In 1993/4 M.I.H.K acquired the rights to four films which covered a variety of new genres exclusive to the Hong Kong style of filmmaking. The Barefoot kid, Saviour of the Soul, God of Gamblers and The Killer were subsequently released upon the UK public, opening their eyes to a new wave of HK cinema. Those who thought Hong Kong cinema consisted purely of chop-socky movies soon knew better.

The Barefoot Kid became the first 'wire' kung fu flick to be released in the UK and Saviour of the Soul the first 'manga in motion' release. The HK bloodshed genre had been seen by some, in the limited video releases of A Better Tomorrow, Return Engagement and The Killer. However these films were presented at their worst in poorly dubbed, pan & scanned fullscreen versions. M.I.H.K decided to release their films with their original soundtracks and in their full widescreen ratio, but cleverly offered The Killer (their most commercial release due to the rise in popularity of John Woo) in two formats. The fan therefore had the option of watching Woo's masterpiece in an English Language fullscreen version or a subtitled widescreen version (also available in a limited box set). Clearly a new era of HK cinema on video had arrived.

With the first four films in their catalogue selling well, M.I.H.K continued to release more new HK titles on video, showing a remarkable attitude to quality in both their choice of titles and audio/visual presentation. Following this new boom in HK - UK videotapes, Two 'new' companies joined M.I.H.K in the video distribution market: Eastern Heroes and Hong Kong Classics.

Eastern Heroes, the brainchild of Rick Baker and Toby Russell, had devotedly supported HK cinema in the UK years before, therefore it seemed fitting that they joined M.I.H.K in spreading HK cinema on videotape. In fact they had previously sold original HK films in conjunction with TVB (UK) and ATV from their shops in Camden Town and Leicester square (having repackaged them with their own sleeves).

Eastern Heroes first official video release (in that you could buy it in HMV, Tower records, etc) was the Andy Lau action film, The Last Blood. In order to get people noticing, Eastern Heroes added the sub-title of Hard Boiled 2 - The Last Blood, capitalising on to the current John Woo trend that was occurring. Although the renaming of movies is looked down upon by many HK film fans, as Eastern heroes were working on a limited company budget, it is understandable that they would need to sell as many copies of The Last Blood as possible in order to make a profit.

Their next two titles were again representative of two new HK movie genres (to a majority of UK fans anyway). Although a selection of fantasy films were shown on Channel 4 during its 'Chinese ghost stories' season, hardly any had been released on videotape. Any titles available were soon deleted, such as Tsui Hark's Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind aka Don't play with Fire (UK title). However

Eastern Heroes changed this by releasing Spooky Encounters aka Encounters of the Spooky Kind 2 on video in the UK.

Their third release was another first for UK video audiences. Holy Virgin Vs the Evil Dead blended the individual genres of sex, horror, fantasy and martial arts into one movie. Released under the Eastern Heroes' own genre name of 'CAT III', the Hong Kong equivalent of a certificate 18, Holy Virgin became the first release of this new adult orientated genre from Eastern heroes.

The third new distributor was named 'Hong Kong Classics' and is a subsidiary of M.I.A video. Prior to the introduction of M.I.H.K and Eastern Heroes, M.I.A video had actually released a few HK films into the UK video market, such as Iron Angels (Angels) and The Hand of Death. With the increased popularity of HK cinema however M.I.A released more films, going so far as creating a new video label, Hong Kong Classics. In order to appeal to all fans, as M.I.H.K did with The Killer, they also released films in both a dubbed and subtitled version.

A further bonus to UK distributors (and fans) was the hand over of many HK film rights to the company 'Media Asia'. This meant that the rights of many titles, in particular those produced by Golden Harvest, could now become available to buy at affordable rates. Needless to say all three distributors soon acquired and subsequently released many of the greatest films in HK cinema history, including Eastern Condors, Once upon a time in China and The Club.

Both M.I.H.K and Eastern Heroes did a stellar job of promoting their films. On the inside of their video sleeves were biographies on the stars and director of the film as well as a list of forthcoming releases. On the tapes themselves were various original trailers of other films available from their catalogues. However their best promotional work came when they brought in film stars direct from Hong Kong. M.I.H.K brought Maggie Cheung to England to promote their cinema release of Wong Kar Wai's Days of Being Wild, which included a discussion at the National Film Theatre and various articles/interviews in magazines such as 'Time Out' and 'Empire'.

In 1996 Eastern Heroes managed to bring Jet Li to England for a triple bill of his movies followed by a Q & A session with the man himself. This gave fans (including myself!) an opportunity to meet and receive autographs from the man who would later be bound for Hollywood.

However as time passed on the distribution levels of HK movies by Eastern Heroes and M.I.H.K began to drop as each year passed. As independent film distributors with limited financial backing, both Eastern Heroes and M.I.H.K were taking a financial risk by releasing HK films into a potentially fickle UK market. Both had much more to lose than Hong Kong Classics/ M.I.A who possess a large library of films and have sufficient financial backing. Conclusively after the 'boom' of 1996 Eastern Heroes have since closed both of their Hong Kong memorabilia shops but still release films on video. M.I.H.K continued to release films in the first half of the year 2000 but at this present moment seem to have ceased distribution. Hong Kong Classics are still releasing films...

Still as these companies cease or slow down their distribution levels they are joined by many new video labels such as Metrodome and the excellent Hong Kong Legends. As well as videotape, many films are also being released on DVD with many exclusive extras. Indeed with the clearer audio/visual and sometimes-plentiful extras, many now prefer to watch films on DVD rather than videotape.

Today the HK film fan has never been so well served so kudos to all the companies past and present who have supported HK cinema and particularly those who started the revolution, namely M.I.H.K, Eastern Heroes and Hong Kong Classics!

For a Continuing discussion on HK - UK movie 'relations', Please click on either of the following links

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