A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (1975) - Mondo Macabro

[Vincent Dawn]

NSFW:

[Show spoiler]


Original Title
怪猫トルコ風呂
Bakeneko Toruko furo


A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (Blu-ray)


Courtesy of Mondo Macabro


SYNOPSIS

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse features Nikkatsu star Naomi Tani as an abused wife sold to a brothel to cover her husband’s debts. The deceitful husband is actually behind it all, in cahoots with the brothel madame, who is his lover. Tani discovers the truth and gets tortured to death. However, the dead woman’s soul seeks vengeance from a most unusual quarter.

The film is a bizarre mixture of Japanese erotica, gangster film and “ghost cat” horror movie. All popular genres in the 1960s and 70s. It’s a heady cocktail and makes for an entertaining and unpredictable film that rocks along at a giddy pace. Director Yamaguchi is best known for his Delinquent Girl Boss and Sister Street Fighter movies as well as the Sonny Chiba film Wolf Guy.

Year: 1975
Runtime: 82 Minutes
Japanese language track with optional English subs
Country: Japan

LIMITED EDITION FEATURES

• Brand new (uncensored) cover art by Justin Coffee
• 20 page booklet by film scholar Jasper Sharp
• 1200 numbered copies in the usual red case

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Region A coded US home video premiere
• Brand new 2K restoration from the original negative
• Brand new interview with Patrick Macias about Toei exploitation cinema in the 1970s
• Brand new audio commentary by film scholar Samm Deighan
• Trailer

TRAILER

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (1975) Trailer - YouTube

CLICK HERE FOR MUCH BETTER TRAILER FROM MONDO MACABRO

PRE-ORDER DATE

Thursday, September 8, 2022
9 AM Pacific/12 noon Eastern/11 AM Central

Mondo Macabro Link

BLU-RAY RELEASE DATE

September 20, 2022

[DukeTogo84]

This one is really nuts, and entertaining. Really can't wait for this.

[BunyipPouch]

Can't wait until Mondo drops the new trailer. Hopefully today.

[Jared A.]

Originally Posted by BunyipPouch

Can't wait until Mondo drops the new trailer. Hopefully today.

Ask and ye shall receive -

https://vimeo.com/745827711

[DukeTogo84]

Now on sale!

Lets get this one to sell out folks. We need more Toei films from MM.

https://mondomacabro.bigcartel.com/p...d-case-edition

[Keyser Soze.]

“sold out! Thank you!”

[russweiss1]

Originally Posted by Keyser Soze.

“sold out! Thank you!”

That certainly didn't take long and bodes well for more obscure Japanese releases.

[Vincent Dawn]

From the Mondo Macabro thread:

Originally Posted by Jared A.

It looks like we may have a problem with A HAUNTED TURKISH BATHOUSE.

Something that happened in replication and not authoring.

It appears there is some flaw affecting playability. Players simply don't read the discs.

If you have already gotten your copy please check it right away and let me know if it plays.

Honestly at this point it would be good news to hear that at least SOME do play, but I am not expecting that.

Either way a replacement program will need to happen.

I have also halted the mailout for a few days. I will resume sending orders out next week that do NOT have AHTB in them.

Once I have the replacement discs in hand I will then resume the full mailout with the new discs included. But that may be a few weeks.

But please check out discs and let me know. Once I have more info I will make the official announcement on Monday. (DOTD, if you are reading this please do not mention this until we make the official announcement on our social media pages)

Quite possibly the biggest **** up we've ever had. But know that it's something that happened in manufacturing and had nothing to do with our process in building the discs. We take QC very seriously and everything was fine when it went into production.

[Evil Vegan]

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse LE Blu-ray
MD0261

Matrix: CDV/CA BD22070215
Mastering SID: IFPI LW42
Mould SID: IFPI AL J02


Panasonic DP-UB820 (Region-Free)
FW: 1.69
Will not play.


PlayStation 5
FW: 22.02-06.00.00.42.0.00.00.0.1 (Up to date as of Sept 24, 2022)
Will play.


PlayStation 4 Pro
FW: 8.52
Will play.

[Vincent Dawn]

OFFICIAL NOTICE about AHTB

As some of you may have heard, we have discovered an issue with the disc for A HAUNTED TURKISH BATHHOUSE.

It seems the disc will not load on most players.

A replacement disc is going into production as of today.

We have temporarily halted shipments of orders containing this title.

If you have already received your copy or if your copy is on its way to you now - you will automatically be sent a replacement disc separately once they are done. There is no need to contact us about it.

If your order has not shipped yet, it will include the replacement disc in the package once shipping is resumed. You will just need to open and swap it out with the faulty disc inside the case.

We are very sorry for this inconvenience. This was an error that occurred in the manufacturing phase and NOT during our authoring/QC process. We are working with our replicator to insure this does not happen again.

As always, we thank you for your patience and support.

[DukeTogo84]

For those that actually get this in, and it's not working. Keep trying. I've had pretty good luck with it as it will play, you just have to keep trying and it will eventually work.

Fantastic film btw.

[russweiss1]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

For those that actually get this in, and it's not working. Keep trying. I've had pretty good luck with it as it will play, you just have to keep trying and it will eventually work.

Fantastic film btw.

I've had a few discs over the years that would play on one player and not another. Fortunately I've got 3 players in my "viewing room."

[starsteam]

I haven't tried my disc yet, but since they're sending replacements regardless I guess it doesn't matter. I wouldn't want to risk it playing on my current player but not a future player anyway.
It sure is swell for how fast they responded to this though. I haven't kept up with the Mondo thread and had no idea until they sent out the message today.

[McCrutchy]

BDInfo scan:

Note: This is the corrected disc. Neither my Oppo BDP-103 nor my PC BD-RE drive would read the faulty disc.

The Dolby Digital track is the audio commentary. Optional English subtitles for the film and theatrical trailer are in a slightly thin white font.

                                                                                                                Total   Video                                             
Title                                                           Codec   Length  Movie Size      Disc Size       Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track                          Secondary Audio Track
-----                                                           ------  ------- --------------  --------------  ------- ------- ------------------                        ---------------------
01002.MPLS                                                      AVC     1:20:37 21,612,875,136  24,861,353,843  35.74   31.85   DTS-HD Master 2.0 1824Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Label:     Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Size:      24,861,353,843 bytes
Protection:     AACS
Extras:         BD-Java
BDInfo:         0.7.5.6

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   01002.MPLS
Length:                 1:20:37.290 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   21,612,875,136 bytes
Total Bitrate:          35.74 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        31848 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             Japanese        1824 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz /  1824 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio             English         192 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -27dB

SUBTITLES:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
Presentation Graphics           English         11.533 kbps                     

FILES:

Name            Time In         Length          Size            Total Bitrate   
----            -------         ------          ----            -------------   
00002.M2TS      0:00:00.000     1:20:37.290     21,612,875,136  35,743          

CHAPTERS:

Number          Time In         Length          Avg Video Rate  Max 1-Sec Rate  Max 1-Sec Time  Max 5-Sec Rate  Max 5-Sec Time  Max 10Sec Rate  Max 10Sec Time  Avg Frame Size  Max Frame Size  Max Frame Time  
------          -------         ------          --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  
1               0:00:00.000     0:07:21.691     28,929 kbps     52,727 kbps     00:01:30.882    43,100 kbps     00:01:30.298    41,851 kbps     00:01:29.881    150,810 bytes   487,285 bytes   00:01:54.364    
2               0:07:21.691     0:06:56.874     30,801 kbps     46,270 kbps     00:11:47.498    42,097 kbps     00:11:58.175    40,829 kbps     00:11:53.212    160,581 bytes   363,326 bytes   00:11:55.381    
3               0:14:18.566     0:11:31.440     31,491 kbps     49,247 kbps     00:18:43.872    42,738 kbps     00:24:16.163    41,702 kbps     00:21:55.689    164,182 bytes   368,992 bytes   00:25:46.878    
4               0:25:50.006     0:06:10.203     32,031 kbps     46,426 kbps     00:29:07.746    43,455 kbps     00:27:50.001    41,900 kbps     00:30:03.718    166,995 bytes   358,359 bytes   00:29:30.310    
5               0:32:00.209     0:06:35.686     30,713 kbps     47,520 kbps     00:33:51.320    42,690 kbps     00:33:58.286    41,227 kbps     00:33:59.787    160,122 bytes   426,115 bytes   00:37:29.372    
6               0:38:35.896     0:09:37.785     30,583 kbps     50,258 kbps     00:39:46.842    43,265 kbps     00:44:06.101    41,447 kbps     00:42:11.111    159,447 bytes   373,069 bytes   00:40:04.276    
7               0:48:13.682     0:04:45.994     28,198 kbps     49,370 kbps     00:50:57.929    41,805 kbps     00:50:57.929    38,313 kbps     00:48:46.757    147,011 bytes   362,916 bytes   00:52:59.509    
8               0:52:59.676     0:05:40.965     34,417 kbps     57,926 kbps     00:57:03.962    43,458 kbps     00:52:59.676    41,703 kbps     00:58:05.398    179,436 bytes   438,534 bytes   00:58:09.569    
9               0:58:40.642     0:10:46.395     33,580 kbps     56,431 kbps     01:08:07.374    43,424 kbps     01:08:55.798    41,749 kbps     01:01:07.497    175,073 bytes   441,003 bytes   01:03:49.742    
10              1:09:27.037     0:11:10.252     35,031 kbps     56,817 kbps     01:15:41.954    43,607 kbps     01:17:19.009    41,495 kbps     01:14:32.176    182,669 bytes   363,421 bytes   01:18:23.949    

STREAM DIAGNOSTICS:

File            PID             Type            Codec           Language                Seconds                 Bitrate                 Bytes           Packets         
----            ---             ----            -----           --------                --------------          --------------          -------------   -----           
00002.M2TS      4113 (0x1011)   0x1B            AVC                                     4837.207                31,849                  19,257,341,692  104,728,816     
00002.M2TS      4352 (0x1100)   0x86            DTS-HD MA       jpn (Japanese)          4837.207                1,824                   1,102,799,528   6,825,549       
00002.M2TS      4353 (0x1101)   0x81            AC3             eng (English)           4837.207                192                     116,093,184     755,815         
00002.M2TS      4608 (0x1200)   0x90            PGS             eng (English)           4837.207                12                      6,973,620       41,909

White Cat in Showa Soapland - Patrick Macias on A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse

QUICK SUMMARY:

Disc Title: Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Label: Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Size: 24,861,353,843 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 01003.MPLS
Size: 834,880,896 bytes
Length: 0:06:57.083
Total Bitrate: 16.01 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 15030 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -27dB

Silent Waves - Pocket Guide to Toei Horror by Patrick Macias

QUICK SUMMARY:

Disc Title: Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Label: Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Size: 24,861,353,843 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 01004.MPLS
Size: 446,198,976 bytes
Length: 0:03:43.431
Total Bitrate: 15.98 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 14993 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -27dB

Theatrical Trailer

QUICK SUMMARY:

Disc Title: Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Label: Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Size: 24,861,353,843 bytes
Protection: AACS
Playlist: 01005.MPLS
Size: 608,591,232 bytes
Length: 0:02:33.820
Total Bitrate: 31.65 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 29970 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -27dB
Subtitle: English / 36.208 kbps

More from Mondo Macabro (Trailers for Bloodlust, The Howl of the Devil, The Killer of Dolls, Woman Chasing the Butterfly of Death and Human Animals)

                                                                                                                Total   Video                                             
Title                                                           Codec   Length  Movie Size      Disc Size       Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track                          Secondary Audio Track
-----                                                           ------  ------- --------------  --------------  ------- ------- ------------------                        ---------------------
01006.MPLS                                                      AVC     0:13:10 1,063,007,808   24,861,353,843  10.76   9.99    DD AC3 2.0 192Kbps

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Label:     Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Disc Size:      24,861,353,843 bytes
Protection:     AACS
Extras:         BD-Java
BDInfo:         0.7.5.6

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   01006.MPLS
Length:                 0:13:10.541 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   1,063,007,808 bytes
Total Bitrate:          10.76 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        9992 kbps           1080p / 24 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
Dolby Digital Audio             English         192 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -27dB

FILES:

Name            Time In         Length          Size            Total Bitrate   
----            -------         ------          ----            -------------   
00006.M2TS      0:00:00.000     0:13:10.541     1,063,007,808   10,757          

CHAPTERS:

Number          Time In         Length          Avg Video Rate  Max 1-Sec Rate  Max 1-Sec Time  Max 5-Sec Rate  Max 5-Sec Time  Max 10Sec Rate  Max 10Sec Time  Avg Frame Size  Max Frame Size  Max Frame Time  
------          -------         ------          --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  
1               0:00:00.000     0:02:38.541     10,752 kbps     25,475 kbps     00:00:03.458    20,120 kbps     00:02:16.833    17,765 kbps     00:00:24.583    55,984 bytes    169,026 bytes   00:00:04.458    
2               0:02:38.541     0:02:10.833     10,135 kbps     19,302 kbps     00:03:43.666    14,231 kbps     00:02:49.958    13,093 kbps     00:03:38.000    52,787 bytes    289,962 bytes   00:04:40.833    
3               0:04:49.375     0:02:40.958     13,738 kbps     23,040 kbps     00:05:03.791    20,111 kbps     00:04:53.750    18,983 kbps     00:04:50.541    71,553 bytes    475,843 bytes   00:07:15.041    
4               0:07:30.333     0:02:48.083     8,090 kbps      15,783 kbps     00:08:44.041    13,008 kbps     00:09:05.833    12,066 kbps     00:09:00.750    42,133 bytes    305,911 bytes   00:08:58.625    
5               0:10:18.416     0:02:52.125     7,541 kbps      14,148 kbps     00:11:38.625    12,164 kbps     00:12:23.750    11,958 kbps     00:12:18.333    39,304 bytes    265,899 bytes   00:12:18.375    

STREAM DIAGNOSTICS:

File            PID             Type            Codec           Language                Seconds                 Bitrate                 Bytes           Packets         
----            ---             ----            -----           --------                --------------          --------------          -------------   -----           
00006.M2TS      4113 (0x1011)   0x1B            AVC                                     790.458                 9,994                   987,452,749     5,377,843       
00006.M2TS      4352 (0x1100)   0x81            AC3             eng (English)           790.458                 192                     18,971,904      123,515

[McCrutchy]

I received my copy of this today and threw it on after watching Strangler vs. Strangler and House of Terrors. To say that this film exceeded my expectations would be an understatement. In my wildest dreams, I could not have asked for a more satisfying ratio of (almost) fully naked women to run time for a film that wasn't outright pornography. This film is so incredibly sleazy and sexy that I had a hard time believing it was released over here and I wasn't watching a disc I imported from Japan.

But beyond the sex and nudity lies a tale of a depraved, greedy man who callously uses the women in his life to support himself. The real horror here is in his despicable treatment of the women around him, even as many throw themselves at him, he couldn't care less aside from sexual pleasure and financial profit. One of the things that admittedly bothers me about a lot of Japanese exploitation films is how misogynistic they are, and this film definitely has a lot of misogynistic violence, but it also has a shocking amount of violence perpetrated on women by women, as well. Very few in this film are above reproach, and the third act is one of lengthy and cathartic revenge by way of supernatural horror. The makeup is excellent, with a few startlingly bloody moments, and most of the special effects are impressive, too. Even where the film gets a bit silly (e.g. a flying cat) it's all good fun and the film is satisfying on multiple levels.

After watching House of Terrors just prior, with that film in black and white (and from a master that is a bit dirty), seeing the beautiful color of A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse was quite a treat. The picture is largely free of dirt or debris and looks nicely filmic. The lossless mono audio has clear dialogue and the film's few snippets of music, including one of the girls, Natsuyo (Terumi Azuma), playing the piano, comes through very well. The subtitles are very good, although I did have the impression here (and on House of Terrors) that the translations were sometimes compressed and a bit too informal at times, but this latter point could be down to my lack of understanding of the Japanese language.

I watched all the video extras and I found the two Patrick Macias interviews very informative. However, since I understand that licensing extras from Japan can be expensive, I especially appreciated the theatrical trailer being included, particularly since it seems to have footage from scenes not in the final film. It's also fully subtitled with optional English subtitles, just like the main feature. At some point, I hope to get to the audio commentary and also to read the 18-page booklet with an essay by Jasper Sharp, which is accompanied by several full-color images of Japanese film posters.

This is definitely one of my favorite Mondo Macabro releases so far and I really hope we can get more Japanese titles, especially the sleazy 70s ones, from them in the not too distant future.

[luntarator]

1:21:28

Why is the duration longer on Amazon? Same source and fps. (no additional logos)

[Takuma]

Originally Posted by luntarator

1:21:28
Why is the duration longer on Amazon? Same source and fps. (no additional logos)

I was curious about this too, so I decided to compare my Mondo Macabro BD (which arrived yesterday) to the Toei Channel TV broadcasting which I recorded a few years ago. The answer is the BD release is frame cut. Frames with damage / splice lines have been removed from the end and / or beginning of shots. This explains the roughly 40s difference in running time between the Mondo BD (1:20:37) and my TV recording (approx. 1:21:20).

Take a look at this screenshot comparison I made. Here you can see the last and first two frames in consecutive shots (call them frames 1, 2, 3 and 4)

Toei Channel (TV)









Below you can see the same scene on Mondo BD.

Mondo BD





If you look carefully, those are frames 1 and 4. I can't post frames 2 and 3 (the ones with splice lines) because they are missing from the BD.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to advocate against buying the Mondo BD. I love the disc. I just thought I should clarify what's causing the run time difference.

In other news, I enjoyed Patrick Macias' brief video extras, though I couldn't help but to notice he got fooled by IMDb. The film's Japanese title is Kaibyo toruko buro, not Bakeneko toruko furo (incorrect reading of the kanji in 怪猫トルコ風呂). I think tried to submit correction to IMDb years ago but they don't believe me.

[Deciazulado]

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse Blu-ray

[Telstar]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse Blu-ray

Not sure if it's an issue, but they've attached the image for House of Terrors

[Animatic33]

Originally Posted by Telstar

Not sure if it's an issue, but they've attached the image for House of Terrors

Yeah, it's an issue, but could easily be resolved by us users chipping in. I've submitted MM's official image (from their website) for the standard edition to the entry.