New on Blu-ray: THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN / TENGOKU NI ICHIBAN CHIKAI SHIMA (1984)

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Product Description: Based on Katsura Morimura's 1966 best-selling travelogue, Obayashi's paradise-laden coming-of-age tale is an island retreat to the white sands of New Caledonia. Fulfilling her late father's (YMO's Yukihiro Takahashi) dream to take her to "the island closest to heaven," bookish teen Mari (Tomoyo Harada) ventures solo to the archipelago's indigo waters in search of this mythic locale. Taking in the island's sites, Mari journeys off the beaten path, befriending a host of friendly locals in the process, from islander Taro (Ryoichi Takayanagi) to footloose tour guide Yuichi. One of Obayashi's breeziest features, filled with a sense of old school Hollywood romanticism, The Island Closest to Heaven forms an affecting portrait of a young girl's journey to self-discovery and her own piece of heaven deep within.

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THE BRIDE FROM HADES (1968) - Blu-ray Release of Japanese Classic Horror Film

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Product Description: Samurai Shinzaburo is visited by a beautiful courtesan. Captivated by her beauty, he agrees to marry her, but fails to realise she is a ghost.

Noble samurai Shinzaburo (Kojiro Hongo, Gamera) is visited one night by the beautiful courtesan Otsuyu (Miyoko Akaza, Lady Snowblood). She pleads with him to marry her and save her from life in a brothel. Instantly captivated by her beauty, Shinzaburo agrees and a cautious love affair develops, but in his infatuation, he fails to realise that Otsuyu is a ghost. His friends band together to drive off the spirit, but can the love-stricken Shinzaburo resist the haunting lure of this enchantress?

Working from a script by Ugetsu's Yoshikata Yoda, original Shinobi director Satsuo Yamamoto brings this classic Japanese ghost tale to the screen with breathtaking stylistic beauty. His visualisation of the alluring female ghost prefigures A Chinese Ghost Story and greatly inspired the J-horror movement.

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