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.