Code Red's second post-apocalypse film is... EQUALIZER 2000!!!

...and Bill says it's the fully uncut print!!!

A couple of weeks back I posted the news about Bill Olsen and Code Red's deal with Roger Corman to release two or Corman's post-apocalypse films that were shot in the Philippines in the mid-1980s.

At the time Olsen only released info on the first film, WHEELS OF FIRE, but not the second film. I'm not the only one who's basically creaming himself over this latest announcement. In my previous post I speculated in whether or not the second film might be EQUALIZER 2000 and indeed it is that film. Also directed by Cirio H. Santiago. Wauw. Just fucken w-a-u-w!!!

There's been a bit of worry among fans about which print Code Red are going to release, as there are cut versions out there, but Bill Olsen has stated on the CR facebook page that it is indeed the fully uncut print we'll be getting. Yay!!!

And also good to see the upcoming cover for this film is (like with WHEELS) basically the old poster art. Good on ya, Bill'o!!!

VHS ex-rental from Holland

I found a UK site dedicated post-apocalypse films that you might wanna check out. In good style with the subject the site is pretty... dead. But the old info on the films is there so give it a gander. Post-apocalypse

Equalizer 2000 (1986)

Friend and follower of this blog Burt Spoor was interviewed by Andrew Leavold yesterday on Facebook and I posted a bit of that interview on my Filipino war movie blog yesterday. One of the films Burt talked about was Cirio Santiago's MAD MAX 2 clone EQUALIZER 2000 (aka Defender 2000) so I thought I might as well pull this one out of the pile-to-watch pile and give it a spin. :D

What can I say other than it was good fun! And everyone was in it: Richard Norton, Don Gordon, Eric Hahn, Henry Strzalkofski, Nick Nicholson, Vic Diaz, and Bert Spoor. Some of the storyline doesn't make sense at all but you sort of expect that don't you, haha.

My VHS is a Danish tape from Juno Media and I'm certain it's uncut. Fred Adelman reviewed the US tape from MGM/UA Home Video on Critical Condition but that version only runs 77 minutes. Fred mentions that the uncut tape runs another 8 minutes so I'm confident the Danish tape is uncut as it clocks in around the 84 min mark. Also, the two scenes that Fred refers to as being cut out of the R rated tape are both in the Danish version. Unfortunately, this isn't released on DVD.

I might as well repeat Burt's bit about Equalizer 2000, altho he didn't remember that much from it, LOL.

Bert Spoor:
I cannot remember much of the Equalizer, I did the routines and died again several times. A lot of background action, being blown away and fly the sky. There was a small incident however I won't forget. There was a little tree left in the frame, and this little tree was suppose to break at gunfire. At action the little blast made some noise and ... Read moresmoke, but the tree was still there. At take two, just about action, this sucker all of a sudden falls down, very slowly. It's quiet on the set then everybody starts laughing when Cirio was cursing: Putanginamo. Third take the tree was set back to possision, I think this one worked...

One thing I'd like to know tho; Who was the chick that Norton hooks up with? Was she in other Filipino flicks? And what was Richard Norton really like? In most of his films he plays the bad guy but here he's the hero. Maybe he got to play the hero cos he has that broad Aussie accent like Mel in the MAD MAX films, xD.

EDIT: I looked up the film on IMDb and the chick who plays the hero's love interest is Corinne Alphen and the data base says she now works as a certified professional Tarot card reader, haha.

Read Fred Adelman's cool review here.

MORE EDIT: I found the trailer on YouTube. Yay!