Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王), is a Hong Kong martial arts horror/gore movie from 1991. Based on a Japanese manga series of the same name. It's well known among cult cinema fans, especially fans of Hong Kong movies for its appallingly brutal and utterly unrealistic gore and violence. As with many Hong Kong movies, it's also badly dubbed, and mixes very earnestly acted drama with weird campy characters and comedy moments. So it pretty much has everything a fan of the genre could ever hope for, in bucket loads.

The story revolves around our titular hero being imprisoned for the murder of a crime lord, who he blames for the death of his girlfriend. Things are now set in place for what is a loose prison drama, with a story-line purely designed to set things up for some laughably over-the-top and bloody fight scenes. Crime, corruption, gangs, back-stabbing, it's all shoe-horned in there.

One particular death scene, that shows one character literally smashing another guys head into tiny pieces, went viral. The scene was shown on TV shows, in particular The Daily Show, and it did the rounds as a meme on the Internet for a long time. Even still it's not unusual to see someone using the animated gif (on the right) as an avatar.

Rather than explain the bizarre brilliance of the violence of Riki-Oh, it's best just to see it. And rather than watch the whole movie (which is available online) you can just watch the death scenes. As violence in movies goes, this one sits firmly and squarely alongside such over-the-top gore genre pieces like Tokyo Gore Police (2008), Peter Jackson's Braindead (1992) and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 (1987). Definitely one for fans of "splatstick" horror. 

Must remember not to stub my cigarette out on my own child's snowman, make sure it's someone else's snowman. And I must carry my cigarette above child head height, like an Olympic torch, while looking behind me, all the while looking for people waving at me and avoiding the possibility of burning an expensive coat. Oh and to make sure I'm in an old movie when I don't throw my butt down the drain. Phew! After all that hardcore social pressure to be aware of others when I smoke, I need a cigarette.

The British "virtual" TV host that first appeared in the cyberpunk TV movie on Channel 4,  Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into The Future. First broadcast in 1985, the character was so successful that he was developed into a VJ, with his own show, The Max Headroom Show, that same year. The show ran for 3 seasons, until 1987. In 1987 a further spin-off sci-fi drama series was made, which ran for 2 seasons.

Max became such a massive hit, especially among youth audiences that he began to appear everywhere. He was used to promote New Coke, he appeared on Sesame Street, he appeared at the 1988 Winter Olympics and released a song Paranoimia with the synthpop group The Art Of Noise. In 1986, Quicksilva released a Max Headroom game, which was sold in the UK for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

Max has been parodied on many occasions. From David Letterman to Back To The Future and an Eminem music video. Infamously in 1987, Max's character was hijacked as part of a TV broadcast signal intrusion prank. When a hacker dressed in a suit and wearing a Max Headroom mask, hijacked the TV signal of a Chicago TV station and its affiliate, in an incident known as the "Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion". Most recently Max was revived as an old man to promote Channel 4's digital switch-over.

Continuing the theme of Hanna Barbera Saturday morning animations, just had to do Hong Kong Phooey. I couldn't believe like many Hanna Barbera animations that Hong Kong Phooey only lasted for one season, of 16 episodes. Originally aired on ABC between September and December 1974. 

The character of Hong Kong Phooey was the alter-ego of mild mannered janitor Penrod "Penry" Pooch, who worked at a police station under the ever watchful eye of Sergeant "Sarge" Flint. Penry transforms himself into Hong Kong Phooey by going into a magic filing cabinet. When upon he'd always get stuck, and have to be released by Spot the cat.

Once transformed into the eponymous superhero, he'd fight crime by referring to his The Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu. Our inept hero would usually me saved from misadventure by Spot, or as a inadvertent side-effect of his actions. Like many crime fighting animation characters, Phooey had his vehicle. The Phooeymobile, which transforms itself into a boat, a plane, or a telephone booth depending on the circumstances by banging his gong or changes automatically whenever necessary.

Each episode begins with Rosemary, the telephone operator, getting a call. Explaining the crime to Sergeant Flint, upon which Penry, transforms himself into Phooey, whom Rosemary has a crush on.

Hong Kong Phooey was voiced by Scatman Crothers. Sergeant Flint was voiced by Joe E. Ross, best known as Officer Gunther Toody in the early '60s television series Car 54, Where Are You?. As Flint, Ross revived Toody's famous "Ooh! Ooh!" exclamation. Sergeant Flint was very similar both in voice and appearance to Botch, assistant zookeeper at the Wonderland Zoo on Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch, whom Ross also voiced.

One of the most notorious movies of the UK Video Nasties list from the 1980s, Driller Killer was first released in 1979 and banned in the UK in 1984. The movie was the directorial début of Abel Ferrara, who later directed gritty classics as King Of New York (1990) and Bad Lieutenant (1992). Ferrara also takes the lead role in Driller Killer, as a tortured and penniless artist in New York. He spends his time in his loft apartment with his girlfriend, trying to put up with a band practising below them. Eventually he snaps, grabs up his drill, and goes on a murderous rampage.

Driller Killer is much more than a straight exploitation gore horror, it's more art-house, more social drama, more an examples of the gritty new York dramas that Ferrara would do in later years. Filmed in 16mm, it gives the whole film an underground art-film feel, more akin to Warholor early Scrosese, than to the rest of the straight-to-video horrors that ended up on the video nasties list. And as such is worth revisiting with Ferrara's body of work in mind, rather than the false reputation it has.

The movie is worth revisiting, to see the seeds of Ferrara's directing style at their very beginning. It's not a great film, by any stretch of the imagination. The limited budget is written all over it. The acting isn't great, It's a good job Ferrara chose directing over acting. The lighting, as often is the cases with low budget movies, is terrible in places. Making it hard to make out what is going on. But when the movie does work, it works well, and is one of the few movies of the "video nasties" that deserves more recognition. 

Probably my all time favourite TV show as a little kid growing up in the 70s. One of my favourite T-shirts I wore to death had Steve Austin's face emblazoned across it, and of course I had the Six Million Dollar Man action figure. You were a no-body as a kid in the 70s if you didn't have one.

Six Million Dollar Man on TV started with a made-for-TV movie of the week, by ABC in March 1973. They had gained the rights to make the movie, after optioning the 1972 novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin. Which told the story of Steve Austin we know so well.

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man." The lines from the opening sequence that still stick in my head some 40 years later. Every playground in the 70s had dozens of lads pretending to run in slow-motion and lift heavy objects with the "du-du-du-du-du-du..." sound effect. Even recently I was looking to buy some new trainers, and had a look to see if I could get the exact Adidas that Lee Majors, as Steve Austin wore on the show. I couldn't, but got some very close approximation Gazelles. 

The massive success of The Six Million Dollar Man spawned a spin-off / cross-over show, The Bionic Woman. The show starred Lindsay Wagner as Jaime Summors, tennis star who suffered a near fatal parachute accident to become bionic. The Six Million Dollar ran for 5 seasons, and finally ended in 1978. The Bionic Woman ran for 3 seasons, from 1976 to 1978. The show made Lee Majors a huge international star, and the Bionic Man (as he was sometimes referred to), one of the biggest and most well remembered cultural icons of the 70s. 

Weird Retro Fact: The dialogue spoken Lee Majors during the opening credits, is based upon the real communication of test pilot Bruce Peterson, prior to the M2-F2 crash on May 10, 1967. "Flight com, I can't hold her! She's breaking up! She's breaking..." Peterson's aircraft hit the ground at approximately 250 mph (402 km/h) and tumbled six times. But Peterson survived what appeared to be a fatal accident. Actual footage from the crash was also used in the opening.

A surreal piece of anonymous agitprop in comic book form. Published in 1986 by a fake publisher, only referred to as "Comics U.S.A.", who or why this comic was produced remains a mystery. It came out at the height of tensions between Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the erratic, provocative dictator who ruled Libya, and the US President of the time Ronald Reagan. 

Obviously by the title, it's a variation on the Alice In Wonderland theme, that takes a massive swipe at the dictator, alluding to having sex with animals, generally being an insane homicidal tyrant, and a bit of a big cry baby. Featuring a Daffy Duck type character, references to characters from Alice In Wonderland, and the TV show Fantasy Island. As well as Ronald Reagan himself.

Clichéd I know, but when Alien was first shown on TV when I was a kid, the scene was already so infamous that my mother covered my eyes when it came on. I still saw it, and thought it was one of the most awesome things I'd seen. Making it not only one of the best death scenes, but one of the most famous scenes in movie history.

I've always loved the decapitation of Dave Warner's character, as by far the best death scene in The Omen. As his character Keith is trying to recover the daggers that will kill Damien, in Israel. A huge sheet of glass slides off the back of the truck and takes his head clean off. The head bouncing across the top of the sheet of glass.

The whole series is shoddy horror. Movies designed purely for set piece, elaborate deaths. Thus for me making Terry's death the best of the bunch. No real set-up, she just steps off the kerb and wham! A bus takes her out. Loved the surprise factor when first saw it, and it still makes me snigger to this day.

Now I know that to all intents and purposes Frank is already dead, having been brought back near the start of the movie. But still, when the cenobites finally catch up with him and all those hooks sink into him. It's that slight pause, before they rip him to pieces. I loved the original Hellraiser, and seeing Frank get what he deserved in such a gruesome way. Genius!

Again, the first time you see this, it blows you away. I recently saw how they did the in-camera effect, using an amputee. And was even more impressed by the ingenious imagination it takes to think of creating such a special effect. Another not only memorable death, but also a classic on movie history too. And there aren't many movies that can claim that.

Developed and produced by the book publisher Hodder & Stoughton, and based on horror writer James Herbert's 1974 novel of the same name, The Rats came out in 1985. The game was a strange mix of governmental strategy simulation, text adventure and survival horror. How that one got past the initial development pitch is anyone's guess. Anyway the game was released on the Commodore 64, the ZX Spectrum, but not on the Amstrad CPC. Though a version was planned, but never released.

The apparent juxtaposition of different games was generally well received on release. For an 8-bit game, with limited sound and graphics, it was surprisingly creepy and atmospheric. The game starts like a novel, with a prologue is written out in bold white letters across a black screen to setting the scene. Then a pool of torchlight is seen wandering around in the blackness, sudeenly red eyes appear in the dark. A heartbeat sound quickens. Suddenly, a rat pounces into view! Then blood-spattered screen, with eerie accompanying theme music.

Inch High, Private Eye worked for The Finkerton Detective Agency (a wordplay lampoon of The Pinkerton Detective Agency), and his boss was of course the cantankerous A. J. Finkerton, constantly dreamed of the day that he will find a reason to fire our thumb-sized hero. He was married to Mrs. Finkerton, another regularly featured character. Despite his less than intimidating size, Inch is a gun-ho, no nonsense P.I. who takes what he does very seriously.