One of the holy grails of dark and nasty Hong Kong horror!!!
From top: US Chinatown VHS, HK laserdisc, German bootleg DVD. There are no official DVD releases anywhere. There's one company in the US who claim their bootleg is an *official* DVD but it's not. It's a boot sourced from the LD or VHS.
That Apprehensive Films release looks shady as hell. I assumed it was a boot but, to be honest, most won't find it anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteThe Apprenhensive Films is a boot (and it's the one I was referring to) and I hate it, haha. Terrible cover and they act like it's their film. Fuck that weak shit! Brian, my friend Matt in Korea has re-subtitled the film (i.e. READABLE subtitles) and restored the picture quality! I believe he has put it on CG.
ReplyDeleteAdd to this the one 2k print that is only slightly cut from print damage on vimeo, and we got a big deal here!
ReplyDeleteI rented (and downloaded) the AGFA 2K print as soon as they put it up via the Alamo cinema in Texas! xD
DeleteI haven't compared their version to the old bootlegs; how much is missing? I don't assume it's "good bits"? I've watched the new print once but didn't really notice anything.
It's mostlikely just print damage, a composite using the old bootleg and other prints including a rare homeland china vhs and the laserdisc, along with the other two vhs prints is being worked on by one of my friends, Also It runs at a faster framerate than the original, I have done a ton of comparing and confirmed it's missing at least 20 seconds of footage from print damage I think, Also the Devil 1981 blu-ray is on youtube with vietnam subs, but the blu-ray print is literally worse than the JP VHS print because of the pure amount of print damage, Aka mold, so it's best to just reconstruct the VHS print with the little bits of blu-ray inserts for an uncut feel
DeleteI'm not a tech geek; why would the 35mm run at a faster frame-rate if it's a real 35mm print? I would assume it's a print they got from HK as it's never been released officially in the US.
DeleteAlso, splicing the missing 20 sec's back into the print is cool cos you'll get a truly uncut version, but the beauty of a 2k print is that you can watch it on your big-ass screen in proper quality. VHS inserts are likely to look, uh, *less good* when blown up on a 60"+
But I'd certainly be interested in seeing it. Also, if whoever works on the composite print (Matt?) would colour correct it that would be really good.
THE DEVIL: I've got the bluray! Haha. Well, I kinda like old grindhouse prints so I'm fine with the mouldy print. And although the Japanese VHS (which I also own) hasn't deteriorated due to mould it still is what it is, i.e. a VHS tape! I'm just so uber happy that I don't have to sit thru that shitty English dub anymore. Ding Dong or whatever his name is is dubbed *worse* than the kid in Fulci's HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY!! lolz
I have no idea, this film has gotten a fucking lot of weird shit, along with there being no only vhs inserts, And I think the footage from the laserdisc and other vhs things other than the first bootleg that is common, that runs longer than the 2k version Already will certainly be an experiance, Also The Devil 1981's english dub, as pointed out by one of my frineds, sounds remarkabally similar to a godzilla international dub, if you know what i mean, Also there's an english language version of Devil Fetus 1983 from an indonesian betamax that is being put into a best print thing by Indonesian fan project for a best release so far, Along with you do old weird south korean horror stuff that's extremely obscure since I got some?
DeleteI'm no longer in contact with the Indonesian fan project guy. Also, Korean films are something I've never got into. They are probably cool enough but there's too many films in this world. LOL. Maybe one day.
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