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Do you like blood? Violence? Freaks of nature? Well, here at Arrow in the Head, we love all of those things – and that has inspired us to put together this list of some of The Goriest, Bloodiest Films Ever Made. Some of the movies are on here due to their historical significance, some are due to the amount of fake blood that was used during the production, and all of them are quite messy. Here we go:

Blood Feast (1963)

This is where it all began. In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, independent filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis and his producing partner David F. Friedman were looking at the major movies of the day to find what they could offer the moviegoing public that the studios weren’t providing. They started out with “nudie cutie” sexploitation movies, meeting the demand for bare flesh. After taking note that violence in movies had...

This week, we’re seeing red. This Friday is Valentine’s Day and Terrifier 3 debuts on Screambox. Instead of revisiting Valentine’s Day-themed or romantic horror, however, we’re celebrating with ultra-gory horror movies that splatter their sets with all the red matter.

That means that this week’s streaming picks are for the sickos and showcase some of horror’s goriest offerings that wield the gore in various ways. Some use excessive bloodletting to elicit a laugh, while others aim to put you through an extreme gauntlet of visceral terror.

These splatter horror movies are all available on streaming now.

As always, here’s where you can watch them this week.

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

Found – Hoopla, Pluto TV, the Roku Channel, Screambox

Twelve-year-old Marty deals with bullying, friendships, and a tumultuous family life. His father is short-tempered and a terrible role model, at best.

It’s Monday. That might leave you seeing red. So, we’re celebrating accordingly by embracing horror movies that massively deliver on the red stuff. This week’s streaming picks showcase some of horror’s goriest offerings that wield the gore in various ways. Some use excessive bloodletting to elicit a laugh, while others aim to put you through an extreme gauntlet of visceral terror. These ultra-gory horror movies are all available on streaming now.

As always, here’s where you can watch them this week.

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

City of the Living Dead – AMC+, Kanopy, Pluto TV, Shudder, Tubi, Vudu

What’s a gory horror list without the Italian Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci? It seems appropriate to kickstart this week with the first entry in his “Gates of Hell” trilogy. The plot sees a reporter and a psychic try to close the...

By Eleo Billet

The latest film from prolific Japanese director Yoshihiro Nishimura, this self-produced work is meant to be a spin-off of his action flick, “The Ninja War of Torakage”. First shown at “2300 Plan 9” in Switzerland, then in Brazil, the movie has yet to be released in Japan.

The ninja samurai Onimanji, locked in a cursed urn for 631 years and 59 days, is resurrected back into the present day by the Kika Company. This hitman organization consists of Kika, a seemingly impassive leader, Shigeru, a goofy assassin, and their mysterious informant. Disoriented, Onimanji must adapt to modern Japan and support his new teammates. But his ultimate test is to face the rival company Nutmeg and their boss, Natsumegu, with whom his employers have a rocky history. The hero will dismantle a drug ring and find his legendary sword while fighting enemies from another temporality.

Check this interview with the director Interview...

by Eleo Billet

Released last year as a world premiere at Fantaspoa film festival, Yoshihiro Nishimura's new work stars transgender actress Anna Nagasaki in a picture that is, as usual, wild, bloody, and fun. However, the limits of the director's creations are becoming more and more apparent since, despite its pleasant sides, the movie feels very recycled.

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As with all of Yoshihiro Nishimura's films, it is hard to accurately describe the unfolding story. Sometimes the characters' names are not given, incongruous events occur apace, and the moral, if there is one, is blurred. But we will give it a try. The storyline centers on a Chinese yakuza organization, discriminated against by the Japanese, which has just lost its leader and several of its members. Cornered, the survivors are aided by a young pink-haired woman who comes out of nowhere and fights with vigor.

Despite the fact that a number of them are interesting, Mamoru Oshii’s live action works never reached the level of his animated ones. And how could they, since the latter include some of the most iconic anime of all time, with the likes of “Ghost in the Shell”, “Angel’s Egg” and “Patlabor” among others. Now in his 70s, the Japanese filmmaker still insists on coming up with the occasional live-action, with “I Can’t Stop Biting You”, based on his own animated series, “Vlad Love”, being the latest one.

I Can’t Stop Biting You is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

In Kurusu Private High School, Maki, Niko, Kaoru, and Nami, four girls who are obsessed with blood donation, have started the Blood Donation Club, essentially distancing themselves from the whole of the school environment, with the exception of the school nurse, Ms Chihiro, who is their closest “associate”. One day,...

And Then I Woke Up: "In the tradition of Mira Grant and Stephen Graham Jones, Malcolm Devlin’s And Then I Woke Up is a creepy, layered, literary story about false narratives and their ability to divide us.

"A scathing portrait of the world we live in and a running commentary on what’s story, what’s truth, and what’s not."—Stephen Graham Jones

In a world reeling from an unusual plague, monsters lurk in the streets while terrified survivors arm themselves and roam the countryside in packs. Or perhaps something very different is happening. When a disease affects how reality is perceived, it’s hard to be certain of anything…

Spence is one of the “cured” living at the Ironside rehabilitation facility. Haunted by guilt, he refuses to face the changed world until a new inmate challenges him to help her find her old crew. But if he...

In two weeks the 18th edition of the Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival begins! And for the first time in two years the festival is returning to in person screening across five screens in Port Alegre, Brazil. For those in the region who cannot make the trip the festival will be having virtual screenings, having built up on their fan base the past two years of doing virtual only.    Still though, what a relief it must be for the festival to return to in person screenings, events and being able to host guests! This year Japanese splatter's godfather Yoshihiro Nishimura is coming to the festival with a brand new flick, Holy Mother. Fantaspoa will host rep screenings...

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

Based on the novel “Real Onigokko” by Yusuke Yamada, which has spawned six other films, “Tag” is another bloodthirsty trip by one of the masters of the category, Sion Sono.

The film starts in a fashion expected from Sion Sono, as a bus filled with schoolgirls is torn in half along with them, by something that seems like wind, in a bloodbath that leaves only Mitsuko standing. The cutting in half of schoolgirls continues for a while, until Mitsuko arrives in a school where Aki greets her, although she cannot remember who she is. The story continues in that fashion, with the protagonist finding herself in different settings, in one as Keiko, a woman who is about to get married, and in another as Izumi, a runner. The rest of the movies is a sequence of battles and constant running, in a story that is quite hard to follow.

Stars: Julian Richings, Michelle Argyris, Emily Alatalo, Jason Rouse, Kiriana Stanton, Chelsea Muirhead, Ryan Allen, Kathryn Kohut | Written by David Murdoch, Svet Rouskov | Directed by Andrew Thomas Hunt

In a godforsaken bar in the middle of nowhere – an all-girl punk band, Ms. 45, rip the stage apart with their anarchy spirit. Their performance impresses an enthusiastic fan who lures the girls into a trap, sedates them, and starts… customizing them. The four wake up with an axe, drill or chainsaw attached to one arm and are forced to fight gladiator-style, in an arena-style auto-wrecking yard for the amusement of the Emperor and his sadistic townsfolk. The women must now truly band together and use all of their talents if they’re going to get out alive.

There’s been something of a surge in female-led “cult” genre fare – mainly emanating from down under, films like Monstro Del Mar, Murder Drome, Fight...

Yoshihiro Nishimura is a rather unique artist, particularly since his work in SFX, makeup, designing and directing has deemed the genre of splatter as a highly artistic form, in an accomplishment very few can boast of, and probably none to the degree he has managed to do so. In that regard, it is quite interesting to see where it all started, and “Anatomia Extrinction”, an independently produced movie that Nishimura wrote, directed and did the special effects for, and which eventually became the base for probably his most famous work, “Tokyo Gore Police”, provides a great start point. The film was shown at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in February 1995, where it won a Special Jury Award.

“Anatomia Extinction” is available from Error 4444

The story takes place in an undisclosed time in the near future, when Tokyo is suffering from overpopulation and overcrowding, with the psychological effect on people being rather intense,...

Eihi Shiina is a Japanese fashion model and actress from Fukuoka, Japan. She got her first big break in 1995, working for Benetton, after which she represented Japan at the global Elite Model Look ’95. More magazine work followed.

Shiina made her film debut in 1998 with “Open House”. She also published a book of photographs and poems, entitled “No Filter, Only Eyes”, that same year. She is recognized internationally for her role as Asami Yamazaki in Takashi Miike’s “Audition”, and as the vengeful police officer Ruka in Yoshihiro Nishimura’s “Tokyo Gore Police”. Apart from her many collaborations with Yoshihiro Nishimura, she has also acted in Shinji Aoyama’s “Eureka” and Takeshi Kitano’s “Outrage”.

You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram

We speak with her about taking a break from the industry, her collaborations with Takashi Miike, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Takeshi Kitano and Shinji Aoyama, being a model and an actor,...

Over the last decade, Asian horror cinema has become a major cultural export that has breached the international markets, as more exposure than ever before has shown off the immense talent making genre films over the years. Getting a chance to see the work of many different individuals in this part of the world has highlighted the work of Yeon Sang-ho, Joko Anwar, Kimo Stamboel, Timo Tjahjanto and Yoshihiro Nishimura, to name just a few, from out of the shadows of their home countries to the world at large.

Several trends emerged throughout the decade as time rolled on. The first is the South Korean onslaught of talent that emerged where the country ascended to the top of the genre market, and international acclaim and awards followed. They proved time and again that they were developing a core of talented and creative technicians that churned out some of the most...

Yoshihiro Nishimura throws every ingredient into this overblown, overcooked and oddly endearing underworld romp

Cult Japanese filmmaker Yoshihiro Nishimura, who started off doing special effects before moving into the director’s chair, is best known for pulpy, action-horror fare with self-explanatory titles such as Mutant Girls Squad and Tokyo Gore Police, as well as the more enigmatically monikered Meatball Machine Kodoku.

Tokyo Dragon Chef, I’m assuming, lies tonally between the one about gore police and the one about meatball machines given it’s about a pair of ageing yakuza thugs, Ryu (Yasukaze Motomiya) and Tatsu (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi), who decide to open a ramen restaurant. Their speciality, which does indeed look darn tasty, is a recipe Tatsu honed while doing time and working in the prison’s mess hall, a kind of ma po tofu with ramen.

Available for release, DVD, Digital

Tokyo Dragon Chef – available on DVD and Digital

From us: Yoshihiro Nishimura directs another preposterous combination, this time mixing yakuza, food, musical and exploitation in the most insane matter, and through a rather low budget approach that did not allow him to present his trademark special effects. The characters, however, are as absurdly hilarious as they can come, with the whole concept of the hardcore yakuza trying to be kind to their customers and hiring influencers to help them, being both extremely funny and a kind of social comment regarding social media and the fate of failed/retired yakuza. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

Deliver Us From Evil – avail. for release now

Distributor: Signature Entertainment

From us: Overall, this is an entertaining action movie featuring two strong and likeable leads, although the predictable set-ups are sloppy and the story offers nothing new. In fact it’s similar to Wilson Yip’s “Paradox,...

Yoshihiro Nishimura continues to bring his absurdly grotesque imagination on the big screen with “Tokyo Dragon Chef”, although this time, in a fashion much tamer than “Helldriver” or “Kodoku Meatball Machine” but equally fun and nonsensical.

Ex yakuza members Ryu and Tatsu reconnect after the latter is released from prison, following the dismemberment of their and a number of other gangs by a group wearing masks of eye bulbs, led by a mysterious young man named Gizumo. Ryo convinces Tatsu to open up a ramen restaurant and the two embark in their paths as host and cook respectively. Their shop quickly becomes a success, after a young girl helps them with marketing, in the most illogical way. However, Jin and Kazu, two brothers who also happen to be their rivals from yakuza days, open a ramen canteen nearby and after hiring a rather unusual girl influencer to promote their shop,...

Terracotta Distribution are delighted to announce the release of their insane Japanese action comedy, “Tokyo Dragon Chef“. Behind the camera is renowned director, Yoshihiro Nishimura, responsible for cult hits such as “Tokyo Gore Police” and “Meatball Machine”

“Tokyo Dragon Chef” is a hilarious and bonkers infusion of Blues Brothers and Tampopo – martial arts, music and of course, ramen!

Synopsis

Retired Yakuzas open a ramen restaurant and become an overnight sensation, thanks to their recipe developed in prison. But a mysterious upstart gang is taking down every Yakuza family one by one, drawing the chefs back into the gangland underworld once more!

Terracotta Distribution owner Joey Leung was thrilled that the film will be reaching UK audiences.”Everyone needs their spirits lifted at the moment and this blend of Yakuza rivalry, culinary success story and colourful musical are the much needed ingredients for a crazy, uplifting recipe that...

Stars: Julian Richings, Michelle Argyris, Emily Alatalo, Jason Rouse, Kiriana Stanton, Chelsea Muirhead, Ryan Allen, Kathryn Kohut | Written by David Murdoch, Svet Rouskov | Directed by Andrew Thomas Hunt

In a godforsaken bar in the middle of nowhere – an all-girl punk band, Ms. 45, rip the stage apart with their anarchy spirit. Their performance impresses an enthusiastic fan who lures the girls into a trap, sedates them, and starts… customizing them. The four wake up with an axe, drill or chainsaw attached to one arm and are forced to fight gladiator-style, in an arena-style auto-wrecking yard for the amusement of the Emperor and his sadistic townsfolk. The women must now truly band together and use all of their talents if they’re going to get out alive.

There’s been something of a surge in female-led “cult” genre fare – mainly emanating from down under, films like Monstro Del Mar, Murder Drome, Fight...

After much thought, and taking into consideration the health of our guests and viewers, Nihon Media announced that Japan Filmfest Hamburg cannot take place this year as a traditional film festival – and will be online instead. Under the motto ‘Breaking Free – From Japan with Love’, Nihon Media will collaborate with Videocity to stream its entire programme of 70+ films in around 40 blocks globally from 19th of August to the 2nd of September.

The 2020 film programme features 70 current productions, from full-length feature films to experimental short films, including many German, European, and international premieres. Most of the films are shown in the original Japanese language with English subtitles. One special highlight of our programme is the gangster-ballad originally planned as the opening film for the 21st Jffh, “Paradise Next” (2018) from director and film composer Yoshihiro Hanno (“Flowers of Shanghai”). An atmospheric road-movie about the travels of three lost souls living on the edges of society,...

Crying Free Sex (2017) by Tomohiro Iwasaki (15.11 minutes)

Japan has always been the foremost movie industry in the production of curios to the point of wtf movies, and “Crying Free Sex” definitely continues this legacy.

The totally absurd script revolves around two secret agents, Naomi and Cobra, who, before embarking on their mission, decide to have sex, after the instigation of the former. However, the woman does not realize that the issue with Cobra’s genitalia, that has actually given his nickname, will bring them so much trouble. Soon, they find themselves stuck (you know what I mean) and having to face scores of enemies that include agents in black suits and samurais, as they embark on a trip that brings in a number of places.

Taking the sex and shooting scene from Michael Davis’s “Shoot “Em Up” as its base (parodying it actually), Tomohiko Iwasaki directs a truly preposterous film,...

*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...

Sometimes the best fever dreams are the ones that leave you hanging in disbelief, dangling off a precipice as one hand tries to clamber to something firm and familiar. They have the tendency to tease and tease until they explode with kaleidoscopic intensity. Occasionally they spell everything out to you with barely a moment of hesitation and become completely enveloped in their symbolism; their crazed detachment from reality, however, becomes too inviting to be phased by this. Enter the strange microcosm of Takeshi Kushida’s “Woman of the Photographs”, as a mild-mannered voyage of self-projection, self-image, and self-worth becomes unsettlingly unhinged to the point of no return.

“Woman of the Photographs” is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

Kai (Seinendan Company’s Hideki Nagai as a brilliantly understated blank canvas) is a creature of habit. When he’s not retouching the pictures of insecure women for matchmaking services, he tends to his pet praying mantis,...

“Helldriver” is another preposterous splatter film by the master of the genre, Yoshihiro Nishimura, this time engaging on zombies.

The “story” unfolds as follows: Taku and his sister Rikka are a couple of roaming sadistic murderers who eventually decide to kill her abandoned husband. During the act, his daughter Kika arrives and attacks the couple. Subsequently, a meteorite falls on Rikka, releasing a toxic gas that transforms every resident of northern Japan into a zombie, and her into their queen. Some years later, the country is split in half by a wall that separates the healthy population of the south part from the zombies in the north. The government hires Kika, who is now a skilled zombie killer, to lead a team of outlaws to the north, to kill the zombie queen.

Not to forget, the only way for someone to kill a zombie is to cut...

The film revolves around two men, who seem to be living in different timelines. The first one, Kaito, is living in the present and is a writer for a political magazine with a nationalistic line. Despite his seemingly regular persona of a dedicated employee who occasionally drinks with his friends, he has another, quite dark and perverse one. He keeps stalking Kuniko, an ex-colleague in university he used to have an affair with, who is now a very successful author. Furthermore, he has regular sex sessions with Yumi, a prostitute, where he is dressed in a Japanese military uniform and she is made to act in various, submissive roles, at least when he is not masturbating with a tube-like gadget. Even more than that, he seems to hide a rage in him, which is bound to be released at some point. This moment comes when a colleague declines his invitation to dinner.

Japanese director Yoshihiro Nishimura has completed production on his most recent film “Welcome to Japan”. The film showcases the signature over the top violence of Nishimura that has won him a dedicated fan base.

“Welcome to Japan” is set for release this October in Japan. A trailer for the production has been made available and can be viewed below. You can also read our interview with Yoshihiro Nishimura here.

I consider Yoshihiro Nishimura the undisputed master of Japanese splatter, a man who had moved the genre forward into new and exciting paths through all his roles in similar films, which include Special Effects, Makeup, animation and directing, among others. The fact that he was going to revive 2005 “Meatball Machine” , where he was in charge of special effects, was one of the greatest piece of news for me, and the outcome justified my feelings totally.

“Kodoku Meatball Machine” screened as part of the Asian selection at Fantasia International Film Festival

Yuji is a 50-year-old bill collector and he truly sucks at it, as he cannot get money from anyone he has to, and occasionally he is even stripped from his own. Furthermore, he lives alone, and everyone in his life seems to try to take advantage of him. His boss, his mother, Kaoru, a girl from his bookstore he seems...

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...

Loosely based on the Saitama serial murders of dog lovers, a case of a married couple who owned a pet shop and murdered at least four people, “Cold Fish” gave Sono the opportunity to present his version of how a serial killer film ought to be like.

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Syamoto is a humble and guileless exotic fish shop owner who is taken advantage of by both his spoiled daughter, Mitsuko and his second wife, Taeko. His daughter is an underage delinquent who spends her time flirting and sometimes beating her stepmother. One night, a grocery shop attendant catches her stealing; however, a peculiarly friendly man, Murata, manages to convince the clerk not to call the police. Furthermore, he is also an exotic fish shop owner and offers to hire Mitsuko in his establishment, which is far larger than Syamoto’s. Moreover, when Murata, who has become a friend of Syamoto,...

It’s that time of the year and here at Asian Film Vault, we decided to have our first ever poll regarding the best films of the year. The votes were cast and counted and we came up with 18 films from 2017, that we consider the best of the year. And although Japan has the lion’s share in the list, we feel that we covered a large portion of Asia with our picks, since the titles include films from India, Thailand, Hong Kong, S. Korea, and Indonesia

Without further ado, here is the countdown.

(By clicking on the title of each movie, you can read the whole article)

Jagga Jasoos

As a musical with younger target audiences in mind, “Jagga Jasoos” lives up to the expectations and ends up as a visual treat through a brilliant performance of the protagonist. (Sankha Ray)

Kodoku Meatball Machine (Yoshihiro Nishimura,...

I consider Yoshihiro Nishimura the undisputed master of Japanese splatter, a man who had moved the genre forward into new and exciting paths through all his roles in similar films, which include Special Effects, Makeup, animation and directing, among others. The fact that he was going to revive 2005 “Meatball Machine” , where he was in charge of special effects, was one of the greatest piece of news for me, and the outcome justified my feelings totally.

Yuji is a 50-year-old bill collector and he truly sucks at it, as he cannot get money from anyone he has to, and occasionally he is even stripped from his own. Furthermore, he lives alone, and everyone in his life seems to try to take advantage of him. His boss, his mother, Kaoru, a girl from his bookstore he seems to like who introduces him to a cult, and the members of...

Stars: Tomori Abe, Kensuke Ashihara, Satoshi Eishima, Goki, Yôta Kawase, Riri Kôda, Rima Matsuda, Masanori Mimoto, Maki Mizui, Seminosuke Murasugi | Written by Yoshihiro Nishimura, Sakichi Satô | Directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura

Asian extreme horror is noted and adored for its absurdity and graphic content. For me, it can either be “Oh My God! This Insane Fun!” or “Really!? More of this!?”. That’s why admittedly, my experience with the genre (if it’s fair to pigeon hole these films to one genre.) is fairly limited. I feel it’s my duty as a reviewer to let you know I have never seen the original Meatball Machine from 1999, but I did watch the 2005 remake a fair few years a go (which this film is the sequel of.) and I gold my hands up that it’s a mere blur to me. From my basic research, it seems like Meatball Machine Kodoku is indeed a direct sequel,...

Extremity is an upcoming horror film. From the disturbed minds of writers David Bond (Boogeyman: Reincarnation) and Scott Swan, the film was directed by Anthony Diblasi. In the film, a young woman goes on a psychological journey, in order to relieve herself of an earlier drama. Extremity will be released by Dread Central Presents, in early October. A trailer for Extremity was released this past month (found below). Now, the film's special features and other release details are available. Extremity features a well renowned cast. Sports Illustrated model Ashley Smith stars as Nell, one of the many masked villains. Long-time horror veteran J. Larose (Insidious) also stars, along with Ami Tomite (Meatball Machine) and Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police). This cast bring great performances to an uber-violent feature as seen in the film's official trailer. The release date for Extremity is scheduled for October 2nd. On this date, this indie horror feature will show.

Based on the novel “Waga Ikka Zenin Shikei” by Tomohiko Suzuki, which is based on the infamous Omuta murders, “Death Row Family” attempts a “reenact” of the actual events, taking many liberties regarding the story, in exploitation style.

Death Row Family is screening at the 19th Japan Film Fest Hamburg

Takanori, the son of a yakuza boss, is offered as a scapegoat to another syndicate and sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Two years later, he is released from prison. After reuniting with his girlfriend, Kaori, Takanori meets with his older brother Satoshi. He tells Takanori of his plan to rob the safe of the Yoshidas, a local family running a loan shark operation, whose members happen to be close friends with the two brothers and associates of the family. Takanori is reluctant, but after his brother threatens his girlfriend, he decides to partake in the...

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...

Stars: Tomori Abe, Kensuke Ashihara, Satoshi Eishima, Goki, Yôta Kawase, Riri Kôda, Rima Matsuda, Masanori Mimoto, Maki Mizui, Seminosuke Murasugi | Written by Yoshihiro Nishimura, Sakichi Satô | Directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura

Asian extreme horror is noted and adored for its absurdity and graphic content. For me, it can either be “Oh My God! This Insane Fun!” or “Really!? More of this!?”. That’s why admittedly, my experience with the genre (if it’s fair to pigeon hole these films to one genre.) is fairly limited. I feel it’s my duty as a reviewer to let you know I have never seen the original Meatball Machine from 1999, but I did watch the 2005 remake a fair few years a go (which this film is the sequel of.) and I gold my hands up that it’s a mere blur to me. From my basic research, it seems like Kodoku Meatball Machine is indeed a direct sequel,...

Have you ever seen a movie so bad, that as you were watching it, you paid less attention to what was going on and more to the fact that you’re still allowing your brain to process it? Have you ever seen a movie so bad that the longer you watch it, the more horrified and worried you become at the sheer size of the balls on the director and screenwriter? Like if they would go that far then what would they do next? I’m prepared to admit that in my exhaustive search to give you my opinions on some of the best Asian cinema out there…I have often come across the worst.

Now I too have seen the dark side. And its kung-fu is strong. One in particular that I just have to get off my chest is Tokyo Gore Police. I think a moment of horrified silence would be appropriate here.

Oregon’s newest film festival offers up a world premiere and a whole lot of other goodies.‘Boys in the Trees’ features clowns on the bikes.

The Timberline Lodge located at Mt. Hood, Oregon is set to be home for The Overlook Film Festival — a brand-new horror film festival stuffed with 39 films (22 features and 17 shorts from 16 countries). Naturally this is the perfect setting for horror hounds to gather as the Timberline was famously used as the exterior setting in Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, The Shining.

The festival is scheduled to kick off in a little over a week on April 27th (and run through the 30th) and we now know that the Opening Night Selection will be the world premiere of Stephanie, the new supernatural thriller from director Akiva Goldsman and Blumhouse Productions. Stephanie was written by the dynamic duo of Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski and stars Frank Grillo, Anna Torv...

The newly formed Overlook Film Festival has announced it inaugural year programming lineup, including 37 films (20 features and 17 short films from 16 countries), along with a bevy of location-appropriate genre-themed parties, interactive events, and live experiences. This year, the festival will also fete director Roger Corman with their Master of Horror Award. The award “was established to honor a living legend who has contributed lasting innovations to the genre throughout a long career, inspiring new filmmakers for years to come.”

The fest is styled a 4-day celebration of horror that runs from April 24 – 30 at the historic Timberline Lodge located in Mt. Hood, Oregon, featured in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” as the location of the infamous Overlook Hotel. The new festival comes from some of the same minds behind the now-defunct Stanley Film Festival, a similar horror-themed gathering based in a hotel in Estes Park, Colorado that inspired Stephen King to write his 1977 “Shining” novel.

The film revolves around two men, who seem to be living in different timelines. The first one, Kaito, is living in the present, is a writer for a political magazine with a nationalistic line. Despite his seemingly regular persona of a dedicated employee who occasionally drinks with his friends, he has another, quite dark and perverse one. He keeps stalking Kuniko, an ex-colleague in university he used to have an affair with, who is now a very successful author. Furthermore, he has regular sex sessions with Yumi, a prostitute, where he is dressed in a Japanese military uniform and she is made to act in various, submissive roles, at least when he is not masturbating with a tube-like gadget. Even more than that, he seems to hide a rage in him, which is bound to be released at some point. This moment comes when a colleague declines his invitation to dinner.

With little over a month to go until Austin plays host to SXSW 2017 for another year, organizers of the annual showcase have announced that James Franco’s drama The Disaster Artist has been added to the stacked lineup.

Based on Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell’s non-fiction book The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, Franco’s passion project is set to recount the infamous story behind The Room, Tommy Wiseau’s widely-derided pic that has since gone on to become something of a cult classic. No release date has been set, but we know that the feature will be written and directed by Franco, who stars as the eccentric Wiseau, and features a cast comprised of Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Josh Hutcherson, Ari Graynor, Jacki Weaver, and former Community star Alison Brie. Bryan Cranston and Zach Braff are among those set to cameo.

In related news, the midnight...

Adam Mason’s gender politics satire will receive its world premiere as festival brass announced the remaining line-up for the event set to run in Austin, Texas, from March 10-19.

Japanese director Yoshihiro Nishimura’s sci-fi action sequel Meatball Machine: Kodoku also gets its first screening in Midnighters and there is a festival slot for UK director Taneli Mustonen’s Lake Bodom, about a group of girls whose night of fun devolves into murder.

Festival top brass announced on Tuesday selections in Midnighters, short films and the Vr programme.

“In this current political climate, genre filmmakers are more necessary than ever,” said SXSW senior film programmer Jarod Neece. “They give us the chance to escape the horrors in our daily lives and spend some time in the dark, hallowed halls of the cinema.

“This year’s batch of Midnighters spans the gamut of splatter horror, dark comedy, revenge, and satire, and explore...

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?...

Kodoku: Meatball Machine from writer-director-editor-fx creator Yoshihiro Nishimura! Nishi-Eizo, the Tokyo-based film production and special effects company from Yoshihiro Nishimura, is proud to reveal the poster and trailer for the upcoming gorefest Kodoku: Meatball Machine, which Nishi-Eizo has produced alongside King Records and Ark Entertainment Inc. The insane, hyperviolent new feature film was written, directed, edited, and …

The post The poster and trailer for Yoshihiro Nishimura’s Kodoku: Meatball Machine! first appeared on Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...

Director Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) has worked in horror as a make-up effects technician and director for several years, now. His latest production is titled Kodoku: Meatball Machine. Set for a 2017 release in Japan, the film's first trailer is almost nothing but bloodshed. Litres of blood are used as strange monsters battle each others. Bullets fire from breasts and chainsaws eviscerate the slow. While there is no North American release date scheduled, fans of horror can take a look at Japan's take on horror, here. Kodoku: Meatball Machine is a sequel. It follows the 2005 film, Meatball Machine. Both films deal with Necroborgs. Created by alien parasites, they turn their host in a murderous man-machine. Eihi Shiina (Audition), Takumi Saitô (13 Assassins), Ami Tomit (Tag) and Maki Mizui star in this latest film. More details, including a trailer, are available below, for this shocking title. Release Date: 2017 (Theatrical, Japan). Director: Yoshihiro.

If fans of JSplatter director Nishimura Yoshihiro have been pining for a healthy dose of blood, gore and extreme violence it looks like the wait is over.   Sure to be hitting the festival circuit in 2017 he brings us Kodoku: Meatball Machine! The cult director is back with a sequel to 2005's Meatball Machine and there is a poster and Nsfa (Not Safe For Anyone/Anyplace/Anyone) trailer to share with you!    Nishi-Eizo, the Tokyo-based film production and special effects company from Yoshihiro Nishimura, is proud to reveal the poster and trailer for the upcoming gorefest Kodoku: Meatball Machine, which Nishi-Eizo has produced alongside King Records and Ark Entertainment Inc. The insane, hyperviolent new feature film was written, directed, edited, and had all of its...

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

What happens when the two most iconic monsters of J-horror appear both in the same film, that also involves two schoolgirls, a professor at the university with an inclination towards the occult, and a duo of exorcists that look like they jumped straight from the pages of a manga? The result is as preposterous as any answer on that question could be, as Koji Shiraishi builds a film that steadily leads to the confrontation between the two lovely ladies.

Let’s start the review by answering the titular question. No, it is most definitely not and “Sadako vs Kayako” does very little to turn this fact around. On that fashion, Shiraishi directs an utterly nonsensical film, that features most of the cliches of the genre (disbelief in the curse, naive young women wishing to try something different, some plot twists, etc), all of which are dressed with expensive special effects...

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.

Criterion adds Jellyfish Eyes to its collection, the directorial debut of prolific Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Known for his multi-faceted platforms of painting, sculpture, and a continual blending of media meant to push the boundaries of what defines notions of art, his 2013 debut is a psychedelic children’s adventure conveying significant messages as concerns social media, the environment, and human interaction. Having had his work featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles during a 2007-2009 retrospective, it’s perhaps no surprise Murakami premiered his film at Lacma (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) in 2013, before it spread to other venues and ultimately a limited theatrical release in the Us in July, 2015. Named by Time magazine in 2008 as one of the one hundred most influential people (the only visual artist to make this particular round) perhaps explains the high expectations and underwhelming critical response to his first cinematic effort.

Attack on Titan Live Action Movie ReviewSTORY53%ACTING43%DIRECTING45%VISUALS67%The design of the TitansLast half hour of the filmDirectionActingInadequate adaptation2015-10-2552%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (3 Votes)48%

Based on the world-renowned franchise, the live-action edition of Attack on Titan was highly anticipated by fans all over the world and on a personal note, I was eager to watch what Yoshihiro Nishimura, the director of Tokyo Gore Police and a special effects magician could achieve with the depiction of the Titans. However, the fact that the initial director, Tetsuya Nakashima (Confessions), left the project due to artistic differences seemed like a negative, although not one to ruin the movie.

Ι won’t get into much details about the general concept, since I believe it is largely known; thus, here is what happens in the movie. Eren, Armin and Mikasa, frustrated by their constraint inside the wall, decide to secretly break loose.

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...