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As we have mentioned before, one of the most appealing ‘innovations’ the horror genre has seen during the last decades is its connection with intense sociopolitical commentary. Joko Anwar, in a film that was inspired by his own homonymous short of 2012 (an omnibus where Noboru Iguchi and Erik Matti are also mentioned as directors), achieves just that, to the highest degree. Let us take things from the beginning though.

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Sita and Adil are two adolescent siblings who live and work with their parents, who operate a family bakery. Although they face intense competition from the Western franchises that have landed in Indonesia, the family continues to make a living and are in general quite happy. One day though, both of the parents are killed in a suicide bombing, with the assailant being driven to his deed by the concept of grave torture,...

Discotek Media announced a new slate of licenses at their Discotek Media Industry Extravaganza panel at Otakon 2024 today, including new releases of MxC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (the recut series of Takeshi's Castle which aired on Tnn/Spike TV), Gto: Great Teacher Onizuka , the live-action Ouran High School Host Club movie and more. Announcements made during the panel and stream are in alphabetical order. Android Kikaider : 43-episode Blu-ray release of the tokusatsu series in Japanese with English subtitles. Extras include a Daisuke Ban interview, vintage Hawaii stage event and retrospective video. Scheduled to release in 2024. Captain Harlock: Space Pirate : 42 episode Blu-ray release in upscaled 1080p of Leiji Matsumoto's classic series in Japanese with English subtitles. Scheduled to release in September 2024. Chie the Brat 2nd TV Series : First US release of the second Chie the Brat TV series, featuring all 39 episodes on Sd-bd in Japanese with English subtitles.

Whereas splatter movies wield gore and carnage like a weapon to evoke a visceral response, splatter comedies push the onscreen violence and gore into outlandish territory for the sake of a hearty laugh. Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi, for example, began their filmmaking careers defining the modern splatter comedy with their early works, pushing the boundaries of taste, horror, and humor through cartoonish bloodletting.

This week brings the arrival of a new splatter-comedy, Destroy All Neighbors, presenting the perfect excuse to laugh your way through the excess entrails and arterial spray the niche subgenre has to offer. These five splatter comedies vary in style and tone, but all seek to tickle your funny bone through humor, fun, and a whole lot of guts.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Blood Diner – The Roku Channel

Before becoming a standalone film,...

by Palomo Lin-Linares

Mangaka Shuzo Oshimi tells of an episode from his youth in which he hid in a unisex bathroom with a mirror (his intentions were obvious). More specifically, he tells of the tight-chestedness he experienced upon realizing the distastefulness of his actions, and the feeling of shame which soon followed. This embarrassing anecdote, which inspired “The Flowers of Evil,” is told in the afterword of the manga's first volume. This sincerity on the part of Oshimi, his dedication to laying bare any source of shame, gives his work the feeling that all the events have been lived, and are being recreated by the author with nothing but accuracy and candidness in mind. This honesty is what elevates “The Flowers of Evil” beyond your average daytime drama or angsty serial, into something far more heartfelt, yet still perverted.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

The story,...

Noboru Iguchi is a director and screenwriter. He was born in 1969 and he began his career in the 1990s as a director of porno films. His “Kurushime-san” of 1997, which combined horror and black comedy, revealed his interest in extreme genre cinema. The titles of his next films confirmed this passion – his filmography contains “A Larva to Love”, “Cat-Eyed Boy”, the famous “The Machine Girl” about a girl with an arm replaced with a machine gun, “Zombie Ass” and “Karate-Robo Zaborgar”. Starting with “Flowers of Evil” his filmography started taking a more “serious” turn, although the extremity never abandoned a filmmaker that now counts more than 70 titles as a director.

On the occasion of the release of his two latest films, “Tales of Bliss and Heresy” and “Idol Never Dies”, we speak with him about his personal trauma, the messages he wanted to convey, idols, Bataille, and many other topics.

“Tales...

Combining the horrific with the grotesque and the sensual in order to both entertain and to present various comments in extreme fashion has always been one of the knacks of Japanese cinema, with filmmakers like Takashi Miike, Sion Sono and Tetsuya Mariko among others having thrived in this approach repeatedly. Noboru Iguchi proves that he is also a member of the “group”, with his latest work “Tales of Bliss and Heresy” an omnibus of three different parts.

“Tales of Bliss and Heresy” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

The first one is titled “Painful Shadows” and focuses on the interactions between two office workers, a man and a woman, with the former being the higher up. His behavior, however, is creepy to say the least, since he peeks on his colleague, makes snide comments about her writing, and even teases her regarding food. It turns out, though,...

If the new release slate is any indication, this Halloween season will be massive for horror. That doesn’t even begin to cover the library title additions to the plethora of streaming services available.

September brings home brand new releases, underseen classics, wacky cult gems, and more to add to your Halloween viewing watchlists.

Here are ten noteworthy horror titles available for streaming in September 2022 on some of the most popular streaming services, along with when/where you can watch them.

The Ring Two (Extended Version) – September 1 (HBO Max)

The Naomi Watts-starring remake of Goodnight Mommy is headed to Prime Video on September 16. Ahead of its debut, catch up with Watts in the sequel to the 2002 remake, The Ring. The Ring Two picks up months after the first film’s events, with Samara again targeting Rachel’s son. HBO Max offers the extended cut of this sequel.

We’re All Going to The World’s Fair...

*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...

“Did you eat yet?”

It’s an all-too-common question — a greeting, a worry, a substitute for the words “I love you.” Food is incredibly personal. On one hand, it’s a sign of affection, of family, of community; on the other, it sets apart cliques, the poor, the exotic. From lunch breaks to late-night snacks, food proves time and time again that it is more than just sustenance. It structures our very lives.

So we too welcome you to sit down and take a breather from your day-to-day. Nourish yourself. Feast your eyes. Today’s menu includes ramen westerns and fried chicken ponzi schemes, irresistible dosa and roast duck wars. Just make sure to grab a bite first… you’ll thank us later after you get through this mouthwatering list!

1. Tampopo

“Tampopo” is a very entertaining film about the necessity of enjoyment in our lives, a celebration of the art...

One of the most prominent names in the Japanese underground splatter scene, Noboru Iguchi has made a living being involved with films featuring plenty of extreme gore and wild exploitation elements. Working well within his means on this latest project, he surrounds himself with familiar faces as well as popular exploitation-friendly names to craft a fun and wild offering.

Trying to appease her grandfather, aspiring sushi chef Keiko (Rina Takeda) bows under the pressure and eventually leaves her training and takes a job from Yumi (Asami) at a high-class hotel. Finding no more respect from her peers or the customers there either, her attitude about how the preparation differs from her training gets her in trouble with the rest of her employees. While attempting to figure out what to do with her life, a curse uttered on the food by a distempered ex-employee suddenly turns the fish into voracious flesh-eating beings,...

Noboru Iguchi is a director and screenwriter. He was born in 1969 and he began his career in the 1990s as a director of porno films. His “Kurushime-san” of 1997, which combined horror and black comedy, revealed his interest in extreme genre cinema. The titles of his next films confirmed this passion – his filmography contains “A Larva to Love”, “Cat-Eyed Boy”, the famous “The Machine Girl” about a girl with an arm replaced with a machine gun, “Zombie Ass” and “Karate-Robo Zaborgar” presented at Five Flavours fifth edition. “Flowers of Evil” is his latest film.

One the occasion of the international premiere of “Flowers of Evil” at Five Flavours, we speak with him about the change of his filmmaking style, Baudelaire, Tanizaki, the concept of the hentai, and many other topics.

During the latest years and particularly your last two films, you have made a change to your style of filmmaking. How did this change occur?...

Based on the manga from Shūzō Oshimi, “Flowers of Evil” follows a young student named Takao. After stealing the gym clothes of his crush, a troubled student, Sawa witnesses the act and blackmails him. The two forge a contract which leaves Takao at the mercy of Sawa’s outbursts and bizarre requests.

“Flowers of Evil” is screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

After suffering at the hands of Sawa and her requests, Takao starts to grow an odd fascination for the girl, and he begins to develop romantic feelings for her. The two plot a grand statement to show the town of “s***-bugs” the dark underbelly of their quaint existence. The film follows Takao’s journey with Sawa, as well as his life struggling with the memories after they part ways.

To preface the review, I will admit bias within the title of “Flowers of Evil”, since the...

International premiere of “Flowers of Evil”, Hong Kong “Fagara” as the opening film, and Japanese “Bone Born Bone” at the closure of Five Flavours 13th edition!

This year, as always, the festival will provide an opportunity to discover original voices of young and recognized directors from South Korea, Bhutan, Thailand or Vietnam. We will explore the charms and ills of Japanese peripheries: its harbour cities, outskirts and marginal territories. We will watch films highly appreciated by festival juries. Special consideration will be given to Hong Kong which today is experiencing a serious political crisis: our guest will be Fruit Chan, a star of its independent cinema. However, the Programme has also a place for juicy genre cinema: horror, action, perverse comedies are an ideal remedy for the November weather in Warsaw.

Here is the Programme in its strands:

New Asian Cinema

Like every year the competition section presents challenging, daring films,...

One of the most important Japanese exploitation efforts, Noboru Iguchi’s seminal “Machine Girl” still remains today a standout example of the explosion of crazy, over-the-top films that were part of a beloved crop of cult films from that time. Now, nearly a decade later, Iguchi steps back to instead produce a reboot of this film with up-and-coming director Yûki Kobayashi, now screening at the 2019 edition of Camera Japan.

“Rise of the Machine Girls” is now screening at Camera Japan:

Living in the lawless Ishinari District in a future Japan, sisters Ami (Hina Nagimiya) and Yoshie (Hanakage Kanon) who sold their bodies to help their parents, try to earn a living performing as an idol group in the area. When their performance causes stranger Matsukata (Tak Sakaguchi) a notorious hitman, to notice their condition, the three realize their worth to each other in the fight against Aoyama Dharma (Kimono Negishi...

Japanese director Yuki Koboyashi (“Death Row Family”) has completed production on his latest project “Rise of the Machine Girls”. The film is touted as an outlandish reboot to the cult hit ” The Machine Girl” by director Noboru Iguchi.

“Rise of the Machine Girls” is currently set to be released on November 22, 2019. Nikkatsu has provided an International trailer in anticipation of the films release, which can be viewed below.

Synopsis

“Ami and her sister Yoshie are scraping by doing fight shows when Yoshie is captured by female killing machines during a surprise attack on a black market organ-trafficking ring. Going to her sister’s rescue, Ami has her left arm severed but attaches a machine gun to the stump and charges into the enemy’s lair – only to find Yoshie has been transformed into a human cyborg programmed to kill her.”...

Director Noboru Iguchi best known for his over the top, practical effect showcases such as “Slaveman“, “Ghost Squad” and “The Machine Girl”, has completed production on his most recent feature “Flowers of Evil”. The production is an adaptation of the manga of the same title by Shuzo Oshimi. The twisted coming of age tale was previously adapted into an anime in 2013.

“Flowers of Evil” is set to release on September 27th, 2019 in Japan. A trailer for the production has been made available and can be viewed below.

Synopsis

Bookworm Takao falls in love with Nanako, but he cannot express his feelings through words. Instead he secretively acts out in a heat of passion which creates a huge scandal in his school. There is one person who knows his true nature, and this girl will do anything to nurture what this Charles Baudelaire hides. (AnimeNewsNetwork)...

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...

One of the undisputed masters of the J-splatter scene, Noboru Iguchi has either worked on or for most of the modern classics of the genre, in a career dating back to the mid-1990s. Now presenting his new effort, a loose follow-up of sorts to his earlier film ‘Devotion to Cinema,’ this is being screened at Japan Film Fest Hamburg.

Ghost Squad is screening at Japan Film Fest Hamburg

Living with an abusive father, young Rika (Anna Yanagi) finds herself struggling to keep from committing suicide as she continually has visions of strange ghosts around her. Eventually she meets up with Keiko (Sumire Ueno) and Akari (Minori Mikado) who are both ghosts themselves, and let her know that they have revealed themselves to her in order to help them get revenge on their killers who are still free living on Earth. When she finds out her friend Yoshie (Yuni Hong...

One of the latest trends in world cinema is the “Greek Weird Wave”, with films like “Dogtooth” and “Attenberg,” that take reality and push it to its borders, occasionally surpassing the lines of surrealism. Regarding weirdness however, if Greece has a wave, Japan has a tsunami, and has been having one for decades now. With films like “Robo Geisha” and “Dead Sushi”, Noboru Iguchi is a definite member of the genre, and his latest movie, “Slavemen” is a testament to the fact, as it takes the concept of the “masked hero” to its most extreme, despite the fact that gore is totally absent from this film.

Yasuyuki is a true loser. He aspires to become a filmmaker, but is only a cleaner, spending his days mopping floors, and living with his somewhat abusive sister. Nothing seems to improve his life, and things become even worse when, one day at work,...

The film is a remake of Noboru Iguchi’s cult action thriller The Machine Girl.

Japan’s Nikkatsu is launching sales at Filmart on Rise Of The Machine Girls, a remake of Noboru Iguchi’s cult action feature The Machine Girl.

Directed by Yuki Kobayashi (Death Row Family), the new film stars Himena Tsukimiya, Kanon Hanakage and Tak. It is produced by Yoshinori Chiba, who also produced Iguchi’s 2008 original, and Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police).

In the new version, Ami and her sister Yoshie are scraping by doing fight shows when Yoshie is captured by female killing machines during...

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...

J-Splatter aficionado Noboru Iguchi (Robogeisha, Dead Sushi, Mutant Girl Sqaud, Machine Girl) is back with his special brand of J-horror what the fuckery in a new film called Ghost Squad. As with any of his films, and let's face it all films of this horror sub-genre, the premise is going to be a simple one. In Ghost Squad a group of girls killed by evil boys and they come back from hell and fight as a Ghost Squad to get revenge! There you have it.  Iguchi has gone deep into the talent pool for this one, employing the talents of musical act Nomakes to be his lead girls. I have included a music video of theirs below, the most recent one after the group became...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Stars: Yoshihiro Nishimura, Naoto Takenaka, Asami, Takumi Saito | Written and Directed by Noboru Iguchi

To help them achieve their goal of taking over the world, a megalomaniac Japanese businessman and his son recruit a vicious gang of Geisha assassins. These include two feisty sisters with an amazing range of surgically added weapons. But when one of these Robo-Geishas refuses to kill an innocent group of ex-employees, its butt-blades versus wig napalm and machine breasts against killer-cleaver socks as the assassins take on the Geisha’s in one of the most mind-bending movie battles of all time.

RoboGeisha is the latest in a long line of bizarre, Ott cult movies from Japan, a film whose trailer went down a storm when it debuted online back in the day. Available on DVD courtesy of Cine Asia, can it live up to the hype and the anticipation built by the rumoured craziness within?...

Exclusive: Omnibus film was inspired by a Japanese punk band.

Japanese studio Nikkatsu has picked up international rights to omnibus film The Blue Hearts, comprising six short films inspired by the music of the iconic Japanese punk band of the same name.

The six directors contributing shorts include Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge), Ken Iizuka, Shinichi Kudo, Ten Shimoyama, Noboru Iguchi and Lee Sang-il. Cast includes Masatoshi Nagase (Mystery Train) who stars in Kudo’s segment, Frozen Expectation.

Active from 1985 to 1995, The Blue Hearts have been compared to Western bands such as the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. Some of their songs were covered in Nobuhiro Yamashita’s 2005 indie hit Linda Linda Linda.

An incomplete version of The Blue Hearts omnibus film was screened at this year’s Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival.

Nikkastu’s Cannes slate also includes Roman Porno Reboot, a series of five features from leading Japanese directors inspired by the Roman Porno genre, and Kazuya Shiraishi...

These Predator Plushies from Kidrobot’s Predator Plush Phunny Collection don’t bleed and don’t have camouflaging abilities, but they are available now for purchase. Also in today’s Horror Highlights: a new clip from Tale of Tales starring Salma Hayek and a GoFundMe to help rebuild Yuya Ishikawa’s fire-damaged bar.

Kidrobot’s Predator Plush Phunny Collection: From Kidrobot: “The highly anticipated Predator Plush Phunny collection is now available for purchase from Kidrobot.

Masked Predator: Nothing like the earth has seen before. Kidrobot’s Masked Predator Phunny is looking to fill its lust…for hugs! Grab one today and let the hunt begin!

Angry Predator: Angry Predator sees you and your fear. Kidrobot’s unmasked Angry Predator Phunny strikes fear with open mandibles! It’s protective of his prize…your hugs. Get one today or you’ll be in a world of hurt!

Dutch: If it bleeds, we can kill it.

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...

The Sitges Film Festival is typically a feast for horror fans, and this year's event looks to be no different as a big batch of new genre movies has been added to the lineup that's sure to make you drool.

From the Press Release:

The 47th Sitges Film Festival, to be held from 3 to 12 October, will be loaded with films that are all eagerly awaited by fantastic and, especially, horror genre film lovers. Festival Director Àngel Sala has announced the names of a good handful of new films that will be included in Sitges 2014.

These new Festival incorporations have been added to the lineup of an edition that will be opening with Jaume Balagueró’s [Rec] 4: Apocalypse, presenting its Grand Honorary Award to Roland Emmerich, and including presentations of the latest productions from important directors like Jean-Luc Godard, David Cronenberg, Kim-ki Duk, and Takashi Miike. See more details on those...

It’s that time of year again, Summer is coming to an end and before you know it, Austin’s Fantastic Fest 2014 will be here. This year is the 10th anniversary of the festival. However, as of now, many people are unsure if it will return to South Lamar where it has taken place every year with exception of 2013. The South Lamar location closed in the Winter of 2012 and the land has gone through redevelopment. We have word via Twitter that it will be at S. Lamar but we won’t know for sure until the announcement is made.

While we still are waiting on the official announcement of the opening night film and all the waves of programming, like every year, we wanted to get our predictions for what may play at the festival out of the way. There is really no way of picking every film that could play the festival.

The Weekend Watch is an open thread where you can share what you’ve recently watched, offer suggestions on movies and TV shows we should check out (or warnings about stuff to avoid) and discover queue-filling goodies from other Fsr readers. The comments section awaits. I’ll get the ball rolling with the movies/TV my eyeballs took in this weekend. I’ve been in Montreal for the past several days attending the Fantasia Film Fest so my viewings have been limited mostly to festival titles. My ongoing coverage includes reviews of the latest from Japanese bad boy directors Takashi Miike and Noboru Iguchi, new films starring Samuel L. Jackson and Charlotte Gainsbourg, a Korean drama about a family of spies and probably the best horror comedy you’ll ever see about carnivorous undead beavers. As of this moment I’ve seen six other titles that I have yet to review. Zombie...

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,...

Montreal-based genre festival to screen over 160 films at its 18th edition, which runs July 17-Aug 6.

Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 18th edition, which takes place in Montreal from July 17-Aug 6.

Along with those previously announced in the first two waves, this year’s festival will also host the world premieres of Gun Ho Jang’s Heavenly Sword, Simon Boisvert’s Bold & Brash: Filmmaking Boisvert Style, Nick Szostakiwskyj’s Black Mountain Side, Maude Michaud’s Dys-, Chad Archibald & Matt Wiele’s Ejecta and LeRoy McCoy’s McCoy the Space Cowboy.

As previously announced, Jacky in the Kingdom of Women and Welcome to New York bookend this year’s festival.

Strands

Jonas Alexander Amby’s Cannes title When Animals Dream will receive its North American premiere as part of the festival’s Camera Lucida strand, which will also screen the likes of Josephine Decker’s Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and the North...

Following previous announcements of their film lineup, the Fantasia International Film Festival has released their full lineup of movies to be shown at the 18th Annual festival, starting July 17.

New additions to the lineup include 2014 Cannes Selection When Animals Dream, directed by Jonas Alexander Amby and the return of Fantasia’s showcase of animated films, Axis.

Tickets for the festival go on sale starting July 16, and the festival runs through August 5.

View the whole press release of additional announcements below:

Fantasia Celebrates Its 18th Birthday

With Over 160 Feature Films Montreal, Thursday July 10, 2014 – 2014 is the year that Fantasia turns 18. We can’t believe it either. Fantasia’s 18th birthday means over 160 features and something in the neighborhood of 300 shorts, many being shown for the first time on this continent, a good number screening here for the first time anywhere in the world.In addition to being stacked with a multitude of breathtaking debut filmmaker discoveries,...

The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival will be taking place once again in Montreal and the first wave of programming has been announced, revealing an eclectic mix of genre films from around the world:

“Montreal, June 19, 2014 – The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and excitement starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. Our full 2014 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime, here’s an early First Wave Announcement of several selected highlights and info to whet your appetite.

Unveiling Our 2014 Poster Art: Fantasia Pays Tribute To Three Legendary Figures Of The Fantastic

On May 7 of last year, Ray Harryhausen, filmmaker and stop-motion special effects pioneer, passed away at the age of 92. Mr. Harryhausen created some of the most beloved and innovative fantastic film imagery of all time in such classics as The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad...

The grandaddy of all film fests, Fantasia 2014, is set to kick off on July 17th, and we have this year's artwork to share along with the first wave of event and film announcements.

From the Press Release:

The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and excitement starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. Our full 2014 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime here’s an early First Wave Announcement of several selected highlights and info to whet your appetite.

For this year’s edition and onwards, Fantasia will be returning to the freshly renovated Concordia Hall Cinema as its main base, which now features an even larger screen, new seating, and upgraded projection and sound.

Unveiling Our 2014 Poster Art: Fantasia Pays Tribute To Three Legendary Figures Of The Fantastic

On May 7 of last year,...

Genre festival to open with Jacky in the Kingdom of Women [pictured]; other titles include Guardians of the Galaxy, Boyhood, The Harvest and Suburban Gothic.

Riad Sattouf’s Jacky in the Kingdom of Women will receive its Canadian premiere as the opening film of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

The Montreal-based genre festival runs July 17-Aug 5 and has also announced it will hold a special screening of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Other first wave announcements include six world premieres: Leo Gabriadze’s Cybernatural; Jean Luc Herbulot’s Dealer; Aik Karapetian’s The Man in the Orange Jacket; Sarah Adina Smith’s The Midnight Swim; Dan Bush’s The Reconstruction of William Zero; and Richard Bates Jr’s Suburban Gothic.

Fantasia has also announced six international premieres, including John McNaughton’s The Harvest and Park Jae-hyun’s The Huntresses, and ten Canadian premieres such as The Mo Brothers’ Killers and Mike Cahill’s I Origins.

Richard Linklater’s critically...

It is that time of the year again in which we start preparing for our favourite film festival in the world. For the unfamiliar, Sound On Sight has delivered some of the best coverage of the Fantasia Film Festival since we first launched back in 2008. In the past we’ve published up to 55 reviews, dozens of features and recorded six podcasts dedicated entirely to the three and a half week long event. So be sure to come visit us again and again throughout the months of July and August, as we will surely be all over the 2014 edition. The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is taking Montreal by storm, starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. They’ve just released their new poster and along with the first wave of films, and as expected, Fantasia’s programmers aren’t disappointing. Here’s the press release. Enjoy!

****

Montreal, June 19, 2014 – The 18th annual Fantasia...

If there's anything you can confidently state about director Noboru Iguchi (Machine Girl, Dead Sushi), it's that virtually nothing is off-limits to his imagination. That tradition of nonstop anything-goes insanity continues in his latest epic Nuigulumar Z, also known as Gothic Lolita Battle Bear.     Based on the book by pop singer Kenji Ohtsuki, the film stars prolific anime voice actor Shôko Nakagawa as Dameko, a Gothic Lolita cosplay enthusiast with an anime-inspired superpower: she can merge bodies with her talking (and farting) teddy bear Buusuke to form a super-cute but totally lethal pink fur-trimmed warrior. The film finds our heroine clashing with alien supervillain Takeshi, his murderous sidekick Kill Billy, and over a hundred zombies.     After a well-received screening at the Stockholm Film Festival last Fall, Nuigulumar Z is headed for worldwide distribution later this year. Check out the adorably brutal trailer below!  

 ...

After what seemed an eternity, the full trailer for Noboru Iguchi’s (‘Robo Geisha,’ ‘Dead Sushi,’ ‘Zombie Ass’) has arrived. Worth the wait? That’s a big hell yes, a Zombie apocalypse has never looked so... chintzy? Right down to the fluffy white Nunchucks. Iguchi’s done it again. Check out the fun on the newly revamped official site. Battle Bear official site...

After what seemed an eternity, the full trailer for Noboru Iguchi’s (‘Robo Geisha,’ ‘Dead Sushi,’ ‘Zombie Ass’) has arrived. Worth the wait? That’s a big hell yes, a Zombie apocalypse has never looked so... chintzy? Right down to the fluffy white Nunchucks. Iguchi’s done it again. Check out the fun on the newly revamped official site. Battle Bear official site...

The big news this week, that you have no doubt heard by now, is that Netflix has partnered up with Marvel Studios to bring us no less than four exclusive series’ based on their characters in 2015. Those characters are Daredevil (which I always thought would work better on TV), Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.

Now, Iron Fist was in development for years as a film so they have a head start but I would have liked to have seen Luke Cage on the big screen and I am only vaguely familiar with Jessica Jones. The intention is that each of them will have their own 13 episode run before teaming up in a Defenders mini-series.

So what does this mean for Netflix? This is an epic win basically and means that regardless of exclusives or new content over the next year, they are going to remain in the game...

One thing you can say about some of the Japanese horror makers is they are great at attention grabbing film titles. Noboru Iguchis (Machine Girl RoboGeisha) Zombie Ass Toilet of the Dead grabs attention but the trailer is a bit boring. Maybe thats because its not subtitled. i still love the title Big Tits Zombie just saying. Director Noboru Iguchi Writers Noboru Iguchi (screenplay) Tadayoshi Kubo (story) Stars Arisa Nakamura Mayu Sugano Asana Mamoru...

Zombie Ass: it's the other, other white meat. Yeah, the flick has been around for a while now, but it hasn't landed distribution yet. Maybe it'll have some luck at this year's Afm. Check out the sales art.

From director Noboru Iguchi (RoboGeisha, Machine Girl) comes the most asstastic undead feature film yet - Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead!

We are going to flush you!

Synopsis

Wracked with guilt over the suicide of her sister Ai, who was tormented by high school bullies, pretty young karate student Megu accompanies a group of older friends on a camping trip into the woods: smart girl Aya, her druggie boyfriend Také, big-boobed model Maki, and nerdy Naoi. Things start to go badly when Maki finds a parasitical worm inside a fish they catch - and wolfs it down alive, in the hope that it'll help keep her skinny!

Soon after, and not...

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave to open festival; director Peter Greenaway to receive Visionary Award.Scroll down for full line-up

Steve McQueen’s historic drama 12 Years a Slave is to open the Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 6-17) and is nominated in the Stockholm Xxiv Competition.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, the drama about free black man kidnapped from his family and sold into slavery in the 1850s debuted at Telluride and has received positive reactions throughout its festival tour of Toronto, New York and London among others.

It will be released in Sweden on Dec 20 by Ab Svensk Filmindustri.

Screenwriter John Ridley, who will be present during the festival, is nominated for the Aluminum Horse in the category Best Script.

McQueen’s Hunger won Best Directorial Debut at Stockholm in 2008.

Line-up

The 24th Siff includes more than 180 films from more than 50 countries.

As previously announced, the spotlight of this year’s festival is freedom but Chinese artist...

Stars: Rina Takeda, Kentarô Shimazu, Takamasa Suga, Takashi Nishina, Asami, Yui Murata | Written and Directed by Noboru Iguchi

This Japanese film, directed by Noboru Iguchi (Tokyo Gore Police, Robo-Geisha), is one of those films that is unique to its region. It blends action, comedy and horror with splatter gore and over-the-top sequences to creature a truly distinctive concept.

It’s a love or hate thing, some might say. The whole way in which films like Dead Sushi, and others like it, are done will certainly bring conversation to the table. The performances often border on ridiculous but have a particular and peculiar charm to them that will divide opinions depending on whether or not this type of movie is “for you”.

Dead Sushi follows a girl, who is skilled in kung-fu by the way, who is also the daughter of a sushi-chef. She finds the expectations placed upon her too...

My friend and colleague Peter K once wrote a paper on the question of cultural difference, and how that translates when one watches a film from a different country. Can we really understand all the nuances of films that come from a cultural understanding, and perhaps most importantly, sense of humour, so different from our own? This always comes to mind when watching films from Japan, especially when they are like Noboru Iguchi's  Dead Sushi. I won't pretend to understand even half of what's going on; but it's about the journey, and this film is one hell of a fun journey. Monster Pictures have released a DVD in the UK, with some fine extras.The premise is a little convoluted, but not too important, as it...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Review Dan Auty 23 Sep 2013 - 06:38

Japanese splatter comedy shogun Noboru Iguchi returns with killer food horror, Dead Sushi. Here's Dan's review of a proudly idiotic film...

One of the first rules of exploitation filmmaking is that if you find something that works - ie. makes money - then keep doing it. This is certainly the principle that has guided Noboru Iguchi for the past five years. The former porn director achieved international success in 2008 with his splatter comedy Machine Girl and has continued to make films in much the same vein - RoboGeisha, Zombie Ass, Karate-Robo Zaborgar and so on - all ridiculous, loud, gaudy and cheap. They are also made with the overseas market very much in mind, delivering a form of exaggerated entertainment that both satirises and embraces the various stereotypes that exist about Japanese comedy.

Dead Sushi is Iguchi's latest opus, and it very much sticks to the formula.

It's been a little too sane around here lately, so it's time to spice things up a bit with a little Dead Sushi. Noboru Iguchi, the near legendry director of classic Japanese splatter-fests RoboGeisha, The Machine Girl and Mutant Girls Squad, went back behind the camera in 2012 to direct the deliriously deranged Dead Sushi, a bizarre new movie inspired by the likes of Piranha 3D and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Iguchi's last picture was the equally bizarre F is for Fart, a juvenile short film that brought light relief (and light release) to the hit and miss horror anthology, The ABCs of Death. You can check out the official website just here and the glorious trailer at the link below. Starring Rina Takeda( High-Kick Girl!), Shigeru Matsuzaki (Space Adventure Cobra) and Kentaro Shimazu (The Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police), Dead Sushi arrives on U.K. DVD September 23rd 2013. Now...

It's been a little too sane around here lately, so it's time to spice things up a bit with a little Dead Sushi. Noboru Iguchi, the near legendry director of classic Japanese splatter-fests RoboGeisha, The Machine Girl and Mutant Girls Squad, went back behind the camera in 2012 to direct the deliriously deranged Dead Sushi, a bizarre new movie inspired by the likes of Piranha 3D and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Iguchi's last picture was the equally bizarre F is for Fart, a juvenile short film that brought light relief (and light release) to the hit and miss horror anthology, The ABCs of Death. You can check out the official website just here and the glorious trailer at the link below. Starring Rina Takeda( High-Kick Girl!), Shigeru Matsuzaki (Space Adventure Cobra) and Kentaro Shimazu (The Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police), Dead Sushi arrives on U.K. DVD September 23rd 2013. Now...

Is it just me or is there something incredibly cool about a movie character who literally has a dangerous weapon as a part of their body, in place of an average ordinary limb or appendage?  Since I can't get inside your brain and hear the answer to that question before I go ahead and talk more on the subject, I'm going to instead assume that you agree with me and proceed with this list, which quite frankly doesn't need much of an introduction.   So screw your introduction. Let's jump right in, and talk badass weapon limbs!   [Note: at least one of the following limbs is not safe for work viewing... and there are some spoilers ahead as well.]     Ash - Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness   We begin with the man who is quite frankly responsible for making weapon limbs so damn cool: S-Mart's finest employee and demon killer extraordinaire, Mr. Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell). It was in Evil Dead 2 that Ash's hand became possessed by evil forces that are anything but groovy,...

In many ways, the horror genre has stagnated since its slasher heyday, but every now and then someone comes along and breathes new life into the mostly lifeless corpse by putting a new spin on familiar tropes or just going to a darker place than someone dared to before. The ABCs of Death are a mix of both solutions with 26 short films that prove there are still plenty of original ideas left to be explored in horror. Above all else the collection is an exercise in creativity, with 26 different directors (including Ben Wheatley, Ti West, The Venture Bros.' Schnepp, Nacho Vigalondo, Xavier Gens, Adam Wingard, and Noboru Iguchi) each tackling a way to die according to their specified letter. Though rarely scary, the entries fall anywhere from creepy, hilarious, weird to hypersexualized, and with the wide breadth of styles contributed by the directors, it's always fascinating to see the aesthetic chosen for each short.