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Teddy Chiu, professionally known as Teddy Page, is a Filipino film director and occasional writer. He began his career as a young man in the early 1980s, directing low-budget action movies for producer K.Y. Lim's Silver Star Film Company (known as Kinavesa in the Philippines).
Most of Page's movies starred a specific group of American and European expatriates working in the Philippines in the 1980s, including such actors as Mike Monty, Bruce Baron, and Romano Kristoff. In particular, former spaghetti Western and sword-and-sandal star Richard Harrison has starred in three of Page's movies: Fireback , Hunter's Crossing, and Blood Debts .
Many of his earlier efforts were written or co-written by Watanabe, Kristoff, Gaines or Harrison using a pseudonym. The majority of Page's films have been generally classified as Z-movies, characterized by loose, seemingly improvised narrative ( Fireback , for example, is supposed to take place in the United States, but the setting suddenly changes to "The Jungle" for the last third of the film), bizarre plot twists, and comically bad acting accentuated by equally poor dubbing. Gratuitous, often sadistic violence is mixed with near childlike naivety, with characters having comic book names like "Panther" and "Cat Burglar". Another trademark of the earlier Page films were oversized, customized special weapons, which feature prominently in Fireback and Blood Debts.
The Silver Star productions are infamous for their extremely low budgets, which might have also contributed to the low technical quality. In the book Gods In Spandex, Richard Harrison states that the Page films he appeared in didn't have complete shooting scripts and many scenes were improvised, hence the disjointed narrative. However, it can be said that Page's early films are particularly bad, even on the admittedly low Silver Star standards, but they have attracted some cult interest, especially in French B-movie fandom.
There is very little information on Teddy Page in print or online. He is discussed briefly in pieces by Richard Harrison and John P. Dulaney in the books Gods in Polyester, Or, A Survivors' Account of 70's Cinema Obscura (2004) and Gods In Spandex, Or, A Survivors' Account of 80's Cinema Obscura (2007). He is also mentioned in passing in interviews of Bruce Baron, Nick Nicholson and Mike Monty at the French B-movie website Nanarland.
He is still working as a director on films and television in the Philippines, now using his real name (Teddy Chiu). His last directing credit is the 1999 action film Anino. He has also worked as a Second Unit Director or assistant director, most recently in the 2001 film Xtreme Warriors.
Michael "Max" Thayer is an American movie actor, sometimes credited as Michael R. Thayer. He is mostly known for playing lead roles in several B-movies and action films such as Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, Planet of Dinosaurs and No Retreat, No Surrender 2.
Richard Harrison is an American actor, writer, director and producer. Harrison was very prolific and worked with most of the well-known names in European B-movies during the 1960s and 1970s, also branching out to exploitation films shot all over the world in the early 1970s.
Godfrey Ho is a prolific former Hong Kong film director and screenwriter. Ho is believed to have directed more than one hundred films, including over 80 movies from 1980 to 1990 before his retirement in 2000. Many of his works are now regarded cult films by aficionados of Z movies as being among some of the most "so bad it's good" entertaining movies ever created.
Blood Debts is a 1985 Filipino action film directed by Teddy Page and starring Richard Harrison, Mike Monty, James Gaines, and Daniel Andrew. It goes over the life of Mark Collins, a 45 year-old Vietnam veteran, who after witnessing his daughter being shot, becomes a vigilante. It is notable for its abrupt ending and is an Internet meme.
Bruce Baron was an American actor.
Mike Monty was an American character actor, born in 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee as Michael O'Donoghue but he changed his name to Mike Monty late in life.
Romano Kristoff is a Spanish actor, writer and director, better known for his work in Filipino cinema. He worked mostly in the Philippines between the 1980s and early 1990s. He was also credited as Rom Kristoff, Ron Kristoff, Run Kristoff, Ron Krastoff, and other similar variants.
Hy Pyke was an American character actor.
Fireback is a Filipino low-budget action movie directed by Teddy Page (Teddy Chiu) and starring Richard Harrison, Bruce Baron, James Gaines, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Mike Monty, Ronnie Patterson, and Ruel Vernal.
Gordon Mitchell was an American actor and bodybuilder who made about 200 B movies.
Gods In Polyester: A Survivors' Account Of 70's Cinema Obscura is a cult film book covering mainly American obscure, low-budget, and independent film horror, sci-fi, exploitation film, Blaxploitation, Spaghetti Western, and action films that were created between 1970 and 1981.
Simon, King of the Witches is a 1971 American exploitation horror film directed by Bruce Kessler and starring Andrew Prine, Brenda Scott, George Paulsin, Norman Burton and others. The film centers on the title character as he attempts to become a god through magic rituals.
Bill Rebane is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for low budget movies such as Monster a Go-Go and The Giant Spider Invasion. Rebane also ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 1979 and 2002 as the American Reform Party candidate.
Mel Novak is an American actor who is best known for villainous roles in Black Belt Jones, Game of Death, and An Eye for an Eye. He is also known for doing all of his own stunts and fighting scenes.
John Gale, born Jun Gallardo, was a Filipino B-movie director, who started his career with martial arts movies in the 1970s and continued to Z-movie actioners in the 1980s, often produced by K.Y. Lim's Silver Star Film Company. Silver Star was a notorious but prolific producer of extremely low-budget action films, characterized by very low production values.
Stephen Sayadian, also known as Rinse Dream, is a multimedia artist who was active in the 1980s and 1990s.
Pat Bishow is an American independent filmmaker and writer, and former drummer for The Mosquitos.
Olaf de Fleur is an Icelandic film director, scriptwriter and producer.
Norman John Warren was an English film director best known for such 1970s horror films as Satan's Slave (1976), Prey (1977) and Terror (1978). Warren is also known for sex comedies such as Outer Touch.
The Age of Insects is a 1990 American psycho-horror comedy film directed by Eric Marciano (Marano), his first feature film, and co-written by him and Club 57 alumnus Andy Rees.
