***UPDATE***

I have just been informed that the release date has moved back to the 20th Oct.

Rejoice, because Monday finally sees the uncut UK DVD release of Wes Craven’s seminal The Last House On The Left. Previously available in the UK only in various edited versions, and banned outright between 1984 and 2002, the BBFC have at last seen sense and granted the film an 18 certificate with all previous cuts waived.

In addition, and rather excitingly, Metrodome have uncovered a further 5 minutes and 27 seconds of previously unseen footage. And just to clarify, this isn’t the outtakes and dailies available on previous discs across the world (though these are included too), but all new ‘recently discovered’ footage that hasn’t appeared on any other DVD release before. A world first, the scenes are silent and mostly consist of extended and more explicit footage of Mari, Phyllis and Sadie performing sexual acts on each other.

Continue Reading "The Last House On The Left finally UNCUT in the UK, plus world exclusive new footage!"...

This is kind of becoming old hat, isn’t it?  Another day, another quality acquisition from Montreal based DVD label Evokative Films.  They’ve already got Miki Satoshi’s Adrift In Tokyo and Sion Sono’s Hazard and now the young start up outfit has picked up rights to Chung Mong-Hong’s Taiwanese drama Parking, starring Chang Chen and Chapman To.  Our very own Simon caught this at the World Film Festival in Montreal and came away much impressed.

Thai martial arts flick, and much mulled-over Twitch favourite, Chocolate is coming to ‘selected’ cinemas in the UK on the 24th October. Realistically this will be a handful of art house theatres in London and, if we’re lucky, a smattering elsewhere. The female led action from the director of Ong Bak (Prachya Pinkaew) is also coming to our lovely island courtesy of Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-Ray from the 3rd November.

Special features on the DVD will include: Breaking The Mould featurette; Step By Step featurette; A Star Is Born featurette; Fighting Talent featurette; The Stars Of Chocolate featurette; Real Fighters featurette; Deleted Scenes; Outtakes and Highlights; Training Workshop; Power Moves (Easter Eggs); TV spots; Trailer Gallery.

Very little time here before I have to run at a Sitges Festival screening but I just got a tasty bit of news that will make a whole lot of Sion Sono fans very happy.  Word has just come down that sterling Canadian DVD startup Evokative Films have purchased Canadian rights to Sono’s Hazard, the much loved but little seen drama starring Jo Odagiri.  Details on release plans as we get them ...

Want to hear people yelling each other’s names in True-HD? Well, from February 2009 onward you’ll be able to, both in Japan and the US-of-A!

The Akira BluRay has been on many a person’s wish-list, me being one of them, but previous attemps all failed for one reason or another. Bandai Visual announced and cancelled a United States release last year, and the planned Japanese release three months back was postponed to fix some quality issues. A practice I applaud, by the way: better a few more months of waiting than having a bad version out with a double-dip years later.
Now, finally, there are actual dates announced: 20th of February for Japan, and the 24th of February for the US.
Fingers crossed…

Confirmed are both Japanese and English soundtracks, a variety of subtitles, and some extras.
A shout-out to AnimeNewsNetwork who had the news.

The Korean DVD cosmos has been a tad slow this summer, what with the Olympics and the fact that, well, the market is dead. Still, this Fall season seems to promise not too badly, if the beginning is of any indication. In the coming weeks we’ll be dealing with a pretty decent array of titles, mixing mainstream with arthouse and even some possible surprises.

First we start with the biggest name, Kwak Kyung-Taek (and Ahn Kwon-Tae)’s 눈에는눈 이에는이 (Eye for an Eye), quite a solid actioner with a top notch performance by the great Han Suk-Gyu. Not a great film nor anything which will stand the test of time, but overall an accomplished genre picture, and particularly recommended to fans of the leads. You can read our review here. Much better and a treat for the eyes is Choi Ik-Hwan’s interesting 그녀는 예뻤다 (Life is Cool), Korea’s first ever film to use the same rotoscoping artifices Richard Linklater adopted in is Waking Life. As we noted in our review, the peculiar thing here is that we’re getting the live-action footage with the DVD, boom mike operators and blue screens included (with, apparently, the possibility to change angle, although I don’t know if they’ll let us choose via remote or just offer different, separate versions).

A rather unexpected but pleasant surprise is the release of Zhang Lu’s 경계 (Desert Dream). Zhang is a third-generation Korean-Chinese director, and is rapidly making a name for himself as quite the solid auteur, after his excellent 망종 (Grain in Ear). DVD is a rather barebones affair with a mere letterbox transfer, but hey. I’ll take that over nothing. You can click the link below to preorder.

Su-chang Kong’s The Guard Post gets a UK DVD release from Cine Asia on the 13th October. A gory mystery/shocker/war movie hybrid from Korea, the film centres on the discovery of a more than slightly distressing massacre at a border guard post:

When communications with a secret guard post situated on the North-South Korean border unexpectedly fall silent, an army platoon headed by a military investigator is dispatched overnight to re-establish contact with their fellow soldiers, one of whom is the son of the army’s Chief of Staff. On arrival at GP506 they discover the aftermath of a gruesome bloodbath and one lonely survivor who they hope can provide the answer to the mystery behind the massacre. Shocked by the horror of the event and eager to cover up the incident, the top brass at Army HQ order the incineration of the guard post and the destruction of any evidence relating the incident. With just hours to go before the order is due to be executed, the investigative team finds itself in a race against time to uncover the truth, which they believe must be hidden somewhere within the remote outpost and its maze of underground tunnels. But the countdown to dawn proves to be the least of their concerns when it becomes apparent that the deadly effects of the terror lurking within the guard post have only just begin.

Special Features include: The Briefing Room (behind the scenes); The Barracks (set design); Guard Post Head Office (special effects and make-up); storyboards; trailer gallery.

A pleasingly not-safe-for-work trailer can be found below the break.

Continue Reading "The Guard Post (aka GP506) UK Region 2 DVD: New Trailer"...

Prachya Pinkaew’s ass-whuppin’ latest Chocolate has been a film in high demand from the day word first trickled out that the director of Ong Bak had landed himself a young female star to take up the martial arts mantle.  The film won a lot of love from martial arts fans on the international fest circuit and it appeared like a US release was imminent when word came out that the Weinstein Company had pre-bought the film, presumably for release via their Dragon Dynasty imprint.  But somewhere along the line something went wrong, the deal fell apart, and the film dropped into limbo.

But no more.  Word is out that Magnolia Pictures have stepped in and bought up North American rights to the picture and will be releasing it in North America via Magnet Releasing with a theatrical release to come sometime in 2009.  More details as we get them.  Check the trailer below the break and reviews at the links below.  The full press release is below the break.

Continue Reading "CHOCOLATE Finds A US Home!"...

Good news for Katsuhito Ishii fans with word that the upcoming Japanese DVD release of the latest film from the director of Taste of Tea and Funky Forest will include English subtitles for his fans around the globe.  A remake of a classic Japanese film about two blind masseurs this is Ishii in his quiet mode and features a non-stop stream of gorgeous images.  It’s coming in two editions - a one disc standard and three disc limited - and you can check a photo of what looks to be a suitably gorgeous limited edition package over at Nippon Cinema. 

Links o’plenty below ...

If you are like me and you’ve been waiting for the Hong Kong DVD release of John Woo’s period war epic Red Cliff then it’s time to stop waiting and start warming up your credit card:  the film hits DVD and Blu-Ray in Hong Kong September 10th.  And if you’re like me and have been waiting for the Hong Kong release of Red Cliff then you are a clever monkey.  The DVD release is a feature-laden two disc set that is both English-friendly and region code free, meaning it can be played anywhere by anyone.  The Blu-Ray?  That’s region free, too.  Whee!

You probably know by now that Twitch loves Mitani Koki, the man behind the lovely THE 有頂天ホテル (The Uchōten Hotel) and 笑の大学 (University of Laughs), so it’s always good news to hear more of his work will get a chance to shine outside Japanese shores. And no, we’re not talking of festival runs or anything, but the news that Japanese DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Mitani’s latest ザ・マジックアワー (The Magic Hour) will indeed feature English subs.

The 2008 comedy stars Tsumabuki Satoshi as a gangster who recruits an actor to play a hitman, after all the hoopla caused by his affair with the boss’ - Nishida Toshiyuki of スキヤキ・ウエスタン ジャンゴ (Sukiyaki Western Django) - wife. Up for release this December, you can find a Special Edition DVD, the cheaper Standard Edition DVD, and the Blu-Ray. All three have English Subs, Dts 6.1 tracks and in the SE’s case another disc of extras.

Ah, Torchwood … the much anticipated and rather frustrating Doctor Who spinoff.  Anticipated because it gave popular support character Captain John Harkness his own series and promised to ramp up the ‘adult’ content.  Frustrating, particularly in Season One, because brilliant support characters often find the transition to lead characters a difficult one.  Though it had some very strong moments Season One ended up being a mash of styles that never quite fit together the way people hoped and then ended in a ridiculously underwhelming finale.

Luckily, Season Two made significant improvements.  They found something interesting to do with the callow Owen.  James Marsters – that’d be Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer - got himself a brilliant recurring support bit.  The tone evened out.  The writers seemed to adopt the nobody-is-safe ethic that drives Joss Whedon’s shows. And, perhaps most importantly, they realized the show needed someone to fill the comic-foil role that Jack himself had filled on Doctor Who and filled that bit with a revitalized Ianto Jones.

Still not perfect but taking huge steps in the right direction Season Two of Torchwood is about to hit DVD from BBC America, who were good enough to pass an advance copy my way.  Video quality is very good – which you’d expect on a brand new show – and well presented with a collection of out takes and deleted scenes added to the mix as well.  The series spans the first four discs of the set with the fifth disc containing the entire run of Torchwood Declassified, a behind the scenes series that aired in the UK throughout the run of the main Torchwood series to provide everything you could possibly want to know about what went into the making of the show.  Interviews with stars, writers and directors plus episodes themed to explore issues and motifs running through the show itself, Declassified is one of the most in-depth treatments of a television show you’re ever likely to come across.  You couldn’t really ask for any more from a DVD release.

Yes, it’s by far the biggest film to come out of Asia this year and it’s already out on DVD.  John Woo’s epic Red Cliff actually released a little while abck in mainland China but that edition came from an unreliable company known for some pretty dodgy releases and so we didn’t say anything about it at the time but it is now also available on DVD from Singapore, where the quality is generally much better.  I’m personally going to wait to see what the Hong Kong releases look like before dropping coin on it anywhere, but if you’re in a hurry the Singapore disc should be a good option.

The original Sex is Zero was a major hit in its native Korea and world wide, a sort of Asian spin on American Pie style gross out sex comedy. And so while the sequel was not received as warmly by the critics there’s certainly a lot of interest out there.  Producers managed to lure most of the original cast back for round two and soon audiences around the world will be able to judge for themselves as it arrives on English subtitled DVD on August 27th.

Changed dates and new additions:

August 26th: The Black House [r1], Brotherhood of the Wolf (DC) [r1], My Sassy Girl [r1], No Blood No Tears [r1], Postal [r1], Redbelt [r1], 29th: Sparrow [r3hk]

September 2nd: Fist of Legend [r1], Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea [r1], The Wolves [r1], 3rd: Hansel and Gretel [r3k], 9th: The Forbidden Kingdom [r1], The Forbidden Kingdom (SE) [r1], 23rd: Far North [r1], The Legend of Red Dragon [r1], Midnight Eagle [r1], Re-Cycle [r1], The Suicide Song [r1], 30th: Iron Man [r1], Iron Man (SE) [r1], The Rebel [r1]

October 7th: Psycho (SE) [r1], Rear Window (SE) [r1], Touch of Evil (SE) [r1], Vertigo (SE) [r1], 14th: Bad Guy / Time [r1], Ten Nights of Dreams [r1], 27th: Big Man Japan (AKA Dai Nipponjin) [r2uk], 28th: Kisarazu Cat’s Eye: The Movie [r1], Sukeban Boy [r1], Woman on the Beach [r1]

November 3rd: Mad Detective [r2uk], 11th: Sukiyaki Western Django [r1], Sukiyaki Western Django [r1], Sukiyaki Western Django [r1], Sukiyaki Western Django [r1], Sukiyaki Western Django [r1], Sukiyaki Western Django [r1], Yo-Yo Sexy Girl Cop [r1], 18th: The Minoru Kawasaki Collection [r1]

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