Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

We suspect you’ve noticed that there are rather a lot of film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat. Some are good, some less so, and a few of them are even vaguely connected to Poe’s original story (only vaguely, mind). What we have here is a Blu-ray boxset of two Italian versions:  Lucio Fulci’s unimaginatively-titled The Black Cat (1981) and Sergio Martino’s preposterously- titled Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972).

In The Black Cat, Professor Miles’ (Patrick Magee) cat carries out a series of brutal murders (no, really) and so the professor decides to hang it with a teeny-tiny noose (no, really). Your mother would most definitely not approve. However, that just pisses off the titular moggy even more so things get entirely out of hand with Miles killing someone himself only to be betrayed to the police by that damn cat at the denouement (as is the traditional end of most versions of the story, so that’s not a spoiler).

Puzzling, the film is clearly set in an English village despite a map of Scotland on the police station wall. You see, an Italian film made in Britain with a British cast is a bit strange. We weren’t even sure what language the cast were originally speaking. If you watch the English version, there’s a definite feeling that at least some of the cast are dubbed while others might not be. That’s Magee’s voice but are his lips matching his words? We honestly weren’t sure. As the Inspector’s (David Warbeck) attempts at flirting with the heroine (Mimsy Farmer) are absolutely woeful, we also suspect Fulci didn’t have the highest opinion of our romantic capabilities either, but hey-ho. And don’t get us on to the professor’s rather interesting attempts at communicating with the dead that go absolutely nowhere. Almost as if the scriptwriters forgot what they were setting up. But while The Black Cat seems like a messy cross between Hammer House of Horror and Midsomer Murders, it’s actually quite fun.

With Sergio Martino at the helm, it’s no surprise that YVIALRAOIHTK (we’re not typing all that out again) is full-on giallo. Oliviero Rouvigny (Luigi Pistilli) is an alcoholic obsessed with his dead mother and he sleeps with apparently every woman in town, which is odd because he’s utterly charmless. In fact, the numerous sex scenes usually start with Rouvigny abusing women as a form of foreplay; including those with his oft-humiliated wife (Anita Strindberg). This only works in Italian cinema; don’t try this in real life. They often dress as his mother to gain his questionable attentions and you definitely shouldn’t try that one at home. Oh, and Rouvigny has a cat he adores called Satan who seems to have it in for his wife. Of course he does. Guess what happens to the cat. Then his niece (Edwige Fenech) turns up and sleeps with everyone (really, everyone). Anyway, there are murders in the town and it looks like there’s your standard giallo serial killer about. Who is it? Well, whoever it is, you know that cat is going to give the game away at the end.

Actually, the combination of Poe and giallo works rather well here. Giallo is always good value, and the Poe theme just gives a little twist beyond the usual sex/murder/pretty-visual tropes of the genre.

So that’ll be 5/10 for The Black Cat and 8/10 for the Other One. As we don’t have a graphic for a half, we make that a rounded 7.

Special Features: English and Italian versions / Featurettes / Interviews / Booklet

EDGAR ALLAN POE’S BLACK CATS / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: LUCIO FULCI, SERGIO MARTINI / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: PATRICK MAGEE, MIMSY FARMER, DAVID WARBECK, AL CLIVER, EDWIGE FENECH, ANITA STRINDBERG, LUIGI PISTILLI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Bloody hell, this is a depressing film. Watson, Mrs Hudson and Moriarty are all long dead and the glory days of Sherlock Holmes are long behind him. Surprisingly, when you consider his history of poor nutrition and his period of substance abuse, a 93-year-old Holmes is the last of the old guard. This is an adaptation of Mitch Cullin’s excellent book A Slight Trick of the Mind, which tells a story not often told: what happens when you go beyond the beginning of Holmes’ cosy cottage retirement into the last few years of his life?

Turns out there’s not much difference. He still keeps bees, is still his same old isolated self and is still (in a way) solving cases. But now there is one significant difference, one that drives the whole story: Holmes is, to put it in scientific terms, losing his marbles. We never expected a Sherlock Holmes story to be fully comparable with the Daniel Keys book Flowers for Algernon, but here we are. Here, as in that volume, the great tragedy is the loss of a remarkable intellect, although at least Holmes has had his full lifetime to take advantage of it. But it’s still heartbreaking.

Part of this comes about through Sir Ian McKellen’s superb performance. In both time periods in which the film takes place (1947 and about 30 years before, at the time of his emotional upheaval), he plays the part with quiet dignity and the kind of wry humour that the literary character was so known for. His refusal to play the part with overacted sobbing fits really helps the film, as the nearly two-hour running time gives you time to understand just how broken he is without having to resort to cheap tricks.

The running time also gives us time to appreciate the beautiful cinematography on show here. In the tradition of the best period pieces, like O Brother, Where Art Thou or Indiana Jones, it feels like we could step through the screen and end up in another time.

It’s difficult to think of any issues with the film. Purists might take issue with the revised ending of the book, but they’re wrong to do so; the new one works as a more filmic ending. As so much of the final part of the novel is dependent on the detective’s inner monologue, it’s difficult to convey that into cinema that works. Not impossible. But difficult.

There we have it: not only is it a fantastic Sherlock Holmes story, it’s a fantastic film; one that will stick with you long after the lights have come up. Easily one of the best film we’ve seen all year.

MR HOLMES / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: BILL CONDON / SCREENPLAY: JEFFREY HATCHER / STARRING: IAN MCKELLEN, LAURA LINNEY, HIROYUKI SANADA, MILO PARKER / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 26TH

 

Nicolas Cage in “not complete crap movie” shock! Poor old Nic is one of Hollywood’s oddest and, at times, interesting leading men but his career has had more ups and downs than the express elevator in the Empire State Building. We certainly haven’t forgiven him for the appalling Wicker Man remake. Bad Nic Cage. Pay the Ghost, a timely new release for Halloween “season” isn’t likely to propel him into Tinseltown’s A-List but it’s certainly not as squealingly awful as some of the projects Mr C has signed up for in recent years (naming no names but…Left Behind and Drive Angry? What was he thinking?)

Pay the Ghost, based on a short story by British author Tim Lebbon is an interesting, if flawed, attempt to dial modern horror back a bit. Nic plays lecturer Mike Lawford, an up-coming academic on the verge of his professional breakthrough. He’s married to Kristen (Walking Dead’s Sarah Wayne Callies) and the couple’s life is, as they say, turned upside down when he takes their young son Charlie (Jack Fulton) to a Halloween carnival. The boy disappears; he’s nowhere to be found. A year later and Mike and Kristen are estranged and, as Halloween approaches, Mike seems to be receiving strange messages and signs suggesting that their lost son is reaching out to them from… somewhere else…

There’s a lot of decent stuff in Pay the Ghost – not least strong performances from Cage and Callies as the torn-apart parents – and whilst it’s clear that director Edel is trying to avoid the clichés and conventions of modern horror movies, it’s inevitable that he fails now and again and can’t resist falling into the ‘jump scare’ trap which bedevils most contemporary scary movies. The film tries to keep one foot in the real world but the appearance of mysterious crows, ghostly grey children and a malevolent figure called the Crone – and a rather silly denouement which is glossed over all too easily in the rush for an easy happy ending – keep pulling the movie in directions it clearly isn’t comfortable drifting into. Pay the Ghost’s nicely built tension and character-building is thrown away in a seen-all-this-before tide of Halloween hokum involving doorways and portals to other worlds and spooky spectres who just about manage to avoid shouting ‘boo’ as the film crumbles under the weight of the horror clichés it had been doing so well to avoid.

Pay the Ghost won’t tingle any spines; it’s very much one for the early hours of your Halloween horror marathon. Still – Nic Cage in “not complete crap movie” sensation. Who’d have thought it?  Something to tell your grandchildren about.

Special Features: Behind the scenes

PAY THE GHOST / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ULI EDEL / SCREENPLAY: DAN KAY / STARRING: NICOLAS CAGE, SARAH WAYNE CALLIES, VERONICA FERRES, LYRIQ BENT / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 26TH

 

Amicus might have seemed like lightweights in comparison to the horror specialists at Hammer, but they certainly gave their rivals a run for their money when their blood was up. There were all those much-loved portmanteaus (or is that portmanteaux?) but as they were quite prepared to wheel out the big guns on the rest of their horror output, they’re always worth a watch. So we should never underestimate Amicus with a Robert Bloch story (he wrote Psycho) and a bit of Pete and Chris at their finest. It’s a good start.

And on the subject of good starts, The Skull opens with a pre-credits sequence in a 19th century graveyard that would shame any cemetery Hammer ever knocked up. If we’re judging a movie by its body exhumation scene (as good a way as any) this is a bona fide classic as Pierre the Phrenologist (Maurice Good) digs up no less than the Marquis de Sade and nicks his head. What was he thinking? That skull will be floating about and making people do Bad Things before you know it even if Pierre makes it to the opening credits (which he doesn’t). But Amicus were on a roll here so post-credits we’re at a present day auction with Dr. Christopher Maitland (Peter Cushing) and Sir Matthew Phillips (Christopher Lee) going head-to-head for some weird occult statues. What’s not to like? Needless to say, it turns out Big Chris has the most money. Of course he has.

After that, The Skull doesn’t keep the thrill-factor quite as high. Patrick Wymark does a good sleazy antiques dealer who flogs the titular skull to Maitland but it turns out he pinched off Phillips  who, as it happens, is rather pleased to be rid of it as it moves about of its own accord and calls him to join in nocturnal weird-stuff-with-mysterious-things at certain times of the month. You have to admire the Lovecraftian vagueness of that sort of thing. From then on we’re into some quite well done hallucinogenic stuff and some predictable Doing Bad Things territory. No real surprises unless you count Nigel Green turning up for an all-too-brief performance as the inevitable Inspector investigating the aforementioned rumness. He’s even got Patrick Magee along as the police surgeon. Were these guys just hanging round the canteen that day? Throw in Peter Woodthorpe out-sleazing everybody as the dodgy-dealer’s landlord and The Skull is a lot of fun even if it doesn’t quite live up to the expectations of the opening scenes.

While this is a pretty earnest attempt by Amicus at outdoing Hammer, The Skull is basically a fairly predictable piece of ‘60s horror saved by some great performances and some nice touches here and there. But it looks good on Blu-ray and it’s pretty good fun so we’d still recommend it as long as you’re forgiving enough to be chilled by a skull floating unconvincingly around Peter Cushing’s living room.

Special Features: Interviews with Jonathan Rigby and Kim Newman / Booklet

THE SKULL (1965) / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: FREDDIE FRANCIS / SCREENPLAY: MILTON SUBOTSKY / STARRING: PETER CUSHING, CHRISTOPHER LEE, JILL BENNETT, PATRICK WYMARK, NIGEL GREEN, PATRICK MAGEE, PETER WOODTHORPE, MICHAEL GOUGH, MAURICE GOOD / RELEASED: OCTOBER 26TH

 

So here it is. Barring any unexpected missing episode recoveries, The Underwater Menace, the third serial from the era of second Doctor Patrick Troughton, is likely to be the last BBC DVD release from the ‘classic series’ range. On-again/off-again more often than a wedding in a soap opera, the DVD finally limps out following a BBC turnabout (it was officially finally cancelled as recently as June) in the face of considerable fan pressure to get these last episodes (especially episode two, recovered a couple of years ago and now finally surfacing restored and scrubbed up) released. Fans will, of course, be pleased to finally plug that gap in their collections (well, apart from all those other currently unpluggable gaps) even though only half the story actually exists and, as 1960s Doctor Who goes, The Underwater Menace really isn’t much cop.

The recovered second episode, however, does serve to rehabilitate the serial’s cheesy reputation, thanks to a sterling performance from Patrick Troughton, rising way above often lamentable material and indulging in lots of quirky visual business previously-available audio recordings obviously haven’t been able to depict. The story sees the recently-regenerated Doctor and his chums – Polly, Ben and the newly-recruited Jamie (standing room only in the TARDIS at this point in Doctor Who history) arrive on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The island is actually a gateway to the long-lost fabled city of Atlantis which is alive and well under the sea and home to a bunch of religious fanatics in silly hats, unfeasible fish people and the mad, bad Professor Zaroff (Joseph Furst) who has promised to raise Atlantis from the sea bed but secretly plots to drain the Earth’s oceans into its molten core, splitting the planet apart. Why? Well, why not? It’s a cast-iron plan; as Zaroff famously rages at the end of episode three “Nothing in ze world can stop me now!” This is the stuff of Doctor Who legend.

The missing first and last episodes of the serial are represented by images taken from the TV at the time of the story’s transmission by enterprising historian John Cura and whilst they’re obviously not of the standard of previous reconstructions or animations of missing episodes (the BBC wanted to get this disc out as quickly and cheaply as possible) they just about do the job and help fill in the visual gaps in the narrative. Some images stay on screen an age as the action rattles on in the episode but the selection of stills is decent and comprehensive enough and whilst watching reconstructions is a necessary evil they do at least help tell the story and are fluid enough to rub alongside the surviving two episodes.

It’s tacky, cheap and unsubtle but The Underwater Menace at least gives us a little bit more of Patrick Troughton’s very peculiar Doctor Who magic and if the story itself isn’t specially distinguished – and it really isn’t – Troughton, as ever, is a joy to behold and he’s well supported here by ‘to Hell with it’ performances by his fellow regulars and a gung-ho supporting cast which includes Colin Jeavons and Catherine Howe. Decent special features include a mix of commentary/interview options, a standard thirty-minute ‘Fishy Tale’ ‘making of’ largely led by Anneke Wills’ memories of the serial as well as new framing material shot on the story’s original location and part two of the 2013 TV Centre feature which sees 1980’s Who team Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson, guided by Yvette Fielding, continue their memory lane tour of BBC TV centre, at the time slowly winding down, now shamefully being demolished. It’s nothing to do with The Underwater Menace but Davison and co, as ever, are full of cheery anecdotes, aided by behind-the-scenes crew such as senior cameraman Alec Wheal and AFM Sue Hedden and writer/producer Richard Marson. Not exactly a stand-out release to finally sign off on the ‘classic’ series on DVD, but one which is sure to find favour with those who have been clamouring for its release for so long.

Special Features: Commentaries / Interviews / A Fishy Tale / The Television Centre of the Universe Part 2 / Censor clips

DOCTOR WHO – THE UNDERWATER MENACE / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: JULIA SMITH / SCREENPLAY: GEOFFREY ORME / STARRING: PATRICK TROUGHTON, ANNEKE WILLS, MICHAEL CRAZE, FRAZER HINES, JOSEPH FURST / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 26TH

 

With Arrow’s mightily impressive spit and polish of the seminal Hellraiser trilogy, with the spectral gleam of sweat and the lines of a finger joint clearer than they’ve ever been, comes the realisation that we’ve been watching it wrong all these years. Far from exposing the flaws of its rubber effects and gungey viscera, the 2K restoration reveals the vision in its truest form, and in so doing inspires a reappraisal of its themes and mysteries.

Clive Barker’s 1987 adaption of his own novella, The Hellbound Heart, for all its budgetary struggles and underhand politics with the now defunct American studio New World Pictures, seemed to make an overnight icon out of its breakaway beastie, Pinhead. But for us, Julia remains the captivating and uncanny lynchpin at the heart of this sordid tale. Played with theatrical gusto by Clare Higgins, she is Lady Macbeth reimagined, luring men to her home only to bash their skulls in for her skinless lover and pleasure casualty, Frank. Brought back from whatever abyss the Cenobites left him in, by his brother’s blood, no less, Frank’s rebirth scene is a thing of stomach-churning beauty. Arrow have really outdone themselves in reinstilling the film’s sense of enigmatic terror. So when the Cenobites enjoy their few minutes on screen, the black of their S&M garbs, the white of their flesh and the red of the blood really pop.

Forever doomed to live in its predecessor’s lengthening shadow, it’s hard not to be convinced by Hellbound. The pantomime style of its ingenious vision of Hell is an impressive spectacle, and the origin of Pinhead and the downfall of the Cenobites themselves add a more obvious poignancy. Even the third film, which was a meat-headed affair best defended with the old “it was the nineties” excuse, makes up for its shortcomings with its more out-there tendencies and higher production values.

Testament to the complexity of the concept, there’s far too much imagery and themes to explore in one review. Fortunately, the bounty of extras – including Kickstarted documentary Leviathan – more than speak for all of us. There’s features there you never knew you wanted. Take The Hellraiser Chronicles: A Question of Faith from director R.N. Milward, which was intended for the pilot of a potential Hellraiser TV series. Its utter schlock value is almost worth the asking price alone. But more valuable still is the reverence with which every individual involved speaks about the series and its creator. The absence of Clive Barker himself is a sore spot, but as archive footage proves, he’s pretty sick of his brainchild. Still, in this instance, too much of a good thing can’t be bad.

Special Features: Audio commentaries / Featurettes / Documentary / Behind the scenes / Interviews / Draft screenplays / Clive Barker short stories / Art cards / Image gallery / TV spots / Trailers / Collector’s booklet

HELLRAISER: THE SCARLET BOX LIMITED EDITION TRILOGY / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: CLIVE BARKER, TONY RANDEL, ANTHONY HICKOX / SCREENPLAY: CLIVE BARKER, PETER ATKINS / STARRING: DOUG BRADLEY, ASHLEY LAURENCE, CLAIRE HIGGINS, KENNETH CRANHAM, TERRY FARRELL / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 26TH

 

The haunted house, the formidable asylum, the creepy coven and now, the grotesque freak show out on Blu-ray so you can see the blood splatters in all their glory. Freak Show is possibly the goriest and most violent of the anthology series so far. For a show revolving around characters with physical deformities, it’s a lot more psychological and psychopathic.

It’s 1952 and one of the last remaining freak shows, known as Fräulein Elsa’s Cabinet of Curiosities, comes to Jupiter, Florida. Jessica Lange takes the starring role as Elsa, the owner of the freak show camp and her many ‘monsters’. A saviour, an exploit, and desperate to hold on to the glamour of performing on stage, Elsa is clinging on to a thread. She’s trying to keep everything together whilst clawing her way to fame before time runs out.

Jessica Lange is as flawless as always, though it has become evident that she is playing a similar role in every season. It’s becoming a little too obvious and a tad tiresome; it would have been awesome to see Kathy Bates take full reign in this series as a her character was by far more dynamic. Bates plays the Bearded Lady, Ethal Darling, who hides her own secrets and history from the camp. She also has her son Jimmy (Evan Peters) to take care of, who has a deformity of his own; one which he has learnt to exploit in his own way. We also get a double dosage of Sarah Paulson, who plays conjoined twins Dot and Bette. They may share the same body but they have two hearts and two completely different minds. Frances Conroy also appears, not as part of the freak show but as the mother of a truly disturbed man who becomes a little too fascinated with the freaks. If you’re a follower of American Horror Story then you will soon recognise a whole boat load of talented actors, though there are some brilliant newcomers also. Michael Chiklis joins the cast as Strong Man, Dell. With his own inner demons, Dell constantly battles them with his tough guy prowess but it soon becomes his biggest weakness. Neil Patrick Harris joins the show as a delusional ventriloquist who is too attached to his puppet (portrayed by AHS regular Jamie Brewer).

The actors have been lucky to perform on real sets built for the show, in which the series literally designed and produced a real life freak show camp that appears authentic. Both the make-up department and camera crew have surely had quite a challenge, but they have done an astounding job in transforming many of the actors to fit into this oddball world of outcasts. It must have also been challenging for the performers; Kathy Bates spending all day with an itchy beard couldn’t have been comfortable, but that seems easy compared to the challenges Sarah Paulson had to face performing conjoined twins. With some brilliant camera angle choices and Paulson’s ability to perform conflicting personalities that share the same body, this was made to look natural and easy.

These series of horror shows are normally set completely apart from one another with no interlinking stories or connections… until now. Freak Show finally makes that little connection to one of the previous series. Series mainstay Lily Rabe doesn’t have a big role this season, but she does make one small appearance as we’re transported to The Asylum and Rabe is back playing Sister Mary Eunice McKee. It’s only one scene but enough to make a rather large and obvious connection between the seasons. It will be interesting to see if they make any more connections in later series.

Special Features: Five featurettes

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW / CERT: 18 / CREATOR: BRAD FALCHUK, RYAN MURPHY / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: JESSICA LANGE, KATHY BATES, FRANCES CONROY, EVAN PETERS, SARAH PAULSON, ANGELA BASSETT, EMMA ROBERTS, MICHAEL CHIKLLIS / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 26TH

 

Having enjoyed explosive popularity in its native Japan and in the West, Yu-Gi-Oh! has had something of a strange coming of age. In this post-postmodern age of meme-speak and Meta inside-out jokes, the series is more of a slew of images ripe for reaction shots. Revisiting the show, then, was bound to be a strange experience.

The collection picks up on the action aboard Seto Kaiba’s airship in situ to Kaiba Corp Island to conclude the Battle City Finals. But they’re interrupted by tiny megalomaniac Noah and Yugi Moto and co. are sucked into a virtual reality world. It might not have anything on the Pegasus arc, but there’s enough tomfoolery, ancient Egyptian guff and card battles to make it an effortless and enjoyable watch with a side order of techno-nightmares.

Nostalgia might have done a bit too dull the senses, but the anime adaption of Kazuki Takahashi’s Shonen Jump serialisation spins a yarn of friendship, love and self-belief and series three is about the point where it all starting to collapse under its own silliness. Though the season three dates back to 2003, it watches like a nineties refugee which in of itself is no bad thing. The original aspect ratio only makes you feel like you’re eating cereal in your jim jams on a Saturday morning.

Under scrutiny, the English dub leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s difficult to spit on voices that, it terms of anime’s snowballing popularity in the west, are nothing short of iconic. Although the price is right, it’s hard to get overly excited at the lack of extras and the insipid menus. The original Japanese track might have just made this a must buy, but sadly online channels are the only avenue for that option. In hindsight, the goofy abridged series might just be the definitive version of the show, but for anyone who grew up on Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, it’d make a heck of a Christmas gift.

Special Features: None

YU-GI-OH! THE OFFICIAL THIRD SEASON / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: HATSUKI TSUJI / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: AMY BIRNBAUM, ERIC STUART, DAN GREEN, WAYNE GRAYSON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

As a way of becoming acquainted with more obscure filmmakers, a boxset is a perfect place to begin. The new release from Eureka in their Masters of Cinema range is a collection from Shohei Imamura, a director very deserving of that title, and perhaps one only familiar to the most devoted of cineastes.

One of the most influential Japanese filmmakers to have emerged in post-war Japan, Imamura’s films are notable for both their varied subject matter and distinct directorial vision. Over his career, Imamura tackled different styles and genres including comedy and documentary, melodrama and serial killer, but certain themes prevailed throughout all his work. A childhood spent in the shadow of World War II and an early dalliance dealing cigarettes in the black market inspired a trend towards anti-American sentiment and a pre-occupation with the lower classes.

Debut film Stolen Desires in 1958 is without doubt an impressive beginning, the story following a troupe of traveling actors and detailing their interconnecting lives in what could lazily be described as an early rom-com. What is clear in Stolen Desires is Imamura’s early interest in the lower levels of Japanese society and recurring motif that life never quite plays out how you want or expect it to. Pigs and Battleships from 1961 saw Imamura continue to develop his style and tone with a film that saw his entertainment company employers Nikkatsu baulk at what they considered to be too obviously anti-American. If an enforced two-year sabbatical was intended as a reprimand it failed as Imamura’s next films, The Insect Woman (included here) and Unholy Desire, only confirmed his overriding vision.

Despite containing films typical of Imamura’s unique style, this set is by no means definitive. For one of only a handful of directors to have won the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival twice, it is perhaps strange that only one of those, The Ballad of Narayama is included. Other Palme d’Or winner The Eel and Black Rain, considered one of his greatest works, would require further investment. With a total of eight films in dual format, several interviews including one with Imamura himself, and additional multimedia content, it would seem churlish to complain too much.

Ask film fans to think of a Japanese director and the first few names offered will likely include Akira Kurosawa, Hayoa Miyazaki and Ishiro Honda. Shohei Imamura may not be as well-known as some of his illustrious compatriots but he is just as important in Japan’s cinematic history. In a career that spanned five decades, and one of the pioneers of Japanese New Wave, Imamura’s films reward the viewer repeatedly with their expressive style and varied subject matter. One or two films aside, this set offers a superb insight into the great man’s work and as such is a worthy addition to any collection.

Special Features: Interviews and introductions / Audio commentary by film scholar Tony Rayns / CD featuring PDF booklets

THE SHOHEI IMAMURA MASTERPIECE COLLECTION / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: SHOHEI IMAMURA / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: KEN OGATA, SACHIKO HIDARI, NINGEN JOHATSU / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW