"Actor: Teruo Yoshida"

• PRISON WALLS: ABASHIRI PRISON I-III (Masters of Cinema) Special Edition Two-disc Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (27/05/2024) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Constructed in the late nineteenth century to house political prisoners, Japan's infamous Abashiri Prison served as the inspiration for a popular and prolific run of yakuza movies released between 1965 and 1972. The Masters of Cinemaseries is proud to present the first three entries in this landmark series, directed by the King of Cult Teruo Ishii (Shogun's Joy of Torture) and starring a titan of Japanese genre cinema, Ken Takakura (The Bullet Train).Abashiri Prison, Takakura stars as Shinichi Tachibana, a yakuza sent to Abashiri as punishment for an attack on a rival gangster. He intends to serve his time as a model prisoner until he is shackled to the bullish Gonzo Gonda (Kōji Nanbara), unwittingly roped into an escape attempt orchestrated by Heizo Yoda (Tōru Abe) and forced to face the frozen wilderness of Hokkaidō. In Another Abashiri Prison Story, Tachibana has just been released when he stumbles across a stash of diamonds recently stolen in a heist and attracts unwanted attention from criminals and cops alike. Finally, in Abashiri Prison: Saga of Homesickness, Tachibana reunites with his former yakuza associates, who are trying to go straight. That is, at least, until old rivals come looking for trouble Ken Takakura would reprise the role of Tachibana in another seven films under the Abashiri Prison banner all of them helmed by Teruo Ishii before the series was rebooted as New Abashiri Prison in 1968, leading to a further eight instalments with Takakura in the lead. It all began with these early entries, presented here for the first time ever on Blu-ray from brand new restorations of the original film elements by Toei.Extras:Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Tony Stella [First print run of 2000 copies only] | 1080p HD presentation of all three films from restorations of the original film elements supplied by Toei | Optional English subtitles newly translated for this release | Original Japanese audio (uncompressed LPCM mono) | Brand new audio commentary tracks by Tom Mes, Chris Poggiali and Mike Leeder & Arne Venema | Tony Rayns on Abashiri Prison brand new interview with critic and Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns | Brand new video appreciation by Jasper Sharp and Mark Schilling | Trailers | PLUS: A collector's booklet featuring new writing by Mark SchillingKen Takakura would reprise the role of Tachibana in another seven films under the Abashiri Prison banner all of them helmed by Teruo Ishii before the series was rebooted as New Abashiri Prison in 1968, leading to a further eight instalments with Takakura in the lead. It all began with these early entries, presented here for the first time ever on Blu-ray from brand new restorations of the original film elements by Toei.

• Yakuza Law | Blu Ray | (13/05/2019) from £9.35   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Director Teruo Ishii (Blind Woman's Curse, Horrors of Malformed Men), the Godfather of J-sploitation, presents Yakuza Law (AKA Yakuza's Law: Lynching) a gruelling anthology of torture, spanning three district periods of Japanese history and to the screen some of the most brutal methods of torment ever devised. In this deep dive into the world of the Yakuza, meet the violent men who rule the Japanese underworld and the cruel punishments inflicted on those who transgress them. The carnage begins in the Edo Period with a violent tale of samurai vengeance starring Bunta Sugawara (Battles Without Honour and Humanity), before shifting to the Meiji Period as the exiled Ogata (Minoru Oki, Shogun Assassin) returns to face punishment for his past transgressions and, ultimately, to take his revenge. Finally, the action is brought right up to date with a tale of gang warfare set in then-present-day '60s Japan and headlined by Teruo Yoshida (Ishii's Orgies of Edo), as a powerful crime syndicate seeks bloody vengeance for the theft of one hundred thousand yen. Brutal, bewildering and definitely not for the faint-hearted, Yakuza Law represents Japanese popular cinema at its most extreme and most thrilling. Special Edition Contents: High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation Original lossless mono Japanese soundtrack Optional English subtitles New audio commentary by author and critic Jasper Sharp Erotic-Grotesque and Genre Hopping: Teruo Ishii Speaks, a rare vintage interview with the elusive director on his varied career, newly edited for this release Image gallery Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jacob Phillips FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Tom Mes

• Shogun's Joy of Torture | Blu Ray | (22/02/2021) from £11.96   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  From the outrageous imagination of cult director Teruo Ishii (Orgies of Edo, Horrors of Malformed Men) comes this infamous omnibus of three shocking tales of crime and punishment based on true-life documented cases set during the reign of the Tokugawa shogunate. The first tale sees the beautiful Mitsu (Masumi Tachibana) going to horrifying lengths to tend to her older brother Shinzō (Teruo Yoshida), a carpenter injured in a work accident, but the law catches up on them and metes out a terrifying retribution after they violate the ultimate taboo. In the second, unfettered passions in a Buddhist nunnery are not allowed to go unpunished after abbess Reihō (Yukie Kagawa) and her attendant Rintoku (Naomi Shiraishi) encounter a virile young monk from a neighbouring temple. In the closing segment, a sadistic torturer (Fumio Watanabe) attempts to show a tattoo artist (Asao Koike) how to depict convincing expressions of faces of pain in his work by allowing him to sketch a selection of Europeans as they are tortured for entering Japan with the aim of spreading Christianity. Ishii's notorious portmanteau of Edo-era excess signalled a change in direction for a director until then regarded for his crime and yakuza films, setting the ball rolling on the run of grotesque historical anthologies for which he is now best remembered. Vehemently denounced by the critics of the day, Shogun's Joy of Torture set a new benchmark for the depiction of sex, sadism and depravity in Japanese exploitation, with Ishii staging his elaborate torture methods with an unmatched verve and inventiveness. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation Original uncompressed mono PCM audio Optional English subtitles Audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes Teruo Ishii: Erotic-Grotesque Maestro an exclusively newly filmed interview with the author Patrick Macias Bind, Torture, Thrill author and critic Jasper Sharp discusses the history of torture in Japanese exploitation cinema Original trailer Image gallery Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jacob Phillips

• Horrors Of Malformed Men | Blu Ray | (17/09/2018) from £9.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Cult director Teruo Ishii (Shogun s Joy of Torture, Blind Woman s Curse) presents a nightmarish, hallucinogenic tale drawn from the fevered imagination of Japan s celebrated pioneer ofero-guro ( erotic grotesque ) literature, Edogawa Rampo. Medical student Hirosuke Hitomi slips out of the asylum in which he has been wrongfully confined and stealthily assumes the identity of a recently deceased nobleman with whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. Hirosuke eases his way into the nobleman s household and his dead double s marital bed. But as long-repressed memories begin to bubble to the surface, he soon finds himself drawn to a remote isle where he is confronted by a mad scientist and his malformed men, and discovers the key that will unlock some long-suppressed mysteries of his own. A dark labyrinth of the monstrous and perverse that fuses mystery and horror while incorporating motifs from a myriad of Rampo's tales, Horrors of Malformed Men boasts astonishing carnivalesque art design and haunting performances. Withdrawn from cinemas by its own studio after its original scandalous release nearly fifty years ago, the film is among the very best screen interpretations of the author s macabre brand of horror-fantasy fiction, and a unique oddity of Japanese cult cinema. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original negative High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation Uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audio Newly translated optional English subtitles Two audio commentaries by Japanese cinema experts Tom Mes and Mark Schilling Malformed Movies: a new video interview with Toei exploitation movie screenwriter Masahiro Kakefuda Malformed Memories: Filmmakers Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo the Iron Man) and Minoru Kawasaki (The Calamari Wrestler) on the career of director Teruo Ishii Ishii in Italia: Ishii and Mark Schilling visit the Far East Film Festival Image Gallery Theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet featuring new writing by Jasper Sharp, Tom Mes and Grady Hendrix

• Goke - Bodysnatcher From Hell | DVD | (29/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  When a plane crashes in the desert the survivors are targeted by blob-like aliens that turn their victims into vampires! Credited by Quentin Tarantino as an influence for his two-parter 'Kill Bill' Hajime Sato's seminal monster movie remains one of the most memorable of the 1960s!