Noriko's Dinner Table – New Wave Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 2005
Director: Sion Sono
Writer: Sion Sono
Cast: Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Shirô Namiki, Sanae Miyata, Yôko Mitsuya, Tamae Andô, Ken Mitsuishi

Release Date: March 26th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 159 Minutes 7 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR (Australia)
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $34.95 AUD (Australia)

"A companion piece to Sono’s cult classic Suicide Club, this film expands the story into an emotionally gripping exploration of identity, family, and the hidden loneliness of modern life. Following the journey of 17-year-old Noriko, who flees her small-town home for Tokyo, the film pulls viewers into the unsettling world of a “rental family” agency. More than just a “J-horror", Noriko’s Dinner Table is a chilling exploration of connection and alienation in the digital age. Combining intimate storytelling with Sono’s signature surreal flourishes, it is both heartbreaking and unforgettable." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "The film was originally shot in using a lo-fi SD Panasonic AG-DVX100B digital camera (MiniDV). For post production and its original Japanese theatrical release, the material was transferred to 35mm film.

This Blu-ray features a new 4K remaster created from the original 35mm picture and sound negative, sourced from The Omega Project in Tokyo, Japan. The restoration and 4K scan were carried out by Piccolo Films in Sydney, Australia, under the supervision of New Wave Video.

The final transfer was approved by director Sion Sono."

Noriko's Dinner Table comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.1 GB

Feature: 39.1 GB

My only reference point is TLA’s 2007 DVD release, and this new release from New Wave Video is a marked improvement over that release. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, contrast, and compression are solid, black levels are strong, and there are no issues with digital noise reduction. That said, it's hard to imagine Noriko's Dinner Table looking better than this release.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in Japanese with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds excellent; dialogue always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a behind-the-scenes photo gallery with music from the film playing in the background (poster/stills), a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an introduction by director Sion Sono (35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Sion Sono (14 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), 2006 Tokyo Premiere, featuring comments by Sion Sono, actresses Kazue Fukiishi, Tsugumi, and Yuriko Yoshitaka, and actor Ken Mitsuishi (22 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an archival making-of documentary (31 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Kazue Fukiishi (13 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Yuriko Yoshitaka (10 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with Sion Sono titled Sono’s Dinner Table (14 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles), reversible cover art, a spot gloss slipcover, and a 20-page booklet with an essay titled Finding Yourself by Losing: Identity, Parental Neglect and the Loss of Innocence in Noriko's Dinner Table written by Dustin Putman, an essay titled ‘Are You Connected to Yourself?’: Identity and Alienation in Noriko's Dinner Table written by Celeste de la Cabra and information about the transfer.

Summary:

Sion Sono directed Noriko's Dinner Table. He’s known for Suicide Club, Strange Circus, Exte: Hair Extensions, Cold Fish, and Love Exposure.

Tetsuzo Shimabara is a reporter who loses sight of what is important in life. He fails to recognize his two daughters’ unhappiness before they run away. Heartbroken Tetsuzo quits his job as a reporter and uses his investigating skills to find his missing daughters. Tetsuzo’s wife, riddled with guilt over the loss of her children, commits suicide. With the clues his daughters left behind, Tetsuzo is able to piece together their last known moments before they disappeared. His investigations lead him to a woman named Kumiko.

After the success of Suicide Club, director Sion Sono wrote a novel inspired by the film. As he developed the project, the novel transformed into a new story that he loosely connected to Suicide Club. Upon completing the novel, titled Suicide Circle: The Complete Edition, he began working on a film adaptation called Noriko’s Dinner Table.

The narrative centers on four characters. The main character is a seventeen-year-old girl named Noriko, who feels confined in her current life. Using the username Mitsuko, she connects with another like-minded individual on a message board, who goes by the username Ueno Station 54. One evening, during a blackout, Noriko musters the courage to run away to Tokyo. Upon her arrival, she finally meets Ueno Station 54 in person, revealing that this individual is a young woman named Kumiko.

Kumiko has her bag, a reminder of her childhood when her mother abandoned her at the Ueno Train Station, leaving it in locker number 54. Since that time, she has collected discarded items and crafted memories to accompany them. In many ways, taking Noriko under her wing after her arrival in Tokyo allows Kumiko to shape a human being and their past in the same way she has shaped inanimate objects throughout her life. Kumiko has been using the internet to gather weak-minded individuals like Noriko. She even orchestrated the subway suicide of fifty-four girls. Kumiko also operates a family rental business, where she and the individuals she takes in portray deceased or missing family members. Through these jobs, she generates new memories. Additionally, she utilizes these roles to manipulate and brainwash girls like Noriko.

Another key player is Noriko’s younger sister Yuka, who follows her sister down the same path. They both come from a home that is almost devoid of joy. Their parents are oblivious to Noriko's and Yuka’s need for affection from them. The other main character is Tetsuzo, Noriko's and Yuka’s father. Out of all the characters, he undergoes the most significant transformation after his daughters run away and his wife, Taeko, takes her life. At the beginning of the story, he is an overbearing father who refuses to allow Noriko to attend college in Tokyo, citing the fact that two of her cousins became pregnant while studying there.

Loneliness and suicide are the two main themes that connect Noriko’s Dinner Table to its predecessor, Suicide Club. Some footage from Suicide Club is incorporated into Noriko’s Dinner Table. The tone of Noriko’s Dinner Table, while gut-wrenching and depressing, is as a whole not as graphic or violent as Suicide Club. It is appropriate that Noriko’s Dinner Table is a dialogue-heavy film since all the characters in the film are unable to express their feelings and communicate with each other. At just over two and a half hours, Noriko’s Dinner Table is an engrossing story that builds up to an unforgettable ending. The line from the film best sums it up. “The only way to figure out what we can be… is to lie openly and pursue emptiness.” Ultimately Noriko’s Dinner Table is Sion Sono’s most accomplished film to date.

If you are a fan of Sion Sono or this film, you should definitely consider owning this release. It is region-free, and the packaging does not include any ratings logos. That said, Noriko’s Dinner Table gets an exceptional release from New Wave Video that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras, highly recommended.

Note: This edition is limited to 1500 units.

Written by Michael Den Boer

Mandroid: Remastered – Full Moon Features (Blu-ray)

Release Date: USA/Romania, 1993
Director: Jack Ersgard
Writers: C. Courtney Joyner, Jack Canson
Cast: Brian Cousins, Jane Caldwell, Michael Della Femina, Robert Symonds, Curt Lowens, Patrik Ersgård, Ion Haiduc, Mircea Albulescu, Costel Constantin, Adrian Pintea, Radu Minculescu, Jake McKinnon

Release Date: April 7th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 80 Minutes 36 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: R
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English, Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $24.95

"In his hidden laboratory deep in Russia, Dr. Karl Zimmer (Robert Symonds, The Exorcist) has invented the Mandroid, a humanoid robot that follows the motions of a man in a special control suit. He has offered the invention to the United States, but Zimmer's partner Drago (Curt Lowens, The Entity) has different plans and wants to sell the Mandroid to the military. As forces of good and evil collide, the monstrous Mandroid lurches to life to crush 'em all!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Full Moon sci-fi gem, presented here for the first time in glorious HD, remastered from the original negative!"

Mandroid comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 19.3 GB

Feature: 16.2 GB

This is one of Full Moon’s stronger transfers; flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, image clarity and black levels are strong, and there are no issues with compression.

Audio: 3.75/5 (Dolby Digital Stereo English), 3.5/5 (Dolby Digital 5.1 English)

This release comes with two audio options, a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English and a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix in English. Both audio tracks sound clean, clear, balanced, and robust when they should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a trailer for Mandroid (1 minute 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a Videozone featurette about Mandroid (21 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and trailers for Prompt, Dungeons of Ecstasy, Bad CGI Gator, Cutter’s Club, Decadent Evil, and Deathstreamer.

Summary:

Mandroid’s origins can be traced back to 1986, when Charles Band was running his Empire Pictures. Comic book artist Jack Kirby was attached to that film, which was titled Mindmaster. Mandroid spawned a sequel, Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight. Both films were directed by Jack Ersgard.

Two scientists have invented a humanoid robot that can be controlled remotely by someone wearing a suit.

Full Moon Entertainment is known for primarily making films in two genres, horror and science fiction, and in some instances, films that combine both of these genres. Mandroid is a low-budget sci-fi film that takes place in an Eastern European country in the 1990s after the fall of the USSR. While the narrative introduces the concept of a mandroid, as well as the characters and their motivations, it does not delve deeply into these aspects. As a result, the film struggles to effectively realize some of its intriguing ideas.

The acting is best described as serviceable. The only performance that stands out is Curt Lowens' portrayal of Drago, one of the two men who created the mandroid. Where his partner, Dr. Karl Zimmer, has made arrangements to sell the mandroid to the CIA, Drago feels betrayed and thinks they should sell it to their country's military. Drago is your stereotypical villain role, and Curt Lowens delivers a diabolical performance that steals every scene.

At 81 minutes in length, the narrative’s languid pacing makes things feel much longer than they actually are. Another area where the narrative comes up short is its inability to build momentum and an all-too-predictable finale. That said, the practical special effects hold up superbly well, and they are the film’s most durable asset. Ultimately, Mandroid, like so many of Full Moon’s films, is a fun time waster and nothing more.

Mandroid gets a strong audio/video presentation from Full Moon Features.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer

Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun – Delirium Home Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Switzerland, 1977
Director: Jesús Franco
Writers: Mariana Alcoforado, Erwin C. Dietrich, Christine Lembach
Cast: Susan Hemingway, William Berger, Herbert Fux, Ana Zanatti, Aida Vargas, Vítor Mendes, Aida Gouveia, Herman José, José Viana

Release Date: March 17th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 89 Minutes 14 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $41.98

"16-year-old Maria (the lovely Susan Hemingway) is taken by force into the dreaded Serra D'Aires convent, a sect secretly run by diabolical Satanists. Her confessor is in collusion with the Mother Superior (Ana Zanatti) and the not so pious pair almost immediately subject Maria to unspeakable tortures, forcing her into sex with men, women, and even the Devil himself. Gaslit into believing this supernatural debauchery is all a dream, she writes a letter to God begging for salvation, but the powers that be have other hideous plans in store for her..." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.75/5

Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 27.4 GB

Feature: 22.3 GB

Outside of some very minor print debris, the bulk of the transfer looks excellent. Flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity is solid, black levels are strong, and there are no issues with compression or digital noise reduction.

Audio: 3.5/5 (DTS-HD Mono English), 3.75/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. Although both tracks sound clear and balanced, the 5.1 track sounds notably more robust. Included are removable English SDH.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an English-language trailer (2 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a German-language trailer (3 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital mono German, no subtitles), an archival interview with Jess Franco and Lina Romay filmed in Munich (5 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo German and English with non-removable English subtitles), an archival featurette titled Memoirs of a Portuguese Nun, featuring comments by Jess Franco, Lina Romay, producer Erwin C. Dietrich, actor Herbert Fux, and cinematographer Peter Baumgartner, an audio commentary with Troy Howarth, trailers for Barbed Wire Dolls, Doriana Gray, Love Camp, and Satanic Sisters, and a spot glass slipcover (limited to 2,000 units).

Summary:

Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun was one of eighteen films that Jess Franco made with producer Erwin Dietrich over a three-year period. Their collaboration began with Downtown and ended with Girls After Midnight.

A perverse priest convinces a mother that her daughter is corrupted by the devil and that she should let him take her to a nearby monastery.

Although Jess Franco has directed several films that explore the perverse aspects of religion, such as Marquis de Sade's Justine, The Bloody Judge, and The Demons, his sole venture into the nunsploitation genre was Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun. A common theme linking Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun to those aforementioned films is that characters are accused of being in league with the devil, while the actual deviants are their accusers. That said, Jess Franco was known to take literature as a starting point and turn it into something wholly new; Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun is very loosely based on The Letters of a Portuguese Nun, originally published anonymously by Claude Barbin in Paris in 1669.

While watching Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, I immediately noticed how much dialogue it has. Where most of Jess Franco's films from the early 1970s onward are mood-driven and rely heavily on atmosphere, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun proves that Jess Franco is equally adept at crafting exposition. The well-crafted narrative does a superb job holding your attention and building momentum to a twist finale where the sinners receive what they deserve.

Throughout his career, Jess Franco had numerous actors and actresses who frequently worked with him. While Soledad Miranda and Lina Romay are the most notable actresses associated with Jess Franco, there are a few others worth mentioning, such as Susan Hemingway. Despite her limited filmography of only seven films, all directed by Franco, she deserves recognition for her contributions. Susan Hemingway makes her acting debut as Maria, the main character in Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun. She delivers an outstanding performance that beautifully conveys her character's innocence and naivety. Another noteworthy performance is by William Berger in the role of Father Vicente in Face to Face. He portrays a deviant priest who entices young girls to a monastery, where he is the sole male resident.

Out of the 18 films that Jess Franco made with Erwin Dietrich, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun's production design sets it apart from all of those films except Jack the Ripper. Their other collaborations, apart from those two films, were quick, low-budget affairs that served up a healthy dose of exploitative cinema elements. Although the visuals lack a lot of Jess Franco’s quirks, the result is a beautifully photographed film that has plenty of visually striking moments. Another strength is Walter Baumgartner’s organ-heavy score, which perfectly underscores the mood. Ultimately, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun is a well-crafted exploration of the sins of the flesh, and it is arguably the best film Jess Franco made for Erwin Dietrich.

Delirium Home Video gives Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun a first-rate release that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a pair of informative extras. Recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer

Love Camp – Delirium Home Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Switzerland, 1977
Director: Jesús Franco
Writer: Erwin C. Dietrich
Cast: Nanda van Bergen, Ada Tauler, Monica Swinn, Esther Studer, Brigitte Meyer, Wal Davis

Release Date: February 17th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 78 Minutes 49 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $41.98

"In an unknown South American hellhole, a guerrilla army violently kidnaps sexually mature women and forces them to serve as personal prostitutes and sexual tools in their private jungle brothel.  A beautiful new bride, Angela, is kidnapped on her wedding night and soon finds herself an "inmate" in said slammer, her delicate beauty locking the unwanted attention of the sadistic and cruel lesbian warden. As the warden leers and Angela's fellow prisoners meet gruesome ends, our heroine also finds herself attracted to the rugged leader of the local rebels. Horror, lust and lewd behaviour ensue...." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.75/5

Love Camp comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.2 GB

Feature: 21 GB

No information is provided about the source. While the source mostly looks great, black levels for darker scenes are not always convincing. Flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity is strong, and there are no issues with compression or digital noise reduction.

Audio: 3/5 (Both Audio Tracks)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. There are times when the mono track sounds echoey, while the 5.1 often sounds unnaturally loud. That said, dialogue always comes through clearly enough to follow. Included are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a photo gallery (stills/poster/advertisement), an English language trailer (1 minute, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a German language trailer (2 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital mono German, no subtitles), an audio commentary with author and film historian Troy Howarth, trailers for Barbed Wire Dolls, Doriana Gray, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun, and Satanic Sisters, and a spot glass slipcover (limited to 2,000 units). 

Summary:

Love Camp was one of eighteen films that Jess Franco made with producer Erwin Dietrich over a three-year period. Their collaboration began with Downtown and ended with Girls After Midnight.

Women are kidnapped by guerrillas and forced to work in their brothel run by a sadistic warden deep in the heart of the jungle.

The women-in-prison film is a genre that Jess Franco would work in multiple times. Although Love Camp has all of the core elements that one expects from this genre—an ample amount of nudity, sex, and moments of sadism—the result is one of Jess Franco's weakest forays into the genre. 99 Women is arguably his best women-in-prison film, while his other forays in this genre for producer Erwin C. Dietrich, like Barbed Wire Dolls, Ilsa, the Wicked Warden, and Women in Cellblock 9, fare much better than Love Camp.

From 1973 onward, there are two things that Jess Franco's best films have in common: his unique filmmaking sensibilities and Lina Romay. Love Camp is devoid of these two things. When looking over the 18 films that Jess Franco made for Erwin C. Dietrich, it is clear that in some films he had more control, while others were a director-for-hire situation. That said, Love Camp is a film that fits firmly in the latter category.

Another reason Love Camp feels generic is its absence of the familiar faces typically found in Jess Franco’s films. He often worked with a core group of actors and actresses, and the only frequent collaborator in Love Camp is Monica Swinn. The performances outside of Nanda van Bergen's role as the warden are largely forgettable, primarily because the cast is given minimal material to work with.

While Jess Franco is not a director whose films are known for their immediacy, at 79 minutes in length, Love Camp feels much longer than it is. Don’t expect much in the way of exposition; there is just enough to move things forward. The narrative is heavily loaded with moments of erotica, notably a steamy shower scene. Jess Franco’s films often employ humor, and Love Camp delivers in this regard with a parrot that screams obscenities. Ultimately, Love Camp is too much by-the-numbers filmmaking, making it a low-tier film in Jess Franco’s filmography.

The lack of extras and issues with the audio make this Blu-ray release a hard sell, only recommended for Jess Franco completists.

Written by Michael Den Boer

Hard Boiled: Limited Edition – Arrow Video (4K UHD)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1992
Director: John Woo
Writers: Gordon Chan, Barry Wong, John Woo
Cast: Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan, Philip Kwok, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Kwan Hoi-san

Release Date: March 30th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 127 Minutes 42 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10 Dolby Vision
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Cantonese, LPCM Mono English, Dolby Atmos Cantonese
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region B (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: £34.99 (UK)

"Iconic actor Chow Yun-Fat (City on Fire) stars as Tequila, a gung-ho cop working to bring down Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong, Infernal Affairs), the villainous triad boss who maintains a stranglehold on Hong Kong’s illegal gun trade. Johnny attempts to recruit Ah-Long (Tony Leung, Bullet in the Head), an assassin from a rival syndicate, just as the insubordinate Tequila gets taken off the case. Taking justice into his own hands, Tequila tracks Ah-Long down and uncovers an intricate web of deception that threatens to boil over into all-out war.." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "The film has been restored in 4K resolution and graded in HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The original 35mm camera negative was sourced from the Hong Kong Film Archive and scanned in 4K by Interface Video Production Ltd in Hong Kong."

Hard Boiled comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 92.2 GB

Feature: 87 GB

Although Arrow Video uses Shout! Factory's master as the foundation of their source, they have performed additional color grading. I didn't have any issues with either release's color timing, though there is some debate over which one is more aesthetically pleasing. That said, the source looks phenomenal; image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 5/5 (All Audio Tracks)

This release comes with three audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese, a LPCM mono mix in English and a Dolby Atmos mix in Cantonese. The two mono tracks are comparable to the Shout! Factory 4K UHD release, while the newly created Dolby Atmos track gives fans of this film a new way to experience it. That said, all of the tracks sound excellent, and the Dolby Atmos does a phenomenal job of expanding the sound spectrum without straying away from the original mono track’s intentions. Included are English subtitles for the Cantonese language track, English SDH for the English language track, and English subtitles for Cantonese text when watching the English language track. Language tracks and subtitles can only be changed via the setup menu and not during playback. It should be noted that Arrow Video has done additional work on their subtitles and they are not the same ones used by Shout! Factory.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an image gallery (44 images—posters/stills/lobby cards), theatrical trailer #1 (3 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with text in English), theatrical trailer #2 (3 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with text in English), theatrical trailer #3 (1 minute 53 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with text in English and Cantonese), theatrical trailer #4 (3 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with text in Cantonese with removable English subtitles), deleted and extended scenes from the Taiwanese version and South Korean version (13 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with burnt-in English, Mandarin, and Korean subtitles), an extended opening sequence (11 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with burnt-in English subtitles), alternate English language credits (5 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival audio commentary recorded for the Criterion Collection with director John Woo, producer Terence Chang, filmmaker Roger Avary, and film critic Dave Kehr; an archival audio commentary with John Woo and Terence Chang, an audio commentary with John Woo and film journalist Drew Tayler; and an audio commentary with film historian Frank Djeng.

Extras on a Blu-ray disc include an interview with academic Lin Feng titled Chewing The Fat (12 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with author Leon Hunt Gun-Fu Fever (18 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with author Grady Hendrix titled Hong Kong Confidential: Inside Hard Boiled (13 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with composer Michael Gibbs titled Body Count Blues (10 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with screenwriter Chung Hang Ku titled Boiled to Perfection (16 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Gordon Chan titled Hard to Resist (10 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with Terence Chang titled No Time For Failure (12 minutes, DTS-HD stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with actor Anthony Wong titled Boiling Over (22 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with non-removable English subtitles), and an interview with John Woo titled Violent Night (41 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an archival interview with actor Chow Yun-fat (18 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Tony Leung (11 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), American Cinematheque 2025 Q&A with John Woo (37 minutes 57 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an archival documentary titled The Test of Time, featuring interviews with John Woo, Terence Chang, editor David Wu and actor/stunt coordinator Philip Kwok (75 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English and Cantonese with text in French and removable English subtitles).

Other extras include a reversible cover art, a double-sided foldout poster, six postcard-sized art cards, a chipboard slipcase, a slipcover, and a 40-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled The Legend of Hard Boiled written by Priscilla Page, an archival writing titled Bullet Ballet written by Stéphane Moïssakis, an archival interview with John Woo conducted by Stéphane Moïssakis, and information about the transfer.

Summary:

John Woo’s run of six films from A Better Tomorrow to Hard Boiled are among some of the best action films ever made. After Hard Boiled, John Woo, like many of his contemporaries, would leave Hong Kong and go to Hollywood to make movies. While he ventured into Hollywood filmmaking, none of John Woo's Hollywood projects could ever compare to those six iconic films.

Inspector "Tequila" Yuen Ho-yan will do anything, even break the law, to catch Johnny Wong, the man responsible for his partner’s death. During a raid, Inspector Yuen befriends one of Johnny Wong’s men, Alan, who also just happens to be an undercover cop. Inspector Yuen and Alan decide that, by working together, they can get more accomplished as they track down the evidence that will finally bring Johnny Wong down.

Hard Boiled is a masterclass in action cinema; John Woo was in top form for his farewell (at that time) from Hong Kong cinema, and the result is a remarkable film that stands out as one of cinema’s best action films. While he departed from Hong Kong cinema following Hard Boiled, Hollywood had sought to entice him as early as after the release of The Killer, a film that is widely considered his masterpiece. Hard Boiled may not reach the same level of emotional depth The Killer does, but when it comes to action sequences, it surpasses any of John Woo's previous or subsequent films.

It is immediately clear that you are about to watch something special. In the opening setup, there is a scene at a teahouse, where undercover cops are waiting for the moment to take down the criminals. In the bottom of birdcages are guns, which characters gain access to when they break the cages. Things quickly go awry, when the moment arrives; there is a hailfire of bullets and a lot of carnage left in its wake. Although John Woo has delivered countless exemplary action pieces, this moment is arguably his most brilliant and jaw-dropping.

Throughout cinema’s history there have been several notable actor/director collaborations in which both reached their greatest successes. More than any actor, audiences identify Chow Yun-Fat (City on Fire) with the cinema of John Woo, and they worked together on five films, starting with A Better Tomorrow and culminating with Hard Boiled. Chow Yun-Fat portrays "Tequila" Yuen Ho-yan, a hard-boiled police inspector who is impulsive and relies heavily on his instincts. He delivers another phenomenal performance that elevates everyone around him.

The most astonishing aspect of Hard Boiled is not its action sequences but its cast and their exceptional performances. Tony Leung (Bullet in the Head) is cast opposite Chow Yun-Fat in the role of Alan, an undercover cop who is deeply embedded into the criminal underworld. His role mirrors a similar character he would portray years later in Infernal Affairs. He delivers a captivating performance that perfectly contrasts with Chow Yun-Fat’s.

Another performance of note is Anthony Wong Chau-Sang (Full Contact), who portrays Johnny Wong, a psychopath crime boss whose first reaction is to kill. No matter how many times I have seen him portray a character like Johnny Wong, it is always a delight to see him in this type of role. The most memorable performance is Philip Kwok (Five Deadly Venoms) in the role of an assassin named Mad Dog, who has a moral compass when it comes to who he will kill.

The opening setup does a superb job fleshing out all the characters. Although the front half of the narrative is more exposition-heavy, that is not to say that the latter half is just wall-to-wall action; there are several dramatic moments in the latter half that greatly add to the rising tension. At 128 minutes in length, the narrative does an excellent job moving forward and building momentum to its finale, a lengthy action set piece that’s nearly ⅓ of the running time.

Besides the aforementioned tea house sequence, there are two other action sequences of note. The first of these takes place in a warehouse, where "Tequila" witnesses a massacre at the hands of Johnny Wong’s men, and instead of calling for backup, he becomes a one-man army with an impressive arsenal of weapons. The other is the finale, which takes place in a hospital, where Johnny Wong’s weapons depot is in the basement. When it becomes clear that the police are in the hospital and have the place surrounded, Johnny Wong has his men kill everyone, including patients. This is John Woo’s biggest and most impressive action sequence of his career. That said, John Woo’s action set pieces garner a lot of attention, and yet the heart and soul of his cinema is his ability to execute emotional conflict. Ultimately, Hard Boiled is an extraordinary action film that finds a perfect blend of substance and style.

For their release, Arrow Video has added a substantial amount of new extras, including archival interviews with Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung, a Q&A with John Woo, an archival feature-length documentary, and an archival audio commentary with John Woo and Terence Chang. In comparing the two releases, it is evident that Arrow Video’s version stands out as the superior choice over Shout! Factory’s offering. Hard Boiled gets a definitive release from Arrow Video. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer

Song of the Miraculous Hind: Standard Edition – Deaf Crocodile (4K UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Hungary, 2002
Director: Marcell Jankovics
Writer: Marcell Jankovics
Cast: László Áron, Árpád Besenczi, Gergõ Bódi, Ildikó Bokor, Róbert Bolla, Ferenc Borbiczky, Gyula Buss, Imre Csuja

Release Date: April 21st, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 94 Minutes 2 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Stereo Hungarian
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $39.95

"Song of the Miraculous Hind is Marcell Jankovics’ incredibly ambitious attempt to depict thousands of years of Hungarian culture and myth, based in part on early Siberian and Finno-Ugric legends and incorporating Scythian, Iranian, and Turkic artistic influences. Divided into four sections, the film opens in a violent snowstorm, with nomadic hunters stalking deer and woolly mammoth and singing songs of their spiritual brethren—and it ends millennia later, with Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians, who helped bridge the gap between Paganism and early Christianity." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "4K restoration of the film by the NFI – Film Archive in Hungary."

Song of the Miraculous Hind comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 75.4 GB

Feature: 62.1 GB

Vital Passenger delivers a solid encode; the source looks excellent. Colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look.

Blu-ray authoring by Vital Passenger.

Song of the Miraculous Hind comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 39.8 GB

Feature: 27.1 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD stereo mix in Hungarian with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds excellent; dialogue comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include a video essay by film historian Evan Chester titled Mythic Origins, Sacred History, and the Making of National Identity in Song of the Miraculous Hind (16 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with the film’s composer Levente Szörényi (of legendary Hungarian rock band Illés) and animator Piroska Martsa, translated by Anna Klaniczay and moderated by Dennis Bartok for Deaf Crocodile (49 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English and Hungarian with English translation), and an audio commentary with animation producer and podcaster Adam Rackoff, podcaster and film critic James Hancock, and filmmaker and podcaster Martin Kessler.

Extras are the same on the Blu-ray disc.

Summary:

Marcell Jankovics directed Song of the Miraculous Hind. He’s known for Son of the White Mare and The Tragedy of Man.

The narrative is divided into four sections: Land of Origin, Hunor and Magyar, On and On, and Pannonia. The narrative covers one thousand years of Hungarian history, beginning with the time of Prince Géza, when Hungary was Christianized. Although the four stories are based on Siberian and Finno-Ugric legends, they incorporate Scythian, Iranian, and Turkic artistic influences.

While Song of the Miraculous Hind was made specifically for a Hungarian audience, its four stories have a universal appeal to them. Anyone familiar with Marcell Jankovics's other films knows his distinct style of filmmaking. He uses techniques that give his films a retro look, and when it comes to the way images appear onscreen, they are not bound by conventionalism. That said, his style of animation and storytelling is overflowing with imagination.

Each story stands strong independently, and in terms of pacing, the narrative effectively builds momentum. Not all of the characters are human; there are half-human/half-bear, half-human/half-deer, and other hybrids. Spoken words come in the form of narration, songs, and dialogue exchanges between characters. While there is carnage throughout, the last story with its depiction of public executions is the most violent. Ultimately, Song of the Miraculous Hind is a film that fans of Marcell Jankovics will thoroughly enjoy, while those uninitiated to his cinema would be better suited starting with Son of the White Mare.

Deaf Crocodile gives Song of the Miraculous Hind a definitive release. Highly recommended.

Note: There is a deluxe release of Song of the Miraculous Hind that comes in a slipcase and a 60-page book with an essay by film historian Jenny Barker and an essay by film critic Walter Chaw (Film Freak Central).

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer