FEEL IT.STREAM
Cirio H. Santiago

Cirio H. Santiago

Directing

Biography

Producer/director Cirio H. Santiago is the son of Dr. Ciriaco Santiago, who founded Premiere Productions in Manila in 1946. He has two siblings. After starting out as a producer he started directing english-language movies in the early 70s. Santiago became one of the pioneers of the "Blaxploitation" genre by being one of the first to cast black actors and especially actresses as strong action heroes. Movies like TNT Jackson (1974) became instant cult classics. In the 80s, Santiago became known for his numerous low-budget Vietnam war movies such as Firehawk (1993) which gave him a reputation as the "master of the Vietnam war genre". A long running production partnership with Roger Corman assured proper distribution of his movies in the USA. Many of today's hottest filmmakers such as Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante or Carl Franklin got their first directing jobs with Santiago. In 1995 he was named president of the Philippines Film Development Funds by President Ramos. The organization strives to uplift the quality of Filipino filmmaking to new, higher standards and to encourage production of foreign movies on location in the Philippines. Premiere Productions, headed by Cirio H. Santiago, still remains one of the biggest studios in the Philippines and went public in 1997.

Known For

The Big Doll House
5.6

Female prisoners in a Philippine jail are being subjected to sadistic torture. Five of the women, along with the help of two men, plot an escape.

The Big Doll House

1971
Silk
4.5

Silk, the toughest cop in Honolulu, busts small time smugglers only to reveal a larger syndicate smuggling Asian mobsters into the States by buying the identities of Hawaiian citizens.

Silk

1986
Equalizer 2000
4.1

In a bleak, postnuclear future world, warring factions struggle to claim the Equalizer 2000, the one weapon powerful enough to guarantee survival.

Equalizer 2000

1988
Silk 2
4.5

Silk, the smoothest, toughest, and sexiest cop in Honolulu is hot on the trail of ruthless art smugglers who are after a priceless Asian Scroll. Silk will stop at nothing to get her man, even if it means blowing up an entire building.

Silk 2

1990
The Big Bird Cage
5.6

Women rebel against slave labor in a filthy jungle prison where they feed sugar cane to a mechanical maw.

The Big Bird Cage

1972
Women in Cages
5.1

Carol Jeffries is a naive American woman staying in the Philippines. She is given ten years in prison after being set up by her drug-dealer boyfriend, Rudy. She endures the harsh conditions, sadistic head matron and attempts on her life, then convinces her cell-mates to try to escape with her through the jungle, in spite of the knowledge that ruthless trackers will be sent out after them.

Women in Cages

1971
The Sisterhood
3.5

The year is 2021 AD. Women have been enslaved by a brutal army of men who survived the nuclear holocaust. Their only hope for freedom is in the hands of a nomadic band of fierce she-warriors: The Sisterhood.

The Sisterhood

1988
Machete Maidens Unleashed!
6.6

In the final decades of the 20th century, the Philippines was a country where low-budget exploitation-film producers were free to make nearly any kind of movie they wanted, any way they pleased. It was a country with extremely lax labor regulations and a very permissive attitude towards cultural expression. As a result, it became a hotbed for the production of cheapie movies. Their history and the genre itself are detailed in this breezy, nostalgic documentary.

Machete Maidens Unleashed!

2010
Blackbelt
5.1

Don "The Dragon" Wilson is back and forced to take on the greatest legends of the martial arts world. Wilson fights off all comers while defending rock superstar Shanna (Deirdre Imershein) against the insane attacks of a fanatical veteran John Sweet (Matthias Hues-I Come In Peace).

Blackbelt

1992
Angel of Destruction
5.1

Undercover cop Jo Alwood is out to avenge her sisters death at the hands of a serial killer.

Angel of Destruction

1994
Kill Zone
2.2

An American colonel will pay any price to defeat the Viet Cong. When his unauthorized fighting force in Cambodia is discovered, he becomes a one man army, fighting a war of his own for a cause he knows is just.

Kill Zone

1993
Dune Warriors
4.0

After the end of the world, Earth is a thirsty planet ruled by vicious warlords. One woman is brave enough to fight back; she bands together five warriors to save her town and their precious water

Dune Warriors

1991
Bloodfist
4.9

To avenge the brutal murder of his brother, Jake Ray journeys to the Philippines, where his search for truth finds him battling both in and out of the ring. But the weapons are always the same: bare fists, bare feet. And the rules never change: last man standing wins.

Bloodfist

1989
Killer Instinct
5.0

For America, the Vietnam War is over. Johnny doesn't see it that way. This Special Forces soldier battles vicious Vietcong, a sadistic Russian advisor and his own peacenik girlfriend as he embarks on a deadly mission behind enemy lines.

Killer Instinct

1988
Nam Angels
5.0

Lt. Vance Calhoun takes on a dangerous rescue mission of American P.O.W.s in the treacherous Darloc Valley in Vietnam. His only chance to escape is with the help of five young, fearless soldiers on motorcycles.

Nam Angels

1989
Up from the Depths
3.8

The staff and vacationers at a first-class resort on the island of Maui are beginning to mysteriously disappear. A biologist believes that an underwater earthquake has caused a giant and very hungry dormant prehistoric fish to be released from its slumber. The fish voraciously helps itself to a tourist buffet. Now it is open season for the local fishermen to find and kill the creature.

Up from the Depths

1979
Naked Vengeance
5.0

After witnessing her husband's brutal murder, Carla travels to her parents' home in a small mountain town to start over. When she's repeatedly harassed by redneck locals, Carla seeks help from the town sheriff but is met with indifference. This continues until Carla's finally attacked, raped, and her parents executed by the twisted townies. Carla, after escaping a mental hospital, resolves to get bloody revenge.

Naked Vengeance

1985
Stryker
4.4

The world's water supply has dried up due to some sort of apocalypse. A beautiful woman holds the secret to where one of the last springs being guarded by a group of Amazons. A "Road Warrior" like crew captures her and tries to make her talk through brutal torture. The hero (Stryker) unites with some of the remaining "good guys" and the Amazons and frees the woman. They go on to a "Road Warrior" type of concluding battle with the bad guys.

Stryker

1983
Demon of Paradise
3.6

Hunters become the hunted when illegal dynamite disturbs the ageold slumber of a carnivorous lizardman. Resort owner Angela, joins forces with Sheriff Keefer to save tourists from the beast's path of death.

Demon of Paradise

1987
Angelfist
4.4

An assassination in the Philippines is caught on film by kickboxer Christy, which leads to her death at the hands of radicals intent on disrupting peace talks. Her sister Kat, a Los Angeles police officer, comes to Manila to try and bring justice to the people responsible. She enters the kickboxing tournament in order to get closer to the nefarious agents, and begins unravelling the twisted plan while narrowly evading the wrath of the Death Brigades.

Angelfist

1993