A contemporary of Kinji Fukasaku, Sadao Nakajima was another hit-maker for Toei Studios during the ‘70s, who found success across genres, especially softcore and exploitation with titles like Twisted Sex (Japanese: Sekkusu dokyumento: Seitôsaku no sekai, 1971), The Kyoto Connection (Japanese: Poruno no joô: Nippon sex ryokô, 1973), and Girl Boss: Escape From Reform School (Japanese: Sukeban: Kankain dassô, 1973). He grew into an influential figure during a wave of popular jit

The so-called spaghetti westerns were a series of European films set largely in the American west, made mostly by Italians, shot in Spain, and often co-financed by West Germans. They were designed for multiregional release and utilized international casts to aid sales in other countries. These efforts ensured that the spaghettis were popular across Europe, North America, and Asia, especially in Japan, where the genre’s connections to samurai cinema weren’t forgotten, and in H

Welcome back to Wizard Jail – a limited run series from Director’s Club, Tracks of the Damned, and 96 Greers podcast co-host Patrick Ripoll and Genre Grinder creator Gabe Powers where they talk about, what else, but the 1987 syndicated cartoon series Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light. We’ve been off the clock for about six months now, but we’re back with the penultimate podcast, covering episode twelve, Honor Among Thieves – a mile a minute mish-mash of new monsters,

1978 was the big turning point year for young Jackie Chan. Director Yuen Woo-ping had finally unlocked his comedic potential with a pair of hits, Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master, Chen Chi-hwa utilized his newfound charisma in Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin, and, finally, producer/director/production company head Lo Wei tapped him for two more films, Spiritual Kung Fu and, the subject of this review, Magnificent Bodyguards, which was no