Thursday, June 23, 2022

Guns of El Chupacabra on YouTube - Scott Shaw - Zen Filmmaking


 Yes, Guns of El Chupacabra is on YouTube. You have to confirm your age to watch it but here is the link:

Guns of El Chupacaba YouTube

 

 

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Guns of El Chupacabra Poster - Scott Shaw - Zen Filmmaking


 Here was one of the alternative release posters for Guns of El Chupacabra.


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Guns of El Chupacabra 1st Poster - Scott Shaw - Zen Filmmaking


 Here was the first official release poster for the film Guns of El Chupacabra.


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El Chupacabra Poster - Scott Shaw - Zen Filmmaking


 Here was the original poster for Guns of El Chupacabra with is filming title, El Chupacabra.


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Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Guns of El Chupacabra. A Love Ode to Cheap Class B Cinema


 

Every now and then I find, (by one way or the other), a review of one of my films that really grabs the essence of the movie. I have read that some people have said that I don’t like reviews of my films. This is not true. I just don’t like negativity on any level. But, love it or hate it, if a review is well written, it is interesting and even inspiring to me to come to view the film via the interpretations of someone else’s ideas.

 

In any case, I was just pointed to this review of Guns of El Chupacabra, written by Marta Górna, on a site named, Upper Watches. The review of Guns of El Chupacabra and the entire website is composed in Polish. I’ve provided a link to the original article below. I questioned what is the best way to present the review to you, as it is in Polish, I concluded I would put the Google English translation of it up here in this blog. Hope you enjoy it. And, thanks Marta!

 

„Gunsof El Chupacabra”. Oda miłosna do taniego kina klasy B

 

Guns of El Chupacabra. A Love Ode to Cheap Class B Cinema

By Marta Górna 1 year ago

 

I delayed the launch of 1997's Guns of El Chupacabra for a long time and eventually this production became part of my marathon in honor of Julie Strain - the queen of B movies and erotic thrillers who died on January 10th.

 

Although Strain only appears in a few not very long scenes, the whole movie begins with her. Dressed in a skimpy, seemingly plastic armor, she fights (with her iconic black curls) with the Chupacabra, the legendary Latin American beast. With a sword in her hand, she looks like an amazon, and her duel with a monster gives hope for an unleavened fantasy movie with a female heroine playing the first fiddle.

 

Hopes will soon prove to be in vain. Fighting a monster is just a dream of a beautiful Queen who, dreaming nightmares, throws herself in bed sheets with naked breasts. At her side, her beloved husband, Król (Strain's husband, Kevin B. Eastman, creator of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles") wakes up and together they decide to summon the cosmic sheriff Jack B. Quick because only he can save the planet from Chupacabra, whose bloody reign is heralded by the Queen's dream.

 

Then the space hero enters the stage - dark glasses on his nose, pistols in his hand, and a tight ponytail bouncing on his back. He is played by Scott Shaw, a cult figure for fans of cheap cinema and a master of martial arts, director of over 150 films, star of over a hundred productions and a great idol of Adam Sandler, who has repeatedly invited Scott to guest appearances in his films and programs - most recently in "Sandy Wexler" .

 

Shaw is a regular collaborator of Donald G. Jackson, director and screenplay writer of "Guns of El Chupacabra" and director of more than 40 B-movies, many of which - such as "The City of Frogs" with Roddy Piper and "The Brigade of the Seven Swords" - became cult productions. Strain and Eastman often collaborated with Jackson, whose work is the quintessence of cheap class B cinema of the 90s - unleavened, not entirely serious and chaotic. These adjectives best describe "Guns of El Chupacabra", the film was made according to Shaw's philosophy of "Zen", which involves making films without a script or film sets, but with a large dose of improvisation.

Well, it shows in "Guns of El Chupacabra," but it's not a pinch at all. The movie is utterly stupid, the dialogues are grotesque, there are many scenes that do not make the slightest sense, and a lot of shaving on the screen. But it does not bother the reception of the film at all. Especially that at some point it turns out to be in fact the story of a film crew making a film about Chupacabra. 

Exactly, because there are many twists and turns after the first scene with Julie Strain. One of the protagonists is a journalist who reports on the Chupacabra murders, and there will also be an action actor played by B-class action actor David Heavener. The legendary Joe Estevez, Martin's brother and Jackson's regular associate, will also flit the screen, and the main villain will be the wonderful, endowed with an impressive jaw and Robert Z'Dar, who died in 2015.

 

"Guns of El Chupacabra" has a slack that is often missing from B movies. You can see that everyone involved in the production has known each other for years and have a great time together. This makes the movie enjoyable to watch. Anyway, the production has been adored by fans for the last 24 years, and there were also several sequels of the film, the last one a few years ago. Scott Shaw runs a blog about the film, shares reviews, excerpts from the script, and memories and recordings from the film set. This is valuable because it allows you to see what an eternal struggle in the 1990s independent filmmakers waged with the cinema industry, how they had to struggle with the system by almost every millimeter of film. And it's all for the love of cinema. Because that is what "Guns of El Chupacabra" is - a love ode to the magic of the movie story. But you watch at your own risk anyway.

 


 

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