At least since the horror remake wave that hit Hollywood in the early 2000s and has never really sat still since then, remakes have been criticized as a trend that results from the fact that the creative minds in the dream factory are slowly running out of (own) ideas. On the one hand, remakes are by no means automatically bad or unimaginative, on the other hand, it has always been part of cinema to tell well-known stories in a new way. Such is also “Black Cat”.
Director Stephen Shin’s ruthless Hong Kong action thriller found its way to us many years ago, but was only released on VHS and DVD in a shortened form. On January 27, 2023, “Black Cat” will not only be released completely uncut for the first time, but also for the first time on Blu-ray. And the HD premiere will be celebrated in style – with three strictly limited collector’s editions:
» “Black Cat” at Amazon: Mediabook A* / Mediabook B* / Mediabook C*
The film will be released in three Mediabook versions, each limited to 1,000 copies, which contain the film both on DVD and in the new 2K master on Blu-ray. In addition, there is a 16-page booklet with exciting information about the long-unnoticed FSK-18-Actioner and bonus material on board. All three editions have the same content and differ only in their visual appearance.
“Nikita” by cult director Luc Besson (“Leon – The Professional”, “The Fifth Element”) barely missed the top rating in the DashFUN review with 4.5 stars and is therefore one of the best action films of all times. So it was no wonder that after the international success of the French action hit in 1990, a fight for the rights to a new film ensued – similar to how it was shortly afterwards with “Der Joker and the Jackpot, which James Cameron eventually adapted with True Lies. The problem in the case of “Nikita” (which is now also available as a series): Disney secured the rights and thus stood in the way of the Hong Kong version.
However, Stephen Shin was not deterred by this and decided to follow through with his vision of the material. So “Black Cat” is not an official remake. However, the “Nikita” DNA cannot be dismissed out of hand – even if the specialist press was far less well-disposed towards the new edition. Fans of brute Hong Kong action still get their money’s worth – especially now, with the uncut version in HD. Jade Leung (“Codename: Cobra”) in her first title role, cult mime Simon Yam (“Ip Man”, “Raging Fire”) as well as a mix of action and eroticism that is as merciless as it is revealing.
And that’s what Black Cat is about: Catherine (Jade Leung) is impulsive, emotional and prone to violent outbursts. A murder is already on their account, but before it comes to a second, the CIA intervenes. Now she has a choice: either she goes to prison for life or she works as a killer for the secret service. She chooses freedom and is eventually trained to become the ultimate killing machine. And everything actually runs like clockwork, until one day she falls in love with one of her goals of all things…
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