FORMAT: BLU-RAY • RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 2ND

He said the world would hear from him again, and he was right. The fiendish super villain Doctor Fu Manchu finally makes his debut on Blu-ray in a five-disc box this year. Unseen on television since the ‘80s, Christopher Lee starred in a series of five films based on the novels of Sax Rohmer produced between 1965 and 1969. Set in the early 20th century, the evil Doctor heads an international crime organisation and schemes variously to bring the world to its knees with poison gas, sonic devices, deadly venom, and so forth. Hot on Manchu’s trail across the globe is his arch nemesis the intrepid Nayland-Smith of Scotland Yard played variously by Richard Greene, Nigel Green, and Douglas Wilmer and his sidekick, Dr Petrie.

All five films are presented in a vibrant restored form. They’ve never looked better or sharper, despite the quality of the scripting declining sharply toward the fourth and fifth films. A major selling point with this box is the incredible wealth of extras, which include archival interviews with Christopher Lee, original Super 8 versions in monochrome of the Face of Fu Manchu. On the fourth and fifth discs there are episodes of a Fu Manchu silent serial from the early ‘20s. All the original trailers are here, as well as alternate title sequences and, for the pop culture historians, there are features about the history of the novels and of course a brief biography of Sax Rohmer himself.

Add to this a 120-page book, and you have the ultimate Fu Manchu package and an essential purchase for any Christopher Lee fan.