I first bought a copy of Sammo Hung’s 1979 hit film, Knockabout, a little less than twenty years ago via 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on DVD. It was during a time when I could do nothing but spend all my hard earnings on DVDs and certainly Fox’s line-up of Hong Kong classics had piqued my interest.
The zeitgeist of the last twenty years with Asian cinema has been a purely awesome and memorable era to be a part of, and it’s all thanks in part to Ryuhei Kitamura whose 2000 action horror, Versus, helped pave the way for my own fandom apart from Hollywood’s own investments, the “Hong Kong crossover” included.
If you haven’t yet snagged a Blu-Ray of Lee Min-Jae’s hit zombie horror romp, Zombie On Sale, you’ll definitely get the chance to beginning July 1 as it joins the July summer slate for the Arrow Video Channel. But that’s not all.
Lee Min-jae’s directing debut, The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale, was some of the most delightful Korean genrefare to emerge last summer, and I encourage you to read my review to catch up.
Kiril Sokolov’s feature debut, Why Don’t You Just Die! takes a searing and catastrophic glimpse at twisted family drama with brutal results. Best of all is the film marks the latest outing of actor Aleksandr Kuznetsov who first landed on this site’s radar with a physically impressive supporting turn in Rustam Mosafir’s period actioner, The Scythian (also known as The Last Warrior), which is an absolute blast.
Among a raft of new titles announced on Friday, Arrow is reviving a trio of contemporary classic revenge tales for a December 9 re-release of celebrated auteur Park Chan-wook‘s highly-acclaimed gems, The Vengeance Trilogy.
I screened a cool bunch of films at home that premiered in Montreal for the 23rd Fantasia International Film Festival this summer. Unfortunately some were never included in the screener list – one which includes comedic action drama, Why Don’t You Just Die, Kirill Sokolov’s directorial debut centered on the calamity between a young thug, and his girlfriend’s abusive brooding Moscow cop father.
I wonder if we’ll ever one day see a revival of some kind of either of the Sonny Chiba/Etsuko Shihomi Street Fighter franchises. At any rate though, there will always be the classics, and of course, Arrow Video now with its own stake in refurbished reprints with add-ons for the special features in its upcoming Blu-Ray set.
Arrow Video is doling out another in a raft of finely-tuned releases on Blu-Ray in the US, UK and Canada. Giancarlo Santi’s 1972 spaghetti western, The Grand Duel is just one and with a freshly uploaded trailer just above.
Considered by many to be director Kinji Fukasaku’s greatest single-film achievement in the yakuza genre, Cops vs Thugs was made at the height of popularity of Toei Studios’ jitsuroku boom: realistic, modern crime movies based on true stories taken from contemporary headlines. Returning to the screen after completing their Battles Without Honor and Humanity series together, Fukasaku joined forces once again with screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara, composer Toshiaki Tsushima and star Bunta Sugawara to create one of the crowning achievements of his career, and a hard-boiled classic which is still ranked as one of the best Japanese films of the 1970’s.
Wolf Guy (2-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray + DVD]
Once a rare classic never released outside of Japan, Yamaguchi Kazuhiro’s 1975 action horror sci-fi martial arts romp, Wolf Guy is getting the pristine treatment it deserves at Arrow Video. A new promo is now online ahead of its release following ticketed event screenings throughout the U.S. and the U.K. and with 2-disc Blu-Ray availability set for May 23, 2017.
Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba is a martial arts “manimal” in the ultra-70’s, 100% bizarre mixture of horror, action and sci-fi that is Wolf Guy, one of the rarest and most sought-after cult films produced by Japan’s Toei Studio. Based on a manga by Kazumasa Hirai (creator of 8 Man), and never before released outside of Japan, it’s a genre film classic waiting to be discovered and a completely unclassifiable trip into phantasmagoric funk.
Chiba stars as Akira Inugami, the only survivor of a clan of ancient werewolves who relies on his supernatural powers to solve mysterious crimes. After a series of bloody killings perpetrated by an unseen force, Inugami uncovers a conspiracy involving a murdered cabaret singer, corrupt politicians, and a plot by the J-CIA to harvest his blood in order to steal his lycanthropic powers! At the same time, Inugami also discovers the truth behind his family heritage, and that he may not be the last of his kind.
Directed by B-movie genius Kazuhiko Yamaguchi (Sister Streetfighter, Wandering Ginza Butterfly, Karate Bear Fighter), Wolf Guy truly is one-of-a-kind, with Chiba in full effect as the part-man, part-wolf, all-karate action hero and a collection of familiar 1970’s Toei actors in support. Violence, action, nudity, real surgical footage, and a psychedelic musical score all work together to create an unforgettable trip to the heights of Japanese cinematic weirdness.
Wolf Guy would be right up anyone’s alley who loves action cinema and Asian genre titles, and the special features look adequate and promising, as well as the footage of a young Chiba tearing through villains on screen. Check it out and pre-order your U.S. copy today!
Wolf Guy (2-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray + DVD]
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