Eureka Entertainment Announces September Releases
HomeEureka Entertainment Announces September Releases
Posted June 25, 2026 06:30 PM by Webmaster
Eureka Entertainment has announced its September batch of releases. They are: Cruel Tales of the Bohachi (1973-1974) and Eastern Trails: The Western at DEFA (1967-1975). The two releases are scheduled to arrive on the market on September 21.
Cruel Tales of the Bohachi 4K Blu-ray
Description: Based on the popular manga by Lone Wolf and Cub creators Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight is one of the standout films in the career of Teruo Ishii (Shogun's Joy of Torture), known in Japan as the "King of Cult." A bloody and erotic samurai tale starring an assassin with a death wish, it paved the way for Takashi Harada's spiritual successor Bohachi Bushido: The Villain.
Code of the Forgotten Eight sees a nihilistic ronin, Shino Ashita (Tetsuro Tanba, Three Outlaw Samurai), join the sadistic Bohachi clan, a group of corrupt samurai who operate a prostitution ring. With nothing else to live for, he acts as their assassin in a war with a rival clan that poses a threat to their business. Then, in The Villain, the condemned criminal Kyushi Issho (Goro Ibuki, Hokuriku Proxy War) falls in with the infamous Bohachi samurai – and he too is drawn into a world of wanton violence and sexual sadism.
Prime examples of the ero guro jidaigeki (or, in other words, period films with a focus on eroticism and the grotesque), Code of the Forgotten Eight and The Villain are perfect portraits of the shifting depictions of sex and violence in Japanese cinema of the 1970s. The Masters of Cinema series is honoured to present both films for the first time on UK home video.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
DISC ONE - 4K BLU-RAY
Eastern Trails: The Western at DEFA
Description: A close relation to the Spaghetti Western, Indianerfilme (later called "Red Westerns" due to their politics) were some of the most popular genre movies produced by East Germany's state-operated film studio, DEFA. Focusing on the struggles of indigenous tribes against European settlers, they disrupted the frontier myths central to the American Western and made a bonafide superstar of Gojko Mitić, whose appearances in a long line of action-packed Westerns for DEFA made him one of the most famous faces in Europe. Mitić stars in all four of the films presented here: Chingachgook the Great Serpent, Fatal Error, Apaches and Blood Brothers.
Based on James Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer, Chingachgook the Great Serpent sees the eponymous Mohican set out to rescue his kidnapped bride-to-be (Andrea Drahota) with the help of a hunter known as Deerslayer (Rolf Römer). In Fatal Error, Native Americans living at the foot of the Rocky Mountains come to regret doing business with the corrupt Wyoming Oil Company. Apaches follows a young warrior as he sets out to avenge the massacre of his tribe at the hands of a ruthless mercenary (Milan Beli). Finally, Blood Brothers stars Dean Reed – an actor and singer-songwriter nicknamed the "Red Elvis" – as an American deserter who comes to fight alongside a Native American tribe.
Following the enormous success of The Sons of Great Bear in 1966, East Germany's series of Indianerfilme remained popular for the next two decades, finding enthusiastic audiences throughout Central and Eastern Europe and even as far afield as Cuba. The Masters of Cinema series is thrilled to present a selection of DEFA's "Red Westerns" on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Cruel Tales of the Bohachi 4K Blu-ray
Description: Based on the popular manga by Lone Wolf and Cub creators Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight is one of the standout films in the career of Teruo Ishii (Shogun's Joy of Torture), known in Japan as the "King of Cult." A bloody and erotic samurai tale starring an assassin with a death wish, it paved the way for Takashi Harada's spiritual successor Bohachi Bushido: The Villain.
Code of the Forgotten Eight sees a nihilistic ronin, Shino Ashita (Tetsuro Tanba, Three Outlaw Samurai), join the sadistic Bohachi clan, a group of corrupt samurai who operate a prostitution ring. With nothing else to live for, he acts as their assassin in a war with a rival clan that poses a threat to their business. Then, in The Villain, the condemned criminal Kyushi Issho (Goro Ibuki, Hokuriku Proxy War) falls in with the infamous Bohachi samurai – and he too is drawn into a world of wanton violence and sexual sadism.
Prime examples of the ero guro jidaigeki (or, in other words, period films with a focus on eroticism and the grotesque), Code of the Forgotten Eight and The Villain are perfect portraits of the shifting depictions of sex and violence in Japanese cinema of the 1970s. The Masters of Cinema series is honoured to present both films for the first time on UK home video.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
DISC ONE - 4K BLU-RAY
- NEW 4K RESTORATION OF CODE OF THE FORGOTTEN EIGHT
- Audio commentary by East Asian film expert and Midnight Eye co-founder Tom Mes
- Original Japanese audio
- Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
- NEW 4K RESTORATION OF CODE OF THE FORGOTTEN EIGHT
- High-definition transfer of The Villain
- Audio commentary on Code of the Forgotten Eight by East Asian film expert and Midnight Eye co-founder Tom Mes
- New audio commentary on The Villain by genre cinema expert Arne Venema and film writer Stefan Hammond
- From Codes to Chaos – new video essay on the Bohachi Bushido films and Toei's evolving production strategies in the 1970s by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom
- Remembering Teruo Ishii – interview with director Shinya Tsukamoto (Testsuo: The Iron Man) about working with director Teruo Ishii
- Archival interview with actress Yuriko Hishimi
- Archival audio interview with Japanese filmmakers J-Taro Sugisaki and Takao Nakano
- Original theatrical trailer for Code of the Forgotten Eight
Eastern Trails: The Western at DEFA
Description: A close relation to the Spaghetti Western, Indianerfilme (later called "Red Westerns" due to their politics) were some of the most popular genre movies produced by East Germany's state-operated film studio, DEFA. Focusing on the struggles of indigenous tribes against European settlers, they disrupted the frontier myths central to the American Western and made a bonafide superstar of Gojko Mitić, whose appearances in a long line of action-packed Westerns for DEFA made him one of the most famous faces in Europe. Mitić stars in all four of the films presented here: Chingachgook the Great Serpent, Fatal Error, Apaches and Blood Brothers.
Based on James Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer, Chingachgook the Great Serpent sees the eponymous Mohican set out to rescue his kidnapped bride-to-be (Andrea Drahota) with the help of a hunter known as Deerslayer (Rolf Römer). In Fatal Error, Native Americans living at the foot of the Rocky Mountains come to regret doing business with the corrupt Wyoming Oil Company. Apaches follows a young warrior as he sets out to avenge the massacre of his tribe at the hands of a ruthless mercenary (Milan Beli). Finally, Blood Brothers stars Dean Reed – an actor and singer-songwriter nicknamed the "Red Elvis" – as an American deserter who comes to fight alongside a Native American tribe.
Following the enormous success of The Sons of Great Bear in 1966, East Germany's series of Indianerfilme remained popular for the next two decades, finding enthusiastic audiences throughout Central and Eastern Europe and even as far afield as Cuba. The Masters of Cinema series is thrilled to present a selection of DEFA's "Red Westerns" on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- NEW RESTORATION OF ALL FOUR FILMS BY DEFA
- Original German soundtracks
- Optional English subtitles, newly translated for this release
- New audio commentary on Apaches by film historian Michael Brooke
- Singing Cowboy – new interview on Dean Reed and Blood Brothers with East German cinema expert Seán Allan, co-editor of Re-Imagining DEFA
- Old West, New Perspective – new video essay on depictions of American history in DEFA's Indianerfilme by Western scholar Jenny Barrett, author of Shooting the Civil War
- Archival musical performance by Dean Reed
- Limited Collector's Edition Box Set [2000 copies]
- Limited edition hardbound slipcase and interior packaging featuring new artwork by Colin Murdoch [2000 copies]
- Limited Edition 60-page collector's book featuring part one of a new extended essay on the history of the DEFA Indianerfilme by Lee Broughton, author of The Euro-Western [2000 copies]
