The Official Radiance Films Thread

[MifuneFan]

Here's the newest 2025 Teaser GIF with September titles. I'm fine-tuning the timing monthly, so feel free to give feedback on if it's too fast or slow between the blanks and covers (it's currently ~11 secs for each). You can always find this in the first post as well.

[Show spoiler]

I've also finally added a text-based teaser list to the first post as well.

ATOS - A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness
GWS - Girl With A Suitcase
VS - Va Savoir
ROG - River of Grass
RJ - The Rapacious Jailbreaker
PAL - Palindromes
RM - Railroad Man
THE - Themrock
TOO - Tales of Oiwa's Ghost
WN3 - World Noir Volume 3
IMS - In My Skin
ROS
TAT - Through and Through
OSHIMA
SHIN - Shinobi Volume 2
LTT - La Terra Trema
POL - Essential Polish Animation
BTD - Beast to Die
HIS
DAI
MAL
DAU
BET - The Betrayal
SEN - Senso
NB
WNN

[filmlover22]

wonder if DAI = Daiei Gothic Tales V2?

[chrismansell]

Some info from the Discord; WNN was replaced on the schedule by World Noir 4, and HIS will be a 2026 release.

[moviemaker]

Originally Posted by Funktion

Besides the Noir set, which I may pick up in the future, another month where there's nothing for me.

I wish they would at least announce a few more Raro titles, for fans of Italian genre cinema.
Some regularity for these would be most welcome. There's quite a few titles in their library I would wish to see released (or re-released), but at a rate of 4 titles or so a year, most won't be released.
After 3 titles earlier this year, it's now the 4th straight month without a release.

I'm hoping October may bring a few season-appropriate Italian genre efforts, but with my luck, they'll announce more French "extreme" titles, which aren't really my cup of tea.

Agreed, would be nice to get Radiance versions of:

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man
Milano Calibro 9 (though I have the Arrow edition which is nice)
Kidnap Syndicate
Naked Violence
Nick The Sting

[moviemaker]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Very good good news about The Betrayal. Hoping the Japanese crime set is close to coming out as well. Kinda wish Paris Pick Up got US solo releases as that hasen't been released here yet.

I'm excited about The Betrayal. I couldn't find a trailer for The Betrayal but I found this Trailer/Short analysis of the film on YouTube for anyone on the fence:

The Betrayal: Drama Through Action - YouTube

[Rui]

Also real excited about ‘The Betrayal’!!

More and more Samurai films please!

[StarDestroyer52]

Will be grabbing The Betrayal and WN4. Radiance keeps knocking it out of the park, IMHO.

[neonde]

Which multi region Radiance titles were released uncut for the North American market but were cut for the UK market because of the BBFC?

I believe Slap the Monster on Page One is one of them. Are there others? Is there a list?

[rapta]

Originally Posted by Yami

Spain is almost certainly Saura's The Delinquents and I also agree that France is likely to be In My Skin.

Re: 'ogre', a Radiance rep said on the Discord that "[they] don't usually like wading into speculation (as it somewhat spoils the fun!) but [they] will say behind-the-scenes tinkering mean last week's tease was a bit outdated". So my guess is that The Ogre of Athens has been delayed a month rather than the clue applying to whatever will be announced this morning. Or so I hope!

Re: the clues that are thought might allude to Histoire(s) du cinema, Fran has said that "[he's] almost certainly going to push the release that featured in the S&S list to next year as it’s become a bigger beast and he really want[s] to see how big it can become." So, if it is that, I'm guessing it won't be until the end of the year at best.

Seems you were right, Yami, but I reckon The Ogre of Athens may even be pushed to November/December if October is planning on being a full horror month (it usually is).

I figured Histoire(s) du cinema would be a big task anyway, but perhaps they're weighing up whether to make it a big slipbox affair. There haven't been that many of those this year so far, so we're due at least one. As always, I don't mind waiting if it means making it a better release.

Looking at the clues left from this year's teaser, we have the following:

OSHIMA - Oshima set
HIS - Histoire(s) du cinema
DAI - Daiei Gothic Vol. 2?
MAL - Malpertius?
DAU - Daughters of Darkness
NB - Le notti bianche?
WNN - World Neo-Noir?

Daiei Gothic, Malpertius and Daughters of Darkness for October then? I wonder if the Kümel films will be another double-bill set or not, would make sense to bundle them together due to the same director, genre and year of release...

Still think we might not get the Oshima set 'til December, a bit like last year's Buñuel set. Still, that leaves room for the Japanese crime set for November too.

EDIT: Just saw the post about the Godard and WNN (World Neo Noir?) sets being pushed to 2026...all good! Means a few more surprises yet this year.

Originally Posted by GG88

The difference is the earlier powerhouse Noir boxes didn’t contain any Bogart films. The earlier World Noir boxes had French films in. The Borgat noirs are generally more popular than the ones in earlier volumes so it made sense to have a separate set for them as many people would only be interested for Boggie.

The box is called World Noir not French Noir so can see why some people would be disappointed that it doesn’t follow the preceding set’s pattern. However now the pattern is broken I agree we need an all Japanese set

Okay, you're taking what I said a bit literally. I meant it was a break in tradition, in the same way as the Bogart set, but not literally the same. In that case it was the most famous actor, and in this case I'd argue it's celebrating the most important country when it comes to 'World Noir'.

It could lead to a Japanese noir set if Radiance play their cards right, as others have pointed out.

Originally Posted by shimmy

While I wont mind watching three French noirs (and I wouldnt mind watching three Nippon noirs even more) I liked the around the world aproach Radiance had to making these sets so far. Hopefully this doesnt mean they are running out of licences of dark cinema from other countries. Also I was really hoping for A Colt is My Passport to get a slot.

I liked it too, but I can see why they did this rather than do a 'French Noir' spinoff. Perhaps they're not sure how it'll sell, and this is a way of keeping it part of a series that people are already collecting (captive audience etc).

I'm sure they have shortlisted some other licenses from various countries, so hopefully it's not the last set of mixed titles. If they do get A Colt is My Passport, they might be tempted to do it separately, or in a box of mixed titles, as I'd hope if they did do an all-Japanese set (even just Nikkatsu Noir), I'd love to see them do a set of 50's/60's stuff like Rusty Knife, The Perfect Game, A Secret Rendezvous, Intimidation; maybe even some Suzuki titles like Passport to Darkness, Take Aim at the Police Van, Everything Goes Wrong. I suppose Suzuki is a draw in himself so they could get away with doing a separate set of just his stuff from that period. How about both!?

That's just Nikkatsu too, they might even be able to add a couple from Shochiku (e.g. Zero Focus, Cash Calls Hell), Kadokawa (e.g. Afraid to Die) or Toei (e.g. An Outlaw). Perhaps this is wishing for too much though...

Originally Posted by Ben_C

People talking about Yakuza film fatigue, Hokuriku Proxy War, one of the most recent Radiance ones, is definitely one of the best they’ve released so far. Really good stuff, and certainly shows that quality examples from the genre are still coming.

I understand people are feeling a bit fatigued, but I'm grateful they're getting released and will support them all since it's not as sustainable as it once was to do a big Fukasaku or Suzuki box set in this day and age.

Originally Posted by chrismansell

Some info from the Discord; WNN was replaced on the schedule by World Noir 4, and HIS will be a 2026 release.

Has anyone asked about last year's remaining clues? I don't think we ever got announcements for the following, nor reasons for their being delayed/cancelled:

PDC - speculated as Pastoral: To Die in the Country (1974, Terayama) or Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970, Schatzberg)
MH - speculated as possibly Manhunt (1976, Sato) or Melvin and Howard (1980, Demme)
RB - ???
SM - ???

[Gerby]

I'll be picking up WN4...i haven't seen Razzia Sur La Chinouf but Back To The Wall is a very good noir from Édouard Molinaro (i didn't like it quite as much as his Witness In The City).
Paris Pick-Up is a fabulous christmas noir though. Highly recommended.

[JoePo]

Has histoire s du cinéma been confirmed?

[rapta]

Originally Posted by JoePo

Has histoire s du cinéma been confirmed?

All but confirmed, yes. They posted about Godard on his birthday (something they did to tease releases of other directors in the past such as Truffaut, Altman etc), and the clue 'HIS' may be the only current clue that would relate to a Godard film. The delay only cements the rumour further, as it seems they may make it an even bigger release than initially intended.

Perhaps they'll consider converting it into a Godard box set instead? After all, there are a handful of his films unreleased on UK Blu-ray and seemingly available from StudioCanal (Le petit soldat, Made in U.S.A., Détective, Prénom Carmen, Hélas pour moi) and MGM (King Lear)...

[Yami]

As well as the circumstantial evidence that there's probably a Godard film coming, it's also really the only film on the Sight & Sound 2022 list that could be a 'big beast' that's had to be pushed back for that reason.

I can't see them turning it into a Godard box set, at least not with those titles mentioned; the dream would be a collection of some of Godard's other 90s/00s essay films like Je vous salue Sarajevo, The Kids Play Russian, Origins of the 21st Century, In the Darkness of Time, and. Vrai faux passeport

[moviemaker]

If anyone is interested, posting some down & dirty impromptu package pics of Themroc.
I previously owned this on VHS, then DVD, so thank you RADIANCE for an outstanding presentation.
Took pix of only a few pages in the booklet.





Rest of pics under spoilers:

[Show spoiler]

[rapta]

Forgot to say Fran referred to The Betrayal as "[part of] our growing Tokuzo Tanaka collection", so make of that what you will. I did wonder if Radiance might be releasinng The Whale God when it showed at last year's Forbidden Worlds Film Festival, but Radiance weren't specifically mentioned so maybe not.

Still, there's a strong chance Haunted Castle (or maybe The Demon of Mount Oe) will be in the next Daiei Gothic set, so maybe it's hinting towards that.

[moviemaker]

I might be part of a very small club here, but I'm desperately hoping Radiance will give us a proper Blu-ray release of Nikos Nikolaidis' Morning Patrol.
A sort of Greek version of Tarkovsky's Stalker.

Right now I'm stuck with a bootleg DVD (the things we do for obscure cinema!). I believe his son handles the film rights these days, so maybe there's hope for us fans yet.

Here is a trailer:

MORNING PATROL HD TRAILER - YouTube

[gekats]

Originally Posted by moviemaker

I might be part of a very small club here, but I'm desperately hoping Radiance will give us a proper Blu-ray release of Nikos Nikolaidis' Morning Patrol.
A sort of Greek version of Tarkovsky's Stalker.

Right now I'm stuck with a bootleg DVD (the things we do for obscure cinema!). I believe his son handles the film rights these days, so maybe there's hope for us fans yet.

Here is a trailer:

MORNING PATROL HD TRAILER - YouTube

Not a small club. Nikolaidis' top film by far! (Though Sweet bunch might be his most popular.)

Symeon Nikolaidis has uploaded his fathers' complete filmography on YouTube, if anyone's interested:

https://www.youtube.com/@nikosnikolaidisads39

(I believe Radiance were negotiating to release Singapore, but that was too expensive(?) and so they got it for Arrow instead. Hopefully the rest of his filmography also find its way to physical media. I think Sweet bunch and Morning patrol have recently been restored in 4K.)

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by neonde

Which multi region Radiance titles were released uncut for the North American market but were cut for the UK market because of the BBFC?

I believe Slap the Monster on Page One is one of them. Are there others? Is there a list?

Just that and Serie Noire, I believe.

[gekats]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Just that and Serie Noire, I believe.

Add Through and through to that list.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by rapta

Forgot to say Fran referred to The Betrayal as "[part of] our growing Tokuzo Tanaka collection", so make of that what you will. I did wonder if Radiance might be releasinng The Whale God when it showed at last year's Forbidden Worlds Film Festival, but Radiance weren't specifically mentioned so maybe not.

Still, there's a strong chance Haunted Castle (or maybe The Demon of Mount Oe) will be in the next Daiei Gothic set, so maybe it's hinting towards that.

Almost 100% they have Haunted Castle. It was one of the three films that were discovered on the sheet I believe along with Wife From Hades and Ghost of Yotsuya. Snow Woman ended up being a surprise (also a Tanaka a film) so almost positive Hidden Castle will be in the next set. No idea what the other two could be though.