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Once feared lost, the original negative of John Woo’s action classic Hard Boiled has been rescued and restored. The 4K disc is due in June.

There’s cool, and then there’s ‘Chow Yun-fat sliding down a banister, shooting bad guys with a toothpick in his mouth’ cool. It’s an early, iconic moment in an action thriller stuffed full of them: 1992’s Hard Boiled cemented director John Woo’s reputation in Hollywood, and remains a high point in Hong Kong cinema.

For years, however, it was thought that Hard Boiled's original print was lost. Although that film – and other films in Woo’s back catalogue – can be purchased on disc online, some knotty rights issues mean a new 4K release was long thought to be impossible.

In the mid-90s, Golden Princess, the production company that made Hard Boiled and numerous other Hong Kong classics, went bust.

Chow Yun-fat’s bullet ballet is reloaded and ready to fire again on the Croisette.

As John Woo’s landmark 1992 action spectacle “Hard Boiled” prepares for its spotlight screening at this year’s Cannes Classics, Variety has uncovered the blood, sweat and digital wizardry behind saving the bullet-riddled masterpiece from cinematic extinction.

The Chow Yun-fat starrer, which had long been unavailable due to rights issues, comes to the Croisette with new revelations about the technical challenges faced during its meticulous preservation.

In the film, a hard-boiled cop (Chow) who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers, goes on a mission to catch them. To get closer to the ringleaders, he joins forces with an undercover cop (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) who’s working as a gangster hitman. Together, they use all means of excessive force to find them.

“‘Hard Boiled’ and all 156 films in the Golden Princess library have...

The 2nd annual PollyGrind assaults Las Vegas during an epic length film festival that runs Oct. 8-17 at Theatre 7 with enough sleaze and violence to make Sin City residents feel right at home.

Actually, the fest does open up on the 7th with a concert at Neon Venus with local acts like Monster Zero, Creepersin and many more.

However, the film portion of the fest opens on the 8th with Stuart Simpson‘s acclaimed Australian gorefest El Monstro Del Mar!, one of the best Russ Meyer/Roger Corman mash-ups with a Down Under twist. Read the Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film review of this gem here.

Other Bad Lit favorites in the lineup are Drew Bolduc and Dan Nelson‘s The Taint, which is still completely grossing out audiences on the festival circuit, and The Uh-Oh Show, the splatter-filled horror comedy by the Godfather of Gore himself Herschell Gordon Lewis.

We recently told you about the upcoming PollyGrind Film Festival, one of the premiere grindhouse film festivals, that's set to celebrate all-things B-Movie style in Las Vegas this October. The madman behind the festival, Chad Clinton Freeman, announced today this year's PollyGrind line-up and it looks pretty sweet!

And not only is PollyGrind celebrating films, the fest is also celebrating several indie music acts slated to perform during the fest, a Zombiepalooza celebration and a whole lot more! Read on for all the details for the Second Annual PollyGrind Film Festival!

From the Press Release:

It's been called "the key festival for indie cult filmmakers to land distribution deals." Its founder and programmer has been called the "new champion of unabashed B-movie sleaze." Those praises might seem a bit outlandish, but with the official announcement of the PollyGrind Film Festival's schedule, it's easy to see where they come from.

Chad Clinton Freeman...

In an event described as "a B-movie jamboree of awesomeness", the Polly Staffle Grindhouse Fest - informally known as the Pollygrind - launches this Wednesday until May 16 at the Sci-Fi Center (2520 State Street) in Las Vegas.

Thirteen films and more than 31 trailers, music videos and shorts will play the PollyGrind, described by Vampires.com as "one of the biggest events for grindhouse and trash film lovers this year."

Organiser Chad Clinton Freeman said: "The festival is being put on in the same spirit as old-school grindhouse cinema - no funding and creatively using whatever is available.

"With that said, I think the line-up turned out rather nicely and I think everyone that comes out will enjoy what William Powell's Sci-Fi Center and the PollyGrind have to offer."

Five features will have their world premieres at the event. John R. Hand's sci-fi arthouse film Scars of Youth (pictured above...

In Dread Central's effort to promote independent horror, have we got the goods on a great horror film festival in Las Vegas! From May 12-16th Sci-Fi Center at 2520 State Street, Las Vegas, Nv 89109, will be hosting The Polly Staffle Grindhouse Fest (aka PollyGrind), which includes 30 different films with five world premieres, seven Las Vegas premieres, and one U.S. premiere. There will also be a ton of music videos and trailers and more horror-related goods for you to feast your eyes on.

Read on for the full line-up, and look for more from Dread Central on PollyGrind (click here for the official site) soon!

Wednesday, May 12

Post-apocalyptic Nightmares (Double Feature)

Hosted By Heather Wixson Of Dreadcentral.Com

5:30 p.m.

Vendor tables open

7 p.m.

Trailer - Michael Ramova’s Soldier Killer (30 seconds) (World Premiere)

Trailer - Michael Ramova’s The Texas Chainsaw Champion (1:23 minutes) (World Premiere)

Trailer...

The world can’t seem to get enough zombies.  Fast zombies.  Slow zombies. Nazi zombies. Hare Krishna zombies. Blockbuster zombies. Indie zombies. With ‘Pontypool,’ we even had zombies that appeared to work for Merriam-Webster. With all these zombies running around in movie theaters, video stores, and TV sets, a filmmaker really has to do something special with his or her zombie movie to make it stand out in the crowd. Writer/director Henry Weintraub has given us the nerdy zombie, and, with his new film ‘Melvin,’ he offers up an entertaining gorefest with just a few problems.

Told in jarring and oftentimes baffling non-sequential order, the events in ‘Melvin’ center around two nerds, Melvin and Norton, who are seemingly unrelated.  They are both picked on by the same group of punks, and Melvin, who has been dead for three years, has a sister with whom Norton is madly in love.

A film by Henry Weintraub (MindSlime) "Melvin" is selling out screens in Oregon so far and now several movie stills, from the shoot, are available for fans to see before going out to watch the film. Shot independently over the course of a year "Melvin" stars several local stars "including local actor Patrick O'Driscoll [Hamlet]," and "Troma Entertainment's Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger, Poultrygeist)." Not to be missed this limited opportunity for fans of the zombie horror sub-genre must be snapped up; plus, there is a free showing June 17 at the Pix Patisserie theatre.

"Melvin" listings...

"Melvin" in Portland - Free!!

June 17th at the Pix Patisserie 10Pm - Portland, Or

"Melvin" in Salem - Premiere.

June 19th at the Northern Lights 9Pm - Salem, Or

Director: Henry Weintraub.

Writer: Henry Weintraub.

Cast: Patrick O'Driscoll, Lloyd Kaufman, Leif Fuller, Lily Maher, and Yonatan Schultz.

Sources:

Henry Weintraub. Press Release. 10 June...

Troma-esque horror feature "Melvin," unleashes blood and bile throughout Oregon beginning June 5th then ending June 26 with a free showing. Made for $4000 the film is being described as "darkly humourous" and "blood soaked." Already released May 22 the film will enjoy a continuous limited run through the summer in this 531 Production. Have a look at a frenetic trailer that asks a lot of questions and check out the theatre dates and showings (Horror...).

Showings for "Melvin:"

June 5th at the Clinton St. Theater 7Pm - Portland, Or

June 6th at the Bijou 11:30Pm - Eugene, Or

June 17th at the Pix Patisserie 10Pm - Portland, Or

June 19th at the Northern Lights 9Pm - Salem, Or

Free! June 26th at the Wandering Goat 9:30Pm - Eugene, Or

A synopsis for "Melvin," here...

"Melvin," is dead... Now, three years after his accidental murder, he is finally making up for lost time.

Year: 2009

Directors: Henry Weintraub

Writers: Henry Weintraub

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Purchase DVD: link

Review by: quietearth

Rating: 5 out of 10

To give you some idea what type of film this is, Troma head Lloyd Kaufman has a bit piece, but it's not sub-z like all that other crap, it's polished and enjoyable but not without numerous flaws. The story revolves around a nerd, Melvin, killed by a bunch of punks who comes back from the dead for his revenge. The trailer was what sold me, but as the film was done in a linear style, interspersed with slowly revealing flashback sequences that were at times utterly confusing, the potential was shot to hell.

Melvin turns out not to be the main character but he's behind the revenge commited. It starts with him as a zombie and some great gore (which you would expect in this type of film) but as...