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Funny, we always thought director (Prince) Chatrichalerm Yukol’s Thai epic King Naresuan was at its biggest going to be a trilogy, but as we’ve now learnt that episode five is now due to open in Thailand in the new year, it looks like we were a tiny bit wrong. The coin they must have spent on this ever expanding series is Immense, but then it always helps with getting your funding when you’re a member of the Thai royal family. King Naresuan 5 is currently (release dates on these tend to slide...often) due to open April 2014 King Naresuan 5 trailer King Naresuan 5 poster...

American distributor Well Go USA are usually pretty good at not tinkering with their titles names, so it’s a little surprising that the latest title (director Nopporn Watin’s martial arts action ‘Yamada: The Samurai of Ayothaya’) is heading for the light of day Stateside under the less than original Muay Thai Warrior. Still, considering it’s a great action flick - and their track record to date - we guess we can forgive them this one transgression. Based on actual events from the 17th century's Ayutthaya period, Muay Thai Warrior combines lush visuals with a cast of Olympic athletes to provide viewers some of the most stunning and realistic Muay Thai techniques ever filmed for the big screen. The cast includes Seigi Ozeki (The Odd Couple), Sorapong Chatree (Bko: Bangkok Knockout, Ong Bak 2 & 3), Winai Kraibutr (Bangkok Revenge), and newcomers Kanokkorn Jaicheun, Thanawut Ketsaro and Buakhao Paw Pramuk. Muay Thai Warrior (urgh!

American distributor Well Go USA are usually pretty good at not tinkering with their titles names, so it’s a little surprising that the latest title (director Nopporn Watin’s martial arts action ‘Yamada: The Samurai of Ayothaya’) is heading for the light of day Stateside under the less than original Muay Thai Warrior. Still, considering it’s a great action flick - and their track record to date - we guess we can forgive them this one transgression. Based on actual events from the 17th century's Ayutthaya period, Muay Thai Warrior combines lush visuals with a cast of Olympic athletes to provide viewers some of the most stunning and realistic Muay Thai techniques ever filmed for the big screen. The cast includes Seigi Ozeki (The Odd Couple), Sorapong Chatree (Bko: Bangkok Knockout, Ong Bak 2 & 3), Winai Kraibutr (Bangkok Revenge), and newcomers Kanokkorn Jaicheun, Thanawut Ketsaro and Buakhao Paw Pramuk. Muay Thai Warrior (urgh!

“The House” is a Thai horror directed by Monthon Arayangkoon, who also helmed supernatural thriller “The Victim” and the giant bird monster kaiju “Garuda”. Apparently based on real life cases involving the murders of women, the film is a mishmash of various modern Asian and Western horror themes and motifs, combining a haunted house, vengeful ghosts and possession with murders, mad doctors and more. Originally released back in 2007, the film is now available on region 2 DVD via Mvm. The film follows actress Intira Jaroenpura (“The Legend of Naresuan”) as Shalinee, a television reporter looking from a change from the usual prostitution and child abuse stories, who decides to investigate the case of Dr. Wasson (Vorapoj Nimvijit), a man said to have murdered his missing wife. When she spots a mysterious figure during a visit to Wasson’s house, she becomes convinced that something sinister is afoot, and uncovers two other...

Yamada: Way Of The Samurai

Stars: Seigi Ozeki, Kanokkorn Jaicheun, Sorapong Chatree | Written and Directed by Nopporn Watin

Yamada: Way of the Samurai, which is also known as The Samurai of Ayothaya, is apparently based on a true historic figure, depicting as it does the life of Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese adventurer who, during the Ayothaya Era, gave up his homeland to protect the sovereignty of the Thai people. Betrayed and left for dead by treacherous Japanese forces, he finds a new family in a remote village and masters the devastating fighting art of Muay Boran (Thai boxing). Fearless, he ascends to the royal bodyguard of King Naresuan The Great, but will soon face his greatest ever battle against the elite Japanese warriors he once regarded as brothers…

To steal a quote from fellow Twitter user Max Renn: “Yamada is a painfully earnest Thai tourist board advert”. It’s the type of film that,...

To say that director Chatrichalerm Yukol thinks big would be a gross understatement. A bona fide Thai prince, Yukol makes films on an epic scale. His Suriyothai was a lavish spectacle that caught the attention of Francis Ford Coppola and he has since been working on a series of four films dedicated to a key figure from Thai history: King Naresuan.Yukol's cycle of four Naresuan films are by far the largest cinematic undertaking in Thai history with seemingly no expense spared to get the story right. This is old school cast-of-thousands stuff in a lavish period setting, all of it in service to the story of the man who freed Siam - which would later become Thailand - from Burmese control.The fourth and final...

Parts one and two of Chatrichalerm Yukol’s sweeping historical epic King Naresuan dropped onto U.S DVD recently... but meanwhile...back in Thailand this sprawling opus continues to grow ever larger, with news its now reached its fourth (this must have cost a fortune!?) instalment. Even though it might be getting a little long in the tooth as a series, the action shows no sign of dieing down. The full trailer for the latest episode is crammed full bad guys and of course battles galore. Check it at the link Naresuan 4 trailer...

If the primary scale for measuring a nation’s collective sense of patriotism was based on the number of historical dramas it produces (in which case Americans are raging egoists), then Thailand has just taken a very large step forward in nationalist pride with the two-part, five and a half-hour epic Kingdom of War (aka Legend of King Naresuan: Hostage of Hongsawadi). Chatrichalerm Yukol’s massive undertaking tells the story of King Naresuan who grew up in the care of a patient Buddhist and went on to liberate Siam from the brilliant conqueror, King Bayinnaung of Burma. Despite what the name of the feature might lead you to believe, Kingdom of War is as much a war film as it is a coming of age film and a political drama of the Machiavellian sort. When the two films get into a groove the pacing is flawless, however it inevitably...

One of Thailand’s biggest ever grossing Movie series - Chatrichalerm Yukol’s historical action epic - King Naresuan has dropped onto U.S DVD, and we didn’t even see it coming! Why? Well mainly because of its dumb new title…Kingdom of War. The only saving grace we can give the distributor is for the fact they’ve released the first two films together, in a pretty reasonably priced 2 disc set. Synopsis: Kingdom Of War (urgh) is an epic historical action film about King Naresuan the Great, who liberated the Siamese from the control of Burma, changing the destiny of a nation. Part 1 introduces Naresuan as a child prince captured by the Burmese King Bayinnaung in order to keep the province of Ayudhya subservient. Naresuan spends almost seven years away from home studying as a novice Buddhist monk. Part 2 depicts Naresuan's life as the heir-presumptive to Ayudhya.

Thai movie sites are listing its release and a trailer is online, could it be that the much delayed 3rd (but apparently now, not final) instalment to Chatrichalerm Yukol’s massive Thai - historical, action biopic - box office hit ‘King Naresuan’ is finally on the way? It Seems so, and it may not finish there. The series has become so sprawling that there’s now talk of a 4th episode on the way. Great news for the Thai fans, but as no one in an English speaking region has seen fit to release then on DVD, we’ve yet to enjoy this epic spectacle. Here's hoping someone sees sense (hint hint) soon. King Naresuan’ part 3 is set to open next month. Trail at the link.

Thai movie sites are listing its release and a trailer is online, could it be that the much delayed 3rd (but apparently now, not final) instalment to Chatrichalerm Yukol’s massive Thai - historical, action biopic - box office hit ‘King Naresuan’ is finally on the way? It Seems so, and it may not finish there. The series has become so sprawling that there’s now talk of a 4th episode in the offing. Great news for the Thai fans, but as no one in an English speaking region has seen fit to release then on DVD, we’ve yet to enjoy this epic spectacle. Here's hoping someone sees sense (hint hint buyers) on that soon. King Naresuan’ part 3 is set to open next month. Trail at the link.

Thai movie sites are listing its release and a trailer is online, could it be that the much delayed 3rd (but apparently now, not final) instalment to Chatrichalerm Yukol’s massive Thai - historical, action biopic - box office hit ‘King Naresuan’ is finally on the way? It Seems so, and it may not finish there. The series has become so sprawling that there’s now talk of a 4th episode on the way. Great news for the Thai fans, but as no one in an English speaking region has seen fit to release then on DVD, we’ve yet to enjoy this epic spectacle. Here's hoping someone sees sense (hint hint) soon. King Naresuan’ part 3 is set to open next month. Trail at the link.

[Updated with new poster and much higher quality trailer.]

Thanapon Maliwan’s The Sanctuary is a film that we’ve been tracking here for a good while now. Maliwan rose to attention as one of the directors in the Pechpanna Productions stable, the Thai action outfit where both Panna Rittikrai and Tony Jaa got their starts, Maliwan directing both Jaa and his mentor is at least one early pre-Ong Bak film together. And then there’s star Mike B, a Thai stunt man who was one of the key stunt performers in Ong Bak who Maliwan has been grooming for stardom for a little while.

This particular project began life as Dead End before finance troubles forced it to be suspended for a while and Maliwan and Mike B went off and made inconsistent action-comedy Brave instead. That project out of the way the materials from Dead End were reworked and redeveloped and the project re-launched as The Sanctuary...