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During the early 1990’s there was an incredible array of outstanding films to emerge from the final embers of the Hong Kong New Wave. So much so, that inevitably some would get lost and become fragmented memories waiting to be rediscovered. “Burning Paradise” in my home country of England received a video release from the “Made in Hong Kong Label” that was responsible for converting many like myself to this incredible cinematic world. After that, nothing. Whilst Ringo Lam would forever be remembered for his contribution to Heroic Bloodshed with “City on Fire” and “Full Contact”, this, his sole attempt at the period action genre, has largely been ignored. A gothic horror infused martial arts epic with its canvas seeped in blood and arguably his finest achievement.

After the destruction of the Shaolin Temple, Fong Sai Yuk (Willie Chi) and a monk are chased into the desert.

Ooh, it’s a great week for horror fans, as this Tuesday’s Blu-ray and DVD releases are a stellar bunch of films that will make for great additions to your personal collection of movies to enjoy from the comfort of your own home. Because it is the holiday season, I’m stoked to see Scream Factory show a little love to Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 with their Collector’s Edition Blu that hits shelves tomorrow, and for those of you who enjoy your horror movies with a side of sleaze, William Lustig’s Maniac has been given the 4K treatment by Blue Underground (and the film has never looked better).

The Mangler is also getting a brand new Blu-ray this week, and Scorpion Releasing is resurrecting Death Ship with their new Special Edition release as well. Vinegar Syndrome is keeping busy with both Ice Cream Man and Beware My Brethren,...

This year, Variety will honor its 10 Actors to Watch with the Newport Beach Film Festival at a brunch taking place on Nov. 11 at the Resort at Pelican Hill. Nbff will also present honors to several artists, including the Icon Award to Robert Forster (now on screens in “What They Had”) and Artist of Distinction Awards to Topher Grace (“BlacKkKlansman”), Colman Domingo and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“All About Nina”).

Variety has been bestowing 10 Actors to Watch honors since 1998. Past honorees include many future Oscar winners and nominees, such as Mahershala Ali, Timothée Chalamet, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Brie Larson and Lupita Nyong’o.

Icon Award

Robert Forster

Being honored with an Icon Award is great, but Forster has a lot left in the tank. “I don’t know what an icon is,” Forster says. “And I don’t feel like one, and I certainly don’t feel like I’m 77, either!

Horror legend George A. Romero is teaming up with a frequent collaborator for his next zombie movie, which will be seeking buyers at the Fantasia International Film Festival market this summer. The new project is entitled Road of the Dead, which George A. Romero co-wrote with Matt Birman, who is slated to direct this project. It isn't clear when production may begin, but this project will be just the director's second feature film, although he has spent decades in other areas of production.

IndieWire reports that this project originated from a Matt Birman pitch from roughly 10 years ago. The story is set on a remote island where zombie prisoners race cars in a modern-day Coliseum, all for the entertainment of affluent humans. The director describes the project as a hybrid of Road Warrior and Rollerball, set at a Nascar race, and that there is "significant inspiration" from the iconic 1959 classic Ben-Hur.

Canadian actor whose reputation was transformed by his deadpan comic persona in Airplane! and the Naked Gun series

Few people watching the career of the tall, husky and fair-haired Leslie Nielsen, who has died aged 84, could have predicted that the stolid actor who specialised in authority figures would become known as a comedy star after two and a half decades in show business. His reputation was transformed by playing Dr Rumack on board the threatened airliner in Airplane! (1980) and Frank Drebin, the hilariously inept plain-clothes cop, in three Naked Gun films.

What the writer-directors Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker saw in Nielsen, silvery grey and in his mid-50s, was his previously po-faced persona. "They spotted me for being what I really was, a closet comedian," he said. "And how lucky can you get? It's like they said to me, 'Leslie, come out and play.' Thank God for them.