Saturday 28 January 2017

Freeview film of the day : saturday 28th of January

Yakuza Apocalypse (2015 115mins.) [Film4 11.25pm &+1]
Freeview premiere

A gang member is bitten by his dying vampire boss and struggles with his transition from sensitive human being to crazed bloodsucker, while also setting out to get revenge on the international crime syndicate responsible for his mentor's death. Comedy horror, starring Hayato Ichihara. In Japanese.

Totally and utterly bonkers martial arts meets vampires film made as affectionate tribute to the low-budget direct-to-video action thrillers which Japan produced by the crateload in the eighties and nineties.

Prolific director Takashi Miike might be best known in the West for the big budget historical drama 13 Assassins or the claustrophobic, intricately plotted horror Audition but here he's working much closer to the sheer oddness of his earlier vampire musical The Happiness Of The Katakuris.

The plot (such as it is) makes little or no sense and a lot of the references may be lost on those without a working knowledge of the Japanese horror tradition ; but it's so willfully nuts that you end up being dragged along from scene to scene just to see what bizarre event or creature will feature next.

The lead actor is Yayan Ruhian who made such an impression in The Raid and his physical style adds a certain weight to the cartoon violence of the fight scenes but the overall tone is one of black humour and it's clear that it's not a film intended to be taken at all seriously.

To say it's not going to work for everyone is an understatement ; you have to be prepared to enjoy the ride and come to it in the right frame of mind to get anything from it; but it's a work of spectacular nuttiness.

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