EasternKicks

The sixth entry in the long-running Tomie series is a direct prequel to the first film, exploring the origins of the seductive goblin… Based on the manga by horror master Junji Ito, the Tomie franchise is a series of films revolving around the titular immortal demonic schoolgirl, who drives her obsessed victims to murder and other unspeakable acts.

Metrograph celebrates with a US-premiere 2K restoration and a comprehensive retrospective of the legend’s work… This September Metrograph is screening the new 2K restoration of Tsui Hark’s Don’t Play With Fire, also known as Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind, marking the film’s theatrical debut in the US. The film is an absolute must-see for fans of the influential director’s work, or fans of nonstop over-the-top cinema in general.

An unmissable mixed media exploration of grief and identity… Following its world premiere at FIDMarseille, where it took home the Audience Award, Mother, you have not died yet. but you will. and when you do, you will finally be alive again. will make its North American debut this September at the Camden International Film Festival. Audiences have described the film as both poetic and dreamlike, despite its difficult and highly personal subject matter.

This year’s festival brings unforgettable classics and emerging talents to East London… This September, Fighting Spirit 2026 is bringing an absolutely stunning lineup to the Rio Cinema in East London. Known for its celebration of martial arts films and martial arts culture more generally, this year’s fest brings a wide range of action-packed delights.

Chor Yuen redefines wuxia with this classic Gu Long outing… Killer Clans is a 1976 wuxia film directed by Chor Yuen, released the same year as his movies The Magic Blade and The Web of Death. Like The Magic Blade it is based on a Gu Long novel and steers the wuxia genre in a dark direction. And it shares with both movies a seamless sense of genre blending, drawing on gangster films, but fitting them perfectly to wuxia’s landscape of sects, loyalty, sworn brotherhood and filial piety.

A classic 80s cut and paste job from Joseph Lai and Godfrey Ho which splices ninja footage into another entirely unrelated film… As western martial arts fans of a certain age will remember, the 1980s really were the decade of the ninja.

A likable if underbaked assassin film… There’s no doubt that anime and manga have been an enormous influence over Hong Kong film and culture for decades. From the (mainly) pirated comics that flooded the market in the 1960s, to the (mainly) pirated live-action adaptions of the 1980s and 1990s. Some of the best known came from director Lam Nai-Choi, turning his hand to adapting the likes of Masahiko Takajo and Tetsuya Saruwatari’s Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky by and Makoto Ogino’s Peacock King.

In a suffocating tale of desire, obsession and repression, domestic life is turned in a psychological nightmare… Koreyoshi Kurahara can be remembered as a filmmaker who oscillated between mainstream and innovation, between commercially oriented vehicles for star actors such as Yūjirō Ishihara and brilliant, taboo-breaking works like Black Sun (Kuroi taiyō, 1964). Thirst for Love (1967), based on Yukio Mishima’s eponymous novel, is one of the films that bear his own particular hallmark.

Chor Yuen revisits his masterpiece Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan… Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan is a 1984 Shaw Brothers film directed by Chor Yuen, starring Candice Yu and Nancy Hu. It is a retelling of the story from Chor Yuen’s earlier classic, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972). While not as good as the original, Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan is interesting for the changes it makes to the story.

The wife of a genre scriptwriter gives birth to a lizard in this Hideshi Hino’s Theater of Horror entry… Released back in 2004, Lizard Baby is an entry in Hideshi Hino’s Theater of Horror, a series of six short features based on the work of popular manga artist Hideshi Hino, known for his grotesque tales of terror.