2006: The Digital Odyssey

[Mike Thomason]

Per a number of other forums I used to frequent, I thought it might be a nice change of pace to perhaps track our films on DVD/VCD/other mediums for those of us unfortunate enough to live in foreign territories where Asian cinema receives little to no cinema exposure. My last Chinese language cinema closed its doors in '99, so I've had to rely on the trusty digital versatile disc since then to see most new Hong Kong movies as they've come to light -- other Asian territories seldom get a look in where I live (Perth, Western Australia) outside of the all-too-rare film festival screenings, so once again I have to go the digital route.

The format is pretty simple:

English language Film title -- originating country -- video format.

Thus, this is the way I've kicked off 2006:

Curse Of Lola (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Arrest The Restless (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Bachelor's Swan Song (Hong Kong) (DVD)
For Your Heart Only (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Three Against The World (Hong Kong) (DVD)
To Err Is Humane (Hong Kong) (DVD)

SPL (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Kung Fu Mahjong 2 (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Buppah Rahtree: Flower Of The Night (Thailand) (DVD)
Home Sweet Home (Hong Kong) (DVD)

Carry on regardless

[Brian Thibodeau]

Holy crapoly! RAHTREE's out? Where'd you order it from? I'll definitely be grabbing that one!

I saw that at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival and it was a blast. Mind you, it was a Midnight Madness screening, so the packed house was already punchy and the crowd mentality probably made the scares that much scarier. It's shot trough with some deliberately silly moments and characters that reminded me of how Hong Kong "horror" films (which are usually NOT very scary to westerners) is cut with rather strange moments of "humour" and overacting. But when Rahtree aims to make you jump, it really makes you jump. Better viewed, as I mentioned, with a big crowd (where the screams of more suggestive audience members are enough to jolt you out of your seat), but if it must be watched at home, it's probably best with the lights off and in one sitting.

Compared to you, my 2006 has started with a whimper when it comes to DVD purchases. My pre-order of SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE should be here any day now and, well, that's it really, soooo....

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (2005) (DVD)

The testaments to my shopping sprees in 2005 (and 2004, and 2003, and 2002.....) are the humongous stacks of unwatched DVDs awaiting my perusal in my walk-in hall closet. Mind you, I'm currently plowing through the short stacks of American and European films in great anticipation of the day, hopefully in a month or two, when I can finally make that full-blown switch to Asian cinema and resume a little writing on the side! Just getting there feels like a full-time job these days!

I wanna grab SPL as well, but DDDHouse lists the running time as 93 minutes, Yesasia says 94 minutes, and the Toronto Film Festival screening, at least according to the program guide, said 97 minutes. Knowing the major cuts that Mainland censors performed on the film, I'm desperately hoping the Film Fest program was simply in error and that 93-94 minutes is, in fact, correct. Since there's no PAL speedup on HK discs, though, I'm a little puzzled as to the discrepancy. Guess I'll have to spring for it eventually as I'd certainly know what was missing

[Mike Thomason]

Hey Brian,

BUPPHA RAHTREE is out through Panorama in Hong Kong on the 12th of this month -- 16:9, DD5.1 and English subbed.

SPL -- don't fret! The TELA (HK censorship board) website lists the film as being passed uncut with a Cat III at 93m. There's a LOT of silly conjecture floating about at the moment -- if it was 93m plus some seconds, the TELA would still list it at 93m like most censorship bodies; everyone rounds to the nearest whole minute. DDDHouse are advertising as the full uncut version, so we're all safe.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Sounds good. Although I have to wonder where the Toronto Fest, plus a couple of others if I recall correctly, came up with 97 minutes. Maybe they just passed along the incorrect running time to each other...

[Mike Thomason]

Au Revoir, Mon Amour (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Changing Partner (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Cupid One (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Fatal Vacation (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Four Loves (Hong Kong) (DVD)

Success! Snagged half the OOP Deltamac Fortune Star discs I wanted! Stoked!

[Knetan]

hey,

since I jump between era and quality without blinking an eye, it's always mixed orders that are on my agenda (do not live in a part of Sweden that even knows about Hong Kong cinema so there's no screenings I can attend). Since Deltamac seeimngly is not re-pressing their budget titles, I'm gonna have to spend a little time trying to catch up on titles. For 40 HK dollars, one can always afford to take chances but so far:

Moonlight Express (DVD with additional CD)
Always On My Mind (DVD, Jacob Cheung fan)
Color of The Loyalty (DVD)
Her Fatal Ways (DVD)
Story Of Kennedy Town (DVD)
In Between Loves (DVD)
She Starts The Fire (DVD)
Home At Hong Kong (DVD)
Profiles Of Pleasure (DVD)
Fight Back To School II (DVD)
Dance of The Drunk Mantis (DVD)
Phantom Of Snake (VCD)

I never feel I'm far behind on seeing so called must titles. I plow my own path but do feel free to bash me with replies like "I can't believe you haven't seen that until NOW!"

[Mike Thomason]

I plow my own path but do feel free to bash me with replies like "I can't believe you haven't seen that until NOW!"

Never happen! From my preliminary list of purchases above, I haven't seen Bachelor's Swansong, Cupid One, Lady In Black (even after reading yours and Brian Naas' fine reviews!), SPL, Buppha Ratree, Friend and No Blood No Tears! They were all films that got good-to-great reviews over time and I felt quite the gumby for not having seen any of them!

Next payday (the fortnight after this) should prove an interesting one, as I plan to play catch-up with a few back catalogue Thai titles that I've put off for far too long (now that a number of them have been priced down to ridiculous levels - US$3.00 a piece!). That is, providing there aren't any unexpected surprises between now and the end of the month...like a DVD release of A Chinese Tall Story.

BTW, good call on the Deltamac titles! I've had word recently that the 200 titles they licenced from Fortune Star are due for their rights to expire early this year -- anyone overseas (like myself) who is interested in what remains of their FS releases would want to get in RIGHT NOW, as there's no telling exactly how long they're going to remain available. As it stands, the FS/Intercontinental deal is only for a select range of titles -- predominantly evergreen faves and former box-office hits -- and from the looks of things won't include any of the lesser known titles that Deltamac had on range once they're discontinued.

You should enjoy Her Fatal Ways, Story of Kennedy Town, Inbetween Loves & She Starts The Fire -- all good flicks and entertaining in their own way!

Best,
Michael

[Mike Thomason]

Good luck getting your Deltamac/Fortune Star discs Ken! I've only just received word that, with the licencing of the FS titles expiring and Deltamac having completed their New Year inventory -- that virtually ALL OF THE FORTUNE STAR TITLES THEY HELD HAVE NOW BEEN TAGGED AS DELETED AND ARE OFFICIALLY OUT OF PRINT!

So sad... (or not...see more news further down...)

[Knetan]

hey,

got an email from dddhouse around the new year and they were holding off sending out my order to wait for the inventory status at Deltamac. The order mentioned got through but I'm gonna have a go at ordering all I've made notes of and see where I end up, My options are possibly not exhausted even if all shops declare them discs all OOP.

DDDHouse's stock status may also be relevant as Till Death Do Us Scare was in stock and in print last week, now OOP.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Geez, I'm glad you guys posted this Deltamac news as I had no idea.

I know a little gift shop in one of Toronto's Chinese malls that has tons of legit Deltamac (and other) movies spine-up in boxes along the side of the store. This stuff never seems to sell, and I know this because I'm usually the one in there buying the stuff and not only are the same titles there week after week, but it looks as though they rarely even MOVE position in the boxes. I think most people, Chinese and non, either don't know this place sells discs, or balk at the price of 3/$20 (not tax) because the malls in Toronto are run over with bootleggers of ever decreasing quality who sell their DVD-R's 5 for $20. I recently discovered this little place sold their non-new-release Shaw Bros. VCDs 3 for $15 (again, no tax), so I pretty much cleaned them out of those. My next trip to the city should be in two weeks, so perhaps I should make a beeline for that shop and grab the Deltamacs while I can (IF I still can!).

[Brian Thibodeau]

In case anyone's curious, there's a sequel out to RAHTREE: FLOWER OF THE NIGHT called RAHTREE RETURNS. Not sure why I found out about it today, when it's been on VCD (unsubbed) for awhile, but it makes the long wait for the original all the more puzzling. Reviews are so-so on the sequel, which seems to be a less-successful blend of humour and scares than it predecessor...

Film site, with downloadable trailer:
http://mangpong.co.th/rahtreereturns/

So-so review...
http://www.thaicinema.org/reviews_03rahtree.asp

[Mike Thomason]

Against All (Hong Kong) (DVD)*
Gunmen (Hong Kong) (DVD)
I Am Sorry (Hong Kong) (DVD)*
A Killer's Blues (Hong Kong) (DVD)*
Lady In Black (Hong Kong) (DVD)

More OOP Deltamac/Fortune Star success! Only five more titles to go and I've been able to source everything I wanted.

* these three are holding out a very long time for shipping. Maybe I didn't quite catch the boat with these titles -- will remove if my order gets canned.

[Brian Thibodeau]

I've always loved AGAINST ALL. Great movie with a nice perf by Danny Lee. Some of his best work was from this period, but not always easy to find some of it.

[Knetan]

hey,

gotten ALL (which meant a lot) I made notes on but probably have missed out on A LOT I haven't. Still, will be fine entertainment now that I will become unemployed come Thursday....

The magic thing with HK cinema, at least for me, is that it's not a strainous task to get through crap and you're more than willing to take a chance on many titles.

[Mike Thomason]

The magic thing with HK cinema, at least for me, is that it's not a strainous task to get through crap and you're more than willing to take a chance on many titles.

Same here, Ken! As I've said before, I'm in a place where HK cinema doesn't happen in the cinema anymore, so I have to take chances with outright purchases of most (if not ALL) new titles as there's no other choice for me to keep abreast of things. I can honestly say, of all of last year's films I bought I had no trouble getting through the majority of them -- but there were a few duds that were a real struggle (Mob Sister, Bug Me Not & Election to name but three). Anyways, I'd rather watch Hong Kong "crap" than any other country's crap -- at the very least it usually has some entertainment value!

Bad news on the employment front -- hope things don't remain that way for long for you.

Oh yes -- heads up! PERHAPS LOVE hits DVD in HK on the 26th of this month! I'll definitely be in the frontline for that one!

[Knetan]

hey,

my focus constantly shifts but I think I should look at catalogue titles for a while now (I fuckin' have to considering my purchases this week! LOL) to see I don't miss out on anything from Megastar's or Universe's output etc that might be worth looking at.

Always good to keep each other posted about such stuff, maybe in this or another thread?

[Knetan]

hey,

god bless dddhouse, very customs friendly despite 7 packages coming in at once seemingly. So 2006 and the months to come (or weeks since I have more time) will include these (more to come):

To Hell With The Devil (DVD)
Happy Bigamist (DVD)
Espirit D'Amour (DVD)
Happy Ghost II, III, IV (missed part I unfortunately. Forgot about that)
Mr. Vampire IV (DVD)
Carry On Pickpocket (DVD)
Pretty Ghost (aka Alien Wife, DVD)
Queen's Bench No 3 (DVD)
Revel From China (DVD)
Inspector Wear Skirts II (DVD)
Inspector Wear Skirts IV (DVD)
Three Against The World (DVD)
My Cousin The Ghost (DVD)
Her Fatal Ways II (DVD)
Her Fatal Ways III (DVD)

[MrBooth]

To Hell With The Devil (DVD)

Just don't start with that one or you may never want to watch a HK film again! I agree with the sentiment re: HK crap usually still watchable, but THWTD really stretched my goodwill :p

[Knetan]

hey,

ooooooh, now I can't wait.

[Andras Hernadi]

Did any of You have LOST SOULS? I'm talking about the Golden Harvest film on dvd from Deltamac
(still available). This film is so elusive that there is not one single info about it
on the net (at least I couldn't find it).I kind of became newly interested in getting it
after watching Lai's POSSESSED 2,but it could be a stinker no?

[Mike Thomason]

Last of the OOP Deltamac/Fortune Star titles I wanted that I managed to snag...

Her Fatal Ways (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Her Fatal Ways II (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Her Fatal Ways III (Hong Kong) (DVD)
My Cousin, The Ghost (Hong Kong) (DVD)
Vampire Vs. Vampire (Hong Kong) (DVD)

This sees the end of my DVD binge -- back to very slow and very steady after this.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Just out of curiosity Mike, where have you been finding a lot of your titles? If the Fortune Star stuff is going - or gone - OOP, and places like DDDHouse don't seem to list many, if any, of them any more, is there another source you're able to share now that you've filled in your collection? Despite having access to massive Chinatowns, some online places are still better deals.

[Mike Thomason]

Just out of curiosity Mike, where have you been finding a lot of your titles? If the Fortune Star stuff is going - or gone - OOP, and places like DDDHouse don't seem to list many, if any, of them any more, is there another source you're able to share now that you've filled in your collection? Despite having access to massive Chinatowns, some online places are still better deals.

Buyoyo still listed a high percentage of the Deltamac titles after it was announced via DDDHouse that they were OOP -- so I jumped in and ordered what I could. Online US retailer HKFlix still has a number of the titles listed, since it appears they have remainder stock.

And then, there's my one last avenue which I probably shouldn't really divulge -- suffice to say, being a long-standing and valuable overseas customer of a certain online retailer the odd favour and "preferential" treatment is passed my way (but I'm not about to name names as I'm sure, as always on the internet, some selfish gumby will get jealous of the fact and bombard the party involved with emails full of accusations of "unfairness" and "favouritism" -- because I am a high volume customer -- and ruin that for me!). Sometimes it's not what you know, but who you know...sorry...

Oh, and believe it or not, a large number of the Fortune Star titles were released in Malaysia via Speedy Video (they're exactly the same versions, masters etc as the Deltamac editions; albeit in snazzier covers). Speedy don't have an online shop...but if you know anyone in Malaysia the discs sell for about RM15 - RM20 (cheap! cheap!).

Anyhoo, a big scale down for me from hereon in, as I am saving for a wedding in Malaysia come May...mine!

[Brian Thibodeau]

Thanks for the tips

Sometimes it's not what you know, but who you know...sorry..

True enough. I've been treated to favours and savings from certain stores in these Chinese malls I'm always talking about that I know aren't given to every Big Nose that walks in the door. Who knows if Chinese customers don't fare even better! The "no tax if you pay cash" rule applies to pretty much everybody, but buy a big enough stack and they tend to substantially round down the tally or let you take a few more discs for free. But ya gotta be a regular!

Anyhoo, a big scale down for me from hereon in, as I am saving for a wedding in Malaysia come May...mine!

Then we'll really see how much time you get to watch all these films! Nontheless, congrats!

[Knetan]

hey,

Buyoyo still listed a high percentage of the Deltamac titles after it was announced via DDDHouse that they were OOP -- so I jumped in and ordered what I could. Online US retailer HKFlix still has a number of the titles listed, since it appears they have remainder stock.

Basically combined my purchases between DDDHouse, buyoyo and HKFlix as well. Turned out all right.

[Brian Thibodeau]

I have a list at home (not there at the moment) of virtually all the Deltamac titles that were available as of about a year ago, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I got it off the 'net. Have to give that a once-over tonight and see what's still available!

[Mike Thomason]

Anyhoo, a big scale down for me from hereon in, as I am saving for a wedding in Malaysia come May...mine!

Then we'll really see how much time you get to watch all these films! Nontheless, congrats!

I dare say...I'll probably disappear into the ether, never to be heard from again!

[Mike Thomason]

Hahaha! So much panic for naught!

Brian, Ken and anyone else reading -- hold off on trying to source out as many Fortune Star titles as you can from either the Deltamac or Intercontinental (yes, these have now ceased as well) imprint like I did!

It would seem, assuming the usual fickle HK market, I was a bit pre-emptive about the whole thing. Looks like the Fortune Star catalogue went off range from the usual suspects because a new contract for its HK distribution was being negotiated -- expect some news from Joy Sales Film & Video Distributors soon (seems the Johnny Mak titles were some kind of tester for how they'd handle the range).

Anyhoo, good news and all! Though, of course, I'll be a lot more pick and choosy now about exactly which titles I pick up in remastered editions...since I have the majority of them in budget variants already now. I reckon there might be a dozen or so I'd upgrade, but it's highly unlikely I'd do so with the lot (or, for that matter, the lion's share).

Panic over -- we can all go back to sleep now...

[MrBooth]

Hmmm... the Joy Sales releases haven't exactly been anything to sing to the hills about though, have they?

[Mike Thomason]

Hmmm... the Joy Sales releases haven't exactly been anything to sing to the hills about though, have they?

Apart from colour desaturation, as is pre-existent in the masters they've been supplied by FS, I didn't really think the Joy Sales titles were that bad (apart from the fact that FS supplied them a heavily cut version of David Lai's "Possessed II" to release) and I bought them all! The stuff they do themselves ("New Police Story", "The Myth", "Twins Effect II", "Mob Sister", "Bug Me Not" et al) has been of a high standard and quality though.

But let's face it -- doesn't matter if they put out perfect quality versions of the Fortune Star catalogue...the online usual suspects will find something to complain about, since nothing is ever good enough for them, irrespective of whether or not the releases are flawless. So, it doesn't really matter who distributes the FS titles -- people are ALWAYS going to complain, so they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

As long as I get nice new shiny versions of the "Peacock" movies, and maybe "Sex & Zen" and "Naked Killer" as well, personally I don't care either way...