[Twitch is undergoing some behind the scenes tire kicking and bolt-tightening over the next few days, work that may slow down the regular flow of new information a little bit. So, while that's going on we'll be presenting a series of retro-reposts, pulling forward the all time top ten videos since we moved to our current video system. This post originally appeared June 30.]

Though he's been brewing his particular brand of madness for a good long while now it wasn't until the arrival of Machine Girl that writer-director Noboru Iguchi really made an impression here in North America. But when he did, it was a big one - his fetishized story of a high school girl whose arm is replaced by a giant machine gun becoming a genuine viral phenomenon as it raced through the web. And how has Iguchi followed up the success of Machine Girl? With robotic geishas. Lots of them.

RoboGeisha is the latest collaboration between Iguchi and special effects man Yoshihiro Nishimura - himself the director of Tokyo Gore Police - and it bears all of the now-classic hallmarks of the duo: outrageous special effects, grotesquely hilarious gore and weapons where weapons just should not go. Machine Girl had the mechanized arm. Iguchi's earlier Sukeban Boy had leg and breast cannons. Nishimura's Tokyo Gore Police has the infamous penis cannon. RoboGeisha? This one boasts what the trailer graciously describes as hip-katanas, though the swords are actually placed considerably lower and more to the rear. Yes, Iguchi's latest has ass-swords and women who aren't afraid to use them. And that's not even mentioning the giant robot-building, the transforming geisha-tank or the fried shrimp rammed into eye sockets.

The trailer for RoboGeisha is a virtual compendium of the bizarre and hilarious world of Iguchi, all of it narrated in bizarrely dry style. We're very proud to have been given the world exclusive of the trailer here at Twitch, passed to us directly from production company TO Entertainment, and you can find it below the break!

[Twitch is undergoing some behind the scenes tire kicking and bolt-tightening over the next few days, work that may slow down the regular flow of new information a little bit. So, while that's going on we'll be presenting a series of retro-reposts, pulling forward the all time top ten videos since we moved to our current video system. This post originally appeared July 13.]

Canada's Jason Eisener burst into the public eye a few years back with Hobo With a Shotgun - a fake trailer that won a Grindhouse contest sponsored by Robert Rodriguez and was subsequently added to North American prints of the double-bill feature. Hobo became an online sensation and fans began clamoring for whatever Eisener and crew would come up with next.

And what they came up with was Treevenge. An arborist's nightmare, the coniferous revenge film turned the tables on everyone's favorite holiday season by re-casting the humble Christmas Tree as the angry victim of an annual genocide with the time arriving to take revenge on the wielders of the axe. Treevenge is a blood soaked, splattery affair that provoked enormous reactions on the festival circuit, racking up awards by the armful as it screened at Sundance, Fantastic Fest, Fantasia, Toronto After Dark and too many others to name. The only problem was that there was no way for audiences to actually see the damn thing outside of those festival appearances, with only a short clip available online.

Until now. Twitch is beyond proud to finally give Eisner's evergreen opus a permanent online home. You'll find it embedded below the break. It's a big file - and looks rather good full screen - so give it a moment or two to buffer.

[Twitch is undergoing some behind the scenes tire kicking and bolt-tightening over the next few days, work that may slow down the regular flow of new information a little bit. So, while that's going on we'll be presenting a series of retro-reposts, pulling forward the all time top ten videos since we moved to our current video system. This post originally appeared July 3.]

While in New York a week or so back I had a friend ask if I'd seen the new French trailer for Tony Jaa's Ong Bak 2. As with the original Ong Bak Luc Besson's Europa Corp have gotten their hands on this one and while the rumor is that there has been a mild re-cut of the film to tighten things up a bit - I'm hearing six minutes have been removed - and some changes to the score - though nothing as drastic as the hip hop version done for the original - the new French trailer, I was told, makes Ong Bak 2 look like "the greatest action film ever made". I hadn't seen it at the time, but now I have and I have to say I pretty much agree.

What do you say? Was it the argument between Tony Jaa the director and Tony Jaa the actor over whether he really needed to get into that pit of water with a live crocodile that drove Tony to go hide in the jungle for two months? Check the French trailer out below the break along with the extended Thai promo reel!

[Twitch is undergoing some behind the scenes tire kicking and bolt-tightening over the next few days, work that may slow down the regular flow of new information a little bit. So, while that's going on we'll be presenting a series of retro-reposts, pulling forward the all time top ten videos since we moved to our current video system. This post originally appeared May 28.]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the most blatant, hysterical, scantily clad and very likely effective piece of viral marketing ever made. When the lads behind Norwegian Nazi zombie comedy Dead Snow felt the need to put together a promotional video to plug the upcoming Norwegian DVD release - coinciding nicely with the upcoming US theatrical run - did they make something featuring Nazis? No. Zombies? None of those either. No, what there is is a whole lot of Linni Meister, Norwegian FHM model and columnist (they hired her for her writing skills! honest!) turned pop singer following a stint on the Norwegian version of Survivor. Yes, I looked her up. Research is a harsh mistress sometimes ...

Anyway ... what did Linni come up with? A charming little ditty titled - very appropriately - My Ass. It's all about her ass and how nice it is. There are no zombies in the song whatsoever. How does this count as viral marketing? You'll have to watch to see ...

We've got the uncensored version of the song's video below the break and while not exactly R rated it does push the envelope enough that it was yanked from YouTube for violating their terms of service.

[Twitch is undergoing some behind the scenes tire kicking and bolt-tightening over the next few days, work that may slow down the regular flow of new information a little bit. So, while that's going on we'll be presenting a series of retro-reposts, pulling forward the all time top ten videos since we moved to our current video system. This post originally appeared July 17.]

A military veteran and former mercenary, Frenchy (Van Damme) works as a taxi driver, hiding somewhere in East Asia, haunted by his past. After his driving shifts he often frequents the Eagle's Nest, a seedy bar that houses a caged eagle. In the midst of the chaotic Asian traffic Frenchy picks up a beautiful female passenger who will change him forever.

Driven by dark memories of his childhood, he becomes determined to improve her life and, without her approval, he embarks on a journey which proves to be more dangerous and complicated then he expected. After encountering a series of harrowing obstacles he calls in favors from his special ops friends who immediately join him. His military team engages in the biggest fight of their lives. War is hell, but nothing they've done could have prepared them for this.

It's an adrenaline-fueled, full-on, maximum firepower thriller, filled with the intense psychological conflict that Van Damme fans love the world over.

Much encouraged by the stellar JCVD, we've been tracking Jean Claude Van Damme's The Eagle Path for months now, with the first promo reel for the film appearing back in May. Appearing to be very much rooted in 1980's style meat-and-potatoes action tropes that early promo was still quite raw but it has just been joined by a second, much more polished spot. Those hoping Van Damme would continue down the JCVD road are clearly going to need to adjust their expectations as all the meta-content of that picture is absent here but classic 80's action fans are going to find a lot to love. I'm still very curious to see a finalized, fully polished trailer, but you can find the new promo and the original spot below the break.

[Twitch is undergoing some behind the scenes tire kicking and bolt-tightening over the next few days, work that may slow down the regular flow of new information a little bit. So, while that's going on we'll be presenting a series of retro-reposts, pulling forward the all time top ten videos since we moved to our current video system. This post originally appeared June 10.]

Nature may be beautiful but it can also be very very harsh and once you take us humans out of our carefully controlled environments we're awfully fragile things. This is the potent ground explored in Richard Harrah's The Canyon, soon to have it's world premiere at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal. I normally hold on to my program guide notes a little longer than this but, hey ... there's no time like the present. Here's what I wrote about the film for the Fantasia program guide:

Young and in love, Nick and Lori have taken the plunge, eloped to Las Vegas and gotten themselves hitched. Lori's parents will probably be furious when they return but that's a week away yet and there's still a honeymoon to be had, a week spent surrounded by the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon. Nick's had a long standing fixation with the history of the region, you see, and Lori is more than willing to indulge her new husband with a guided mule tour down into the Canyon floor. Of course, the problem is that there are very limited numbers of passes granted for these sorts of tours, passes that require months of advance planning and their marriage was not exactly a long-planned event.

Enter Will Patton as Henry, the drunken old coot who seems to be as much a part of the land as a resident on it, a local character filled with fascinating stories and a disregard for the way things are meant to be done who swears that he can guide them into the Canyon if they want. He's even got all of the gear required. The pair agree and life is good until - well off of the approved trail through the Canyon - Henry is bitten by a poisonous snake, the pack animals panic and scatter and Nick and Lori are stranded - completely without resources to help the dying Henry and completely helpless to find their way out of the Canyon without his guidance. All there is in their future is hunger, thirst and wolves.

An intimate survival thriller from director Richard Harrah, The Canyon takes great advantage of both the stunning natural settings and the skills of lead actors Yvonne Strahovski and Eion Bailey as Lori and Nick. The newlyweds feature in every scene of the picture, the success of the film lying in their slow fade into panic and despair as plans fail and supplies dwindle, pushing the pair to ever more desperate plans. As their technology fails, meager supplies dwindle and it becomes increasingly evident that they are hopelessly lost with no help coming, Lori and Nick slip into a world of increasingly murky moral decisions. Even worse than the prospect of neither of them surviving is the very real possibility that only one of them can and that they will have to make the decision as to who it will be.

We've just gotten an exclusive first look at the film's trailer and it's a good one! You'll find it below the break!

The Serbian film industry, while growing in stature around the world by producing more and more films of higher and higher quality, is also notably trending towards violence on screen, a trend that would be denounced in most nations but one that the director of the Film Center Serbia has actually gone on record defending as a valid expression of his country's history and ongoing troubles. And nowhere is that trend towards violence - in this case violence fused with explicit sex - more pronounced than in the upcoming Serbian Film.

Milos, a retired ex-porn star, now leads a normal family life with his beautiful wife, Maria and five year old son Stefan in tumultuous Serbia inn a modern era of transition, trying to make ends meet. A sudden call from his former colleague, still hot porn actress Layla, will change everything. Aware of his financial problems, Layla introduces Milos to Vukmir - a shady, mysterious, menacing and politically powerful figure in the porn business who makes Milos an offer he can't refuse. A leading role in Vukmir's new production will provide financial support to Milos and his family for the rest of their lives. Milos is hesitant at first, because a contract insists on his absolute unawareness of the script they will shoot or the dramatic situations that Vukmir is going to put him through during filming. Finally, he agrees, driven by the urge of security for his family, protecting it from the impending poverty so dominant in Serbia today. From then on, Milos is drawn into a maelstrom of unbelievable cruelty an mayhem devised by his employer, "The Director", of his Destiny, Vukmir. Relentless in his attempt to make an ultimate artistic "snuff-porn", the one that has never been seen, using poor people as his acting cannon fodder, and unleash it upon the hungry eyes of the world. Vukmir and his cohorts will stop at nothing to complete his "vision", and will go to unspeakable lengths to achieve it, using even innocent children as props. In order to escape the living cinematic hell he's put into and save his family's life. Milos will have to sacrifice everything: his pride, his morality, his sanity, and maybe even his own life. In a Serbian "Heart of Darkness" where life is cheaper then a candy bar, in a struggle with enemies powerful beyond belief and just as violent and pathologically evil, the chances of surviving are abnormally thin.

The trailer for this lies below the break, looks impeccably well made and is wildly inappropriate for work environments. Be warned.