International Trailer Domination Tour: New Genre Flicks from Vietnam, Norway, Malaysia, China and More

Twitch Film and Movies.com once again present the International Trailer Domination Tour, a selection of the best trailers from upcoming international films. Call this outing the Mostly Martial Arts edition of the ITD, with people being punched for your amusement in China, Malaysia and Vietnam. Throw in some Norwegian witchcraft and a Dutch game show from hell and you’re all set. Here we go!

1. Blood Letter by Victor Vu, Vietnam

The first of our martial arts offerings is also the most traditional and just plain gorgeous. Vietnam’s film industry is exploding right now thanks to a combination of a young local population hungry for local content, an expanding economy and a sort of reverse-diaspora that has seen a number of Vietnamese-Americans travel back to the country to bolster the local industry. Victor Vu is one of the leading members of that group, and one who has cycled through a remarkable number of genres since returning. His latest is a sumptuous martial arts spectacle titled Blood Letter. Think a Vietnamese spin on Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and you may not be too far off.

2. Dunderland by Finn-Erik Rognan and Nils J. Nesse, Norway

Upcoming Norwegian effort Dunderland – named for the valley just south of the Arctic Circle where the film was shot – has made the column before thanks to an impressive first teaser. And it’s back now thanks to a second effort that gives up a bit more of the plotline behind a picture fuelled by old legends of local witchcraft. They’re still holding back the big moments for the full trailer release but the scare they include in here is certainly an effective one.

3. Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate by Tsui Hark, China

A pair of legends reunite for Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate, the Tsui Hark directed martial arts extravaganza starring Jet Li. Hark has embraced 3D technology with this one, a fact made clear in previous trailers but never quite as clear as it is here in the final effort to be released before the Chinese theatrical release. Zowie. China has a growing number of IMAX screens in the country and clearly Hark intends to fill every square inch.

4. Quiz by Dick Maas, The Netherlands

Veteran Dutch cult filmmaker Dick Maas (The Lift, Amsterdamned) had the biggest hit of his career last year with Saint, a Christmas themed slasher that broke local box office records before premiering internationally at Tribeca and releasing around the world. And now he looks to build on that with Quiz, the story of a game show host who draws the unwanted attention of … well, who it is exactly is kind of the point of the movie.

5. Petaling Street Warriors by James Lee, Malaysia

Our third and final martial arts offering comes from Malaysia but while Blood Letter is aiming for the arthouse and Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate is traveling the road of big screen spectacle, James Lee’s Petaling Street Warriors is playing the old school kung fu comedy card. As in early period Stephen Chow comedy. And it appears as though it’s playing it rather well. The production values are great, the action is solid and the jokes even seem to travel pretty well which is usually not the case.

The International Trailer Domination Tour is compiled from the pages of Twitch where international films are a specialty. Keep up with everything around the globe by visiting Twitch on the web, finding Twitch on Facebook or following Twitch on Twitter.