Kill Bill Vol 1.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT? Pregnant assassin The Bride (Uma Thurman) is attacked and left for dead on her wedding day by former boss, Bill (David Carradine), and his Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Waking from a coma five years later, she embarks on a bloody campaign of vengeance using little more than a bit of chop-socky and a dirty great samurai sword.

ANY GOOD? Brilliant. If Quentin Tarantino had come back after six years' leave with another load of jivey Royale-with-cheese dialogue it would have been rubbish. Instead, he recreates the vintage kung fu style of Hong Kong's legendary Shaw Brothers and drops the dialogue in favour of hyper-violent hacking, slashing and spurting. On top of that, there are spaghetti western bits and a whole middle section that's done as a Japanese anime. is more than a collection of hip influences, though, with Tarantino's black humour and cinematic trickery as high in the mix as ever.

LOOK OUT FOR: The final, life and death sword duel between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) at the House Of Blue Leaves. Stunning.

EXTRAS: No audio commentary, just a 'Making Of' featurette, a couple of trailers and a teaser for Volume 2, which hits UK cinemas in April.