Tag: Japanese Cinema
Known as one of the most gruesome series of Japanese rape-revenge and torture films ever made, the All Night Long Series has long been associated with a sense of infamy. Consisting of six films written and directed by Katsuya Matsumura from 1992 to 2009, these films are known for their graphic portrayal of mutilation, torture,
Less based on and more inspired by themes of obsession explored in the acclaimed book of the same name by Kobo Abe, The Box Man (2024) marks the return of director Gakuryû Ishii after 2018’s Punk Samurai Slash Down. The story, or what semblance of narrative there is, follows a nameless man who lives in
Did you know Hideaki Anno, best known for Evangelion, has also tackled themes of inner turmoil and depression in live action? If you don’t, no one can blame you. It’s easy to associate Anno with mechas, apocalyptic imagery, and psychological breakdowns. But in his 1998 live-action debut Love & Pop, he trades in the esoteric
Wings of the Abyss is a 2025 Japanese crime thriller written and directed by Yuki Kobayashi. The director is known for the action thriller Kamikaze Cowboy (2015), the comedy-drama Death Row Family (2017), and the sci-fi action thriller Rise of the Machine Girls (2019). A young intern, Jin, who loves skateboarding, struggles to balance his
Neu Mirrors is a 2024 Japanese short horror film written and directed by Keishi Kondo. The film is a direct sequel to Keishi’s 2022 feature-length horror drama New Religion (2022), picking up moments after its explosive conclusion. There remain stories yet to be told after New Religion. It begins with Mizuki waking up in a
Village of Doom is a 1983 Japanese period crime thriller, written by Bo Nishimura and Takuya Nishioka, and directed by Noboru Tanaka. Primarily working as a Roman Porno director under Nikkatsu Studios, Tanaka began his directorial career with the softcore drama Beads from a Petal (1972) and continued to make many classic pieces of
Picking up after the vile incident of the fourth Senritsu Kaiki File, Kudo assembles his team once again to film paranormal activities and to… discover isekai? Yes, you heard that right. That’s just one of the surprises Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! File 05: True Story of the Ghost of Yotsuya has in store. Koji Shiraishi,
Regarded by many as Japan’s answer to Brigitte Bardot — both for her glamorousness and vaguely European looks (though, she wasn’t actually mixed-race) — Mari Atsumi became one of Japanese cinema’s most prominent sex symbols of the early 1970s. As the daughter of Daiei actors Susumu Atsumi and Reiko Wakamiya, she too joined the
Leon Tolstoy once wrote, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” While tragic, this notion works wonders in the horror and thriller genre. In fiction, the messier the family, the better the movie. It might not always succeed, but it certainly does in Toshikazu Nagae’s film Saiko! The
Dead Sushi is a 2012 Japanese splatter horror comedy film, written and directed by Noboru Iguchi, with additional writing from Makiko Iguchi and Jun Tsugita. Known for his over-the-top implementation of gore, comedy, and all-round silliness, Iguchi is known as the director behind such classics as The Machine Girl (2008), Robo-Geisha (2009), and Hentai Samurai