Blood, Betrayal, and Bullets Unleashed

MOVIE REVIEW
V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal (Limited Edition Blu-ray)
Crime Hunter: Bullets of Rage
Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet
Stranger
Carlos
Burning Dog
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Death Threat
The Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses
Danger Point: The Road to Hell
XX: Beautiful Hunter
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Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller, Drama, Heist
Year Released: 1989 / 1991 / 1991 / 1991 / 1992 / 1992 / 1993 / 1994 / 1998, Arrow Video Blu-ray 2025
Runtime: 13h 15m
Director(s): Shundo Okawa / Banmei Takahashi / Shunichi Nagasaki / Kazuhiro Kiuchi / Kenichi Fujiwara / Toshiharu Ikeda / Teruo Ishii / Takanori Tsujimoto / Masaru Konuma
Writer(s): Shundo Okawa / Banmei Takahashi / Shunichi Nagasaki / Kazuhiro Kiuchi / Kenichi Fujiwara / Hiroshi Takahashi / Teruo Ishii / James Miki / Masaru Konuma
Cast: Riki Takeuchi, Eri Fukatsu, Joe Shishido / Yoshio Harada, Show Aikawa, Kumiko Asō / Koichi Sato, Reiko Kataoka, Renji Ishibashi / Show Aikawa, Shun Sugata, Ryo Ishibashi / Masanobu Ando, Takashi Kashiwabara, Hideo Nakano / Makiko Kuno, Reiko Takashima, Seiji Matano / Yusaku Matsuda, Akira Emoto, Yumi Asō / Takashi Sorimachi, Masanobu Ando, Ayumi Ito / Kaori Shimamura, Kenichi Endo, Takeshi Yamato
Where to Watch: Available April 29, 2025, pre-order your copy here: www.arrowvideo.com, www.mvdshop.com, or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: V-Cinema was never about refinement — it was about the heartbeat. Emerging in the late 1980s and surging through the 1990s, Japan’s direct-to-video boom became a breeding ground for gritty, unfiltered storytelling that mainstream studios wouldn’t touch. Arrow Video’s new collection, V-CINEMA ESSENTIALS: BULLETS & BETRAYAL, captures that unruly spirit with nine volatile films that refuse to sit quietly on the shelf. This isn’t a time capsule; it’s an electrified glimpse into an era where crime thrillers, Yakuza dramas, and hard-edged action flicks thrived on low budgets, high tension, and creativity.

The set kicks off with CRIME HUNTER: BULLETS OF RAGE, a blistering opening that sets the tone. It’s raw, fast, and lean, prioritizing momentum over intricacy. Watching it today, the rough edges feel like an advantage rather than a flaw, offering a refreshing contrast to modern-day crime films that often feel bogged down by overproduction. CRIME HUNTER barrels forward with a simple yet gripping revenge setup, immersing viewers in a volatile criminal underworld where survival hinges on the speed of your trigger finger.

Next, NEO CHINPIRA: ZOOM GOES THE BULLET cranks up the insanity. While CRIME HUNTER rides a traditional revenge plot, NEO CHINPIRA embraces a more chaotic, dark comedic energy. It’s a film that feels as though it was made on a dare: reckless in the best way, swaggering through back alleys and neon-lit streets with a grimy confidence. The action here feels more anarchic, less choreographed — like a drunken street fight captured at just the right moment. It’s a raw slice of V-Cinema’s willingness to let its characters be messy, impulsive, and unpredictably violent.

STRANGER slows the tempo down, trading bloodshed for brooding atmosphere. Here, loneliness and existential dread hang heavier than gun smoke. Among the collection, STRANGER stands out for its commitment to character-driven storytelling, even if it never fully escapes its low-budget constraints. The emotional weight behind the lead’s journey gives the film a bruised heart — something many quick-hit crime stories rarely have time to cultivate.

CARLOS, meanwhile, injects a more international flavor into the mix. Its stylish, borderline surreal approach feels like V-Cinema taking a swing at global relevance, mixing Yakuza codes with Western gangster mythos. It’s not the slickest film in the set, but it’s among the most interesting. The ambition outweighs the execution, but that lopsidedness somehow adds to its charm. CARLOS reminds us that V-Cinema directors weren’t just producing cheap entertainment; many were experimenting on a scale that bigger studios wouldn’t allow.

With BURNING DOG, the set dips into a grittier, noir-soaked vibe. This one is lean and mean, presenting a claustrophobic view of desperation within the criminal underworld. The violence here isn’t cool or flashy — it’s sweaty, panicked, and brutal. BURNING DOG understands that in a world this bleak, even small victories feel pyrrhic. It’s a tense, unforgiving entry that rewards patience with occasional, startling explosions of action.

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: DEATH THREAT doesn’t reach the feverish artistry of Meiko Kaji’s outings, but it taps into the same vein of righteous fury. It’s a little rough around the edges, but that rawness fits the character’s world perfectly. Themes of betrayal, survival, and revenge bubble just beneath the surface, culminating in a handful of savage, if slightly restrained, set-pieces. It’s a brutal reminder of how V-Cinema used limited resources to evoke intense emotional and physical confrontations.

THE HITMAN: BLOOD SMELLS LIKE ROSES might have the best title in the set, and thankfully, it lives up to its promise. It’s pure pulp — a violent ballet of hit jobs gone wrong, loyalty tests, and stylish betrayals. The film thrives on a dreamlike haze, almost as if it’s aware that death could strike at any moment. Visually, it’s among the more striking efforts in the collection, with occasional bursts of stylized violence that linger like cigarette smoke after a shootout. THE HITMAN feels tailor-made for fans of old-school genre filmmaking, where atmosphere often matters as much as action.

DANGER POINT: THE ROAD TO HELL delivers a sharp, aggressive jolt of energy late in the set. Unpretentious and brutal, it drags viewers back into a world where the line between criminal and victim blurs with every passing scene. It’s a rough ride — in the best way — and its climactic moments have a genuine, unscripted urgency that few polished action films can replicate today. If you’re still strapped in by this point in the collection, DANGER POINT rewards your loyalty with gut-punch intensity.

Finally, XX: BEAUTIFUL HUNTER closes out the set with a bloody, stylish exclamation mark. It’s arguably the most stylized entry of the collection, focusing on a cold-blooded female assassin navigating betrayal from within her organization. Think of it as the V-Cinema take on slicker international assassin thrillers but with a grungier edge. There's a cold beauty to the violence here — calculated, remorseless, and framed against moody urban landscapes. It’s an apt final note, distilling many of the themes that run through the entire collection: betrayal, loyalty, survival, and the high cost of a bullet.

Arrow Video’s treatment of these films is nothing short of remarkable. While many V-Cinema releases have been doomed to faded VHS obscurity or DVDs that resemble VHS at best, Arrow’s transfers bring out surprising detail without erasing the grit that defines the era. The films still feel grimy — as they should — but the clarity allows viewers to appreciate the compositions, neon-drenched backstreets, and bruised performances that might have been lost in muddy analog versions.

For anyone even remotely curious about Japan’s underground video revolution — a moment when filmmakers thrived without the safety net of studio interference — V-CINEMA ESSENTIALS: BULLETS & BETRAYAL is indispensable. It’s messy, wild, heartfelt, and occasionally brilliant, just like the movement it celebrates.

Arrow has managed to honor the chaos without taming it, delivering a set that feels not only archival but also alive.

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[photo courtesy of ARROW VIDEO, MVD ENTERTAINMENT]

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