written by SPI / photos by SPI

There has been so much talk about the French Kill Bill set that we decided to have a closer look and hopefully give you some answers to your questions.

The French Kill Bill Set was released in November 2004 and was quickly sold out, the only way to get it now is on the after-market. The content of this box in a full colour book, bookmark, soundtrack to both films, special edition of both movies and 6 art cards .This box is a nice addition to your collection if you don’t own the two Japanese sets.

Then we get to the best part..the DVDs and the soundtracks. They both have the same packaging and both of the covers are in black and red. Let’s focus on the soundtrack first. It is a digi-pack and when you fold it out you see both soundtracks and the booklet. I like the fact that you get both soundtracks included with the box, that really makes this box a complete set. The cardboard that holds the soundtracks is made of the same material they used on the box. This way it goes a ”red tread” through the whole set..all the parts matches each other.

The next thing that we will have a closer look on is of course the packaging of both movies. It is a digi-pack with the same material and look as the soundtrack case. When you fold it out there are some photos of some of the characters on the front, in the middle and on the back. It is very colourful and it is really well made. The 4 discs are all lined up, first you got Kill Bill 1 and the bonus discs, followed by Kill Bill 2 and the last bonus discs. There is no booklet to the movies which I find very rare and sad. It could have been so much more if the package contain a booklet with chapter index and technical information. I guess if they would include a booklet it would have come in French so maybe it’s better off.

Both movies have DTS sound but only the first movie has the English track with DTS. Kill Bill 2 have a French DTS track. Well, I know it is a French release but couldn’t they go for DTS on both movies and both languages or neither one. For me this was a huge disappointment because I was so ready for a marathon and when I saw that there were no DTS track on the second it kind of ruined my movie experience. Both movies and bonus discs have no English subtitles just forced French subtitles. It is not a big of a deal, but some people hate this about foreign movies. France are one of the countries that releases movie with forced subtitles. The only place where you wished there were subtitles is in the scenes where they speak Japanese. I wished they could have done some extra with the sound and the subtitles options because those two things pulls this box set further down on the ladder. I think if they did that more people would buy this set. I bought it because I liked the look of the box and I didn’t own the Japanese set. Also this was cheaper than the R3 sets.

Overall this is a nice built set with a lot of nice extras. It will look good in your shelves but maybe this is just a buy for your DVDs display. The fabric inside gives the box a nice touch and with photos and text from the movie on the cardboard it really personalise the box.

This box set is ”limited” but I can’t find out how many copies have been made. It is a set that lives up to the films and I never regret buying this.

- SPI's Verdict -

- Build Quality: 8 -

Nice and heavy box set .Nice touch with the velour inside the box and artwork on and inside the box is also very well made. This box will last a long time and will look good in display.