88 Films

[domino harvey]

Well, those are certainly two movies

[Maltic]

I notice neither Severin nor 88 have used the legendary Anthropophagous poster for their respective UHD covers.

[Finch]

88 posted the Shaw logo on their Facebook page so hopefully they're going to release some key titles from those Shout sets.

[Finch]

New announcements:

An Autumn's Tale (Mabel Cheung)
Sex and Zen
The Sorcerers
Curse of the Crimson Altar
Funeral Home/Cries of the Night
Pumpkinhead 2
Immortal Story
Skinned Alive
The Pleasure
Night of the Big Heat

[nicolas]

An Autum’s Tale will hopefully be sourced from the new 4K restoration of the film. Spectrum Films (France) even release a UHD set in September, but probably without English subs.

[dwk]

Some Shaw Brothers coming from 88 in the US (and I assume UK) in September (probably not September, given how many of their titles have been delayed)
Golden Lotus
The Shadow Boxing (aka The Spiritual Boxer Part II)
To Kill a Mastermind

[dwk]

Updated, here is the final September slate from 88's facebook page:
UK
9th September 2024 Libido: The Urge to Love (Je Suis Un Nymphomane) Bluray
9th September 2024 Libido: The Urge to Love (Je Suis Un Nymphomane) DVD
9th September 2024 The Tai Chi Master [UHD+BD]
9th September 2024 The Tai Chi Master Bluray
9th September 2024 From Beyond [UHD+BD]
9th September 2024 From Beyond Bluray
9th September 2024 From Beyond DVD
23rd September 2024 JAPANARCHY #4
23rd September 2024 Erotic Ghost Story [1-3 collection] Bluray
23rd September 2024 Erotic Ghost Story [1-3 collection]

UK & USA
23rd September 2024 Magnificent Bodyguards - Deluxe Limited Edition Bluray
9th September 2024 The Shadow Boxing a.k.a The Spiritual Boxer Part 2 Bluray
9th September 2024 To Kill A Mastermind Bluray
9th September 2024 The Golden Lotus Bluray

[Mr Sausage]

Some UK only releases for September
[...]

Tai Chi Master (UHD)

One of my favourites. Really, anything Yuen Woo-Ping does with either Jet Li or Michelle Yeoh is worth seeing, let alone something with both. Here's my writeup from elsewhere:

I hadn’t seen this since high school, where I watched it probably half a dozen times under the name Twin Warriors. As a Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, and Yuen Woo-Ping fan, how could I not? This is a terrific action wuxia, packed full of some of Yuen Woo-Ping’s most exciting choreography. This, and the movie right after it, Fist of Legend, are probably his high point as an action director. While that latter movie focused mostly on grounded one-on-one fights, including an all timer with Li and Billy Chow, this one is more about delirious wirework and massive multi-person battles that grow exponentially in size until Li and Yeoh (plus Fennie Yuen and a few others) are fighting a whole army. The joyous, bristling fight scenes push themselves into more and more extravagant creativity: a fight across tables turns into a fight on stilts? Why not? A fight around an unlit pyre? Why not have it go up the pyre, too, and involve logs being kicked in and out like violent jenga? A rope mesh suspended above the ground? Of course we’re going to fight on it and bounce each other across it. Magnificent. As to plot, there’s more of it than you’d think, and despite the hurtling pace and short run time, there is a lot of proper development (tho’ not always): Jet Li and Chin Siu-Ho grow up in a shaolin temple. Chin is brash, violent, and worldly, and ends up getting them both kicked out. The pair head on different paths, Chin towards power and ambition in the emperor’s army, Li towards friendship and outsiderdom with Yeoh, Yuen, and a band of drunken rebels. Along the way, Li must learn to wield Tai Chi. Yuen Woo-Ping uses every HK trick to make this dynamic: pelting wind and dust, fluttering banners of primary colours, dutch angles, hurtling pull ins, and wirework everywhere. Iron Monkey got a lot more attention back in the day, including a theatrical re-release in North America a decade after initial release, and it’s certainly a terrific actioner. But I’d say Tai Chi Master bests it. Fei Hong said earlier in this thread that as a director, Yuen Woo-Ping was not interested in his female performers, but between this, Wing Chun, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2, Yuen clearly loves Michelle Yeoh. He gives her more to do here than even Chan gave her in Supercop (to say nothing of making Donnie Yen, his own protege, play damsel in distress to Yeoh’s main character in Wing Chun!) She isn’t the main character here, but she’s treated like a star.

[beamish14]

I confuse Tai Chi Master with Wing Chun because I saw them on a double bill, but I think the former has a scene near the start with a character kicking a stack of wood pallets or bricks one by one and we see it gradually shrink, and I think that’s the closest I’ve come to witnessing a true Super Mario adaptation

[yoloswegmaster]

I confuse Tai Chi Master with Wing Chun because I saw them on a double bill, but I think the former has a scene near the start with a character kicking a stack of wood pallets or bricks one by one and we see it gradually shrink, and I think that’s the closest I’ve come to witnessing a true Super Mario adaptation

Yep, that happens in Tai Chi Master where Jet Li and Chin Siu Ho have a fight on a wooden log structure that has Michelle Yeoh tied up at the top. Speaking of Tai Chi Master, I'm curious to see if the new 4K master will attempt to erase the numerous amounts of wires that are clearly visible in multiple scenes. I'm also hoping that the audio gets cleaned up since I found the tracks on the Ronin Flix blu to be of terrible quality.

[yoloswegmaster]

The Project A release is coming out in a few weeks but 88 revealed last week that they just finished authoring the first film and just started authoring the second film. I would expect a second delay to be announced.

[dwk]

The mystery Japanese release has been announced:
Gaira’s Guts Trilogy (Blu-ray)

Discover the visceral world of Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu with the definitive trilogy boxset: "Guts of a Beauty," "Guts of a Virgin," and "Rusted Body." Renowned for his bold storytelling and uncompromising vision, Gaira delves into the darkest corners of human nature and desire. Each film weaves a gripping narrative with unflinching imagery, pushing the boundaries of horror and eroticism. This collection is a must-have for fans of provocative cinema, offering a unique glimpse into the twisted genius of one of Japan's most controversial directors.

Guts of a Beauty: In a world where innocence meets terror, a young woman finds herself at the mercy of a sadistic killer. As she navigates the urban labyrinth, she uncovers the true extent of her captor's madness. Each encounter pushes her closer to the brink of sanity, blending horror with a raw exploration of human resilience.

Guts of a Virgin: A group of filmmakers on a remote shoot discovers that their secluded location harbors a dark secret. As night falls, they are hunted by a grotesque creature born from their worst nightmares. The lines between reality and horror blur as they fight for their lives, confronting their own fears and desires.

Rusted Body: In a dystopian future, a disfigured man grapples with his identity amidst a society that shuns him. As he searches for a place to belong, he encounters others who are similarly broken, each bearing their own scars. Their stories intertwine in a haunting tapestry of pain and redemption.

[Peacock]

Fantastic! 88 dipping their toes in the Roman Porno genre!

[Orlac]

I wouldn't call these Roman Porno

[Peacock]

I wouldn't call these Roman Porno

Nikkatsu pinku then

[Finch]

Amazon have updated the release date for the Project A set to October 15. I'd already learned my lesson of not bundling an 88 title with other pre-orders (ordered Tai Chi Master on its own) again but still, having to wait on Floating Clouds (which ironically was itself delayed by the BFI) for another 3 months because 88 keep underestimating their workload is frustrating. If Tai Chi Master gets delayed, at least it's not going to hold up anything else.

[colinr0380]

The Gaira films are definitely skewed more towards the horror mingling with sex. I'm rather amazed that 88 Films managed to get them past the BBFC as although they are soft-core (with all of the optical fogging standard of Japanese films of that era), they are skirting about as close to the edge of hardcore as you can possibly go! Those panties often end up getting stretched as tight as they can, to leave nothing to the imagination!

I've not had a chance to see the third entry, Rusted Body (aka Female Inquisitor), as yet, but do have the other two films on their Synapse DVD editions from two decades ago and they are, um, quite something. Literally eye-popping at times. Entrails of a Virgin is the one that most readily springs to mind and plays kind of like a more competently directed version of Porno Holocaust (though admittedly that's a low bar to clear! I do love the opening photoshoot montage with the crew using a rainbow cut out! Which in its rocky beach setting bookends with the final scene), and features some of the most uncomfortable and painful looking sexual positions ever put on film, including one with a lady stuck halfway through one of those open wooden staircases! And even before the mammoth proportioned monster turns up most of the sex isn't that fun seeming, and mostly coercive and based around empty star-making promises by the sleazy guys doing the photoshoot. The majority of the cast make their upcoming slasher-film deaths absolutely fine by the way that they horribly humiliate one of the more naive women by having her take part in an impromptu rough wrestling match with one of the other guys in just their underwear! Complete with crotch-throws, piledrivers and submission moves, until she graphically wets herself and falls unconscious. At which point the guy who was doing the wrestling has the absolute gall to lecture the onlookers about how they're awful people! That all builds to one of the most gonzo sections of film I have ever seen, when after being unconscious for most of the film (whilst her companions make out inches away from her) she wakes up and is dismissed and wanders off in an insane daze:

Spoiler

to first make out Evil Dead-style with a phallic tree branch, and then sumbles across the severed head of one of her companions that she finds lying around in the woods which she eagerly makes out with too, before bringing it back to show her mid-coitus companions. Then wanders around trying to molest the bodies of her various dead friends, until she finds a convenient severed arm to, um, pleasure herself with. Before the monster comes along with a real arm to finish the job permanently, and provide the reason for the title of the film.

So you have to be happy with the barest whisper of a plot as a pretext to hang lengthy sex scenes and somewhat shorter gore ones upon. Although something that I did like as a neat stylistic touch were those strange weirdly avant-garde non-sequitur synaptic cutaways (similar to but held upon too long to work as subliminal flashes, although maybe that was what was intended?) to water splashing or butchers tenderising meat just before the killing blows occur. Or in the (literal) climax a very unorthodox internal view of an ejaculation.

Though if we are talking about Japanese directors straddling the Roman Porno-independent production / sex-horror boundaries, I would really love if someone could look into getting Hisayasu Satô's films into wider circulation. His 1996 horror film Naked Blood in particular (in which women are given a drug that turns pain into pleasure, and proceed to orgasmically self-mutilate themselves) which is a remake of his 1987 film Pleasure Kill (which skewed more towards the sex rather than the horror aspects of the premise) sounds quite, um, extreme.

[Finch]

Woods are wet (1973) got approved by the BBFC. Having looked up descriptions of this and the Gaira set, I can say 88 are saving me a lot of money if the rest of their Japanarchy line continues to be all gore and sexual violence.

[Peacock]

Fabulous - Kumashiro is considered the master of the Roman Porno. It’s great that 88 is picking up the mantle of Japanese Pinku in HD from the likes of Synapse and Third Window, both of whom seem to have given up on these films.

[colinr0380]

Very interesting, and I see that Woods Are Wet is apparently an adaptation of De Sade's Justine. I have not seen any of Kumashiro's films as yet, but see that he also directed a 1979 version of Jigoku (for Toei), with an early role for Mieko Harada before she went on to work with Kurosawa on Ran (as Lady Kaede) and Dreams. And a 1974 Roman Porno version of The Key which has been filmed multiple times outside of that studio: by Kon Ichikawa in 1959; Koji Wakamatsu in 1983; Tinto Brass(!) also in 1983 and in 1997 by Toshiharu Ikeda (the 1997 version is most significant for being the first Japanese film (outside of independent/underground productions, or internationally produced films like Realm of the Senses) to break through the censorship boundaries and be allowed to show pubic hair without having to apply optical fogging!)

I agree with Peacock: Synapse/Impulse Picture's "Roman Porno" series in the US was fallow last year for either DVD or Blu-ray releases, and there does not seem to be any upcoming titles scheduled either. Which whilst it is a shame, they did at least get some of the most notorious titles out there during their run of 46 numbered releases (including two films written by Gaira that I cannot see ever coming to the UK, "Woman In A Box" and "Woman In A Box 2")

[feihong]

Woods are Wet is a pretty great film, sinister and fetid and mysterious. It's not at all representative of Kumashiro's standard output––most often he has a kind of ribald earthiness to his films, a generous appreciation for working-class characters, and he is expert at evoking a grunginess to lower-class living that feels very authentic (especially set against Masaru Konuma's more archly prettified "ghetto-ruin"–porn settings, usually only a superficial gloss on whatever story Konuma wants to tell). By contrast, The Woods Are Wet: Woman Hell is a dark, cruel picture, kind of a low-key horror film, about a woman placed in an inescapable trap for the amusement of a pair of petty-bourgeois merchants who idolize the rich. Like most Kumashiro pictures, there is not a lot of plot. Scenes run very long, and Kumashiro draws out the suspense by tying it to the sex scenes in exceptionally tricky ways. But the arch darkness of the picture isn't something Kumashiro usually portrays. If anything, the film is most interesting juxtaposed against other Taisho-set ero-gro pictures from the era, like Walker in the Attic and the somewhat-later Beast in the Shadows and Zigeunerweisen. The different portrayals of that era are fascinating set next to one another.

[colinr0380]

The Watcher In The Attic being the other (looser) version of Noburu Tanaka's Nikkatsu Roman Porno films dealing with the Abe Sada situation that came out around the same time as Realm of the Senses (following up 1975's A Woman Named Abe Sada).

[feihong]

The Watcher In The Attic being the other (looser) version of Noburu Tanaka's Nikkatsu Roman Porno films dealing with the Abe Sada situation that came out around the same time as Realm of the Senses (following up 1975's A Woman Named Abe Sada).

There isn't a narrative connection between Walker in the Attic and A Woman Named Abe Sada, though, right? I haven't seen A Woman Named Abe Sada in more than 20 years, but I recall Walker being a couple of Edogawa Rampo stories (Stroller in the Attic and The Human Chair) stitched together. I remember reading back then that the two films formed two parts of a trilogy for Tanaka, along with Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture! That last one, I haven't seen.

[Peacock]

two films written by Gaira that I cannot see ever coming to the UK, "Woman In A Box" and "Woman In A Box 2")

I so hope someone will put these two out in HD someday. Major titles!

[colinr0380]

Yes, Watcher In The Attic contains more of a loose riff on the Abe Sada idea and based on other stories, though it is interesting to see it alongside A Woman Named Abe Sada, and I am not surprised to hear that it was part of a trilogy of tales!

Peacock, I tentatively agree! . Although those two films were coming at the tail end of the Roman Porno period in the late 1980s when things were moving more towards lower budget shot on video works than the more lavishly studio budgeted productions of the 1970s, so I am not really sure how beneficial a HD upgrade could be for those two titles! The one title I really think would benefit from Blu-ray bump up out of that series of Roman Porno releases put out by Impulse Pictures in the US is the beautifully shot Nurse Diary: Beast Afternoon.