While U.S. companies have long abandoned re-releasing classic Shaw Brothers films in America (nobody will buy these Chinese films here), other countries, such as Hong Kong or the United Kingdom, they are still being re-issued. One of those UK companies, 88 Films (based in Lutterworth), have dedicated a whole line 88 Asia to important Hong Kong films.

Looking over their film library, it would seem that 88 Films is a company interested in releasing very specific genres, particularly Martial Arts, Horror, and Slasher. While there may be a small audience for these trashy genres, it’s a passionate fanbase.

Personally speaking, I will be collecting most of these titles in the 88 Asia line, just because I love Shaw Brothers films. There is one non-Shaw Brothers film on this list below called Casino Tycoon (produced by Newport Entertainment Ltd.)… which I think may be a misstep for 88 Films. I’m probably not going to get it, however, for completist’s sake, I may probably end up buying the title just to complete my collection.

So far, I have imported about 10 titles. Some titles are harder to get (or not listed on Amazon), and I may have to try and get it from specialty stores.

If you’re interested in starting your UK collection, be aware that these titles were never meant to be sold in America (because of rights for distribution and legal contracts). These titles are restricted to Region 2, which mean that your Bluray player (set for Region 1) will not play these discs. There are non-region players out there, but for me, I just convert these movies to digital files using MakeMKV (free) and play them on my computer or local DLNA. To me, these Bluray discs, like my DVDs, are basically my “backup”. Plus, I love to display and represent my movie tastes on my shelves.

Anyway, so far, here are all the 88 Asia Collection listed below. The latest releases are The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984) (Alexander Fu Sheng’s last film) and Clan of the White Lotus (1980) (which inspired much of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill).