Ichi the Killer (2001)
殺し屋1
Action, Crime, Horror • 2h 9m
Overview
As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.
Director: Takashi Miike
Cast: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shinya Tsukamoto, SABU, Paulyn Sun, Susumu Terajima, Shun Sugata, Toru Tezuka, Yoshiki Arizono, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Satoshi Niizuma, Suzuki Matsuo, Jun Kunimura, Moro Morooka, Houka Kinoshita, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Yuki Kazamatsuri, Rio Aoki, Sakichi Sato, Kaoru Sugawara, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Mai Goto, Manzo Shinra, Masataka Haji, Hideo Sako, Mako Takeda
Director: Takashi Miike
2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Original matrixed DTS Stereo mix: 2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
5.0 surround remix: 2009 Shout! Factory US Blu-ray
Arrow includes three audio tracks, matrixed stereo, discrete 4.0, and a 5.0 surround remix. Unfortunately, only the first one is usable. The 4.0 desyncs partway through. The 5.0 has incorrect (lower) pitch. Fortunately, the matrixed stereo track sounds great, but it is still a major disappointment.
There has been no replacement disc announced. See nicwood's BR post.
Director: Takashi Miike
2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Original matrixed DTS Stereo mix: 2026 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
5.0 surround remix: 2009 Shout! Factory US Blu-ray
Arrow includes three audio tracks, matrixed stereo, discrete 4.0, and a 5.0 surround remix. Unfortunately, only the first one is usable. The 4.0 desyncs partway through. The 5.0 has incorrect (lower) pitch. Fortunately, the matrixed stereo track sounds great, but it is still a major disappointment.
There has been no replacement disc announced. See nicwood's BR post.
Radiance 4K Blu-ray from nic:
Unadvertised HDR10 grade that looks better than the equivalent Blu-ray it's packaged with, grain rendered very clean even when it's heavy. FiM encode so surely it's better than the Media Blasters UHD, but there are still issues with frame stability, some shots have this jitter that kinda hurts to look at. Not a night and day upgrade over the Blu, but it's better and despite its issues, probably the best it'll ever be.
Radiance 4K Blu-ray from nic:
Unadvertised HDR10 grade that looks better than the equivalent Blu-ray it's packaged with, grain rendered very clean even when it's heavy. FiM encode so surely it's better than the Media Blasters UHD, but there are still issues with frame stability, some shots have this jitter that kinda hurts to look at. Not a night and day upgrade over the Blu, but it's better and despite its issues, probably the best it'll ever be.
Director: Takashi Miike
Director: Takashi Miike
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Director: Otar Iosseliani
Carlotta FR Blu-ray box set: 2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.
TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.
Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.
Director: Otar Iosseliani
Carlotta FR Blu-ray box set: 2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.
TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.
Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.
Carlotta FR Blu-ray box set: 2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.
TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.
Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.
Carlotta FR Blu-ray box set: 2K restoration of 4K scan. This 2K restoration’s detail level is quite good, although its highlights are somewhat blown out. On the other hand, the newer 4K restoration (on DCP only as of Aug 2026) exhibits severe black crush.
TBD. Carlotta sounds muffled.
Carlotta’s English subtitles omit quite a bit of dialog. This was improved upon in the subs accompanying the newer 4K restoration DCP.
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Director: Béla Tarr
Curzon 4K Blu-ray see caps
Director: Béla Tarr
Curzon 4K Blu-ray see caps
Director: Bert Stern
Director: Bert Stern
Director: Delmer Daves
Criterion 4K Blu-ray see caps
All audio tracks originate from the same DVD-era master, no real audible differences between them, but Carlotta is least filtered out of all
Director: Delmer Daves
Criterion 4K Blu-ray see caps
All audio tracks originate from the same DVD-era master, no real audible differences between them, but Carlotta is least filtered out of all
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Director: Alan J. Pakula
More Action on Blu-ray
Director: Michael Arias
Director: Michael Arias
Director: Johnnie To
Disk Kino World Cinema Library 4K UHD Blu-Ray
Disk Kino World Cinema Library 4K UHD Blu-Ray
Disk Kino World Cinema Library 4K UHD Blu-Ray has Cantonese track in Dolby Atmos and TrueHD 7.1, but English dub is only available on the MoC Blu-Ray in LPCM 2.0 (MoC's Cantonese track is also LPCM 2.0). Criterion Blu-Ray's Cantonese track is DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.
Disk Kino 4K was limited to only 600 copies in China and is OOP. Of the available Blu-Ray releases done from the 4K restoration, Criterion's video has better color and detail than the MoC release, but MoC features dual audio in both Cantonese and English and more commentary tracks.
Director: Johnnie To
Disk Kino World Cinema Library 4K UHD Blu-Ray
Disk Kino World Cinema Library 4K UHD Blu-Ray
Disk Kino World Cinema Library 4K UHD Blu-Ray has Cantonese track in Dolby Atmos and TrueHD 7.1, but English dub is only available on the MoC Blu-Ray in LPCM 2.0 (MoC's Cantonese track is also LPCM 2.0). Criterion Blu-Ray's Cantonese track is DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.
Disk Kino 4K was limited to only 600 copies in China and is OOP. Of the available Blu-Ray releases done from the 4K restoration, Criterion's video has better color and detail than the MoC release, but MoC features dual audio in both Cantonese and English and more commentary tracks.
Directors: Hideaki Anno & Kazuya Tsurumaki & Mahiro Maeda & Masayuki
Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray
Directors: Hideaki Anno & Kazuya Tsurumaki & Mahiro Maeda & Masayuki
Japan King Records 4K Blu-ray
Directors: Masayuki & Hideaki Anno & Tsuyoshi Kaga & Shoichi Masuo & Ken Ando & Seiji Mizushima & Kazuya Tsurumaki & Naoyasu Habu & Hiroyuki Ishido & Tensai Okamura & Akira Takamura & Minoru Ohara & Masahiko Otsuka & Tetsuya Watanabe & Keiichi Sugiyama
Directors: Masayuki & Hideaki Anno & Tsuyoshi Kaga & Shoichi Masuo & Ken Ando & Seiji Mizushima & Kazuya Tsurumaki & Naoyasu Habu & Hiroyuki Ishido & Tensai Okamura & Akira Takamura & Minoru Ohara & Masahiko Otsuka & Tetsuya Watanabe & Keiichi Sugiyama
Director: Rob Cohen
Universal 4K Blu-ray 25th Anniversary Edition (with Dolby Vision), comparsion
Director: Rob Cohen
Universal 4K Blu-ray 25th Anniversary Edition (with Dolby Vision), comparsion
Directors: Brian Taylor & Mark Neveldine
Directors: Brian Taylor & Mark Neveldine
US Toy Robot and UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray
US Toy Robot and UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray
Director: Deran Sarafian
88 Films Blu-ray in November
MVD 4K Blu-ray beautiful remaster but with frame rate skips (encoding error)
Director: Deran Sarafian
88 Films Blu-ray in November
MVD 4K Blu-ray beautiful remaster but with frame rate skips (encoding error)
Director: McG
The UK cinema version is the most complete version of the film to date, featuring additional scenes of violence. Additional footage includes:
louder impact sounds during the fight scenes with added bass, particularly during the alley fight (the impact sounds are much tamer on all video and DVD releases)
the use of nunchaku during the closing fight on the castle (the fight sequence now has no footage of nunchaku)
an elbow-lock move performed during the above fight (this is now cut from all versions) It is assumed that this version is the cut of the film made before trims were made to it for the MPAA to secure a PG-13 rating.
The UK theatrical cut has not been released on home video to date.
Director: McG
The UK cinema version is the most complete version of the film to date, featuring additional scenes of violence. Additional footage includes:
louder impact sounds during the fight scenes with added bass, particularly during the alley fight (the impact sounds are much tamer on all video and DVD releases)
the use of nunchaku during the closing fight on the castle (the fight sequence now has no footage of nunchaku)
an elbow-lock move performed during the above fight (this is now cut from all versions) It is assumed that this version is the cut of the film made before trims were made to it for the MPAA to secure a PG-13 rating.
The UK theatrical cut has not been released on home video to date.
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