TIGER JOE now on English friendly blu-ray!

aka Fuga dall'arcipelago maledetto
Antonio Margheriti, Italy/Philippines 1982

For years I've been hoping that some label would release TIGER JOE on English friendly dvd or bluray, and finally (actually last year) a German label put it out on bluray - including the film's English audio!

 
I got the blu a couple of weeks back and it looks great. I haven't seen too much (any!) online talk about this. Maybe fans don't even know about this English friendly release AS THE COVER DOESN'T STATE IT CARRIES THE ENGLISH DUB. The cover says German and Italian audio! It doesn't actually have Italian audio but English.

 
TIGER JOE is a sequel (kinda) to THE LAST HUNTER. No, it's not quite as good, but I still like it a lot. It's got David Warbeck in the lead for crying out loud! 

 
The extras:
Audio commentary by Troy Howarth
16 page booklet (all in the Kaiser's German)
interview with Margheriti's son about these films (in Italian, subbed in English)
German & English audio. No subs for the film.

The version that I bought has a bluray and a dvd. Somebody mentioned there's also another German dvd release in English, but the cover for this bluray clearly states this is the first fully uncut German release, so be careful if you're looking to get another dvd release.

 
I got mine from D&T Mailorder in Austria. There are various different versions (different covers, same contents) but I think stock is getting low so be quick if you want one.

Trailer from Danish VHS tape (thanks to Diabolik) 

The Last Hunter

Italy/Philippines (1980)
Italian title: L'Ultimo Cacciatore
Director: Antonio Margheriti (as Anthony M. Dawson)
Reviewed release: Code Red blu-ray (2016)
Cast: David Warbeck, Tisa Farrow, Tony King, John Steiner, Bobby Rhodes, Margi Eveline Newton, Massimo Vanni, Alan Collins, Dino Conti, Gianfranco Moroni, Edourado Margheriti, Jim Gaines, Ron/Romano Kristoff

Antonio Margheriti's THE LAST HUNTER is without a doubt one of my favourite Vietnam War flicks from the Philippines. Well, from any country actually. I rewatched the film recently on the cool reg. 1 DVD from Dark Sky that I bought a couple of years back. The presentation was as awesome as I remembered it. Cool picture quality, anamorphic letterbox and cool extras. Well, I've just got hold of Code Red's blu-ray (that came out in 2016) and it basically blows the DVD out of the water! The picture quality is that good!

THE PLOT. David Warbeck's character is an ex-draft card burner who's now fighting the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War. He gets assigned to go deep into territory behind enemy lines to blow up a radio transmitter. To help him on the journey he hooks up with a group of badass tough guys, Tony King, Bobby Rhodes, Edourado Margheriti (Antonio's son)  - and a female reporter that they're assigned to escort thru the jungle. She's played by Tisa Farrow. And yeah she's Mia Farrow's lesser known sister. She was also in a few other legendary Italian genre films among others ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS (Zombi 2) and BLAZING MAGNUM (Una magnum special per Tony Saitta). According to Wiki THE LAST HUNTER was her last film. She's dubbed in the film for some reason. EDIT 3.5.26: Sadly Tisa Farrow passed away in 2024.

Anhoo, the road thru the Viet Cong jungle is paved with death and gore (old-skool practical effects fortunately!). At some point they make it to an American division located in a cave in a mountain. The commander is John Steiner who is always great fun to watch in Italian genre films (the blu-ray has a new interview with him and Tony King). At some point the cave is attacked by the evil VC but Warbeck's character makes an escape. He thinks his friends are all dead but, well, that would be a spoiler if I told you. Enough plot details. THE LAST HUNTER is full of shootings, violence, gore, and action.

Margheriti made two Vietnam War movies that star Warbeck (he made more than two Vietnam War flicks but, alas, the rest sans Warbeck). The other one is TIGER JOE which, unfortunately, hasn't been released on neither DVD nor blu-ray (the fully letterboxed Japanese VHS is currently the best release anywhere). THE LAST HUNTER is the better of the two films, though. EDIT 3.5.26: TIGER JOE is on Blu-ray now! Check my post here. 

I highly recommend the new Code Red blu-ray but if you either stumble over the Dark Sky DVD on the cheap - or you just have money to burn, I highly recommend you get hold of the DVD as well as it has a pretty good doco presented by Antonio Margheriti's son Edourado Marghetti. Filipino film regulars Jim Gaines and Ron Kristoff are also in the film but uncredited.

PS: John Steiner is now a real estate agent in California. Check out his website here.

EDIT 3.5.26: Unfortunately, also John Steiner has passed away now, in 2022. The link to his website is dead now, but you can find a saved version via Wayback Machine (unfortunately the picture of Steiner is missing). His "about page" tells you about his life as a real estate agent, but ONE line says: "In a past life John was an actor, with 120 European movies, a Broadway success and an avid cult following to his credit."  


DANISH TRAILER:

Danish ad-mat:

THE LAST HUNTER played in Denmark as "Junglebrigaden".

I Miss You Hugs and Kisses - a nasty?

I've always wondered what I MISS YOU HUGS AND KISSES is like! Ever since I read a review of it the first time (in an issue of IN THE FLESH if I remember correctly). The thing is this film was on the BBFC's list of video nasties but everyone who's seen it wonders why it was even ON that list as (apparently) it's not a gore movie or very nasty. Okay, so it's about a wife killer, but still. And - judging by those reviews - apparently it's not even a very good movie, quite on the contrary. But you know me, if it's obscure I want to watch it. Maybe everyone is wrong and I'll love the movie! xD

I MISS YOU HUGS AND KISSES is quite difficult to get to watch (legally anyway) as video versions are scarce and there's no DVD releases. However, I'll get my opportunity to watch it now as I've just won it on Japanese VHS! :D

If you'd like to know a little more about the film do go ahead and watch this good YouTube review from some guy in the UK. It's the first review of his that I watch but apparently he's made a series of reviews of the films from the nasties list. And it's an incisive review too, not the usual "I MISS YOU is really boring and there's no blood" type reviews that usually pop up.



PS: I also won Margheriti's ARK OF THE SUN GOD (which stars old genre favourite David Warbeck) at just under 12 bucks. Woo-hoo!! It's a lbx'ed print too!