Dead Or Alive

Picture quality on this Region 0 DVD from Tartan, released under the Asia Extreme banner, is good. The anamorphic widescreen image is clear and well-defined, with solid blacks and saturated colours, which copes well with the neon-noir visuals and panoply of styles used by the filmmakers.

The 2.0 Dolby digital sound mix is clear enough, although the nature of the film - plenty of loud music, explosions and gunplay - means a more elaborate mix, with greater separation and contrasts between elements, would not have gone amiss

The first extra on the disc is 12 minutes of interview material with director Takashi Miike.

He starts by explaining that the success of the straight-to-video release was more or less assured by its stars and that he therefore took the film as an opportunity to play with formula and expectations.

Refreshingly honest, he comments that: "I wouldn't say it was one of the best films I have made."

Moving beyond Dead Or Alive and onto filmmaking practices generally, the interview then touches on the prevalence of homosexuality and sex scenes in his films and whether these lead to trouble with the Japanese censors, as well as his use of music.

All of this is interesting. One wishes there was more of it. And one suspects there probably is, to be dotted throughout subsequent releases in The Takashi Miike Collection.

Next up is a useful review/mini-essay by Chris Campion, which highlights the director's personal affinities with the project, as someone who never felt wholly Japanese.

Then there are instantly out of date filmographies for Miike, Takeucgi and Aikawa, and the film's trailer.

The package is rounded off by the obligatory trailer reel, comprising Freezer, Tetsuo, Audition (another Miike film), Nowhere To Hide and Battle Royale.

All in all, nothing to write home, or complain, about.