Production: Bci / Eclipse
Video: 1080p - 16:9
2:35:1 aspect ratio
Audio
Japanese: DD 5.1, Japanese: Original mono, DUB: English
mono mix
Subtitles
English, none
Disc: Single-Layered Blu-Ray (25GBs)
Runtime: 86 minutes and 85 minutes
Extras:
• Trailers
Disc: 25GB Blu-ray Disc
Release Date: January 8th, 2008
Standard Blu-Ray case
Product Description:
SISTER STREET FIGHTER: (Onna Hissatsu-ken) Martial arts
expert Kaoru Lee (Karen Lee in the dubbed version) is
the sister of a missing undercover cop who was trying to
bring down a brutal drug lord. Pressed into service by
the cops, Tina travels to Hong Kong to find her brother,
but things take a terrible turn and she is left with the
task of finding her brother and taking down a huge drug
lord on her own! Starring Etsuko Shihomi, Sonny Chiba,
Emi Hayakawa, Harry Kondo, Kenji Ohba. 86
minutes/1974/NR/Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) In
Japanese with English subtitles & English dubbed
version.
SISTER STREET FIGHTER: HANGING BY A THREAD: (Onna
Hissatsu-ken: Kiki Ippatsu) The daughter of a powerful
man, Birei, disappears and Kaoru is sent to Tokyo to
investigate. She soon discovers that Birei was kidnapped
in a gangster's diamond smuggling ring that is very
close to home. Soon she is surrounded by the gangster's
army of martial arts experts who will stop at nothing to
stop her! Starring Etsuko Shihomi, Hideo Shimada 85
minutes/1974/NR/Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) In
Japanese with English subtitles.
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The Film:
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Well, you probably have some idea what you are in for here - a gal with deft karate skills (kung fu?) shows her stuff against some evil baddies usually in the form of ugly, grinning crime bosses or their equally lowlife henchman. The plot circles around her attempts to rescue her brother from drug dealers in this; the inaugural entry of the series. Joining her is one of the genre's iconic figures; Mr. Sonny Chiba. Actually, the better film is number II (not just because of the nudity... but it helps) as the vicious evil-doers, each with unique peculiarities and martial arts specialties, again face our little gal with her spinning kicks and expressive eyes. Pretty standard Kung Fu flicks but even in that it has some appeal. Exploitive at time? - sure - but in an innocent sort of way. In another life I could easily get right into this stuff - it's bad but someone forgot to tell the cast who never let up with the grimaces or roundhouse kicks... which ya gotta love. |
Gary Tooze
The Video:
As this appears to be BCI/Eclipse's first kick at the can in 1080P - we decided to give it (and their The Night of the Werewolf/Vengeance of the Zombies Blu-rays discs a spin). I'm afraid this venture is not particularly encouraging. Both films are on one single-layered BRD (25 Gig) and although I'm quite positive the image quality improves upon their SD releases (I admit to not having seen) - the print has some dirt and marks in which some form of cleaning would have drastically benefited the presentation. Digital noise is still very prevalent throughout both films. In fact the only difference I could ascertain between the two transfers was that the second seems to have somewhat brighter colors. There is edge-enhancement halos noticeable but let's not be too negative. As they were made at the same time we can assume the prints had some obvious parity and image sharpness is not at the forefront. Neither escalate to the heights of the new formats so fans who are bent on venturing beyond their old SD editions - just beware that this is probably not a head-spinning improvement - although both should be visually (and aurally) superior to some degree. Bitrates fluctuated around the 15-17mbps and overall it wasn't all bad as after you accept the transfer deficiencies the presentation improves. With the lights down - it can be quite fun as the heroine (Etsuko Shihomi) has an appealing onscreen presence.
Screen Captures
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Audio:
There is a fairly consistent Japanese 5.1 track with some minor separation and an original, very flat mono offering. The (embellished) 5.1 has none of the benefits of a modern track but if that was the best they could offer - it will have to be acceptable. This is obviously not a film where audio plays the defining roll (being mono original) and it is standard quality at best. There is a humorous English DUB that could add some further fun to a showing - it depends on how much of a purist about the genre that you are. It is supported by acceptable, if not stellar, English subtitles in a reasonably visible font (see sample above).
I should note that Menus are not available on the fly as they are with most every other Blu-ray disc.
Extras:
There are none save some trailers - which are an amusement in their own
right.
Menus
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BOTTOM LINE: I certainly don't want to discourage BCI in their Blu-ray efforts as I think it's wonderful that stuff like this is seeing the 1080 light. And not being totally knowledgeable on the genre (I guess I'm a wannabe) I still enjoyed my viewing - appreciating that it was as good as they could produce at this time. Now let's see some more! - as I know there are some stellar Martial Arts film prints out there (Shaw bros. stuff on Blu-ray would be magnificent)... Ohhh and the price on this is extremely fair!
Gary Tooze

















