Is Park Chan-Wook's Vengeance Trilogy Worth the Blu-Ray Upgrade?

So you've purchased the individual domestic DVD releases of SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE, OLDBOY and SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE. Or maybe the Korean imports are a jewel of your DVD set. But now that there's a Blu-ray boxset release of all three films the question arises; is it worth the double dip? Lets take a look at everything that comes with the set:

SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE (2002) Unable to afford proper care for his sister dying from kidney failure, Ryu turns to the black market to sell his own organs only to end up cheated of his life savings. His girlfriend urges Ryu to kidnap the daughter of wealthy industrialist Dong-jin, who recently laid him off. Ryu agrees, but unforeseen tragedies turn an innocent con into a merciless quest for revenge. Bound by their personal losses and deep-seated anger, the two men are thrust into a spiral of destruction.

* Audio commentary with director Park Chan-Wook and actor/filmmaker Ryoo Seung-wan
* The Process of Mr. Vengeance
* My Boksu Story
* Crew interviews
* Jonathan Ross on Park Chan-wook
* Soundtrack and photos
* Storyboards
* Original behind-the-scenes feature
* Trailer

OLDBOY (2003) Oh Dae-su is an ordinary Seoul businessman with wife and little daughter who. After a drunken night on the town, is abducted and locked up in a strange and private "prison." No one will tell him why he’s there and who his jailer is. His fury builds to a single-minded focus of revenge. 15 years later, he is unexpectedly freed, given a new suit, a cell-phone and 5 days to discover the mysterious enemy who had him imprisoned. Seeking vengeance on all those involved, he soon finds that his enemy’s tortures are just beginning.

* Audio commentaries:
o Director Park Chan-wooko Park Chan-wook and cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon
o Park Chan-wook and cast
* Five behind-the-scenes featurettes:
o Making The Film – The Cast Remembers
o Production Design
o The Music Score
o CGI Documentary
o Flashback
* Le Grand Prix at Cannes
* Ten deleted scenes with optional commentary
* "The Autobiography of Oldboy": 3-hour video diary.

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (2005) Lee Geum-ja is the Lady Vengeance who was sent to prison when she was 19 for a murder case and abduction of a child on behalf of Mr Baek. While in prison, she carefully prepares for her revenge by winning the hearts of her fellow inmates with her kindness, thus earning herself the nickname 'kind Ms. Geum-Ja'. Upon her release from prison after 13 years, she finally sets out to seek revenge on Baek.

* Regular Version
* Fade-To-White versions (with Park Chan-wook introduction to the Fade-To-White version)
* Audio commentaries:
o Director Park Chan-wook and actress Lee Young-ae
o Park Chan-wook, cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon and art director Choi Hyeon-seok
o Critic Richard Peña
* Making-of featurette
* EPK:
o Teaser
o Trailer
o Highlights
o Second making-of featurette
* The Style of Lady Vengeance:
o Visualization
o Production Design
o Costume & Makeup
o Art
o CG
* Deleted scenes with commentary
* Park Chan-wook:
o Interview with Park Chan-wook
o Park Chan-wook, "Mr. Vengeance"
o Photography featurette
o Director's Choice, A short film recommended by Park Chan-wook
* Character interviews
o Lee Geum-ja
o Professor Baek
o Prisoners
o Families
* Lady Vengeance in Venice
* Get Together
* Trailer
* TV spots
* Poster gallery

Two things standout which makes this a must-have addition to your collection. First and foremost, everything has subtitles! In the late 1990s and early 2000s, when importing DVDs was the only way to see many Korean films, including Park Chan-Wook's films, it was nigh-unbearable that all the extra features did not have subtitles, including many of the extras that are now part of this set. Now we are able to enjoy what is being spoken about, which only adds a brand new layer of enjoyment to these cinematic delights. Secondly, is the alternate Fade-to-White version of SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE. Much like the name implies, the film gradually fades from full color to black-and-white over the course of the running length, adding entirely new visual implications to themes set forth in the film.

Released by the recently rechristened Palisades Tartan distribution company, this is one of the few times where double-dipping seems the only natural thing to do.

Curious Goods is Back Open - FRIDAY THE 13th: THE SERIES on DVD

The first season of FRIDAY THE 13th: THE SERIES hits DVD on September 23d, featuring twenty-six episodes spread across six discs, and includes "Original Network Launch Promos" and "Sales Presentation" footage.

The series, which was not related to our beloved hockey mask wearing killer (despite what the DVD cover's font may have you believe), focused on an antique store where the owner and his employees would collect cursed artifacts and lock them away so they could do no harm.

Could a release for the similarly-styled NIGHTMARE CAFE or FREDDY'S NIGHTMARES be far behind?

Final DVD Specs for THE BEYOND and PIECES from Grindhouse Releasings

On October 28th Grindhouse Releasings will give patient horror fans a treat with deluxe DVD editions of Lucio Fulci's THE BEYOND and the Spanish splatterfest PIECES.

THE BEYOND will include the following extras, some of which were previously seen on the Anchor Bay release:

- Anamorphic Widescreen transfer of the uncut print.
- Audio commentary by stars Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck
- On-set interview with Fulci
- Cast and crew interviews
- Optional Italian-language soundtrack and original mono audio
- Lost German pre-credit sequence in color
- Necrophagia music video by Jim VanBebber
- Still and poster-art gallery
- Original theatrical trailers
- Filmographies
- Liner notes

PIECES will include the following:

- Anamorphic Widescreen transfer of the original uncut print.
- English and Spanish audio tracks
- Alternate audio track: The Vine Theater Hollywood Experience
- In-depth interviews with Simon and actor Paul L. Smith
- Still and poster-art gallery
- Filmographies
- Liner notes

Both DVDs will retail for $24.95. PIECES is currently scheduled for select theatrical showings just prior to the disc's debut.

MST3K 20th Anniversary DVD Boxset Specs Released!

Shout! Factory has released the final specs for their upcoming box set celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 that will hit DVD players on October 28th.

The set will feature four never-before-released episodes that fans have been clamoring for including:

- First Spaceship to Venus
- Laserblast
- Werewolf
- Future War

Extras includes featurettes covering the entire lifespan of MST3K and interviews with all the key players that made the series the classic it is. The set will also include lobby cards and a Crow T Robot figurine.

Shout! Factory, which now owns the entire run of the show, promises that this is merely the first of many sets that fans will surely go nuts over. Could we be seeing a Godzilla / Giant Monster themed set in the near future?

KHADAK Movie Review

KHADAK (2006)

On the desolate plains of Mongolia, nomadic herders tend to their flocks and congregate in large tents to keep warm and pass away the days. Among these is Bagi, a young man who is dedicated to his mother, grandfather and most of all to his flock, and seems to be plagued with the same affliction that eventually lead to his father’s death. Life is hard for these nomads, but it is the life they have chosen and the life they cherish. That all changes when the government comes rolling in with military vehicles and wild claims that the flocks are contaminated with a mysterious plague and must be contained. The herders meanwhile, are rounded up and brought into a city where jobs await them.

Life may have been tough on the plains, but it becomes almost unbearable for Bagi and his family. Bagi is placed into a mail delivery service, while his mother is sent to work operating a gigantic crane at the coal mine. When Bagi is picked up for stealing, he is placed in a labor camp where he meets a group of dissident youths and fellow ex-nomads who believe that the animals are all safe and that the plague was made up. All the while, Bagi’s affliction, which a doctor diagnoses as seizures, are becoming worse and worse. And it is during one of his seizure attacks, where he drifts into an ethereal state of mind, that Bagi comes to believe he knows where their flocks are being held!

Read my full review on The DVD Lounge

PTU Movie & DVD Review

PTU (2003)

In a single night on the quiet streets of Hong Kong, two policemen could very well have their lives changed forever. When the obnoxious and out-of-shape Sergeant Lo (Lam Suet) loses his gun after being jumped by a local youth gang, he panics at the thought of the consequences that follow. Sergeant Ho (Simon Yam), a friend of Lo’s and a leader of a local Police Tactical Unit, offers to help track the gun down with his team. As long as they can find it before the shift is over, they will not have to report the infraction.

The two go their separate ways, with Lo becoming more frantic as the hours tick away, even going so far as to buy a replica toy gun as a last resort, and coming under the thumb a local triad boss who Lo believes may have come into possession of the gun. The triad boss asks Lo to kill his main rival, and he will return the gun. Meanwhile, Ho and his team keep their calm and begin hitting up the low-end criminals of the area for information. And by that, Ho literally begins hitting up anyone who may have information as he dishes out some not-quite-legal persuasive techniques to get the information he wants. As the dawn hours slowly creep up, a meeting between the two rival triad leaders and Lo on Canton Street could lead to an all-out gang war, and Ho must decide to let the events play out, or step in with his team and intervene.

Read my full review on Geeks Of Doom!

PTU is currently available on Amazon.com

THE ROYAL TRAMP Collection DVD Review

THE ROYAL TRAMP 1 & 2 (1992)

Political strife is dividing the current reign of China during the Ching Dynasty, as the Emperor believes that one of his top advisors Obai is planning to kill him, and the Society Of Heaven And Earth is plotting to overthrown the government and return power to the Ming Dynasty. Enter Wei Siu Bo (Stephen Chow), a charismatic and manic con man with no allegiance save to himself who has no martial art skills but has a mastery over wordplay. By fate and perchance, Bo is swept up by Heaven And Earth to infiltrate the palace and steal a book that contains the secrets which will allow the anti-government society to defeat the Emperor. Instead, Bo becomes friends with the Emperor and his sister. As secret attacks and double crosses plague the palace, Bo is able to take advantage of one situation after another to gain the confidence of the Emperor and uses his wit and dumb luck to maneuver out of one deadly situation after another. But he is unaware that there is yet another plot underway to take over rule of China, and that the saga of the Royal Tramp could be over just as quickly as it started!

Filmed back to back in 1992 by the highly prolific director Wong Jing, Royal Tramp and Royal Tramp 2 take their inspiration from the wildly popular serial story "The Duke Of Deer Mountain" that appeared in a Hong Kong newspaper, from which Wong Jing also wrote the screenplays. At the head of this incredible comedy and spoof on period dramas and wuxia martial arts epics is Stephen Chow, who has had his unique comedic style tailor woven into the scripts.

[Read my full review at Geeks Of Doom]

THE KILLER SNAKES (1974) Movie & DVD Review

THE KILLER SNAKES (1974)

Poor Zhihong has spent his entire life being beat up and humiliated, and now lives in squalor in one of Hong Kong's rundown neighborhoods. His only true friend is Xiujuan, a young woman who runs a street vendor stall. Zhihong is too shy to ask her out, and unbeknownst to him, she is equally too shy to ask him out. One night, a wounded snake from a delicacy restaurant next door, slithers into Zhihong's apartment. Zhihong nurses the snake back to health, and realizes that he has an almost telepathic connection to the snake. He soon rescues more snakes from certain death in the restaurant, and builds up an army of reptilian friends to confide in.
One day, while delivering food for his new job, a street gang attacks Zhihong and steals his monthly wages. His boss doesn't believe Zhihong's story and fires him. And on top of that, Zhihong is stood up by Xiujuan, whom he had asked out just hours before. He finally decides to get back at all those who have humiliated and beaten him, and sets out with his snakes in tow to kill them all! Soon, gang members and prostitutes are falling dead left and right, but how long will it take for the authorities to track the slayings back to Zhihong?

Read my full review at Geeks Of Doom

AFTER DARK HORRORFEST 2007 Titles Come To DVD

The After Dark Horrorfest 2007, which features a new batch of 8 Films To Die For, will be hitting DVD on March 18th. They will all have 16:9 anamorphic transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. Extras will vary from title to title.

Check out the individual titles below for more information.









BORDERLAND, CRAZY EIGHTS, THE DEATHS OF IAN STONE, LAKE DEAD, MULBERRY ST, NIGHTMARE MAN, TOOTH AND NAIL, and UNEARTHED will each retail for $19.95.

BALLS OF FURY Movie and DVD Review

BALLS OF FURY (2007)

Childhood ping ping prodigy Randy Daytona, who suffered defeat at the 1988 Games, is now a miserable sod performing tricks at a matinee show in Reno. It is here that FBI agent Ernie Rodriguez offers Randy the chance of a lifetime — to slip into an underground ping pong tournament run by the nefarious triad leader Feng to get evidence that will shut down his criminal organization. Randy agrees, and is soon put through a hellish training by blind ping pong master Wong and Wong's equally abusive niece, Maggie.

After defeating Chinatown's local legend, The Dragon, Randy is offered a chance to compete in Feng's tournament, and is bused off to his secret headquarters in Central America. There, Randy and his fellow competitors are offered all the luxuries they can think of before the first round begins and the early losers learn quite to their horror that this is a tournament to the death! Will Randy be able to stay alive long enough to find the evidence he needs, or will he become just another plaque on Feng's wall of fallen athletes?

Read my full review at Geeks Of Doom

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK DVD Review

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK (1993)

While the broadcast was released on CD posthumously at the tail end of 1994, there has never been an official release of the episode. That is, until now. Almost fourteen years to the day of the original recording, Geffen Records is finally giving the fans what they need, and boy have they done it right! It is no secret that what fans saw on television was about two-thirds of the full recording, with two songs truncated from the set list and almost all of the down time between songs removed. Even the CD release, which included the missing songs "Something In The Way" and the third song that Nirvana played with The Meat Puppets "Oh Me," is still missing almost thirteen minutes of the chatter and tuning in between the songs.

The complete concert, which includes all fourteen songs and clocking in at 67 minutes, is the entire performance from the first tuning to band's exit from stage. All the banter between Nirvana amongst themselves and between Kurt Cobain and the audience is finally available for us all to witness. The picture is crystal clear and the sound has been arranged in a surround mix to get the most out of your home theatre. It is almost a perfect replication of what it must have been like to be sitting in that sound stage on that historic day. What was just hinted at in the original broadcast, and slightly expanded on with the audio CD, is a band completely relaxed and having a lot of fun, both with themselves and somewhat at the expense of the audience. This version of the concert has no credits, no song names at the beginning of each song, and no fade-to-black cuts for commercials, it is simply a beautiful recording of an enchanting performance.

Read my full review at Geeks Of Doom for the complete rundown on this must own title.

THE MURDER GAME Movie and DVD Review

THE MURDER GAME (2006)

Eight high school friends have a game that they like to play, which is a modified game of hide and seek, where a secret killer tries to murder all the other players before being discovered. When they aren't allowed to play in their houses anymore, they sneak into a self-storage facility before it closes, with the intention of playing all night once they are locked in.

At first, the new environment provides some extras chills and thrills for the group, but when someone in the building starts playing the game for real, the group begins to pick sides and point fingers at whose to blame. Is it the homeless man they find living in one of the storage units? Collin, the troubled goth that has just joined the group? Or someone else that has yet to emerge from the shadows? The clock is ticking until the doors unlock again, but will anyone be left alive to try and escape?

Find out if this "game" is worth playing at Gorezone.net!

DOG BITE DOG Movie & DVD Review

DOG BITE DOG (2006)

After a savage assassin named Pang (Edison Chen) enters illegally into Hong Kong and hits his target, the police respond with equal savagery as they tear into the night to find him once they realize that he is a Cambodian that has been raised to do nothing by fight and kill for his very survival. On the team is Inspector Ti (Sam Lee), who makes the case personal and focuses his very being on catching the assassin after an initial negotiation attempt turns deadly.

As the manhunt continues, and with each time the assassin successfully alludes capture, the police resort to rash unprofessional means to capture him that border on criminal. Ti himself becomes an animal as he bursts through the most seedy and disgusting shadows of Hong Kong trying to find information and pummeling anyone who might have some information. When he finally reaches his target, after witnessing his fellow officers murdered, Ti and Pang make their shocking and jaw-dropping last stand that could only be "made in Hong Kong."

Read The Rest Of My Review At Geeks Of Doom

DRAWN TOGETHER SEASON TWO Review

DRAWN TOGETHER
Seaon Two

This is the true life story of eight cartoon characters picked to live in a house and have their lives recorded. Find out what happens when they stop acting nice and start acting real. There’s Clara, the racist, homophobic anti-semantic princess; Foxxy Love, the mystery-solving musician; the manly superhero Captain Hero; Ling Ling, the cute but deadly Asian anime animal; Xandir, the video game adventurer; Spanky Ham, the Internet download sensation; and Toots, the black and white 1920’s sex symbol.

Picking up right where the cliffhanger season one episode ended, season two continues to laugh in the face of political correctness, skirts the line of copyright infringement with each scene, and swings for the fences to offend all who dare to tune in. And like any good second season or sequel, creators Dave Jeser and Matthew Silverstein, along with an army of psychotic writers, push everything harder and faster this time around. If any punches were pulled during the first season, they certainly don’t seem to be pulling any this time around, especially with the freedom of the DVD format and those two glorious words “not rated.”

Read My Full DVD Review At Geeks Of Doom

SCREEM MAGAZINE ISSUE 15 Now Available!

My fellow guys n' ghouls, issue 15 of Screem Magazine, featuring six in-depth DVD reviews from your truly, is now available on www.screemag.com.

Here is the official magazine promo blurb:

"Welcome to the new jaw dropping issue of SCREEM MAGAZINE! We take a look at the new Jaws documentary The Shark is Still Working, interview director Jack Hill on the new DVD release for Spider Baby, talk trash with Mink Stole; examine the bizarre world of Roky Erickson; look at the Mexican film World of Vampires; and check out what our pal Johnny Legend is up to. Author Stephen Thrower writes an essay on his new book Nightmare USA; Anna Biller allows us a peek at Viva!; John Hand discusses his directorial feature Frankensteins Bloody Nightmare; and we dig deep into the Crown International film catalog. We've expanded our DVD review coverage as well (and include for the first time HD DVD reviews). All this and more in our biggest issue to date!"

You should also be able to find this at most Borders stores as well.

SCREEMAG.COM

THE CITY OF VIOLENCE Movie Review

THE CITY OF VIOLENCE (2006)

When retired gang leader Wang-Jae is murdered, detective Tae-Soo returns to his hometown for the first time in ten years after leaving to become a detective in Seoul. Tae-Soo reunites with his old high school friends to say farewell to Wang-Jae, but feels that something is not right about his death. With his fists and temper at his side, Tae-Soo uses the power of the law to stir up a few hornet nests trying to figure out just what happened. For his troubles, Tae-Soo is beset by multiple gangs, all trying to keep Tae-Soo from finding out too much. But with his friend Seok-Hwan at his side, whose fists are just as merciless, Tae-Soo starts tearing through the lies, deceptions, and criminal activity setting up shop in the tourist district. And when he finally gets someone to talk, he learns that it may just be their mutual friend Pil-Ho behind the murder.

The domestic release of The City Of Violence comes courtesy of Dragon Dynasty, a genre label under the newly formed Weinstein Company. The Weinsteins, who were once the targets of the seething wrath of Hong Kong fans for their Dimension releases of Jet Li and Jackie Chan films, which only featured English dubs and shortened versions of the movie, have finally come around and given the fans just what they want — original dialogue and subtitles, the uncut film, and plenty of extras. A quick look at the original CJ Entertainment extras looks like they've ported over the entire Region 3 release. As well as a Dolby Digital and DTS Korean soundtrack, an English dub is also made available on this DVD, for those that can't deal with "reading" a movie. [Read My Full Review at Geeks Of Doom]

Explore the "Welcome To The Grindhouse" DVD line

WELCOME TO THE GRINDHOUSE

It has become no secret that the Weinstein brothers have decided to release DEATH PROOF and PLANET TERROR in separate DVD packages, and at this point there has been no word that how the select few who made it to U.S. theatres to see the two as the double-bill GRINDHOUSE will ever get to see it exactly like that again.

With the term "grindhouse" now back in chic as a catch all term to mean basically anything made on a low budget before 1982, DVD companies have been scouring public domain titles and blurry third generation bootleg VHS tapes to compile into multi-disc collections under umbrellas like "Grindhouse Trash" and "Grindhouse Horror"

One of these companies BCI / Eclipse. BCI, however, is going straight for the jugular of Harvey's fat neck. Their double-feature series is called "Welcome To The Grindhouse", an obvious zing to the horribly misconstrued trailer advertisement for GRINDHOUSE, as well as a blood red font to mimic GRINDHOUSE's poster tag, and a DVD cover with a remarkably similar "theatre front" design that some may have seen on display in your movie theatres right around April 6th.

Things get worse, as in better, from here for those chubby money grubbing ex-Miramaxers. Starting up one of BCI's DVDs, you'll get a scratchy-print camera pan-across the title "Welcome To The Grindhouse" (once again recalling distant memories of April 6th). The DVD menus allow for watching either movie seperately, or a third luring choice - The Grindhouse Experience.

Choosing this third option, and my humble opinion the *only* option, will bring a smile and a tear to pretty much everyone out there. It starts off with the beautiful and beat-to-hell "Prevues" card, followed by several trailers for other titles soon to be released by BCI. Next of course is the "Feature Presentation" and the first film. A second batch of trailers follows, and then second feature presentation. All without having to touch your DVD remote once. Oh, it is glorious! You may want to pour soda and few kernels of popcorn on your floor to complete the experience.

BCI also does right with not only their film selections, but how they package them. Each disc has a double-bill theme from black magic horror to sexploitation, kung fu to grizzly slasher. Most of these films, coming from the Crown International library, are also seeing either a DVD debut or are seeing print once again for the first time since early in the digital format's life. BCI also has made the choice to do zero clean-up on the prints, preserving the really-real print scratches and blemishes, frame jumps, and splotchy audio. It lowers the disc production costs and in the process somehow makes these movies more authentic or important than they really are. Most of the titles at this point, save for the Sonny Chiba titles and maybe DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE, you'll probably never have heard of before.

All said and done, this is basically BCI giving the middle finger to two schlubs who had allowed two life-long fans of cinema to re-create and bring back the "movie experience" but through pure stupidity and bad advertising forgot to bring the audience. BCI now invites you with welcome arms to put on your raincoat, buy a bag of stale popcorn and some warm soda, and sit back to enjoy the feature presentations.