Pretty Packaging: Germany Primps OLDBOY, Korean Style

Editor, Europe; Rotterdam, The Netherlands (@ardvark23)
When DVDs started conquering the world, twenty years ago, the then-recently-invented "special edition" started to thrive like never before. One country especially started creating elaborately decorated boxes filled with bling and trinkets. That country was Korea. Well, to be honest, it was Japan, but those sets were wayyyy expensive, and out of most collectors' affordability range. Korea soon followed suit though, with releases that were gobsmackingly gorgeous yet not back-breakingly exorbitant in pricing.

Korea was actually so good at this, that for years, we collectors coined the term "Korean pimped" to describe an especially attractive set.*

Alas, that was then, this is now. Korea still has nice sets now and then, but they're no longer the norm. Thankfully, that hasn't stopped other countries from playing around in that field though! France has always been willing to follow suit, and in this series of articles we've recently seen plenty of great German releases (Suspiria anyone?)..

And now, German distributor Alive has released Park Chan-wook's great thriller OldBoy on Blu-ray, in a regular edition, a steelbook edition... and an Ultimate Edition. And that last one is, for lack of a better term, fully Korean pimped. And, as a nice surprise: it's English-friendly, sporting English subtitles (even on the 110-minute making-of documentary).

Check it out as here is a gallery of shots. Click on the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or at the center of each to see a bigger version!

* (I used "primp" in the title instead of "pimp", as primp is a nicer word, but hey... we all know what I mean, right?)

If you've seen the film, you know the boxes used by the antagonist for sending presents. Well, here's one! It's shiny, foil embossed, the bow-tie is real, and magnets keep it closed, so I'm getting all nostalgic.

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