Massacre Gun

[antnield]

Genre icon Jô Shishido stars in this tense and violent yakuza yarn from genre stalwart and Seijun Suzuki’s former assistant, Yasuharu Hasebe (Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song).

Shishido stars as Kuroda, a mob hitman who turns on his employers after being forced to execute his lover. Joining forces with his similarly wronged brothers, hot-headed Eiji (Tatsuya Fuji, In the Realm of the Senses) and aspiring boxer Saburô (Jirô Okazaki, Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter), the trio escalate their mob retaliation to all-out turf war where no one will stop until one faction emerges victorious.

Strikingly violent for the period and gorgeously photographed in monochrome like genre siblings Branded to Kill and A Colt is My Passport (Shishido’s other films from 1967), Massacre Gun is a bold iteration on the genre featuring some stunning compositions and the assured direction of Hasebe.

CONTENTS

• Limited Edition Blu-ray (3000 copies only)
• Restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation, on Blu-ray for the first time in the world!
• Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Newly translated English subtitles
• Brand new interview with star Jô Shishido
• Interview with renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns
• Original theatrical trailer
• Gallery featuring rare promotional images
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp, newly illustrated by Ian MacEwan and featuring original archive stills

Trailer.

[MichaelB]

Full specs announced:

Genre icon Jô Shishido stars in this tense and violent yakuza yarn from genre stalwart and Seijun Suzuki’s former assistant, Yasuharu Hasebe (Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song).

Shishido stars as Kuroda, a mob hitman who turns on his employers after being forced to execute his lover. Joining forces with his similarly wronged brothers, hot-headed Eiji (Tatsuya Fuji, In the Realm of the Senses) and aspiring boxer Saburô (Jirô Okazaki, Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter), the trio escalate their mob retaliation to all-out turf war where no one will stop until one faction emerges victorious.

Strikingly violent for the period and gorgeously photographed in monochrome like genre siblings Branded to Kill and A Colt is My Passport (Shishido’s other films from 1967), Massacre Gun is a bold iteration on the genre featuring some stunning compositions and the assured direction of Hasebe.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
• Limited Edition Blu-ray (3000 copies only)
• Restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation, on Blu-ray for the first time in the world!
• Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Newly translated English subtitles
• Brand new interview with star Jô Shishido
• Interview with renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns
• Original theatrical trailer
• Gallery featuring rare promotional images
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp, newly illustrated by Ian MacEwan and featuring original archive stills

Region: Free
Duration: 91 mins
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: Mono
B&W
Discs: 2
UK
RRP: £19.99
Release Date: 6th April
US
MSRP: $39.95
Release Date: 7th April

[dwk]

How is the limited edition going to work? Is it 3,000 total or will the UK and US releases each have 3,000 copies pressed?

[TonyleStephanois]

3000 each for UK and US.

[dwk]

Cool. 6,000 worldwide seems reasonable.

[Orlac]

Is Arrow aware that some Japanese transfers need their colour settings changed for UK/US sets? Blind Woman's Curse and Lady Snowblood are set at the wrong level, but Stray Cat Rock seemed ok. EddieLarkin is better with the jargon then I am!

[EddieLarkin]

Stray Cat Rock is fine, and is their latest Japanese release, so presumably they're aware now. I am wondering if they'll bother to fix BWC for the US release though.

[tenia]

I doubt they'll fix it, that would upset UK buyers who already got the set.

[swo17]

I think most rational consumers would be happy just to have the other option.

[David M.]

Stray Cat Rock is fine, and is their latest Japanese release, so presumably they're aware now.

It depends which facility did the encoding work.

[EddieLarkin]

Right, so no surprise that the disc you work on turns out fine, whilst the one's you don't... (though can you say if the SCR masters came to you requiring a colour space correction?). I think Arrow should consider that anything they licence from the Japanese studios should be handed over to yourself!

[David M.]

SCR actually didn't. The blacks don't go to zero black all the time in it, but it's clearly down to a choice on the part of the colorist.

BTW, there's no reason why masters from Japan should have gray blacks. They're using the same HDTV standard (Rec.709) as everyone else.

[EddieLarkin]

Which is what is so confusing about it. It's not limited to Japanese transfers, but it definitely seems like it pops up there more than anywhere else. Do you think perhaps it's a holdover from the SD era, where the Japanese got used to making an IRE adjustment when exporting their transfers? And some studios/licensors don't realise it's no longer necessary?

[David M.]

Actually, Japan is the NTSC country that *didn't* use the strange 7.5 IRE pedestal. Black in Japanese NTSC was at 0 IRE just like in PAL.

Even if that wasn't the case, I'd be surprised given that that is an analog-only issue.

[EddieLarkin]

Oh if they were always the same as PAL then yeah my theory doesn't make much sense, since they same to make the change (if that is indeed what they're doing) for both EU and US licensees. Whatever it is I wish someone would tell them to stop doing it! Silly that it's still happening.

[Banasa]

Blu-ray.com review

Glad the Rayns interviews are long ones. They make me all the more curious for this and Retalliation.

[MichaelB]

I've just finished editing the one that's going on Retaliation, which is slightly shorter but still 31 minutes.

[MichaelB]

Mondo Digital.

[MichaelB]

Beaver.

[longstone]

I really enjoyed this film, and have Retaliation on pre-order, I hope they do well for Arrow and they can keep releasing titles from Japan.
There is something about the black and white super wide screen photography that just works for me with these crime thrillers,
the Jazz score and location settings in this one add to the atmosphere and it all works splendidly with the HD transfer .
The extras were really nice too, the Tony Rayns piece is packed with facts about Nikkatsu history and the Shishido Jo interview is fun.
I didn't have time to read the essay yet but there are some great photos in the booklet.
In the Beaver round up it states " a large dose of style over substance " which of course is pretty true but then it's the style that makes this film enjoyable.

[MichaelB]

Rewind.

[ex-cowboy]

Has anyone pre-ordered this with Zavvi and received it yet? I ordered maybe a week or so ago and its still says processing, even though it should have come out yesterday.