Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

Enter the Game of Death Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 23, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin's The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1.

When Severin Films released Kung Fu Trailers of Fury and Return of Kung Fu Trailers of Fury several years ago, I'm sure I wasn't the only one initially thinking, "Well, that's a stupid idea for a release", only to have the sheer lunacy of the trailers assembled in both collections "fight back" against that assessment, as if to say in response, "Yeah, well who's stupid now?" In fact, both Kung Fu Trailers of Fury and Return of Kung Fu Trailers of Fury were kind of deliriously enjoyable in their own slapdash way, and those releases evidently were one of the inspirations for a full on collection of so-called "Brucesploitation" films, this time offering the actual films in addition to their trailers. The goofily affable Michael Worth, who has contributed so many fun commentaries through the years to various kung fu films on Blu-ray, is your "host" of sorts here, offering introductions to all the films and commentaries for many of them. If none of these films is ever going to be acclaimed as an unappreciated masterpiece, and if both video and audio on many of the films in this set might be charitably termed problematic, merely having these films in high definition will be alluring, and an absolute glut of other supplemental material is included as well, making this a probable "must have" for a certain demographic.

Once again the inimitable Michael Worth is on hand with a somewhat scabrous introduction where he manages that Enter the Game of Death was one of Bruce Le's personal favorite, to which Worth adds that it might be one of your favorites, too, if you like "hard to follow plots and heavy handed Bruce Lee movie references." While Enter the Game of Death offers, um, homages like Le donning a yellow track suit that may look curiously familiar to some, this film really doesn't take the "Bruce" part of Brucesploitation literally, in that Le is playing a character named Chang, who is tasked with taking out bad guys during (and here's the kicker, no Kung Fu pun intended) World War II. It's resolutely ridiculous but it's surprisingly more straightforward than some of the more gonzo Brucesploitation efforts in Severin's set. That may or may not be a good thing, depending upon your sensibilities, since the film has little of the out of control (intentional or unintentional) comedy quotient and even some of the action scenes are kind of routine.

Enter the Game of Death Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Enter the Game of Death is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Michael Worth states this transfer was sourced from a German 35mm print. There is all sorts of damage, both minor and frankly pretty major, that can be spotted throughout the presentation, ranging from relatively small flecks and specks, to some several long lasting scratches than can cover the frame. There are other momentary peculiarities like hairs in the gate. This is yet another transfer where the rectangular frame can occasionally look like it's been twisted into a parallelogram, so that everything inside the frame can look tilted or skewed slightly (see screenshot 5, though there are other examples in the screenshots uploaded to accompany this review). Color is variable but relatively robust a lot of the time, and some of the primaries, notably red, resonate decently enough. This has a thick, almost swarthy at times, grain field which at least argues against filtering having been applied.

Enter the Game of Death Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Enter the Game of Death features another DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono mix that delivers all of its elements with a baseline efficiency, but which can sound slightly compressed on the high end, with the same kind of brightness that can afflict scoring and sound effects in particular. Some of the scoring has a slightly phased quality at times. The dubbing again is almost willfully inept in terms of matching spoken material to lip movements. Optional English subtitles are available.

Enter the Game of Death Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Partial Audio Commentary With Actor/Director/Bruceploitation Expert Michael Worth


• Scene Specific Commentary With Actor Chiu Chi Ling


• Kung Fu Movie Hustle – Interview With Chiu Chi Ling (HD; 14:49) is subtitled in English.


• Talking A Good Game – Roundtable Discussion With Martial Artists/Kung Fu Film Experts Tatevik Hunanyan, John Kreng, Ron Strong and Michael Worth (HD; 11:23) offers some personal reminiscences.


• Severin's Kung Fu Theater With Actor/Director/Bruceploitation Expert Michael Worth (HD; 1:24) offers a brief introduction. This is accessible as either a standalone supplement or under the Play Menu, where it's authored to lead directly to the feature.


• Trailer (HD; 3:00)

Enter the Game of Death Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Michael Worth offers some interesting comments both in his introduction and his commentary about the glut of Brucesploitation material that seems almost obsessed with what was planned as being the "next" Bruce Lee film until his untimely demise. This is one of the less patently absurd outings in the set on one level, but its time frame is odd (to say the least), and its action elements may not maintain the same gonzo intensity that some of the other Brucesploitation offerings do. Once again video and audio encounter some hurdles, but the supplements are very enjoyable.