Stars: Richard Teasdale, Morgan Underwood, William Stafford, Thomas Lee Rutter, Kieran Edwards, Jay Giblin, Laura Liptrot, Mark Sneddon, Cy Henty, Kemal Yildirim | Written by Bazz Hancher, S.N. Sibley, Michael Walcott | Directed by Bazz Hancher
Axel Falcon, the latest film from Bazz Hancher, screened at Horror-On-Sea with Darkly Took the Light, a documentary about the difficulties and personal tragedies that surrounded the making of the film, and the toll it took on Hancher and his interest in continuing to make films – a documentary I hope eventually also gets a physical release alongside the film.
Hancher issues range from the usual problems of indie filmmaking such as cast and crew members dropping out, to people connected to the film or the filmmakers being murdered or suffering serious illness. It’s an interesting piece, and quite different from the “our film was cursed” hype video it may sound like. It’s more of...
Axel Falcon, the latest film from Bazz Hancher, screened at Horror-On-Sea with Darkly Took the Light, a documentary about the difficulties and personal tragedies that surrounded the making of the film, and the toll it took on Hancher and his interest in continuing to make films – a documentary I hope eventually also gets a physical release alongside the film.
Hancher issues range from the usual problems of indie filmmaking such as cast and crew members dropping out, to people connected to the film or the filmmakers being murdered or suffering serious illness. It’s an interesting piece, and quite different from the “our film was cursed” hype video it may sound like. It’s more of...
- 1/31/2024
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
One wouldn’t think that a schlocky slasher series about killer puppets would produce more than a dozen films across three decades, let alone sequels that are still being discussed today, yet here we are getting deep in the weeds over the straight-to-video sequel bliss that is Puppet Master 4. Puppet Master is easily the most successful property to come out of Charles Band’s Full Moon Features, best known for movies like Castle Freak and Subspecies, as well as more low-hanging fruit like The Gingerdead Man and The Evil Bong series. Puppet Master falls comfortably between these two extremes. After a satisfying initial trilogy that chronicles the grandiose revenge scheme of a persecuted toymaker, Puppet Master–like many long-running horror series–is forced to ask, “What’s next?”
In Puppet Master’s case, the franchise strangely pivots towards the rehabilitation of Blade, Leech Woman, Six-Shooter, and the rest of these...
In Puppet Master’s case, the franchise strangely pivots towards the rehabilitation of Blade, Leech Woman, Six-Shooter, and the rest of these...
- 11/27/2023
- by Daniel Kurland
- bloody-disgusting.com
Expanding on his homonymous short from 2021, Kenichi Ugana has now come up with a feature version of “Visitors”, which has added two more arcs in the initial story.
“Visitors Complete Edition” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
In the first, Haruka, Nana, and Takanori visit the house of Sota, a band member who has not given any sign of life for quite some time. The house looks particularly run-down with newspapers covering every window, while Sota seems even more strange, looking a mess and acting like nothing is going on. As he calmly offers them tea, one of the girls steps into a green goo and transforms into a head-spinning, bloodthirsty demon. The trio feel death coming upon them, but Haruka takes things in her hands.
Check also this interview Interview with Kenichi Ugana: Freedom of expression cannot be taken for granted
In the second arc, the...
“Visitors Complete Edition” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
In the first, Haruka, Nana, and Takanori visit the house of Sota, a band member who has not given any sign of life for quite some time. The house looks particularly run-down with newspapers covering every window, while Sota seems even more strange, looking a mess and acting like nothing is going on. As he calmly offers them tea, one of the girls steps into a green goo and transforms into a head-spinning, bloodthirsty demon. The trio feel death coming upon them, but Haruka takes things in her hands.
Check also this interview Interview with Kenichi Ugana: Freedom of expression cannot be taken for granted
In the second arc, the...
- 9/30/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Los Angeles-based sales agency MultiVisionnaire Pictures has acquired worldwide rights, outside of Japan, to “Samurai Ninja Onimanji.” The picture is a gory-fantasy-action film by Japanese VFX master, artist, and director Nishimura Yoshihiro.
Nishimura is a prolific special effects artist with over 100 film credits ranging from effects work to writing and directing. Credits across the J-sploitation genre include “Tokyo Gore Police,” “Meatball Machine Kodoku” and the recent “Tokyo Dragon Chef.”
The story focuses on Onimanji, portrayed by Mimoto Masanori, a Samurai Ninja who’s been cursed and sealed in an urn for over 600 years, but is resurrected in the present day by the assassin-for-hire outfit, Kika Company. Despite being a master swordsman, Onimanji faces many challenges in the 21st century and is condemned to work with an eccentric team of misfits. These include his sexy and cool-headed boss Kika (Tadano Natsumi) and a bumbling assassin colleague, played by Ishikawa Yuya (“The...
Nishimura is a prolific special effects artist with over 100 film credits ranging from effects work to writing and directing. Credits across the J-sploitation genre include “Tokyo Gore Police,” “Meatball Machine Kodoku” and the recent “Tokyo Dragon Chef.”
The story focuses on Onimanji, portrayed by Mimoto Masanori, a Samurai Ninja who’s been cursed and sealed in an urn for over 600 years, but is resurrected in the present day by the assassin-for-hire outfit, Kika Company. Despite being a master swordsman, Onimanji faces many challenges in the 21st century and is condemned to work with an eccentric team of misfits. These include his sexy and cool-headed boss Kika (Tadano Natsumi) and a bumbling assassin colleague, played by Ishikawa Yuya (“The...
- 5/9/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
It’s Monday. That might leave you seeing red. So, we’re celebrating accordingly by embracing horror movies that massively deliver on the red stuff. This week’s streaming picks showcase some of horror’s goriest offerings that wield the gore in various ways. Some use excessive bloodletting to elicit a laugh, while others aim to put you through an extreme gauntlet of visceral terror. These ultra-gory horror movies are all available on streaming now.
As always, here’s where you can watch them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
City of the Living Dead – AMC+, Kanopy, Pluto TV, Shudder, Tubi, Vudu
What’s a gory horror list without the Italian Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci? It seems appropriate to kickstart this week with the first entry in his “Gates of Hell” trilogy. The plot sees a reporter and a psychic try to close the...
As always, here’s where you can watch them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
City of the Living Dead – AMC+, Kanopy, Pluto TV, Shudder, Tubi, Vudu
What’s a gory horror list without the Italian Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci? It seems appropriate to kickstart this week with the first entry in his “Gates of Hell” trilogy. The plot sees a reporter and a psychic try to close the...
- 5/8/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
By Eleo Billet
The latest film from prolific Japanese director Yoshihiro Nishimura, this self-produced work is meant to be a spin-off of his action flick, “The Ninja War of Torakage”. First shown at “2300 Plan 9” in Switzerland, then in Brazil, the movie has yet to be released in Japan.
The ninja samurai Onimanji, locked in a cursed urn for 631 years and 59 days, is resurrected back into the present day by the Kika Company. This hitman organization consists of Kika, a seemingly impassive leader, Shigeru, a goofy assassin, and their mysterious informant. Disoriented, Onimanji must adapt to modern Japan and support his new teammates. But his ultimate test is to face the rival company Nutmeg and their boss, Natsumegu, with whom his employers have a rocky history. The hero will dismantle a drug ring and find his legendary sword while fighting enemies from another temporality.
Check this interview with the director Interview...
The latest film from prolific Japanese director Yoshihiro Nishimura, this self-produced work is meant to be a spin-off of his action flick, “The Ninja War of Torakage”. First shown at “2300 Plan 9” in Switzerland, then in Brazil, the movie has yet to be released in Japan.
The ninja samurai Onimanji, locked in a cursed urn for 631 years and 59 days, is resurrected back into the present day by the Kika Company. This hitman organization consists of Kika, a seemingly impassive leader, Shigeru, a goofy assassin, and their mysterious informant. Disoriented, Onimanji must adapt to modern Japan and support his new teammates. But his ultimate test is to face the rival company Nutmeg and their boss, Natsumegu, with whom his employers have a rocky history. The hero will dismantle a drug ring and find his legendary sword while fighting enemies from another temporality.
Check this interview with the director Interview...
- 5/2/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
by Eleo Billet
Released last year as a world premiere at Fantaspoa film festival, Yoshihiro Nishimura's new work stars transgender actress Anna Nagasaki in a picture that is, as usual, wild, bloody, and fun. However, the limits of the director's creations are becoming more and more apparent since, despite its pleasant sides, the movie feels very recycled.
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As with all of Yoshihiro Nishimura's films, it is hard to accurately describe the unfolding story. Sometimes the characters' names are not given, incongruous events occur apace, and the moral, if there is one, is blurred. But we will give it a try. The storyline centers on a Chinese yakuza organization, discriminated against by the Japanese, which has just lost its leader and several of its members. Cornered, the survivors are aided by a young pink-haired woman who comes out of nowhere and fights with vigor.
Released last year as a world premiere at Fantaspoa film festival, Yoshihiro Nishimura's new work stars transgender actress Anna Nagasaki in a picture that is, as usual, wild, bloody, and fun. However, the limits of the director's creations are becoming more and more apparent since, despite its pleasant sides, the movie feels very recycled.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel by Clicking on the image below
As with all of Yoshihiro Nishimura's films, it is hard to accurately describe the unfolding story. Sometimes the characters' names are not given, incongruous events occur apace, and the moral, if there is one, is blurred. But we will give it a try. The storyline centers on a Chinese yakuza organization, discriminated against by the Japanese, which has just lost its leader and several of its members. Cornered, the survivors are aided by a young pink-haired woman who comes out of nowhere and fights with vigor.
- 4/30/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
There are a ton of bloody films out there, some of them more fun than others. Many of them were clearly made for gore hounds, and some come from pretty surprising places. Of course, the goriest films ever made change all the time as new movies keep aiming at beating that record, so every year, this could be a whole new list. These are a few of our favorite films with the highest amount of fake blood used during production:
Braindead aka Dead Alive (1992)
This horror comedy from Peter Jackson is a longtime favorite for many horror fans for the sheer amount of blood and gore seen throughout the film. The ear falling into a bowl of soup may be the grossest scene in the film, it’s definitely not the bloodiest by far. One of the most famous gore sequences in horror cinema comes from this film is the one where lead Lionel,...
Braindead aka Dead Alive (1992)
This horror comedy from Peter Jackson is a longtime favorite for many horror fans for the sheer amount of blood and gore seen throughout the film. The ear falling into a bowl of soup may be the grossest scene in the film, it’s definitely not the bloodiest by far. One of the most famous gore sequences in horror cinema comes from this film is the one where lead Lionel,...
- 3/19/2023
- by Emilie Black
- JoBlo.com
And Then I Woke Up: "In the tradition of Mira Grant and Stephen Graham Jones, Malcolm Devlin’s And Then I Woke Up is a creepy, layered, literary story about false narratives and their ability to divide us.
"A scathing portrait of the world we live in and a running commentary on what’s story, what’s truth, and what’s not."—Stephen Graham Jones
In a world reeling from an unusual plague, monsters lurk in the streets while terrified survivors arm themselves and roam the countryside in packs. Or perhaps something very different is happening. When a disease affects how reality is perceived, it’s hard to be certain of anything…
Spence is one of the “cured” living at the Ironside rehabilitation facility. Haunted by guilt, he refuses to face the changed world until a new inmate challenges him to help her find her old crew. But if he...
"A scathing portrait of the world we live in and a running commentary on what’s story, what’s truth, and what’s not."—Stephen Graham Jones
In a world reeling from an unusual plague, monsters lurk in the streets while terrified survivors arm themselves and roam the countryside in packs. Or perhaps something very different is happening. When a disease affects how reality is perceived, it’s hard to be certain of anything…
Spence is one of the “cured” living at the Ironside rehabilitation facility. Haunted by guilt, he refuses to face the changed world until a new inmate challenges him to help her find her old crew. But if he...
- 4/7/2022
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Japanese auteur Sion Sono has been Japanese cinema’s most subversive filmmaker for 30 years now. Now, the man behind the likes of 2001’s “Suicide Club” and 2010’s “Cold Fish” makes his English-language debut with a leading man who can match his provocative style: Nic Cage.
Read More: ‘Prisoners Of The Ghostland’: No Brains, But Big TesticaaAARRRGHLs [Sundance Review]
For those familiar with Sono’s filmography, “Prisoners Of The Ghostland” will feel right at home alongside the likes of “Tokyo Gore Police” and others.
Continue reading ‘Prisoners Of The Ghostland’ Trailer: Nic Cage Stars In Sion Sono’s English-Language Debuting In September at The Playlist.
Read More: ‘Prisoners Of The Ghostland’: No Brains, But Big TesticaaAARRRGHLs [Sundance Review]
For those familiar with Sono’s filmography, “Prisoners Of The Ghostland” will feel right at home alongside the likes of “Tokyo Gore Police” and others.
Continue reading ‘Prisoners Of The Ghostland’ Trailer: Nic Cage Stars In Sion Sono’s English-Language Debuting In September at The Playlist.
- 8/11/2021
- by Ned Booth
- The Playlist
Stars: Julian Richings, Michelle Argyris, Emily Alatalo, Jason Rouse, Kiriana Stanton, Chelsea Muirhead, Ryan Allen, Kathryn Kohut | Written by David Murdoch, Svet Rouskov | Directed by Andrew Thomas Hunt
In a godforsaken bar in the middle of nowhere – an all-girl punk band, Ms. 45, rip the stage apart with their anarchy spirit. Their performance impresses an enthusiastic fan who lures the girls into a trap, sedates them, and starts… customizing them. The four wake up with an axe, drill or chainsaw attached to one arm and are forced to fight gladiator-style, in an arena-style auto-wrecking yard for the amusement of the Emperor and his sadistic townsfolk. The women must now truly band together and use all of their talents if they’re going to get out alive.
There’s been something of a surge in female-led “cult” genre fare – mainly emanating from down under, films like Monstro Del Mar, Murder Drome, Fight...
In a godforsaken bar in the middle of nowhere – an all-girl punk band, Ms. 45, rip the stage apart with their anarchy spirit. Their performance impresses an enthusiastic fan who lures the girls into a trap, sedates them, and starts… customizing them. The four wake up with an axe, drill or chainsaw attached to one arm and are forced to fight gladiator-style, in an arena-style auto-wrecking yard for the amusement of the Emperor and his sadistic townsfolk. The women must now truly band together and use all of their talents if they’re going to get out alive.
There’s been something of a surge in female-led “cult” genre fare – mainly emanating from down under, films like Monstro Del Mar, Murder Drome, Fight...
- 6/10/2021
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Yoshihiro Nishimura is a rather unique artist, particularly since his work in SFX, makeup, designing and directing has deemed the genre of splatter as a highly artistic form, in an accomplishment very few can boast of, and probably none to the degree he has managed to do so. In that regard, it is quite interesting to see where it all started, and “Anatomia Extrinction”, an independently produced movie that Nishimura wrote, directed and did the special effects for, and which eventually became the base for probably his most famous work, “Tokyo Gore Police”, provides a great start point. The film was shown at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in February 1995, where it won a Special Jury Award.
“Anatomia Extinction” is available from Error 4444
The story takes place in an undisclosed time in the near future, when Tokyo is suffering from overpopulation and overcrowding, with the psychological effect on people being rather intense,...
“Anatomia Extinction” is available from Error 4444
The story takes place in an undisclosed time in the near future, when Tokyo is suffering from overpopulation and overcrowding, with the psychological effect on people being rather intense,...
- 3/26/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Eihi Shiina is a Japanese fashion model and actress from Fukuoka, Japan. She got her first big break in 1995, working for Benetton, after which she represented Japan at the global Elite Model Look ’95. More magazine work followed.
Shiina made her film debut in 1998 with “Open House”. She also published a book of photographs and poems, entitled “No Filter, Only Eyes”, that same year. She is recognized internationally for her role as Asami Yamazaki in Takashi Miike’s “Audition”, and as the vengeful police officer Ruka in Yoshihiro Nishimura’s “Tokyo Gore Police”. Apart from her many collaborations with Yoshihiro Nishimura, she has also acted in Shinji Aoyama’s “Eureka” and Takeshi Kitano’s “Outrage”.
You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram
We speak with her about taking a break from the industry, her collaborations with Takashi Miike, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Takeshi Kitano and Shinji Aoyama, being a model and an actor,...
Shiina made her film debut in 1998 with “Open House”. She also published a book of photographs and poems, entitled “No Filter, Only Eyes”, that same year. She is recognized internationally for her role as Asami Yamazaki in Takashi Miike’s “Audition”, and as the vengeful police officer Ruka in Yoshihiro Nishimura’s “Tokyo Gore Police”. Apart from her many collaborations with Yoshihiro Nishimura, she has also acted in Shinji Aoyama’s “Eureka” and Takeshi Kitano’s “Outrage”.
You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram
We speak with her about taking a break from the industry, her collaborations with Takashi Miike, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Takeshi Kitano and Shinji Aoyama, being a model and an actor,...
- 2/22/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Yoshihiro Nishimura throws every ingredient into this overblown, overcooked and oddly endearing underworld romp
Cult Japanese filmmaker Yoshihiro Nishimura, who started off doing special effects before moving into the director’s chair, is best known for pulpy, action-horror fare with self-explanatory titles such as Mutant Girls Squad and Tokyo Gore Police, as well as the more enigmatically monikered Meatball Machine Kodoku.
Tokyo Dragon Chef, I’m assuming, lies tonally between the one about gore police and the one about meatball machines given it’s about a pair of ageing yakuza thugs, Ryu (Yasukaze Motomiya) and Tatsu (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi), who decide to open a ramen restaurant. Their speciality, which does indeed look darn tasty, is a recipe Tatsu honed while doing time and working in the prison’s mess hall, a kind of ma po tofu with ramen.
Cult Japanese filmmaker Yoshihiro Nishimura, who started off doing special effects before moving into the director’s chair, is best known for pulpy, action-horror fare with self-explanatory titles such as Mutant Girls Squad and Tokyo Gore Police, as well as the more enigmatically monikered Meatball Machine Kodoku.
Tokyo Dragon Chef, I’m assuming, lies tonally between the one about gore police and the one about meatball machines given it’s about a pair of ageing yakuza thugs, Ryu (Yasukaze Motomiya) and Tatsu (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi), who decide to open a ramen restaurant. Their speciality, which does indeed look darn tasty, is a recipe Tatsu honed while doing time and working in the prison’s mess hall, a kind of ma po tofu with ramen.
- 1/21/2021
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Terracotta Distribution are delighted to announce the release of their insane Japanese action comedy, “Tokyo Dragon Chef“. Behind the camera is renowned director, Yoshihiro Nishimura, responsible for cult hits such as “Tokyo Gore Police” and “Meatball Machine”
“Tokyo Dragon Chef” is a hilarious and bonkers infusion of Blues Brothers and Tampopo – martial arts, music and of course, ramen!
Synopsis
Retired Yakuzas open a ramen restaurant and become an overnight sensation, thanks to their recipe developed in prison. But a mysterious upstart gang is taking down every Yakuza family one by one, drawing the chefs back into the gangland underworld once more!
Terracotta Distribution owner Joey Leung was thrilled that the film will be reaching UK audiences.”Everyone needs their spirits lifted at the moment and this blend of Yakuza rivalry, culinary success story and colourful musical are the much needed ingredients for a crazy, uplifting recipe that...
“Tokyo Dragon Chef” is a hilarious and bonkers infusion of Blues Brothers and Tampopo – martial arts, music and of course, ramen!
Synopsis
Retired Yakuzas open a ramen restaurant and become an overnight sensation, thanks to their recipe developed in prison. But a mysterious upstart gang is taking down every Yakuza family one by one, drawing the chefs back into the gangland underworld once more!
Terracotta Distribution owner Joey Leung was thrilled that the film will be reaching UK audiences.”Everyone needs their spirits lifted at the moment and this blend of Yakuza rivalry, culinary success story and colourful musical are the much needed ingredients for a crazy, uplifting recipe that...
- 12/15/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Stars: Julian Richings, Michelle Argyris, Emily Alatalo, Jason Rouse, Kiriana Stanton, Chelsea Muirhead, Ryan Allen, Kathryn Kohut | Written by David Murdoch, Svet Rouskov | Directed by Andrew Thomas Hunt
In a godforsaken bar in the middle of nowhere – an all-girl punk band, Ms. 45, rip the stage apart with their anarchy spirit. Their performance impresses an enthusiastic fan who lures the girls into a trap, sedates them, and starts… customizing them. The four wake up with an axe, drill or chainsaw attached to one arm and are forced to fight gladiator-style, in an arena-style auto-wrecking yard for the amusement of the Emperor and his sadistic townsfolk. The women must now truly band together and use all of their talents if they’re going to get out alive.
There’s been something of a surge in female-led “cult” genre fare – mainly emanating from down under, films like Monstro Del Mar, Murder Drome, Fight...
In a godforsaken bar in the middle of nowhere – an all-girl punk band, Ms. 45, rip the stage apart with their anarchy spirit. Their performance impresses an enthusiastic fan who lures the girls into a trap, sedates them, and starts… customizing them. The four wake up with an axe, drill or chainsaw attached to one arm and are forced to fight gladiator-style, in an arena-style auto-wrecking yard for the amusement of the Emperor and his sadistic townsfolk. The women must now truly band together and use all of their talents if they’re going to get out alive.
There’s been something of a surge in female-led “cult” genre fare – mainly emanating from down under, films like Monstro Del Mar, Murder Drome, Fight...
- 10/25/2020
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
After much thought, and taking into consideration the health of our guests and viewers, Nihon Media announced that Japan Filmfest Hamburg cannot take place this year as a traditional film festival – and will be online instead. Under the motto ‘Breaking Free – From Japan with Love’, Nihon Media will collaborate with Videocity to stream its entire programme of 70+ films in around 40 blocks globally from 19th of August to the 2nd of September.
The 2020 film programme features 70 current productions, from full-length feature films to experimental short films, including many German, European, and international premieres. Most of the films are shown in the original Japanese language with English subtitles. One special highlight of our programme is the gangster-ballad originally planned as the opening film for the 21st Jffh, “Paradise Next” (2018) from director and film composer Yoshihiro Hanno (“Flowers of Shanghai”). An atmospheric road-movie about the travels of three lost souls living on the edges of society,...
The 2020 film programme features 70 current productions, from full-length feature films to experimental short films, including many German, European, and international premieres. Most of the films are shown in the original Japanese language with English subtitles. One special highlight of our programme is the gangster-ballad originally planned as the opening film for the 21st Jffh, “Paradise Next” (2018) from director and film composer Yoshihiro Hanno (“Flowers of Shanghai”). An atmospheric road-movie about the travels of three lost souls living on the edges of society,...
- 8/10/2020
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
*The interview took place on December 2017
Norman England started his career in show business as a guitar and keyboard player for the New York based band Proper iD. In 1993 he moved permanently to Japan, where he began working as a journalist. In 1998 he spent a week on the set of George A. Romero’s TV commercial for the video game Resident Evil 2 and in 1999 became the Japan correspondent for Fangoria, a U.S magazine devoted to horror, splatter and exploitation movies. As a journalist he has worked for a number of magazines such as Hobby Japan, Japanzine, Flix, Japanese Giants, the Japan Times, Eiga Hiho, e.t.c.
Since 1999, he has visited over 35 film sets in Japan, including The Grudge, Gamera 3 and the entire Godzilla Millennium series, with an extended stay for Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah, where he visited the set almost continuously from April to October of...
Norman England started his career in show business as a guitar and keyboard player for the New York based band Proper iD. In 1993 he moved permanently to Japan, where he began working as a journalist. In 1998 he spent a week on the set of George A. Romero’s TV commercial for the video game Resident Evil 2 and in 1999 became the Japan correspondent for Fangoria, a U.S magazine devoted to horror, splatter and exploitation movies. As a journalist he has worked for a number of magazines such as Hobby Japan, Japanzine, Flix, Japanese Giants, the Japan Times, Eiga Hiho, e.t.c.
Since 1999, he has visited over 35 film sets in Japan, including The Grudge, Gamera 3 and the entire Godzilla Millennium series, with an extended stay for Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah, where he visited the set almost continuously from April to October of...
- 6/27/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
By Omar Rasya Joenoes
“Are you married?”
“I hate men.”
“Then, you have no hope.”
“My hope is to die.”
The conversation in the search description takes place on a ride home, under the pouring rain. It is initiated by a man, who happens to be Japan’s no. 3 hitman, and answered by a woman, who is a suicidal femme fatale. Witnessing their first exchange is a dead bird, hung between them. And in this weirdest of all film-noir films, the scene belongs to a long line of surreal, mind-boggling, out-of-this-world scene after scene after scene after scene.
“Japanese films are weird” is surely a stereotype most of you, if not all of you, have heard at least once before. It is not entirely true and not entirely mistaken. With cult titles like Funky Forest (2005), Hausu (1977), Big Man Japan (2007), Versus (2000), Tokyo Gore Police (2008), RoboGeisha (2009), Tetsuo the Iron Man...
“Are you married?”
“I hate men.”
“Then, you have no hope.”
“My hope is to die.”
The conversation in the search description takes place on a ride home, under the pouring rain. It is initiated by a man, who happens to be Japan’s no. 3 hitman, and answered by a woman, who is a suicidal femme fatale. Witnessing their first exchange is a dead bird, hung between them. And in this weirdest of all film-noir films, the scene belongs to a long line of surreal, mind-boggling, out-of-this-world scene after scene after scene after scene.
“Japanese films are weird” is surely a stereotype most of you, if not all of you, have heard at least once before. It is not entirely true and not entirely mistaken. With cult titles like Funky Forest (2005), Hausu (1977), Big Man Japan (2007), Versus (2000), Tokyo Gore Police (2008), RoboGeisha (2009), Tetsuo the Iron Man...
- 3/23/2020
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
For this month’s Let’s Scare Bryan to Death, we’re celebrating Women in Horror Month with the Spinsters of Horror. Jess (Spinster #1) and Kelly (Spinster #2) have been busy since 2018 building a mini-media empire, bringing a female perspective to the horror genre through their blog, podcast, and various social media outlets where they continually engage with the horror community via conversation and live streams.
For this month’s film, Jess and Kelly chose Kôji Shiraishi’s 2005 found footage film Noroi: The Curse. Noroi’s narrative unfolds through a documentary filmed by paranormal investigator Masafumi Kobayashi (Jin Muraki) on a tape mysteriously delivered some time after his house burned down and he disappeared without a trace. The tape follows Kobayashi as he investigates a demon named Kagutaba, whose presence wreaks havoc through a series of seemingly unrelated people, including erratic single mother Junko Ishii (Tomono Kuga), psychically gifted but tormented...
For this month’s film, Jess and Kelly chose Kôji Shiraishi’s 2005 found footage film Noroi: The Curse. Noroi’s narrative unfolds through a documentary filmed by paranormal investigator Masafumi Kobayashi (Jin Muraki) on a tape mysteriously delivered some time after his house burned down and he disappeared without a trace. The tape follows Kobayashi as he investigates a demon named Kagutaba, whose presence wreaks havoc through a series of seemingly unrelated people, including erratic single mother Junko Ishii (Tomono Kuga), psychically gifted but tormented...
- 2/19/2020
- by Bryan Christopher
- DailyDead
Japanese director Yoshihiro Nishimura has completed production on his most recent film “Welcome to Japan”. The film showcases the signature over the top violence of Nishimura that has won him a dedicated fan base.
“Welcome to Japan” is set for release this October in Japan. A trailer for the production has been made available and can be viewed below. You can also read our interview with Yoshihiro Nishimura here.
“Welcome to Japan” is set for release this October in Japan. A trailer for the production has been made available and can be viewed below. You can also read our interview with Yoshihiro Nishimura here.
- 9/30/2019
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Nishimura, born on April 1, 1967 had been interested in film from childhood but a major influence on his career was a painting by Salvador Dalí with distorted human bodies that he saw when in elementary school. He majored in law in college.[4] Nishimura has said that he doesn’t watch much television or movies but reads horror magazines and gets much of his inspiration from his dreams.
He started making films while in junior high school by teaching himself about filming, lighting, special effects and modeling. In 1995 with a small crew he made the independently produced movie Anatomia Extinction (Genkai jinkō keisū). Nishimura wrote the screenplay, directed, and did the special effects. The film was shown at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in February 1995 where it won a Special Jury Award. The film would later form the basis for Tokyo Gore Police.
For several years, Nishimura did special effects and...
He started making films while in junior high school by teaching himself about filming, lighting, special effects and modeling. In 1995 with a small crew he made the independently produced movie Anatomia Extinction (Genkai jinkō keisū). Nishimura wrote the screenplay, directed, and did the special effects. The film was shown at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in February 1995 where it won a Special Jury Award. The film would later form the basis for Tokyo Gore Police.
For several years, Nishimura did special effects and...
- 7/9/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
I consider Yoshihiro Nishimura the undisputed master of Japanese splatter, a man who had moved the genre forward into new and exciting paths through all his roles in similar films, which include Special Effects, Makeup, animation and directing, among others. The fact that he was going to revive 2005 “Meatball Machine” , where he was in charge of special effects, was one of the greatest piece of news for me, and the outcome justified my feelings totally.
“Kodoku Meatball Machine” screened as part of the Asian selection at Fantasia International Film Festival
Yuji is a 50-year-old bill collector and he truly sucks at it, as he cannot get money from anyone he has to, and occasionally he is even stripped from his own. Furthermore, he lives alone, and everyone in his life seems to try to take advantage of him. His boss, his mother, Kaoru, a girl from his bookstore he seems...
“Kodoku Meatball Machine” screened as part of the Asian selection at Fantasia International Film Festival
Yuji is a 50-year-old bill collector and he truly sucks at it, as he cannot get money from anyone he has to, and occasionally he is even stripped from his own. Furthermore, he lives alone, and everyone in his life seems to try to take advantage of him. His boss, his mother, Kaoru, a girl from his bookstore he seems...
- 7/6/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
I consider Yoshihiro Nishimura the undisputed master of Japanese splatter, a man who had moved the genre forward into new and exciting paths through all his roles in similar films, which include Special Effects, Makeup, animation and directing, among others. The fact that he was going to revive 2005 “Meatball Machine” , where he was in charge of special effects, was one of the greatest piece of news for me, and the outcome justified my feelings totally.
Yuji is a 50-year-old bill collector and he truly sucks at it, as he cannot get money from anyone he has to, and occasionally he is even stripped from his own. Furthermore, he lives alone, and everyone in his life seems to try to take advantage of him. His boss, his mother, Kaoru, a girl from his bookstore he seems to like who introduces him to a cult, and the members of...
Yuji is a 50-year-old bill collector and he truly sucks at it, as he cannot get money from anyone he has to, and occasionally he is even stripped from his own. Furthermore, he lives alone, and everyone in his life seems to try to take advantage of him. His boss, his mother, Kaoru, a girl from his bookstore he seems to like who introduces him to a cult, and the members of...
- 12/4/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Tak Sakaguchi is a Japanese actor, director, fight choreographer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in Ryuhei Kitamura’s cult film, “Versus”. Since his debut, Sakaguchi has worked with Kitamura several times, often appearing alongside fellow Kitamura staple Hideo Sakaki. He has also worked with frequent Kitamura collaborators Yudai Yamaguchi and Yuji Shimomura, and also with Sion Sono and Koji Wakamatsu.
Sakaguchi is a talented martial artist, and most often appears in films featuring copious fight scenes, usually performing all of his own stunts. He is purportedly skilled in Bajiquan, Shorinji Kempo, boxing, and kick boxing.
We speak with him about his life as a martial artist and his career in the film industry, his collaborations with Koji Wakamatsu and Yoshitaka Inagawa, “Re:Born” and his new film “Kurui-Musashi”, and other topics.
How did you first enter the martial arts? What kind of training did you receive? What...
Sakaguchi is a talented martial artist, and most often appears in films featuring copious fight scenes, usually performing all of his own stunts. He is purportedly skilled in Bajiquan, Shorinji Kempo, boxing, and kick boxing.
We speak with him about his life as a martial artist and his career in the film industry, his collaborations with Koji Wakamatsu and Yoshitaka Inagawa, “Re:Born” and his new film “Kurui-Musashi”, and other topics.
How did you first enter the martial arts? What kind of training did you receive? What...
- 5/22/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Twelve years ago, a small film called Meatball Machine by directors Yamaguchi Yudai and Yamamoto Yun'ichi made a bloody splash in the festival circuit. In it, you could see two star-crossed loners falling in love with each other, only for both to be infeested by alien parasites who use their human hosts as walking weapon platforms, the better to battle each other with. Eyes were gouged, limbs replaced with guns and knives, and gallons of blood geysered out of orifices old and new. Together with Iguchi Noboru's The Machine Girl and Nishimura Yoshihiro's Tokyo Gore Police (both released a couple of years later), it started a veritable wave of Japanese "splattergore" films, in which all rules with regards to taste, story or biological realism were...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/26/2017
- Screen Anarchy
toco toco is a YouTube-based program where Japanese artists and creators introduce places in Japan that inspire them. Every episode showcases a different guest, from all creative fields. With no scripts or guidance, the shows guests speak naturally and are free to choose any place they like. With a new episode released each 1st and 15th of the month, with subtitles in English & French, toco toco looks like The place to go to get a real insight into Japanese artists and creators…
Fyi: The title of the show, toco toco is described as the onomatopoeia to describe the sound of footsteps in Japanese, for the “walks we go on together with our guests,” according to the series creators.
Having already interviewed the likes of video game creators SUDA51 and Daisuke Ishiwatari (definitely check both of those out too), the two latest episodes feature two gore masters of Japanese cinema – and...
Fyi: The title of the show, toco toco is described as the onomatopoeia to describe the sound of footsteps in Japanese, for the “walks we go on together with our guests,” according to the series creators.
Having already interviewed the likes of video game creators SUDA51 and Daisuke Ishiwatari (definitely check both of those out too), the two latest episodes feature two gore masters of Japanese cinema – and...
- 9/8/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Have you ever seen a movie so bad, that as you were watching it, you paid less attention to what was going on and more to the fact that you’re still allowing your brain to process it? Have you ever seen a movie so bad that the longer you watch it, the more horrified and worried you become at the sheer size of the balls on the director and screenwriter? Like if they would go that far then what would they do next? I’m prepared to admit that in my exhaustive search to give you my opinions on some of the best Asian cinema out there…I have often come across the worst.
Now I too have seen the dark side. And its kung-fu is strong. One in particular that I just have to get off my chest is Tokyo Gore Police. I think a moment of horrified silence would be appropriate here.
Now I too have seen the dark side. And its kung-fu is strong. One in particular that I just have to get off my chest is Tokyo Gore Police. I think a moment of horrified silence would be appropriate here.
- 8/21/2017
- by The0racle
- AsianMoviePulse
Oregon’s newest film festival offers up a world premiere and a whole lot of other goodies.‘Boys in the Trees’ features clowns on the bikes.
The Timberline Lodge located at Mt. Hood, Oregon is set to be home for The Overlook Film Festival — a brand-new horror film festival stuffed with 39 films (22 features and 17 shorts from 16 countries). Naturally this is the perfect setting for horror hounds to gather as the Timberline was famously used as the exterior setting in Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, The Shining.
The festival is scheduled to kick off in a little over a week on April 27th (and run through the 30th) and we now know that the Opening Night Selection will be the world premiere of Stephanie, the new supernatural thriller from director Akiva Goldsman and Blumhouse Productions. Stephanie was written by the dynamic duo of Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski and stars Frank Grillo, Anna Torv...
The Timberline Lodge located at Mt. Hood, Oregon is set to be home for The Overlook Film Festival — a brand-new horror film festival stuffed with 39 films (22 features and 17 shorts from 16 countries). Naturally this is the perfect setting for horror hounds to gather as the Timberline was famously used as the exterior setting in Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, The Shining.
The festival is scheduled to kick off in a little over a week on April 27th (and run through the 30th) and we now know that the Opening Night Selection will be the world premiere of Stephanie, the new supernatural thriller from director Akiva Goldsman and Blumhouse Productions. Stephanie was written by the dynamic duo of Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski and stars Frank Grillo, Anna Torv...
- 4/20/2017
- by Chris Coffel
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The newly formed Overlook Film Festival has announced it inaugural year programming lineup, including 37 films (20 features and 17 short films from 16 countries), along with a bevy of location-appropriate genre-themed parties, interactive events, and live experiences. This year, the festival will also fete director Roger Corman with their Master of Horror Award. The award “was established to honor a living legend who has contributed lasting innovations to the genre throughout a long career, inspiring new filmmakers for years to come.”
The fest is styled a 4-day celebration of horror that runs from April 24 – 30 at the historic Timberline Lodge located in Mt. Hood, Oregon, featured in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” as the location of the infamous Overlook Hotel. The new festival comes from some of the same minds behind the now-defunct Stanley Film Festival, a similar horror-themed gathering based in a hotel in Estes Park, Colorado that inspired Stephen King to write his 1977 “Shining” novel.
The fest is styled a 4-day celebration of horror that runs from April 24 – 30 at the historic Timberline Lodge located in Mt. Hood, Oregon, featured in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” as the location of the infamous Overlook Hotel. The new festival comes from some of the same minds behind the now-defunct Stanley Film Festival, a similar horror-themed gathering based in a hotel in Estes Park, Colorado that inspired Stephen King to write his 1977 “Shining” novel.
- 4/11/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Director Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) has worked in horror as a make-up effects technician and director for several years, now. His latest production is titled Kodoku: Meatball Machine. Set for a 2017 release in Japan, the film's first trailer is almost nothing but bloodshed. Litres of blood are used as strange monsters battle each others. Bullets fire from breasts and chainsaws eviscerate the slow. While there is no North American release date scheduled, fans of horror can take a look at Japan's take on horror, here. Kodoku: Meatball Machine is a sequel. It follows the 2005 film, Meatball Machine. Both films deal with Necroborgs. Created by alien parasites, they turn their host in a murderous man-machine. Eihi Shiina (Audition), Takumi Saitô (13 Assassins), Ami Tomit (Tag) and Maki Mizui star in this latest film. More details, including a trailer, are available below, for this shocking title. Release Date: 2017 (Theatrical, Japan). Director: Yoshihiro.
- 12/6/2016
- by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
Padraig Cotter Nov 18, 2016
From The Cabin In The Woods and Ghostbusters through to Pan's Labyrinth: the movie monsters that make a huge impression in their one scene.
Screen monsters come in all shapes and sizes, from the bizarre beauty of Giger’s Alien all the way through to the very human evil of Seven’s John Doe. Audiences have a strange relationship with these creatures, being both repelled and fascinated by them at the same time. This push/pull attraction has been going on since the birth of cinema, and it’s likely to continue for many years to come.
Sometimes the most enduring creatures are the ones that pop up, steal the movie and then swiftly exit stage left. It could be their unique design or the impact they have on the story, but for the monsters included here, all they needed was one scene to impact on our collective nightmares.
From The Cabin In The Woods and Ghostbusters through to Pan's Labyrinth: the movie monsters that make a huge impression in their one scene.
Screen monsters come in all shapes and sizes, from the bizarre beauty of Giger’s Alien all the way through to the very human evil of Seven’s John Doe. Audiences have a strange relationship with these creatures, being both repelled and fascinated by them at the same time. This push/pull attraction has been going on since the birth of cinema, and it’s likely to continue for many years to come.
Sometimes the most enduring creatures are the ones that pop up, steal the movie and then swiftly exit stage left. It could be their unique design or the impact they have on the story, but for the monsters included here, all they needed was one scene to impact on our collective nightmares.
- 11/2/2016
- Den of Geek
It was back in April that we shared the first teaser for Cho Jinseok's Japanese cyberpunk thriller Colonel Panics. Blessed with an array of high profile talent behind the scenes talent from the Japanese cult movie and video game scene - FX wizard Nishimura Yoshihiro (Tokyo Gore Police), producer Inoue Midori (Sakaguchi Tak's Re:Born), gaming veteran Watanabe Yun (The Evil Within) -this is clearly one for cult movie fans to keep an eye on. And now we follow with a better look at the picture in the form of a new poster and trailer for the film. This one is definitely from the underground and for the underground - mainstream audiences would be left with their heads spinning here - but if you're a part...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/27/2016
- Screen Anarchy
[Editor’s Note: Our own Scott Drebit will be hosting panels this weekend at the sixth annual Calgary Horror Con. Ahead of the three-day event, Scott caught up with the convention’s CEO and founder, Dan Doherty, to discuss what sparked his love of the genre, the convention’s origin, this year’s special guest lineup, and more.]
Dan, let’s start at the start. When did you first get into horror?
Dan Doherty: I’ve been into horror since I was a kid—I’m not sure of the exact age. For me, it was a way to test my bravery. I was bullied a bit growing up, and it was a way to test it from a safe distance. And then after a while, it just becomes an adrenaline rush; you immerse yourself in a good horror film, but there isn’t much that scares me these days other than public washrooms [laughs]. I can remember watching C.H.U.D. when I was fairly young, maybe ten, but I’m not sure if that was the first. All I know is that once I was introduced to horror, I was hooked.
That seems to be the case with pretty much everyone—once you’re in,...
Dan, let’s start at the start. When did you first get into horror?
Dan Doherty: I’ve been into horror since I was a kid—I’m not sure of the exact age. For me, it was a way to test my bravery. I was bullied a bit growing up, and it was a way to test it from a safe distance. And then after a while, it just becomes an adrenaline rush; you immerse yourself in a good horror film, but there isn’t much that scares me these days other than public washrooms [laughs]. I can remember watching C.H.U.D. when I was fairly young, maybe ten, but I’m not sure if that was the first. All I know is that once I was introduced to horror, I was hooked.
That seems to be the case with pretty much everyone—once you’re in,...
- 6/7/2016
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Though the upcoming Colonel Panics may be the directorial debut of Korean filmmaker Cho Jinseok there is an array of talent behind the cyberpunk thriller - that talent overwhelmingly from Japan, oddly enough - sure to attract the attention of regular Twitch readers. There's SFX wizard Nishimura Yoshihiro (Tokyo Gore Police), for one thing. There's producer Inoue Midori - currently hard at work on Sakaguchi Tak's Re:Born - for another. There's The Evil Within cinematics director Watanabe Yun moving over to film from the world of video games as art director. And so the list goes on for what appears to be a promising indie effort. The destinies of two men, one from the future and one from the past, become entwined as a malevolent...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/6/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Trimark Pictures
Unlike the Italians and the Japanese, the British don’t really have a reputation for throwing blood and guts at the screen. Every so often, a British filmmaker will unleash a picture like Frightmare or Hellraiser, but even those films don’t compare with Cannibal Holocaust and Tokyo Gore Police.
If you live in the UK and have a taste for gory nonsense, you have to look overseas to get your fix and maybe buy the Region 1 DVD, because if the British have shown an aptitude for anything, it’s for restricting the rights of people to watch what they want.
Lauded as the first splatter movie, Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast was listed as a Video Nasty, banned and (to the amusement of anyone who’s actually watched it) successfully prosecuted for obscenity. The film wasn’t passed uncut until 2005, 42 years after it was first shown, during...
Unlike the Italians and the Japanese, the British don’t really have a reputation for throwing blood and guts at the screen. Every so often, a British filmmaker will unleash a picture like Frightmare or Hellraiser, but even those films don’t compare with Cannibal Holocaust and Tokyo Gore Police.
If you live in the UK and have a taste for gory nonsense, you have to look overseas to get your fix and maybe buy the Region 1 DVD, because if the British have shown an aptitude for anything, it’s for restricting the rights of people to watch what they want.
Lauded as the first splatter movie, Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast was listed as a Video Nasty, banned and (to the amusement of anyone who’s actually watched it) successfully prosecuted for obscenity. The film wasn’t passed uncut until 2005, 42 years after it was first shown, during...
- 2/19/2016
- by Ian Watson
- Obsessed with Film
Guy Maddin with Kim Morgan in photo booth in Yves Montmayeur's The 1000 Eyes Of Dr Maddin
The director of Michael H - Profession: Director, the documentary about Michael Haneke which features Jean-Louis Trintignant, Susanne Lothar, Josef Bierbichler, Béatrice Dalle, Juliette Binoche, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert, is off to Beijing, Taipei and Tokyo. Yves Montmayeur has his sights on Shu Qi (Hou Hsiao-hsien's The Assassin), Michelle Yeoh and Cheng Pei-Pei (Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Zhao Wei (Ma Jingle and Dong Wei's Mulan: Rise Of A Warrior) and Eihi Shiina (Audition, Tokyo Gore Police) for his "new documentary film on 'Amazons in the Asian Pop Culture'! Or how Asian warrior women are dealing with martial arts and feminism."
The 1000 Eyes Of Dr Maddin director Yves Montmayeur Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
His latest film, The 1000 Eyes Of Dr Maddin, which stars Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Kenneth Anger, John Waters,...
The director of Michael H - Profession: Director, the documentary about Michael Haneke which features Jean-Louis Trintignant, Susanne Lothar, Josef Bierbichler, Béatrice Dalle, Juliette Binoche, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert, is off to Beijing, Taipei and Tokyo. Yves Montmayeur has his sights on Shu Qi (Hou Hsiao-hsien's The Assassin), Michelle Yeoh and Cheng Pei-Pei (Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Zhao Wei (Ma Jingle and Dong Wei's Mulan: Rise Of A Warrior) and Eihi Shiina (Audition, Tokyo Gore Police) for his "new documentary film on 'Amazons in the Asian Pop Culture'! Or how Asian warrior women are dealing with martial arts and feminism."
The 1000 Eyes Of Dr Maddin director Yves Montmayeur Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
His latest film, The 1000 Eyes Of Dr Maddin, which stars Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier, Kenneth Anger, John Waters,...
- 1/20/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Criterion adds Jellyfish Eyes to its collection, the directorial debut of prolific Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Known for his multi-faceted platforms of painting, sculpture, and a continual blending of media meant to push the boundaries of what defines notions of art, his 2013 debut is a psychedelic children’s adventure conveying significant messages as concerns social media, the environment, and human interaction. Having had his work featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles during a 2007-2009 retrospective, it’s perhaps no surprise Murakami premiered his film at Lacma (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) in 2013, before it spread to other venues and ultimately a limited theatrical release in the Us in July, 2015. Named by Time magazine in 2008 as one of the one hundred most influential people (the only visual artist to make this particular round) perhaps explains the high expectations and underwhelming critical response to his first cinematic effort.
- 12/8/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Attack on Titan Live Action Movie ReviewSTORY53%ACTING43%DIRECTING45%VISUALS67%The design of the TitansLast half hour of the filmDirectionActingInadequate adaptation2015-10-2552%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (3 Votes)48%
Based on the world-renowned franchise, the live-action edition of Attack on Titan was highly anticipated by fans all over the world and on a personal note, I was eager to watch what Yoshihiro Nishimura, the director of Tokyo Gore Police and a special effects magician could achieve with the depiction of the Titans. However, the fact that the initial director, Tetsuya Nakashima (Confessions), left the project due to artistic differences seemed like a negative, although not one to ruin the movie.
Ι won’t get into much details about the general concept, since I believe it is largely known; thus, here is what happens in the movie. Eren, Armin and Mikasa, frustrated by their constraint inside the wall, decide to secretly break loose.
Based on the world-renowned franchise, the live-action edition of Attack on Titan was highly anticipated by fans all over the world and on a personal note, I was eager to watch what Yoshihiro Nishimura, the director of Tokyo Gore Police and a special effects magician could achieve with the depiction of the Titans. However, the fact that the initial director, Tetsuya Nakashima (Confessions), left the project due to artistic differences seemed like a negative, although not one to ruin the movie.
Ι won’t get into much details about the general concept, since I believe it is largely known; thus, here is what happens in the movie. Eren, Armin and Mikasa, frustrated by their constraint inside the wall, decide to secretly break loose.
- 10/24/2015
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Where the f@ck do I even begin with Assassination Classroom, an anime/manga adaptation about a classroom of high-school-age assassins? It’s a film so absurd, that even when one of the main characters – an alien homeroom teacher who intends to destroy Earth – explains the plot rather coherently, another character takes over by immediately saying “That probably made no sense.” Then again, do other Japanese movies like Dead Sushi, Tokyo Gore Police, and Machine Girl make any sense? Welcome to one of the wildest cinematic genres around.
Assassination Classroom is an apocalyptic bit of J-pop mayhem that’s an underdog story at heart, but an alien invasion film in practice – among twenty billion other elements. How about we settle on “children have to defeat a giant smiley face before he eliminates humanity” and move on from there?
In Kunugigaoka Junior High School, the E-Class represent the lowest of the low.
Assassination Classroom is an apocalyptic bit of J-pop mayhem that’s an underdog story at heart, but an alien invasion film in practice – among twenty billion other elements. How about we settle on “children have to defeat a giant smiley face before he eliminates humanity” and move on from there?
In Kunugigaoka Junior High School, the E-Class represent the lowest of the low.
- 9/27/2015
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
Norman England started his career in the show business as a guitar and keyboard player for the New York based band Proper iD. In 1993 he moved permanently to Japan, where he began working as a journalist. In 1998 he spent a week on the set of George A. Romero’s TV commercial for the video game Resident Evil 2 and in 1999 became the Japan correspondent for Fangoria, a U.S magazine dedicated to horror, splatter and exploitation movies. As a journalist he has worked for a variety of magazines such as Hobby Japan, Japanzine, Flix, Japanese Giants, theJapanese Times, Eiga Hiho, e.t.c.
Since 1999, he has visited over 35 film sets in Japan, including The Grudge, Gamera 3 and the entire Godzilla Millennium series, with an extended stay for Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah, where he visited the set almost continuously from April to October of 2000.
With Asami and Rina Takeuchi
He has...
Since 1999, he has visited over 35 film sets in Japan, including The Grudge, Gamera 3 and the entire Godzilla Millennium series, with an extended stay for Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah, where he visited the set almost continuously from April to October of 2000.
With Asami and Rina Takeuchi
He has...
- 9/17/2015
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
20. Story of Ricky (Lik wong) – Starring Siu-Wong Fan as the titular character, Riki Oh, based on a manga series which eventually became an anime, marks the end of an era of Japanese exploitation flicks, before the new generation of filmmakers such as Takashi Miike took over. Unlike Miike’s movies, or other recent entries such as Tokyo Gore Police, Riki Oh’s tone borders on comedy, played up by bad voice dubbing, foolish plot lines, cartoonish gore and eccentric characters (including a one-eyed assistant warden with a hook for a hand). For a prison film, the movie never seems mean-spirited, and if anything it masquerades as a bizarre superhero flick. The effects are the main draw – Riki Oh exists simply to showcase several outlandish set pieces, ramping up the level of violence, gore and action with each new scene. Made before the days of CGI, director Lam relies simply on practical effects,...
- 9/2/2015
- by Staff
- SoundOnSight
The 19th Annual Fantasia Film Festival is only a week away, beginning July 14 and running through August 4. And as promised for today, they’ve revealed their full line-up of films screening at 2015’s festival in Montreal.
This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.
See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.
****
Fantasia 2015:
36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films
- Including 22 World Premieres,...
This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.
See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.
****
Fantasia 2015:
36 Countries, 135 Features, and Nearly 300 Short Films
- Including 22 World Premieres,...
- 7/7/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
For nearly two decades, Tokyo Gore Police helmer Yoshihiro Nishimura has been on the foreground of Japanese extreme cinema, both as a director and as a special makeup artist, gaining notoriety for his often hallucinatory FX work seen in such fest faves as Meatball Machine and Sion Sono’s Suicide Club. The Ninja War of Torakage marks a new path for Nishimura, as he blends the popular Japanese ninja genre with his crazy, visually driven style of filmmaking. The movie stars Takashi Miike regular Takumi Saitoh (13 Assassins, Ace Attorney) as the lead, with cult-actress Eihi Shiina (The Audition, Tokyo Gore Police) as Torakage’s evil master. Watch the trailer below.
The Ninja War of Torakage – Trailer [Vo] by Filmosphere
The post Watch the high-octane, mind-blowing trailer for ‘The Ninja War of Torakage’ appeared first on Sound On Sight.
The Ninja War of Torakage – Trailer [Vo] by Filmosphere
The post Watch the high-octane, mind-blowing trailer for ‘The Ninja War of Torakage’ appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 4/4/2015
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Tokyo Gore Police helmer Nishimura Yoshihiro appears to be taking a somewhat more reserved approach with his latest feature, The Ninja War Of Torakage with nary a geyser of blood to be found in the just released first trailer. And, you know, that may be a good thing. Because for fans of the extreme stuff the fact is that a more restrained Nishimura is still likely to be far crazier than most while for those who have been watching the man's work for a while now there has always been the suspicion that the crazy effects work has been obscuring and overshadowing the fact that the man's actually a gifted director in other areas if only those areas would be given the space to breath...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/2/2015
- Screen Anarchy
From the more obvious (Kick-Ass) and directly referenced (Trading Places) to early cinema classics (The Man With the Rubber Head) and weird obscure foreign flicks (Tokyo Gore Police), here's a dozen titles we recommend you now get to know.
"12 Movies to See After You Watch Kingsman: The Secret Service" was originally published on Film School Rejects for our wonderful readers to enjoy. It is not intended to be reproduced on other websites. If you aren't reading this in your favorite RSS reader or on Film School Rejects, you're being bamboozled. We hope you'll come find us and enjoy the best articles about movies, television and culture right from the source.
"12 Movies to See After You Watch Kingsman: The Secret Service" was originally published on Film School Rejects for our wonderful readers to enjoy. It is not intended to be reproduced on other websites. If you aren't reading this in your favorite RSS reader or on Film School Rejects, you're being bamboozled. We hope you'll come find us and enjoy the best articles about movies, television and culture right from the source.
- 2/13/2015
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Motel Hell is available now on Blu-ray. That information alone should be enough to send horror fans shrieking into the streets to party until the wee hours of the morning. And we here all want to get into the festivities as well.
To celebrate the release of Motel Hell on Blu-ray, we've compiled our Top 9 Chilling Chainsaw Kills. Of course this is in reference to the iconic chainsaw scene in the climax of the film. There was something simply unforgettable about Rory Calhoun wielding a ridiculously long chainsaw while wearing a pig head like a Halloween mask. Classic!
But before we get to our top horrific movie chainsaw kills, we have some honorable mentions to share with you. We've got to go way back to find some of the earliest on-screen chainsaw kills. We came up with Dark of the Sun (1968) and The Wizard of Gore (1970) for two of the first buzzsaw butcherings.
To celebrate the release of Motel Hell on Blu-ray, we've compiled our Top 9 Chilling Chainsaw Kills. Of course this is in reference to the iconic chainsaw scene in the climax of the film. There was something simply unforgettable about Rory Calhoun wielding a ridiculously long chainsaw while wearing a pig head like a Halloween mask. Classic!
But before we get to our top horrific movie chainsaw kills, we have some honorable mentions to share with you. We've got to go way back to find some of the earliest on-screen chainsaw kills. We came up with Dark of the Sun (1968) and The Wizard of Gore (1970) for two of the first buzzsaw butcherings.
- 8/12/2014
- by Scott Hallam
- DreadCentral.com
Boyhood, Schmoyhood. While some of my more distinguished film nerd compatriots may be waiting with rapt attention for Fantasia’s more ‘conventional’ offerings, my attention is fixed on the more unconventional fare: the anime, the kung fu, the movies that avoid classification all together. Fantasia isn’t Fantasia unless you’re watching something you almost certainly couldn’t see at most other festivals, and this year’s installment looks to have that in spades. Here some of my top picks from Fantasia 2014′s stellar line-up.
The Demon of the Lute
Directed by Lung Yat Sing
Hong Kong, 1983
As I learned during 2012′s screening of the Shaw Brothers classic Fist of the White Lotus, very few things in this world rock quite as hard as classic kung fu movies in glorious 35mm on a big screen. Digital projection may be well and good, but as old-school movie buffs know, the feeling of watching an aged,...
The Demon of the Lute
Directed by Lung Yat Sing
Hong Kong, 1983
As I learned during 2012′s screening of the Shaw Brothers classic Fist of the White Lotus, very few things in this world rock quite as hard as classic kung fu movies in glorious 35mm on a big screen. Digital projection may be well and good, but as old-school movie buffs know, the feeling of watching an aged,...
- 7/15/2014
- by Thomas O'Connor
- SoundOnSight
Stars: Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Shawn Yue, Xiaodong Guo, Barbie Hsu, Josie Ho | Written by Joey O’Bryan, Kam-Yuen Szeto | Directed by Pou-Soi Cheang
I don’t know what it is about cars in movies but they can be very entertaining. Be it The Fast and The Furious in its various forms, Driver or even The Italian Job the non-stop action of high-speed racing and chases has always been popular. Motorway (aka Che Sau) is a film that taps into this popularity and comfortably sites between Fast and Furious and Driver as a understatedly cool “cops and robbers” film that brings some brains to the car chase sub-genre.
When an overconfident rookie is confronted by a getaway driver who appears to be able to do impossible turns through the use of a unique drifting technique he seems to have found his match. Taking him under his wing his veteran partner teaches...
I don’t know what it is about cars in movies but they can be very entertaining. Be it The Fast and The Furious in its various forms, Driver or even The Italian Job the non-stop action of high-speed racing and chases has always been popular. Motorway (aka Che Sau) is a film that taps into this popularity and comfortably sites between Fast and Furious and Driver as a understatedly cool “cops and robbers” film that brings some brains to the car chase sub-genre.
When an overconfident rookie is confronted by a getaway driver who appears to be able to do impossible turns through the use of a unique drifting technique he seems to have found his match. Taking him under his wing his veteran partner teaches...
- 3/7/2014
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Next month we'll be heading to the wintry climes of Hokkaido, Japan for the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival, where this year Tokyo Gore Police director and splatter effects pioneer Nishimura Yoshihiro will be hosting a special event to discover and showcase new SFX talent - and he wants to see your work!This is not a competition, but a special one-off panel discussion between Nishimura, SFX director Onoue Katsuro (Onmyoji, The Floating Castle), kaiju creator Taguchi Kiyotaka (G, Henge, Gmk) and director Higuchi Shinji (Japan Sinks, The Last Princess), all of whom are currently working on the live-action special effects behemoth of hit anime Attack On Titan.During this discussion, these four filmmakers will be screening, discussing and evaluating clips of work from new and up-and-coming FX...
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[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 1/26/2014
- Screen Anarchy
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