Taiwanese Black Movies at IFD & Filmark ( Part 25): Majestic Thunderbolt

First of all, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and I would also would like to let you know that this site is not dead. I know I don't update it so regularly as before but every new information, news, questions and answers, posters, pics, users contributions etc about IFD & Filmark are being published in Facebook, so if you want to join it, just click here, be welcomed & feel at home.

 

I want to start 2014, uncovering, unmasking and confirming once for all all the wrong information about the movie used by IFD for Majestic Thunderbolt and of course, offering the true information about the movie used by IFD for this Thunderbolt movie. Not so many months ago, someone in the FB group claimed several times that Majestic Thunderbolt was done using as main body a taiwanese movie titled Red Rattlesnake. He based his opinion on the HKMD profile of this film.

At last!...after several years searching it...we found the treasure!

As soon as he conteacted me by PM, I explained him my doubts because the information displayed wasn't enough to confirm it. Even if many of the actors were the same in both movies, it wasn't enough evidence because at certain time many actors work together in several movies at once. I think there is no need to explain how prolific HK film industry was 25 years ago.

IFD erased this scene from the final edit of Majestic Thunderbolt!

Also there aren't many avaliable picture of Red Rattlesnake around so I didn't want to give a definitive answer about this matter in order to not spread more  false & wrong information. But as always, when a dilemma needs a right solution, I told to Teddy Wong from HKMDB it would be nice to solve this mistery in the same way we solved the one related to Scorpion Thunderbolt.

This Thai Poster of Red RattleSnake gives some hints to unmask the film.

 It is very curious that IFD have tons of movies on its catalog but the audience of these movies mainly prefer these two movies among all the remaining ones. I am still very surprised about it & I don't really understand it becuase we can find many crazier & funnier movies on IFD shelves. Anyway, 2 days ago, I got a messagge from Teddy Wong and he finally can confirm, with no mistakes that Majestic Thunderbolt was done using Red Rattlesnake as main source.

I can't risk myself telling by this picture, this is the movie used on IFD's Majestic Thunderbolt

 

The evidence of this matter can be found on the new pictures you can see here as well as displayed on Red Rattlesnake profile on HKMDB. Now, as it always happens on these cases, we only need to find a copy of it...and of course, the search is already on.

The pic of the cruxified bloke and the pic below are the proof I needed to find to be 100% sure this was the movie we were looking for!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 and keep in touch!

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series 10: Scorpion Thunderbolt Original korean-taiwanese movie on tape discovered!!!!

Scorpion Thunderbolt is indeed one of the favourite IFD movies for almost all the fans around the globe. Not only the only horror-fantastique episode in the Thunderbolt saga, but in opinion of many die-hard collectors ( among them Jack J) the best IFD movie ever, Godfrey Ho's masterpiece. It seems this movie has "something" that makes it so special!

Spanish VHS cover

During many years I have been searching information about the original movie IFD used to create Scorpion Thunderbolt, while checking the credits & the style, everything pointed that it was a taiwanese production. It was not a bad search direction since IFD used a lot of taiwanese movies on its ninja films & they also released a lot of those Taiwan Black Movies in the early 80's...but I was partially wrong since Scorpion Thunderbolt was made re-editing a korean-taiwanese co-production titled GRUDGE OF THE SLEEPWALKING WOMAN (Mongnyeohan, 1983). You check more details about the movie here.

I eventually found out the origin of Scorpion Thunderbolt & what movie was used to design it, but the most difficult part was still a challenge: Was GRUDGE OF THE SLEEPWALKING WOMAN edited on tape somewhere??? Is it still avaliable? Could we enjoy it some day?... Well check the pic below to get the right answers!!!

Chinese language VHS edition of the original movie used for Scorpion Thunderbolt

As you can see GRUDGE OF THE SLEEPWALKING WOMAN was released on tape somewhere in Asia, May be Hong Kong? May be Taiwan? May be anothe chinese spoken language country? but the amazing thing is a 4th generation copy of this movie is avaliable with english subtitles at www.rarekungfumovies.com.

Now we don't have an excuse to complain about how we wish you could enjoy Scorpion Thunderbolt on its original cut & even subtitled!!!

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series 9: Scorpion Thunderbolt monster in Japan!

People may think IFD / Filmark are the bottom of the barrel movies because they haven't seen too many of them or the ones they have watched surely have not satisfied their expectations. Watching an IFD movie expecting to find real ninjitsu or even real ninjas is like watching 55 days at Pekin expecting to see another Wong Fei Hung adventure. But what we can't deny is IFD movies had influences in some other movies & even beyond cinema. You don't believe me?

One of the very best cinema magazines in the world is the japanese EIGA HIHO ( Movie Treasures), a magazine that studies Hollywood mainstreams & real junk in equal level. On its 5 issue of 2009, they published a list of cinema monsters that we have found in countless films, from Godzilla & his fellas to the most bizarre ones and among them, we found the snake monster from Scorpion Thunderbolt.

The pic of the monster was completed with some information about the movie it belongs, which company labelled the movie in Japan and some info about Godfrey Ho, but it also includes a mistake since the author considers Scorpion Thunderbolt a co-production among Hong Kong & France ( or Italy?) when ,in fact, it is a korean- taiwanese co-production.

Based on the author's words the serpent monster from Scorpion Thunderbolt is 4m 88cm tall!

THANKS TO ZENI for sending me these scans!

Mission Thunderbolt on Youtube

I got surprised someone has put online the full lengh running time of Mission Thunderbolt on Youtube. I don't know if this is licit or not since Mission Thunderbolt is copyrighted by Joseph Lai's IFD.

If you haven't seen it, enjoy this chance to watch it online, but please don't forget try & get a "real original thing" with its cover. These movies must be enjoyed into a TV laying down into a sofa with a lot of beer & some friends, not in a computer screen!.

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series 8: Headsman Thunderbolt

It seems the word THUNDERBOLT was a lucky word to IFD Films since it has been the most used one on its movie titles since Joseph Lai started his own way without Tomas Tang after they closed Asso Asia. Most of 'Thunderbolt' movies had in common Richard Harrison, taiwanese (or taiwanese co-productions) movies as source movies, Philip Ko and decent edit work. Beyond the official Thunderbolt movies there were others that they have just re-titled & they have nothing to do with the previous ones. So checking IFD official catalog we can find this HEADSMAN THUNDERBOLT, a taiwanese action movie that lacks all the common features seen in other Thunderbolt movies.

Gangster 'a la' John Woo wearing black clothes & sun glasess, eroticsm & raw violence BUT it is not an original Thunderbolt movie!

To start with, Headsman thunderbolt is not dubbed into english & it doesn't have new added shots with western actors. Headsman thunderbolt is just an original taiwanese movie that has been retitled adding Thunderbolt word. The synopsis is just in chinese so we could say Headsman Thunderbolt is just for local market, not like the others that were edited & dubbed into english pointing to international sales.

Not a Thunderbolt movie, but I would really like to own a copy of this taiwanese movie.

Unluckily I don't have any kind of techinal details about this IFD production but whoever could be interested on it can check the trailer at IFD official website.

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series7: NINJA THUNDERBOLT

When I started these entries dedicated to the THUNDERBOLT movies offered by IFD, I decided I would check Ninja Thunderbolt to close them just because Ninja Thunderbolt is my favourite among all the Thunderbolt titles for several reasons. Apart from that, Ninja Thunderbolt was the very first ninja movie ever designed by Joseph Lai & the one that caused the ninja invasion from Hong Kong & made IFD a well-known production company around the world video markets.

Spanish video art cover. I was bewitched by it the first time I grabbed the movie in my regular video rental shop!

The genesis of Ninja Thunderbolt started when Joseph Lai was in Cannes & he used to visit video rental shops & cinemas to check what audiences like; at the time Menahem Golam's ENTER THE NINJA was being screened and it was a big hit everywhere making Cannon Films & Sho Kosugi extremely popular among martial arts fans. Mr Lai knew he could offer similar products because Hong Kong was the best place to produce action / martial marts movies. Then, he went back to Hong Kong & told director Godfrey Ho they would produce ninja movies.

Trans World Entertainment produced some Sho Kosugi movies & distributed many IFD movies in the US.

Enter the ninja was starred by Franco Nero, an actor who was famous for his roles in some of the very best Spaguetti Western ever done in Europe, so Joseph Lai decided to hire another star from european western who was also very popular: Richard Harrison. Hiring spaguetti western actors to play modern day ninjas became into a habit in the industry because just a couple of years later legendary actor Lee Van Cleef was also casted as a ninja in the american TV Series THE MASTER.

Ninja Thunderbolt & it s source movie To catch a thief stars in an imaginary place that mixes locations from Japan, Taiwan & Hong Kong. Ah, the magic of co-productions!

Ninja Thunderbolt made Richard Harrison would become the most popular icon for IFD till today. In the other hand it also was the cause Richard Harrison decided to quit acting when he felt Lai & Ho cheated him with their working ways.

Pakistan art poster for Ninja Thunderbolt

Once Joseph Lai had decided to produce ninja movies, he had Godfrey Ho, Richard Harrison, the ideas but no budget to produce a full movie, then he bought the rights of an asian co-production (Hong Kong-Taiwan- Japan) ninja movie starred by Kurata Yasuaki, Wong Tao and a taiwanese actress named Barbara Yuen and added new fotage directed by Godfrey Ho & with Richard Harrison as the main character. The source movie used was To Catch a Thief ( aka Ninja & the Thief) directed in 1984 by Tommy Lee Gam Ming who had previously directed IMPOSSIBLE WOMAN ( aka Ninja Avenger), another ninja movie in taiwan with Kurata Yasuaki & Elsa Yeung.

I got my Ocean Shores VCD of To catch a thief (aka Ninja & the thief) during my time in Hong Kong in 2000. At that time when I found out Ocean shores had many source movies used by IFD, I started to hunt all of them down.

To Catch a Thief, as we stated above was a HK-Taiwanese-Japanese co-production & Tommy Lee Gam Ming did a superb work shooting diferent scenes from the different markets & this statement is easily confirmed when we check the different editions of this movie: To catch a thief is an action movie indeed ,but it was also full of sex scenes that were shot/ cut / edited in different ways to avoid censorship.
While the HK VCD of To catch a thief doesn't include even a naked body ( nor male nor female) the international cut used by IFD for Ninja Thunderbolt includes so many sex scenes shown in an almost hardcore porn way where we can appreciate the female naked bodies & even Kurata Yasuakis full frontal naked shots

Godfrey Ho??? Tommy Lee???? Both of them are the fathers of Ninja Thunderbolt while Joseph Lai was the stepfather...

The editing work done by Tommy Lee Gam Ming in the original movie & the editing work by IFD was so perfect that many people thought Ninja Thunderbolt wasn't a "cut & paste" IFD movie. The scenes where characters from To catch a thief interact with the ones from the new added shots are so perfectly edited that if we haven't seen an IFD movie before we can truly think they are from the same film.

Barbara Yuen (who knows her real chinese name??) was later seen in IFD Ninja Operation 7: Royal Warriors, another asian co-production between Taiwan, South Korea & Thailand.

The international success of Ninja Thunderbolt was so huge as the ninja craze was booming in the world at the same time. Distributors from all around the world started to demand more ninja movies to IFD that was offering what the audiences wanted to see but a cheaper prices. Ninja Thunderbolt supposed the golden goose to IFD.

Original trailer for Ninja thunderbolt

But once again, the Curse of Thunderbolt saga appears because Ninja Thunderbolt may surely be the most famous & popular IFD ninja movie but as it happens to Inferno Thunderbolt, Majestic thunderbolt & Scorpion Thunderbolt, this film doesn't longer exists on IFD catalog. Its master is missing or destroyed & only the remaining old videotapes are the only traces of this classic movie from IFD.

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series 6: Grudge of the Sleepwalking Woman (Mongnyeohan) aka Scorpion Thunderbolt

Having good mates & friends such as Jack Jensen & Andrew Leavold is a real pleasure because they don't only share my passion for rare, weird & obscure flicks but they help me to dig & collect information about those movies sending me links, lists, dates and whatever I may need. This same morning I have got one of these priceless tips from Jack about the source movie IFD used to create SCORPION THUNDERBOLT. I have to admit I have doubts about that info because I was convinced Scorpion Thunderbolt was designed using a Taiwanese horror movie & Jack said it was done using a Korean movie produced in 1983 titled GRUDGE OF THE SLEEPWALKING WOMAN (Mongnyeohan, 1983). I answered him in a snobbish way I couldn't accept this info as true since Scorpion thunderbolt locations is full of Taiwanese locations & backgrounds ( neon lights with chinese letters, cars, buses, streets & even its atmosphere is taiwanese!!!) but I had to confirm it so I ran into KMDB & I started my own search of the truth & this is what I found about GRUDGE OF THE SLEEPWALKING WOMAN (Mongnyeohan):

One night in Taipei, a female factory worker is killed on her way home. Koh Kang-young, the lead detective, concludes that she was killed by a poisonous snake from the bite marks left on the victim's neck. Reporter Lee Ok-jung rebuts his theory in her article. Through this incident, Detective Koh and Ok-jung meet frequently and they become friends. Afterwards, two more women are killed in the same manner. It is revealed that Ok-jung can't account for her whereabouts for each murder. When another murder is committed, Detective Koh finds out the truth about Ok-jung. When Ok-jung was three, a unique snake bit her. Therefore, she kills people by biting them like a poisonous snake.

There was no mistake on Jack's information! but I was also right!!!...Scorpion Thunderbolt used Grudge of the sleepingwalking woman, a korean movie shot in Taiwan!!!

The image & the cursive text is from KMDB.

I truly dedicate this entry to Jack Jensen for his kindness!

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series: MAGNUM THUNDERBOLT part 5

I am not pretty sure if MAGNUMG THUNDERBOLT should be included on these post dedicated to IFD THUNDERBOLT series. Reason? Originally, this movie was not designed as a Thunderbolt movie, it isn't even an IFD production althought it was a George Lai ( Joseph's elder brother) production or maybe George Lai just bought the coyprights to Wing Fat Film production company. Then, he would pass the movie to Joseph Lai & as usual it was dubbed into english and worldwide distributed.

New pressbook by IFD

Magnum Thunderbolt was the international title given to MAN FROM HOLLAND by IFD. Man from Holland was directed by Patrick Kong in 1985 or 1986, at that time he was working for Filmark International directing new shots for Tomas Tang's cut & paste movies, previosly he had worked for IFD / Asso Asia in productions like Dragon on fire or The dragon the hero.

Ocean Shores VCD containing Man from Holland the movie would be known as Magnum Thunderbolt outside Hong Kong

MAGNUM THUNDERBOLT should not be included as another Thunderbolt movie because this time we don't have new cut & pasted scenes, we don't have Richard Harrison or a clon like in Mission Thunderbolt. These two reason are more than enough evidence to prove Magunum Thunderbolt belongs to another kind of movies.

BUT, hold on...There are also some facts that make Magnum Thunderbolt to be included in the Thunderbolt series as another chapter of it. First the storyline was almost the same used for Mission Thunderbolt: A killer is sent to Hong Kong to eliminate three targets ( while in Mission Thunderbolt 3 killers are sent for the same targets) then we have Philip Ko having bizarre sex like he enjoyed in Majestic Thunderbolt. John Ladalsky reprises as well the role he played in Mission Thunderbolt as a ruthless killer & sex maniac...etc etc

John Ladalski was along Philip Ko & Richard Harrison the 3rd musketeer in the Thunderbolt series

But there are also other details that make Man from Holland / Magnum Thunderbolt a truly IFD movie: the locations! Along the movie we find out a lot of places that has been used in dozens IFD movies such as Yasuyoshi Shikamura house which is the same home Richard Harrison owns in his IFD movies like Ninja Terminator, Diamond ninja Force & even Inferno Thunderbolt.

I can recognice that sofa & those walls from Ninja Terminator

Those black doors & the stairs are the same seen in Ninja Operation: Knight & warrior

These windows & balcony were seen in Ninja Terminator, Rage of the ninja & many other ninja movies from IFD

Apart from Philip Ko & John Ladalski who were regular actors in the previous Thunderbolt movies, we can also find Chan Wai Man & Tommy Cheng Kei Ying who would move to Filmark to work as director like Patrick Kong did.

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series: MAJESTIC THUNDERBOLT part 4

In the previous post dedicated to Mission Thunderbolt, I said I could bet my neck Mission Thunderbolt is the very first "cut & paste" movie ever came from IFD. So, Majestic thunderbolt could easyly be taken as the second one, and it has something important that Mission missed: Richard Harrison.

Opening of Majestic Thunderbolt: Harrison arrives to IFD

I have this considerations because checking both movies, we can notice they share many things such as the source movies used for both. I mean the original taiwanese movie used for Majestic Thunderbolt has almost the same cast seen at the source movie in Mission Thunderbolt: this is Chen Kuan Tai & many of the supporting cast. The same can be said for the new fotage because Philip Ko, John Ladalsky & other people from Mission Thunderbolt are again in Majestic Thunderbolt.

Majestic Thunderbolt was edited as Magnum Thunderbolt in some European countries. Later IFD would release the real Magnum Thunderbolt

The screenplay at both movies is very similar as well, so we have two rival gangs trying to destroy each other in the original movie then we have Richard Harrison in the new fotage fighting different villains till he has a final duel facing Philip Ko.

The Thunderbolt saga movies could have been become into real IFD classics if they had had more careful doing their work

Both movies are so similar that we could tell Majestic Thunderbolt may be a remake of Mission Thunderbolt where Jonathan Stierwalt is replace by Richard Harrison in his first work for IFD. Majestic Thunderbolt is to Mission Thunderbolt what Drunken Master was to Snake in the Eagle's shadow.
Some fotage from Majestic Thunderbolt showing Philip Ko painting & having sex with a tied girl was later used in Scorpion Thunderbolt when Richard Harrison is having sex with a not too pretty girl in a cinema.

Japanese video art cover for Majestic Thunderbolt

While Mission Thunderbolt is still on IFD catalog for its international sales, Majestic Thunderbolt as it happened to Inferno Thunderbolt, Scorpion Thunderbolt and even Ninja Thunderbolt is not longer on Joseph Lai's catalog. I would really like to know the reason. So if you get a copy of this movie, take it as missing pearl since it can't be found easily or the master has been destroyed as it happened to many taiwanese gangster films shot between 1979 -1983 .

Spanish video art cover. as many IFD movies, Majestic Thunderbolt was edited in Spain twice. The alternate title was Operacion Majestic

Majestic Thunderbolt has a very curious detail to offer us: At the begining, we see Richard Harrison, John Ladalsky & a nameless actor who are attacked by a couple of killers carrying axes. One of these killers is played by Tommy Cheng Kei Ying who would become the main director of Filmark ninja/ action movies just a couple of years after his supporting role at IFD's Majestic Thunderbolt.

In some countries Majestic Thunderbolt was edited as Magnum Thunderbolt. This could create some confussion since Magmun Thunderbolt was the international title used by IFD for its relesase of A Man from Holland another movie starred by Philip Ko & Chan Wai Man that look like an IFD movie due to the filming skill & because many of the IFD regular locations were used on it as well.

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series: MISSION THUNDERBOLT part 3

Joseph Lai & Tomas Tang tried the taste of success during the time Asso Asia provided many korean kung fu movies to the world during the first 80's when the video boom was reaching its peak. The markets were hungry of action movies & at least in many countries of Europe, hungry of kung fu movies. So, Mr Lai started his own way & continued offering dozens of asian movies as he did in Asso Asia but some of them had new elements such as westerner actors who gave international appeal to his products making his movies availiable for all kind of publics. Here, at this point, Mission Thunderbolt enters.

a wonderful widescreen IFD spanish video edition

After checking many IFD movies & studying their copyright dates and IFD distribution ways, I would bet Mission Thunderbolt may surely be the first CUT & PASTE movie ever came from IFD. According to the copyright date showed on screen, we must suppose the movie was produced in 1983, a year later if we compare it to the Asso Asia copyright date shown & the creation of Filmark International.

Jonathan Stierwald, a moustached actor was not a Richard Harrison clon at IFD, Stierwald arrived first!!

Mission Thunderbolt is the "mother" of all the subsequent "cut & paste"movies IFD offered us till middle 90's. As we stated above, before Mission Thunderbolt "was born" Joseph Lai just used to buy the rights of different asian movies & threw them into the international markets. Mission Thunderbolt was the very first one moviethat combined an asian source movie with new pasted shots directed ( or co-directed asshown in the credits by Godfrey Ho).

Original art Spanish art cover from a Betamax video edition

Mission Thunderbolt was just a taiwanese gangster movie originally directed in 1982 by Richard Tung Chin-Hu who had previously directed some kung fu classics such as Massacre Survivor, Snuff bottle connection or The budda Asasinator and starred by Chan Wai Man, Chen Kuan Tai & female action star Julie Luk Yat Shim ( aka Lu I Chan) who became a regular face in many Filmark cut & paste movie as well and was one of most popular faces in those taiwanese gangster movies known as Taiwan black movies shot between 1979-1983.

John Ladalsky was the main character showed in Conflicto, an aka title for Mission Thunderbolt in Spain

The new edited fotage in Mission Thunderbolt was starred by Jonathan Stierwald, an actor who dissapeared from screen after he starred this movie. Other actors were John Ladalsky, Philip Ko & a nameless chinese actress who would star Scorpion Thunderbolt as the witch just a year later.
As it happened to Inferno Thunderbolt, some shots from Mission Thunderbolt were used in later IFD ninja productions that already had Richard Harrison as main actor.

The wonders of the widescreen editions

Chan Wai Man was the main actor in the original taiwanese cut

Is this guy a premontion of the image Mike Abbott would bring to IFD few years later?

Can you scratch my back please?

Lu I Chan was the queen of the taiwanese gangster movies

Mission Thunderbolt was edited on tape twice in Spain under different two diferent titles: Mission Thunderbolt as the international title & Conflicto ( conflict). Both editions kept the original widescreen cut & dubbing was simply wonderful. Nothing to do with the following IFD video editions we got. The Spanish voice dubbers for Mission Thunderbolt were the same used in many important Hollywood productions; this fact plus the widescreen made Mission Thunderbolt a real pleasure to be watched.

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series: INFERNO THUNDERBOLT part 2

Thunderbolt series, have been, indeed, the most popular IFD movies if we avoid the Ninja Operation series. Thunderbolt movies, as the later ones were starred by Richard Harrison who may be the cause why these movies were so widely distributed & popular. The Thunderbolt movies saga were the first "cut & paste" movies ever came from IFD Films & the ones that make that editing style the trademark for Joseph Lai's consequent works in many genres & subgenres.

Greek art video cover for Inferno thunderbolt

Inferno Thunderbolt was not the first Thunderbolt entry but it seems it was the most important one for Godfrey Ho & Joseph Lai because many shots of the newly pasted scenes were used again in at least another 2 movies from IFD: Diamond Ninja Force & Ninja Thunderbolt.
Shots from Inferno Thunderbolt played by Donald Kong Do, at the time action choreographer for IFD, were re-dubbed & inserted in Diamond Ninja Force where he was the main villain.
Again, shots played by Richard Harrison & Pierre Tremblay were also re-dubbed & inserted in Ninja Thunderbolt.

The Spanish video cover includes a ninja who is never on screen. It was, indeed, a premonition for the following IFD movies

Inferno Thunderbolt was made using a Taiwanese gangster movie titled THE ANGER as source movie. The Anger was previously premiered in Hong Kong & edited on tape & VCD by Ocean Shores. No need to mention, this edition doesn't include the new shots edited by IFD.

This is how The Anger became into Inferno Thunderbolt

My chinese reading skill is not too god but I think this letters say: East Asia Music Academy

The Anger, became Inferno Thunderbolt when it was bought & re-edited by IFD, was originally starred by Wong Tao who was also the action director. The Anger was produced & directed by Richard Chen Yao-Chi (Chan Yiu Aau) whose some of his movies were bought in a package by Joseph Lai who released them internationally with new pasted scenes. Richard Chen, for example, was the original director of Girl with a gun, another movie "vampirized" by Lai & his IFD fellas.

Inferno Thunderbolt may cause The Anger of its original creators if they find out what IFD did with its work

The Anger still can be found in many retail VCD shops along Hong Kong. If you are a movie hunter & you enjoy rare & weird Asian movies, it deserves to hunt it.

MORE TO COME SOON

Curse of the IFD THUNDERBOLT series: Scorpion Thunderbolt part 1

If we have the chance to get or access to IFD movie catalog avaliable on IFD official website or while visiting a film market, we can find most of the movies we could find in video rental shops almost 25 years ago; and that's wonderful, specially for people like me who still enjoy the movies they saw when they were just young & tender teenagers. But, like everything in life, nothing is perfect & many classic movies from IFD are already gone & they can not be re-released anymore.

Original art work by Eagle Leung, the publicity master at IFD during its golden age

That's what it happens to many THUNDERBOLT movies like Ninja Thunderbolt, Inferno Thunderbolt, Majestic Thunderbolt & specially the most popular entry to IFD's Thunderbolt series starred by Richard Harrison: SCORPION THUNDERBOLT.

Title credits with "scary" letters? You may be sure you will enjoy the following minutes a lot.

Ask some people from different countries to tell you an IFD title containing THUNDERBOLT word & the regular answer is Scorpion Thunderbolt. I have tried it & except few people who preferred Ninja thunderbolt ( the roll-skater ninjas are unforgetable as well) many people still remember or they would like to re-watch Scorpion Thunderbolt. Misteriously, IFD has not longer it on its catalog. So, if you own an old tape, keep it as a treasure but you own a missing gem. Here, we offer you the original poster & plus several international video art covers.

The Spanish video art cover tried to catch the original "spirit using Harrison & adding an skull. Not too bad.

This French art cover is really weird but it looks like from a softcore porn rather than from a horror taiwanese movie

The japanese video art cover mixes the spanish one with the erotic sense from the French

The German art cover is simply the greatest one simply because it invites us to imagine us our own version of the movie while we are looking at it.

MORE TO COME VERY SOON!