Third Window Films

[Michael Kerpan]

I found a subbed DVD release of Going MY Home when it was new-ish. Not sure if it was a legit one or not (back then you sometimes still got English-subbed HK/Taiwan/China releases every now and then).

[Peacock]

Guys the 4 Tales Of Nami boxset is stupidly good. If you’re into lonely neo-noir, rain, long takes and tragedy this is for you. I’m only two films in but am really blown away, I was expecting these to be more sexploitation than arthouse drama; very pleasantly surprised.

[colinr0380]

I’m glad it has been well received so far Peacock! I'm enjoying the set as well. One of the things this set is revealing is just how much that initial Nikkatsu Angel Guts series (the titles mentioned on the previous page) was experimenting in its approach to Ishii’s manga series with all sorts of different genre takes under different directors (juvenile delinquent; dark melodrama; media satire/horror; full blown sexploitation) before Ishii eventually took the reins himself with Red Vertigo and pushed it more forcefully into the tone you are describing.

So these independently produced post-Nikkatsu films are showing that darkly tragic neo-noir aspect to be key to Ishii’s work, which has kind of been obscured in the West for decades both by the lack of availability until now and arguably the overshadowing nature of Ishii’s Gonin crime films, which were his main works that were getting UK distribution in the late 90s in the wake of Takeshi Kitano’s breakthrough with Sonatine and his earlier films getting wide exposure in the West (Kitano himself turns up in an acting role in Gonin, which may have been the factor that gave the Gonin films Western distribution by association), and which may have skewed the perception a bit based on that. So it has taken decades for Ishii to escape from the shadow of Kitano in the UK with these films finally being distributed, though the breakthrough happened a bit earlier in the US with Synapse releasing the (Ishii-written) Evil Dead Trap film in 2000 (which only received its first UK release by 88 Films last year) and Artsmagic the (coming to seem like one of the key DVD releases of that decade) Nikkatsu Angel Guts series box set in 2005.

Now that we are getting these dark noir-like dramas (including the Ishii-written Love Hotel from last year) from Third Window, that seems to be rebalancing things somewhat. One of the only other films by Ishii that was released in the UK back in early 2000s on DVD was Freezer (aka Freeze Me) through the Tartan Asia Extreme label, which whilst not a "Nami" film per se is very much in the tradition of these bleak arty dramas, so it has been great to finally put that film (which at the time just felt like a random dark thriller with a blackly comic plot of continually having to dispose of the bodies of various assaulters turning up at our main character's apartment inside an ever exponentially multiplying series of chest freezers!) into a wider context as well.

[andyli]

A companion set is just announced for 23rd Feb. Takashi Ishii: The Angel Guts Collection, containing Red Classroom, Nami, Red Porno, Red Vertigo, Red Flash.

[colinr0380]

That's great news! Although it is a shame that the first in the Nikkatsu series, 1978's High School Co-Ed, cannot be included for whatever reason, so it appears that I will still need to hang on to the old Artsmagic DVD set for that one.

[andyli]

The owner of Third Window has this to say on the other forum:

Basically, I hadn't thought of making an Angel Guts set when I did the Takashi Ishii set, but word of mouth around the Ishii release made me look into it, so I quickly followed it up with the upcoming Angel Guts set.

It's just a coincidence, and not great timing I guess but I thought that people who hadn't bought the Takashi Ishii set may complain about the lack of Red Flash, so it's added just as a bonus disc.
Anyways, the price will reflect a 4 film release, with the 5th film added at no extra charge. All my 4 film sets are at 59.99 and 3 film sets at either 49.99 or 54.99.
Terracotta usually a bit cheaper anyways.

Hi-School Co-ed cannot be released anywhere in the world nowadays, due to the lead actress not wanting it re-released.

Rarewaves cost is wrong (and not sure why it's live now anyways)

Also, regarding more Gakuryu Ishii:

Labyrinth of Dreams - the rights owner wanted an absurd amount of money for it.
August in the Water - the rights holders went bankrupt and put the film into a legal limbo which basically requires Ishii to take the government to court to get the rights back. A process which will take a long time apparently.
Angel Dust - the rights holder not really interested in remastering or selling the rights.

[colinr0380]

The Blu-ray upgrade will likely be worth it for the four Angel Guts titles that can be released, as they are all quite visually stunning (Nami in particular). This will be their UK debut in any form as well.

Jasper Sharp provided commentaries for all of the films that were in that US Artsmagic DVD release, so hopefully those may be able to be ported over as whilst they are a little dry (and stonily silent during the most notorious scene of Red Porno! ) they provide valuable context on everything from what kotatsus and gravure magazines are to the biographies of the various actresses who only appear in one or two of these films and then retired from the industry altogether, including if I remember correctly his noting of the lead actress of Red Porno turning up in a small supporting role as the jaded bar hostess in Red Vertigo!

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

That's a shame about Angel Dust because I was hoping Third Window would be able to release it. Crazy to me that the rights holder would pass up money from it but I guess not everyone is aware that stuff getting uploaded to YT won't exactly get you much either.

[logboy]

i'm not entirely convinced with the background story being told about the need / desire to include 'red flash' in this new 'angel guts' set, given it's in the other one. neither have the room to be massive sellers, and someone has been getting lots of views from them being watched elsewhere, too.

this one also seems to be sold more on the takashi ishii connection, rather than on the names of chusei sone and noboru tanaka, neither exactly creative slouches. yes, i understand the 'high school co-ed' contractual issue, but this has been known of for many years iirc.

there have been a number of TWF sets with four discs, so it's as though that's the main aim, to avoid the design and production template being altered? anyway, the 'four tales of nami' is my set of the year, didn't like 'daiei gothic 2' which pales compared to the previous, and haven't started 'radical japan' yet.

whilst i am here, i notice references to the other place ... the traffic there has dropped off, and i don't feel like i'm dealing with incredible nuanced film knowledge from which i benefit, as much as i am facing obvious issues with some people's illogical attachment to cardboard and plastic. i'm not a cinephile by any stretch, i have a narrow taste for mostly very solid genre films, mostly meaning japan, as far as buying is concerned. if i'm there, i stumble into appetite more readily than taste.

[Adam X]

Only 2 of their box sets so far have had more than 3 discs. I’m not sure why you feel the need to look for any deception behind the (perfectly understandable) reasoning given for including Red Flash. Adam Torel is one of the most honest and direct (& hard working) label owners you’re likely to come across.

[colinr0380]

Also Takashii Ishii created the manga series that the films were based on, so he is sort of the primary creative in these titles even if the first four films were directed by other filmmakers until Ishii himself took the helm with his directorial debut with Red Vertigo.

Looking at the extras for this, it looks as if Jasper Sharp is doing the commentaries on Red Classroom and Nami (which may be the same as the old Artsmagic ones, although they are classed as "New", so may be updated from 2005! Although either way they will be new to the UK) but Samm Deighan is doing the commentary for Red Porno and Tom Mes for Red Vertigo this time around. I presume that the archival interviews with Ishii (and Toshiharu Ikeda on Red Porno. Which reminds me that I would love to see the Ikeda directed-Ishii written "Brutal Insanity of Love" from 1993 next! Perhaps in a double bill with the 2007 Ishii written-directed "Brutal Hopelessness of Love"! Because they are two further "Nami" films!) will be the same ones that appeared on the previous set as well, though there are also going to be new video essays on Red Classroom and Nami.

[logboy]

Only 2 of their box sets so far have had more than 3 discs. I’m not sure why you feel the need to look for any deception behind the (perfectly understandable) reasoning given for including Red Flash. Adam Torel is one of the most honest and direct (& hard working) label owners you’re likely to come across.

i don't think it's deception, just an odd choice being badly described. i've never double dipped so quickly before.

well aware of adam's approach, which is why this situation looks odd.

[Adam X]

It’s an Angel Guts film. People would complain because it’s the internet. Of course now they’ll complain about buying the film twice, even though the price doesn’t really reflect its inclusion.
Trying to avoid people complaining rather than talking about the rest of the release doesn’t seem odd to me given how much longer TWF takes to sell any given release compared to the US equivalent.
Think of it as a placeholder for High Schhol Co-Ed, should it eventually see a release, and just forget that it’s there in the meantime.

Anyway, I didn’t think I’d ever end up watching the Angel Guts films myself, given the name alone led me to think these were on the extreme end of Japanese genre filmmaking, which I’ve never really enjoyed. But the TWF pixie dust seems to be doing it’s magic. Really looking forward to this set.

[colinr0380]

Yes, the title of the series probably has not helped it out in getting Western distribution that much! But rest assured that (aside from some allusions in Nami) there is no hara-kiri style gore on display here! I am trying to recall how Jasper Sharp tried to explain the meaning of the title during his commentaries back in the day, and I think it was that the title is intended to be about women being put on a pedestal by admirers (as the 'Angel') but also their admirers, and the women themselves, having darker and more earthy desires seething within themselves that make them human as well (the 'Guts'). Or something like that!

[Adam X]

Yeah, I think I proabably imagined them hanging out in the same location as the Guinea Pig & All Night Long films, which I have a hard time enjoying.

The first two episodes of the Perverse Permissions podcast, co-hosted by Samm Deighan, covered them back in August, and that definitely helped pique my interest.

[colinr0380]

Back in the early 2000s I remember initially getting them mixed up with Synapse's US DVD release of the Gaira films Entrails of a Virgin and Entrails of a Beautiful Woman (which ironically were retitled as the "Guts Trilogy" when surprisingly given their first UK Blu-ray release last year by 88 Films), which are exactly what you would expect of films containing those titles!

[Peacock]

Takashi Ishii: 4 Tales of Beaver

[colinr0380]

Third Window has another Toshiaki Toyoda Blu-ray release scheduled for 25th May, with 2025's Transcending Dimensions accompanied with 2009's The Blood of Rebirth

[Adam X]

So thrilled with this announcement! Really been enjoying TWF’s continuing releases of Toyoda’s work. Worth mentioning the release also includes his three shorts made since the last set: Alive, I’m Here & I’m Coming.

More coming in 2026:
* New Directors of Japan: Takashi Ono
* their first UHD, Survive Style 5+
* Chusei Sone double feature
* Omega (?) J-Horror double feature (“…of massively obscure films from the height of the J-Horror boom!”)

Not sure if they qualify, but I’d love the latter to be a Masayuki Ochiai double feature of Infection & Hypnosis.

[colinr0380]

* Omega (?) J-Horror double feature (“…of massively obscure films from the height of the J-Horror boom!”)

Not sure if they qualify, but I’d love the latter to be a Masayuki Ochiai double feature of Infection & Hypnosis.

Or maybe Ochiai's 1997 film adaptation of videogame Parasite Eve! That has never been released in the UK - I imported the early 2000s DVD put out by ADV Films in the US back in the day, but that neatly fits in with the Ring cycle that was about to arrive the year afterwards, in particular with all of its discussion about the 'organised rebellion of DNA' it is very close to the medically themed follow up to Ring, Spiral.

I'm trying to think about some of the more obscure J-horror titles and one I would love to see get an update from its early 2000s Artsmagic DVD edition would be Another Heaven by Joji Iida (the director of Spiral), which in its body hopping spirit inspiring people to kill others and then themselves is a bit like the Japanese take on that Denzel Washington film Fallen.

I don't think any of the Shinji Aoyama films that Artsmagic released in the US ever made it to the UK, such as EM- Embalming, which he directed just before his magnificent 2000 arthouse film Eureka. One they did release in the UK was Crossfire, under an alternate title "Pyrokinesis", which was directed by Shusuke Kaneko after his run of 90s Gamera films (and one segment of the 1993 Necronomicon anthology film) and before he did the 2006 live action film version of Death Note.

(And of course Artsmagic put out the 2000 live action version of Uzumaki too, which a couple of years ago received a Blu-ray edition in the US through Discotek in their live action "Nihon Nights" sublabel, but has not received a Blu-ray edition in the UK as of yet)

[Calvin]

Third Window have confirmed that they have a Mitsuo Yanagimachi film (that isn't God Speed You! Black Emperor) coming either late this year or early 2027

[Murdoch]

Perhaps Who's Campus, Anyway? I don't believe it's received anything other than DVD releases.

[zedz]

Himatsuri would be a very exciting choice. I don't think it even made it to DVD, and it's a masterpiece. As long as it's not Shadow of China, I'll be happy.

[Adam X]

Not to interrupt the guessing game, but I noticed a March post on the other forum that should make those who've been displeased with Third Window's encoding on some prior discs (and no doubt the rest of us) happy.

Just to let everyone know that encoding has been upgraded for Transcending Dimensions and all future releases from that.
Apparently (apparent to the QC company who QCs Radiance's discs) it's quite a significant improvement!

[Calvin]

This 2-disc special edition release contains a double-bill of films from Chusei Sone focusing on youth gangs, drugs, sex and violence in ‘80s Japan. Scars of the Sun (1981) 太陽のきずあと

Chusei Sone’s 1981 film Scars of the Sun departs from the director’s previous works in the field of Roman Porno, with this Toei youth-drama starring Kenichi Kaneda. Kenichi plays Shuhei, a member of a rough-and-tumble gang whose customs are broken apart when Kenichi is reunited with his estranged brother whose girlfriend’s entry into the group starts to cause friction between its members and the traditions they follow.

Blow the Night (1983)

夜をぶっとばせ

The first film from Chusei Sone’s production company “Filmworkers” is a hard-hitting Docu-drama based on the stories of Namie Takada: a 15 year old thinner-sniffing, girl-gang member.

Namie stars in the film as herself to tell a brutal tale of wild youth in early 80s Japanese society.


Special Features
Limited edition set (2000 copies)
0-Ring with illustrated artwork from Ryan Quackenbush
Full-height Scanavo packaging w/reversible sleeves & artwork from both films.
Booklet with writing from Miriam Balanescu

Disc 1: Scars of the Sun
Jasper Sharp feature audio commentary
"The Sun Sets on Chusei Sone" - Dakota Noot Video Essay
Original Trailer

Disc 2: Blow the Night
Producer Kunihiko Ukai interview
Tom Mes feature audio commentary
“Juvenile Deliquency in ‘80s Japan” - James Balmont Video Essay
Original Trailer

Out July 27th