Arrow April Announcements

April is meant to bring rain but Arrow have decided in shower us instead with a surprisingly good month of films.

Starting with the one I'm most excited about, Meiko Kaji in not only Wandering Ginza Butterfly but its sequel She Cat Gambler in the same package. (Also, look at that lovely blu-ray cover.)

Continuing on from their recent release of City on Fire and announcement on Hard Boiled, yes, it's John Woo's remake of Le Samurai, The Killer, often seen as his best film (and not to be confused with his own recent remake).

Finally, the Pang Brother The Eye finishes the return to early 2000s horror.

Wandering Ginza Butterfly & She Cat Gambler

The first film sees Kaji's character Nami "The Red Cherry Blossom" returning to her old stomping ground in the seedy Tokyo district of Ginza after a stint in prison for killing a yakuza boss. She soon settles in, living in her uncle's pool hall and working at the local hostess club. But when ruthless yakuza Owada (Koji Nanbara, 11 Samurai) attempts to take control of the club, Nami and her uncle devise a plan to take him down. In the sequel, Kaji is paired up with the equally legendary Sonny Chiba at his most charismatic as the streetwise Ryuji, who takes a shine to Nami and decides to help her on her quest to avenge her father. Together they'll comb through every seedy gambling den and lowlife ruffian of the Ginza underworld until Nami finally zeroes in on her prey.

Meiko Kaji is magnetic as the steely and righteous Nami, whose foray into Tokyo's sordid back alleys is brought to life by Yamaguchi's energetic direction in this electric spectacle of 1970s Japanese crime cinema.

The Killer

Ah Chong (Chow Yun-Fat) is a hitman whose latest job takes a wrong turn when, during a shootout at a lavish nightclub, he accidentally blinds singer Jennie by firing his gun too close to her eyes. Racked with remorse, Ah Chong decides to retire from his life of crime and help Jennie get a cornea transplant. But when Ah Chong's rancorous former boss betrays him, Ah Chong receives an unexpected helping hand from hot-headed police detective Lee Ying (Danny Lee, City on Fire).

An international sensation, The Killer put Woo on the radar of genre fans the world over and inspired waves of imitators, but none that could outclass it.

The Eye

When blind musician Wong Kar Mun (Angelica Lee) has her eyesight restored following a cornea transplant, she's initially astounded to discover the beauty of the world around her. Her nascent wonder soon turns to fear as her newfound sight becomes plagued with harrowing and uncanny visions. She confides in her psychiatrist Dr Wah (Lawrence Chou), who believes her body is just adapting to her new corneas. But his skepticism quickly shatters when they realize Wong Kar Mun's visions are not hallucinations, but grim portents of death.

Perfectly balancing otherworldly scares with psychological terror, The Eye is a compelling tale of a woman realizing the world around her is more terrifying than she ever knew, memorably carried by Angelica Lee's award-winning performance.