Merry Christmas To Me! Versus-Battle Royale-Ringu DVDs

Yesterday, after waiting a little under a week, I recieved a package that I had ordered on ebay. Inside were original Japanese Region 0 DVDs of Versus, Battle Royale, and Ringu.

I had my doubts at first. There were no booklets in the DVD cases, only the DVDs. Didn't know if they were copied or what. When I got home, I popped Versus into my DVD player and was suprised to find that it was a full factory made DVD-Special Features and all. I then checked out the other films and here is my review of each.

Versus-Pretty standard DVD. It has feature commentary (probably in Japanese), English Subs ('natch), trailers, and a documentary about creating "The Darkhero". I've said it before on this board, and I'll say it again. Versus is a fantastic action/horror film. It has some of the best over the top characters in cinema history and is a fun time all around.

Battle Royale-This DVD is completely amazing. Someone put a whoooole lot of love into it. The box touted the dvd as a "Special Edition" and the opening credits of the film even say that it is the "Special Version". This is the directors cut of the film and it shows. Within the first 10 minutes, we see atleast five scenes not originally shown in the standard Battle Royale. The Special Features on this disc are not lacking either. We get a huge piece by piece documentary that follows the steps that Battle Royale took to get to the screen. It starts with the book, then moves to the script, then to filming then release (w/ trailers) then eventually a documentary about the making of the DVD. This is a great film and scores high marks with me. Probably one of my favorite top 10 films of all time.

Ringu-Compared to the two above mentioned films; the Ringu film is actually kind of lacking. Although a great story by all means, the DVD just doesn't have the amazing special features of the other films. All I got was some trailers and a photo gallery. Oh well. The film more than makes up for the lack of features.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the DVDs that I got for only 42.00. Great stuff.

Also, if anyone is wondering what these films are about, I'll post a small synopsis of each below:

Versus-A prisoner meets with the yakuza that set him free in a remote forest. The forest is actually the 444th portal to hell and anyone who dies there comes back as a badass zombie. Not only does he have zombies to worry about, but there is also a 500 year old battle raging; and he is half of it.

Battle Royale-In Neo-Japan, each year a group of 9th Grade Students are sent to The Program. Each student is given a necklace to wear. Each necklace has a bomb inside of it. They must kill each other within two days. If there is more than one student remaining, then they all die. If there is only one, then they get to go home to their family. Oh Yeah, and the entire battle is televised. Great Stuff!

Ringu-Well if you haven't heard of this or The Ring, then you have probably been living under a rock. Story is about a video that if you watch it, you will get a phone call saying you will die within seven days. The seventh day, you're dead. A reporter and her ex-husband try to search out what exactly is going on with the video and try to stop their own death countdown. (Jap. version is much better than the American remake IMHO).