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Stars: Jun Etoh, Mari Shirato, Kentarō Shimizu, Seiji Miyaguchi, Junko Miyashita, Yoshiro Aoki, Takashi Kanda | Written by Takuya Nishioka | Directed by Toshiharu Ikeda

Mermaid Legend is a 1984 feature from the late Toshiharu Ikeda (Evil Dead Trap) that had never been released in any format internationally or played at a film festival outside of its native home of Japan. In celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary, this rare exploitation film is rightfully given the chance for a brand-new audience to appreciate it.

The story introduces viewers to fisherman Keisuke Saeki (Jun Etoh) and his pearl-diver wife, Migiwa (Mari Shirato). They are newlyweds who may be growing at odds with each other, but love still remains between them. After witnessing a murder late one night, Keisuke finds that nobody believes him. Things worsen when the fisherman is soon killed by greedy land developers, leaving Migiwa framed for her husband’s murder.

Stars: Jun Etoh, Mari Shirato, Kentarō Shimizu, Seiji Miyaguchi, Junko Miyashita, Yoshiro Aoki, Takashi Kanda | Written by Takuya Nishioka | Directed by Toshiharu Ikeda

As FrightFest unveils its line-up each year, part of the fun is seeing what cult gems they have unearthed to show on a large screen. Amongst 2024’s line-up was Mermaid Legend, a 1984 feature from the late Toshiharu Ikeda (Evil Dead Trap) that had never been released in any format internationally or played at a film festival outside of its native home of Japan. In celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary, this rare exploitation film is rightfully given the chance for a brand-new audience to appreciate it.

The story introduces viewers to fisherman Keisuke Saeki (Jun Etoh) and his pearl-diver wife, Migiwa (Mari Shirato). They are newlyweds who may be growing at odds with each other, but love still remains between them. After witnessing a murder late one night,...

As the 25th anniversary of Pigeon Shrine FrightFest approaches, the organisers have unveiled a tantalising lineup for this year’s horror festival, which will be held at the Odeon Leicester Square from 22 August to 26 August 2024. The festival promises an array of chilling films, international premieres, and rare retrospectives.

We have already detailed what will be on offer in Discovery Screen 1 and Discovery Screen 2 across the long weekend.

Now we have even more detailed information for you. Read on for the film programme for Discovery Screen 3.

Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024 – Discovery Screen 3 Friday, 23 August 2024

6:30 Pm – Things Will Be Different (UK Premiere) Directed by Michael Felker, this film stars Adam David Thompson, Riley Dandy, Justin Benson, and Sarah Bolger. The plot follows estranged siblings Joseph and Sidney who, after a close-call robbery, hide in an abandoned farmhouse that inexplicably transports them to another time. As they struggle to return to their present,...

This article contains spoilers for "Ahsoka" episode 4, "Fallen Jedi."

"I grew up in a small town in northern California," George Lucas once related during a 2001 interview for the Criterion Collection's edition of Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress." "The movie theatres there didn't show much more than 'Bridge on the River Kwai' and 'The Blob.' So I didn't really experience foreign films until I found my way into film school. At that point is when I was exposed to Kurosawa. A friend of mine, John Milius, was actually a huge fan of Kurosawa's, so whenever a film was showing, he'd say, 'Oh, you gotta come see this.' The first one I saw was 'Seven Samurai,' and then after that I was completely hooked. I said, 'This is really good.'"

In order to understand the DNA of "Star Wars," one must understand the film DNA of Kurosawa -- specifically,...

The Primetime Emmys are not necessarily known for honoring projects featuring casts that are primarily minority/people of color. The TV academy has never, for instance, given the Best Drama Series trophy to such a show. The statuette for Best Comedy Series has been won by a series featuring a largely minority cast precisely once: “The Cosby Show” in 1985. But the category of top limited/anthology/miniseries has paid golden tribute to programs with mostly minority casts a handful of times before, helping give Netflix’s “Beef” with its predominantly Asian American lineup a genuine shot to take home the biggest prize.

“Beef” tied with “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” for the most nominations among all non-regular series programs with 13. It’s presently in the lead among Gold Derby voters in the limited series race with 16/5 combined odds. Its star Ali Wong is also in first place among limited lead actresses,...

At this point, it would be hard not to know the story of "The Magnificent Seven," even if you've never seen the original 1960 Western classic. Of course, that's in large part due to the fact that the film itself was a remake of another classic, "Seven Samurai."

It's a story that's been told time and again, decade after decade: a small town is in trouble, being threatened by villains, and the townsfolk need to recruit hardened fighters to help them defend their land. Enter a group of misfit hired guns who protect the village, while at the same time helping the villagers learn how to protect themselves. You've seen the story repeated in "A Bug's Life," and "The Three Amigos," and even in an episode of "The Mandalorian."

But when it comes to Americanized versions of "Seven Samurai," it's hard to argue that anyone has done it better than director...

John Sturges' 1960 western "The Magnificent Seven" was a Yul Brynner vehicle from the jump -- it was he and actor Anthony Quinn who had acquired the rights to remake Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" epic as a western. To fill out the rest of the hired guns tasked to protect a Mexican village, the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" filmmaker would reunite "Never So Few" stars Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson as, respectively, a drifter and a broke mercenary. Robert Vaughn would play a traumatized war veteran, while Brad Dexter and "German James Dean" Horst Buchholz would round out the crew. James Coburn was last to come aboard.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in 2001, Coburn revealed that he was one of the few cast members who had caught the original Kurosawa film beforehand. He would subsequently spend "a week straight" taking friends to see it:

"Cut to a year later,...

Very rarely has the world of Yakuza been portrayed in such cinematic glory, as in the then 33-year-old Masahiro Shinoda’s break out film, which was based on an original story by Shintaro Ishihara, leading figure of the Sun Tribe generation and scenarist of “Crazed Fruit”. Surprisingly, at least when looked in retrospective, the film was not successful from the beginning, since the script writer of the film, Ataru Baba, did not like Shinoda’s approach at all, while the extensive gambling scenes “Pale Flower” featured caused trouble for Shochiku with the censorship board, forcing them to shelve the movie for a number of months. Now, however, and thanks to another excellent release by Criterion, we can enjoy one of Shinoda’s greatest works (if not the best).

“Pale Flower” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

Muraki, a hardboiled yakuza, has just been released from prison after serving...

“I am a person rarely impressed by actors… but in the case of Mifune I was completely overwhelmed. The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression. Toshirō Mifune needed only three feet,” said Akira Kurosawa.

One of the greatest talents in cinema history, Toshirō Mifune left behind a staggering body of work amassing over 150 starring roles. Born on April 1, 1920, a retrospective was planned for 2020 timed to his centennial and now, after a delay due to the pandemic, it will kick off next week at NYC’s Film Forum. Featuring 35mm rarities and rediscoveries imported from the libraries of The Japan Foundation and The National Film Archive of Japan, the series will run for a whopping four weeks, from February 11 through March 10, and feature 33 films.

Ahead of the retrospective, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the trailer, edited by John Zhao, highlighting what is...

Very rarely has the world of Yakuza been portrayed in such cinematic glory, as in the then 33-year-old Masahiro Shinoda’s break out film, which was based on an original story by Shintaro Ishihara, leading figure of the Sun Tribe generation and scenarist of “Crazed Fruit”. Surprisingly, at least when looked in retrospective, the film was not successful from the beginning, since the script writer of the film, Ataru Baba, did not like Shinoda’s approach at all, while the extensive gambling scenes “Pale Flower” featured caused trouble for Shochiku with the censorship board, forcing them to shelve the movie for a number of months. Now, however, and thanks to another excellent release by Criterion, we can enjoy one of Shinoda’s greatest works (if not the best).

Muraki, a hardboiled yakuza, has just been released from prison after serving a three years sentence for murdering a man from an opposing gang.

Picking your favorite Akira Kurosawa film is a tricky choice for any movie fan. From "Rashomon" to "Ran," the great Japanese filmmaker, one of the most beloved and influential directors of all time, knocked out a string of classics in a career that lasted well over 40 years. But more often than not, at the top of the list for Kurosawa fans is "The Seven Samurai," the 1954 samurai epic that redefined the action movie for generations.

Following six samurai (and one pretender, iconically played by Toshiro Mifune) who are recruited by a village of farmers to protect them from bandits, it remains to this day one of the most stirring, thrilling adventures in cinema history, and landed Kurosawa firmly on the map in international cinema. The film was released in Japan 58 years ago today, on April 26th, 1954 (a U.S. release, heavily cut down, would follow 30 months later), and to mark the occasion,...

Action films should regress to an epoch when swords were as prevalent as guns, or forward to a time when firearms don't work

Another year, another musketeers movie. What a shame no one thought of rereleasing Richard Lester's two-parter, or even the MGM version with Gene Kelly. But no, swashbuckling on its own is no longer deemed enough to hold the attention of today's fidgety kids, so Paul Ws Anderson gussies up his The Three Musketeers with 3-D, slo-mo and ninja skills. Phew! No danger of us getting bored there, then!

I love swordfights and want to see more of them, preferably not obscured by bells and whistles. Lester's Musketeer films have some cracking examples, mostly lighthearted, though slapstick gives way to a deadly serious duel towards the end, which goes on for so long that Michael York and Christopher Lee end up tottering with exhaustion.

That fight choreographer,...

Shichinin No Samurai / Seven Samurai (1954) Direction: Akira Kurosawa Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi, Isao Kimura, Kamatari Fujiwara, Yoshio Tsuchiya Screenplay: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni Oscar Movies Toshiro Mifune, Seven Samurai By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica Some films get better after repeated viewings. Akira Kurosawa's 1954 black-and-white drama Shichinin no samurai / Seven Samurai is one of them. It fully deserved winning that year's Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, as well its Academy award nominations for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (black and white) and Best Costume Design (black and white). Additionally, Seven Samurai became an international sensation and it's reported to have been the highest-grossing Japanese film of its day. [Note: Spoilers ahead.] On first view, Seven Samurai is simply a great action film; but with subsequent viewings, the finer points of characterization come through, subliminally and purposefully seeping into the viewer's mind. [...]...

For years now Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai has been ranked as one of the best movies ever made, and is usually considered one of the finest achievement in cinema. In the most recent Sight and Sound poll of the best films ever made, critics ranked it eleventh (its highest charting was in 1982 at #3) while filmmakers ranked it ninth. It’s ranked thirteenth on IMDb.com’s list of the greatest films of all time. Ain’t no denying that Kurosawa and his cast (including Toshiro Mifune) made a masterwork. And my review of The Criterion collection’s Seven Samurai after the jump.

A band of marauding Ronin spot a village and are about to raid it when their leader notes that the village’s crops won’t be ready for another couple of weeks. They ride off, but a villager hears their plans. After a discussion, the villagers decide...