Kung Fury

Fuck! Laser Raptors!

Sometimes people wonder why Hollywood spends absurd amounts of money on films that are as shittiest as they can get. Having top dollar directors, writers, actors and producers get you nowhere if you lack the talent. Today's entry is perhaps the greatest example to date when it comes to battling the mainstream film industry with a vengeance.

Take 80's pop culture (dress code, pop music, arcade centers, cliches, etc) add some martial arts, stunning special effects, over the top fight scenes and what do you get? the greatest audiovisual tribute ever made.  If you're tired of big budget films that get you nowhere, and if you're looking for nostalgia movies that will take straight back to the VHS years, well look no more! Kung Fury is here!!!!! 

Kung Fury is a 2015 Swedish martial arts comedy short film written, directed by, and starring David Sandberg. It pays homage to 1980s martial arts and police action films. The film was crowdfunded through Kickstarter from December 2013 to January 2014 with pledges reaching US$630,019, exceeding the original target goal of $200,000, but falling short of the feature film goal of $1 million. It was selected to screen in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, losing to Rate Me from the UK.

a secret martial art.

Time travel in an 80's fashion.

An independent film this good?! are you sure?

David Sandberg is a Swedish filmmaker who has directed television commercials and music videos. In 2012, he quit the commercial directing and focused on writing a script for an action comedy film set in the 1980s, inspired by action films of that era. He initially spent US$5,000 on producing and shooting footage with his friends, which became the first trailer.

In December 2013, Sandberg began a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the film's production with the goal of raising US$200,000 to produce a 30-minute version of the film and stream it online for free. A second goal was added with the target set to $1 million to rewrite the story into a full-length feature and a possible distribution deal. Most of the raw footage over green screen had been filmed using a Canon EOS 5D and a Sony FS700, but additional funding was required for post-production.

The Kickstarter project ended on January 25, 2014, with $630,019 pledged by 17,713 backers.

Hi, My name is Hackerman

Fuck! Laser Raptors!

Due to a limited budget, Sandberg shot the majority of the film at his office in Umeå, Sweden, using digital effects to replicate the streets of Miami. As he could only afford one police uniform during the production of the trailer, he filmed the police precinct scene by shooting each extra separately and compositing them in the scene. The single-frame scene where Kung Fury dispatches dozens of Nazi soldiers was achieved by combining the primary take of Sandberg's moves with over 60 takes of individual extras attacking him.

 

On July 30, 2014, Sandberg announced that he and his crew had begun filming new footage, with the 30 backers who pledged to be in the film as extras. Filming was also done in Stockholm for additional scenes and stunts.

In keeping with the film's '80s theme, the visual effects artists softened the film clarity and added videotape wear effects to give the illusion of it being a worn VHS copy being played on an old VCR. One instance of this effect is in the scene where the Viking Babe Katana summons Thor. The scene was in the trailer with Joanna Häggblom originally as Katana, but because Häggblom was replaced by Helene Ahlson for the actual film, visual scratches and distortion effects were added to the scene to mask the cast change.

Thor takes some time off of the Avengers and aids this independent film.

Barbarianna  & Katana.

The most 80's soundtrack ever.

The soundtrack score is composed by Swedish Synthwave musicians Mitch Murder and Lost Years, with additional music by Patrik Öberg, Christoffer Ling, Highway Superstar, and Betamaxx. The official soundtrack album is scheduled to be released on vinyl record on July 8, 2015. If you're not into vinyl, the digital album is already available on iTunes and other places. My personal recommendation is that once you get your hands on the soundtrack you burn a copy to your car stereo so that you can drive late at night. I assure you, you will feel like you're actually in an 80's action movie car chase. How do I know this? because I've already done it, and as I'm updating this post, I'm listening the incredibly 80's accurate soundtrack.

David Hasselhoff's music video of the theme song "True Survivor" debuted on April 16, 2015. It begins with an altered scene from the trailer where instead of the police car exploding in mid air, from thug gunfire, Hasselhoff turns the tables and fires back at the thugs from the airborne police car. The video features Hasselhoff singing alongside a white Lamborghini Countach replica, clips from the film, as well as an end scene of himself and Kung Fury riding a tyrannosaurus; Hasselhoff replaces Katana, who appeared with Kung Fury on the tyrannosaurus in the original trailer. As of May 17, 2015, the video has scored over 10.5 million views on YouTube.

You don't mess with the Hoff!

The greatest 80's song made in the XXI century.

Kung Fury, the videogame!

What could be more 80's than having your own video game in the likes of the greatest beat 'em ups of the decade (P.O.W, Double Dragon, Final Fight, Renegade, Kung Fu Master, Bad Dudes VS Dragon Ninja, Vigilante, and many more!) 

You can purchase the game for only $1.99 if you want to play it on your PC through Steam here.  Or if you're a friend of the Apple, you can download it for free via iTunes. 

Here's the videogame trailer:

 


So, what is Kung Fury about?

Struck by lightning and bit by a cobra, an ordinary cop has a revelation which helps him master a new form of Kung Fu so powerful that only he, the chosen one, can learn. With his newfound powers, he will stop at nothing to bring justice to the crime-infested streets of Miami. No one could have predicted what was about to come his way, however, once he must embark on a dangerous adventure back through time to avenge a fallen friend.

Kung Fury not only put a permanent smile on my face throughout the entire movie, it completely blew me away and well exceeded my expectations. Writer/ director and lead actor David Sandberg may be the new kid on the block, but hell does he ever know how to make a debut! His character, who goes by the same name as the movie, is the perfect cross between Marty McFly, Steven Seagal, and a Ninja Turtle. But I think the film's biggest strength is that it never takes itself too seriously and remains self-aware of its hilarious and intentional cheese.

The Kung Führer!

Die motherfucker!

You know you're about to get on board for something special as soon as you see the perfectly dated vintage look of the main titles and hear the old-school soundtrack the movie sports. The ode to retro games and electronics alone is worth seeing for the epic blast of nostalgia! as an 80's kid, I can tell a lot of time and passion went into the making of this short indie film. For those who reviewed it as being a campy/cheesy piece of crap, the film was clearly not made for your type (idiotic Hollywood cocksuckers). Although there is a lot of over the top action, dialog and even some unbelievable characters, the film pays a respectful homage to the decade that spawned many great cult films. 

What's also cool in the film is how in only half an hour we're introduced to several key characters with unique features. Kung Fury's sidekick for instance: Triceracop! a triceratops dinosaur enrolled in the law enforcement! and let's not forget the prescence of the mighty Thor, son of Odin! who shows exactly what is like to be a God gone hero (take that Marvel Comics!) and what about sexy Barbarianna & Katana, Thor's sidekick team? besides astonishing European beauty and viking looks, these girls are machine gun powered! I wish they had more on screen time but, hell, it's a short film after all. Had they included some nudity and/or sex scenes, Kung Fury would have been the ultimate exploitation tribute. Maybe next time, who knows...

Wake up Kung Fury, I need your manliness!

 a fragile girl.

I ♥ the 80's

Another stand out feature of this film is the incredibly accurate 80's pop culture references. Some are quite obvious, some not so much, so here's our list for the unaware:

1. The arcade video games.
2. Boom box!
3. a Lamborghini Countach! the car everyone wanted to own in the 80's! I had one (a 1:48 die cast edition) 
4. 80's hairdo.
5. 80's dress code.
6. Mc Hammer's one hit wonder "U Can't Touch This" reference.
7. The "Hoff 900" a clear reference to Knight Rider & David Hasselhoff.
8. The magnificent soundtrack that sounds exactly like an action film soundtrack from the 80's.
9. The color schemes and visual VCR tracking effects!
10. Miami! many popular action series & movies were filmed there during the 80's.
11. The ending scene with the "team work" lesson, a tribute to many 80's cartoons which ended up teaching a lesson.

If you find more, let us, we're not perfect.

What else can I say except Sandberg may have created the perfect recipe for awesome with this epically over-the-top homage to vintage action movies and the era of VHS tapes that any '80s kid could drool over! Hopefully the rumors about a full film feature are true so that we can see Kung Fury kicks Kung Führer ass one more time.

I'm pretty sure that along with Avengers Age Of Ultron, Terminator Genesys & Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens, Kung Fury is the biggest thing to ever happen in years!

Here's the movie trailer:

Here's the magnificent "True Survivor" song:

And here's the entire film for your viewing pleasure: