CompleteMartialArts.com - Bloodmoon
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List Price: $4.95
Our Price: $35.99
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
Starring: Gary Daniels, Chuck Jeffreys, Frank Gorshin, Darren Shahlavi, Nina Repeta
Directed By: Tony Leung Siu Hung
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781572526846
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 157252684X
Label: Fox Lorber
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Academy Ratio
Publisher: Fox Lorber
Region Code: 0
Release Date: 2000-01-11
Running Time: 102
Studio: Fox Lorber
Theatrical Release Date: 1997
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Editorial Reviews:
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A retired detective returns to action to stop a martial arts master who is killing champions from all sports. Interactive Menus, Filmographies, Trailer, Production Credits, Scene Access
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: simple, silly, and strangely satisfying
Comment: Gary Daniels ("Fist of the North Star") plays Ken O'Hara, a retired police detective who used to specialize in serial killers. Chuck Jeffreys ("Superfights") plays Chuck Baker, a cop currently on the case of a serial killer (Darren Shahlavi, "Tai Chi 2") who beats top fighters to death with two metal fingers and a pair of steel-toed boots. When no progress is made on the case, Baker's superior orders him to find O'Hara for some much needed help. In order for there to be some obligatory friction between the two cops, Baker doesn't want a partner, and O'Hara has his own problems with family and (of course) "the past".
As a kid, I loved B-grade martial arts films, and if they were all like this I would still love them. This is one of the better ones that I've seen. Director Tony Leung Siu Hung handles the action more like a Hong Kong production than an American one. The fights are far from the best but still well above average for this type of flick. Now the action is where it excels, but the plot, dialogue, and pacing are pretty hilarious. Under the circumstance the acting is probably a little better than it actually needs to be. For a talented fighter, Chuck Jeffreys is a decent enough thespian and carries most of the dialogue. The real treat though is Darren Shahlavi as the evil villain. His moves are good, his facial expressions are priceless, and he should be doing more stuff. He looks like some stoner that one might have witnessed playing frisbee in a random grassy area within 6 blocks of any major university in about 1995.
I don't really know who distributed this DVD. I guess it's Genius Products. The copy I have is not the one pictured. The picture quality is fine; full-screen, but I'm not sure that this was ever shot with the intention of a theatrical release. The special features are a joke. "Scene Access" is not a special feature. This was the last American movie done for Seasonal Films, who have been around since the mid-70s, and got their U.S. start with "No Retreat, No Surrender" in 1985. Several more followed during the next decade and are becoming increasingly hard to find, as I had to settle for a used copy of this one. If this is your thing, don't delay.
1997
Customer Rating:
Summary: hard hitting action
Comment: I first saw this film at a very young age and could never find it in my later years. I finaly found it watched it and it still held my attention. the bad guy has some awsome kicks in this 1980's film. He is a bit of a creep but a great fighter. I liked this because the star, gary daniels took some serious beating along with his co star, that is something you dont normally see in any kind of movie. This is a collectors item
Customer Rating:
Summary: there's blood on the moon
Comment: From the same guys that brought you the super-cheesefest "Superfights" comes another low-budget, high cheese quality martial arts action flick - Bloodmoon. This time around, Gary Daniels is onboard and so are some incredible fight scenes that make this a pleasant improvement.
As Bloodmoon begins, so does the cheese. We are introudeced to a goofy villain in a goofy costume, only known as "The Killer". Also introuced, is a ridiculously looking red moon, supposed to be "The Bloodmoon" which The Killer fancies with dialouge "Did you notice there is blood on the moon tonight?" Supposedly it occurs when he is about to destroy one of his victims. Ok, so the cheese is plenty. If you can deal with it, we are also introduced to a smashing good fight at the beginning, only one of very many throughout this film. A fight, like all rest, that goes on for minutes and can compare with the final showdowns in many movies. Each fight throughout the movie gets better and longer. The choreography is amazing, again from the same guy that choreographed Superfights, Tony Leung.
In addition to the great and improving fights, 1/2 way through the film, the story begins to take itself seriously, and finally gets quite interesting till the end. Unfortunately, the end is honestly one of the stupidest finales I have ever seen, and its not the fight I am referring to. The final fight, is around 8 minutes in lenght. For comparison, that is about the length of the roof-top fight in Jackie Chan's "Who Am I?", arguably one of the best fight scenes ever. Though not as entertaining as that scene, this is one of the better fights I have seen. Obviously, the duel is between Gary Daniels and Darren Shahlavi (The Killer). I am not familiar with Darren Shahlavi, but he presents himself in Bloodmoon with excellent martial arts skills as if he had been doing this for quite some time. Gary Daniels, on the other hand, has earned a good repuation with many action films such as Ring of Fire, City Hunter, Rage, Riot, Firepower, and White Tiger to name a few. A Gary Daniels fan will definetly want to add this to their collection.
I honestly have to give a 3-1/2 stars for this film overall. Its the action that holds the spotlight here. The low production of the rest of the film, makes it suffer, but not nearly as bad as Superfights. The actors and story give a lot more effort this time around. Cheese is the name of the game here. Expect it to come, or you will be too distracted to enjoy the wonderful choreography all around it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: blood moon
Comment: blood moon is a martail arts film pact with all kinds of action
lots of martail arts moves most of the chacters are national champions
in different compiations in wwe/ecw superstar rob van dam makes an
aperances as a tough man champion named dutch.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Ken, this is Hutch. Listen, your instructor, uh, Master Takayo, he's been killed"
Comment: Wait, one more stupid line from the movie. "Ken were cops, we don't do this".
First off if you do not like martial arts movies then this will not be worth your time. If you love Jean Claude Van Damme and all the great b-action movies like 'No Retreat, No Surrender' then you will absolutely love this flick and it will become an instant classic for you. It is actually from the same film company that discovered Jean Claude and did all the 'No Retreat, No Surrender' movies. The owner of the Seasonal Film Company(Ng See-Yuen)actually discovered old school stars like Jackie Chan and Hwang Jang Lee and produced their first successful movies. So when I saw Tony Leung Siu Hung and Ng's name on the back of the box, I had to have it. VERY rarely are American martial arts movies good. Sometimes they end up being a great movie but the fight scenes will be limited and only average. 'Bloodmoon' is the exact reverse. It has spectacular fight scenes, it's badly directed, and it's filled with enough cheese to at least laugh at the stupidness of it sometimes. There is even that part where they go to a strip bar and we get to see surgically enhanced women.
The movie stars out by ripping off 'Beverly Hills Cop' with an Eddie Murphy clone playing the cop. The only thing that makes this character different from Eddie Murphy is that he loves kung fu. This is a down point of the movie since he is certainly not the worst actor but the script could not get any worse. The really good thing though is that he can seriously fight. I thought it was a stunt double at first glance since his first fight is in the dark, but even in the light this guy was doing some amazingly tough choreographed fight scenes. One is a 3 on 1 fight with the killer. If they did double for him at all they fooled me. Then there is a woman fighter who is very good and you will for sure notice the stunt doubling for her. You have to watch for when Rob Van Damme(a wrestler) gets thrown through a window, they show a close up of his double for about 5 seconds. Personally, it was my favorite part of the movie. So Gary Daniels joins this unfunny Eddie Murphy type of cop to find a killer. This guy goes around killing a bunch of tough people. Luckily he doesn't just kill quickly but challenges them and we get these amazing fights scenes. The first fight was awesome but when he stuck his fingers into the guys chest to kill him, I thought for sure this movie would end up being a waste of time. Then you have that one part where the killer posts his murders on the internet and they try to track him down. Of course now the computer geek is saying "OK, he's in Bejing, wait, he's in Berlin, no, he's in Moscow". This may sound like a bad movie and it is but the amount of fights and the quality of them is what makes it good. All great fights and most of them are extended going 5 minutes or so. For a die-hard martial arts movie fan like me it just does not get better than this. The fights are brutal and I have to say that they are some of the best I have seen in a while. There is unfortunately a bit of wirework with the wires clearly seen but that is to be expected from a movie of this type of budget.
Now like all great martial arts movies every actor needs to be somebody who actually looks good fighting on screen and the villian needs to standout as the baddest mother on the block. Darren Shahlavi gets the job done nicely and his steel tipped boots are a nice touch. There is actually metal on the whole bottom of his boots and up the whole heel. He really gets to show off his sklls and how many great kicks he has.
Now I will say it once more so people don't get confused by my 4 star rating. This movie is a cheesy cop drama with a few good comic moments and it has some truly great fight scenes. So it is not for everyone and I warn you all that this movie has one of the stupidest endings of all time. "Ha ha ha ha, this is the endgame Ken". No not the ending sequence fights and Gary Daniel's race to save his family, that was bad, but the very last moment of the movie. It is the finest of cheese that you will ever find in a film.
I have to once again mention how great the fighting was and how great of a job that director/action director Tony Leung Siu Hung did. His choreography and editing of the fights is about as good as it gets. Now I just have to see the other American martial arts movie he directed which is called 'Superfights' and my life will be complete. Seriously, the movie is called Superfights.
I will warn you right now that this DVD from the Weinstein Company is sub-standard. Big surprise huh? Well of course it is not a surprise. These are the same people that edited down every Jet Li and Jackie Chan movie and not only cut it up but never offered their DVD's in the original Asian language. So luckily this is actually an American movie and we don't have to bother with the bad dubbing, just the bad acting. The DVD is presented in full screen and the picture quality is average. The first 2 fights were a bit blurry but it seems to clear up from there. Good sound quality.
There are no special features except filmographies.
One more bad line-"Don't worry honey, daddy's gonna save us".
Just one more line I promise. It does not have anything to do with the movie but you'd think that it would-"Did you notice there's blood on the moon tonight?" the masked killer asks in a dark voice as he has his leg extended in the air showing off his devastating martial arts skills.
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