I’ve been going back and forth, deciding how exactly I would review Severin Films Kung Fu Trailers of Fury. I’ve never reviewed just a set of trailers before. I love them. Some of my favorite Blu-ray and DVD releases are trailers only. I could watch trailers all day. In fact, I’ve spent some days doing just that!
But how do you review a collection of them? I thought about reviewing each individual trailer, but that seems like a mess. There are way too many trailers on this set to go over them all. Plus that would take some fun out of others watching Kung Fu Trailers of Fury. What makes this set enjoyable are all the little surprises.
The trailers look pretty good. These are all 2k scans from the original 35mm reels that Severin recently stumbled upon. Obviously there are some rough patches, given that these reels have probably seen better days, but all things considered they look very good. The audio has all been kept in the original language which I think is great and English subtitles have been added. The subtitles are a little hard to read at times, but that’s hardly relevant. I don’t need the subtitles to enjoy this. I just want to see three minutes of exciting kung fu action!
The real kicker is that these trailers look to all be new for the most part. And what I mean by that is they don’t appear to have been released elsewhere or just a re-hash of previous trailer sets. I can’t confirm this for sure, but I have a fair number of trailer releases and this release wasn’t a bunch of trailers I have previously seen. Now sure, it’s possible a few have been released before and I’ve just forgotten, but there are definitely a lot that I had never seen before. That’s a big plus!
My personal favorite trailer on the set is for Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow which is a Jackie Chan movie from the late 70’s. I’ve never seen the movie, but this trailer has me all in. It’s definitely a movie I’d like to track down. It looks like there are a few DVD releases out there, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a Blu-ray release will pop up someday. Not likely, I know, but one can hope. Other trailers that are extremely memorable include Return of Bruce, Chinese Kung Fu Against Godfather and Kung Fu vs. Yoga, amongst many others.
The set also includes some really great special features. There’s ‘A Brief History of Kung Fu Cinema’ which chronicles kung fu from its early stages. ‘The Way of the Cube’ tells the story of how these trailers were found, which is worth a watch. And finally there’s a commentary track which gives a lot more info on not only the history of kung fu but the specific movies the trailers are for.
If you like kung fu, martial arts, or just crazy trailers, get this. I’m fairly confident you’ll enjoy it!
Kung Fu Trailers of Fury is now available on Blu-ray from Severin Films.
