THE KILLER ELEPHANTS DVD Review

These days Thai film means one thing to most of our readers, and that is action.  We've seen the recent renaissance from stars like Tony Jaa and directors like Panna Rittikrai and Prachya Pinkaew and it almost seems like this stuff sprung up out of the ground fully formed.  That is not the case, however, and God bless Attackafant Entertainment for giving us a peek into Thailand's crazy cinematic past with The Killer Elephants.

This ain't no circus! From the depths of Thai film history comes Kom Akadej's forgotten masterpiece about cops, gangsters, a house-crushing story of love, and killer elephants! Starring legendary superstar Metanee and a who's who of 1970's Thai cinema! Filled with the traditional stunts and action of Thailand, from brutal fistfights to extravagant car chases!

For the first time on an official DVD comes the international version of The Killer Elephants, a movie never before released on any home video format in Thailand. Attackafant Entertainment is proud to present this action-packed lost cult classic to a wider audience!

The Killer Elephants is all killer and no filler.  There isn't a moment that goes by in the film that could be considered boring, it moves at lightning speed and works with maximum efficiency, leaving exploded cars and building in its wake.  There is some semblance of a plot about good guys and bad guys and a good cop who got framed and some drugs and some other stuff, but it isn't about all that. The Killer Elephants is about fucking shit up.  Whether that shit is a jeep or a house, it doesn't matter.  Blow that mother fucker up!

To be honest, there really isn't that much elephant action when compared to the amount of insane car stunts and explosions.  Most of that stuff comes late in the film, but I can assure you that by the time The Killer Elephants ends, you WILL have seen a man get knocked unconscious by an elephant's dong. Contemplate THAT.

There's really nothing I can tell you about the film that the trailer doesn't show you, so I've embedded it below, and if it doesn't convince you, I don't know what will.

The Disc:

This is Attackafant's debut release, and it's pretty solid for a one man operation! The film exists on the DVD in both a full screen film sourced version and a widescreen VHS sourced version.  The full screen image has better color and sharper details, though there is noticeable print damage, though that's not surprising.  It does, however, appear to be the victim of anamorphic squashing.  The widescreen VHS print is dingier, and starts out with some tracking marks, but I found it to be the more satisfying viewing of the two.  Both versions feature the original, and fantastic, English dub.  In this version, every character sounds like some modulation of Edward G. Robinson, and they are all awesome. The one benefit of the full screen version is that it offers English and Swedish subtitles, though I didn't have any problem understanding the dialogue on the VHS side.

As far as extras are concerned, Attackafant has included the original trailer, shown below, and a text introduction to the film by Regis Madec from Thai World View.  The intro is several pages long and packs in a lot of information about the film and its cast and crew. There is also a gallery of promotional artwork from several different territories, including Germany and Thailand.

I really dug this film and can think of few better ways to spend about 80 minutes than with these Killer Elephants.