Piece in Rue Morgue

I wrote a one-pager for the big 10th Anniversary Halloween issue of Rue Morgue Magazine (October, 2007) reviewing Teruo Ishii's Horrors of Malformed Men and Nobuo Nakagawa's Snake Woman's Curse, both recently released by Synapse. It's on page 100. So run down to your local well-stocked kiosk or big box bookstore and get your copy today!

Ebola Syndrome

Back when I was researching films for Asia Shock, I screened a couple of Category III classics by Hong Kong shockmeister Herman Yau, The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome. I wrote about the former, but not the latter, as I felt it was too similar. (In fact, due to the success of The Untold Story, a horrendous tale of a psychotic restaurateur selling human meat roast pork buns, the producers of Ebola Syndrome insisted the same gimmick be inserted into the script.) I'm happy to report that Diskotek has released the definitive DVD version of Ebola Syndrome (the Hong Kong disk I got left something to be desired transfer-wise and had no extras). So for all of you out there who enjoyed the lurid pleasures of The Untold Story, not only will you get more cannibalism schtick, but the great Anthony Wong is back and up to his heinous old tricks, robbing, killing and spreading Ebola everywhere he goes (he caught it when he raped a sick African villager). Of course he winds up in Hong Kong, gets a couple of hookers and soon all hell breaks loose -- cops in hazmat suits all around. Pretty outrageous flick, not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. Check it out, Sid.

MovieMaker Magazine digs Asia Shock

There's a nice review of Asia Shock in MovieMaker Magazine Issue #70. They don't put that stuff online, so you have to just go buy the mag.

EDIT: OK, I scanned the review for virtual posterity. BTW, while I appreciate the praise, I disagree that the films reviewed were merely the usual suspects. Take a look at this list and decide for yourself.

The H-Man

Finally got to see this gem of Toho weirdness from 1958. Once again, nuclear fallout has done nasty things, this time turning people into slime that can reconstitute into ghostly, green, glowing glob-men. Intermixed with the horror/sci-fi is a police procedural involving a yakuza gang, one of whose members is a very young Makoto Sato (above, right) in his film debut. The cops include kaiju/samurai regulars Akihiko Hirata and Yoshio Tsuchiya. Great flick, with all the creeping, existential dread of Matango (aka Attack of the Mushroom People) and dialog like this: "The high voltage discharge unit, once deployed, will stop liquid human infiltration upstream at these checkpoints." Unfortunately, dear reader, you will not be able to see The H-Man (aka Beauty and the Liquid Man) unless you're hooked into the Japanese film bootleg underground -- it's not available commercially, at least not yet. Shame that, as it's an absolute must-see for Toho fantasy film enthusiasts. Fortunately this blog is read by all the industry bigwigs, so I'm sure within weeks of this post Criterion, Image, Media Blasters, AnimEigo or some other outfit will be rushing this baby into production. Yeah, right after I turn to slime and drip down the walls of their corporate headquarters ...

Zatoichi '89

I recently screened Zatoichi (1989), the last film in the franchise, and I must say for all its flaws, it's still a great piece of matatabi-eiga entertainment. It's also a gory one. Good lord the blood flows in this film! In one sequence, a wicked yakuza boss is skewered by a dozen attackers and gives forth bursts of crimson gore to rival the mother of all blood spurts at the end of Kurosawa's Sanjuro (1962). Shintaro Katsu was in his late 50's when he made Zatoichi, but he's still got the moves, lopping off heads, arms, even noses with his flashing cane sword. There are also plenty of nods to past installments, the film providing a veritable checklist of series tropes and gags. Regrettably, you have to give your money to Tokyo Shock, but just hold your nose as you fork over the dough, knowing that you've got a solid piece of samurai entertainment that you can enjoy over and over again.

Two Reviews in Asian Reporter

Both of these film reviews were published in the June 12 Asian Reporter:

Satoshi Kon’s Paprika is an anime dream come true

Ping Pong — A manga movie with bounce

Ping Pong actually came out in 2002, but it's going to be playing at a theater in Portland, so they asked me to write it up. Fun manga flick.

Hanzo the manga

Those of you who've read my Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves: The Samurai Film Handbook may be familiar with the ourtragous Hanzo the Razor trilogy (1972 - 4). This trio of period exploitation films starring Shintaro Katsu follows the crime-fighing adventures of Itami Hanzo, the most well-endowed cop in Edo, who doesn't hesitate to use his massive member in the service of justice! The films were adapted from a manga by Kazuo Koike (creator of Lone Wolf and Cub and Lady Snowblood).

Anyhow, a friend in Australia recently sent me these images from the Kamisori Hanzo manga and I thought I'd share: