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The second feature from Kim Dae-seung, the award-winning director of the 2001 romantic drama, “Bungee Jumping Of Their Own”, BLOOD RAIN is a gripping and grisly period detective thriller set in 19th century Korea starring Cha Seung-won (Eye For An Eye; Kick The Moon).

It is a time of feudal barons and superstition. An island community is shocked when a ship bound for the imperial courts inexplicably bursts into flames. On board was a cargo of handcrafted paper from the island’s factory, a place harbouring something sinister.

Detective Won-kyu (Cha Seung-won) is dispatched to investigate only to discover the community in the grip of terror. A series of murders convinces them a malevolent spirit is responsible, taking revenge for crimes that no one wants to talk about, pronouncing predictions of doom when the blood rain falls. Won-kyu follows an increasingly corpse-riddled trail that not only threatens his life but also is set to reveal a dark secret that links him to the village’s shameful past.

A refreshing and fiendishly intriguing serial killer mystery thriller, BLOOD RAIN takes a traditional detective tale and relocates it to an earlier age, much in the spirit of “In The Name Of The Rose” and “Brotherhood Of The Wolf”.

The film’s lavish production values add a pleasing richness to the proceeding whilst the unexpected and extremely grisly violence is at times as shocking as that in any current Asian thriller. BLOOD RAIN is a delightfully darkand devious who-dunnit told with style and intelligence.

BLOOD RAIN (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£15.99) by Palisades Tartan on 26th October 2009. Special Features include: trailer; 2.0 Dolby Digital, 5.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 DTS Surround audio options; optional English subtitles.

As the UK gears up for the release of Chocolate, Showbox / Cine-Asia have released a new clip where the filmmakers pay affectionate tribute to the icehouse scene in Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss. The film will make its official London theatrical debut on 24th October, before being launched on DVD and Blu-Ray on 3rd November.

You can read our review of Chocolate here »

At last! After the increasing interest in Thai action film Chocolate, starring martial arts star in the making JeeJa Yanin, is on limited release in London today at the ICA Cinema, ahead of the DVD and Blu-ray release on Monday 3 November. You can see details of the screenings and book here.

Read our review of Chocolate here »

The UK release for Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew’s latest have finally been officially announced. Following a couple of festival engagements during the next few weeks, the film will make its official London theatrical debut on 24th October, before being launched on DVD and Blu-Ray on 3rd November.

Chocolate introduces the latest female Muay Thai sensation, JeeJa Yanin, and is a non-stop martial arts action extravaganza about a young girl whose uncanny ability to mimic the combat skills of her heroes Tony Jaa, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee has made her an unlikely but awesome fighting force.

You can read our review of Chocolate here »

The much-anticipated Chocolate, from Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew and starring martial arts star in the making JeeJa Yanin, is on limited release in London cinemas today.

You can read our review of Chocolate here »

Ong Bak 2 aka Ong Bak: The Beginning finally makes its way to UK cinemas courtesy of Revolver Entertainment on 16 October. This troubled production has had a mixed reception, but looks set to follow some of the success of the original…

Korean director Park Chan-wook’s vampire flick Thirst, which won the Jury prize at Cannes Film Festival, will be released in UK cinemas on 16 October by Metrodome in association with Palisades Tartan – the new name for the Tartan label which went out of business July last year .

To coincide with the film’s release, Palisades Tartan has launched a competition offering entrants the chance to win a trip for two to London to attend the UK premiere of Thirst and to have lunch with Park Chan-Wook.

Sill causing a stir with it’s Asian release, Jackie Chan’s dark, dramatic The Shinjuku Incident (banned in China!) is released on Blu-ray and two-disc DVD on 22 February by Cine Asia. Provocative, compelling and underscored with hard-hitting action, the pulse-pounding thriller, The Shinjuku Incident explodes with tension and delivers a career-defining performance from international action-superstar, Jackie Chan.

Further ahead, Cine Asia will also be releasing – through their new distribution deal with Weinstein’s US Dragon Dynasty (move over Momentum, that lasted long!) – the Jet Li classic Fist Of Legend, at last! The holy gail of Jet Li’s movies, previously unavailable in the UK outside of the (dreadful!) English dubbed release by Dimension, debuts on Blu-ray and Two-disc DVD on 22 March. Yay!!!

The new tie-up with Dragon Dynasty will also FINALLY see the release of S.P.L. aka Kill Zone – the first and undoubtedly best of the collaborations between director Wilson Yip and star/action choreographer Donnie Yen. This debuts on UK Blu-ray and two-disc DVD on 8 March.

Directed by Gordon Chan (The Medallion; Beast Cops) and starring martial arts superstar Jet Li (The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor; The Forbidden Kingdom; Fearless; Hero), Fist Of Legend gets the Ultimate Edition treatment courtesy of Cine Asia with an extra features-packed Blu-ray and two-disc DVD release on 22nd March 2010.

A stunning reinvention of Bruce Lee’s timeless 1972 classic, ‘Fist of Fury’, Fist Of Legend delivers scene upon scene of intense and magnificently composed martial arts action for what is now considered by many to be the greatest kung fu movie of all time.

In the most electrifying performance of his celebrated career, international superstar Jet Li plays Chen Zhen, the matchless number-one student of China’s preeminent kung fu master, Fok Yun-gap. Upon returning home to Shanghai after a period of study abroad, he discovers that his homeland has been devastated by a brutal Japanese occupation and that his once proud martial arts academy has fallen into disarray following the untimely demise of his beloved Master, allegedly in a challenge match with a member of the Japanese Black Dragon Clan.

Disgusted by the official verdict on his teacher’s death, Chen embarks on a heroic and uncompromising one-man quest to uncover the true killer and restore dignity to his fallen people – a journey that will bring him into deadly confrontation with Japan’s most formidable fighters.

Showcasing exceptional action-choreography from ace martial arts director, Yuen Woo-ping (The Matrix Trilogy and Kill Bill), Fist Of Legend is a brilliant martial arts masterpiece that justifiably has been awarded iconic status by fans and critics worldwide.

Fist Of Legend (cert. tbc) will be released on DVD (£17.99) and Blu-ray (£24.99) by Cine Asia on 22nd March 2010.

Special Features include: audio commentary by Hong Kong Cinema expert Bey Logan; ‘The Man Behind The Legend’ – an exclusive interview with director Gordon Chan; ‘Brothers In Arms’ – an exclusive interview with kung fu impresario Chin Siu-ho; ‘The Way Of The Warrior’ – an exclusive interview with Japanese action legend Kurata Yasuaki; ‘The School Of Hard Knocks’ – a screen fighting seminar at the celebrated Kurata Action School; a look at ‘Fist Of Legend’ with director Brett Ratner and critic Elvis Mitchell; deleted scenes gallery; trailer gallery; DTS HD MA English 5.1 audio (Blu-ray); Dolby Digital Cantonese 2.0 Stereo, Mandarin 2.0 Stereo and English 5.1 audio options (DVD); optional English subtitles.

Winner of the Best Action Choreography Award at the 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards and hailed by Variety as “a must see” for martial arts and action movie fans, the action-thriller Kill Zone comes to Blu-ray and DVD (as a two-disc Ultimate Edition) in March packed with special features that include behind the scenes featurettes, plus exclusive interviews with the stars and filmmakers.

Directed by Wilson Yip and featuring the work of many of the creative talents who helped him in bringing ‘Ip Man’, ‘Flashpoint’ and ‘Dragon Tiger Gate’ to the screen, Kill Zone stars Donnie Yen (Ip Man; An Empress And The Warriors), Simon Yam (Ip Man; Triangle), Sammo Hung (Three Kingdoms; Kung Fu Hustle; The Medallion) and Jacky Wu (Invisible Target; Fatal Contact) and combines hard-hitting martial arts action with gritty police thriller conventions.

Finally apprehended by veteran detective Chan Kwok Chung (Yam) after years of ruling the Hong Kong underworld, brutal gangster Wong Po (Hung) manages to escape justice by arranging the execution of the prosecuting attorney and the witnesses who could have sealed his fate and kept him behind bars. As Po walks free, the soon-to-retire Chan is diagnosed with terminal cancer and, with nothing left to lose, persuades his team of detectives to bring down their nemesis no matter what the cost.

However, their plans to operate outside the law are uncovered by Chan’s future replacement, Ma Kwun (Yen), a cop with a fearsome reputation who suddenly finds himself at odds with both the criminals he is trying to catch and the men he needs to trust. But Ma’s ethics are brought into question when Po hires a deadly assassin (Wu) to kill Chan’s men with ruthless efficiency and he is forced to join forces with his predecessor in order to wage bloody war on Po and his henchmen.

Climaxing in a long-awaited, extended screen showdown between martial arts legends Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen and featuring a breathtaking mano-a-mano face-off between Yen and Jacky Wu, Kill Zone is an electrifying and suspenseful thriller guaranteed to keep action fans on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

Kill Zone (cert. tbc) will be released on DVD (£17.99) and Blu-ray (£24.99) by Cine Asia on 8th March 2010.

Heartbroken, his life descends into darkness and petty crime quickly escalates to murder. With blood on his hands, he will risk everything to secure a future for his people, as they face an increasingly brutal onslaught from a criminal empire protected by a secret code. However, ancient traditions will not be broken and his defiance will lead to all-out war as both factions fight for control of the infamous Shinjuku district in the heart of Japan’s greatest city.

Ultimately pursued by forces on both sides of the law, Steelhead must fight for redemption and the survival of those he loves in the darkest night he has ever known…

Provocative, compelling and underscored with hard-hitting action, the pulse-pounding thriller, The Shinjuku Incident explodes with tension and delivers a career-defining performance from international action-superstar, Jackie Chan.
 Coming to Blu-ray and to DVD as a two-disc Ultimate Edition featuring a host of extras, including behind the scenes featurettes, cast interviews and deleted scenes, this is a must-have for Jackie Chan fans and lovers of action cinema.

Special Features include: Making of; behind the scenes featurettes; extended and deleted scenes; trailer gallery; interview gallery (Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu, Xu Jinglei, Masaya Kato, Naoto Takenata, Chin Kar Lok, Pater Kam Pau-Tat); Dolby Digital original language 2.0 and 5.1, plus English 5.1 audio tracks (DVD); DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 original language and 5.1 English, plus Dolby Digital original language 2.0 audio tracks (Blu-ray).

THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT (18)  is radical, uncompromising cinema with the most unforgettable finale of any Jackie Chan film to date! Released on two-disc DVD (£17.99) and single disc Blu-ray (£24.99) by Cine Asia on February 22.

The much-anticipated Chocolate, from Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew and starring martial arts star in the making JeeJa Yanin, is released on DVD today by Cine Asia.

You can read our review of Chocolate here »

The debut feature from writer-director Yosuke Fujita, Fine, Totally Fine is an amiable romantic comedy that focuses on an unlikely love triangle involving three hugely likeable misfits expertly played by Yosiyosi Arakawa (Tokyo; Memories Of Matsuko; Survive Style 5), Yoshino Kimura (Blindness; Sukiyaki Western Django) and Yoshinori Okada (Dark Tales Of Japan; Kamikaze Girls).

Rapidly approaching his 30th birthday, Teruo (Arakawa), the eldest son of a second-hand bookstore owner, has a dream to build the world’s scariest haunted house and spends his leisure time playing frightening practical jokes on anybody unfortunate enough to be in his immediate vicinity.

One day, through his childhood friend, Hisanobu (Okada), Teruo is introduced to a pretty young woman named Akari (Kimura), an extremely accident-prone artist who takes a job as an assistant at his father’s shop. Cute and attractive, Akari soon becomes the object of desire for both Teruo and Hisanobu resulting in a situation that threatens the pair’s longstanding friendship. As the trio’s relationships with each other begin to develop, the small bookstore becomes a refuge and meeting place for variety of individuals and outcasts whose life paths have taken a different direction to the rest of the mainstream society.

A charming, character-driven comedy revolving around humorously absurd situations and personal relationships, Fine, Totally Fine is a sweet and heart-warming study of people trying to get by in an emotionally confusing world.

Fine, Totally Fine (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£14.99) by Third Window Films on 11th May 2009.

Directed by Wong Ching Po (A Decade Of Love; Mob Sister) and starring Andy Lau (A World Without Thieves; House Of Flying Daggers; Infernal Affairs), Jacky Cheung (Bullet In The Head), Shawn Yue (Dragon Tiger Gate; Initial D – Drift Racer; the Infernal Affairs trilogy) and Edison Chen (The Dark Knight; the Infernal Affairs trilogy), JIANG HU is a stylish gangster thriller.

Andy Lau stars as Triad boss Hung Yan-jau, whose celebrations to mark the birth of his first son are overshadowed by his having to intervene in an internal power struggle amongst his men. Despite the possibility of the situation exploding into all-out gang warfare, Hung is reluctant to take the extreme action advised by his long-time friend and closest ally, Left Hand (Jacky Cheung), who recommends the assassination of not only the troublemakers, but of all members of their immediate families. Claiming to have Hung’s best interests at heart, Left Hand takes it upon himself to order the elimination of those who threaten Hung’s position.

Meanwhile, a parallel storyline is unfolding involving two ambitious young gangsters, one of whom is hoping to climb the ranks within the criminal underworld by accepting a seemingly suicidal mission to murder one of Hong Kong’s most powerful Triad leaders…

A powerhouse cast of Hong Kong cinema’s finest actors helps propel Wong Ching Po’s dynamic thriller to a superbly stylised showdown on the city’s rain drenched streets and a climactic twist that brings the movie’s two plots together in a pleasingly dramatic finale.

JIANG HU (cert. tbc) will be released on DVD (£15.99) by Palisades Tartan on 30th November 2009. Special Features include: “Making of” featurette; music video; trailer; 2.0 and 5.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 DTS Surround audio options; optional English subtitles.

This month Third Window continue to release Asian films that might otherwise get missed with two ‘offbeat’ Japanese comedies… (more…)

Also out on DVD today – as if we haven’t mentioned it enough times! – two absolute Shaw Brothers kung fu classic in the shape of King Boxer and 36th Chamber Of Shaolin! If you’ve yet to order your copy, enjoy this slendidily exploitative trailer from King Boxer’s US release as Five Fingers Of Death…

Finally out in the UK on DVD and Blu-Ray, S.P.L.: Kill Zone, starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung and Simon Yen. Here’s the UK promo to give you a taster…

Read our full review here »

According to Launching Films Ong Bak 2, to be retitled Ong Bak: The Beginning (though that makes as much sense as calling it Ong Bak in the first place!) is going to be released in the UK on 16 October by Revolver Entertainment. Bizarrely, that’s the same day Park Chan-wook’s vampire flick Thirst is released by Metrodome, which won the Jury prize at Cannes and stars the brilliant Song Kang-ho (who also appeared in Chan-wook’s JSA, Sympathy For Mr Vengeance and Lady Vengeance). Hmmm, someone thought that through, didn’t they?

Studio Ghibli’s latest, however, Ponyo On The Cliff, directed by the Oscar-winning Hayao Miyazaki, however, still doesn’t have a UK release date, even though Walt Disney are releasing it in the US on 14 August…

…at bleeding last! ‘Nuff said.

The highly enjoyable Ip Man – based on the life story of the man who taught Bruce Lee kung fu – is released on Blu-ray and DVD today courtesy of Cine Asia/Showbox Entertainment. We spoke to star Donnie Yen, director Wilson Yip and action choreographer Sammo Hung last week about martial art films, Bruce Lee, Wing Chun and much more besides…

Also out today…

Palisades Tartan continue to reissue their back catalogue with gusto. Today sees two box sets released: Asian Horror – Essential Collection, featuring Takashi Miike’s Audition, ‘Ring‘ Director Hideo Nakata’s Dark Water And The Pang Brothers’ The Eye. A second box set, Korean Horror – Essential Collection, collects Kim Sung-Ho’s Into The Mirror, Park Ki-Hyung’s Acacia And Won Shin-Yeon’s The Wig. They also release Blood Rain today, an inventive thriller set in the 19th century starring Cha Seung-won (Eye For An Eye, Kick The Moon).

4Digital release Cyborg She, lighthearted sci-fi love story about a lonely young man and his female cyborg from the future starring Haruka Ayase (Ichi).

Finally released in the UK – thanks to a tie-up between Cine Asia and Weinstein’s US-based Dragon Dynasty label – one of the best martial arts films of the last decade…! (more…)

Yep, just the other day we were wondering when Ponyo (aka Ponyo on the Cliff), the latest film from Studio Ghibli, would get a UK release, seeing as it opens in US cinemas in a couple of weeks. Now, according to a quick look at Launchingfilms.com, the film has just been slated for UK release by Optimum Releasing…

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who seems to have given up suggesting he’s ever going to retire now, the film marks a return to form after Ghibli’s release of the disappointing Tales From Earthsea adaption by Hayao’s son Goro Miyazaki.

Now the bad news: according to Launchingfilms, we’re going to have to wait till 5 February 2010! Say what?

Perhaps this is part of the arrangement they have with Disney over licensing, or maybe they’re hoping for some good news in next years Oscars, but once again this seems a great way to bury a film. I mean, the DVD and Blu-ray are already widely available from Asia, and by the time this gets released the Walt Disney DVDs and Blu-rays will have been out for a while too – so will anyone want to see this in a cinema?

Whether this will be released in the original language or the ‘all-star’ Disney dub (or both – not uncommon for Optimum releases of Ghibli films) remains to be seen.

While we’re looking ahead to next year (!) a couple of other releases in the calendar that may be of interest include the remake of Karate Kid, Kung Fu Kid, directed by Harald Zwart (who? Agent Cody Banks, Pink Pather 2? Oh dear…) and starring Jackie Chan and Will’s boy Jayden Smith (no doubt gettin’ jiggy wit it) – due for release on 16 July 2010.

A week later, on the 23 July, the series that brought Bruce Lee to the attention of America and the West (even though most of us then prompty forgot) The Green Hornet is finally due to make it to the big screen. After countless aborted projects, the latest production has not been without problems. Stephen Chow was due to direct and star as Kato, but left after creative differences. (Ah, that old chesnut!) Now director Michel Gondry (fresh from his Flight Of The Conchords episode) is attached to the project, with Seth Rogan (oh please!) to star alongside Nicholas Cage and Cameron Diaz, but no-one cast in the Kato role as yet. (Though rumours abound that Kwone Sang-woo, who starred in Once Upon a Time in High School, itself a nice take on the Bruce Lee mania in Korea in the 70s, might get the role.) Could we be looking along the same lines as when Burton did Batman?

Of course, they’ve actually got to make the thing first, so don’t be surprised if dates change – a lot!

To celebrate the release of Blood: The Last Vampire on DVD and Blu-ray, we have three copies to give away… (more…)