The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 18, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal collection from Arrow Video.

In 1976 folks in the United States were celebrating the bicentennial anniversary celebration of a famous revolution, but another revolution of a technological rather than a political variety was just beginning to unfold across the ocean in Japan at virtually the same time. That was the year that VHS began its scrappy upstart status against Betamax in a format war which in its day was probably at least as notorious as the one that decades later marked the rollout of high definition home video with competing HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats. Betamax of course ultimately lost that battle (rather incredibly both Betamax player and VCR production extended well into the 21st century, despite having been supplanted by disc formats), and by the time Toei had the bright idea to start producing direct to video releases in 1989, VHS was the dominant format. In a way it's kind of fascinating to compare and contrast Toei's decision to provide "product" to its chain of video stores with the way the major Hollywood studios used to provide feature films for the theater chains they owned until United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. forced the studios to divest those properties in 1948. One way or the other, despite economic tribulations in Japan which had severely impacted (theatrically exhibited) movie attendance, the direct to video market exploded for Toei, so much so that other major (and minor) Japanese studios soon followed suit by offering their own straight to video productions, though Toei had actually trademarked the term V-Cinema to describe their product. This collection of V-Cinema outings from Arrow includes a nonet of titles that tend to feature hardscrabble criminal types, including the film that started the whole V-Cinema craze, Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage.

Almost by default considering the fact the productions often were budgeted at insanely low sums, "marquee stars" can be hard to come by in V- Cinema outings, albeit as is discussed in some of the supplements accompanying various features in this collection, V-Cinema actually helped to create a new generation of Japanese "celebrity", if not exactly "movie star". It's perhaps just a bit ironic, then, that in terms of name value, it's the director of this opus, Teruo Ishii, who might attract the most instant attention. Ishii has been rather well served on Blu-ray courtesy of any number of releases including Orgies of Edo and Horrors of Malformed Men, among many others. Ishii's penchant for, well, weirdness probably fits in rather well with the overall V-Cinema ethos, even if The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses traffics in what amounts to Death Wish territory in its tale of a former officer named Takanashi (Hideki Saijô) who teems with a young con artist named Rumi ( Natsumi Nanase) to enact a quest for revenge.

The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Arrow lumps all of the films together in their page devoted to the presentations in this set's insert booklet, as follows:

The films in this collection represent a period of film production in Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s where films were made by the Toei Company specifically for home video. Beginning with Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage, these "V-Cinema" titles were produced quickly and inexpensively, but afforded filmmakers significant freedom when it came to censorship, resulting in riskier content than what had been produced for cinema distribution.

As such, the modest origins of these titles can be seen in these presentations. All films have been remastered by the Toei Company in high definition and are presented in the 1.33:1 home video format of the time.

Perhaps due to the fact that this story isn't swathed in near darkness a lot of the time, this presentation probably pops a bit more consistently than some of the others in this set, while also providing some nice fine detail levels in midrange and close-up framings. There are some fluctuations in brightness which can overlay a slightly milky look to some scenes. Grain can be heavy, but tends to resolve a bit more tightly than is seen in some of the other presentations in this set. Once again, minor but noticeable age related wear and tear can be spotted.

The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses features LPCM 2.0 audio in the original Japanese. This is one of the more vibrant soundtracks in Arrow's set, courtesy of both the use of some fun (if dated) music (Saijô was also a top charting singer in addition to be an actor), as well as glut of sound effects, notably guns piercing human flesh with all the attendant noises that makes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Versatility of Teruo Ishii (HD; 7:38) is an appreciation of the film by Frankie Balboa.


• Trailer (HD; 2:03)


• Introduction by Masaki Tanioka (HD; 3:39) is accessible under the Play Film menu and is authored to lead directly to the feature. Subtitled in English.

Arrow has packaged The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses and Danger Point: The Road to Hell together on one disc, and the keepcase features a reversible sleeve highlighting each title, as well as enclosing an art card for each film.

The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There is nonstop action (in both senses of the word), as well as some spectacular violence, running rampant through The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses. Some aspects like sexual assault may obviously be off putting, but they may arguably add to the gritty fervor of this film. Technical merits are generally solid and the main supplement appealing. Recommended.