Death Trance: O Samurai do Apocalipse

How can you go wrong with the action director of "Versus" and the star of the movie Tak Sakaguchi, you can with "Death Trance". After watching a trailer on line I hurried as fast as I could to find this movie. Once I got my hands on a copy and started to watch it, I got more and more disappointed. Being a huge fan of "Versus" I was expecting the same over the top crazy action and crazy characters. It was almost like watching a watered down version of "Versus", maybe that is because Kitamura had nothing to do with this film and that is what was missing. Almost the whole movie takes place in the forest, it even looks like the same one from "Versus", and you have your swords, guns, and even near the end zombie-like figures. There was hardly any blood or gore, the action was just OK, nothing special, and the acting was pretty weak I thought. Tak fights throughout the movie with his sword in its sheath because "Killing is no fun"? What?! Please Tak tell me they paid you a lot of money to say that. So most of the time you are just watching him bop people over the head with his sheathed sword. For a story to seem to have so much history and background behind it, we almost get no information on what is going on and why characters are doing what they are doing, even when they do try to explain, you could care less. The characters are poorly developed and the ending is pretty abrupt and feels like it shouldn't end. I really can't recommend this film to anyone, I know most "Versus" fans will try to watch this, but I hate to say that you will probably be disappointed.

The hero drags a coffin behind him, an overwhelming number of enemies attack him, but only when the coffin is opened, hell really breaks loose... sounds like the summary for "Django" with Franco Nero, but actually it's "Death Trance" with Tak Sakaguchi. This rare coffin motif is something that will make you remember a movie which otherwise is fun, but not outstanding. Lots of fight scenes in a fantasy world where sticks and swords meet guns, motor bikes and an ultra-cool rocket launcher. Calling it a "historical costume movie" as its star did in an interview is not quite true, but few in the audience will care about history as long as it is fun. And it sometimes really is, e.g. when Grave (Sakaguchi) enters a "saloon" followed by a maybe 6 year old girl, orders a big glass of milk for himself - while the child drinks a whiskey. Or when Grave kills vampires by biting their necks in turn. No grave yet for Grave. Don't expect a masterpiece as "Death Trance" hasn't got the depth. Still worth a look if you like such kind of things.

I have seen a lot of Asian films and understand that genres get mixed together a lot. But this one takes the cake. Think of putting in John Woo, Billy Idol (!), Wuxia, Kiss Me Deadly, Hellraiser, Evil Dead 2, and Mad Max into a blender and add in a heavy metal soundtrack, and this will give you just some idea of this movie.

This is directed by the person who did the fight scenes from Versus and it shows. Almost all of the fight scenes take place in a forest. Hmmm..

interesting is that there is very little bloodshed. A lot of fighting with the blunt edge of the sword!! Not sure why this was done except to cut back on some special effects.

Saw it's Southeast premiere and the audience seemed to really enjoy it too. Lots of 'ooh', laughter and clapping.. Can't remember the last time I remember that in a theater.

Forget the plot (what little there is), and marvel and sheer audacity of some of these scenes. Very enjoyable, very 'cool' and in some cases, very very funny. Just don't expect anything meaningful.

I hadn't even heard about the 2005 movie "Death Trance" (aka "Desu toransu") before now late in 2019, when I was given the chance to sit down and watch it. Granted, I didn't even know what it was about or anything, but from the movie's cover it seemed like an action, martial arts and fantasy movie of sorts. Plus, my interest in Asian cinema did of course also make me pick up this movie.

Right, well I managed to get 31 minutes into the movie, well into the ordeal actually, before I called it quits. Wow, this movie was a swing and a miss.

First of all, the storyline was just abysmally boring, and it utterly failed to captivate me in any way. I kid you not, there was nothing here throughout the 31 minutes that I sat through that appealed to me in any way.

Secondly, the characters in the movie were bland and just also failed to impress. Actually, I didn't even care an ounce for the characters or their individual stories. Nor can I actually claim to be able to name the main character if you asked me about it.

"Death Trance" was definitely not my type of movie. But I will say that they should get some credit for their wardrobe and props; they were nice, at least.

All in all, this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch the rest of, as nothing appealed to me. I am rating "Death Trance" a mere three out of ten stars.

It was good in the sense that it kept you interested somewhat because you are watching it to figure out what in the world is going on. There is no plot, there is no reasoning to what and why things are going on. You don't know what era you're in and you don't know who the characters are and where they are from or why they are there. The movie is a mix of everything. But there is a lot of action but it's nothing to be excited about. You won't love it neither will you hate it, but its a watchable movie. In terms of setting it is almost like Lord of the Rings being that it takes place in a forest but with swords and swords that shoot like guns and one person had a motorbike. The best way I can describe this movie is Lord of the Rings meets Inuyasha meets Zombies meets Vampires, meets Samurai Jack gone completely wrong. LOL, hope that helps!