British distributors 88 Films have revealed several upcoming Blu-ray releases. Among them are:
Long Arm of the Law: Parts I & II (1984-1987),
The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), and
The Postman Fights Back (1982).
JULY RELEASES
Magic Cop
Description: After seeing off hopping corpses in Mr Vampire, the great Lam Ching-Ying (Enter the Dragon, Eastern Condors) faces a new supernatural challenge: someone is using the living dead to smuggle drugs into modern-day Hong Kong and only Lam's Officer Feng – policeman and Taoist master – can stop them, proving the power of traditional Chinese magic in the process!
U.S. STREET DATE: JULY 25.
UK STREET DATE: JULY 24.
The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism
Description: Starring everyone's favourite classic horror star Christopher Lee, The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism AKA Blood Demon presents us with a grisly tale of death and horror in a bizarrely original take on the vampire myth.
UK STREET DATE: JULY 24.
Curse II: The Bite
Description: When bitten by a radiative snake, Clark (J Eddie Pack) begins to transform into a horrible half-human/half-reptile monster, in this mad, bizarre and utterly irresistible bit of late-80s low-budget Italian splatter.
UK STREET DATE: JULY 24.
Knife of Ice Standard Edition
Description: When the mute Martha Caldwell (Carroll Baker) discovers her famous cousin Jenny Ascot (Evelyn Stewart) has been brutally murdered, apparently by a strange man who had been stalking them, her world becomes one of nightmare and disturbing revelation. Directed by Italian legend Umberto Lenzi, (So Sweet, So Perverse, The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist, Cannibal Ferox) Knife of Ice (1972) is a quintessential piece of early 70s Gialli creepiness. Dreamlike, brutal and beautifully presented Lenzi's movie delivers a wonderfully creative mystery replete with a typically European twist in the tail.
UK STREET DATE: JULY 3.
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
Description: From director Mario Bava, the Godfather of Italian horror, comes Hatchet for the Honeymoon, a superlative early 70s slasher that places us and the erstwhile filmmaker back in the realm of the Gialli feature, a cinematic sub-genre he practically invented.
With echoes of Psycho (1960) and Peeping Tom (1960), this unsettling production sees troubled protagonist John Harrington (Stephen Forsythe) turning to a life of serial killing. Refused a divorce by his uncaring wife, and haunted by childhood trauma John takes out his murderous frustrations on a string of would-be brides who innocently cross his path.
Undoubtedly an influence on later movies like Maniac (1980), and a host of other chillers, this often-overlooked piece from one of Europe's finest, is a smart, beautifully stylised, gory delight.
UK STREET DATE: JULY 3.
Hitcher in the Dark
Description: Delivering an updated late 80s version of the classic Giallo or slasher movie, Umberto Lenzi (So Sweet, So Perverse, Eaten Alive, Cannibal Ferox) an alarmingly creepy tale of faltering sanity, and unhealthy obsession.
Hitcher in the Dark, plunges us into the murky and nightmarish world of matriarch-obsessed serial killer Mark Glazer (Joe Balogh). Spending his evenings raping and murdering innocent female victims, he eventually comes across Daniella who bears a striking resemblance to his dead mother.
Produced by legendary schlockmeister general Joe D'Amato and following in the bloody footsteps of Hatchett for the Honeymoon (1970), Maniac (1980) or Lenzi's earlier work, Hitcher in the Dark takes us to hell and back in a seedily unpleasant, grisly Italian psychodrama.
UK STREET DATE: JULY 3.
The Untold Story
Description: In 1978 in Hong Kong, a grisly murder takes place. Eight years later on a Macao beach, kids discover the severed hands of a fresh victim. A squadron of coarse, happy-go-lucky cops investigate and suspicion falls on Wong Chi Hang, the new owner of The Eight Immortals Restaurant famous for its delicious pork buns. The hands belong to the missing mother of the restaurant's former owner who has disappeared along with the rest of his family. Staff at the restaurant continue to go missing but the police can't find any hard evidence that Wong is responsible. When he can't produce a bill of sale proving his purchase of the restaurant, Wong is arrested and the police try to torture him into a confession. Can they make him talk? And what was in those famous pork buns?
Written by and starring Danny Lee (CITY ON FIRE), Anthony Wong (EBOLA SYNDROME) and Directed by Herman Yau (TAXI HUNTER), 88 Films is proud to release the most notorious Category 3 film ever produced in Hong Kong remastered from the Original Negative.
UK STREET DATE: JULY 3.
AUGUST RELEASES
The Postman Fights Back
Description: Martial arts adventure from director Ronnie Yu ('The Bride with White Hair'). Set during the early years of the Chinese Republic, the action follows four heroic soldiers who are sent on a secret mission by the Nationalist Guard. With seven days to realise their goal, the young fighters must fend of the attacks from feudal warlord Yue Sai Hoi, and be prepared to sacrifice everything in order to ensure the safe passage of their secret cargo.
U.S. STREET DATE: AUGUST 29.
UK STREET DATE: AUGUST 28.
Double Impact
Description: Nearly 25 years after seeing his father killed by Hong Kong crime boss Raymond Zhang (Philip Chan Yan Kin), Chad Wagner (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is living in Los Angeles as a flourishing yet peaceful martial arts trainer. But Chad has a twin brother, Alex (also Van Damme), who suddenly reunites with his less-aggressive sibling and wants to avenge their father's death. As the pair plan their payback against Zhang, they also struggle to overcome their personal differences.
UK STREET DATE: AUGUST 28.
Taxi Hunter
Description: One of the most infamous movies branded with Hong Kong's 'adults only' Category III rating, Taxi Hunter bravely tackles the under-explored scourge of - er - unprofessional taxi drivers. After his pregnant wife is perishes through the actions of a careless (and callous) cabby, mild-mannered Ah Kin (Anthony 'king of the Cat III's' Wong) declares war on the entire profession - and you don't need 'The Knowledge' to know he won't be leaving a tip... Directed by Herman Yau (who unleashed Ebola Syndrome on an unsuspecting world) 88 Films are pleased to present this important treatise on public transport in a wonderful new blu-ray edition.
U.S. STREET DATE: AUGUST 29.
UK STREET DATE: AUGUST 28.
The Thomas Crown Affair
Description: Bored billionaire Thomas Crown (Pierce Brosnan) decides to entertain himself by stealing a Monet from a reputed museum. When Catherine Banning (Rene Russo), an investigator for the museum's insurance company, takes an interest in Crown, a complicated back-and-forth game with romantic undertones begins between them. In an attempt to find out where Banning's loyalties lie, Crown returns the painting and essentially turns himself in, hoping that Banning's feelings for him will lead to an escape.
UK STREET DATE: AUGUST 28.
SEPTEMBER RELEASES
Long Arm of the Law: Parts I & II
Description: Presented together in one dynamite package comes The Long Arm of the Law and The Long Arm of the Law Part 2. Directed by Johnny Mak (To be Number One) and his brother, Michael Mak (Sex and Zen, Butterfly and Sword) respectively, these two movies are packed full of Hong Kong-style action sequences, thrills, and spills, and provide an explosive prelude to what would eventually become a quadrilogy of martial arts thrillers.
U.S. STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 26.
UK STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 25.
The Flesh & Blood Show
Description: Now for the very first time, Walker's seventies' horror movies are collected on Blu-ray in this terrifying new box-set, starring a host of famous faces: Robin Askwith (Horror Hospital), Stephanie Beacham (Inseminoid), Ann Michelle (Virgin Witch), Susan Penhaligon (The Uncanny), Luan Peter (Hammer's Lust for a Vampire) and his favourite actress, and omnipresent 'scary old lady', Sheila Keith.
The Pete Walker Heritage Collection brings together Die Screaming, Marianne (1971), The Flesh and Blood Show (1972), House of Whipcord (1974), Frightmare (1974), House of Mortal Sin (1976) Schizo (1977) and The Comeback (1978), all presented here in brand new HD remasters, and featuring a scary array of exclusive extras, including brand-new interviews with Walker himself.
UK STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 25.
Hard Boiled II - The Last Blood
Description: Andy Lau is out for blood... literally. Terrorists have shot two people: their target was a Tibetan religious leader but they also wounded the girlfriend of Bee (Lau - God of Gamblers). Since both victims share the same rare blood group, Bee joins the cops (headed by Alan Tam - Armour of God) racing to find a donor. But those terrorists haven't finished yet...
Also known as 'Hard Boiled II', 'Police Protectors' and '12 Hours of Terror', THE LAST BLOOD is a gunplay movie such as only Hong Kong filmmakers could produce and is a full-tilt tribute to the heroic bloodshed of John Woo (Hard Boiled). A pioneering mix of Buddhists and bullets from your pals at 88 Films!
U.S. STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 26.
\UK STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 25.