JOYUREI / GHOST ACTRESS / DON'T LOOK UP (1996) from Hideo Nakata

GHOST ACTRESS aka DON'T LOOK UP (1996, Japan, titled JOYUREI)
Directed by Hideo Nakata
Film review

White dress, black hair, haunted film - Hideo Nakata directing ghosts before RING

Ring (or Ringu) launched Japanese horror movies across the globe, based on Koji Suzuki's novels about Sadako wreaking her psychic revenge through cursed videotapes. Despite the fact there had already been a Japanese TV movie in 1995 (Ringu: Kanzen-ban), it was Hideo Nakata who directed the successful movie version - and he probably got the job because he had already made Ghost Actress.

The film centres around the making of a wartime drama at an old movie studio. The director starts running into trouble when the ghost of a young woman starts appearing in the rafters above the movie set, as well as on the filmed rushes. As the cast and begin to get spooked, accidents start to happen on set...

Ring wasn't just effortlessly scary - it didn't come out of nowhere. Hideo Nakata had already been trying out how to scare audiences with a ghost girl all the way through Ghost Actress, which makes it an interesting watch. Strangely, the ghost is seen many more times than in Ring - here she's more active, more vocal and more hands on!

There are a few more parallels, besides the appearence of the ghost - it's mentioned that the very celluloid itself might be haunted. Also, the basic structure of a story within a story is similar to that of Ring 0: Birthday - the 3rd Japanese Ring movie - where a play is in production.

Ghost Actress, is very well-acted, atmospheric, occasionally creepy, but a little too brief at 73 minutes - you're left wanting more story, including a better reason for the haunting. But it's a lively precursor to the terrifying Ring-cycle, and I'm surprised it's not been released properly on DVD - I can only find it on Korean release at the moment, and that's without english subtitles.

Lastly, a special mention of the leading actor playing the movie director - Yûrei Yanagi went on to play the pivotal role of the reporter in Ring and Ring 2, as well as the unlucky schoolteacher in the original 2 v-cinema movies of Ju-on: The Grudge. That must make him one of the most scared actors in Japan! Perhaps in Ghost Actress we're witnessing him originate the falling-over-backwards-to-the-ground-cos-he's-so-scared manoeuvre! He's soon to be seen in the awesome- looking vision of hell, Kidan (check out Twitch film for a trailer), which should hopefully be available in english in the coming months.

If you want to go to the Twitch film site, or learn more about scary Ring movies - check the links on the sidebar to the right.

Max

SF Episode One - SAMURAI FICTION (1998) - DVD Review

SF Episode One - SAMURAI FICTION (1998, Japan)
Korean DVD (NTSC, All Region, Garam Net)

Charming, funky, homage to old-school samurai films - from the director of RED SHADOW

Impressive for its wealth of memorable characters, Samurai Fiction is an ideal companion to Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi remake, with its fresh and humorous approach. While it's essentially a traditional tale of samurai honour, SF appeals with its progressive ideals, modern soundtrack, and young cast.

This film shows the director's enthusiasm for the samurai movie genre. He based his Stereo Future (2001) around the making of a fictional samurai movie. In the same year, he made the big budget, techno-scored, remake of Red Shadow (or Akakage), which is in the same vein of comedy, action and drama - highly recommended.

Story-wise, SF tells of a headstrong but inexperienced samurai, Heishiro, trying to retrieve his clans' ceremonial sword from a renegade swordsman, Kazamatsuri. When Heishiro is injured in a duel, Hanbei, a local retired swordsman, tries to persuade him to take a different approach from revenge.

While the story is essentially a drama, the cast is made up of expert comedians who make the most of their characters. Heishiro is a fairly good swordsman, but completely inexperienced with women. His long-suffering father, trying to cover up the sword's disappearence, relies on an ageing ninja bodyguard, who refuses to use doors through force of habit (the wobbly ninja is a gag that the director will use again in Red Shadow). Cocky renegade Kazamatsuri disrespects one gang of attacking samurai turning his back on them and taking a leak, a long leak.

Heishiro is impressively played by Mitsuru Fukikoshi, who later played other samurai roles in Red Shadow, and the deadly serious Twilight Samurai. He also played the geeky boyfriend in the superb kaiju movie Gamera 2 - Attack of Legion.

The baddie, Kazamatsuri, is famously played by Tomoyasu Hotei, who also composed the soundtrack. Later, the storming track "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" would make his music internationally famous when it was used in Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol 1. He briefly reprised his samurai character in Red Shadow.

Morio Kazama deserves a special mention as the level-headed Hanbei, and also Tamaki Ogawa as his radiantly cute daughter.

As a homage to old samurai films, SF stays mostly in black and white, but the little flashes of colour gives away the fact that this must have been shot in colour, then desaturated. This means that some scenes lack the contrast of actual black-and-white film stock. Also, the glimpses of colour make you wonder what the film could have looked like.

Apart from that, SF - Samurai Fiction instantly became one of my favourite Japanese films.

It's well-represented on the Korean DVD (pictured above) on the Garam Net label. The english subtitles are well-translated, inobtrusive and removiable. The aspect ratio is anamorphic and there's a 5.1 Japanese mix option. There's also a trailer and some ageing ninja outtakes.

Max

INITIAL D (2005) - Region 3 HK - DVD review

INITIAL D (2005, live action, Hong Kong)
2-DVD DTS Region 3 HK boxset (Megastar Video release)

FILM REVIEW (no spoilers):
A young petrol station cleaner with a drunken dad, is secretly the fastest thing on four wheels in the local street-racing community.

This film is all about driving. Impossibly slick driving. I thought the only way they could drive cars the way they do in the anime version, was to use computer effects. I was wrong - they just recruited real-life "drift-racers" - drivers who can go round twisty mountain roads skidding sideways all the way! The behind-the-scenes video footage shows how they didn't need to fake it.

A likeable cast, a little gritty drama, some unchallenging characters (visually faithful to the manga), and some rather more scuzzy behaviour than one sees in the average Japanese movie. That's because this famous Japanese anime has been adapted as a live-action film by a Hong Kong cast and crew. The best character in INITIAL D is played by the most recognisable actor, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang (also seen in INFERNAL AFFAIRS, THE HEROIC TRIO and as the serial killer in the exceptionally gruesome THE UNTOLD STORY).

Other plus-points for the cinematography, which is beautiful (some great shots of hillsides with distant trees being illuminated by car headlights). Athletic, state of the art camerawork is supplemented by some impossible CG-assisted moves (there's a great transition from a shot of a car in a rear-view mirror). Some flashy split-screen editing helps you tell the various races apart. It's not so much 'cutting edge' as stylishly done.


I was disappointed that the music wasn't as J-Pop as the anime series. It was mostly uninspiring rap in english. I was also disappointed that all the races in the movie took place on the same mountain road.

If this movie was made in England it would probably be called BOY RACERS. It's like THE FAST AND FURIOUS but with no sex, violence, or car crashes! Just lots of racing around winding mountain roads - but I guess that's what INITIAL D is all about - the driving. FAST AND FURIOUS 3 is set in Tokyo - the street settings are going to provide very exciting backdrops, but I doubt that tofu, or many other facets of Japanese culture, will figure heavily in the plot.

HONG KONG DVD REVIEW:
The movie is presented 2.35 anamorphic (a 2.35 letterbox within an anamorphic 16:9 frame) with optional DTS 5.1 audio and well-translated optional english subtitles.

The picture was not very crisp in places, suffering some compression problems. The DTS audio was very directional, crisp dialogue (though most of it sounded post-synched) and full bass response.

The second DVD contains a dozen making of featurettes, a promotional racetrack display of stunt driving, cast interviews, out-takes and deleted scenes. The behind the scenes footage shows that the astonishing driving in the film wasn't faked, they really do can take corners like that! Some of the ingenious state-of-the-art camera rigs are shown too - one miniature crane is attached to the lead car and has it's (bright yellow) rigging removed digitally afterwards - giving the impression that a floating camera has somehow been locked floating over the car! No english subs on the second disc though.

As this may be getting a cinema release in the UK (news from Hong Kong Legends and 24framespersecond), I'm reposting this review here.

Max

TABOO (1999) - Brokeback samurai

TABOO (1999, Japan, titled "Gohatto")
Directed by Nagisa Oshima
US DVD Review

From the director of Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence comes the samurai version of Brokeback Mountain

The story concerns an attractive new arrival at a samurai school in Kyoto in Shogun-era 1865. Kano is young, pretty and already dedicated to swordsmanship. Many other samurai become infatuated with him and deadly complications arise, but is Kano blameless for all the trouble?

OK, so yesterday I watched Kariyushi In August and was reminded that the leading actor, Ryuhei Matsuda, had earlier been the star of Taboo when he was only 16 years old. Not an easy debut - he has numerous kendo duels and a couple of gay love scenes. The duels, and the love scenes for that matter, are always shot wide, without any chance of using a stunt double.

Kano's character seems to wear make-up, accentuating his features as feminine. It's unclear though if he's making himself up as attractive as possible, or whether the film-makers overdid the face powder, mascara and lipstick. For me, one of things that doesn't make sense about the plot is that the other samurai only fall for Kano and not each other. Why does he have to look feminine to be sexually attractive to men?

Anyway, despite the numerous samurai swordfights, let it be known that this is more of a drama than an action picture. Also, director Nagisa Oshima has made an old-school film with lots of dialogue, which is overlong even by Japanese standards. Despite the controversial subject, the issue is constantly dodged. The lovers rarely talk about how they feel, rather it's the people around them that talk about what they think is going on and what they think about it. The viewer also has to sift through the gossip and rumours to decide what is actually going on amongst the men.

Here, a society is portrayed where many samurai acknowledged that gay relationships were relatively commonplace, but few were actively disproving. They just make it clear that it's not for them. However, when the relationships start affecting discipline and local law and order, they deal with it severely - it's a rather similar policy that's ruled in the UK and USA armed forces until recently - but without the swords. It's also a similar plot to Another Country (1984), where Rupert Everett plays a schoolboy whose numerous boyfriends threaten the reputation of a Public School in 1930's England.

My first Oshima film was Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (aka Furyo) - in fact that was one of my first Japanese films. There also, the film skirted around the central themes to the point of where I missed the dramatic point of many of the scenes. Taboo in fact closely resembles the pace and tone of Brokeback Mountain. A slowly told story about a typically macho setting, disrupted by a gay relationship to the point of tragedy. At least Brokeback has a less judgemental ending.

Japanese phenomenon Takeshi Kitano stars in Taboo as the samurai school's Captain, left in charge to try and keep order. Here Kitano is reunited with director Oshima, who first cast him in 1983 in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence .

Also in the cast are Tadanobu Asano from Ichi The Killer, playing one of the lovers. He later played a samurai in Zatoichi, also with Kitano. We've yet to see his latest films, the irreverent Tokyo Zombie and the already heralded thriller Invisible Waves.

Lastly, Shinji Takeda makes an impression with his handsome and confident presence - he was also in the awesomely creepy Pulse (aka Kairo), which is firmly in my top ten Japanese horrors.

Max

KARIYUSHI IN AUGUST (2003) starring Ryuhei Matsuda

KARIYUSHI IN AUGUST (2003, Japan, titled "Hachigatsu no Kariyushi") Directed by Iwao Takahashi
Japanese Region 2 NTSC DVD review

Gentle ghost story shot on location in Okinawa and starring the leading man from Gohatto

The main reason I'm including this film is because there's so little written about it in english, anywhere on the net. It's not even on IMDB.

Kariyushi In August has a very slight plot, but is a nicely observed story of a young man visiting relatives in southern Japan on the island of Okinawa. As he meanders around, visiting old haunts and hearing local music, old memories return of his childhood there and he uncovers a terrible old family secret...

Shot on location, the film gives a very different view of Japan that we normally see. This is a hot, lush location by the sea, far away from the big cities. Time has moved on slowly here, and memories of the war are not as faint.

The main interest here is the leading actor, Ryuhei Matsuda, aged only 20. His career in acting started with the brave leading role in Gohatto (a.k.a. Taboo), a period film about a gay samurai. More recently he's appeared in 9 Souls, Nana, Rampo Jigoku, Otakus In Love, and Takashi Miike's Izo. His mother, Miyuki Matsuda, is also an actor and she appeared in Miike's infamous Audition. His father was a famous actor, Yusaku Matsuda, whose last film was Ridley Scott's Black Rain.

The Japanese DVD unfortunately has no english subtitles, but has a trailer and a making of programme included. Beind-the-scenes footage indicate that the feature was made on High Definition video, but I hadn't guessed that from seeing the film.

ART OF THE DEVIL (2004) Thailand horror movie DVD

ART OF THE DEVIL (2004, Thailand, titled "Khon len khong")
Thailand PAL DVD

Another horror film from Thailand not living up to its poster art. But gorehounds may be amused.

Again, spectacular poster artwork interested me in this one, and Art of the Devil is getting a certain reputation for its level of gore. Like Scared, the film doesn't live up to the posters promise of 'gothic nightmare', and the scenes depicted in the artwork (like the poster below) don't quite appear in the film. But it certainly is bloody...

The story concerns a young woman used and abused by her rich boyfriend - he pays her off but refuses to leave his family for her. After she is gang-raped by his friends, she takes her revenge on him and his family, by using a Thai black magic ritual called 'the art of the devil'. It looks a lot like voodoo, involving straw mannikins and corpses... The family members start dying by vomiting up sharp objects that spontaneously appear inside them...

The film is efficiently made, but lacks the edge needed to generate suspense or any real shocks. The ingredients are all there - a story with this many murders and ghosts of the undead should have been far more creepy. It certainly manages to be repulsive in several sequences, and there is a unique scene with the heroine flailing about in a roomful of eels. A lot of eels. In fact in the making-of programme, we see some behind-the-scenes shots and, pity the actress, there's no CGI (like in the similar scene in The Craft), just bucketloads of large eels. After the filming, she's clearly not happy, in fact, very upset. But the result is very successful.

So, it's memorable, in places - the cast, locations, budget, FX are all amply sufficient, but the film doesn't quite work for me. I applaud any country's film industry that's so committed to a flourishing output of horror films, I'm just having trouble finding any of the same high calibre as Shutter.

The PAL Thai DVD (pictured top left) has no english subtitles on it, but includes the trailer and a half-hour Thai programme (Scoop) which interviews the director and leading actresses and shows some good behind the scenes footage.

There are english subtitles on the Region 1 NTSC DVD currently out in the USA.

A sequel, Art of the Devil 2 has just appeared at the Bangkok International Film Festival. It's been heralded with more fantastic promotional posters - already they're beckoning me to investigate if the sequel surpasses the original...

Max

THE BULLET TRAIN (1975) R2 DVD review

THE BULLET TRAIN (1975, Japan, titled "Shinkansen daibakuha")
DVD review (Region 2 PAL UK, Optimum Asia)

Sonny Chiba wasted as a train driver aboard a seventies disaster movie from Japan

Japanese bullet trains are very long and very fast. The Japanese movie BULLET TRAIN is very long but very slow.

The story starts off briskly enough, with a bomb planted on a long distance bullet train journey, set to detonate if the speed drops below 80 k.p.h. On board are a pop group, a fugitive in police custody, and an expectant mother (of course). As the police scramble to find the bomber, the passengers realise something is wrong when the train misses its scheduled stops and panic breaks out...

Considering the bullet train has 1500 passengers and the control room is teeming with personnel, it's strange that we never get to know anyone in this film, except the bomber himself, played by Ken Takakura, who we spend the most time with. This tips the film in his favour as we end up more worried about his problems and whether he'll get away with it - I'm sure our sympathies aren't intended be with the criminal, but that's how it plays.

With a running time of 150 minutes (!) and a cast of Japanese acting heavyweights (in bit parts), there's too little plot and too little logic (especially in the police's actions) to sustain it. Considering Sonny Chiba is in the film, there's too little action either.

The UK region 2 release from Optimum Asia (pictured above) is apparently much better-looking than the US DVD. There's a lovely anamorphic widescreen presentation of this 2.35 movie, with optional english subtitles. It's the original Japanese version, and not the cut-down American release, though I imagine that the english-dubbed seventies dialogue could have been entertaining. There are also trailers for the Japanese release of bullet train ("a coffin on wheels") and 8 other Sonny Chiba films, which certainly look fun.

Max

GEMINI (1999, Japan) R3 DVD

GEMINI (1999, Japan, titled "Soseiji")
DVD review (Region 3, Hong Kong, from Golden Scene)

Wonderfully surreal, period horror from the director of TETSUO: IRON MAN

After having my senses seriously mauled by TETSUO - IRON MAN, I'd sworn never to watch anything by this director again. Unwittingly, I'd got GEMINI not knowing anything more about it than it had interesting reviews. Little did I know it was also directed by Shinya Tsukamoto...

As a young doctor is just getting married, his mother then his father die in mysterious circumstances. Have their deaths anything to do with his new wife, after all, she has no memory of her past before she met the doctor...

As the film started I had an initial problem with the athletic use of the handheld camerawork, juxtaposed with the unusual and intrusive soundtrack. It was supposed to be a turn of the century rural setting!

Anyhow, I was soon rewarded by the impressive performances of Masahiro Motoki as the doctor and Ryu (ALIVE, AZUMI) as his wife - two unusual looking but elegant actors, asked to perform almost dance-like, very physical acting. Together with the slightly surreal make-up and hairstyles, the over-the-top drama almost toppled over into comedy. But I soon got into the stylised performances as I started to find my bearings. The expertness of the handheld camera was frenetic but carefully controlled - delivering some terrific shocks.

According to the Twitch Film website (there's a link in the sidebar at right), GEMINI is due for a Region 1 DVD release in May.

The Region 3 Hong Kong DVD that I watched (pictured above) had well-translated subtitles, but they were non-removable, and also had the chinese in vision as well, meaning that there were sometimes 3 rows of subtitles obscuring the picture!

Max

SCARED (2005) Thai slasher movie DVD review

SCARED

(2005, Thailand)

Thailand all-region PAL DVD release

 

Cross Friday the 13th with a Battle Royale body count and you get the Thailand horror film Scared

A busload of impossibly pretty schoolkids on a school trip deep in a Thai rainforest. Stranded by an accident, the survivors are picked off one by one in increasingly gruesome ways. But who is murdering them and why?

 

There are so many teenagers on the bus, that there is never really a chance to work out the relationships between any of the kids or even enough who the characters are. Just when you think you are getting to know them a little, they’re dead!


After some feeble initial 'shocks', the death scenes get more unexpected - the variable special effects are rather gory and occasionally digitally aided. Just like Friday the 13th, the death scenes are the most entertaining thing in this film - the same murder weapon is never used twice, there's a lot of kids on the bus, and there's some neat new agricultural implements we haven't seen before...

But there’s very little plot and the music (usually the backbone of atmosphere and suspense) is thin, inconsistent and uninvolving. I was disappointed to notice a boom microphone ducking into the image a couple of times in an early scene - haven't seen that sort of error for a while - Shutter this isn't. Not is it Scream. The staging of much of the action makes the characters seem stupid, as they ignore many of the basic Scream rules of horror films. If only they’d all calmed down and stuck together…

But I don't want to be too hard on Scared. As the film opens, you get a unique look at some of the end of year Thai school festivities and there's a beautifully staged scene in the school hall, which promises a film of Thai traditions. But instead it soon descends into a rip of western slasher films – no logic, lots of blood and screaming and a rather high body count.

German DVD release

The main disappointment is that the film doesn’t look nearly as moody as the fantastic posters, nor do any of the events in the posters accurately appear in the film.

It's entertaining though. The photography is nicely done, on what looks like high definition video cameras almost looking as good as film. The locations are unusual, particularly the early rainforest scenes, making it vaguely reminiscent of Cannibal Holocaust, especially with loads of stakes sticking out of the ground.

This is certainly a spirited effort that may please gorehounds and collectors of horror cliches, but not fans of originality and clever plotting.
The Thai DVD has no English subtitles, but once the film gets going, there's not a lot of dialogue anyway. In the extras, there's a trailer, TV spots, a brief behind-the-scenes segment, some wallpapers and a commentary in Thai. The image is 16:9 anamorphic, the audio is a clear 5.1 mix, and even legitimate Thailand DVDs are very reasonably priced.

Again, great posters...

- - - - - - -

DORM (2006) A new ghost story from Thailand

DORM (Thailand, 2006)
A movie review all the way from Bangkok

This was released in February in Thailand and also played at the Bangkok Film Festival. It's been a box office hit there and I'm sure it will travel well internationally, if marketed carefully.

Because of the poster and the initial premise, I was prepared for a full-on horror film, but Dorm is a well-rounded ghost story that's almost family fare in Thailand. However, it contains elements that may not be considered suitable for younger viewers everywhere.

I've been disappointed by several horror films from Thailand in recent years, the amateurish acting in Snaker, 999-9999 and Garuda had made me very wary of films that were made there. Then along came Shutter, a slick, creepy horror film loaded with shock moments - finally a Thai movie that I could whole-heartedly recommend. But I needed proof that Shutter wan't a one-off fluke.

I was recently on holiday in Thailand and wanted to go to a cinema in Bangkok. I was pleasantly surprised to find a film that I wanted to see had just opened, and that half of the performances had english subtitles! Thailand (and Thai DVD for that matter) is quite easy for those who speak English. I'd say that about half of the DVD releases there have english subtitles on them. Travelling around Thailand, many signs and menus were in English, and many people spoke a little English, enough to accommodate tourists needing taxis, food, shopping etc.

In the cinema, before the film started, I was caught out by the audience all suddenly standing up for the National Anthem and a montage of photographs of their beloved King playing on the big screen. We don't do that in England! But back to Dorm...

The film opens with a young boy being sent far away from home, to a boarding school in the country. He's very angry at his father, and his life is made more miserable because he's joining the school halfway through a term. All the boys sleep in one huge dormitory. A gang of four misfits decide to pick on the new kid by telling him ghost stories on his first night, giving him as much to worry about his new surroundings as possible. They tell him that the school, the dorm, the teacher that's looking after him, even the very bed he's sleeping in all have a strange history. The boy, Chatree (played by Charlie Trairat), gets very scared and wets the bed. But during the weeks that follow, he discovers that some of the ghost stories might actually be true, and even linked together...

Dorm is half family drama, half supernatural drama, but despite the young lead, the shocks and scares may be too effective for an audience as young as the central character - but maybe I'm being over-protective. I'll also warn you that there's a lot of urinating in the film! Close ups of kids wetting themselves, boys peeing in bushes, lots of scenes in toilets - you don't get this in Harry Potter. In terms of tone, the best comparison I can think of is the marvellous Stand By Me.

Dorm is beautifully shot, with fantastic performances, and it's a film that works on all levels. It's scary, but also funny, dramatic, sad... just all-round entertaining. I wish it every success all over the world!

Now I've got to trawl through Thailand's other recent horror films to make sure I'm not missing any other gems...

News update: PUFNSTUF - THE MOVIE (1970) now available on DVD and CD

Last November, while I was lamenting that this movie wasn't on DVD, I mentioned that the soundtrack was only available as the old vinyl release.

See my review of the movie here...PUFNSTUF - THE MOVIE (1970)
But now there's been a new CD release containing all the tracks from the old album. It's composed by Charles (BARBARELLA) Fox and includes songs sung by Mama Cass Elliot ('Different') and Jack Wild, of OLIVER fame.




On a sadder note, in the same week that I finally got the CD soundtrack, I learn that the child star of Pufnstuf, Jack Wild, has passed away, aged only 53. I miss you already, Jack, but I'll never forget you.

UZUMAKI (2000) surreal and creepy Japanese horror

UZUMAKI
(2000, Japan)

Updated July, 2009

A creepy, shocking and surreal Japanese horror film, still in my top ten

Uzumaki begins in a remote coastal village where schoolgirl Kirie discovers that everyone around her is going crazy over spirals. A friend of her father becomes obsessed with collecting them wherever he finds them, like on snail shells. (Uzumaki translates as 'spiral' or 'vortex'). A schoolgirl trains her hair into spiral curls with lives of their own. Another pupil becomes fatally interested in the school's spiral staircase… As the town spirals out of control (sorry), Kirie finds herself in deepening danger.


From this bizarre but simple premise, this unique tale grows into something horrific, styled somewhere between David Lynch and Tim Burton. Director Higuchinsky easily excelled himself with this surreal masterpiece.

Kirie is played by Eriko Hatsune, who perfectly anchors the film emotionally - her affection for schoolfriend Shuichi (played by Fhi Fan, above), contrasts with the horrific events around them. Hatsune previously starred in Higuchinsky's Long Dream, another Junji Ito adaption Oshikiri and recently headed the cast in Apartment 1303.

Sadao Abe makes a memorable appearance as Kirie's unwanted admirer. Abe starred as the Kappa sprite in The Great Yokai War, but here plays a ludicrous no-hope love interest, with a D.A. hairstyle that could take your eye out. Rubber-faced Abe is a creative chameleon who seems to maximize the potential of any of the surreal roles he's given.


Incidentally, the schoolgirl with the Uzumaki hair is played by Hinako Saeki. It's a small part that makes a big impression. She also played the Ring fiend Sadako in the first ever Ring sequel, coincidentally called Spiral (or Rasen). Hinako appeared in another cult classic, the schoolgirl zombie fest Stacy.


The special visual effects, particularly the make-up, are horrifying and increasingly spectacular - one bizarre and gory death scene had to be toned down for the original release. A couple of the subtle 'morphs' thrown in as background detail have dated a little, looking too 'digital' against the organic prosthetic effects and overall filmic look.


Uzumaki is based on an epic manga story by artist and writer Junji Ito. His over-riding influence has been the manga artist Kazuo Umezu. To me, his manga are the scariest horror comics I've ever seen. If you watch Uzumaki and want to read more of the stories and learn how the story develops further, the whole series has been translated and published in America in three graphic novels. The look of the movie faithfully adapts Ito's illustrations.


Junji Ito's horror manga have also been adapted into several other Japanese horror films, such as the scary scarecrow movie Kakashi and the many Tomie films. So far there have been seven films inspired by Ito's femme fatale. The Tomie manga, also available in English, are among Ito's earliest work and not as visually accomplished as Uzumaki. I'd also like to see someonje try and adapt the freaky Gyo, where sea creatures start an invasion of the land,

I looked up what Higuchinsky was up to, but he's unfortunately disappeared from movie-making. Long Dream (also 2000) showed promise, but I was less impressed with it or Tokyo 10+1 (2003). In a perfect world, he'd helm a proper nine-hour epic trilogy of the full epic story of Uzumaki. From his Russian website, it looks like he now directs DVD and TV coverage of stadium concerts in Japan.

Uzumaki will be re-released on DVD in the US in September 2009. It has also been released in the UK and Hong Kong with English subtitles.

TUBE (2003) Korean action thriller

TUBE (2003, South Korea)
Region 2 PAL DVD (from Asian Vision)

As a change from creepy horror, I watched a Korean blockbuster instead. Tube aims to emulate Western action films like Speed, whilst not having nearly the same budget. It has a certain pedigree, coming from the makers of cult thriller Shiri.

Having given up the police for a job in subway security, our hero has a chance to settle an old score when a terrorist hijacks an underground train with the mayor and a 1,000 passengers on board.

After 5 minutes into the film, you'll have a good idea of what sort of film to expect. The protaganists in the initial gun battle seem impervious to a whole army of police with machine guns. Top it off with a couple of gratuitous exploding car stunts and you'll understand that the accent is on action, and light on logic. The ensuing subway train action relies more on blue-screen fakery and CGI rather than actual stunts, so please don't expect expensive Die Hard 2 set pieces.

Having said that, the film's strength is its cast - the characters are likeable and well-acted. This being a mainstream action film, there is comedy relief on hand from Seok-hun Kim's overly angry boss. Du-na Bae, as Kim's fiesty love interest, is particularly memorable - she previously starred in the awesome Sympathy for Mr Vengeance. Though I'm not sure why she carries a guitar around for the entire film!

This isn't a bloody police vs gangster shoot-em-up - there's no gore - it's more the sort of violence you expect from a disaster movie rather than a martial arts film. That said, it still doesn't pull it's punches with the fight scenes, the impact being more dramatic than visceral.

Basically I'm trying to warn off viewers who watch Asian action films for high-class stunts and blood action, and recommend this to those interested in Korean mainstream cinema - this one not to be taken too seriously. The characters are very real, the acting excellent and the plot keeps moving briskly along with twists around every corner.

The Scandinavian Asian Vision region 2 DVD (pictured) has an excellent DTS soundtrack, clear picture and excellent english subtitles. No extras except trailers.

THE UNINVITED (2003) Korean horror - DVD review

THE UNINVITED (2003, South Korea)
DVD review (R2, Asian Vision)

Still reeling from seeing this one.

From the opening creepy premise, the downbeat atmosphere keeps on going further down... An architect travelling on a subway at night realises that 2 little girls sitting near him, have in fact been murdered. As they begin to haunt him, his relationship and his family start to unravel. Particularly when he seeks help from a young woman who has recently lost her own child.

THE UNINVITED is a slow-moving, but gripping drama with supernatural overtones. I kept on misreading where the plot was going - it's not so much about the murder case with which the film opens, but about the case he subsequently gets tangled up in. I was confusing some of the plotted coincidences with the parallel themes that the director was exploring - I'll probably follow the film better on a second viewing.

All the characters were beautifully played, particularly the architect (Shin-yang Park) and the young narcoleptic (Ji-hyun Jun, star of MY SASSY GIRL) who have the most challenging scenes, for instance where Park has to be overwhelmed by grief.

Re-occurring themes of unwanted children and infants in danger seem to address the fears of young parents. However, there were many subtle images throughout the film which I recognised but didn't gain anything from - there was an ongoing battle between christian and buddhist icons, for instance. I felt I was missing the point, while wanting more clues as to what exactly was going on. A case of not seeing the wood for the trees, or if you like, couldn't see the plot for the subtexts.

But I mean to recommend this film. It's haunting and memorable. The dream sequences are beautifully done, and the acting is sublime. But it's the distressing shock moments that take the film into a horror movie category occupied by the similarly tragic TALE OF TWO SISTERS, also from South Korea.

The Asian Vision Region 2 DVD (not pictured here) that I saw was intended for Scandinavia, but it had a good set of english subtitles and a fine DTS soundtrack. There are trailers for THE UNINVITED, TELL ME SOMETHING and TUBE.

Probably not for cat lovers...

Max

INTO THE MIRROR (2003) movie review

INTO THE MIRROR
(South Korea, 2003)

Starring Ji-tae Yu
Written and Directed by Seong-ho Kim

From the brooding poster (pictured), I got the impression I was going to see a psychological thriller about a killer with a split-personality. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to get a movie with a split-personality - half detective thriller, half horror movie.

Into The Mirror begins in a huge department store at night. The last employee to leave does some last minute shoplifting before dying in a bathroom, her throat cut. Next day, the head of security doesn't think it's suicide and is about to start an investigation when a second mysterious death occurs...

Ji-tae Yu stars as the store's security chief, who's resigned from the police after a hostage situation went horribly wrong (that may sound corny, but they've added plenty of twists). This young and attractive actor is one of Korea's biggest stars, judging by some of his recent credits - he was suitably sinister in the superb Oldboy, he starred in the futuristic police actioner Natural City, voiced a character in the sci-fi animation Wonderful Days (aka Sky Blue), and had major parts in Siren (aka Libera Me) and the enjoyable teen slasher Nightmare (aka The Horror Movie Game). No wonder he looks familiar.

Once the supernatural elements have emerged, the film reverts to a detective story, keeping the film firmly in the realm of the realistic. The cast are likeable and play it suitably seriously. The actor playing the lead detective (who refuses to believe that ghosts are involved) was so convincing that I almost believed it was all going to be explained away rationally.


One or two of the mirror effects are a little cheesey, but for the most part they are quite startling. The direction is imaginative and whenever the story starts getting a little too familiar, there's always another twist on the way.


I couldn't recommend Into The Mirror as full-on horror, and would be reluctant to sell it as a police thriller because of its supernatural content. But I can recommend it as unique and entertaining.

UPDATE, January 2008: Alexandre Aja set to release a remake of this as Mirrors, starring Kiefer Sutherland!

ZERO HOUR! (1957) a straight-faced AIRPLANE!

ZERO HOUR!
(1957, USA)

(UPDATE JUNE 2007 - This movie has now had its NOT ON DVD status revoked! Out now!)

This would just be your average Saturday afternoon black and white movie if it wasn't for the fact that it's also the blueprint for the classic spoof AIRPLANE! (1980).

Following the glut of big-budget disaster movies throughout the seventies, and no less than four AIRPORT movies, AIRPLANE! arrived to lampoon them all, and disco too. After the success of their KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker wrote and directed AIRPLANE!, which lead to many more of their genre spoofs - including THE NAKED GUN trilogy, the 2 HOT SHOTS, TOP SECRET and JANE AUSTEN'S MAFIA!

The inspiration came from watching American late-night and breakfast TV (there was no breakfast TV in Britain at the time, but we still got the joke). They were collecting material for the sketches that made up KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, which is a series of skits on adverts, charity appeals, TV presenters and movie trailers - it's worth seeing just for the the fantastic 25 minute spoof of ENTER THE DRAGON. One night they caught ZERO HOUR! and it provided them with so much material that they could make a whole movie out of it. They took the plot, the characters' names and the ripest dialogue. Whilst making AIRPLANE they even referred to a copy of ZERO HOUR to suggest camera angles! In fact, they bought the rights to the film, because they were pretty much producing a re-make, even though it's not credited as such.

So try if you can and watch ZERO HOUR!, in which Dana Andrews plays ex-pilot Ted Stryker, a man haunted by stock-footage flashbacks of crashing planes, who has to land a plane on instruments, despite a howling storm and his unforgiving Air Force Captain guiding him down on the radio. Sterling Hayden's cigarette-chewing portayal of Captain Treleaven is extremely gruff, "I certainly picked the wrong week to give up smoking."


ZERO HOUR! actually works well for a high-budget B-movie, the cast don't deserve being sent up, but the script certainly does. It was written by Arthur Hailey who started the whole shenanigans off by writing the bestseller AIRPORT.

"To the tower, to the tower, Rapunzel, Rapunzel!"

Another review, with nice. new DVD screengrabs, at DVD Talk...

GARUDA - a Thailand monster movie on DVD

GARUDA (Thailand, 2004)
Thai all-region DVD Review

In Thailand, a Garuda is a half-human bird god. It's also a monster movie... a prehistoric cave is found during the excavations for a new underground train tunnel. 3 scientists and a special services army squad discover the remains of a petrified forest and encounter a fierce and fast creature still living there. The rather cocky soldiers soon discover that guns and grenades won't protect them...

Always curious to see how other countries (besides Japan) portray their monsters, and attracted by the beautifully rendered poster art, I took a plunge and got GARUDA on DVD. I soon realised it was not quite a GODZILLA, more like a YONGGARY.

YONGGARY, (or REPTILIAN in the U.S.), was a Korean movie trying to piggyback on the success of the American GODZILLA with its own CGI giant monster. Like GARUDA it was high budget for its country, and tried to appeal to an international market. Both films therefore used leading actors who would appeal more to Western audiences. This is partly GARUDA's undoing. Unfortunately, the weakest members of the cast appear to be the two non-Thai leads. The professor, the soldiers, even the comedy relief Station Master appear more professional. Seeing as Asian movies are breaking through internationally at the moment anyway, there's less risk in not having any Westerners to identify with. To be fair, the leads are asked to do some pretty stupid scenes, like the one where the scientist manages to stumble into the middle of a sea of trip-wires without setting any of them off.

The soldiers who here specialise in 'killing gods' are way too confident, and are portrayed as being ultra-cool, smoking like chimneys and wasting bullets like there's no tomorrow. One fancy fight routine is enhanced with some belated Matrix-style effects.

The CGI monster is well-designed and looks good in close-up (which is just as well, because whenever there's a dull moment we get a shot of the monster's face in close up). It's movements are a little lightweight but looks excellent when flying. The film-makers bravely place it in white corridors in some scenes and, while we know it's CG, the compositing into the action is flawless. But the action scenes rarely pick up momentum and the narrative is constantly hard to follow - there's one moment in the subway when I thought there were two monsters, the editing was so misleading. A simple story, badly told.

One last tip, if you're going to set a monster movie in a big city, at least show off some of the sites. We only ever see Bangkok at night and the skyscrapers could be from anywhere. A few establishing shots and the trashing of some local landmarks could have given GARUDA more of a sense of location.

This Thai DVD (sleeve pictured above) is all-region PAL, with 5.1 and DTS audio. The picture aspect is 16:9 anamorphic, but the sides seem to be cropped from a wider 2.35 aspect. Much of the detail in the shadows seems to be crushed to black, but this could just be the result of the stylised graded look of the film. In addition, there's a poor trailer but also a good look behind the scenes. The movie has well-translated, easy-to-read english subtitles, but not on the extras.

Max

Not always DVDs - MYLENE FARMER live in Paris

Mylène Farmer - Live at the Paris Bercy arena, 2006

This weekend I was in Paris to see Mylène Farmer in concert. I’ve been describing her to friends as “France’s answer to Madonna”, but that’s doing Mylène a disservice. She’s been releasing successful albums and singles for twenty years now. Her music varies between dance, rock and melancholy pop. She sings about love and death, heavily influenced by gothic and romantic literature. Her videos are spectacular, liberated and often as controversial as her lyrics. She is reclusive and doesn’t grant many interviews. Her stage appearances are rare, the last was in 1999.

Oh yes, and it’s all in French, which I don’t speak much of. But I love her music, her videos and her attitude.

I saw Mylène at the Paris Bercy arena on January 14th, 2006, (having booked a ticket early in 2005). The atmosphere before the show was anticipatory to say the least. The papers reported that the first fans arrived 12 hours before the doors opened. Mylène arrived on stage in spectacular style that symbolised her re-emergence from self-imposed exile. Lowered from the arena roof in a white sarcophagus, she was carried to the temple-like stage by men in black.

The set transformed throughout the evening and was constantly textured by images projected onto the backdrops and from under the immense catwalk. For anyone the show would be extremely entertaining, for fans it was an absolute treat. The dramatic staging of her final number was haunting and unforgettably magnéfique.

She performed songs ranging from her earliest hits, like Libertine, to her latest, F**k Them All. These were presented variously as high-tech lightshows, flamenco dance routines or just straightforward rocking out. As a centrepiece to the evening, she sang some of her most heart-rending lyrics accompanied only by piano. Dressed in her trademark black lingerie, with her red hair coiffed like a candle’s flame, she was repeatedly reduced to tears. But whenever she stopped singing, the audience would carry on for her. For such a large venue, the event had many intimate moments.

Besides the thirteen dates in January, there may be extra shows in May. But they can only be held at this Paris venue because it’s simply too large to tour. Thankfully the early performances have been filmed for an upcoming DVD release.

Max

Finally on DVD - NIGHT CREATURES aka CAPTAIN CLEGG

Finally on DVD:
NIGHT CREATURES (1962)

Out of the blue, a previously unreleased Hammer film suddenly appears on DVD nestled away in a Region 1 Universal DVD Boxset (pictured). Made at the height of the studio’s powers, the only reason this one isn’t hailed as a classic alongside Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy and Curse of the Werewolf, is that no one has had much chance to see it before. I can’t remember it even being shown on British TV in the London region.

More popularly known as Captain Clegg, it was made at Bray Studios, and is the best example of Hammer’s ‘swashbuckler’ strand - slightly sadistic period adventure yarns, with a hint of supernatural horror (in this case, luminous skeletal horse-riding marsh phantoms, years before the Knights of the Blind Dead ever rode out).

The cast features many Hammer regulars, but mainly this is a perfect showcase for horror maestro Peter Cushing’s talents. To me he was a versatile and subtle actor who, like Boris Karloff, had the ability to make the supernatural believable. Even with some of the hastily written scripts that were thrown at him, he could still convince an audience that the outlandish events of the plot were actually happening… Here he enjoys playing a pirate captain hiding from the King’s soldiers by disguising himself as the village vicar!

There’s also a marvellous early performance from Oliver Reed, seen here reunited with his Curse of the Werewolf co-star Yvonne Romain.
Perhaps one of the reasons Night Creatures has had a rough ride over the years is because it was based on a story that was also being adapted as a movie by Disney, at the same time! Dr Syn Alias the Scarecrow was a live action movie, starring Patrick McGoohan, and was aimed safely at a family audience.

Beside making a belated debut on home video, Night Creatures has been digitally mastered, it looks fantastic, and is presented in anamorphic widescreen (though the aspect ratio looks closer to 1.85 than the 2.0 stated on the packaging) – there’s a slight letterbox but it looks overmatted - some of the headroom is a tightly framed at the top edge. But the picture definition is sharp and the rich colour does justice to the sets and costumes, not to mention the countryside exteriors – altogether the film effortlessly recreates the 18th century setting.

The boxset features 7 other Hammer horrors from the early 1960’s, some of them making their widescreen debuts on DVD. I must warn you though that all 8 films have been crammed onto 2 double-sided double-layered DVDs, (known as ‘DVD-18’s), a format that is the most technically difficult to manufacture without playback problems. My set, I’m happy to report, plays perfectly.

Update, June 2014 - Captain Clegg is now on blu-ray in the UK!

Kaiju Movie of the Year! - GODZILLA FINAL WARS - DVD review

Kaiju Movie Of The Year!
GODZILLA FINAL WARS
(Japan, 2004)

Region 1 US DVD review

This monster movie was released to mark Godzilla's 50th Anniversary, and has finally surfaced with optional english translations on a US Region 1 DVD.

Godzilla Final Wars came out in Japan at the end of 2004. I've been avoiding publicity, reviews and spoilers for the past year and have just watched the US DVD. I know the film is a departure from the usual approach, but I'm writing this review before reading any others, not knowing what other Godzilla fans think about It.

Personally I thought this was totally entertaining. I'd have to think twice before recommending it to any of my friends who are into, say, mainstream American movies, but I'll certainly try and coax anyone I know who's into Japanese action or sci-fi fare. It's an outrageous, epic monster movie, in keeping with other films from cult director Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus and Azumi). The nearest movie comparison I can make is Tim Burton's Mars Attacks, where the director obviously wanted to include all his favourite ingredients, destroy the world, but keep it humorous rather than grisly.

The homage factor rates almost off the scale - Toho Studio's back catalogue of giant villains is cherry-picked for a monster rally to rival Destroy All Monsters, some after forty years in offscreen exile. The director is obviously a fan of the 1960's and 1970's Godzilla films, as these seem to be where many of the monsters have been resurrected from. Past cast members and plotlines have been plundered too and thrown together into an epic 2 hour stew.

But despite all the anniversary retro, the action and effects are cutting edge, for Japan. Yes, there's still men in suits playing the monsters, yes, there's a lot of model work, but these are occasionally supplemented by CGI for the impossible stuff. I read that the director preferred to keep as many of the special effects as possible physical (rather than CGI) because he doesn't like the CG look. That's also in keeping with the budget - Godzilla films are made for a fraction of Western action movie budgets, though Final Wars was more expensive than usual for the franchise.


What's different about this Godzilla film then is the higher budget, (noticeably bigger explosions), bigger cast, the high number of monsters (a whopping 15), and the action-packed non-monster scenes. On the premise of a superhuman defence force made up of human mutants capable of impossible strength (like X-Men meet The Matrix), besides fighting each other, we finally get spectacular scenes of humans in hand-to-hand combat with giant monsters! Makes a change from the traditional toy tanks. The lead actors seem to be doing the lion's share of the stuntwork as well.

What's harder to accept is everything that usually detracts from these admittedly family films, such as cute animals, cute monsters, a surfeit of professors, silly plotlines, and non-professional Western actors... all have all been included here. It wouldn't be a Godzilla film without some of these elements, but at least this time it's not taken seriously. The action sequences however are very seriously mounted, maybe a little more over-the-top than usual. Some of the aerial dogfight sequences are awesome.

I suspect the toughest hurdle to audiences will be the use of American stereotypes, particularly the New York Cop/Pimp scene! But at least it gives us a taste of our own medicine - goodness knows how many cross-cultural errors are going to be in Memoirs of a Geisha, for instance. Another problem is the use of apparently non-acting actors for the Western characters. All the Americans in the movie appear to be pro-wrestlers, and not the sort who can act! It all adds to the unique, mad, pumped-up, fun atmosphere of the film.


Overall, I'm thrilled by the film. I love the epic scale, the outrageous action scenes, the homage, the monsters... but will someone please open an English-speaking acting school in Tokyo?

Finally, look here for my attempt to catalogue all the Godzilla film releases on home video.

(December 2007 - this review was updated for EVIL DREAD reviews)

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TETSUJIN 28 - VOLUME 1 (2004) HK DVD REVIEW

TETSUJIN 28 (2004) - Volume 1
Hong Kong DVD release

This 2 DVD set includes episodes 1 to 13 of the newly re-imagined Japanese anime, remade for the fortieth anniversary of this classic story.

Also known in America as GIGANTOR, this is the story of a leftover giant robot, a weapon from WWII, now in the hands of Shotaro, the young son of its original inventor. The series is set in 1950's post-war Japan. Shotaro is something of a boy detective, who uses the Iron Giant to fight crime, and these adventures often lead to him fighting other giant robots.

Like the new ASTRO BOY series, TETSUJIN 28 appears childish at face value, but the stories are so serious, its themes so anguished, that I'd certainly hesitate in recommending it for pre-teens. The series constantly examines the physical and psychological problems faced by the Japanese people after the war, often through imaginary situations. There were no giant robots built during the war, but these plot devices mean that the moral implications for the inventors are examined. Other stories look at human medical experiments, American mobsters, and space exploration technology derived from rocket weaponry. Each story often involving a large amount of tragedy and suffering, in keeping with the subject matter. The stories are well told, dramatic and pacey. The animation veers between simple and spectacular - the rainy tableau for instance are quite beautiful - the action scenes are imaginative and suitably gigantic. I'm enjoying the series, but have got to be braced for the utterly downbeat aura of most episodes.

This DVD set from Hong Kong has split the 26 episode series into two volumes (the first is pictured here). It's reasonably priced, but has several drawbacks - as usual the quality of the english subtitles range from good to poor, in terms of translations. I often felt I was missing plot points, and there was no distinction made between lines spoken by different characters - it's just presented as a block of text - you have to work out which line is spoken by whom.

The other shortcoming of the set is that it has been cropped from the original 16:9 widescreen down to 4:3 fullscreen, severely chopping the compositions, and often cutting characters in half down the edge of the frame.

For these reasons, I'll be waiting for other future releases - the USA is gradually releasing the series at the moment - with Japanese or English audio tracks, and in widescreen. Also, hopefully the 2006 UK release will use the same specifications.

The story's popularity meant that Japan recently also made a live action movie of TETSUJIN 28 - it's currently available on DVD in Japan, but without english subtitles. So again I'm hoping for a promised UK release of the movie on DVD sometime in 2006.

Max

ASTRO BOY - REBIRTH (2003) HK DVD REVIEW

ASTRO BOY- REBIRTH (JAPAN, 2003)
Hong Kong Region 3 DVD release

As usual, nothing is straightforward. If you're looking for the perfect way to enjoy this spectacular anime series, and you don't speak Japanese, you're in trouble.

This 50 episode series retells the classic Japanese story of the little robot boy, created in the image of a scientist's dead son. Macabre stuff given an upbeat spin for children's TV. Facing many of the same philosophical questions about self-aware androids as Spielberg's movie "A.I.", this is a lot more fun, yet surprisingly gritty in places. Society's only remaining conflict seems to revolve around whether A.I. robots are a good thing or not - that the omnipresent robot help should just remain as workhorses.

The characters remain faithful to the original designs, yet the animation leaps into the new millennium with great flourishes. There must be some CGI stuff going on, but it all looks like traditional animation, no small feat (hidden inside Astro Boy's huge red boots, no doubt).The future cityscapes are spectacular, and retain original artist Osamu Tezuka's colourful utopian style. Like the feature anime METROPOLIS, the future is optimistically bright.

The stories show us many imaginative possibilities of future society, while exploring a long story arc of Astro Boy discovering his origin and true identity of his father. Astro's not aware that Dad is making him some extremely dangerous adversaries...

Not having seen any previous ASTRO BOY series - I don't think the old series ever aired in the UK - I'm not nostalgic about the 1963 or 1980's series, like they are in the U.S. or Australia, for instance. I don't know whether I'd enjoy the older ones, but I certainly like this new series, but how to see it properly?

I've been watching the first set of Hong Kong DVDs (pictured above) - this box has 3 DVDs which cover the first 26 episodes. It has the original Japanese audio, with optional Chinese or English subtitles. Unfortunately the english translation is very poor, I'd say that it only makes sense half of the time. The plots are easy to follow, but I'd still like to know what's being said! Also, the series was made in 16:9 widescreen format, but these HK dvds are only 4:3 fullscreen. The last problem is that there is a digital clock top left onscreen throughout the entire episodes - I'm not sure why. Two further boxsets make up the complete series.

The US DVD set of the 2003 series is called THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (in a black box). It has no Japanese audio on it, and contains the re-edited versions that were dubbed for US transmission. Again, these are cropped to 4:3 fullscreen. According to the review on the DVD TIMES website, they are also in the wrong running order.

The best set seems to be the Korean DVD release, which supposedly has the Japanese audio in 5.1 surround, widescreen pictures and optional english subtitles. Of course there's no guarantee that the translations will be better than the Hong Kong release. I can only find the first 24 episodes on sale (in 6 volumes or 2 boxsets), so I'm not even sure if the whole series is on release yet.

Finally, don't forget that original ASTRO BOY manga are currently on release in natty little paperback collections, translated into english. Volume 1 of which is pictured here.

Max