Slaughter in San Francisco – Eureka Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Hong Kong/USA, 1974 (Yellow Faced Tiger), USA, 1981 (Slaughter in San Francisco)
Director: Lo Wei
Writer: Lo Wei
Cast: Don Wong Tao, Sylvia Chang, Chuck Norris, Dan Ivan, Robert Jones, Bob Talbert, Robert J. Hercuth, James Econmonides, Chuck Boyd

Release Date: February 19th, 2024
Approximate running times: 106 Minutes 2 Seconds (Yellow Faced Tiger), 88 Minutes 3 Seconds (Slaughter in San Francisco)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Versions)
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Mandarin (Yellow Faced Tiger), LPCM Mono English (Slaughter in San Francisco)
Subtitles: English (Yellow Faced Tiger)
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £17.99 (UK)

"San Francisco police officers Don Wong (Wong Tao) and John Summer (Robert Jones) save a young woman (Sylvia Chang) from being assaulted by a gang of criminals. Unfortunately, all the crime in San Francisco is run by Chuck Slaughter (Chuck Norris), who doesn’t take kindly to police interfering in his business. Wong is kicked off the force by his corrupt Captain, and Summer is murdered by Slaughter’s men. Using his powerhouse kung fu skills, Wong vows to clean up the streets and take down Slaughter once and for all!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5 (Yellow Faced Tiger, Slaughter in San Francisco)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray of both the original Hong Kong theatrical and US export versions from brand new 2K restorations."

Slaughter in San Francisco and Yellow Faced Tiger come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.2 GB

Feature: 21.4 GB (Yellow Faced Tiger), 17.8 GB (Slaughter in San Francisco)

Though the source for these two version transfers is comparable, the Yellow Faced Tiger version has a few very minor instances of source imperfections. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity is strong, and compression is solid. That said, when it comes to black levels, though they are generally strong, there are a few moments where they are not as convincing.

Audio: 3.75/5 (LPCM Mono Mandarin - Yellow Faced Tiger), 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono English - Slaughter in San Francisco)

Slaughter in San Francisco comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English. This audio track is in great shape. Dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Yellow Faced Tiger comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Mandarin with removable English subtitles. This audio track is in very good shape. Dialog comes through, and everything sounds balanced. That said, when compared to the English-language track for Slaughter in San Francisco, this audio track sounds flat and lacks the depth that the other track has.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an export theatrical trailer (2 minutes 21 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), U.S. theatrical trailer (2 minutes 10 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3 minutes 57 seconds, LPCM mono Mandarin with burnt-in English and Cantonese subtitles), a featurette with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema titled Karate Country: Talking Chuck (40 minutes 48 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Return to Slaughter with comments by film producer Andre Morgan, actor Don Wong Tao and filmmaker Michael Worth (15 minutes 10 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary for Slaughter in San Francisco with Asian film expert Frank Djeng and Michael Worth, an audio commentary for Yellow Faced Tiger with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, an O-card slipcase (limited to 2,000 copies), and a 20-page booklet (limited to 2,000 copies) with cast & crew information, an essay titled California Screaming Breaking Out of Yellow Faced Tiger, or Slaughter in San Francisco written by James Oliver, and information about the transfer titled Notes on Viewing.

Summary:

Directed by Lo Wei, who is most remembered for directing two Bruce Lee films, The Big Boss and Fists of Fury. He collaborated with Jackie Chan on six films.

After being fired for crossing the line, a former police officer named Wong is drawn back into the fold when his former partner is murdered. From there, he begins his own unofficial investigation that uncovers corruption at the police department.

Slaughter in San Francisco was originally released under the title Yellow Faced Tiger, a direct translation of the Chinese title. Yellow Faced Tiger is one of two films Lo Wei directed back to back in San Francisco; the other film is Chinatown Capers, and the Officer Wong character makes a cameo appearance in that film.

Chuck Norris (Lone Wolf McQuade) has been put forth as the star of Slaughter in San Francisco. And yet, the real star of Slaughter in San Francisco is Don Wong Tao (Along Comes the Tiger) in the role of Officer Wong. He was chosen by Golden Harvest as an heir apparent to the void left behind by Bruce Lee's tragic death. That said, performance-wise, he lacks the charisma that made Bruce Lee a film icon. Fortunately, when it comes to the fight scenes, he delivers the goods.

Content-wise, Slaughter in San Francisco is a mix of police procedural and martial arts. The narrative is based on numbers, and the characters are caricatures that are instantly identifiable to anyone familiar with 1970s martial arts cinema. Also, though the fight scenes are well executed, they are not memorable.

The performances are best described as serviceable. The standout performance was by Sylvia Chang (Mountains May Depart) in the role of Slaughter’s brother’s girlfriend. Her character also plays a large role in the story at hand, since her parents have been wrongly accused of murder. And though her character tends to be mischievous, as the narrative progresses, she manages to exude sympathy.

As mentioned before, Chuck Norris made an early appearance in his career before establishing the persona for which he is now known. Also, it is not surprising that Golden Harvest brought him back as the main villain, since he did a very good job for them in The Way of the Dragon. He delivers a very good turn as the villain in the role of Slaughter. His most memorable moment is when his character slaps Sylvia Chang's character while he is shirtless and all the while laughing diabolically.

From a production standpoint, Slaughter in San Francisco is a film that does a great job of maximizing its resources. And though a filmmaker like Lo Wei rarely gets cited for his direction, he does a very good job framing the characters and action sequences in Slaughter in San Francisco. Pink Floyd's song Obscured by Clouds makes an uncredited appearance in Slaughter in San Francisco. Ultimately, Slaughter in San Francisco is best described as a down-and-dirty exploitation film that also has some martial arts thrown in for good measure.

Here are some of the areas where slaughter in San Francisco differs from Yellow Faced Tiger. The opening theme music, Sylvia Chang's character’s introduction, a lot of Wong’s scenes as a waiter, notably a scene where Wong serves Sylvia Chang's character and her parents, and some moments with Wong at his home have been trimmed. That said, it does not appear that any of the action sequences have been trimmed.

Slaughter in San Francisco is not a film that I would have ever expected to get a solid audio/video presentation; all previous home video releases were mediocre. Also, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think we would get a release that came with the original Hong Kong version of Yellow Faced Tiger and a wealth of insightful extras. That said, Slaughter in San Francisco gets an excellent release from Eureka Video, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer