Posted by eric ringer in Movie Reviews, News, Trailers on June 4th, 2008

Because we just can’t have too many cool Japanese flicks at the festival, we’ve added a new Closing Night Film: the highly anticipated (well, in certain circles anyway) West Coast Premiere of TOKYO GORE POLICE.

At the helm is first-time director Yoshihiro Nishimura. A special makeup artist by trade, Nishimura has crafted FX for such films as the aforementioned MACHINE GIRL and the bizarre MEATBALL MACHINE, as well as the upcoming Hideo Nakata film L: CHANGE THE WORLD (the follow-up to the DEATH NOTE duo) and several Sion Sono features, including EXTE and STRANGE CIRCUS. In addition to his directorial and scriptwriting duties (the latter shared with writer Kengo Kaji, of UZUMAKI fame), the filmmaker and his staff at Nishimura Eizou have devised a quantity of imaginative makeup FX for this new project.

The plot of TOKYO GORE POLICE revolves around Ruka, a police officer in a special squad formed to eradicate human mutations that have recently sprung into existence, the result of a virus created by a mad scientist simply known as Key Man. Killing these unwieldy mutants is no easy task, and Ruka, naturally enough, carries a samurai sword with her at all times. Despite being on opposite sides of the fence, Ruka and Key Man share a common bond: the murder of their fathers years earlier at the hands of the police, and both she and Key Man seek revenge for their dads’ untimely demise.

Playing Ruka is actress Eihi Shiina (pictured above), who is most recognizable for her portrayal of Asami, the epitome of the Asian femme fatale in Takashi Miike’s classic film AUDITION. As lovely as ever, the slender Shiina freely brandished her silver sword about the set, making a mess of this weak-kneed Fango reporter’s nerves! Also starring is Itsuji Itao as Key Man; a member of the famous Yoshimoto comedy clan, Itao has appeared in films such as BIG MAN JAPAN, DEATH NOTE 2 and ONE MISSED CALL: FINAL. TOKYO GORE POLICE’s extensive fight scenes are in the hands of Tak Sakaguchi, the well-known stunt coordinator whose work has graced Ryuhei Kitamura’s AZUMI and GODZILLA: FINAL WARS.

Sun. Jun 22 2008, 8:00 pm | Brava Theater in San Francisco.

Posted by eric ringer in News, Trailers on May 30th, 2008

The 5th annual Another Hole in the Head Film Festival running June 5th-22nd, 2008 at the Roxie Film Center, 3117 Sixteenth Street, in San Francisco. For tickets or more information please call (415) 820-3907 or click on www.sfindie.com.

Posted by eric ringer in Trailers on May 27th, 2008

Posted by eric ringer in Trailers on May 23rd, 2008

The 5th annual Another Hole in the Head Film Festival running June 5th-22nd, 2008 at the Roxie Film Center, 3117 Sixteenth Street, in San Francisco. For tickets or more information please call (415) 820-3907 or click on www.sfindie.com.

Posted by eric ringer in Trailers on May 22nd, 2008

Matthew Kohnen’s WASTING AWAY is a fresh take on the zombie flick. Tired of the constant droning of zombie after zombie as they stumble awkwardly toward their prey? Always wondered what the heck was going on inside the brain of one of those zombies? Ever feel like a zombie yourself? WASTING AWAY is an oddball comedy from the perspective of the flesh munching monsters themselves. Isn’t this the zombie film you’ve always been waiting for?

The 5th annual Another Hole in the Head Film Festival running June 5th-22nd, 2008 at the Roxie Film Center, 3117 Sixteenth Street, in San Francisco. For tickets or more information please call (415) 820-3907 or click on www.sfindie.com.

Posted by eric ringer in News, Trailers on May 10th, 2008

In the wake of a solar flare of unusual properties, a mismatched group of inner-city survivors must put aside their animosity to escape a Los Angeles now free of gang-bangers, but infested instead with blood-sucking zombies.

The 5th annual Another Hole in the Head Film Festival running June 5th-22nd, 2008 at the Roxie Film Center, 3117 Sixteenth Street, in San Francisco. For tickets or more information please call (415) 820-3907 or click on www.sfindie.com.

Posted by eric ringer in News, Trailers on May 7th, 2008

WEST COAST PREMIERE

EXTE is the latest film by director Sion Sono, whose 2001 Suicide Circle gained him an international notoriety in cutting-edge contemporary horror and social commentary. Tokyo port authorities discover several cargo containers from China filled with the corpses of young women, victims of the cruel and illicit sale of human organs. An autopsy on one women defies explanation as her entire body cavity is filled with long strands of hair. One of the morgue workers (Ren Osugi) holds a secret fetish for women’s hair which drives him to steal the corpse and hide it away in his apartment. Within a very short period, and to his great delight, he finds that the young woman’s body continues to grow huge, flowing amounts of hair, which he lovingly snips from her and enthusiastically sells to local hair salons for hair extensions, a relatively new and booming trend. In his daily rounds to pawn the hair, he comes into contact with Yoko (Chiaki Kuriyama), a young and aspiring salon apprentice whose own hair he immediately falls in love with. Out of giddy generosity, he offers Yoko and her fellow workers several free samples which they gratefully accept. It is not long, however, when they all begin to realize that something horrible befalls everyone who comes in contact with the hair. Only the morgue worker, who devotedly adores his new hair-sprouting guest seems impervious to her curse.

At a glance this sounds almost too weird to be creepy. It’s creepy. Not sure why or how or who started this theme, but little kids in horror can be *really* creepy. You’ll find this here as the little girl in Exte (aka “hair extensions”) is witness to some really bizarre and, yes, creepy & scary stuff.

Our main weirdo and the great lover of hair, Ren Osugi, is a daft obsessive who has been warming up to his love for hair over the years. By the time he encounters this corpse who is a veritable fountain of hair we seen him quickly change into the realm of the deranged. Even as the demonic hair fills his apartment, Ren is not only unfazed he is approaching a demented nirvana. It quickly comes to light that the hair, with a life of its’ own is quite likely involved in grave bodily harm as Yoko and others unwittingly attach strands of these killer strands to the heads of their salon clients.

Demonic hair that seems to make no bones about its’ victims. Well beyond divine justice these terrifying locks have neither qualms nor morals, ripping the flesh of characters who are seen as good as well as the clearly sinister. While Sion Sono’s Suicide Club was filled with gore there was a subtle sense of humor throughout. Here, you will find an ongoing sense of creepy. Over the top? Unquestionably, yet the film still maintains a primal quality that will make your skin crawl.

Another Hole In The Head Film Festival runs June 5th-22nd, 2008 at the Roxie Film Center, 3117 Sixteenth Street, in San Francisco.

Posted by eric ringer in News, Trailers on May 6th, 2008

Yes, we are looking forward to Robert Rodriguez’s remake of Barbarella due out later this year. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Barbarella we present a special late night, big screen, 35mm blockbuster presentation of the sexiest sci fi flick of the 20th Century.

Free admission in Barbarella-inspired costume! (June 7 screening only)

“This is eye candy from start to finish– *including* one of the most baroque title sequences ever concocted (long before digital technology made this kind of playful titling standard). It’s Franco-Italian design all the way through, a celebration of petroleum products and the best of the lava lamp aesthetic. Hard to tell if it’s a parody of sci-fi or a parody of porn, or same difference is probably the point. There are some very stylized, sadomasochistic uses of Jane Fonda’s long legs, at the same time that Fonda delivers the wittiest lines, in a very witty screenplay by Terry Southern (of Doctor Strangelove fame): “Decrucify my angel immediately!” (Kids, see if you can spot the Chucky in this 1968 precursor.) Skeptics should stay the course to learn what Duran Duran has to do with Barbarella. And Barbarella with the Black Queen. And the Black Queen with the Rolling Stones. And if you don’t know what camp is, then you have to see Barbarella: even if the film is more sublime than camp, a kind of psychedelic Brechtian fantasia.” Essential Sci Fi, J Skinner

Another Hole In The Head Film Festival runs June 5th-22nd, 2008 at the Roxie Film Center, 3117 Sixteenth Street, in San Francisco.