On January 6, 2026, Shout Factory will release the 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray for 1990’s Bullet in the Head. Tony Leung (Hard Boiled), Jacky Cheung (Customs Frontline), Waise Lee (A Better Tomorrow) and Simon Yam (I Did It My Way) star in a dramatically powerful action-thriller from Hong Kong cinema legend John Woo (The Killer).
Three childhood friends fight to prove their places in the world when they escape from Hong Kong to seek a new life in war-torn Saigon in the 1960s. There they run into a series of bloody, violent troubles with ruthless gangs and corrupt militia. The experiences shape the three men in unexpected ways, which eventually threaten both their bonds of friendship … and their lives.
Features:
Disc One (4K UHD, Feature Film):
• NEW 4K Scan From The Original Camera Negative
• Presented In Dolby Vision
• NEW Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated For This Release
• NEW Audio Commentary With Film Critic Frank Djeng
Disc Two (Blu-ray, Feature Film):
• NEW 4K Scan From The Original Camera Negative
• NEW Optional English Subtitles Newly Translated For This Release
• NEW Audio Commentary With Frank Djeng
Disc Three (Blu-ray, Special Features):
• “Festival Cut” Of Bullet In The Head
• Alternate Boardroom Ending
• NEW “Brilliance With A Bullet” – Interview With Director/Writer John Woo
• NEW “Head Case!” – Interview With Actor Waise Lee
• NEW “Army Of One” – Interview With Producer Terence Chang
• NEW “Apocalypse Woo” – Interview With Editor David Wu
• NEW “Tumultuous Times” – Interview With Production Planner Catherine Lau
• NEW “Hong Kong Confidential” – Inside Bullet In The Head With Author Grady Hendrix
• NEW “Apocalypse How?” – Interview With Professor Lars Laamann
• Trailers
• Image Gallery
Watch the Trailer:
Can anyone confirm what the “festival cut” is? Is this the same cut as the half assed directors cut restoration on the German bootleg bluray?
The main difference is that the “Festival Cut” of Bullet in the Head is longer and more complete, including violent scenes and plot points removed from the shorter theatrical version. Notable additions include a more complete ending with a car chase shootout, the notorious “urine drinking” scene, and additional scenes of violence.
I’ve bought all of these Shout Remasters so far. Generally they have been top tier. The sound is punchy mono and the movies genuinely havn’t looked as nice as this before, a few color grading issues aside. Extras have been ok. Grady Hendrix is always a good time but his analysis is surface level. And James Mudge aint no Frank Djeng or Bey Logan. At the very least Croydons finest Leeder isn’t anywhere on these releases.
But the subtitles kinda suck. I went on the bluray.com forums, apprently some of the new subtitles have been done by a dude who doesn’t even speak cantonese. Whats next? Maybe I can do the subtitles for The Raid 15th Aniiversary edition even though I don’t even know how to sayt hello in Indonesian.
So the Festival Cut comes on the bonus disc. Shout have taken the same approach to reconstructing this like Arrows Big Boss Mandarin Cut where the 4k scan is used as a basis and then the additional material is from a crappier print.
I think everyone by now has seen the urine drinking scene on YouTube already and while the extra bits of violence does make things even more intense, as a whole it’s still not the 3 hour directors cut people keep talking about. this festival cut is only 5 or 6 minutes longer than the cut that we all grew up with and isn’t really transformational. this isn’t the Snyder cut of bullet in the head.
speaking of which for those that have seen the work print of a better tomorrow 2, theatrical is better. just cos it’s longer and rare doesn’t mean it’s automatically better.
the whole package is great though. they didn’t feel the need to improve this release with shitty art like they did with A better tomorrow. picture quality is top notch although subtitles could be better. Shout need to hire native language speakers and not fanboys who couldn’t tell the difference between Cantonese, mandarin and japanese