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From the Arrow Video press release:
On September 15, the spiritual martial arts comedy series Wicked Priest Collection makes its North American Blu-ray premiere. The box set contains Wicked Priest, Wicked Priest 2: Ballad of Murder, Wicked Priest 3: A Killer’s Pilgrimage, Wicked Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back, and Wicked Priest 5: Blood on the Commandments. The Limited Edition release features brand-new restorations of all five films in the series, hours of special features and newly commissioned extras.
Mikuni Shinkai (Tomisaburô Wakayama, the Lone Wolf and Cub series) is a Buddhist monk who doesn’t live the most holy of lives. He prefers drinking and gambling to praying at the monastery and delivers salvation to sinners with judo throws rather than spiritual guidance. Although his behavior frequently draws the ire of his superiors, Shinkai knows right from wrong and isn’t afraid to fight for it. In Wicked Priest, Shinkai battles rogue priests who have aligned themselves with the yakuza. Wicked Priest 2: Ballad of Murder pits him against local mobsters and the vengeful fighting monk Ryotatsu (Bunta Sugawara, Battles Without Honor and Humanity). In Wicked Priest 3: A Killer’s Pilgrimage, Shinkai helps defend a coastal village from pirate revolutionaries. Wicked Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back finds him returning home for his mother’s memorial, only to discover that a childhood friend has become a ruthless yakuza. Wicked Priest 5: Blood on the Commandments brings the series to a thrilling conclusion with one final showdown between Shinkai and Ryotatsu.
Special features include original lossless Japanese mono audio on all five films; optional English subtitles on all five films; a brand new video essay on Wicked Priest composer and electronic music pioneer Isao Tomita; a brand new video essay on Wicked Priest’s depictions of historical Japan by Japanese cinema expert Jonathan Clements; a brand new interview with Asian cinema expert James Mudge on the tumultuous landscape of 1960s Japanese cinema; Martial Arts and Super Mario Brothers, a brand new interview with Japanese cinema experts Patrick Macias and Matt Alt on Tomisaburo Wakayama; a brand new primer on Buddhism and pop culture as depicted in the Wicked Priest films; the original theatrical trailers for all five films; and a collectors’ booklet.
Watch the trailer for Wicked Priest Collection here:
https://youtu.be/0TRtkaqYg5g
The Wicked Priest Collection is distributed by MVD Entertainment Group.
What a great looking package for fans of martial arts comedies! Nice extras, too.