Searching for Weng Weng ... and every single actor who was ever in an old genre flick from the Philippines

Ken Metcalfe in his office circa mid 80s (Photo courtesy of Carl Kuntze)
Photo from Andrew Leavold's new Filipino blog.
PS: Do notice the posters!

Checking Andrew Leavold's facebook page is like flipping thru a "who's who" of Filipino genre film actors and actresses from the 1970s and '80s. If an actor or actress doesn't pop up there at some stage, next to a grinning Leavold, it may very well mean they've left this dimension. It seems he has a knack for tracking them down at one point or another.

Now, to even further catalogue these actors from Filipino cinema Andrew has recently begun work on a new blog entitled "Name That Filipino Actor!"

If you have any interest in old Filipino genre flicks, and if you often wonder who the hell some white "gwilo" dude (or dudette) in some semi lost Filipino-US production is then ... check out Andrew's blog! They're not all there (yet) but the number is growing and quite a few of his posts promise much more info to come.
Highly recommend for fans of Filipino genre cinema.

For "Name That Filipino Actor!" go here.

L-R: Andrew Leavold, Leo G. Martinez, Don Gordon Bell
(Photo courtesy of Leavold)

Here's a recent photo (19. January 2019) of Andrew and Don Gordon Bell who met up with Leo G. Martinez for an interveiw. Martinez was in and worked on many films by Cirio H. Santiago.

Don Gordon Bell talks about making NAKED VENGEANCE

When I first posted about NAKED VENGEANCE over on my blog about trashy Filipino war flicks ("When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines") Don Gordon Bell commented on it. Don is one of those Westerners (or in Don's case American-Korean) who for one reason or another happened to be in the Philippines in the 1980s and got dragged into the local film industry. And the explanation for this? Oliver Stone went to the Philippines in the mid-80s to film his Vietnam War blockbuster PLATOON. After he went home the local film makers looked at all the equitment and film sets that the American production team had just left behind. And they figured it would be a grand idea to take that stuff and use it for their own no-budget "Platton" movie. Or rather movies. Plural. Plural in a biiig way cos they didn't keep it to just O-N-E PLATOON knockoff, they kept cranking them out!! And hail Thor for that, as Jared Auner (Worldweird blog) would say because all those movies are highly entertaining (well, most of them anyway).

I posted about NAKED VENGEANCE on my trashy war blog cos I figured the film's too cool NOT to post about. However, my trashy Filipino war movie blog may not be the right place to post about it as it's not a war movie! It's trashy alright, and it's from the Philippines, and violent too, but a war movie it ain't. And seeing as this is my blog on Asian (mostly) worldweird cinema I reckon it'd be a swell idea to repost Don's comments here.

Don later responded to my post on his own blog which you can check out HERE (scroll down a bit, you won't miss it). You'll find my original posts on the film HERE. Check the comments' sections, there's at least one other comment from Nick Nicholson who was also in the movie.

By Don Gordon Bell
I was one of the five rapists, with Nick Nicholson. Think my name was Arnie and Nick was Sparky. We had quite a challenge doing the rape scene...it was quite intense yet professional. Deborah Tranelli was a trooper and told me to really 'go down' close when I was, uh, well, going down on her just before her 'parents' arrive home. Most of the women on the set were upset at us for several days. (Sheesh, it's only acting)
Funniest thing was standing around in a 'jock-strap' that I was wearing, my buns hanging out. One of the STILL photographers caught me and gave me a copy but I lost that one.
I died a horrible death, being wounded by the revengeful "Carla" and knocked down into an Ice Crusher at the Ice House where my character Arnie worked. I had to improvise by duck taping a skateboard to my stomach and that way I could be pushed down the ramp with two huge blocks of ice behind me. Took three takes, first one the stuntmen pushed me to hard and cameras couldn't pan fast enough. 2nd take went great, but I got smashed with the ice inside the box. 3rd take, was the best, with the camera on short tripod the cameraman had to be pulled out of the way as I came screaming straight into the shot.
The last one I realized that I might hit so I grabbed the side of the box so I would not hit the camera and operator. The two blocks of ice knocked me upwards, slammed my head on the top, but gave them time to roll away. Both blocks of ice came to rest on top of me.
Director Cirio called out, in his usual calm voice, "Hey babe, you okay?" I was pinned against the back, unable to move the blocks off and no one was helping me. "NO, Direct! I am not okay...get me outta here." Everyone broke out laughing as Cirio called to "That's a Wrap!" By the time I got out, most had left the set. I went back to the hotel, with the skateboard still ducktaped to me, just for fun. AH, those were the days, what a way to make a living.

Don Gordon Bell

Don with Kaz Garas [L] and Nick Nicholson.

[first posted on "When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines" blog, 10 January 2010]

NAKED VENGEANCE (Philippines, 1985) - review

[This is the uncut trailer from a Danish ex-rental VHS, not the censored Australian trailer]


By Fred Adelman

NAKED VENGEANCE (1985) - Now don't get me wrong here: I find most of director Cirio H. Santiago's films to be average at best, but he must have been taking hallucinogens here because he has turned out a perfectly crazy rip-off of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978), maybe even outdoing it in sheer sleaze factor alone. Carla, a commercial actress (Deborah Tranelli of DALLAS fame), watches as her husband is gunned down by a creep he tried to stop from raping a girl.

She leaves New York City for her home town in the country and is savagely raped by five townies in her parents house. When her parents come home and see what is happening to their daughter, they are shotgunned by the gang and then kill the local retard, making it look like the retard did the killings. Thinking that Carla is dead, they leave the house and go to a bar and get drunk. Of course Carla is not dead, just in a catatonic state and she is brought to the hospital.


The local sheriff (Bill McLaughlin, who walks around with an expression on his face like he was sucking on a lemon all day), doesn't quite believe the story and wants to question Carla on what really happened. Her doctor refuses as Carla fakes amnesia while picking off her attackers one-by-one. She lops off the dick one one of them with a knife and, just to make sure he suffers more, attaches a grappling hook to his chest an has his boat drag him out to the middle of the lake to bleed to death.

Another one has a car dropped on his body as she steps on the gas and has the tire rim cut off his legs. The leader of the raping pack, Fletch (Kaz Garaz, who played a sheriff in the 1996 remake of HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP), who is the town's butcher, knows who is doing the killings and decides to form a posse (the whole town seems to be full of torch-weilding hicks) and trap Carla in a house and burns it down. Thinking Carla died in the fire (she didn't), Fletch goes about his business in his butcher shop only to be surprised by Carla, who cuts off his fingers with a meat slicer, plants a meat cleaver in his back and then blows his head off with a shotgun.

The sheriff declares that Carla is dead and the killings are over. The next time we see Carla is back in New York City, getting even with the punk who killed her husband. This is grand sleaze that never slacks off its premise, which is highly unusual for a Cirio H. Santiago film (FUTURE HUNTERS anyone?). The film moves at a brisk pace and is never boring. It was released in both R-rated and Unrated editions, the Unrated edition showing more of the gang rape and lingers more on the bloody violence. Guess which version you should track down?

Mr. Santiago has directed over 100 features (many for Roger Corman) and is highly-regarded in his homeland of the Philippines. I consider NAKED VENGEANCE to be his crowning achievement. A Lightning Video Release which has been long OOP. This is another film crying out for a DVD release. Also starring Ed Crick, Nick Nicholson, Terrence O'Hara and a cameo appearance by Carmen Argenziano (HELLRAISER:INFERNO - 2000 and STARGATE SG1). Also known as SATIN VENGEANCE, but I've never seen it released under this title. Unrated.

[Thanks to Fred for letting me post his reviews from his Critical Condition web-zine!]

[This is an ex-rental tape from Greenland!!! Sadly it contains the R-rated print Fred mentions. Thanks once again to Diabolik of Cinehound for the VHS and for uploading the trailer for me. Cheers, mate!]