A sumptuous 10 Blu-ray Boxed set from a master of melodrama sits along side two releases from the first family of Hong Kong martial arts cinema feature as Eureka! announce it’s September 2024 line-up

Eureka! has announced its September 2024 line-up. Featured amongst this line-up four crime epics that have had an immeasurable impact on popular culture around the globe; a couple of crazy kung-fu extravaganzas from the first family of Hong Kong martial arts; a kung-fu soccer comedy starring Yuen Biao; plus re-issues of G. W. Pabst’s sordid melodrama Pandora’s Box, and Orson Welles’ film noir masterpiece, Touch of Evil.

An early cinematic pioneer with an undeniably pervasive influence, Louis Feuillade made hundreds of films in a short career spanning only a few decades. Today, he is best remembered for his landmark serials FantômasLes Vampires, Judex and Tih Minh, four crime epics that have had an immeasurable impact on popular culture around the globe. The Masters of Cinema series is honoured to present these silent masterworks on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from astonishing 4K restorations. Presented in a ten-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray box set entitled Louis Feuillade: The Complete Crime Serials (1913-1918)(2000 copies only) for the first time in the UK from 30 September 2024.

Sports, action, and comedy collide in Golden Harvest’s The Champions, the precursor to Shaolin Soccer from the first family of Hong Kong martial arts cinema: the inimitable Yuen Clan! Written and directed by Brandy Yuen (In the Line of Duty III) and featuring action choreography by Yuen Shun-yi (The Miracle Fighters) and Yuen Chun Yeung (Armour of God), The Champions is a sporting underdog story filtered through some of the greatest minds in the history of Hong Kong action cinema. Eureka Classics is proud to present the film on Blu-ray for the first time ever from a brand new 2K restoration!  Available from 23 September 2024 in the UK (for the first time on home video) and from 24 September 2024 in North America. The first print run of 2000 copies only (in each territory) will exclusively feature a limited edition O-card slipcase, and a collector’s booklet.

In the wake of Encounter of the Spooky Kind, the Hong Kong film industry launched headlong into a prolific genre cycle that drew upon Taoist folklore. Popular throughout the 1980s and into the next decade, these films combined elements of horror, fantasy, comedy, and martial arts as they pit their protagonists against hopping vampires, vengeful ghosts, and evil sorcerers. Here, Eureka Classics is proud to present two of the most mind-bending tales of Taoist magic ever committed to film: Taoism Drunkard and The Young Taoism Fighter! Filled with imagery both fantastical and thrilling – not least Taoism Drunkard’s banana monster – and featuring some of the most jaw-droppingly inventive fight sequences in the history of martial arts cinema, Taoism Drunkard and The Young Taoism Fighter are cult classics from the celebrated Yuen Clan that need to be seen to be believed. Both films are presented on Blu-ray for the first time ever from brand new 2K restorations. Available, from 23 September 2024 in the UK and from 24 September in North America. The first print run of 2000 copies only (in each territory) will exclusively feature a limited edition O-card slipcase, and a collector’s booklet.

In a role intended at one point for Marlene Dietrich (The Blue Angel), 22 year-old Louise Brooks (Diary of a Lost Girl), with her fragile beauty and iconic dark bob hairstyle, gives a performance decades ahead of its time that immortalised her as an icon. Largely condemned and censored upon its initial release for its daring treatment of sexuality and female desire, Brooks’ understated yet erotically charged performance endures as among the most modern of the silent era. Reviled and bowdlerised at its debut, Pandora’s Box has since been recognised as one of the masterpieces of early German cinema. A sordid melodrama made with great style, it affirms G. W. Pabst as a daring and important director and Louise Brooks as one of cinema’s most exquisite and distinctive performers. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present Pabst’s masterpiece in a new restoration on Blu-ray. Re-issued on Blu-ray in a Standard Edition from 16 September 2024.

Touch of Evil begins with one of the most brilliant sequences in the history of cinema; and ends with one of the most brilliant final scenes ever committed to celluloid. In between unfurls a picture whose moral, sexual, racial, and aesthetic attitudes remain so radical as to cross borders established not only in 1958, but in the present age also. Welles’ final studio-system picture has at last become secure in its status as one of the greatest films ever made. It remains a testament to the genius of Welles –– a film of Shakespearean richness, inexhaustible. The Masters of Cinema Series is extremely proud to present Touch of Evil in on Ultra HD Blu-ray. Released in a standard edition from 16 September 2024.

Archive News