Three Extremes Twin Pack

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Three Extremes Twin Pack - Three Extremes 1 + 2 (aka 'Three')

Dumplings (2004) Box (2004) Cut (2004)

Memories (2002) The Wheel (2002) Coming Home (2002)

Three Asian directors, from Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, join forces to create the original omnibus horror film, THREE EXTREMES. In Fruit Chan's disgustingly entertaining DUMPLINGS, Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung), a thirtysomething former actress with a philandering husband (Tony Leung) goes to visit Aunt Mei (Bai Ling), who sells the most expensive dumplings in Hong Kong. Mrs. Li knows about their rejuvenating powers, and she also knows about their unpleasant main ingredient, but after some initial nausea, she digs right in. In OLDBOY writer/director Park Chan-wook's brutally violent CUT, a successful filmmaker (Lee Byung-hun) arrives home to find that a disgruntled extra (Lim Won-hee) has taken over his home, and fastened his pianist wife (Kang Hye-jun) to the grand piano. The madman threatens to cut off the wife's fingers, one by one, unless the director strangles the helpless child he's tied to the couch. Takashi Miike directs the last segment, the brilliant psychological thriller BOX, about a young author and former circus performer, Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) seemingly haunted by the ghost of her twin sister, who died a mysterious and horrible death while practicing their act. Adding to Kyoko's trauma, her editor (Atsuro Watabe) is a dead ringer for her old stepfather/ringmaster, who may have perished in the same 'accident' that took her sister's life.

The follow-up to the grisly THREE EXTREMES presents three more short films directed by three members of the New Asian Horror movement. In MEMORIES Kim Jee-Woon (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) tells a story of a woman with amnesia wandering the streets while her husband tries to find her--but instead discovers a mutilated corpse. In Nonzee Nimibutr's THE WHEEL antique wooden puppets carry an ancient curse that results in fire, pain, death, and the demonic possession of a little girl. And COMING HOME tells a story of a father who, while searching for his missing son, encounters a lunatic living with his dead wife.The follow-up to the grisly THREE EXTREMES presents three more short films directed by three members of the New Asian Horror movement. In MEMORIES Kim Jee-Woon (A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) tells a story of a woman with amnesia wandering the streets while her husband tries to find her--but instead discovers a mutilated corpse. In Nonzee Nimibutr's THE WHEEL antique wooden puppets carry an ancient curse that results in fire, pain, death, and the demonic possession of a little girl. And COMING HOME tells a story of a father who, while searching for his missing son, encounters a lunatic living with his dead wife.

(aka 'Saam gaang yi')

Directed by Fruit Chan (segment "Dumplings"), Takashi Miike (segment "Box") and Chan-wook Park (segment "Cut")
Hong Kong / Japan / South Korea 2004

Three Asian directors, from Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, join forces to create an omnibus horror film, Three...Extremes, a sequel of sorts to the 2002 Hong Kong/Korean/Thai production Three. In Fruit Chan's "Dumplings," shot by Christopher Doyle, Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung), a thirtysomething former actress with a philandering husband (Tony Leung) goes to visit Aunt Mei (Bai Ling), who sells the most expensive dumplings in Hong Kong. Mrs. Li knows about their rejuvenating powers, and she also knows about their unpleasant main ingredient, but after some initial nausea, she digs right in. In Oldboy writer/director Park Chan-wook's "Cut," a successful filmmaker (Lee Byung-hun of Joint Security Area) arrives home to find that a disgruntled extra (Lim Won-hee) has taken over his home, and fastened his pianist wife (Kang Hye-jun of Oldboy) to the grand piano. The madman threatens to cut off the wife's fingers, one by one, unless the director strangles the helpless child he's tied to the couch. Takashi Miike directs the last segment, "Box," about a young author and former circus performer, Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) seemingly haunted by the ghost of her twin sister, who died a mysterious and horrible death while practicing their act. Adding to Kyoko's trauma, her editor (Atsuro Watabe) is a dead ringer for her old stepfather/ringmaster, who may have perished in the same "accident" that took her sister's life.

Posters

Theatrical Release: January 18th, 2003 - Tokyo

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DVD Review:

Tartan - Region 2 - PAL

DVD Box Cover

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Distribution

Palisades Tartan

Region 2 - PAL

Runtime	2:00:57 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.80:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.81 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
Audio	2.0 Dolby Digital Korean / Japanese / Cantonese, 5.1 Dolby Digital Korean / Japanese / Cantonese, DTS Korean / Japanese / Cantonese
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Tartan Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.80:1 Edition Details: • The making of Three Extremes (14:36) • Original Theatrical Trailer • Tartan Trailer Reel DVD Release Date: August 21, 2006 Keep Case Chapters 16

Comments:

Palisades Tartan have re-released Tartan UK's out of print discs of THREE... EXTREMES and THREE... EXTREMES 2 in a double disc set repackaging of the remaining old stock. The discs themselves are great treatments of the features with progressive, anamorphic, dual-layer video and strong DTS and Dolby 5.1 audio (as well as 2.0 stereo downmixes). Extras are limited to a making-of segment on the first film and trailers on the second. Regrettably, Palisades Tartan did not include in this set the feature length version of DUMPLINGS which Tartan released separately.

The inclusion of that film on a second disc along with the subtitled Miike commentary on the LionsGate R1 edition make that the more comprehensive edition (though, according to Gary's comparison of the LionsGate and Tartan discs HERE, the Tartan is slightly more detailed image-wise); on the other hand, neither the aforementioned special edition or the comparably barebones LionsGate R1 edition of the THREE... EXTREMES 2 feature the DTS tracks present on the Tartan discs (and their Palisades Tartan reissues). The packaging of these two films together in the UK set for a low price (lower online) may encourage fans of the films to seek out both this set and the R1 of THREE... EXTREMES (as well as Tartan's out of print DUMPLINGS).

- Eric Cotenas

DVD Menus

Tartan - Region 2- PAL

Screen Captures

Fruit Chan's - Dumplings

Screen Captures

(Tartan - Region 2- PAL TOP vs. Mega Star - Region 0 - NTSC MIDDLE vs. LionsGate - Region 1- NTSC BOTTOM)

(aka "Saam gaang" or "Three")

directed by Ji-woon Kim / Nonzee Nimibutr / Peter Ho-Sun Chan

Hong Kong / South Korea / Thailand 2002

Although titled THREE EXTREMES 2 for Western markets, the film actually came out before THREE EXTREMES and is known elsewhere as simply THREE which makes sense since none of the stories are particularly extreme (especially compared to THREE EXTREMES). As such, the film works better as a collection of ghost stories from three countries rather than as a sequel to THREE EXTREMES. MEMORIES is a meandering short telling the parallel stories of an amnesiac woman in search of her identity and a husband who cannot understand why his wife left him. Post-RINGU Asian horror clichés abound and you'll see the ending coming a mile away. Director Jee-Woon's feature-length A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is much more satisfying. THE WHEEL is a period ghost story about the tragedy that befalls a theatre troupe that fall into possession of a collection of cursed stage puppets (although the bunch of underdeveloped characters were already on their way to self-destruction before they fell under the watchful eyes of the immobile puppets). Thai director Nonzee Nimiburt later helmed THE EYE 2. In GOING HOME, a down and out policeman moves himself and his son into an apartment in a building set for demolition. When the son goes missing, the cop is captured by the building's only other resident who has been nursing the corpse of his wife who he claims will return to life in three days. Director Peter Chan also produced THREE EXTREMES, the feature-length version of DUMPLINGS, all three of THE EYE entries and the American remake.

Eric Cotenas

Poster

Theatrical Release: 3 October 2003

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DVD Review: Palisades Tartan (Three Extremes Twin Pack) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Palisades Tartan Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	2:03:28 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.74:1/1.77:1/1.76:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.3 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Cantonese/English/Mandarin/Korean/Thai DTS; Cantonese/English/Mandarin/Korean/Thai Dolby Digital 5.1; Cantonese/English/Mandarin/Korean/Thai Dolby Dig
Subtitles	English, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Palisades Tartan Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.74:1/1.77:1/1.76:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical trailer (4:3; 3:16) • Trailers for INFECTION (16:9; 1:26), PREMONITION (16:9; 1:28), REINCARNATION (16:9; 1:17), THREE... • EXTREMES (4:3; 1:38), A BITTERSWEET LIFE (4:3; 2:04), and LADY VENGEANCE (4:3; 1:46) DVD Release Date: 12 October 2009 Double Sized Amaray Chapters 16