Ed Wood
Edward D. Wood Jr., a well-known B-movie director in the United States, has written at least 47 screenplays, directed 18 film and television productions, supervised 12 films, and ran the dragon set in several films. Yet his work is vulgar and stupid, to the point of obnoxiousness. His masterpiece "Alien Project No. 9" was rated as the "King of Bad Film and Television", and he was also known as "the worst director in history" and "z-grade film director". At the same time, his crazy attitude towards life and work also made him infamous, and he died destitute. However, such a person who has made a bad film all his life, who has no talent but has made unremitting efforts and is full of dedication to movies, has won the respect of posterity after his death. Some niche fans have made his films cult classics, and even remade and colored Alien Project Nine in HD. Renowned director Tim Burton is also a fan of him, not only filming the biopic of the same name, "Ed Wood" (starring Johnny Depp), but also paying tribute to him in "Christmas Night's Horror", "Guillotine Valley", "Zombie Bride" and many other films.
He Zhiqiang
Naturally, China is indispensable to bad film directors. However, it is not difficult to make a bad film, it is rare to shoot a lifetime of bad films. In terms of personal qualifications, the number of works and international influence, the person who can compete with Ed Wood is probably the Hong Kong director Ho Chi Keung.
He Zhiqiang in his youth
Born in 1948, Ho's parents expected him to become a violinist, but he gave up his musical ideals and went to Canada to study film at the age of seventeen, dropping out of school halfway. After returning to Hong Kong, he entered shaw's set as an extra and a field recorder, and became an assistant director of Zhang Che at the age of 23, assisting in directing many famous films such as "Two Heroes", "Ma Yongzhen" and "Thorn Horse". In the late 1970s, Shaw began to decline, and Ho joined General Film And Art, which began his path to bad films.
General Film Arts Co., Ltd. (ifd) is a film company founded by Lai Hsin Lin and his wife Chen Guihua, whose members also include Lai Qinglin, Dun Ge'en, Gao Fei, Li Zhao, etc. The company's biggest skill is to piece together small-budget films from Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea and other places, after editing, reshooting, and then re-dubbing in English, cobbling together a new movie. Most of these shoddy kung fu films are sold overseas for unsuspecting viewers.
In the 1980s, He Zhiqiang partnered with Filmark Productions, owned by Dungeen, who left IFD to stand on his own. Dungeen carried forward ifd's creative philosophy and concocted dozens of "ninja films" starring white people with He Zhiqiang. In fact, filmark and IFD are in competition, and He Zhiqiang has to use dozens of pseudonyms. Although He Zhiqiang denies using these pseudonyms, his words seem to be concealed.
Works by He Zhiqiang
The actors commonly used by He Zhiqiang include Korean friends Huang Zhengli and Julong, Taiwanese actors Luo Rui and Jiang Dao, and Richard Harrison from the United States. He Zhiqiang, Li Zhao, Lai Xinglin, Dung-en and others cobbled together a large number of "Bruce Lee exploitation movies" and "foreign ninja films" in the 1980s, which were notorious in the industry. Richard Harrison said in the interview: "These stories are difficult to understand, I have no idea the full story. The last film I made, one of the scenes appeared in nine different films..."
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, He Zhiqiang directed a number of original action films featuring actresses such as Gali, Yang Panpan, and Lovelo of Oshima, such as "Gold Medal Master Sister", "Flower Destroyer", "Across the World", etc., all of which are small-cost B-grade films, the scene is hot but superficial and chaotic, but he is fortunate to be in the golden period of Hong Kong films, and he can still get a piece of the pie.
At the end of the 1990s, He Zhiqiang gradually retired. He worked for five years at the Multimedia Innovation Centre at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, teaching students film techniques. He is currently a guest lecturer at the Hong Kong Film and Television Institute and Baptist University. His most recent appearance was in the 2018 documentary category iii: the untold story of hong kong exploitation cinema.
He Zhiqiang recently took a photo
In a 2007 interview, the reporter asked He Zhiqiang to say a few words to fans, and He Zhiqiang said: "I just want to thank them for liking our movies." Because they are commercial, don't think of them as some kind of masterpiece. They look like video games. If you're looking for artistic value in it, sorry, no. At that time, I wasn't ready to do this kind of thing. If in the future, I have the opportunity to make another film, I will pay more attention to the script and the scenes to make a good movie. ”
The Eagle of Nosu
"Ninja Sister"
That being said. A few years later, He Zhiqiang worked with Li Qinglin again, heading north to direct two kung fu films, "The Eagle of Nosu" (2015) and "Sister Ninja" (2016). Judging from the poster, it is still full of strong grass platform team atmosphere... With all due respect, Fu Fat did not expect anything from these two films at all.
Ho's "Bruce Lee Exploitation Films", "Ninja Films" and "PoliceWoman Films" were once all the rage in the videotape era and are now treasured by some niche film fans. People who have seen these movies must be no longer young, and they should watch and cherish it. Anyway, thanks to that era of blossoming flowers. It is the existence of these strange movies that shows the vigorous vitality of the film industry at that time, and also brings infinite fun to nostalgic people like Fu Fat many years later.
end
Some of the sources in this article:
http://www.nanarland.com
http://www.hkcinemagic.com