Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave (aka The Stranger aka Visitor of America) (1976)

[Killer Meteor]

For years, I've been trying to figure out what that eerie, beautful music cue in the film was from, and now thanks to a poster on AV Maniacs, I can reveal it to be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--KKakRGGkk

[Killer Meteor]

Now, here's a mystery.

The Korean version, Vistor To America, was released in 1976, likely too early for the Rollercoaster and Rocky cues to have been avaliable. The English version was dubbed in Hong Kong and, despite the visual evidence, refers to its Korean characters as Chinese.

So...was there Hong Kong or Taiwanese backing in the film - hence the music cues being later, and the possibilty that the dubbers were working off a Chinese version of the film?

God...I love this movie, its so atmospheric and eerie (most likely unintentionally so!)

[bratty]

Great post , thanks Meteor. Listening to the track now and it's lovely. Perfect for 8:00 am, Saturday morning.

So stupid question but .. what's the best DVD release of this movie to get ? I know it's in a couple multipacks too .. Morgoth ?

[Morgoth Bauglir]

You can find this in multiple multi packs:tongue: I don't know what the absolute best version is though.

I thought this was a ton of fun. Definitely a movie that's so bad it's good. The action kind of reminds me of Bruce Li's Return of the Tiger, but with a lot less effort put into it.

Good luck solving that mystery Killer Meteor.

[Killer Meteor]

You can find this in multiple multi packs:tongue: I don't know what the absolute best version is though.

I thought this was a ton of fun. Definitely a movie that's so bad it's good. The action kind of reminds me of Bruce Li's Return of the Tiger, but with a lot less effort put into it.

Good luck solving that mystery Killer Meteor.

Every transfer I've seen comes from the same video master. Linn said someone (I presume BCI) looked into doing a DVD but the film elements were no good.

CURSES!!!

I think its such an illogical bizarre film. I think it was 10min in and I realised this wasn' going to be about ANYONE, let alone Bruce Lee, fighting back from the grave. Well, the ending sort of proved me wrong but you'll have to watch the film to find out!

The music cue makes a lot of the shots of empty streets and so on very eerie and downbeat. And some of the scenes have a freaky impact, such as the one where the dead master is being cremated. By which I mean they bung him in the incinerator in the basement of the martial arts school, whilst a creepy satanist looking guy reads the rites. Then the master's ashes are revealed to be clearly a collapsed high school skeleton model. I mean...What the hell????

Love it!!!

[Guest Markgway]

Never seen it... but I would guess it's a Korean production (filmed in the US) that was purchased for int'l distribution by a HK company that redubbed it from scratch.

[mpm74]

Look for the cameo by SHO KOSUGI. If you look closely, you can even see his actual business card!

[shukocarl]

Look out for the spooky trailer to this film. The narration is full of downright lies but strangely eerie.....

[Killer Meteor]

Look out for the spooky trailer to this film. The narration is full of downright lies but strangely eerie.....

Yeah, it's awesome! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EX3yngdUtM

[fiol]

umberto lenzi? lol

[Killer Meteor]

umberto lenzi? lol

His name was put on the US poster - well Bert Lenzi anyway - but he had nothing to with the film. Aquarius had a habit of trying to make foreign imports seem American - hence the new footage for The Bodyguard and Zombie Holocaust.

[AlbertV]

Yeah they thought that the director's name was a pseudonym for Umberto Lenzi, but it was completely false. As a matter of fact, the director and star Jun Chong reunited on the 1988 B-movie action film SILENT ASSASSINS, with Sam J. Jones, Linda Blair, and the Rhee Brothers fighting each other prior to their classic duel in BEST OF THE BEST.

[fiol]

ah ok understood ^^

[Secret Executioner]

Here is a rather bizarre question:

I once read (not sure where) that Italian director Umberto Lenzi - known notably for horror flicks such as the infamous Cannibal Ferox - had been involved in the making of some Bruceploitation movies, notably directing Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave.

 

However I can't seem to find any more informations on this as there's no mention of such things in articles on Umberto Lenzi that I read recently.

 

Anybody heard of this ?

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Im a Lenzi fan, though not an expert on his work, but I never heard about that...... interesting.

[odioustrident]

I seem to remember our very own Markgway discounting this story on an old thread. The name "Bert Lenzi" was supposedly chosen by distributor Terry Levine as a pseudonym for Korean director Lee Doo-Yong. I've also heard the director was Chinese and not Lee Doo-Yong. I may be spreading misinformation left and right here... but this is the internet.

I haven't seen that much Lenzi, but I am the only one that thinks Ghosthouse is awesome?

[tenebre]

hmmm Its possible? but i have nearly every film Lenzi ever made. The timing for a buricesploitation just seems unlikely.. he made 3 movies in 76 according to IMDB. It is possible he did some pickup second unit directing for the studio for other region releases and it was uncredited.

I sincerely doubt he directed an entire movie without anyone figuring it out yet ..

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

On the Syndicate Sadists commentary he talks about all kinds of things, you think he might have mentioned that or at least there would be a snippet of solid info somewhere. I think this is bogus.

[jiujitsu77]

i can honestly say lenzi had no hand in this. umberto, that is

[Guest Markgway]

I don't remember posting about this... but then I am going senile in my youngish age.

All Korean publicity materials credit Lee Doo-Yong as director.

I'm sure the rest is probably bogus.

[Secret Executioner]

Thank you guys for putting some light on this.

The name "Bert Lenzi" was supposedly chosen by distributor Terry Levine as a pseudonym for Korean director Lee Doo-Yong. I've also heard the director was Chinese and not Lee Doo-Yong.

I guess that must be it - I remember the name "Lenzi" very well.

This sounds similar to the Filmark movies supposedly directed by people named "Joe Livingstone" or "Bruce Lambert" when the director was a Chinese guy working for the company - assuming it wasn't simply Godfrey Ho.

[odioustrident]

I don't remember posting about this... but then I am going senile in my youngish age.

All Korean publicity materials credit Lee Doo-Yong as director.

I'm sure the rest is probably bogus.

I'm losing mental function myself Markgway so who knows. I think I saw this on a late night of archive browsing.

[kowloon]

director was UMBERTO LENZI (Lee Doo-Yong)

[jiujitsu77]

director was UMBERTO LENZI (Lee Doo-Yong)

NOT saying this is direct evidence.....this has been a debate for quite some time now

but.....

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0497183/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

[66 Mantis]

Lenzi's supposed involvment in Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave has been a long time persisitent rumor that has never really been confirmed. Don't think there's ever been any hard evidence to support or discredit it.