Excellent news for fans of Pang Ho-Cheung! After years of being neglected outside of his native Hong Kong - and even inside Hong Kong, if we're honest, his initial films weren't even judged worthy of a DVD release for a few years - his latest effort has been picked up for distribution in France before it's even complete! Hong Kong film journalist Frederic Ambroisine broke the news on his blog that French distrib Wild Side Films have picked up the film and may well have theatrical ambitions for it. Now we just need a trailer and some US outfit to follow suit ...
France is apparently where Hong Kong cinema must go to be treated with a modicum of respect - this film being picked up there isn't surprising but it is good news, at least if you're French.
A quibble - other than YOU SHOOT, I SHOOT, all of Pang's other films have gotten at least good, frequently excellent, and generally timely treatment on DVD. Mei Ah (of all companies!) was especially kind to MEN SUDDENLY IN BLACK, BEYOND OUR KEN, and AV, which are among the most comprehensive English-friendly special editions any Hong Kong-based company has produced to date.
I'd always assumed that the problems in getting a YOU SHOOT, I SHOOT DVD into circulation were related to it being a box office flop from a dying Golden Harvest that happened to come out at the exact moment they stopped licensing titles to other Hong Kong home video companies and unsuccessfully tried to launch their own VCD/DVD label, which put out the initial VCD of the film, but no DVD. It took Pang having a box office hit with MEN SUDDENLY IN BLACK to get the wheels turning on someone releasing a proper DVD for YOU SHOOT, I SHOOT - a process complicated by Golden Harvest having already released a VCD not all that long before. At least that's how it appeared from the other side of the planet.
A US distributor picking DREAM HOME up: it could happen, I guess, since it's a horror movie and they seem to have an easier time getting distributed here. THREE EXTREMES getting released in the US didn't exactly do Fruit Chan's career any favors as far as I can tell. Besides, who's left standing in the US that would bother to touch it, and could be trusted to not either destroy it or bury it completely? Nobody comes to mind.
Do they even have a distributor in Hong Kong yet?
Yeah, the French have it together with Chinese films - I believe it's the only place you can get Made In Hong Kong on DVD (unfortunately without English subs) and King Hu's Raining In The Mountains (WITH English subs!). Probably other rare Asian films too, anyone know?
Anyway, what happened to Pang's bus rapist movie movie?
I looked up "Pang Ho Cheung Bus Rapist" with the Google and that was the first I ever heard of this THE BUS project. "movie movie" wasn't a typo. Unfortunately, it's not about a movie about a man who rapes buses, but what it is about sounds very interesting and admittedly easier to market. Hope he can raise the rest of the budget for it.