The horror genre in the 1990s promised something very different to what it actually became. After success of Bram Stoker's Dracula a bunch of re-imaginings of 1930s classics were planned, and whilst most of them were cancelled before entering production we still received the glossy or melodramatic reinterpretations of Frankenstein, The Mummy (and the related in tone Interview With The Vampire). Unbeknownst to seeming everyone, Hong Kong also took a swing at this rebirth with The Phantom Lover, a remake…

This film doesn't contain the best work of those involved, but it's an interesting watch to see what all three of the directors can do within a limited time frame. Having become a huge Yoshiaki Kawajiri fan over the past year I found his segment rather disappointing when compared to his OVAs and feature length films, but it's still an interesting piece of cyberpunk and the art style is still classic Kawajiri.

Rintaro's which opens and partially closes the film…

Just as with City on Fire it's easy to forget how much character is actually in some of these Hong Kong action films. This film has a lot of heart in it that is sometimes easy to forget.

John Woo in many ways is like a mash up of two of my top 5 directors, Jean Pierre Melville and Sam Peckinpah. His characters are often loners in one sense, or at least outcasts but you very often get a manly…