Heungbu and Nolbu (1967)

I'm not even sure how I came to land on this discovery. I fell into some kind of internet worm hole and this was at the other end.

Heungbu and Nolbu is a Korean folk tale about two adult brothers who are left an inheritance from their father. The older bother, Nolbu, is greedy and hateful so he kicks his brother Heungbu and his family out of the estate so he can have all the money and property to himself.

Despite having plenty of his own problems, the kind and benevolent Heungbu saves a defenseless swallow from a snake and mends his broken leg. The swallow is from magical bird land run by a lady bird queen. To thank Heungbu, the swallow gives him an enchanted gourd seed. He and his family work together to build themselves a modest grass hut to live in. They plant the seed and big green gourd grows, when they cut it in half to eat and suddenly prosperous treasures begin to appear all around them.

Heungbu bashes the snake until it's dead and bloody. This is where the children's begins to feel less wholesome.

Queen of the birds.

When Nolbu discovers the good fortune of his brother, he gets jealous and steals a seed to grow his own magical plant. This is where the film takes a turn for the insane.

Nolbu and his wife are first greeted by a vicious tiger...

...that breathes pink smoke.

Then a fire breathing dragon...

And best of all...

Nolbu and his wife are visited by a variety of spooky ghouls.

Including these absolutely amazing and terrifying Japanese-esque Onryo style female ghosts that look like a cyclops Sadako and green-faced Kayako Saeki. This is not the kind of imagery I'm used to from puppet films in the 60's. I could go on about the story, but why? I was really just leading up to this. These images say it all.

I've found very little information about this South Korean gem. There's a live action version from 1959 that seems to be easily confused with this one on the few sites I've unearthed. It has tinges of Jiri Barta's work and elements of the more recent Blood Tea and Red String by Christiane Cegavske. Despite the shades of horror, it's a bit too traditional to be akin to someone like Jan Svankmajer, though I struggle not to mention that fans of his might get some enjoyment out of this. It's a bit slow to start but once the magical elements take shape, it unfolds into a highly entertaining example of Eastern Kiddie Matinee cinema. I watched it without subtitles, but having a basic knowledge of the folk tale, it wasn't hard to follow along. If you're interested in seeing this one, I could only find it streaming on viewster...

Heungbu and Nolbu



This isn't much of a review. I'm not sure how to be critical of a flick like this. This post serves more to spread the words because as far as I know this has no Western audience what-so-ever. On that note, I'll leave you with all the weird-y cute animals from the film...

The Noble War (1984)

I realized that it had been almost a month since I reviewed my last Sompote Sands disaster, Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans. This is just unacceptable. I became so enamoured with Sands as a director, producer and a douche bag that I found his work to be truly daunting. Alongside alluring, disgusting, hypnotizing, ugly and somehow whimsical. The first experience left me with a lot to think about. As a reviewer and the direction this obsession could take me. It was a little terrifying to jump into the next one. I decided to sit with it for a while and fully absorb Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans.



The past week I've been feeling the itch for more, but where to start? I decided to take a step back and try something a little more "tame". Now that  I've seen The Noble War I realized that that's just not a word to use when describing this guy's work. Because my reception of this movie was so bewildering I'm going to describe what it was like for me going into this completely blind with nothing but language and cultural barriers.

As I'm sure you've guessed, like pretty much all of Sompote Sands movies, there are no subtitles. I can usually deal with this pretty well. It's easy to follow a simple plot by observing the actions and change of setting. The Noble War was a little more difficult. For one, the acting is in traditional theatre style. They're almost dancing out their actions. Lyrical body language while Thai overdubbing speaks for the characters whose lips aren't even moving. This distracted me from following the story as well as I might have.

From what I could tell it revolved around all of the Hindu deities. Doing all kinds of senseless things I couldn't begin to fathom. It started out simple enough. Hanging out in a glorious palace fit for a ...God! Meanwhile lower/God/Monkey-things played flute and entertained the higher God(s?) and pretty ladies would feed them grapes (ok I made up the grape part). Much how you'd suspect an Eastern God would hang out. In come new similar looking Gods and they chatter for a while. Then they go outside and look in a magic mirror to see a war going on.

Here's where I got kind of lost because these characters, although awesome and sometimes different colors, all looked alike to me. The language barrier prevented me from catching their names so pretty much from there on out I had no fucking clue what was happening. So let me try and break it down.

• Nobody likes the Green guy.
• the Red guy likes to rip shit out of the ground.
• In Thailand tree bark looks like peacock feathers.
• Sompote Sands loves that fucking crocodile.
• "What's that rotting rotisserie chicken doing floating in that pond?"
• Hindu deities puke milk.

That pretty much sums up my viewing experience. I paid CLOSE attention to the dizzying psychedelic scenery to make sure I didn't miss anything that might perhaps transcend cultures.Only the three V's. Violence, vileness and vomiting. Make that four V's: Visuals. The Noble War is visually stunning. Nothing short of an epic, really. The rich pigments made my entire living room illuminate with glowing rainbow hues. Definitely a candidate for movies that should be experienced under the influence of LSD. At times it reminded me of the Thief of Bagdad (1940) with it's elaborate technicolor atmosphere. Even at times of utmost confusion the electric Bava-esque surroundings will keep you glued to the screen.

After the movie I felt really good, enriched somehow. I'm also left with a sense of fulfillment I've only gotten seeing a Sompote Sands movie. I can see a trend forming. Of course I got online to do my usual post-movie-research only to find that there's little to no information on it. Only the review that lead me to it on Die, Danger, Die, Die Kill!'s blog. Perhaps I'm just completely dense and oblivious to the Hindu religion or maybe I'm just less educated on the subject. To refrain from anymore paraphrasing and because I'm forever grateful to I do recommend reading Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill's review as it appears to be much more self aware than I am. I was far from making any connections with the Ramayana, the epic Hindu legend. The Noble War was evidentally based on the Thai adaptation, the Ramakien. Being a newbie to Thai culture I wasn't even aware that they had their own adaptation (that's what I get for dropping out of World Religion). Being familiar with the Ramayana though, I was able to make connections that didn't even occur to me as I was watching. I think I might have caught on if Sita (Sida, pretty grape feeding lady by Green man's/Rama's side) was in it more, since she's basically the reason the war began!

So for those who are unfamiliar with this story, I suppose the plot can be summarized as easily as the Ramakien or the Ramayana. A war erupts between Rama and Thosaganth for the kidnapping of Rama's wife Sita/Sida. Only Rama gets Hanuman and his army of Monkeys to do his bidding. That's it! All that scrambling around was just the result of Sompote Sands unrelenting shenanigans.

 Compared to what I've seen and what I know of Sompote Sands I think it's safe to say this is traditionally one of his "better" movies. Aside from a few nasty out-of-place sequences peppered in The Noble War really does have a touch of class. The date throws me off a bit though. Based on what I've read on thereformentioned blog and Sci-Fi Japan. Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans and the Noble War share a scene. Hanuman is in outer space talking to a Deity in a fiery orb (the sun I imagine). Yes, he is the kind of director that reuses scenes from his own movies. Although there's really no solid information about any of these movies, I've been under the assumption that Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans was made in 1974 since that's what all websites and bloggers I've encountered cite. But that movie obviously a mish-mesh of a scenes from other movies (ie: the 6 Ultra Bothers vs. the Monster Army). I highly doubt he used a scene from Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans for The Noble War. It MUST have been the other way around. You know what I think? I think we all have the Hanuman date wrong. It's always classified as being from 1974 but I think that's because of the common misconception that Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans and the Six Ultra Brother vs. the Monster Army are the same movie, when in fact they aren't.  Sompote Sands used scenes (a lot of them) from Monster Army but they are separate entities completely. If you've seen it, think about Hanuman vs 7 Ultramans. Think about how it looks. Refer to the picture in my review if you want. It really looks 80's! Mid/late 80's in fact. I think I'm onto something here. I'd be interested to hear everyone's thoughts.

I can easily say I enjoyed this as much as my first Sompote Sands movie. Where Hanuman Vs 7 Ultramans lacked, the Noble War provided. I don't mind being baffled by a candy colored absurdity. When it comes to Sands the payoff is pretty good. Not for everyone but worth while for explorers of true outsider cinema. No pretense here, folks. Just raw unadulterated curiosities.

Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans (1974)

About a week ago I reviewed the action packed extravaganza, 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army. I relayed the story of how I'd recently become obsessed with Thai crapmaster, Sompote Sands. 6 Ultra Brothers is commonly mistaken for this movie, so it seemed like the right choice to follow it up with this absurdity. Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans (that's no typo, the Thai language doesn't really account for pluralization of the literal English translation) is a strange and somewhat incomprehensible assault on the senses. Mixing Kaiju Eiga with the Hindu Mythology already feels wrong somehow from the get go. Can you imagine if a serious attempt was ever made in America to turn "God" fully clad in a white robe and beard into a giant avenger who squashes bad guys and fights monsters? Sure, it would have a hell of a cult following but certain things seem off limits when it comes to religious taboos and as far as I can tell this movie was aiming at a mainstream audience of children. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Sompote Sands.

I'm pretty sure there's a plot here somewhere. There's a group of celebratory children performing some kind of ritualistic song and dance routine around some temple ruins. This scene seemed to drag on longer than it should. After one of the boys finds some bandits stealing a stone Buddha head he flips out! Screaming, chasing after them, all the while they're punching and kicking him in the head. Don't get me wrong, these guys were assholes but the kid's attachment to this idol was ridiculous. He runs after them and jumps on the back of their MOVING CAR. I was completely entertained by this almost keystone kops-esque chase scene. That is until one of the bandits gets fed up and SHOOTS THE KID IN THE FACE!

WHOA! Did I just see that? And so begins my understanding of the true nature of Mr. Sands' fucked-uppery.

Meanwhile we're introduced to two stooges that's role in the movie is never quite clear. Comic relief I suppose? They drive around the desert until they find a lake and decide to go for a swim. They're wearing women's bathing suits underneath their clothes! This picture pretty much sums up their entire roles in the movie...

All kinds of craziness is going on in outer space. The Ultramans are cohorting on their awesome Bava-esque planet (since these scenes are taken directly from 6 Ultra Brothers, there are lots of nice pictures of this in my review for it) and Hanuman is having a conversation with some other Deity in a giant fiery orb (the sun perhaps?). Amidst their conversation Hanuman decides to take the body of the little boy who was shot in the face. Which I presumed would be to eventually revive him. I mean, what good is being an ancient God if you don't have some kind of mystical healing powers? But alas, it was just a tease. The plot really didn't go in that direction at all. In the end, after Hanuman as inevitably saved the day, he flies off like nothing ever happened. Like he didn't just possess the body of a boy-corpse in order to taunt his murderers.

Another subplot I could barely comprehend are all the scientists with all the rockets. Not two or three rockets, but something like 20 rockets bunched up together on a launching pad. Eventually this set-up leads to the accident that will cause the monster attack. An earthquake awakens a bunch of monsters in which Hanuman attempts to battle. Poorly, I might add. He gets his ass handed to him and has to rely on the 6 underwhelmed Ultra Brothers to save him. That's another thing. Where does this 7th Ultramans come in? My best guess is that the appearance of Ultra Mari (Ultraman's Mother) at the beginning makes up for this oversight. I might also add that there's no "versus" involved here. Hanuman and the the Ultramans are on the same side. In the end Hanuman thanks the Ultramans by performing what I assume is some goofy sacred dance. He does that a lot. He hugs and kisses each disillusioned Ultraman before they fly off back to their home planet.. .And so ended the epic freak fest known as Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans.

So what's the verdict? Well, there were times I was a little disappointed in how the Hanuman costume looked like a costume, and the actor in it was probably just some guy they paid to flounce around like a monkey. No finesse like I'm used to from the Japanese. Then again there were other times his face looked really fierce and the sheer weirdness of what I was seeing was enough to carry the movie. Besides, I think disappointment is Sompote Sands calling card. He built an entire career on broken dreams and strange myth. I've seen a lot of foreign movies. (When I say foreign I mean the way growing an extra limb out of your back would be foreign.) None have seemed quite so foreign as this and probably his other movies too. I can't help but wonder how well this and the other Hanuman movies did in Thailand at the time of their release. I believe there are at least two others, Hanuman vs the 5 Riders and Space Warriors. There's also Giant and Jumbo A, which I thought starred Hanuman but later realized it stars another Sompote Sands movie Deity "Yuk Wud Jaeng" from his film Tah Tien, which at a glance has a similar costume. Reviews for ALL of these movies are on the way.

There's so little information about Sands on the net. Aside from the few aforementioned blogs, you'll be lucky to find anything that's not misinformation. Like IMDB for instance, it only lists three of his movies and even makes the mistake of confusing Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans and the original 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army, listing them as the same movie and he as the primary director. I know for sure that he did at least 15-20 movies as I've seen them on ethaicd.com and various reviews in other blogs. But if you type in his name in google mostly links on the lawsuit that was only resolved three years ago come up. In my review for 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army I was a little confused about about the lawsuit between Tsuburaya Productions and Chaiyo, awesome blogger/Sompote Sands expert Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill! cleared that up for me. I was under the impression that Chaiyo never had permission to use footage from Ultraman, but I guess what really happened was they thought they were giving permission to use a little bit of footage for this movie alone and that sheister Sands ran with it! He spent a good chunk of his career abusing his expired privilege of Tsuburaya's creations. There's a great article on it over at Scifijapan.com. I still can't help but root for Sompote a little bit. It's the same part of me that would rather suffer through Badi: the Turkish ET, than be bored watching the original. Not to compare Tsuburaya with Spielburg! Yikes! But it was the hacks of the world who were responsible for leading me to some of the most strange discoveries. Everyone's seen Star Wars, but you'd be surprised how few have seen the outrageous Planet Wars: the Brazilian Star Wars. Just because it's a stolen idea doesn't mean it's not a good idea.

Some may not like this strange fermentation of Japanese and Thai culture. Ultraman is very clean, Hanuman and company seem exotic by comparison. Not in the drinking cocktails out of a coconuts on the beach while listen to Martin Denny sort of way. More like the I went to vacation in Thailand and came back with this festering rash on my ballsack kinda way.

Next I'll be watching one of Sompote Sands original films (to be announced) and I'll see what kind of proverbial rape of the senses he has to offer next.


for more stills I took from Hanuman vs. 7 Ultramans click on on the link...