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on ‘Ballerina’ with a senior discount! Watch the Trailer for ‘The Old Woman with the Knife’ from ‘Memento Mori’ filmmakerDon't know about the action scenes, but the poster is beautiful AND original…
on Daredevils | aka Magnificent Acrobats (1979) Review"As a closing note, I’d like to mention that this movie has the strangest mus…
on Kung Fu Rookie (2023) Review& just like that, Z Ravas reappeared after 5 years in the wilderness, the sam…
on Hong Kong’s Heaven’s Gate? Juno Mak’s anticipated thriller ‘Sons of the Neon Night’ to finally shine this yearThere was apparently a 15 minute preview screening at Hong Kong's FILMART con…
on The Kosugi ninja empire lives on! Watch the Trailer for Shane Kosugi’s ‘Seek’ starring Kansuke Asano and Kane KosugiHaters gonna hate, I suppose. 🥱 Oh well.
on Hong Kong’s Heaven’s Gate? Juno Mak’s anticipated thriller ‘Sons of the Neon Night’ to finally shine this yearWhen the film public screening ?
on Raiders of Buddhist Kung Fu (1981) ReviewMost, if not all, of Godfrey Ho's movies are on Tubi, including this. Imagine…
on The Kosugi ninja empire lives on! Watch the Trailer for Shane Kosugi’s ‘Seek’ starring Kansuke Asano and Kane KosugiPaul: Where is your source ? FCS: My source is that I made it the FUCK up ! x…
on 964 Pinocchio | Blu-ray (88 Films)Limited number of copies, too. https://www.instagram.com/p/DHWYAMKPbKK/?utm_s…
on Glitter, sex and violence! More on ‘Drive’ director Nicolas Winding Refn’s thriller ‘The Avenging Silence’Refn is such an amazing and unique director! I just love his is dark and gorg…
on Demon City (2025) ReviewI felt a little bit of that. I liked the way Ikuta had to figure out techniqu…
on Demon City (2025) ReviewReally expected you to like this one more because of the originality at play…
on Demon City (2025) Reviewi don't think there's any actual supernatural element: the story about the de…
on Demon City (2025) ReviewThe action was solid. But overall, the story was disappointing. I kept hoping…
on Demon City (2025) ReviewGot some decent action but the movie still looks cheap. Most movies that go t…
Author Archives: Kelly Warner
Lake of Dracula (1971) Review
Director: Michio Yamamoto Writer: Ei Ogawa, Masaru Takesue Cast: Midori Fujita, Sanae Emi, Choei Takahashi, Shin Kishida, Tadao Futami, Mika Katsuragi, Setsuko Kawaguchi, Tatsuo Matsushita, Yasuzo Ogawa, Haruo Suzuki Running Time: 81 min. By Kyle Warner In Vampire Doll, the first film of Michio Yamamoto’s Bloodthirsty Trilogy, the director made a vampire movie that wasn’t much of a vampire movie. The Vampire Doll is this strange, dreamlike tale of devotion to … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Michio Yamamoto
Vampire Doll, The | aka Legacy of Dracula (1970) Review
AKA: Night of the Vampire Director: Michio Yamamoto Writer: Ei Ogawa, Hiroshi Nagano Cast: Yukiko Kobayashi, Yoko Minazake, Atsuo Nakamura, Kayo Matsuo, Akira Nakao, Jun Usami Running Time: 71 min. By Kyle Warner Vampires don’t have a long history in Japanese cinema. Though Japan does import Dracula and vampire tales from overseas, the ol’ bloodsuckers just don’t have much of a connection to Japanese culture and have never secured that … Continue reading
Toho axes ‘Shin Godzilla 2’ in favor of Kaiju cinematic universe
Sometimes it’s easy to forget, what with all the superheroes flying about, that kaiju are having a moment of resurgence right now, with Godzilla in particular enjoying a new period of fan appreciation. 2014’s Hollywood Godzilla was a box office smash and helped convince Toho to revive the monster in its native Japan, resulting in the highly successful Shin Godzilla in 2016. Since then we’ve had the 2014 Godzilla enter … Continue reading
Posted in News
Man with a Shotgun, The (1961) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Hideaki Nitani, Izumi Ashikawa, Yuji Kodaka, Yoko Minamida, Akio Tanaka, Eiji Go, Keisuke Noro, Asao Sano, Jun Hamamura Running Time: 84 min. By Kelly Warner Nikkatsu was always fond of mixing genre tropes from American movies into their films (sometimes they admitted it was less a case of influence and more a copy and paste job). Usually we think of American gangster films as the main … Continue reading
Tokyo Knights (1961) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Koji Wada, Mayumi Shimizu, Yoko Minamida, Nobuo Kaneko, Yoshiko Nezu, Shoichi, Ozawa George, Luiker Naomi, Ozawa Moto, Matsuyama Hiroshi, Kamayatsu Yasuhiro, Kameyama Zenpei, Saga Hiroshi Running Time: 87 min. By Kelly Warner Seijun Suzuki was a contract studio director for Nikkatsu. That meant that he made the films they told him to, with little time for pre-production, rewrites, or creative decision making. 1961 alone saw the … Continue reading
Smashing the 0-Line (1960) Review
AKA: Secret Zero Zone Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Hiroyuki Nagato, Yuji Kodaka,Sanae Nakahara, Mayumi Shimizu, Tomo’o Nagai, Kaku Takashina, Emiko Azuma, Shoichi Ozawa, Ryohei Uchida, Keisuke Noro Running Time: 83 min. By Kelly Warner One of my favorite film heroes is the investigative journalist. Seekers of truth armed only with pen and notepad, overturning stones to reveal the misdeeds of powerful men who thought justice couldn’t touch them. Films about … Continue reading
Downrange (2017) Review
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura Cast: Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson, Rod Hernandez, Anthony Kirlew, Alexa Yeames, Jason Tobias, Aion Boyd, Eric Matuschek, Ikumi Yoshimatsu Running Time: 90 min. By Kelly Warner Ryuhei Kitamura is a director I keep tabs on because he interests me. He has this weird balancing act where he teeters back and forth between almost greatness and absolute garbage – sometimes, in his most well-known films, you get a … Continue reading
Sleeping Beast Within, The (1960) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Writer: Ichiro Ikeda Cast: Hiroyuki Nagato, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Shinsuke Ashida, Kinzo Shin, Kojiro Kusanagi, Keisuke Noro, Hisano Yamaoka, Ko Nishimura, Shoichi Ozawa Running Time: 85 min. By Kelly Warner After two years away on business, Mr. Ueki returns home on a ship from Hong Kong to meet his family at the Yokohama pier. None of his business partners are there to meet him and the family thinks this suspicious. After … Continue reading
Vampire Clay (2017) Review
Director: Soichi Umezawa Producer: Yoshihiro Nishimura Cast: Ena Fujita, Asuka Kurosawa, Yuyu Makihara, Ryo Shinoda, Momoka Sugimoto Running Time: 80 min. By Kyle Warner Horror fans like to convince themselves that they’ve seen it all. ‘That new horror film everyone loves is actually a more mainstream take on a similar horror movie made 20 years ago that nobody paid attention to at the time, don’tchaknow?’ But then something like Vampire Clay … Continue reading
Eight Hours of Terror (1957) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Nobuo Kaneko, Harue Tone, Sumiko Minami, Kenjiro Uemura, Minako Katsuki, Kan Yanagiya, Hiroshi Kondo, Hideaki Nitani, Masao Oda, Taizo Fukami, Ryutaro Nagai, Fumiko Fukuda, Keiko Shima, Eiko Misuzu Running Time: 78 min. By Kelly Warner Now this is more like it. I enjoyed watching Seijun Rising, the first Arrow Video box set showcasing five of Seijun Suzuki’s earlier films. As a big fan of the director, … Continue reading
Born Under Crossed Stars (1965) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Ken Yamauchi, Yumiko Nogawa, Masako Izumi, Masao Mishima, Ruriko Ito, Chikako Miyagi, Michio Hino, Michi Azuma, Yoko Benisawa, Keisuke Noro Running Time: 98 min. By Kelly Warner Filmed just two years later, featuring the same leading man in Ken Yamauchi, and based on a book by the same author in Toko Kon, Born Under Crossed Stars is something of a spiritual sequel to the angst-driven youth … Continue reading
Incorrigible, The | aka The Bastard (1963) Review
AKA: The Young Rebel Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Ken Yamauchi, Masako Izumi, Midori Tashiro, Chiharu Kuri, Emiko Azuma, Mieko Takamine Running Time: 95 min. By Kelly Warner The Taisho era, named after Emperor Taisho, was a period in Japan sandwiched between the rapid modernization of the Meiji period and the ultimate push to war of the Showa era. Director Seijun Suzuki was born in the final years of the Taisho period but … Continue reading
Gintama (2017) Review
Director: Yuichi Fukuda Cast: Shun Oguri, Masaki Suda, Kanna Hashimoto, Masaki Okada, Masami Nagasawa, Tsuyoshi Muro, Kankuro Nakamura, Yuya Yagira, Ryo Yoshizawa Running Time: 130 min. By Kelly Warner It’s the age of the comic book movie in Hollywood. And though you can argue that there is an oversaturation of such films at the theatres, I don’t really think there’s much debate that the filmmakers have gotten better at making … Continue reading
Posted in All, Japanese, News, Reviews
Tagged Hirofumi Arai, Masaki Okada, Shun Oguri, Takayuki Yamada, Yuichi Fukuda, Yuya Yagira
Teenage Yakuza (1962) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Tamio Kawaji, Noriko Matsumoto, Keiko Sugiyama, Kayo Matsuo, Asao Sano, Midori Tashiro, Kotoe Hatsui, Tatsuya Fuji, Toshio Sugiyama, Kaku Takashina Running Time: 72 min. By Kelly Warner Listen kids, I know that your teenage years can be rough. Your body is um, changing. You have, uh, urges. And sometimes your emotions are out of control. But you’re a good kid. You know the difference between right … Continue reading
Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass, The (1961) Review
Director: Seijun Suzuki Cast: Koji Wada, Mayumi Shimizu, Shin Morikawa, Arihiro Fujimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Kotoe Hatsui Running Time: 85 min. By Kelly Warner Charming and sweet aren’t phrases I’d usually use to describe a Seijun Suzuki film, but The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass is not the typical Seijun Suzuki film. Occasionally reminiscent of the Yasujiro Ozu film Floating Weeds, The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass (from here on … Continue reading
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