The Blood of Fu Manchu / The Castle of Fu Manchu (1968-1969)

[MifuneFan]

Blue Underground will be releasing a double feature set starring the late great Christopher Lee in The Blood of Fu Manchu, and The Castle of Fu Manchu, both directed by Jess Franco.

The Blood of Fu Manchu / The Castle of Fu Manchu Blu-ray Pre-order

The Fu Manchu Double Feature Blu-ray will be released on May 30, 2017!

THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU:
From his secret lair deep within the South American jungle, international super-villain Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee of COUNT DRACULA) and his sadistic daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE) reveal their latest diabolical plot for world domination: ten beautiful women are infected with an ancient poison so deadly that one kiss from their lips will bring instant death and lead to a global plague. Now the Asian madman’s nemesis, Nayland Smith (Richard Greene of TALES FROM THE CRYPT), must desperately hunt an antidote in a savage land where rape and torture reign and the ultimate evil lies in THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU. Maria Rohm (VENUS IN FURS) and Shirley Eaton (GOLDFINGER) co-star in this wild Fu Manchu feature written and produced by Harry Alan Towers (EUGENIE) and directed by the one and only Jess Franco (VAMPYROS LESBOS). Also known as KISS AND KILL, AGAINST ALL ODDS, and KISS OF DEATH, Blue Underground presents THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU in High Definition, complete with additional scenes of nudity and violence!

THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU:
Christopher Lee (THE LORD OF THE RINGS) returns as the diabolical super-villain who, along with his sadistic daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin of CASINO ROYALE), creates a fiendish new chemical weapon that will turn the seas into a giant block of ice. But when his archenemy Nayland Smith (Richard Greene of THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD) tracks the madman's trail of kidnapping, murder and massive global destruction, he himself becomes trapped in Fu Manchu’s impenetrable lair of cruelty. Can any of the world’s top secret agents (including a wild performance by Jess Franco) now stop the cold-blooded terror that lives in THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU? Maria Perschy (THE GHOST GALLEON) and Rosalba Neri (99 WOMEN) co-star in this notorious sequel directed by Jess Franco (THE BLOODY JUDGE) that marked Christopher Lee’s final performance as the infamous Chinese madman. Now Blue Underground presents THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU in High Definition, packed with Extras for a disc full of Fu Manchu mayhem!
Extras:
• The Rise of Fu Manchu - Interviews with Director Jess Franco, Producer Harry Alan Towers, and Stars Christopher Lee, Tsai Chin, & Shirley Eaton
• The Fall of Fu Manchu - Interviews with Director Jess Franco, Producer Harry Alan Towers, and Stars Christopher Lee & Tsai Chin
• Theatrical Trailers
• Poster & Still Galleries
Video Specs: Widescreen 1.66:1
Audio Specs: English DTS-HD Mono
Optional Subtitles: English SDH

[RodChester]

I've never seen any of the films in this series but have always wanted to, so I'll be picking this up. Hopefully we get the other three films at some point too.

[babybreese]

These are the least of the Lee Fu films.....and pretty much bottom of the barrel for the Towers/ Franco collaborations.

The other 3 films are much better, with the 1st being far and away the best of the lot.

[hagios]

I'm still getting these! ...love me some Fu Manchu/Sir Christopher Lee!!

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by babybreese

These are the least of the Lee Fu films.....and pretty much bottom of the barrel for the Towers/ Franco collaborations.

The other 3 films are much better, with the 1st being far and away the best of the lot.

Yeah, I do hope we get the other films too.

[LeeFanatic007]

The first three Fu Manchu films would come from the Warner Archive Collection I assume if they do get a Blu-ray release, I believe that is how they were released on DVD.

Except Brides of Fu Manchu which got put out as a Double Feature DVD with Chamber of Horrors (1966). Face and Vengeance are only available as DVD-Rs in Region 1, at least to my knowledge.

I'm picking this up as well being a Christopher Lee fan.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by LeeFanatic007

The first three Fu Manchu films would come from the Warner Archive Collection I assume if they do get a Blu-ray release, I believe that is how they were released on DVD.

Except Brides of Fu Manchu which got put out as a Double Feature DVD with Chamber of Horrors (1966). Face and Vengeance are only available as DVD-Rs in Region 1, at least to my knowledge.

I'm picking this up as well being a Christopher Lee fan.

StudioCanal have them in Europe. They did a decent French special edition DVD of the Face of Fu Manchu that included a new 11-minute interview with Christopher Lee in English, trailer, stills gallery and video appreciation by Francoise Riviere and introduction by Jean-Pierre Dionnet (both unsubtitled French), but their UK discs of the first three films were pretty much bare bones and are now out of print. While they might release the first film (minus the extras), it doesn't seem too likely they'd do Brides and Vengeance.

[MifuneFan]

This is $17.99 at BB compared to $30 at Amazon

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/blood-of...skuId=32780613

[Zillamon51]

One of these was on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The riffing couldn't save it. It was so bad, it put me to sleep, and I've never bothered to go back to it.

One thing that I've never understood is Jess Franco's cult following. The handful of his films I've seen have all been crap.

[hagios]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

This is $17.99 at BB compared to $30 at Amazon

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/blood-of...skuId=32780613

Thanks MifuneFan, pre-ordered today

[Show spoiler](canceled my AMZ pre-order )

!

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by Zillamon51

One of these was on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The riffing couldn't save it. It was so bad, it put me to sleep, and I've never bothered to go back to it.

One thing that I've never understood is Jess Franco's cult following. The handful of his films I've seen have all been crap.

I had these two on DVD back in the day. Blood was pretty good, but Castle was tragically bad. I agree though, Jess Franco's films are on the whole pretty bad. The worst thing is that when it comes to sex and violence and everything else you expect from these sorts of things, they often promise much more than they actually deliver.

[Midnight Rambler]

Originally Posted by Zillamon51

One thing that I've never understood is Jess Franco's cult following. The handful of his films I've seen have all been crap.

You're being extremely generous in calling his films crap !

[Brian81]

Poor review up at the Beav. Recommends just picking it up if you want to see them and don't already have them on DVD. They pretty much look like upscaled SD, and lots of ugly compression artifacts. Why does BU even bother?

[NoirFan]

I knew I shouldn't have pre-ordered this! BU simply can't be trusted.

[oddbox83]

Looks blooming awful! Crap films on a crap Blu-ray - simple. Don't even have to think twice about just keeping the Studiocanal double feature Region 2 (which I found in a charity shop for £1 )

[Mike0284]

From their facebook page

Wow, the first pressing of THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU/THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU Blu-ray is already SOLD OUT! Thanks to everyone who purchased this one!! It's still in stock at some retailers, including Amazon.com, if you still want to pick up a copy...

[iamnoone]

How many was the first pressing? 50 copies?

[babybreese]

This strains credibility. How is this possible?

[frakking toaster]

Originally Posted by babybreese

This strains credibility. How is this possible?

Maybe they decided not to press anymore after all the complaints.

[NoirFan]

Even Mondo-Digital, who are usually forgiving of subpar transfers, raked BU over the coals for what is apparently nothing more than an upconvert:

As mentioned above, both of these films bowed on DVD in 2003 from Blue Underground and looked considerably better than any prior editions. They were also the most complete editions to date, reinstating substantial chunks of footage removed for various territories over the years (with the U.S. getting the shortest one, sometimes years later). The same contents are ported over onto one disc for the 2017 Blu-ray The Castle of Fu Manchurelease (absent a couple of text rundowns about the films), but in this case that's meant a little too literally; the preexisting standard def masters have just been ported over here, upconverted and given a slathering of waxy noise reduction that kills much of the film grain and detail in the process. There's literally no increase in detail here whatsoever, and in fact some issues like aliasing are aggravated in the process. Playing the DVDs via upconversion actually results in a more pleasant and convincing presentation, so consider grabbing this only if you don't have the DVDs already and can find it cheap. The audio also shows no difference from the prior editions as well.

Bottom line: This should never have been released. Instead, BU are crowing about its sales on social media? They should be ashamed of themselves.