The 88 Films Blu-Ray Thread

[Chemical Lemon]

#	Title (Links to 88 Films)	Amazon	Release Date
1	Hex	A	09/26/2016
2	Black Magic	A	10/31/2016
3	Five Element Ninjas	A	11/21/2016
4	House of Traps	A	11/21/2016
5	Seeding of a Ghost	A	01/16/2017
6	The Mighty Peking Man	A	02/13/2017
7	Killer Constable	A	03/27/2017
8	Masked Avengers	A	05/15/2017
9	The Oily Maniac	A	07/24/2017
10	The Flying Guillotine	A	08/21/2017
11	The Bride From Hell	A	09/25/2017
12	Bewitched	A	10/09/2017
13	The Brave Archer	A	11/06/2017
14	Casino Tycoon	A	12/26/2017
15	One Armed Swordsman	A	03/26/2018
16	The Dragon Missile	A	03/26/2018
17	The Enchanting Ghost	A	02/26/2018
18	The Ghost Lovers	A	03/12/2018
19	The Super Inframan	A	04/23/2018
20	Black Magic 2	A	06/11/2018
21	The Spiritual Boxer	A	06/11/2018
22	The Human Goddess	A	07/09/2018
23	The Vengeful Beauty	A	08/13/2018

Expectected Number of Titles: 23  (8,10,5)

[Chemical Lemon]

Wanted to restart this thread.  There was a good bit of info in the old thread, but the only significant info I found was most of Page 7.  This had some interesting info, but not much that applied to the actual topic.  I opted not to try to recover any of the original content and just post the current announced and released discs.  I think a few more had been determined, if anyone remembers what they are please post them.

I ordered the films in the order that 88 films has them listed under the 88 Asia collection.  The Blu-rays are numbered so I assume they'll maintain these numbers even if they're released out of order.  I believe it was determined that #7 was Masked Avengers even though a release date has not been announced, If I have this wrong please correct me.

Link to the original posts page 7 below

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XYwCNow3UWIJ:www.shaolinchamber36.com/kungfufandom/index.php%3F/topic/22289-88-films-start-releasing-shaw-brothers-titles-in-the-uk/%26page%3D7+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[theThirdMaster]

Oh?  I hadn't heard of a rumored Masked Avengers release.

 

So far I've only picked up two, Hex and Five Element Ninjas.  Pleased with the releases, especially since I only paid £7.49 when they were on sale.  I'm definitely in for Killer Constable and Masked Avengers.  The others I'm less interested in, but will probably buy during a sale.  I've actually never seen The Mighty Peking Man.  I need to.

[Pai Mei]

Do you guys know if they are region free.  It seems that 88 films is somewhat hit and miss as being region B locked.  My guess is that they are locked... that is if Celestial has anything to do with it.

[Chemical Lemon]

2 hours ago, theThirdMaster said:

Oh?  I hadn't heard of a rumored Masked Avengers release.

 

So far I've only picked up two, Hex and Five Element Ninjas.  Pleased with the releases, especially since I only paid £7.49 when they were on sale.  I'm definitely in for Killer Constable and Masked Avengers.  The others I'm less interested in, but will probably buy during a sale.  I've actually never seen The Mighty Peking Man.  I need to.

It was rumored at least once in the old 88 Films thread, possibly more.  Google Cache didn't cache many of the threads on the board, but it did cache user posting histories, so I was able to find this post by De Ming Li

 

Quote

 

88 Films start releasing Shaw Brothers Titles in the UK

in Shaw Brothers

Posted September 28

---

According to Markgway the next three Shaw titles from 88 are MASKED AVENGERS, KILLER CONSTABLE and SEEDING OF A GHOST. This leaves only one unknown starting with M.

 

 

I think there was some back and forth about this though.  This was back when 88 Films posted a list of some upcoming movies just giving the first or first 2 letters.  Markgway is trustworthy source of info too, which doesn't make it true but lends it some credence in my book.

 

2 hours ago, Pai Mei said:

Do you guys know if they are region free.  It seems that 88 films is somewhat hit and miss as being region B locked.  My guess is that they are locked... that is if Celestial has anything to do with it.

I believe Hex is region locked, my computer BD drive is currently A locked and won't play it.  I assume they're all region locked, that's not definite though.

[reason108]

So far, I have Hex, Five Element Ninja and House of Traps. Really looking forward to Killer Constable and Masked Avengers if they do indeed release that one. Will probably get the other ones at some point too but they are not on my "Day 1" release list.  

 

 

And, I do believe that these are Region B locked. 

Edited December 21, 2016 by reason108

[shaolin swords]

I been looking fork a legit copy of killer constable with English dubbed if this has English dubbed track I will have to buy a blu ray player lol haaa

[KUNG FU BOB]

18 hours ago, theThirdMaster said:

I'm definitely in for Killer Constable and Masked Avengers.  The others I'm less interested in, but will probably buy during a sale.  

I've actually never seen The Mighty Peking Man.  I need to.

Same here-those two would be worth buying again to have them on Blu-ray.

THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN is sheer madness. Absolutely ridiculous, but in the best way. Entertaining from start to finish. The facial features of the title's Kong-like creature look a lot like Nicholas Cage to me (and I've heard others say the same) , Danny Lee plays it 100% serious, and the lovely jungle lady played by Evelyne Kraft is a stunner.

 

17 hours ago, Pai Mei said:

Do you guys know if they are region free.  It seems that 88 films is somewhat hit and miss as being region B locked.  My guess is that they are locked... that is if Celestial has anything to do with it.

7 hours ago, reason108 said:

And, I do believe that these are Region B locked. 

FIVE ELEMENT NINJA and HEX are definitely Region B locked. I can confirm this. Those are the only two I have so far.

 

15 hours ago, Chemical Lemon said:

It was rumored at least once in the old 88 Films thread, possibly more.  Google Cache didn't cache many of the threads on the board, but it did cache user posting histories, so I was able to find this post by De Ming Li

 

 

I think there was some back and forth about this though.  This was back when 88 Films posted a list of some upcoming movies just giving the first or first 2 letters.  Markgway is trustworthy source of info too, which doesn't make it true but lends it some credence in my book.

 

I believe Hex is region locked, my computer BD drive is currently A locked and won't play it.  I assume they're all region locked, that's not definite though.

@Chemical Lemon thanks for reinstating that post.

 

1 hour ago, shaolin swords said:

I been looking fork a legit copy of killer constable with English dubbed if this has English dubbed track I will have to buy a blu ray player lol haaa

That would certainly be a worthy title to pop your BD cherry.

I'm with you- I'd also like to have the English dub included.

 

 

[ShawAngela]

If I'm not mistaken, they are based in UK, so, it's definitely region B, unless they decided to sell them as all region.

I bought House of traps and Five elements ninja and they are region B.

[Tex Killer]

17 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

If I'm not mistaken, they are based in UK, so, it's definitely region B, unless they decided to sell them as all region.

 

They won`t. Celestial would ask extra money from all region rights. Killer constable likely have dub, looking forward to it.

[De Ming Li]

Some of the folks on the Criterion forum seem absolutely convinced that HEX is an upscale and not true HD........

[Chemical Lemon]

16 hours ago, De Ming Li said:

Some of the folks on the Criterion forum seem absolutely convinced that HEX is an upscale and not true HD........

That might explain some of the weirdness with the running time. I think it had the same running time as the ivl DVD which suffered from a speed up related to the film to pal or pal to ntsc conversion 

[theThirdMaster]

On 12/31/2016 at 8:26 AM, De Ming Li said:

Some of the folks on the Criterion forum seem absolutely convinced that HEX is an upscale and not true HD........

I don't think it's an upscale at all.  The movie is quite soft for sure, but it seems intentional and natural, like it was meant to look soft (almost filtered).  It is softer looking than most other Shaws, but still there's enough detail there to make me think it's a 2k scan.  There's also remnants of film grain and scratches/imperfections that reveal this is an HD scan, even though this release suffers some heavy DNR.

I don't know or frequent the Criterion forums much, but Criterion doesn't release movies from China or Hong Kong (maybe the occasional Wong Kar-wai or something).  Movies from this region and time period are an entirely different animal.  If you compare this 88 Films (budget) release from Hong Kong to a standard Criterion release from America or Japan, yes, you will be disappointed in the image quality.  Almost all the Shaws on Blu-ray have issues, namely excessively applied DNR and frame cutting.  I don't blame 88 Films here, I blame Celestial on providing the transfer/master.  They want everything pristine/scrubbed, ready for TV.  Even if it means wiping out detail and sweeping cuts to remove several minutes of run time, as they have done in the past on many releases.

I will say there are definitely subtitle timing issues on this disc.

You want to see what upscale looks like?  Check out some Fortune Star movies from the 80s and 90s on Blu-ray.  Ouch.

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2017 by theThirdMaster

[muppetdanny]

I just got "Five Element Ninja" and "House of Traps" for Christmas and is it just me did Bey Logan's commentay track on "Five Element Ninja" sounded it has been speeded up compared to "House of Traps" track?

[Chemical Lemon]

Masked Avengers release date announced as may 15 2017

[Tex Killer]

12 hours ago, Chemical Lemon said:

Masked Avengers release date announced as may 15 2017

Really looking forward to that. 88films is heads and shoulders above other labels at the moment. Not only they release Shaws but their Italian collection(last year was great and there is interesting stuff coming out in next few months) is amazing also.

Pre-ordered yesterday "seeding of a ghost".

[reason108]

7 hours ago, Chemical Lemon said:

Masked Avengers release date announced as may 15 2017

Yes! Wished it was sooner though. 

[Cloud Hands]

8 hours ago, Chemical Lemon said:

Masked Avengers release date announced as may 15 2017

Great news. I haven't heard the English dub since VHS days. I look forward to once again hearing those immortal lines "That's only chickens blood"!

[reason108]

I hope that 88 Films will continue to release a SB movie every couple of months. That would be awesome! Just checked out the artwork for Killer Constable on Amazon and I hope that it is what they use or something very close. I really hope they take a shot at Human Lanterns as we need it on blu-ray. 

[theThirdMaster]

On 1/7/2017 at 3:04 AM, reason108 said:

 I really hope they take a shot at Human Lanterns as we need it on blu-ray. 

 

Human Lanterns seems like such a natural fit for this label.  They seem to be a primarily horror label, and the Shaws they are going after are either horror or bloodier/darker kung fu flicks.

[De Ming Li]

Apparently the shipping cost from ordering direct from the 88 Films store has jumped up considerably, anyone has the details?

[Killer Meteor]

On 31/12/2016 at 1:26 PM, De Ming Li said:

Some of the folks on the Criterion forum seem absolutely convinced that HEX is an upscale and not true HD........

It's noticeably worse then the usual Celestial transfer, and the subs go way-out-of sync in places.

[Tex Killer]

7 hours ago, De Ming Li said:

Apparently the shipping cost from ordering direct from the 88 Films store has jumped up considerably, anyone has the details?

Their reply@facebook for the shipping  issue;"  We were subsidising our postage before and now it's priced at a true reflection of what our fulfilment service costs to operate. Sorry if you don't like it but we were also seeing some of our limited editions go for silly money on Ebay so we thought we were probably undervaluing them hence the small increase. "

 

So if someone makes money in ebay selling their products that upset enough for them to make "normal" customers pay more....Nevermind I never ordered directly from them, in amazon.uk there has been good deals for their items. Hopefully it stays that way...

[De Ming Li]

Thanks Tex Killer. So far I've bought the four Shaw titles released by 88, the first two (HEX, BLACK MAGIC) I got direct from their online store but the next two (FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS, HOUSE OF TRAPS) I got from Amazon UK. Amazon turns out to be slightly cheaper but of course I would like to directly support the label if I could even though they do set the price of their products just slightly above a massive third party retailer such as Amazon. Now SEEDING OF A GHOST will have a limited edition slipcase if you're fast enough to make one of the first 300 orders on their store but personally I couldn't really care any less for these sort of stuff. At the moment, for me it's a 50/50 toss up between their store or UK Amazon.

Just checking, does HMV ship internationally? 

[ShawAngela]

4 hours ago, Tex Killer said:

if someone makes money in ebay selling

The guy who was selling these releases on ebay had them with slipcases and that's true that he asked for a very much higher price !