Leinwandliebe Film Talk

Welcome to NEON EAGLE VIDEO! A new boutique video label dedicated to Asian Trash Cinema!

Here's the press release regarding the announcement of ourselves and our first release -

Cauldron Films’ Jesse Nelson and Brian Izzi, in collaboration with Mondo Macabro’s Jared Auner are proud to announce the formation of a new home video boutique imprint, Neon Eagle Video (NEV), that will focus on the trashier side of Asian cinema, highlighting exploitation, action, horror, and other ‘cult’ films that have been neglected in the High Definition era.
Each disc will be lovingly curated and produced by Jared Auner, with restoration, authoring, manufacturing, and distribution handled by Cauldron Films. Each release will be sold through the Cauldron Films site and DiabolikDVD.com.

“Our goal is pretty simple”, says Auner, “And that’s to issue deluxe collector’s edition Blu-rays of films which we love that have not gotten the kind of attention we feel they deserve. Films from all over Asia, with a focus on the grubbier, grittier, more low budget side of things”.

To that end, NEV is working closely with the legendary IFD Films in Hong Kong. “The crazy trash aesthetic that IFD perfected in the 1980s, with the films they both distributed and produced, is exactly the kind of thing we love and want to celebrate with this new label”, Auner says further.

Putting their money where their mouth is, NEV will debut with a deep cut from the IFD catalog, the wild Taiwanese exploitation marvel KILL BUTTERFLY KILL, in a ridiculously elaborate double Blu-ray limited edition release. This set will have not only IFD’s 1983 English language dub version of the film and its later 1987 variant AMERICAN COMMANDO 6: KILL BUTTERFLY KILL in glorious 1080p taken from brand new 4K restorations, but will also feature a standard definition print of the original Taiwanese cut of the film, UNDERGROUND WIFE, along with an SD trailer compilation from the IFD vaults, highlighting Taiwanese exploitation and crime films as well as the complete AMERICAN COMMANDO series.

UNDERGROUND WIFE was part of the ‘Taiwan Black Movie’ wave that originated in the late 70s and early 80s combining a concern for serious social issues with gutter exploitation, ridiculous action, and sometimes even outright horror. “UNDERGROUND WIFE is a pretty tough revenge film that fans of MS. 45, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE will definitely appreciate”, says Jared Auner who made the deal for the film and is producing this release. “It has a gritty grindhouse feel to it and will also appeal to fans of Japanese Pinky Violence and later Category III films from Hong Kong. The violence is so outrageous and cartoonish that it mostly reminds me of the cheap and wild Turkish genre films of the 70s and 80s. What more could you want?”

IFD Films distributed this picture to foreign markets in the mid-80s with a slightly re-edited and English dubbed version they called KILL BUTTERFLY KILL, and this is the version of the film that is highlighted in this release. “It’s actually superior to the Mandarin language version. IFD did an amazing job re-jigging the film for an international trash audience”, Auner concludes.

The film got another lease on life in the late 1980s when it got the patented IFD ‘cut and paste’ treatment and was issued as part of the ongoing AMERICAN COMMANDO series. This version edits out some scenes in favor of newly-produced footage featuring actors like Mike Abbot and Mark Miller, and makes it a more straight-forward action film, albeit a truly crazy one. “Although one thing I’d like to correct about this version”, Auner says, “no matter what the IMDb says, Godfrey Ho did not direct it!” The director of this version is Charles Lee Chiu, although likely the rumor that Ho made it will live on.

KILL BUTTERFLY KILL will go up for pre-order in November alongside a much-anticipated Euro-horror release from Cauldron Films.
Future releases will include more from IFD including some honest-to-God(fry Ho) cut and paste cult classics, as well as a bona-fide pinky violence gem from Toei Studios in Japan, and possibly even some insane action/exploitation from Indonesia!
So, keep an eye out on the Neon Eagle Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as the Cauldron Films website for more info!

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