Eureka's Masters of Cinema label have announced another two titles from their DVD back catalogue for re-release on Blu-ray, two very different films that are both remarkable examples of world cinema at it's bold and inventive best. Both films will be released individually on Blu-ray by Masters of Cinema on 26th July 2010 at the RRP of £22.99 each.

La Planète sauvage / The Savage Planet / Fantastic Planet (Czechoslovakia/France 1973)

R ené Laloux's mesmerising psychedelic sci-fi animated feature won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and is a landmark of European animation. Based on Stefan Wul's novel Oms en série (Oms by the dozen), Laloux's breathtaking vision was released in France as La Planète sauvage (The Savage Planet); in the USA as Fantastic Planet, and immediately drew comparisons to Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Planet of the Apes (both the 1968 film and Boule's 1963 novel). Today, the film can be seen to prefigure much of the work of Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) due to its palpable political and social concerns, cultivated imagination, and memorable animation techniques.

La Planète sauvage tells the story of "Oms", human-like creatures, kept as domesticated pets by an alien race of blue giants called "Draags". The story takes place on the Draags' planet Ygam, where we follow our narrator, an Om called Terr, from infancy to adulthood. He manages to escape enslavement from a Draag learning device used to educate the savage Oms – and begins to organise an Om revolt. The imagination invested in the surreal creatures, music and sound design, and eerie landscapes, is immense and unforgettable.

Widely regarded as an allegorical statement on the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, La Planète sauvage was five years in the making at Prague's Jiri Trnka Studios. The direction of René Laloux, the incredible art of Roland Topor, and Alain Goraguer's brilliant complementary score (much sampled by the hip-hop community) all combine to make La Planète sauvage a mind-searing experience.

Featuring a new high-definition transfer, optional English subtitles with original French soundtrack and an optional USA dub track, the disc will also have the following extras:

• Laloux Sauvage, a new 55-minute documentary on the director;
• Two short films by Laloux: Les Escargots (1965, in a new 1080p transfer) and Comment Wang-Fo Fut Sauvé (1987);
• The complete soundtrack for La Planéte sauvage;
• 56-page full colour booklet, featuring an essay by Craig Keller, interviews with Laloux, and a lavish selection of ephemera and original promotional materials from the film.

You can read our review of the previous Masters of Cinema DVD release here.

Vengeance is Mine / Fukushû suruwa warenai (Japan 1979)

Based on the true story of Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) and his murderous rampage which sparked a 78-day nationwide manhunt, Shohei Imamura's disturbing gem Vengeance Is Mine (Fukushû suruwa warenai) won every major award in Japan on the year of its release. Both seducing and repelling with its unusual story and grisly humour, Imamura uncovers a seedy underbelly of civilised Japanese society.

Unfolding through multiple flashbacks, Ogata delivers a career-defining performance as a day-labourer and smalltime con-artist who, after killing two of his co-workers, embarks on a psychopathic spree of rape and murder. Eluding the police and public, Japan's infamous "King of Criminals" passes himself off as a Kyoto University professor, only to become entangled with an innkeeper and her perverted mother. Five years in the making, Vengeance Is Mine transcends the limitations of run-of-the-mill criminal studies by presenting a portrait of a killer imbued with a poignant, tragic banality.

Featuring a restored high-definition transfer and all-new improved English subtitle translation, the disc will have the fillowing extras:

• Audio commentary by noted critic and filmmaker Tony Rayns;
• Video introduction by director Alex Cox;
• Original Japanese trailers;
• 56-page book featuring essays, original promotional material and a director's statement.

You can read our review of the original Masters of Cinema DVD release here.