For those interested in watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" with extra quality, consider the following:
Before you rush to torrent sites or file-hosting forums, consider the very real dangers—beyond the film's fictional ones.
The film ran into immediate trouble with Hong Kong’s censors. At the time, Hong Kong was still a British colony, and the government feared that scenes of random urban terrorism and firebombing might inspire copycat crimes. After a limited release in May 1980, authorities ordered all prints to be seized and destroyed. For those interested in watching "Close Encounters of
Why? Three specific scenes proved too much:
The ban lasted for decades. For years, Dangerous Encounters was a true "lost film" —available only through nth-generation VHS bootlegs, often missing entire reels. The ban lasted for decades
Tsui Hark reportedly planned a trilogy of "dangerous encounters" categorized by the level of threat:
Only the first kind was ever completed. The film stands alone as a brutal, unflinching character study of privileged evil—a Hong Kong A Clockwork Orange without the satire. Only the first kind was ever completed
Tsui Hark is still alive (as of 2026) and has never authorized a digital release of the uncut version. By downloading "extra quality" fan edits, you are not supporting a greedy studio—but you are also not supporting the artist who made a film that cost him his reputation for years.
Before the German remaster, a French TV broadcast in 1998 leaked a 98-minute print that included sequences missing from the Hong Kong re-release. While resolution is standard definition (720x576), some collectors label it "extra quality" due to its extended runtime. Avoid SDRips of this unless you are a completionist.