6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A Chinese-American cop, skilled in martial arts, battles the most powerful criminal gang in San Francisco that is responsible for the death of his partner. The film has retained several titles, Yellow Faced Tiger (Chinese: 黄面老虎; aka Slaughter in San Francisco, and two undefined titles which includes Chuck Norris Vs. The Karate Cop or Karate Cop in the United States) and is a 1974 Hong Kong martial arts action film starring Chuck Norris and Wong Tao. This was Norris's first starring role in a low budget Hong Kong picture.
Starring: Chuck Norris, Sylvia Chang, Robert Jones (VIII), Ching-Ying LamMartial arts | 100% |
Drama | 3% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: LPCM 2.0
Mandarin: LPCM 2.0
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Wei Lo's "Slaughter in San Francisco" (1974) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the release include new program with critics Mike Leeder and Arne Venema; new program with producer Andre Morgan, actor/director Michael Worth, and actor Wang Dao; ne audio commentary by critics Frank Djeng and Michael Worth. In English and Mandarin, with optional Enlgish subtitles. Region-B "locked".
A city to own
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Slaughter in San Francisco arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.
The release introduces new 2K restorations of the original Hong Kong theatrical and U.S. export versions of Slaughter in San Francisco. The former is approximately 106 minutes long (01:46.02). The latter is approximately 88 minutes long (01:28.03).
I viewed the export U.S. version but tested the Hong Kong theatrical version as well. Both boast very good delineation, clarity, and depth. Density levels on both are outstanding as well. Both look very healthy. Image stability is very good. I did not see any traces of problematic digital corrections. Color stability is very good. However, there are several sections of the film that invite a bit of yellow-ish hue that interacts with whites and blues. In the beginning of the film, where the two cops are seen patrolling, this hue is most prominent. My guess is that this is likely how the film was graded, or close to it, because elsewhere the primaries look great. Red, brown, black and blue are set properly there. (You can see the restaurant footage). Supporting nuances look good, too. I did not see any anomalies affecting the dynamic range of the visuals either, though in a couple of darker areas shadow nuances could have been handled slightly better. All in all, I think that this film looks pretty spectacular after it was redone in 2K. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 (for Slaughter in San Francisco) and Mandarin LPCM 2.0 (for Yellow Faced Tiger). Optional English subtitles are provided for the Mandarin track.
Both tracks use pretty exotic overdubbing. Both are very thin and never as well. It is very easy to tell that the English track was very cheaply done because even when it sounds very clear and stable it is unnaturally thin. So, the party that finalized clearly did not put too much effort in it. I did not encounter any audio dropouts or distortions to report.
This upcoming release of Slaughter in San Francisco is a gift for Chuck Norris completists. The film is pretty mediocre, so I imagine that only hardcore Norris fans will be excited to add it to their libraries. But I could be wrong because the release also has a nice selection of bonus features, one of which is an exclusive new program with critics Mike Leeder and Arne Venema that provides a very good overview of Norris' life and cinematic legacy. RECOMMENDED to the completists.
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