Yakuza Apocalypse

Miike melds genres in this yakuza/vampire flick. This is certainly crazy, but I don't think it's one of Miike's better films. Hayato Ichihara stars as a yakuza henchman who sees his boss decapitated in front of him. The boss has a secret: he's a vampire. And before his head dies, he bites Ichihara on the neck and imparts his powers to him. With those powers (and the power to create more vampires), he looks for vengeance for his boss. Simple enough set-up, but there's a ton of other stuff packed into the film. A lot of that stuff is fun - particularly the late-film appearance of a giant green frog monster who kicks all kinds of butt - but none of it is very coherent. It feels like just weird stuff for the sake of weirdness. Still, there's enough here worth seeing that I'd recommend seeing it, particularly if you're a fan of Miike or just cult cinema. Yayan Ruhian, who starred in The Raid and its sequel, also stars (he also briefly appears in The Force Awakens, but at least here he gets to fight).

Oh my god! This is either a work of genius on the part of the director (seeing what he could put his actors through) or the work of a lunatic! He has made some truly amazing films in the past (Audition and 13 Assassins immediately spring to mind) and if you haven't seen these then you must.

I know that with a Mikke movie, you are going to get a little weirdness but this was off the charts.

I would put this next to 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' as a film you need to watch.

So bad, it's good.

But if you watch this and understand completely what it's about, could you let me know.

For those not experienced any of Takeshi Miike's previous work, you are going to be in for a bit of a door slamming in the face experience with this one. There's no denying that he can direct a movie (and he has made some excellent movies) but some of his most popular films have been more offbeat & comical like this.

There's no point explaining the storyline as it's non-linear, intentionally a farce and practically irrelevant. Don't bother trying to intellectualise any of it either like one guy I overheard did as I left the cinema. It's just a farce, and makes no pretences to be otherwise.

You'll either fall for its ludicrous charms in much the same way many do with Month Pythons' work, but it will leave many cold. The humour is quirky but often violent and cruel so won't suit all. Might even offend some sensibilities. It often bored me but others in the cinema were in hysterics. Lots of teenage boy level humour too.

For those who lose patience with this, the only respite is that despite the silliness, you'll find at least something somewhere to laugh at.

It's not by any means the director's best work. Not by a long shot. Still for fan boys they'll lap it up, for all else it will likely miss the mark even if doesn't do so on the screen.

As usual, Takashi Miike – director of "Audition", "Ichi the Killer" and the "Dead or alive" trilogy – throws things at the wall to see what sticks.

In that case, we have the ninja with the frog costume, the knitting circle/blood farm underground and the always excellent Yayan Ruhian of "The Raid" fame. That's enough for me.

The vampire story pales a bit by comparison, but still keeps the story together. It tells you something about a movie when the yakuza-vampire angle is the grounding part.

Considering the low budget that most Japanese films are made with, this was a textbook over the top Miike film. He's not going to be remaking classics like Koroshiya Ichi or Rainy Dog. I hope he gets back into that mode. But that's how it is when a director becomes a cult hero.

This is really just a movie about the sociology of living in a small coastal Japanese town. There's all the main components for small time organized crime to exist and flourish. Things turnabout, people get killed, things get sorted out.

I'm a real fan of Ninkyo eiga, the chivalrous yakuza films. I believe the heart of this film is Ninkyo. The outside is all otaku jack-off material, and the wrapper is whatever the heck Tarantino did to make Miike quit making awesome films like Ichi the Killer, Rainy Dog, and Deadly Outlaw Rekka, which is everything that this movie just couldn't provide for people who aren't a huge fan of Miike to begin with.

If you don't like this movie, then watch Deadly Outlaw Rekka, Yakuza Demon, and Rainy Dog. These are the movies that are not childish in any way.