2024 HAUL - SEPTEMBER CHAPTER: BATCH #3
This batch covers the last remaining items for the month of September which arrived last Friday & Saturday.
A few months ago, UK distributor Second Sight Films decided to release two South Korean titles to the UK for home video. I've been meaning to pick both of them up but funds weren't ready given they were only available at full price. Recently I was given some vouchers from work and used some of it towards these two sets.
Starting with Kim Jee-woon's 2005 film
A Bittersweet Life (달콤한 인생), starring Lee Byung-hun (
JSA: Joint Security Area,
The Good, the Bad, the Weird,
I Saw The Devil) which I consider to be one of the biggest Korean films released in the past few decades and I'm so happy that it was rescued after being out of print for years (Tartan Video previously released the film on DVD) and not only that, it's also on 4K Ultra HD which was a surprise. I picked up the limited edition which uses a digipack packaging for the 4K and Blu-ray discs, a 120+ page booklet with various essays (and a nice texture to each page) and a few art cards. I think this edition has sold out but Amazon still had some stock left.
Also picked up is Jung Bum-shik's 2018 film
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (곤지암), starring Wi Ha-joon (Midnight, Squid Game), a found-footage type film that I hadn't heard of before until Second Sight mentioned it earlier in the year. Korean films are a rarity and I want to pick them up whenever possible so I'm interested to see how Korea's directors tackle this style of filmmaking. This limited edition includes an Amaray case, 80-page booklet with various essays and a few art cards.
The Legend of Hei arrived this week. A chinese anime film that Shout! Factory released a few years ago and Anime Limited decided to release it this past month. This isn't my first Chinese animated title as I own Discotek's To Be Hero/To Be Heroine collection but neat to see another one from China make its way onto home video, given how a vast majority stick to streaming.
My copy arrived earlier in the week but it was damaged, and I was able to receive a replacement which had no issues. You can view more photos & specs
on my blog.
Rounding up the month is another 88 Films haul with two of their latest Hong Kong film releases.
Here we have Ronny Yu's 1986 film
Legacy of Rage (龍在江湖), starring Bruce Lee's son Brandon Lee (
The Crow) in his first and only role in Hong Kong's film industry apparently as he worked with Hollywood for the remainder of his short-lived career. The deluxe limited edition Blu-ray release includes a rigid box, booklet and double-sided poster.
Also here is Yuen Woo-ping's 1993 film
The Tai Chi Master (太極張三豐), starring Jet Li (
Fearless,
Hero) and Michelle Yeoh (
Yes, Madam!,
Everything Everywhere All at Once). This is another release by 88 Films for the 4K Ultra HD format and much like the previous Jet Li films that the distributor has released, this one is also subtitled only. The limited edition combo pack includes a slipcase, booklet and double-sided poster.
In terms of other 88 Films releases, I have yet to order the recent Shaw Brothers titles as well as the latest Japanarchy release
Gaira's Guts Trilogy. That's going to be sorted at a later point because they weren't pre-ordered due to timing of my hauls or the dates kept getting shifted around.
The next pickup is not estimated to make its appearance until the second week of October and due to the days getting darker, haul posts may not appear until the weekends only going forward.
Zeta Gundam part 2 set of the Gundam Libraries arrived today from Mandarake. I previously bought the US Bandai DVD sets years ago. Too bad these Gundam Libraries are a bit pricey 
