Early February Film News

Considering the last few months it's fair to say that the Japanese release news has been a bit quiet, Radiance doing it's bit but Arrow have come in with a last ditch ray of sunshine, with the announcement of their V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal Limited Edition release.

Considering he has written a book on it you suspect Tom Mes is behind this rather intriguing release. Like 88 Films recent foray into Roman Porno it feels like Arrow are moving into a neglected arena of Japanese film, so this is something to be celebrated.

What have Arrow in store for us? Well, let me shamelessly cadge their own description - I mean reinvent the wheel, no point:

In 1989, legendary Japanese studio Toei launched their V-Cinema line of direct-to-video genre features. V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal presents nine explosive titles representing some of the best the Japanese crime film has to offer.

Fast-paced and action-packed, Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage sees detective Joe Kawamura out for revenge against the men who gunned down his partner. Along the way he teams up with Lily, a gun-toting nun looking to get back five million dollars that was stolen from her church. Next up, Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet sees wannabe yakuza Junko get more than he bargained for when tasked with avenging the murder of a fellow gang member, or face the consequences for betrayal. Meanwhile, in Shunichi Nagasaki's unbearably tense thriller Stranger, a late-night taxi driver is stalked by the unseen driver of an SUV, who just might have a connection to the taxi driver's criminal past. In Carlos, the eponymous Brazilian-Japanese petty criminal sees an opportunity to play rival yakuza gangs against each other, but bites off much more than he can chew. Burning Dog is a gripping heist film where a gang of thieves plot to rob a US military base in Okinawa, but rising tensions in the group threaten to put the plan in jeopardy.

The sequel to one of the most iconic Japanese franchises of all time, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat sees a female assassin hired to infiltrate a women's prison and search for The Scorpion, a legendary rebellious prisoner hiding in the bowels of the building. After his fiancée is killed in the crossfire of a yakuza turf war, a man on the edge remorselessly hunts down the gangsters responsible in legendary director Teruo Ishii's The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses. Meanwhile in Danger Point: The Road to Hell, duo of contract killers' fragile partnership is tested when their most recent hit starts to have unforeseen consequences. Finally, assassin and femme fatale Shion rebels against the fanatical religious order who prepared her from birth to be the perfect killer in the pulpy XX: Beautiful Hunter.

Filled with action, thrills and double-crosses, V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal is an electrifying compendium of gems from the Japanese video underworld.