Upcoming movies 2012

2012 could also be called "Season of the Witch", it seems, as there are at least four movies coming out and one currently airing TV show that feature evil witches, all of them based on Grimm's fairy tales.

The picture to the left is from Snowwhite and the Huntsman starring Charlize Theron as evil witch, as well as Chris Hemsworth and Kristen Stewart. As you can see in the picture (and the trailer), the evil witch seems to have superhuman strength which might or might not be the case for some of the other movies as well. You'll find a link to the trailer at the bottom of this post. The movie will be released in the summer of 2012.

The second movie featuring evil witches is called Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and is a modern take on the popular fairy tale. It stars Gemma Arterton as Gretel, Jeremy Renner as Hansel and with Famke Janssen another of Hollywood's classic beauties as evil witch. The only thing that has been released so far is one picture showing Hansel and Gretel. A trailer should come out soon and the movie will be released March 2nd, 2012. Among the cast are also Zoe Bell and Monique Ganderton, which might mean some ass-kicking, and Peter Stormare. From what I've read about the movie from people who have (supposedly) attended screenings this one might actually be a lot of fun, ubergirls or not.

Speaking of the lovely Gemma Arterton ... Neil Jordan, director of Crying Game, Interview with a Vampire etc. is currently filming Byzantium, a movie about a mother-daughter duo of vampires on the run, starring Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan (Hanna). The film is scheduled for a late 2012 release and in this early stage it is hard to tell if this will be interesting, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Back to the witches.

Gretl is yet another take on the Hansel and Gretel story, this time made for TV. It was supposed to be released this year but it's release date has been changed to February 2012, maybe because of Hansel and Gretel's release date. Among the cast are Shannon Doherty as Gretel and the lovely Erica Cox (Bitten) as lead witch. The movie plot sounds somewhat similar to Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters with Hansel out for revenge against the witch that supposedly killed his sister who is now the witches protege.

Finally, there are Once upon a time and Grimm, both TV shows that are currently airing on ABC and the CW respectively. Once upon a time features Lana Parilla as evil witch; it doesn't seem all too likely that we will see any superstrength scenes in this show, though, however, the evil witch does have some sort of telekinetic powers. So far, six episodes have aired. In one of the last episodes of Grimm there was a female werewolf who did a little bit of fighting, but nothing special.

That's it for now. Here is the trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman (the throatlift happens at ~0:23):

Vampire Warriors – Report

This Hong Kong movie was released some time in November or late October, I believe. It's mainly a wire-fu Martial Arts "horror" comedy in the tradition of classic Hong Kong horror movies. Actually, it's more of an action than a horror movie.

There are quite a few cute female vampires in the movie, but they really didn't do much aside from some Martial Arts wire-fu fights in which they got their asses kicked by the main villain for the most part. One girl displays a little bit of invulnerability by bashing her head against a lamppost out of boredom a few times leaving a dent in it. I might have missed or forgotten other minor feats.

The heroine has some more fights and does kick a bit of ass in some of them, but it's mostly Martial Arts (she's a real Martial Arts star of some sort, I believe).

The best part is a double throatlift done by a cute evil vampire girl that, unfortunately, is all too short. Also, she gets killed by the villain only a few minutes later. Below, you'll find the scene with rather bad picture quality (it's from a camrip after all). I'll might post some more scenes and with better picture quality once the movie is released on DVD.


Vampire Warriors Throatlift

Upcoming – Mr. & Mrs. Incredible – Trailer

Here is a trailer for the upcoming Hong Kong superhero spoof Mr. & Mrs. Incredible aka Gazer Warrior and Aroma Woman. It looks quite funny IMO. There's not much that to see in terms of superstrength from Mrs. Incredible, though, but I think the trailer gives you an idea of the movie's tone.

It will be released in China February, 3rd.

Ubergirl craziness made in Hong Kong – Part 3

Here comes part 3 of probably around 10 or so.

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Funny Ghost (1989) - Yet another really silly ghost movie, this time about some kind of magic vase. In the later part of the movie a female vampire is set free in a warehouse. She attacks a bunch of people and throws them around: She lifts one guy over her head, rips off another guy's arm and lifts one more over her head and throws him around. Later on the guys fight her off by exposing their underwear to her ... or something like that.

Funny Ghost - Lifts, Fight

@youtube

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Mr. Vampire III (1987) - The Mr. Vampire series is probably one of the most popular of that era, famous for its dreaded and terrifying hopping vampires. In this part, however, there are no hopping vampires, I believe. Instead we have a female ghost or demon as a villain.


There are about three scenes in the movie that involve some sort ubergirl feats. At the beginning the Taoist monk is attacked by some ghosts, among them a tall female ghost who lifts him by the throat with both hands and tosses him through the air. The rest of the scenes are mostly goofy fighting scenes with the main villainess who breaks open a padlock with one hand, rips apart an iron chain, bends a part of a prison cell and during the final fight scene lifts a boy with one hand and throws a bunch of people around. She also makes a lot of animalistic noises during her attacks and wears a weird eye prop.

Scene 1 - Lift, Throw	Scene 2 - Fight, Steel bend
Scene 3 - Final fight

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My Neighbours Are Phantoms (1990) - Another ghost comedy with lots of cheap jokes. In one scene a female ghost attacks two guys and two women and throws them around a bit. They get help from a good female ghost who gets thrown around a bit as well. The evil ghost then ends up lifting on of the guys over her head with one hand, pinning him to the ceiling. Eventually the good ghost throws some sort of charm at her and kills (or bans) her.

My Neighbours Are Phantoms - Fight, Lift

Ubergirl craziness made in Hong Kong – Part 2

Here is the next bunch of movies. Btw. you can find many of the movies on sites like youku, 56.com, todou etc. For some movies it's easier to search for their original Chinese titles. These you can find at the Hong Kong Movie Database when you look up the movie with its English title and then click on the link in the upper right corner that says "Big5".

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Ghost Busting (1989) - People are harrassed by ghosts. This is about as much as I can say about this movie ...


The one scene worth mentioning starts when a female ghost captures some people and others come to rescue them. The hero channels his inner Bruce Lee and literally turns into him (his clothes change into a yellow Bruce Lee suit). He then beats up the ghost a bit, but she quickly possesses one of the captured girls who then kicks Bruce through the room and picks him and one of his mates up in a nice double throatlift.

Ghost Busting - Double TL Same scene @youtube

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Ghostly Vixen (1990) - Amy Yip plays a ghost who strives to become immortal by sucking the sperm of 100 virgin men born in the 10th month. At the beginning of the movie she just wasted her 98th victim and continues her search in Hong Kong. I guess I was wrong about Demon's Baby. Ghostly Vixen is the best movie ever made.


There are two longer fighting scenes towards the end of the movie. I believe there is one at the beginning , too, but I can't remember right now. During the final fights Ms. Yip lifts a guy by the throat (twice) and throws and kicks a few people around. All of this is interspersed with a lot of goofiness, but there are some nice ubergirlish moments IMO.

Ghostly Vixen - Fight 1, Throatlift	@youtube
Ghostly Vixen - Fight 2 (long)

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Haunted Cop Shop 2 (1988) - Here are some quotes from people @HKMDB: "The worst cadets from the police force are assigned to a special unit dealing with the supernatural. As fate would have it, the place where they do their training is infested with spirits. Lots of crass humor, but surpisingly spooky." And: "The method used to finally defeat the head demoness is the stuff of legend, and the inspiration for the immortal parting words that end the film: 'We will remember him every time we urinate!'"


The evil vampiress is chasing a couple of people through the sewers - on stilts, of course. One of them comes up from behind and tries to grab her, but she catches and breaks his wrist. Then she is holding him in the air by his neck singlehandedly. It is only a short scene and - as so often - the only one in the movie.

Haunted Cop Shop 2 - Necklift

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To be continued ...

Ubergirl craziness made in Hong Kong – Part 1

For some reason I like the cheesy displays of superhuman ubergirl powers in Hong Kong (horror) movies made in the 1980's and 1990's, which is why I'm devoting a series of posts to them. Most of the scenes I'll describe I have already posted at my board or youtube, but I'll link to the clips anyway and add a few screencaps for good measure. Anyway, here we go:

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A Chinese Odyssey I - Pandora's Box (1995) - There are a couple of Chinese legends which are made to TV series or movies over and over again in Hong Kong or China, e.g. the Liao Zhai stories. Chinese Odyssey is based on Journey to the West.


In one scene two pretty demon ladies are attacked by a bunch of thugs. In typical Wuxia wire-fu fashion they send the bodies of their attackers flying all around with their kicks. One guy jumps at one of the demons but she just twirls his body around on her finger over her head and then punches him through the roof. They seem to be somewhat invincible, too. Too bad, that this was pretty much the only worthwhile ubergirl scene in both movies (as far as I remember).

A Chinese Odyssey - Fight

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Operation Pink Squad II - Thunder Cops (1989) - While A Chinese Odyssey is more of a fantasy/wuxia movie this one is a typical example of the cheesy Hong Kong horror movie of the 1980's. Btw. you can find out more about any of the movies I mention at the Hong Kong Movie Database.


A female ghost or demon chases a couple of people and attacks them. She lifts a woman by the throat and shortly after lifts a guy by the collar. Again, this was the only ubergirl scene in the movie.

Operation Pink Squad II - Throatlift Same scene @youtube

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The Demon's Baby (1998) - This one has a flying demon baby in it that slices a man in half. Seriously. In the second half of the film a bunch of demon baby possessed women wreak havoc among the townspeople: Their bellys open and reveal big fanged mouths that start devouring their victims or shoot tentacles at them and stuff. It's probably the best movie ever made.


There are two ubergirl scenes both done by a possessed girl (Annie Wu): In the first, right after the flying baby scene, she grabs a guy by the throat and lifts him up. In the second scene we see her holding another guy over her head with one hand and then throw him to the ground.

Demon's Baby - Throatlift	Demon's Baby - Throatlift
Demon's Baby - Overhead	Demon's Baby - Overhead

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That's it for now. There is a lot more to come in the near future ...