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Crows Zero II

Stars: Shun Oguri, Kyôsuke Yabe, Meisa Kuroki, Nobuaki Kaneko, Haruma Miura, Sôsuke Takaoka, Takayuki Yamada | Written by Shôgo Mutô | Directed by Takashi Miike

When I first saw Crows Zero (review here) it quickly became one of my favourite Takashi Miike films. First introduced to his work through Audition then Ichi the Killer I was used to his harsh and extreme horror side, but the more of I see the more he impresses me. Be it with 13 Assassins or the Crows Zero films I’ve been able to see that he can enact ambitious fight scenes that are full to the brim with gore and his own impressive style, although Crows Zero to be fair does not use gore, it seems probably his tamest work and to be aimed at a more teen audience.

Following on straight after the events of the first film it’s not long...

Crows Zero

Stars: Shun Oguri, Kyôsuke Yabe, Meisa Kuroki, Takayuki Yamada, Sansei Shiomi, Ken’ichi Endô, Gorô Kishitani | Written by Shôgo Mutô | Directed by Takashi Miike

Crows Zero can be taken in two ways really, it’s either a tale about school kids kicking the holy hell out of each other or it’s a story about coming of age. It’s a tale of boys who are becoming adults and are finding themselves in the world of violence, gangs and the Yakuza. To survive Suzuran Senior High School is one thing, but to survive on top is impossible.

Suzuran, a school also known as the School of Crows is a building controlled by factions of school kids in the middle of all out gang warfare. The teachers have apparently given up on trying teaching the kids, or we don’t see them in class at least, all we see is fighting and violence.

Goody. It is time once again for copious amounts of blood to rain down from the sky above. Here we have the trailer for Tak Sakaguchi’s Samurai Zombie, his second foray into film direction. It is of no concern to us that it is obviously a low budgeted affair it certainly does make up for it with dismemberment and blood letting.

This Japanese low-budget action drama follows a family on a trip that encounters a man threatening them with a gun on a desolate mountain trail. At a moment of maximum tension, a couple shows up out of nowhere, kills the man and disappears again, and shortly after a lunatic old lady comes and warns them of death. The frightened family is headed for a showdown for no reason with samurai zombies resurrected from their graves.

Samurai Zombie is a so-called fusion-style film that has established itself as a trend.

Well, would you look at this. That there is the new poster for Tak Sakaguchi’s upcoming Samurai Zombie. We’re fans of Tak, that much should be obvious to regular readers. He is a regular presence amongst lo-budget productions in Japan which doesn’t mean that he isn’t damn impressive or entertaining. He is both. In spades. And so it came as no surprise that this regular on the Japanese action film circuit would start to helm his own films. With Be A Man! Samurai School! already under his belt we are eager to see what he can come up with in Samurai Zombie. It stars comedian Yakkun Sakurazuka, Nana Natsume [Sasori], Keiko Oginome, Issei Ishida, Mitsuru Fukikoshi [Samurai Fiction, Stereo Future and The Twilight Samurai], and Kyôsuke Yabe [Crows Zero and Crows Zero II].

This Japanese low-budget action drama follows a family on a trip that encounters a man threatening them with a gun on a desolate mountain trail. At a moment of maximum tension,...