HOME VIDEO: ‘Invisible Target,’ ‘Shaolin vs. Vampire’

INVISIBLE TARGET arrives on a two-disc ultimate edition DVD in the U.S. courtesy of The Weinstein Company’s Dragon Dynasty label. Nicholas Tse (WING CHUN), Shawn Yue (DRAGON TIGER GATE) and Jaycee Chan (THE DRUMMER) are young police officers committed to taking down Jacky Wu Jing, as leader of the notorious Ronin Gang.

DD’s DVD release comes with six deleted scenes, audio commentary, four featurettes, interviews, and trailers. Audio commentary is performed by Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Andy On, and Bey Logan. Interviews are conducted with director Benny Chan, Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Philip Ng, and Vincent Sze. Featurettes include “The Making of INVISIBLE TARGET,” “The Action of INVISIBLE TARGET,” storyboard comparisons, and gala premiere.

The film is rated R, 130 minutes, and includes optional English subtitles and dubbing, along with original Cantonese in Dolby 5.1 or DTS.

Through the Rarescope label, BCI Eclipse releases SHAOLIN VS. VAMPIRE (1988) starring Gordon Liu. I could not find any reference to this film in the standard online Hong Kong movie film databases except Cinemasie. After doing a little Google detective work I discovered the film is a highly obscure Japanese-Hong Kong co-production where Liu was hired by a Japanese production company to direct and star in what is basically a low-budget knock off of the MR. VAMPIRE franchise. It’s possible the film was made for TV.

The only other actor I could find attached to the film is Liu’s co-star Youki Kudoh, presumably the same actress who played the fighting “Dragon Lady” in RUSH HOUR 3. Several release dates are attached with 1988 being the most common.

A brief review of the film I found in Japanese suggests it’s poorly made and not worth watching, although that should come as no surprise.

According to Rarescope’s synopsis, “Gordon Liu must use his skills to protect some baby vampires in Hong Kong.”

The label goes on to state that the film features choreography from the “Lau Brothers” team but I doubt either Lau Kar-leung or his brother Kar-wing had much to do with this production beyond giving Gordon Liu a few pointers over lunch.

SALVATION (2007 – trailer) is a low-budget indie action flick from writer, director and co-star J.A. Steel that looks a bit like a very low-grade HIGHLANDER clone. Frankly, it doesn’t look very promising on any level but I’m sure I’ve seen worse – like BRAZILIAN BRAWL worse.

I’m going to put a special mention in for AnimEigo’s release of THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (1983), a highly regarded period dramedy starring frequent chambara star Ken Ogata (THE HIDDEN BLADE). This is not a samurai flick but may still appeal to fans of jidai geki and good storytelling in general.

Okada plays the son of a 69-year-old woman living in a village where everyone who turns 70 must leave to die alone according to local tradition. However, before she can go the woman help find a wife for her son.

This is a movie I definitely will add to my list. I’m not familiar with the works of late director Shohei Imanura but all of his films ranging from the late 1950s through 2001 have been well received and many seem to deal with tough subjects well worth exploring.

Imanura’s film appears to have been a remake of a 1958 film of the same name that was directed by Keisuke Kinoshita (IMDb). This version appears more theatrical. I didn’t find a trailer for the 1983 version but the trailer for the 1958 version can be viewed on Youtube.

In the U.K., Contender Entertainment is releasing ONG BAK and WARRIOR KING (aka TOM YUM GOONG) together at a reduced price.

In Hong Kong, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM arrives ahead of a U.S. release on DVD from Joy Sales with a Cantonese audio track and English dubbing for those who prefer their Chinese actors to be speaking a local dialect. There are rumors flying around the web, including on our forums that this release will include the original English audio track despite only Cantonese being listed on most online retail sites. A look at Joy Sales’ own site says Cantonese only. That seems to be the official word thus far until someone can prove otherwise.

I’m sure it won’t be too much longer until The Weinstein Company announces their U.S. version, hopefully released through their Dragon Dynasty label.

For those wondering why Hong Kong gets THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM on DVD so much sooner, it has to do with the more rampant film piracy in China. It’s supposedly a little better than it was a few years ago but it remains a bit problem for domestic and foreign films. This is why official DVD and VCD versions of Hong Kong movies usually appear in stores within a week or two of the theatrical release.

Next Week:
• LONE WOLF & CUB VOL. 2 [TV] (DVD – Tokyo Shock)
• THE RESTLESS (DVD – CJ Entertainment)