Throwback martial arts action film The Last Kumite heads to streaming in 2024, and here’s the trailer.
There is no question that the 1980s was a vintage time for action films, particularly in Hong Kong. There was a fruitful period in the mid 1980s when Hong Kong directors would hire American martial artists to go toe to toe with onscreen, both to broaden the international appeal and show a wide range of styles.
From Cynthia Rothrock going up against Sammo Hung in Shanghai Express to Richard Norton’s multiple bust ups with Jackie Chan in the likes of City Hunter and Mr Nice Guy, these performers went on to headline a series of low budget American action films that have since gained a cult following, perhaps most notably the China O’Brien series and the numerous No Retreat, No Surrender sequels
The Last Kumite looks set to be a throwback to that style,...
There is no question that the 1980s was a vintage time for action films, particularly in Hong Kong. There was a fruitful period in the mid 1980s when Hong Kong directors would hire American martial artists to go toe to toe with onscreen, both to broaden the international appeal and show a wide range of styles.
From Cynthia Rothrock going up against Sammo Hung in Shanghai Express to Richard Norton’s multiple bust ups with Jackie Chan in the likes of City Hunter and Mr Nice Guy, these performers went on to headline a series of low budget American action films that have since gained a cult following, perhaps most notably the China O’Brien series and the numerous No Retreat, No Surrender sequels
The Last Kumite looks set to be a throwback to that style,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Jake Godfrey
- Film Stories
"It's time!" Capelight Pictures has unveiled a first look teaser for an upcoming 80s / 90s throwback movie called The Last Kumite, directed by filmmaker Ross W. Clarkson. This indie project has been funded on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo, being readied for release in 2024. It's going direct-to-vod in the spring. The Last Kumite is a new spin on the great martial arts films of the 80s & 90s that are still loved amongst action film fans as much today as they were decades ago. The filmmakers describe it as "a new take on the tournament movie inspired by the likes of Bloodsport, Kickboxer and No Retreat No Surrender." Following a martial arts fighter who discovers other martial artists have also been "forced to fight to save their loved ones." Starring newcomer Mathis Landwehr as Michael in the lead role, with a massive throwback cast including Cynthia Rothrock, Michel Qissi, Matthias Hues, Richard Norton,...
- 12/12/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Stars: William Moseley, Kyle Rowe, Callum Woodhouse, Michael Guest, Mathis Landwehr, Oberon K.A. Adjepong, David Hayman, Kate Dickie, Callum McGowan, Melanie Zanetti | Written by Christopher Hatton, Chuck Reeves | Directed by Christopher Hatton
1830, just outside the town of Raven’s Hollow, five West Point cadets, Edgar Allan Poe, yes the writer, Lawrence Bishop (Kyle Rowe; The Brothers Grimsby), Will Taylor, Thomas Cricke (Michael Guest; Balance) and Lutz Becker come across a man disemboweled and hung up like a scarecrow.
In true cinematic fashion, he has just enough life left in him to utter a single word, “Raven”, before dying. Poe convinces the others it’s their duty to bring his body to town for proper burial. What they find is a town that is almost deserted, its inhabitants in the middle of a funeral for a girl we saw die a most unnatural death in the film’s prologue. It quickly...
1830, just outside the town of Raven’s Hollow, five West Point cadets, Edgar Allan Poe, yes the writer, Lawrence Bishop (Kyle Rowe; The Brothers Grimsby), Will Taylor, Thomas Cricke (Michael Guest; Balance) and Lutz Becker come across a man disemboweled and hung up like a scarecrow.
In true cinematic fashion, he has just enough life left in him to utter a single word, “Raven”, before dying. Poe convinces the others it’s their duty to bring his body to town for proper burial. What they find is a town that is almost deserted, its inhabitants in the middle of a funeral for a girl we saw die a most unnatural death in the film’s prologue. It quickly...
- 9/19/2022
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Stars: Mark Dacascos, Matthias Hues, Mike Möller, Brandon Rhea, Mike Leeder, Wolfgang Riehm, Martin Baden, Henry Muller, Verena Konietschke, Bartholomäus Kowalski, Yazmeen Baker, Gerrit Grass, Mathis Landwehr, Sandra Tauro, Susen Ermich | Written by Marco Theiss | Directed by Martin Christopher Bode
Ultimate Justice follows a group of Special Forces operatives who come back together for one last mission when the family of one of their own is threatened. The film starts out with a flashback to Commander Hans Sturm and his team of soldiers, led by Mark Dacascos’ Gus, performing their very last mission. You see their team takes casualties and Gus decides it’s time to end the security teams days and sell the company, Vme, and retire. Jump forward eight years and Strum is now married with a wife and child, living in a huge mansion. One night his home is attacked, his wife raped and killed, and his daughter kidnapped.
Ultimate Justice follows a group of Special Forces operatives who come back together for one last mission when the family of one of their own is threatened. The film starts out with a flashback to Commander Hans Sturm and his team of soldiers, led by Mark Dacascos’ Gus, performing their very last mission. You see their team takes casualties and Gus decides it’s time to end the security teams days and sell the company, Vme, and retire. Jump forward eight years and Strum is now married with a wife and child, living in a huge mansion. One night his home is attacked, his wife raped and killed, and his daughter kidnapped.
- 11/13/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Stars: Olli Banjo, Adam Buller, Michelle Colao, Greg Engbrecht, Elle Gabriel, Francesc Garrido, Alias Hilsum, Charles Hubbell, Rob Kerkovich, Vin Kridakorn, Mathis Landwehr, Claire Oelkers, Julio Perillán, Fabio Prati, Luke Sorge | Directed by Dennis Cabella, Javier Chillon, Todd Cobery, Andrew Desmond, Benni Diez, Marcello Ercole, Richard Karpala, Justin McConnell, Antonio Padovan, Fabio Prati, Ethan Shaftel, Marinko Spahic
Much like Dread Central’s Zombieworld,which brought together a number of short films under one banner to create an all-new anthology film, Galaxy of Horrors is a selection of eight shorts, curated from Rue Morgue and Unstable Ground’s Little Terrors Festival by Toronto film programmer Justin McConnell, all wrapped up in the story of a man trapped in a damaged cryogenic pod.
This wraparound segment that sees and astronaut awoken from his cryogenic slimber too soon and forced to watch a series of shorts while the power supply drains away Becasue he’s watching these shorts… Yes, for our astronaut the terror-filled tales are terrifying not only because of their content but because they’re literlly killing him! Of the short films the astronaut (and we the audience) watch there are a number of standouts: Iris, directed by Richard Karpala, which tells the story of a siri-like phone assistant with a conscience when her owner, an assassin, does not. It’s a great take on how technology and humans interact and how far that realtionship with technology could, possibly (more likely imporbably), go.
Pathos, directed by Fabio Prati, Dennis Cabella and Marcello Ercole, is a foreign-language entry which is easily the best – and most memorable (it’s the one short that vividly stuck in my mind waaay after I’d finished watching the film) and tells the story of a future where citizens must pay -literally – to be alive and experience a “life” outside of the odd chamber in which our protagonist’s “exists” – yes his reality, his very existence, is all in his head! This short is yet another look at how humans and technology interact, in this case taking the ideas of alternate realities and how humanity perceives reality, borne out of the likes of The Matrix, to their logical and more importantly, horrific extreme.
Special mention must also go to Antonio Padovan‘s short Eveless, which sees men try to keep the worlds population going without women; and Benni Diez and Marinko Spahic‘s kinetic action/horror hybrid Kingz – which recalls the best of horror anthology V/H/S whilst staying true to its own badass terror-filled ethos.
Whilst the eight shorts tell very different stories, there is a common thread running between them – they’re all damn good films! Unlike a alot of anthologies that have one or two dud amongst their number, each and every short in Galaxy of Horrors hits it out of the park: all eight tales having interesting sci-fi stories to tell and cool concepts to portray. Plus it’s nice to see sci-fi horror in the spotlight once more…
Galaxy of Horrors is out now on DVD from StudioCanal.
Much like Dread Central’s Zombieworld,which brought together a number of short films under one banner to create an all-new anthology film, Galaxy of Horrors is a selection of eight shorts, curated from Rue Morgue and Unstable Ground’s Little Terrors Festival by Toronto film programmer Justin McConnell, all wrapped up in the story of a man trapped in a damaged cryogenic pod.
This wraparound segment that sees and astronaut awoken from his cryogenic slimber too soon and forced to watch a series of shorts while the power supply drains away Becasue he’s watching these shorts… Yes, for our astronaut the terror-filled tales are terrifying not only because of their content but because they’re literlly killing him! Of the short films the astronaut (and we the audience) watch there are a number of standouts: Iris, directed by Richard Karpala, which tells the story of a siri-like phone assistant with a conscience when her owner, an assassin, does not. It’s a great take on how technology and humans interact and how far that realtionship with technology could, possibly (more likely imporbably), go.
Pathos, directed by Fabio Prati, Dennis Cabella and Marcello Ercole, is a foreign-language entry which is easily the best – and most memorable (it’s the one short that vividly stuck in my mind waaay after I’d finished watching the film) and tells the story of a future where citizens must pay -literally – to be alive and experience a “life” outside of the odd chamber in which our protagonist’s “exists” – yes his reality, his very existence, is all in his head! This short is yet another look at how humans and technology interact, in this case taking the ideas of alternate realities and how humanity perceives reality, borne out of the likes of The Matrix, to their logical and more importantly, horrific extreme.
Special mention must also go to Antonio Padovan‘s short Eveless, which sees men try to keep the worlds population going without women; and Benni Diez and Marinko Spahic‘s kinetic action/horror hybrid Kingz – which recalls the best of horror anthology V/H/S whilst staying true to its own badass terror-filled ethos.
Whilst the eight shorts tell very different stories, there is a common thread running between them – they’re all damn good films! Unlike a alot of anthologies that have one or two dud amongst their number, each and every short in Galaxy of Horrors hits it out of the park: all eight tales having interesting sci-fi stories to tell and cool concepts to portray. Plus it’s nice to see sci-fi horror in the spotlight once more…
Galaxy of Horrors is out now on DVD from StudioCanal.
- 6/23/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
German actor and stunt performer Mathis Landwehr has been on the radar in these parts for years now, ranking - in our opinion, at least - as one of the world's most underrated screen fighters. And he takes a dual role in upcoming German low budget indie Immigration Game, serving as both lead actor and producer in a film that seems to be channeling The Running Man and Turkey Shoot through today's political realities. ‘Immigration Game’ is set in an alternate 2016. Germany refuses to receive any more refugees. The only way to obtain a residence permit is to participate in the popular Internet and television show ‘Immigration Game’. Whoever participates as a ‘Runner’ in ‘Immigration Game’ will be abandoned on the outskirts of Berlin...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 8/29/2016
- Screen Anarchy
It was back at the end of September that we brought word Crying Freeman star Mark Dacascos was returning to martial arts action with Ultimate Justice and with the film now deep into production we have a first look at nine stills from the shoot.Ultimate Justice, follows a team of former elite soldiers, whose friendship was forged in battle. They are drawn back into action when the family of one of their number is threatened, friendships and loyalties are tested, battle lines are drawn and Ultimate Justice will be served.Matthias Hues, Mike Moeller, Mathis Landwehr, Brandon Rhea, Sandra Bertalanffy, Wolfgang Riehm, Martin Baden, Yasmeen Baker and Mike Leeder star with Martin Christopher Bode in the director's chair....
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 10/16/2014
- Screen Anarchy
It's time for Mark Dacascos to stop cooking and get back to fighting and that's exactly what he's doing, stepping out of Iron Chef mode and back to his Crying Freeman, The Crow and Brotherhood Of The Wolf mode with new international indie Ultimate Justice.Boasting fight scene stalwart Mike Leeder amongst its producers, Ultimate Justice has just launched principal photography with a cast that includes a fistful of ultra talented screen fighters including Mathis Landwehr and Mike Moeller. Expect to see the first shots from the set soon and expect lots of hardcore action....
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 9/22/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Early last month we brought Ulrik Bruchholz's short film Hard Boiled Cop to your attention, primarily because it starred German martial artist Mathis Landwehr. Landwehr has done loads of work in television (Lasko - The Fist of God) and short films (Kingz) back home in Germany, yet remains largely unknown on the international stage, which is a shame. Bruchholz himself is no slouch, having done a fair amount of stunt related work on films like Must Love Death, Cloud Atlas and the upcoming Xyz Films creature feature Stung (plug!). As the story goes, Bruchholz began working on a feature film back in 2008, but after three years production broke down. He took what footage he had and started piecing it together to make the climactic fight in...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 8/2/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Regular readers of Twitch should be well familiar with Mathis Landwehr at this point, the German actor and screen fighter having popped up in these pages a number of times over the years. And he crosses our path once again now as the leading man in Ulrik Bruchholz's short film Hard Boiled Cop. Very much an intentional nod back to the straight-to-vhs titles of the 1980s this is over the top, lo fi fun, filled with dodgy special effects and very strong stunt work. Take a look at the trailer below!...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 7/7/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Though you may not know his name there's a passably good chance you've witnessed German martial artist Mathis Landwehr in action. Based in Berlin, Landwehr caught the eye of the Wachowskis sometime back and put in work as a key stunt performer on both V For Vendetta and Speed Racer. We'd been talking about him prior to that in these pages, though, thanks to his work in indie action flick Kampfensage and again raved over his work in stellar short film Kingz. Landwehr is one of our favorites, basically, and we've been waiting years now for him to get his break on the big screen. Because while the stuff he's been doing on TV is fine and all - and certainly pays his bills -...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 3/11/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Here's a little treat for martial arts fans from Germany. We have been very outspoken supporters of German martial arts performer Mathis Landwehr in these pages over the years. The man impressed large with his ultra low budget feature production Kampfensage then again in the much glossier short Kingz before being hired on as a key stunt performer on V For Vendetta, at which point I truly expected Landwehr's international career to take off. The man has everything you could ask for in an action star - natural on screen charisma, the sort of looks that'll pull women into the theaters as well as men and enormous physical skills. But the international offers didn't really materialize and Landwehr is still working away in Germany.
Which may not be a bad thing.
You see, in 2006 Landwehr took on a major part in a direct to video German movie that went out...
Which may not be a bad thing.
You see, in 2006 Landwehr took on a major part in a direct to video German movie that went out...
- 8/15/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Though Germany may not leap to mind when compiling a list of high level international martial artists the nation has a few truly top level performers and two of them are appearing in micro-budget indie production Straight Blast from director Ulrik Bruchholz. The guy in the photo to the left is Mathis Landwehr, a key stuntman on V For Vendetta who we also got to know through his roles in Kingz and Germany's low budget martial arts feature Kampfensage. Landwehr is a key support player in this one, backing up Mike Möller (and his mullet), a stunt man and fighter respected enough that he has plied his trade in Hong Kong productions such as Coweb.
What's this one about? Check it out:
Straight Blast is centered in a world a few decades after the nuclear holocaust. Most of the human population escaped from earth and started new lives in outworld colonies.
What's this one about? Check it out:
Straight Blast is centered in a world a few decades after the nuclear holocaust. Most of the human population escaped from earth and started new lives in outworld colonies.
- 7/13/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Who do you call when your 737 is hijacked by terrorists on its way to Germany? Well, you could call the police. That’d be an idea. But, really, anybody can do that and all the police have on their side are guns. No, no I think that for any god fearing soul out there it would be much better to call the Pope. And the Pope? He calls Lasko ...
Heh ... while posting about German martial arts flick Guerilla’s Blood earlier today I got to wondering about German martial artist Mathis Landwehr and what he’s up to these days. The young fighter and stunt man was the first to put German martial arts on the map thanks to his indie feature Kampfansage and he has since gone on to work as a key stunt double on both V For Vendetta and Speed Racer but he hasn’t been seen...
Heh ... while posting about German martial arts flick Guerilla’s Blood earlier today I got to wondering about German martial artist Mathis Landwehr and what he’s up to these days. The young fighter and stunt man was the first to put German martial arts on the map thanks to his indie feature Kampfansage and he has since gone on to work as a key stunt double on both V For Vendetta and Speed Racer but he hasn’t been seen...
- 4/1/2009
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
While the concept of a German martial arts film isn’t entirely foreign at this point - stunt man and actor Mathis Landwehr already broke that particular ground with his feature Kampfansage and his excellent bit in short film Kingz - but they are still very much a rarity, which makes the arrival of Eskinder Tesfay and Swen Raschka in upcoming feature Guerilla’s Blood notable.
I can’t tell you too much about this one - the information on the official site is dominated by the fact that it was shot on the Red camera - but the trailer shows a whole lot of promise. The film makers definitely need to learn a thing or two about camera placement and cutting a trailer that functions as a trailer instead of as a fight reel - the two leads are the only ones who appear - but the cinematography and...
I can’t tell you too much about this one - the information on the official site is dominated by the fact that it was shot on the Red camera - but the trailer shows a whole lot of promise. The film makers definitely need to learn a thing or two about camera placement and cutting a trailer that functions as a trailer instead of as a fight reel - the two leads are the only ones who appear - but the cinematography and...
- 3/31/2009
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
CANNES -- Germany's RTL and France's M6 have secured TV rights to the action series Lasko from Cologne, Germany-based production house Action Concept, company head Hermann Joha said in an interview Wednesday at MIPCOM. The English-language show, about a martial arts monk who fights crime for the Catholic Church, features German actors Mathis Landwehr and Stephan Bieker. The series pilot, shooting in Germany and Belgium, also stars Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) as a gangster boss who tries to escape the police by hiding among the Catholic faithful on their pilgrimage to Lourdes. RTL and M6 have picked up the two-hour, 5 million ($6.1 million) pilot with an option for the series. Action Concept is handling worldwide sales for the project.
- 10/6/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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