This new release of these anthologies comes on two Blu-ray discs loaded with extras.
The first disc features the anthology Three from 2002 which includes three short films: Memories from filmmaker Kim Jee-woon, Wheel from filmmaker Nonzee Nimibutr, and Going Home from filmmaker Peter Ho-Sun Chan. The first, Memories, is about a woman wandering the streets and her husband who wonders about here while apparitions and possible ghosts start showing up. This short has a strong start, hauntingly so, giving the anthology something truly strong to start on. It unfortunately does not sustain the ambiance and the creepy factor, leading to losing the attention of the viewer before the first short film is even over. The second short, Wheel, showcases puppets and deaths, pain and suffering, and is interesting enough to bring the viewer back in with a few stunning scenes here and there. The third short, Going Home, shows what a police officer finds when he knocks on the wrong door while looking for his missing son. The films here are decently entertaining but not exactly scary. Of course, mileage will vary, so go in with a desire to be entertained and maybe spooked a little bit. The quality of the films here is high but the story may have needed a bit more fear.
The second disc is the one for Three… Extremes which includes three shorts again: The first short is Dumplings by filmmaker Fruit Chan and it is one strong start. (Side note: Possibly Bai Ling’s best performance in her career.) This short has received the feature-length treatment and it is worth it in both formats. The story is creepy in a very particular way and hard to discuss without spoiling it too much. The second short film is Cut by Chan Park-wook and it is excellent, even better than Dumplings which is saying something. The madness, the blood, the decor, the performances by familiar faces, it’s all top notch here. The third and last short is Box by none other than filmmaker Takashi Miike and it is properly disturbing and really well done. Not going to spoil this one either, just watch it.
The set here is solid with a high quality 2K restoration that looks and sounds great and the extras here are plentiful. The top interesting extras are the Cross-Pollination Horror interview with producer/director Peter Ho-Sun Chan that is split into parts 1 and 2 with one on each disc. On disc one, the new interviews with Kim Jee-woon and Hong Kyoumg-pyo are good and the reheated leftover interviews with Peter Ho-Sun Chan and Eugenia Yuan from the mid-2000s are decent. On disc two, the audio commentary with Takashi Miike on Box is great and his brand new interview is a highlight of the set. Also interesting are the older interviews with Fruit Chan and Bai Ling. The making-of featurette for each of the segments are also quite interestin to watch.
This is a decent set and one of the rare cases where the sequel is better than the first with the short films are better in the second anthology. There is a lot in this set and of course, each person watching should be able to find one segment that works best for them.