I currently own the R2 PAL versions of both Ichi the Killer (Dutch SE) and Wild Zero (German) and am considering trading these in for the new R1 versions. I was just wondering how the R1 versions measure up in comparison and if I'll be losing any special feature content or anything.

Also I was wondering how the Suicide Circle DVD came out. I currently own the bootleg version and I'm planning on buying the official R1 release but I just wanted to know ahead of time if it had anything notable about it.

Did you mean Suicide Club? Or is there another movie I need to check out?

the R1 DVD of Suicide Club/Suicide Circle is TERRIBLE. so re-buy at your own risk. i am extremely disappointed in the transfer, one of the worst i own. i made a post about it on another message board and here is what i wrote...

has anyone here gotten the R1 Suicide Club DVD from TLA ? i bought it and the transfer is one of the worst ive seen. i was wondering if it was only my disc and i should return it or if it really is this bad for everyone.

i dont know the technical terms but here is the problem. the dark scenes are constantly strobing, flashing, and has almost a checkerboard pattern of blocks appearing and moving. and every 13th frame has a special pattern, pixilated i guess. literally EVERY 13th frame, i paused and counted each step.


i posted in a few places and got alot of people agreeing with me, "It's a shitty disc. Non-anamorphic image, non-removable subtitles and an overall ugly looking transfer."

and from the review at dvdmaniacs.net - "The image is presented widescreen but is not enhanced for anamorphic sets and suffers from some ugly compression artifacts during the darker scenes. A green hue is also evident during a few scenes but this might be because of the lighting. The lighter scenes that take place indoors or outside in the sun look fine."

i hardly ever notice quality issues that people complain about like EE and stuff, but this one stands out big time, UGLY is definitely fitting in this case. i know the source material probably wasnt great, but all these problems seem like a transfer issue to me. cool movie though.

well thats a shame about the suicide club/circle dvd. i guess it's a good thing they didn't have it when i went shopping today. were there any features on it?

i also ended up deciding to stick with my dutch SE of ichi the killer. i liked the packaging more and PAL speedup isnt that unbearable when its not in english.

i did get the new wild zero disc though, and i'm very pleased.

it's not one of the worst I've seen. no....it's not a great transfer. but it's not bad enough where I'm going to chuck out the dvd. I enjoyed this film very much....and never found myself distracted. didnt see much of that flashing yer talking about...the blockiness and all that. I have seen it on other discs....depending on the player I was using. seems it's alot worse for you and many others....than it is for me. my equipment is still pretty weak, so those with higher quality gear may be seeing these defects much easier.

I'll keep this disc...great film and worthy to keep in the library. when I add my WS TV next month....maybe I'll find that an import of this might be a better choice.

holy !@#$%&* I didn't even know wild zero was available in R1 yet :rdering::

I agree..it is not great by any stretch but it is good enough to enjoy the movie and let's hope they do a re-release at some stage. I would have thought this would sell well enough to warrant that.

the extras on Suicide Club is an image gallery and some trailers, "Suicide Club", "Between Your Legs", "Children Of Hannibal" and "The Bathers" (very cool trailer).

The R1 of Ichi The Killer looks pretty bad compared to the Dutch version. Definitely keep your R2!

Check out the screenshots:

http://www.compare.dvdbeaver.com/

I thought (was hoping) the Suicide Club DVD would be better than it was, but it is by far not the worst transfer in my collection. It is not good, but it is watchable (atleast on my equipment).

Is there even a legit release in another region with eng subs? I remember before this release all I could find were boots. I would be willing to double dip on a good transfer of this movie, I really enjoyed it.

Wow, that is some difference. I am glad I picked up the Dutch release when it came out. That is definitely the best release of this amazing film.