Some spicy film releases were announced in the last couple of days from Arrow and Eureka, so let's get straight into consuming them.
Arrow have decided it's time to introduce Tomisaburo Wakayama's Wicked Priest, and in September we'll have access to his wickedness in five, yes count 'em, five features: Wicked Priest, Wicked Priest 2: Ballad of Murder, Wicked Priest 3: A Killer's Pilgrimage, Wicked Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back and Wicked Priest 5: Blood on the Commandments (and the price for a five film set, value is definitely not an issue).
Additionally, they are releasing A Better Tomorrow Trilogy in both UHD and Blu-ray - I'm thinking anyone interested in these I need say no more.
A week later in September Eureka have a double set of films: Cruel Tales Of The Bohachi, including maestro of ero guro nansensu, Teruo Ishii's Code of the Forgotten Eight on 4K UHD and following up with The Villain on Blu-ray. (As always we suggest buying direct from Eureka both for price and usually they deliver well in advance of the release date.)
Wicket Priest
Most famous for his role as the stoic Ogami Itto in the legendary Lone Wolf and Cub series, Tomisaburo Wakayama shows a different side in the ebullient martial arts comedy series Wicked Priest, where a devout man of the cloth doesn't let a little thing like his vows keep him away from women, booze and brawls!
Wakayama plays Shinkai, a Buddhist monk with a penchant for drinking and gambling, setting sinners straight with judo throws rather than sermons. In the first film, he's placed on probation for fighting off a gang of thugs, but when he hears of rogue priests in his order consorting with yakuza, he returns to punch them towards enlightenment. The first sequel sees Shinkai run afoul of local mobsters who then hire his nemesis, the Zatoichi-inspired fighting monk Ryotatsu (Bunta Sugawara, Battles Without Honor and Humanity), hellbent on revenge against Shinkai for blinding him. In the third film, Shinkai joins the fight to defend a coastal village against pirate revolutionaries, whilst still finding the time for bawdy misadventures and fighting off the tenacious Ryotatsu. Shinkai returns to his snowy hometown for his mother's memorial in the fourth film and is shocked to discover his childhood friend has become a ruthless yakuza, and must encourage the local community to fight back against his gang. Finally, Shinkai must face off against the vengeful Ryotatsu one last time in the series' thrilling concluding installment.
Wakayama shines as the rascally Shinkai whose roguish ways attract the ire of his superiors before they're won over by his righteousness and affinity for roundhouse-kicking ruffians. A thrilling blend of raunchy humor and explosive karate fights, the Wicked Priest series is the nirvana of Japanese 60s action comedy!
A Better Tomorrow Trilogy
In 1986, a chance encounter between producer Tsui Hark and director John Woo led both men to collaborate on the revolutionary A Better Tomorrow, an unexpected smash hit that spawned sequels, remakes and legions of imitators, gave birth to a new genre - the "heroic bloodshed" film - and firmly established Woo as a master of action cinema.
In the first film, money-launderer Ho (Ti Lung) keeps his criminal endeavours a secret from his younger brother, police officer Kit (Leslie Cheung); but when Ho and his loyal friend Mark (Chow Yun-Fat in an effortlessly cool breakthrough performance) turn the tables on their triad boss, the brothers must put aside their differences to defeat the gang once and for all. Woo and his cast return for the sequel, in which the brothers unite to bring down another gang and save Ho's former mentor from droves of hitmen, presented in its original theatrical cut and the recently unearthed workprint cut. Finally, Tsui's prequel A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon focuses on Mark's past during the final days of the Vietnam War, laying the foundations of the gangster he will become.
Woo and Tsui's magnificent crime trilogy is finally here in glorious new restorations and fully loaded with new and archival extras, reminding everyone that in the action movie game, Hong Kong cinema reigns supreme!
Cruel Tales Of The Bohachi
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.
