V Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal

[Finch]

FEATURES:
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of all films
Original lossless Japanese mono audio on Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage and original lossless Japanese stereo audio for all other films
Optional newly translated English subtitles for all films
Nine postcard-sized artcards
Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Earl Jackson, Daisuke Miyao, and Hayley Scanlon

DISC 1 – CRIME HUNTER: BULLETS OF RAGE / NEO CHINPIRA: ZOOM GOES THE BULLET
Newly filmed introductions to both films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
Loose Cannon, a newly filmed interview with Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage director Shundo Okawa
Zooming Out, a newly filmed interview with Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet writer-director Banmei Takahashi
Crime Hunter and the Dawn of V-Cinema, a brand new video essay on Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes
Original trailers for both films

DISC 2 – STRANGER / CARLOS
Newly filmed introductions to both films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
Stranger than Fiction, a newly filmed interview with Stranger writer-director Shunichi Nagasaki
From Manga to Movies, a newly filmed interview with Carlos writer-director Kazuhiro Kiuchi
An Extra Round in the Chamber, a brand new video essay on Carlos by critic and Japanese cinema expert Jonathan Clements

DISC 3 – BURNING DOG / FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: DEATH THREAT
Newly filmed introductions to both films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
Fire and Ice, a brand new video essay on Burning Dog by critic and Japanese cinema expert Mark Schilling
Toshiharu Ikeda’s Beautiful Monster of Vengeance, a brand new video essay on Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat by film historian Samm Deighan
Original trailers for both films

DISC 4 – THE HITMAN: BLOOD SMELLS LIKE ROSES / DANGER POINT: THE ROAD TO HELL
Newly filmed introductions to both films by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
The Versatility of Teruo Ishii, a brand new video essay on The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses and its director Teruo Ishii by Japanese cinema expert Frankie Balboa
The Road to V-Cinema, a brand new video essay on Danger Point: The Road to Hell by critic and Japanese cinema expert James Balmont
Original trailer for The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses

DISC 5 – XX: BEAUTIFUL HUNTER
Newly filmed introduction by Japanese film critic Masaki Tanioka
The Sacred and the Profane, a newly filmed interview with screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi
They Brought Back the Sleaze, a brand new video essay on XX: Beautiful Hunter by critic and Japanese cinema expert Patrick Macias
Original trailer

[swo17]

I had to look up what V Cinema is--it's Japan's version of direct to video

[Finch]

Forgot to mention: this is for both the UK and the US.

[knives]

I had to look up what V Cinema is--it's Japan's version of direct to video

Haven’t seen these, but there are a lot of treasures in the DTV trove. Lots of early Miike films for instance.

[beamish14]

I had to look up what V Cinema is--it's Japan's version of direct to video

Haven’t seen these, but there are a lot of treasures in the DTV trove. Lots of early Miike films for instance.

and some of his absolute worst films, such as Family and its sequel

[colinr0380]

But also his wildest with Full Metal Yakuza! (Yes that is Tomoroh Taguchi from the Tetsuo films playing the well-endowed mad scientst doing a pixellated flash at the end of that trailer!)

I'm only familiar with "V-cinema" through the Takashi Miike, Rokuro Mochizuki and Shinji Aoyama films that Artsmagic put out on DVD back in the mid-2000s, so I am very excited to see more films from this area. This potentially is already one of the more important releases of the year for releasing so much previously unavailable material. Midnight Eye has a review of Crime Hunter here which states that it was the very first "V-cinema" film (also click through that review for an article doing an overview of V-cinema by Tom Mes)

Looking through the list of directors there is Banmei Takahashi (director of Door and Door II recently put out by Third Window) with Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes The Bullet (which appears to be the second film in a series, and features Jo Shishido and Ren Osugi in the cast); Carlos is the first directed film by Kazuhiro Kiuchi, best known for the Be-Bop High School manga series.

I am particularly excited to see a film directed by Shunichi Nagasaki with Stranger - perhaps the director's most known work in the West is his 1982 debut Heart, Beating In The Dark (which apparently got a re-edited theatrical re-release at film festivals in 2005. I keep hoping that we'll see both versions of that film get a disc release some time), but he also recently turned up in Arrow's J-Horror Rising set with 1999's Shikoku.

Burning Dog is an early film directed by Yoichi Sai, who is at the moment better known in the West for his 2002 slice-of-life prison drama Doing Time and his crime-drama starring Takeshi Kitano from 2004, Blood and Bones.

We appear to be getting another film directed by Toshiharu Ikeda in this set (making this a huge year for the director with the upcoming Third Window releases of Mermaid Legend and Scent of a Spell as well), as we are getting a long past the heyday of the 1970s Meiko Kaji entries addition to the Female Prisoner Scorpion series with 1991's Death Threat.

More Teruo Ishii with The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses - a very late Teruo Ishii title from 1991 compared to all of the 1960s and 70s crime-horror anthology films that have otherwise been released on Blu-ray (for example the just released on Blu-ray this week by 88 Films Love & Crime from 1969). And Danger Point: The Road To Hell similarly is also from 1991 and showcases a late career film from Yasuharu Hasebe! (Who is also getting his mid-70s film Assault!: Jack The Ripper released on Blu-ray through 88 Films in the coming months) Which from the description of the plot on that Letterboxd link sounds as if the film could be a version of The Killers!

And finally XX: Beautiful Hunter appears to be this 1994 film by Roman Porno alumni Masaru Konuma. He is also getting attention elsewhere with 88 Films' upcoming release of Girl Hell. I wrote a little about his background a couple of months back, about how Konuma was kind of the go-to director for BDSM-themed material, and this appears to be part of a series of "XX" titled films that mix that with crime thriller material.