Horrible History: Four Historical Epics By Chang Cheh (Limited Edition) (Blu-ray Review)

There is one name who has been described as " The Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema" and that man is Chang Cheh. He spent his illustrious career with the legendary Shaw Brothers Studios. He made almost 100 films in all different genres including, swordplay films like One-Armed Swordsman and The Assassin. Kung Fu films like Five Shaolin Masters and Kid with the Golden Arm. He would also make modern dramas Chinatown Kid and The Generation Gap and epic costume films like The Heroic Ones and Boxer Rebellion.

Eureka Entertainment have been releasing many amazing Blu-rays here lately. And 2024 was a huge year for Shaw Brothers Blu-ray releases. So, Eureka Entertainment have collected 4 of Chang Cheh's films and released them on a deluxe Blu-ray collection. This Limited-Edition Blu-ray is entitled Horrible History: Four Historical Epics by Chan Cheh.

Classic Cinema+ Film Rating System:
****=Don’t Miss it!
***=Worth a look.
**=An Ok way to spend an evening.
*=You haven’t missed anything.

Marco Polo (1975) After a failed assassination attempt on the Mongol emperor, four martial artists train to learn advanced kung fu techniques in order to kill the Khan and avenge their falling comrades, and Marco Polo is sent by the emperor to kill them. ***

The Pirate (1973) Toward the end of the Ching Dynasty, the South China Sea was swarming with pirates looking to plunder treasure-rich Portuguese merchant ships. A titanic tale of a daring and heroic "Robin Hood" of the seas.)  ***

Boxer Rebellion (1976) In the year 1900, China was being invaded by an eight nation alliance. Meanwhile, three martial artists join a xenophobic kung fu cult, with a large following, whose leader claims that he can teach his followers how to become bulletproof. ***

Four Riders (1972) Right after the end of the Korean War, four soldiers go against a drug smuggling gang in the capital city Seoul, where one of them is framed by the gang in the killing of another soldier. ***

Eureka Entertainment has transferred these films to Blu-ray in 1080p and are presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio from masters supplied by Celestial Pictures. The audio tracks are the Mandarin audio LPCM 2.0. But no fear if you don't understand Mandarin all these movies have newly translated English subtitles. 

These films look and sound amazing! The colors are beautiful, and the flesh tones are correct. There is no digital artifacts or audio anomalies found in these HD prints. 4 Films in one collection would be enough, but Eureka Entertainment went a step further and added some cool bonus features. Take a look at what is included.

* Two new commentaries by East Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and martial artist and filmmaker Michael Worth

* Two new commentaries by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema

* National Defence – A new interview with Hong Kong cinema scholar Wayne Wong on Boxer Rebellion

* Rewriting History – A new video essay on Chang Cheh’s historical films by Jonathan Clements, author of A Brief History of China

* Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju)

* A Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on all four films in this set by writer and critic James Oliver

Four films, four audio commentaries, interviews and awesome artwork. Eureka did a great job with this set. The only thing that I have against this set would be that Eureka didn't choose to add the English dubs of these films on this set, even though they do exist. That would have made this wonderful set even better.
 
If you love Shaw Brothers films this Blu-ray of Horrible History is a must own. Head over to MVD Shop or Amazon and order your copy of this Blu-ray for your collection today!

Out of 4 Film Reels (4 being the best) The Blu-ray release of Horrible History receives.....