DVD Review: Shady – A Film By Ryohei Watanabe

 Watanabe manages to evoke the depression associated with being alone at school!

High school life is a daunting time for older teens, but in Shady director Ryohei Watanabe successfully illustrates how bad it can get. The loneliness aspect is a large issue in most Japanese movies about school life and this is a good example of how an isolated person can be influenced by someone else. Here Misa Kumada and Izumi Kiyone are two girls who share the same pain of being loathed and bullied but for different reasons. Misa is seen as an unattractive girl who is the subject of much hatred while Izumi is the pretty girl everyone wants to be and as a result envies.  Misa sits at her desk and hides her

DVD/Blu-ray Review: It’s A Beautiful Day (Kuso subarashii kono sekai)

An Asian/American horror film directed by Kayoko Asakura!

Set in California, It’s a Beautiful Day (‘Kuso subarashii kono sekai’), directed by Kayoko Asakura (‘Hide and Seek’), is an infusion of Asian and American horror with ample gory and brutal moments involving disfigurement that will gratify the most hardened splatter fan.

Ah-Jung, played by Kkobbi Kim, is a Korean student studying in America. She’s been invited by her Japanese friend Takako (Amagi Chika) to accompany her and a group of four other Japanese students on a trip to

Filmmaker Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Kuroneko) Dies Aged 100

Various tributes are expected to be held.

Kaneto Shindo, a prolific, much-honored scripter and helmer of films including “The Naked Island,” “Onibaba” and 2010’s WWII drama “Postcard,” died on Tuesday of age-related causes. He was 100.

Born in Hiroshima, Shindo joined the now extinct Shinko Kinema studio in 1934 as an apprentice film developer. The following year he

DVD Review: Helldriver – A J-Horror Film By Yoshihiro Nishimura

Warning: Review contains graphic images!

An outrageous, unshameful zombie romp!

Helldriver is a trip back into the extreme world of Yoshihiro Nishimura of Tokyo Gore Police fame and many other insanely named films. It’s the latest in a subgenre of horror flicks known as Splatter, of which the Japanese are, arguably, the forerunners of producing in high quantity – if not quality, although, the Sushi Typhoon brand in particular does them very well, which is evident in part with this film.

Japan is thrown into chaos when a mysterious gas cloud not from this world falls over the Northern provinces, turning the population into

DVD Review: TOMIE Unlimited – A J-Horror Film By Noboru Iguchi

Warning: Review contains graphic images!

The film’s strength lies within its absurdities.

The Cronenberg-style horror flick, TOMIE Unlimited, is the ninth, and nastiest, entry in the film series based on a popular manga by Junji Ito. Renowned for directing AV (Adult Video) and action/horror films on a meagre budget, Noboru Iguchi, true to form, delivers a totally in-your-face splatterfest that is rife with buckets of blood and dismembered bodies.

Schoolgirl Tsukiko (Moe Arai) is a photography enthusiast with an inferiority complex caused by the jealousy she has towards her