"Actor: Ko"

• High And Low | DVD | (28/03/2005) from £14.49   |  Saving you £5.50 (37.96%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Kurosawa drew on the thriller 'King's Ransom' by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter) for this contemporary study of the inequalities and hierarchical rigidity of modern Japan. In the first half of the film set in a single room an industrialist agonises on whether to pay the huge ransom demanded by kidnappers who have mistakenly snatched his chauffeur's son instead of his own. The second half of the film shot in a frenzied restless style on sleazy urban locations concentrates on the polic

• The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch | Blu Ray | (20/09/2021) from £9.35   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  What do you get when Noriaki Yuasa, director of Daiei Studios' much-beloved Gamera series, makes a monochrome film adaptation of the works of horror manga pioneer Kazuo Umezu (The Drifting Classroom)? The answer is 1968's The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch, a fantastically phantasmagorical slice of twisted tokusatsu terror ostensibly made for children that will irreparably traumatise any child that sees it! A young girl named Sayuri is reunited with her estranged family after years in an orphanage but trouble lurks within the walls of the large family home. Her mother is an amnesiac after a car accident six months earlier, her sullen sister is confined to the attic and a young housemaid dies inexplicably of a heart attack just before Sayuri arrives is it all connected to her father's work studying venomous snakes? And is the fanged, serpentine figure that haunts Sayuri's dreams the same one spying on her through holes in the wall? Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut and its home video premiere outside Japan, this rarely-screened, nightmarishly disorienting creepshow not only displays a seldom-seen side of kaiju auteur Yuasa, but its skilful blending of Umezu's comics (published in English-language markets as Reptilia) arguably anticipates many of the trends seen in J-horror decades later. Special Features: High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation Original uncompressed mono audio Optional English subtitles Brand new commentary by film historian David Kalat This Charming Woman, a newly filmed interview with manga and folklore scholar Zack Davisson Theatrical trailer Image gallery Reversible sleeve featuring new and original artwork by Mike Lee-Graham FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing by Raffael Coronelli

• Princess Blade | DVD | (23/09/2002) from £14.98   |  Saving you £0.01 (0.07%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Shinsuke Sato's The Princess Blade is, in some respects, a standard Japanese action adventure with a lot of swordplay and repayment of blood debts; but it differs in that it stretches the formula in interesting ways. Its moody angst is turned up to full power and it has a twilit elegiac quality, a sense of the sadness of things, which is at once very Japanese and very stylish. Yukio is one of the assassins of the house of Takemikazuchi, a group of exiled royal guards from a neighbouring kingdom who have created a life in the isolated low-tech kingdom Japan has become in some near future. She is in fact the last of the original Takemikazuchi family, who have gradually been marginalised and murdered. Informed of this and on the run from her fellow swordsmen, she takes refuge with, and falls for, Takashi, an assassin of a more modern kind, an alienated young man whose concern for his retarded sister sits uneasily with his bomb-making. The film moves steadily from explosions of passionate action beautifully choreographed to quiet intense moments of stillness, ending ambiguously on the latter. It is a superior film in its genre because it coherently questions the values and actions it celebrates. --Roz Kaveney

• Ring - SteelBook - Limited Edition | Blu Ray | (18/03/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In 1998, director Hideo Nakata (Dark Water) unleashed a chilling tale of technological terror on unsuspecting audiences, which redefined the horror genre, launched the J-horror boom in the West and introducing a generation of moviegoers to a creepy, dark-haired girl called Sadako. The film's success spawned a slew of remakes, reimaginations and imitators, but none could quite boast the power of Nakata's original masterpiece, which melded traditional Japanese folklore with contemporary anxieties about the spread of technology. A group of teenage friends are found dead, their bodies grotesquely contorted, their faces twisted in terror. Reiko (Nanako Matsushima, When Marnie Was There), a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, sets out to investigate the shocking phenomenon, and in the process uncovers a creepy urban legend about a supposedly cursed videotape, the contents of which causes anyone who views it to die within a week unless they can persuade someone else to watch it, and, in so doing, pass on the curse Arrow Video is proud to present Ring, the film that started it all, restored from the original negative in glorious high definition and supplemented by a wealth of archival and newly created bonus materials. LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS: Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, approved by director of photography Junichiro Hayashi High definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation Lossless Japanese DTS-HD master audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 soundtracks Optional English subtitles New audio commentary by film historian David Kalat The Ring Legacy, a series of new interviews from critics and filmmakers on their memories of the Ring series and its enduring legacy A Vicious Circle, a new video interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger on the career of Hideo Nakata Circumnavigating Ring, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ring series Sadako's Video Theatrical trailers Booklet containing new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin

• Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Set Two (Episodes 14-26) Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (09/12/2019) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  What's scarier than facing an army of ninja warriors? School exams! As everyone scrambles to prepare, Sarada goes on a quest to uncover the secret of her birth and find out more about her father, Sasuke. Will she find the answers she seeks in this shadowy legend? Then Boruto and classmates take a trip to a place haunted by a bloody pastthe Village Hidden in the Mist. This is one trip they won't forget!

• Seeding Of A Ghost | Blu Ray | (16/01/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Originally planned to be part three of the Shaw Brothers™ Black Magic trilogy, due to it's over the top blood-splattering nature and gross-out shock levels, Seeding Of A Ghost ran into censorship problems and was released under the new moniker. It's an erotic gore-fest rivalling Hollywood's best. Filled with gratuitous, corporeal nudity, the film stars the highly touted martial arts stars Kao Fei in a non-fighting role as taxi driver Chou Tung who seeks vengeance against the crazy hooligans that raped and killed his wife. By soliciting the help of a demented magician who agrees to assist him in finding and punishing his wife's rapists, Chou must endure copulating dead bodies as his enemies perish in gut wrenching, blood spurting and body exploding glory. This film goes down as one of Hong Kong goriest films ever made. Extras: High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of the Film Restored HD master in original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio Cantonese Soundtrack with English Subtitles Audio Commentary by acclaimed Asian Cinema expert, Bey Logan Trailer Booklet Notes by Dr. Calum Waddell

• Legend Of A Fighter | DVD | (05/03/2001) from £13.73   |  Saving you £6.26 (45.59%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In the historically based Kung fu drama Legend of a Fighter director Yuen Woo Ping offers his version of the early life of martial artist Fok Yuen Gap (played by Leung Kar Yan). Set at the beginning of the 20th century, Fok is considered too weak to learn the family Kung fu style. Still, as his father can break eggs by growling, he probably considers most people weak. The teenager forms a bond with his humane Japanese tutor (Kurata Yusuaki), who secretly teaches martial arts. The story builds to a moving climax as 12 years later pupil and now ageing master are forced by honour into a deadly duel. The opening and closing acts are by far the strongest, the plentiful fight scenes being balanced by gentle humour and emotions torn between friendship and duty. Both lead actors are excellent, with Yusuaki being particularly fine as the noble warrior-teacher. The middle, a series of disconnected tableaux in which Fok establishes his stature as a Kung fu expert, goes on much too long to sustain interest. Nevertheless the story of Fok Yuen Gap, a genuine Chinese hero who was also the inspiration for Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (1972), is fine and Woo Ping delivers the one-on-one Kung fu action with the touch of a master.On the DVD: The 1.77:1 image doesn't benefit at all from its anamorphic enhancement, the entire film being presented slightly out of focus so that by the end eyes are likely to be aching. The opening 4:3 Academy ratio archive footage has been distorted to 1.77:1, while the original trailer shows Legend of a Fighter was shot in an extremely wide format--possibly the Hong Kong equivalent of early 2.66:1 CinemaScope, or even 2.74:1 Techniscope--which means that large amounts of the original image are missing. This is very obvious as characters constantly vanish off the sides of the screen or are cropped in half. Additionally, and again compared to the crisp, sharp trailer, colours are washed out, while the mono sound distorts whenever the music gets loud. The film is available in Mandarin with optional English subtitles, or in an awful English dub littered with inappropriate obscene language. There is a nine-minute interview with Leung Kar Yan, and a 23-minute interview with Yuen Woo Ping, which is a slightly longer version of the conversation presented on the Magnificent Butcher DVD: it's notable how he expresses his love of science fiction and indicates he would like to make a SF Kung-fu movie, something he achieved with The Matrix (1999). There is a Hong Kong Legends' promo for the film, together with seven further new trailers. The photo gallery is pointless, simply cropping some shots even further than the main presentation. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Front Line | DVD | (27/02/2012) from £6.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (157.37%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Experience breath-taking action sequences and heart-wrenching performances in this critically acclaimed Korean box-office smash-hit. In the final decisive battles of The Korean War, the battle-worn armies of North and South Korea face a brutal deadlock on the rugged Aerok Hills. Fears of treachery and collusion with enemy forces trigger an investigation into the men of the South Korean Alligator Company. A veteran intelligence officer accepts the assignment and discovers mysterious and tragic occurrences surrounding a former comrade he had long thought dead.In the epic battle for survival that follows, the two men become locked in a deadly battle of wills. One will sacrifice his humanity for the sake of his ‘brothers’; the other will discover compassion in the agonies of war. Ultimately, both will be forced to fight side-by-side, so their loved ones can enjoy freedom for just one more day… Special Features: Dolby Digital Korean 2.0 & 5.1 English Subtitles Audio Commentary Trailer Gallery Making of Gallery Production Design

• The Bad Sleep Well | DVD | (25/07/2005) from £14.59   |  Saving you £5.40 (37.01%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A tense re-working of Hamlet (adapted from a novel by Ed McBain) is a biting expos of the corruption and politics of greed at the heart of Japanese business. Beautifully photographed in ravishing black and white Tohoscope this is original Japanese version never before released in Europe. A young man marries the boss's daughter as part of a scheme to take revenge on the influential businessman who forced his father to commit suicide. Leisurely paced bitterly ironic the film emplo

• Shogun (New to Blu-Ray) | Blu Ray | (11/06/2018) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Remastered in amazing high definition, SHOGUN is one of the most famous and award-winning television events in history. From bestselling author James Clavell comes the sweeping story of love and war, set against the brutal background of feudal Japan at the beginning of the 17th century. Richard Chamberlain stars as John Blackthorne, a sailor shipwrecked off the coast of Japan. Rescued, he becomes an eyewitness to a deadly struggle involving Toranaga, a feuding warlord intent on becoming SHOGUN - the supreme military dictator. Blackthorne is irresistibly drawn to the magnificent Lady Mariko, the married confidant to Toranaga, while at the same time vying to become the first-ever foreigner to be made a samurai warrior. For the first time on Blu-ray, this landmark television event is packed with fascinating special features that take you inside the spectacular world of SHOGUN.

• Princess Mononoke | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Princess Mononoke has already made history as the top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and ravishing visuals tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological anxieties. For international animation and anime fans, this epic, animated 1997 fantasy, represents an auspicious next step for its revered creator, Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service), an acknowledged anime pioneer, whose painterly style, vivid character design, and stylised approach to storytelling take ambitious, evolutionary steps here. Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki's original story envisions a struggle between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed, spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious "demon god", transformed by human anger. Ashitaka's quest to solve the beast's fatal curse brings him into the midst of human political intrigues as well as the more crucial battle between man and nature. Miyazaki's convoluted fable is clearly not the stuff of kiddie matinees, nor is the often graphic violence depicted during the battles that ensue. If some younger viewers (or less attentive older ones) will wish for a diagram to sort out the players, Miyazaki's atmospheric world and its lush visual design are reasons enough to watch. For the English-language version, Miramax assembled an impressive vocal cast including Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup (as Ashitaka), Claire Danes (as San), Minnie Driver (as Lady Eboshi), Billy Bob Thornton, and Jada Pinkett Smith. They bring added nuance to a very different kind of magic kingdom. -- Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com On the DVD: with an impressive widescreen aspect of 2.35:1 and a pleasant 5.1 Dolby digital sound, you cannot fault the transfer of this animation in any way. However, the special features leave a lot to be desired on what is a classic piece of modern anime. The "Behind the Scenes" feature holds no information on the making of Princess Mononoke in its original form--with no input from animator Hayao Miyazaki--and the trailer is taken from the American release of the movie (even though it calls itself an "original" theatrical trailer), complete with the annoyingly hyped-up voiceover that comes with US film trailers. The redeeming feature of this DVD is the ability to watch the anime in its original language with subtitles, a much more passionate and beautiful form--so much of the feeling and lyricism of the movie is lost with the transfer to English language and misplaced casting. After watching the original Japanese version of Princess Mononoke and reading the book you begin to wonder why the West has become such a solitary child of Disney. --Nikki Disney

• Red Beard | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £18.75   |  Saving you £1.24 (6.61%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The last and most ambitious of Akira Kurosawa's collaborations with Toshiro Mifune Red Beard marked the end of one of the most remarkable actor-director relationships in the history of cinema. Toshiro Mifune plays a commanding but humane doctor in a rural clinic in late 19th-century Japan. An idle and socially ambitious intern (Yuzo Kayama) arrives at the clinic and discovers the meaning of responsibility first to oneself and then to others. This intimate epic - a

• The Water Margin - Vol. 1 | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £13.86   |  Saving you £1.13 (8.15%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Nearly a thousand years ago in ancient China at the time of the Sung dynasty there was a cruel and corrupt government. These men riding are outlaws heroes driven to live in the water margins of Liang Shan Po far to the south of the capital. Each fights tyranny with a price on his head in a world very different from our own... Nine Dozen Heroes And One Wicked Man: ""One man can move a people and a wronged people can move the world."" None Will Ever Escape Alive:

• Shaolin Kung Fu Master | DVD | (22/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A stash of gold has been hidden in a forest and only six imperial guards know of its location - watch the masters battle it out! A host of Kung Fu stars take to the screen in this martial arts epic!

• Twenty-Four Eyes | DVD | (20/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Keisuke Kinoshita's Twenty-Four Eyes - which beat Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai as Kinema Junpo's Best Film of 1954 and won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1955 - is one of Japan's most beloved films. In 1999 it was picked by Japanese critics as one of the ten best Japanese films of all time. Both a huge commercial and critical success this deeply affecting anti-war film has according to the critic Sato Tadao ""wrung more tears out of Japanese audiences than

• Lethal Weapon 4 | DVD | (22/03/1999) from £4.98   |  Saving you £9.01 (180.92%)   |  RRP £13.99

  In the fourth and reportedly final film of the Lethal Weapon series, director Richard Donner reunites with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, who reprise their roles as Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh for one last hurrah in a film that is decidedly better than the third and first chapters. This time the pair are pitted against Jet Li, who plays the leader of a Chinese organised crime unit. Li, a veteran of hundreds of Hong Kong action films, more than holds his own against the more established team of Gibson, Glover, Rene Russo and Joe Pesci with his subtle yet strong portrayal of the quietly irrepressible Wah Sing Ku. As always with the Lethal series, the plot is incredibly simple to follow: someone steals something, someone gets killed and Murtaugh is reluctantly thrown into the mix while Riggs dives into the case with gleeful aplomb. As with the previous movies, we watch for the sheer action and chemistry alone. The action sequences throughout the fourth instalment are exquisite, from the opening scene involving a flame-thrower, a burning building and a half-naked Murtaugh strutting like a chicken (don't ask, just watch), to the climactic showdown that pays genuine tribute to Jet Li's masterful martial art skills. As for chemistry, the bond between these characters is so strong by now that you sometimes feel like you're watching a TV series in its sixth season, such is the warm familiarity between the audience and the personalities on the screen. The humour is more fluid than ever, aided immeasurably by the casting of comedian Chris Rock, who like Li does a great job of making his presence known in some memorable verbal tirades that would bring a smile out of the Farrelly brothers. But it's the verbal and emotional jousting between Glover and Gibson that makes this fourth episode especially appealing; both are in peak form with great physical and verbal timing. One can only hope that if this is indeed the last of the Lethal films, that it won't be the last time we see Glover and Gibson together on screen. --Jeremy Storey

• Piercing Brightness | DVD | (07/10/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Preston is a hot spot for UFO sightings and also has the UK's fastest-growing Chinese population. This was the starting point for artist Shezad Dawood film - a woozy socially-conscious science fiction movie. Avoiding Northern clichés Piercing Brightness is a tale of alien emissaries and interracial love that has a real sense of place with wig-out moments provided by Acid Mothers Temple and a climax on the roof of the brutalist Preston Bus Station.

• The Enchanting Ghost | Blu Ray | (26/02/2018) from £38.16   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  An early example of Hong Kong horror, THE ENCHANTING GHOST was released in 1970 to critical acclaim and established a future trend for the city's supernatural-themed Oriental fright flicks. Baked in the trademark Shaw Brothers atmospherics, this story of a young scholar who becomes resident in a haunted house, whilst also struggling to instigate a new romance, features some spooky set pieces, a potent aura of lovelorn macabre and a growing sense of ghoulish whimsy. Predating the classic Japanese creeper HOUSE (1977), but featuring some thematic similarities, this ghostly terror tale is a vital addition to any collection of classic Asian cinema - and a vital piece of the Shaw Brothers puzzle which 88 Films is proud to present in spine-tingling HD!!!

• Ring | DVD | (18/03/2019) from £8.15   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In 1998, director Hideo Nakata (Dark Water) unleashed a chilling tale of technological terror on unsuspecting audiences, which redefined the horror genre, launched the J-horror boom in the West and introducing a generation of moviegoers to a creepy, dark-haired girl called Sadako. The film's success spawned a slew of remakes, reimaginations and imitators, but none could quite boast the power of Nakata's original masterpiece, which melded traditional Japanese folklore with contemporary anxieties about the spread of technology. A group of teenage friends are found dead, their bodies grotesquely contorted, their faces twisted in terror. Reiko (Nanako Matsushima, When Marnie Was There), a journalist and the aunt of one of the victims, sets out to investigate the shocking phenomenon, and in the process uncovers a creepy urban legend about a supposedly cursed videotape, the contents of which causes anyone who views it to die within a week unless they can persuade someone else to watch it, and, in so doing, pass on the curse Arrow Video is proud to present Ring, the film that started it all, restored from the original negative in glorious high definition and supplemented by a wealth of archival and newly created bonus materials. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, approved by director of photography Junichiro Hayashi Standard definition DVD presentation Japanese 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks Optional English subtitles New audio commentary by film historian David Kalat The Ring Legacy, a series of new interviews from critics and filmmakers on their memories of the Ring series and its enduring legacy A Vicious Circle, a new video interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger on the career of Hideo Nakata Circumnavigating Ring, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ring series Sadako's Video Theatrical trailers Limited edition packaging featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

• Operation Condor | DVD | (19/11/2001) from £6.81   |  Saving you £6.18 (90.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Jackie Chan appears as Condor an adventurer hired to track down a lost hoard of gold buried in the North African desert during the Second World War. Our hero is joined by three women in a race to get to the gold and outwit their evil pursuers.