Stray Cat Rock: The Collection - 3,000 Limited Edition - Arrow Video 7/15/2015

[MifuneFan]

Stray Cat Rock: The Collection Blu-ray PRE-ORDER



Great news, Arrow Video USA will be releasing the Stray Cat Rock Collection in the US. This set, previously released in a limited edition in the UK, features 5 Japanese exploitation films from Nikkatsu, starring Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood). No word on whether the packaging or content will be identical, but this is great news

Release Date: 14th July 2015
Region: Free
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Starring: Meiko Kaji, Bunjaku Han, Tatsuya Fuji
Directed by: Yasuharu Hasebe, Toshiya FujitaThe Stray Cat Rock series stars Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Blind Woman’s Curse) who with these five films began her reign as the badass action queen of the era.


SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- Limited Edition Blu-ray (3000 copies only)
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of all five films in the Stray Cat Rock series
- Original Mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays)
- New English subtitle translation of all five films
- Interview with Yasuharu Hasebe director of Delinquent Girl Boss, Sex Hunter and Machine Animal
- Interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji, star of all five films
- Interview with actor Yoshio Harada, star of Beat ’71
- Original Trailers
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp

.

Synopsis:
In these five tales of rebellious youth she stars alongside the gorgeous Bunjaku Han (Love Letter) and Tatsuya Fuji (In the Realm of the Senses). In Delinquent Girl Boss, a girl gang go up against criminal organisation the Seiyu Group, where following a fixed boxing match blood is shed and friendships are tested. In Wild Jumbo, Kaji and the gang get involved in a kidnapping and the robbery of a religious organisation. In Sex Hunter Kaji’s girl gang go up against The Eagles, a group led by Fuji where sex and violence erupt over the treatment of ‘half-breeds’. In Machine Animal gang rivalry is once again the focus with two gangs pursuing some LSD pushers looking to move a big score. The series swansong, Beat ’71, sees Kaji framed and sent to prison by her boyfriend’s father and with the help of some hippies she strives to be re-united.

Directed by genre veterans Yasuharu Hasebe (Massacre Gun, Retaliation) and Toshiya Fujita (Lady Snowblood) the films feature a psychedelic mix of girl gangs, bikers, sex, drugs and rock and roll with plenty of ass-kicking to boot, all captured in a delirious mash-up of pop aesthetics including split screens, freeze frames, injections of color, frenetic editing and dizzying angles, making these films a riotous joy from beginning to end..

Stray Cat Rock: The Collection - The Arrow Video Story - YouTube

[CMoney]

Pre-ordered the original UK release months ago. They were selling, so I wasn't sure if they would sell out. Kind of wish this was known back then, but what can you do? Great for those who haven't picked this up.

Here's hoping we'll see a FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION, or even a BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY box set. Both series are Toei films.

[Midnight Rambler]

Shoot, I thought we had some Brian Setzer coming on Blu-ray ...

[Martin_31]

Definitely going to be picking this up. I wonder if it is going to be a limited edition box set.

[NoirFan]

Presumably this is one of the three box sets Arrow teased/referred to?

[jrsl76]

Great. Never got an order in on this bc I had such an abysmal time getting an undamaged copy of The Complete Dr. Phibes set.

[navydavey]

Wonder if it will be a limited edition release again? (2000 copies before)

I have the UK version and am very happy with it so I hope this is a straight port, I don't want to miss out on any new extras or booklets essays.

[Dr. Seymour Love]

This is a must buy for any fans of 70's Japanese cinema. Great stuff.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by BrianS

Trailers are on the Blind Woman's Curse blu-ray, and the booklet mentions the Lady Snowblood films "as being available from Arrow Video"--I wonder if we'll get the Lady Snowblood films on blu-ray from them too?

I imagine it's the same booklet used for the UK release, so it's referring to the UK release of Lady Snowblood too

[roguejp]

Originally Posted by navydavey

Wonder if it will be a limited edition release again? (2000 copies before)

I have the UK version and am very happy with it so I hope this is a straight port, I don't want to miss out on any new extras or booklets essays.

Same here!

[Telstar]

I really hope this tease for an upcoming Arrow USA release is definitely a done deal. I just sold my oop UK set and I'd hate to wind up kicking myself.

[CMoney]

I wonder if Arrow USA got the rights to LADY SNOWBLOOD? I know Animeigo let the rights expire. It would be crazy if Criterion ended up picking up the rights. I did e-mail them once, after the Zatoichi box set was release, to let them know that the rights were available, as well as for LONE WOLF & CUB. Not that I ever expect a single e-mail from me will get them to consider picking up the rights.

[MTRodaba2468]

I never got around to ordering the UK set, but I may try for the US release.

[dwk]

Originally Posted by navydavey

Wonder if it will be a limited edition release again? (2000 copies before)

I have the UK version and am very happy with it so I hope this is a straight port, I don't want to miss out on any new extras or booklets essays.

No doubt it'll be a straight port. I wish they'd abandon the limited edition BS, but it'll probably be a limited edition as well. At the very least, since the US/Canada is such a big market (not to mention any folks in Japan that would like to import an affordable Blu-ray set of these films), I hope they increase the number.

Originally Posted by CMoney

I wonder if Arrow USA got the rights to LADY SNOWBLOOD? I know Animeigo let the rights expire. It would be crazy if Criterion ended up picking up the rights. I did e-mail them once, after the Zatoichi box set was release, to let them know that the rights were available, as well as for LONE WOLF & CUB. Not that I ever expect a single e-mail from me will get them to consider picking up the rights.

Criterion has phantom pages for Lady Snowblood director Toshiya Fujita and Lone Wolf and Cub director Yoshiyuki Kuroda (but they currently don't have one for Buichi Saito, so the Yoshiyuki Kuroda page could be for the Yokai films.)

I think there is a chance that Criterion picked up the Lone Wolf and Cub films when they licensed the Toho Zatoichis, but not so sure about the Lady Snowblood films. I think it'd be cool if Criterion released a Kazuo Koike boxset consisting of the Lone Wolf and Cub films, the Lady Snowblood films and the Hanzo the Razor films.

[Kriztoffer Swank]

F*** me, I just bought the UK set very recently. I figured if Arrow USA was going to announce it, they'd have done so right away.

Great news. I'm hoping we'll see more of this kinda stuff on Blu-ray here. I've posted before that I'd love to see some pinky violence in HD like Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs, Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom, and Sex & Fury. Would also love to upgrade my Female Convict Scorpion DVDs. Japanese women in prison flicks with a surreal twist (in Jailhouse 41 anyway), love that crap.

Originally Posted by dwk

the Hanzo the Razor films.

I caught these on Hulu a few years ago. If Criterion put out Blu-rays for them, I'd go totally gaga.

[Zen_Amako]

I need the Female Convict Scorpion films on Blu-ray, parts 2 and 3 in particular. They are so much better than the title and genre would lead you to believe. I'm slightly interested in the Stray Cat Rock series. I picked up Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter on DVD ages ago (it got a U.S. release on DVD) and I wasn't that into it. There is apparently an English language documentary in the works on Meiko Kaji and I'm really looking forward to that.

[CMoney]

Originally Posted by dwk

Criterion has phantom pages for Lady Snowblood director Toshiya Fujita and Lone Wolf and Cub director Yoshiyuki Kuroda (but they currently don't have one for Buichi Saito, so the Yoshiyuki Kuroda page could be for the Yokai films.)

I think there is a chance that Criterion picked up the Lone Wolf and Cub films when they licensed the Toho Zatoichis, but not so sure about the Lady Snowblood films. I think it'd be cool if Criterion released a Kazuo Koike boxset consisting of the Lone Wolf and Cub films, the Lady Snowblood films and the Hanzo the Razor films.

Hmm, the plot thickens. It doesn't mean they have the rights, but hmmmmmmmmmmm.

I hope we'll see HANZO THE RAZOR from Criterion, at the some point. More Meiko Kaji too! Even though I already have LADY SNOWBLOOD, I would buy it again, if Criterion released it with good extras/better transfer.

[Bandit Tajomaru]

I loved the Stray Cat movie that Criterion released on DVD years ago. I'm preordering this.

[CMoney]

Originally Posted by BrianS

That would be something, but you really think Criterion would do Hanzo? I could see Arrow, but I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if Criterion did it.

They have them on Hulu. Doesn't mean it'll come out on Blu-ray, but they must have the rights, if it's on there. I wouldn't think they'll just have streaming rights.

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by Bandit Tajomaru

I loved the Stray Cat movie that Criterion released on DVD years ago. I'm preordering this.

Say what?