Ninja Hunter DVD Widescreen?

[punt44]

Hi All,

I've recently stumbled upon an ebay item of Ninja Hunter. I think it's a panmedia version, or some kind of bootleg. It says it's in widescreen. Has anyone come across a widescreen version of Ninja Hunter? How was the quality?

[DeathFuMaster]

post a link and I can tell you if its panmedia or not

[dMG]

http://tinyurl.com/d6to63

I think he might mean that one. I want a 2.35:1 version of this! :)

Browsing the sellers site, i found several panmedia (and aliases) things and tbh the cover itself smells panmedia :)

interesting enough there is what claims to be a 2.35:1 Sleeping Fist there too. Also looking very bootlegish..

I wish these prints were put on the market legally *sigh*

[punt44]

That's the one. I wonder how it looks.

[DeathFuMaster]

Yes that is most likely a bootleg. If its panmedia then from the ones I UNfortunately own, the quality of the picture is probably really good...but the DVD may skip or mess up. So you choose.

Also that seller IS known for carrying alot of Bonzai/Red Sun/Panmedia stuff, but it usually lists them as the studio. So it may be a boot from a different company or it could be official, but I think the US rights lie with Tai Seng. On another note, the cover used is the cover of the UK version.

[CarterWong]

This may be off topic but since DeathFuMaster brought it up I guess I'll ask..

I heard that Bonzai/Red Sun purchase the rights to distribute a certain amount of copies of a movie from various rights owners. If true, then they wouldn't be bootleg. I am wondering if anybody can verify this because I see a lot of people on this site claiming they are bootlegs but again I'm just telling you what I was told by someone in the business. I've seen some Bonzai/Red Sun stuff at major chains like FYE as well...

[thedirtytiger]

All boots, no ands ifs or buts, those are all boots.

[CarterWong]

Then why haven't they been shut down?

[DeathFuMaster]

Sadly most of the people that have rights to the films dont care or know.

[thedirtytiger]

They do care and do know, but it takes a court injunction which costs a truck load of money, the people who do have the rights just can't afford to stop the bastard ! :(

[CarterWong]

Just a couple observations...

1) If I owned the rights to a film and saw another company was mass-producing and selling illegal bootlegs of it, I would care because they would be effecting my business and in the end my money.

2) If I owned the rights to many martial arts movies I would obviously be aware of the bootleg factor and be on the look out for it. I would also probably find sites like this one or hkflix and quickly find out about these bootleg companies selling copies of Ip Man to thousands of potential customers before I have the chance too.

So I mean, really, I wonder if Red SUn really are bootlegs like everyone says they are.

Edit:

<i>They do care and do know, but it takes a court injunction which costs a truck load of money, the people who do have the rights just can't afford to stop the bastard !</i>

This makes more sense.

[DeathFuMaster]

I was actually talking about older titles that the right holders are older HK companies that dont put movies out anymore.

[wigsplitta]

Justy in case anyone was still interested in the original question, it is indeed widescreen - 2.35:1 in 4:3 aspect ratio.

The most bizarre screen arrangement i've seen in a long time, super wide border at the bottom, with hard coded Japanese (i think) subs

It's a Bonzai Media Corp. release, and it's a Filmark International print.

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/9177/ninjahunter.png

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2345/ninjahunter2.png

I watched it last night and the pic quality is pretty ropey, but then are no glitches in the DVD.

It's a really great film, highly recommended and it was so cool to watch it in full widescreen. :-)

[punt44]

Thanks for the screen grabs!!!!

The image quality looks kinda crappy. Worse than the Tai Seng version.

But, is it worth it to see all the action in letterbox, with the sex scenes intact?

[karatemoviecom]

I have the original Japanese VHS tape, quality is good, and its worth it IMHO