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2007’s DVDs I Would Watch Again

As with our 2007 films we would watch again, here’s my list of 2007 DVDs I would gladly watch again. I’ve tried to take these off the top of my head, as if I need to think too hard to remember a title, it obviously wasn’t one of my favorite :) As always, feel free to post your own list below.

Blade Runner 5-Disc Set . Amazon’s still stalling on my pre-order, but I’ve been waiting for the International Cut on DVD (legitimately, not a burn of the Criterion LaserDisc) for years. Now I not only have that, but every other cut of the film, a briefcase, spinner model, and more! So rad.

Horrors of Malformed Men . Banned for decades, Teruo Ishii’s film has received the royal treatment on DVD. Synapse’s release is both one of the most important and one of the best DVD releases of the year. If you haven’t already, you NEED to go pick this one up. Review here.

Blind Woman’s Curse . Meiko Kaji’s first film has her brandishing a sword and kicking ass. Need I say more? Review here.

Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara . Three amazing Kobo Abe adaptations, a collection of short films, and a thick book of essays for close to $50. You can check out my full coverage of the set here.

Basilisk Box Set . One of the absolute nicest box sets I’ve seen all year. It comes in a hard cardboard box with snake textured paper sleeve, the outer artwork shows Gennosuke’s clan, while the inner shows Oboro’s. The set itself comes in a gatefold paper case with an awesome mural background, sealed with a ribbon, and a second pull-out case containing all the inserts from the collector’s editions. Oh yah, and the show rocks too. Basilisk vol 1 review here.

Alejandro Jodorowski Box Set . The Holy Mountain, El Topo, Fando y Lis, soundtracks and more. These are some of the weirdest and most beautifully bizarre films you’ll ever see. An awesome set.

Robocop: 20th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition . The first time the unrated cut has been available since the Criterion relase, and featuring better extras. The image has been restored, but cropped to fit today’s widescreen TVs. Not exactly a great film, but an important DVD release.

Shogun Assassin 3 . It’s the same as Lone Wolf and Cub 4, but it’s cheaper (yay!) and dubbed (ehh…). But actually the dubbing’s not all that bad. In fact, I loved this movie and plan on watching it a couple more times. Good stuff. Review here.

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade . One of my favorite movies of the past few years gets an official US release. I’ve gone on about this film more than enough, so just check out my review here.

Shinobi No Mono . The world’s first true Ninja film and a very cool one to boot. Shinobi no mono is complex, intriquing, and a total blast. Review here.

Monster Squad . Can’t forget this one. This is the odd case of the childhood favorite that actually turns out to be a quality film when viewed at a mature age. Very very cool film. Pseudo-review here.

Princess Raccoon . I haven’t seen the whole thing yet, but Geneon’s DVD release has brand spaking new subtitles that ACTUALLY MAKE SENSE! I was so surprised there was an actual story to follow, I’m thinking I might have to go back and revise my original review.

Vengeance is Mine . This was one of the first Japanese films I saw with Kris (almost 8 years ago now), so it holds a special place for me. Who cares if it’s about a psycho killer hellbent on defying his father? But in all seriousness, this is an amazing DVD. Worthy of a place in any Japanese film afficionado’s collection.

Honorable Mention
Ashura . I’ve already watched it a couple times, so it more than qualifies. Cool film. Review here.
Caligula - 3 Disc Imperial Edition .  I’ve still not watched this, but the specs are impressive.

DVDs I haven’t had time to pick up yet
Heart of Darkness

 

  1. nice list… i agree with a fair few of those as really nice choices. one or two remain on my life of stuff that i need to catch-up on, and that’s one list that’s getting smaller by the month… ‘vengeance is mine’, which i had on MoC disc, was a rare DD for me, and i’m waiting for more news on imamura stuff said to be coming either via criterion or their eclipse sub-label as a box. i have recently also tracked down a copy of ‘the pornographers’ too.

    logboy on January 7, 2008
  2. Hey logboy. Welcome back! I’ve actually had the Pornographers in my queue for a couple years now, but still haven’t got around to watching it. One of my resolutions is to clear out the queue this year, so there’s a decent possibility I might get around to it soon. You recommend? My wife has seen it, but she said it wasn’t as interesting as his other work.

    So there’ve been possible rumblings regarding an Imamura eclipse set? That would actually be quite cool. I’d like to see them take a stab at Black Rain first though…

    Chris Nelson on January 7, 2008
  3. i’ve not watched ‘the pornographers’ yet. last years new years resolution : catch up with the films you’ve bought but haven’t watched. this years new years resolution : get around to dealing with last years new years resolution. i’ve about 60 films to watch. just caught up with a few criterion’s that i hadn’t bought cos of the price. yesasia now sells USA releases, and, all things considered, they can be a good option for criterions for folk in the UK because no additional postage, charges and so on… i’ve ‘gate of flesh’ and ‘double suicide’ recently also, but, in general, these are films i’ve also avoided to some extent with intention, so now i feel ready for them they’ll soon be devoured.

    happy new year, keep up the good work.

    logboy on January 8, 2008

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