Three... Extremes Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Three... Extremes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 21, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Three / Three... Extremes from Arrow Video.

Fans of world cinema who also have an interest in what might called "seasonal" spooky fare for the impending Halloween festivities are probably well acquainted with subgenres like so-called J-Horror and/or K-Horror productions, but Arrow is offering fans a sextet of stories across two discs that might be more broadly identified as A-Horror, i.e., Asian Horror. Three was released in 2002 and offered an interesting portmanteau structure which showed off the efforts of three different directors, one from Thailand, one from Hong Kong and one from South Korea. Somewhat hilariously but not all that unusually in the annals of what might be broadly termed A-horror, the original film only came out in the United States after a sequel, 2004's Three. . .Extremes, was released stateside successfully, and then only with the malaprop title Three. . .Extremes II. One way or the other, the second film offered another trio of directors, albeit this time with a Japanese director (the legendary Takashi Miike) taking the place of one from Thailand (while still offering the same "nationality", the Hong Kong and South Korean directors in each property are different). As with any portmanteau, some of the vignettes may resonate more strongly than others with any given viewer(s), but taken together they offer a frequently viscerally palpable mood of unease, and they also can tend to kind of both exploit and maybe even deconstruct preconceived notions about what various "national" horror idioms tend to provide. As usual, Arrow has aggregated some appealing supplements that should also be appreciated by genre enthusiasts.

While it may understandably be Takashi Miike's involvement with this follow up which sparks the most interest, it may in fact be the first two installments of this triptych which creep out viewers the most. First up is Dumplings, an "appetizer" which rather interestingly became its own "entree" when it was released as a standalone film in a somewhat different form. The story here involves a middle aged actress (Miriam Yeung) on the hunt for that miraculous fountain of youth, which in this case turns out to be supposedly magically infused dumplings. Suffice it to say the "reveal" of the dumplings' main ingredient is probably even more gag worthy than Mrs. Lovett's meat pies in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . Next up is the completely disconcerting (and, yes, that's a pun) Cut, which has a bit of "meta" content involving a film director who ends up getting taken hostage by an extra. The director's pianist wife (hence that preceding pun) is also captive, and suffice it to say something akin to the "puppetry" on display in the second segment of Three shows up here as well, probably even more horrifyingly. Miike's Box rounds out the trio, with another admittedly potent nightmare-scape involving an addled woman named Kyoko (Kyōko Hasegawa) haunted by memories of her childhood as a circus performer with her sister Shoko. There's a perfectly Miike-esque askew quality to the proceedings, but the "reveal" here may frankly not end up delivering any significant shock value.

Three... Extremes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Three. . .Extremes is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet for the set understandably combines its information about both films' transfers on one page:

Three and Three. . .Extremes have been restored by Arrow Films and are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 and stereo audio.

The original 35mm camera negatives were scanned in 4K by WE Distribution. Picture restoration and color grading were completed by Heavenly Movie Corp.

Audio restoration on the audio mixes for Three. . .Extremes was completed by Bad Princess Productions. All materials were provided by WE Distribution.

As I mentioned in the Three Blu-ray review, there are definitely different overall appearances on tap with the three segments included here, though I'd argue that this has an at least marginally more consistently homogeneous appearance than with regard to the first film. There are still some manifest variances in grain structure, to cite just one example, with some of Box and at least portions of Cut looking considerably grittier than Dumplings. The palette is very nicely suffused throughout Dumplings in particular. Cut has some intentionally skewed framings utilizing things like fisheye lenses that can marginally affect fine detail levels. Box also employs some nightmarish grading regimens that also intermittently detract from fine detail.

Three... Extremes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As is the case with Three, the glut of audio specs above boils down to one LPCM 2.0 track and one DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, with the languages reflecting the national origins of the different segments. The surround track is especially effective on this film, notably adding some spooky immersion to moments like the ominous low scoring that opens Dumplings. Ambient effects throughout all three episodes also offer at least intermittent immersion and some appropriately jumpy startle effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout.

Three... Extremes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary on Box by Takashi Miike


• Cross Pollination Horror Part 2 (HD; 16:06) continues the conversation with Peter Ho-Sun Chan begun on the Three disc.


• Cooking Dumplings (HD; 42:57) is a new interview with Fruit Chan, director of the Dumplings segment.


• Something a Little More Beautiful (HD; 17:29) is a new interview with Takashi Miike. Subtitled in English.


• Taste, Taboo and Truth (HD; 14:38) is a "newly edited" interview with Fruit Chan, filmed by Frederic Ambroisine in 2004.


• More Than Skin Deep (HD; 19:06) features Bai Ling, star of the Dumplings segment, in another newly edited interview culled from an Ambroisine session.


• Making of Dumplings (HD*; 14:37)


• Making of Cut (HD*; 20:43)


• Making of Box (HD*; 17:59)


• Three. . .Extremes Trailer (HD; 1:44)


• Dumplings Trailer (HD; 1:41)

*720

Consult the Three / Three... Extremes Blu-ray review for more information on non supplements.

Three... Extremes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Three. . .Extremes offers another unsettling trio of stories, with solid technical merits and some appealing supplements. Recommended.