a lot better. By the way I was shocked how much Jose Pillado (plays Chico) looks like a childhood neighbor of mine.

Since for a tiny budget like the film had, it is very hard to get any mind-blowing action scenes inserted into the story, everything focuses on conversations and dialogues. And that’s where real acting is required. While almost all the actors in the film have the right faces for the part, their acting is slightly above amateur level, in my opinion.

In this particular case it is either over-acting, or under-acting, no “golden middle” was spotted. Of course one can claim that this way the film brings you closer to reality, however this is supposed to be entertainment, and not an educational documentary about dope dealers and street gangs.

To sum up the review – “The City is Dark” practically screamed “experimental” film at me, yet it was interesting to experience the nature of L.A. street gangs – something I have no real knowledge of.

Andrew Pressman could do a lot more with a bigger budget, and a more entertaining story, as the film does not really offer a viewer something he hasn’t seen before in the same crime thriller/street gangs subgenre.

BZFILM SCALE: 3/10

Ralph Richardson is the Crypt Keeper, who looks into the minds of a group of lost tourists and sees their gruesome stories.

In “And All Through the House,” a particularly gorgeous Joan Collins plays cat & mouse with an escaped psycho Santa.

“Reflection of Death” shows us what happens to philandering husband after he and his mistress are involved in a nasty car wreck.

Horror icon Peter Cushing, in “Poetic Justice,” plays a kindly old man victimized by his neighbors, but who manages to deliver one horrible Valentine’s Day surprise.

In “Wish You Were Here,” a variation of the old “Monkey’s Paw” tale, a widow learns that it really is imperative to be careful for what you wish.

And in “Blind Alleys,” Patrick Magee and the other sightless residents of an old-man’s home take a particularly grisly vengeance on their new martinet superintendent.

MOVIE TITLE: Tales from the Crypt
YEAR: 1972
GENRE: Horror, 92 minutes
STARRING: Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Ralph Richardson
DIRECTED BY: Freddie Francis

WATCH FULL MOVIE BELOW:

Smoorenburg is really one of the very few Dutch martial artists who made it in Hollywood (others are UFC fighter Bas Rutten, and Kickboxing champion Rob Kaman).

Since working with Chan, Smoorenburg went on to star in “The Protector” with Tony Jaa, “The Eagle Path” with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and “Flight 777″ with former kickboxing champion Gary Daniels.

Smoorenburg has also been doing a lot of stunt work ever since his first film “Who Am I” in 1997.

Smoorenburg currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand. Aside from doing movies and commercials, he’s has also been working as a graphic designer and a website developer.

Below is a photo gallery of Smoorenburg, and if you want to read his interview – head here.