"Actor: Tomorô Taguchi"

• Black Society Trilogy | Blu Ray | (16/01/2017) from £21.01   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  After several years spent working almost exclusively in the direct-to-video world of V-cinema in Japan, Takashi Miike announced himself as a world-class filmmaking talent with this trio of thematically-connected, character-centric crime stories about violence, the underworld of Japanese society, families both real and surrogate, and the possibly hopeless task of finding one's place in the world. His first films made specifically for theatrical release, and his first for a major studio, the Black Society Trilogy was the beginning of Miike's mature career as a filmmaker and they remain among the prolific director's finest works. Set in the bustling Kabuki-cho nightlife neighborhood of Tokyo, Shinjuku Triad Society follows a mixed-race cop (Kippei Shiina, Outrage) struggling with private issues while hunting a psychotic criminal (Tomorowo Taguchi, Tetsuo the Iron Man) who traffics in children's organs. Rainy Dog, shot entirely in Taiwan, is about an exiled yakuza (Dead or Alive's Show Aikawa) who finds himself saddled with a son he never knew he had and a price on his head after the Chinese gang he works for decides to turn on him. Ley Lines moves from the countryside to the city and back, as three Japanese youths of Chinese descent (including The Raid 2's Kazuki Kitamura) seek their fortune in Tokyo, only to run afoul of a violent gang boss (Naoto Takenaka, The Happiness of the Katakuris). Three of the most dramatically moving films created by the director, the Black Society Trilogy offers clear proof that Miike's frequent pigeonholing as a specialist in bloody spectacle is only one aspect of his filmmaking career, and taken as a whole, the films are among the finest works ever to deal with the way violence and brutality can unexpectedly destroy even the most innocent of lives. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: High Definition digital transfers of all three films Original uncompressed stereo audio Optional English subtitles for all three films New interview with director Takashi Miike New interview with actor Show Aikawa (Rainy Dog, Ley Lines) New audio commentaries for all three films by Miike biographer Tom Mes Original theatrical trailers for all three films Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the films

• Dangan Runner | Blu Ray | (07/06/2021) from £15.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The famous Japanese director SABU (Happiness, Mr. Long, Miss Zombie) made his debut with the 1996 film DANGAN RUNNER, which gets its first UK release and worldwide bluray debut through Third Window Films. DANGAN RUNNER (aka NON-STOP) is the story of three losers brought together by fate with disastrous results. A would-be bank robber forgets his mask on his first big heist, and then botches an attempt to shoplift a replacement mask from a nearby convenience store. The store's clerk, a washed-up rock star, chases the thief and literally runs into a Yakuza thug to whom he owes money. Thus begins an all-night, three-way pursuit through the streets of Tokyo. Special Features: Interview with director Sabu Audio Commentary by film critic Jasper Sharp VCinema: Video Essay by Tom Mes Trailer

• Tetsuo: The Iron Man / Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer - Double Disc Set | Blu Ray | (08/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  For the first time on blu-ray, Shinya Tsukamoto's cult classics have been digitally restored from their original negatives to be presented in high definition in this double-disc set featuring brand new exclusive extras as well as Shinya Tsukamoto's 'Tetsuo' prototype short-film 'The Adventures of Electric Rod Boy' Tetsuo 1: A strange man known only as the 'metal fetishist', who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japan...

• Tetsuo 2 - Body Hammer | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Two years after leaving the grungy cyberpunk calling card of the original Tetsuo, Shinya Tsukamoto re-enters the world of flesh and metal metamorphoses with Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer, a more narratively ambitious film that is neither sequel nor remake, but a rethinking of the ideas on a bigger scale with more impressive effects. The film begins in the recognisable world of the thriller, where a young middle-class couple see their son kidnapped by mysterious hoodlums, and then takes an abrupt turn into an underworld of cybermen led by a mad scientist performing twisted experiments. The father (Tomoroh Taguchi, returning from the first film), filled with rage and shame at his powerlessness, suddenly transforms into a robotic warrior and becomes overwhelmed by the power, simultaneously terrified and ecstatic. Unlike in the original, Tsukamoto offers an explanation, for what it's worth, but the power lies not in the story but the nightmarish imagery and the themes of the marriage of flesh and technology, metal and magic. With an ample budget at his disposal (not to mention colour), Tsukamoto ups the conflict to a battle of biblical proportions while maintaining the brooding, terrifying, nightmarish quality. Tsukamoto's gory, violent vision of technology run amok is not for everyone, but fans of David Lynch and David Cronenberg will find his dangerous visions just as creatively disturbing.--Sean Axmaker

• Tetsuo: The Iron Man / Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer - Double Disc Set | DVD | (08/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For the first time on remastered DVD, Shinya Tsukamoto's cult classics have been digitally restored from their original negatives to be presented in high definition in this double-disc set featuring brand new exclusive extras as well as Shinya Tsukamoto's 'Tetsuo' prototype short-film 'The Adventures of Electric Rod Boy' Tetsuo 1: A strange man known only as the 'metal fetishist', who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by ...

• Dead Or Alive 2 | DVD | (24/02/2003) from £8.49   |  Saving you £6.50 (43.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  An off-the-cuff Japanese gangster movie with an absurdist streak that shades into surrealism, Dead or Alive 2 isn't thrown by its brief to sequelise a film that ended not only with the deaths of its lead characters but the destruction of Japan. Takashi Miike--the prolific auteur whose best-known film is the atypically considered Audition--brings back his lead actors in different roles and spins off another strange shaggy dog tale. The film starts out with a Yakuza vs Triads gang war in the offing, then sidesteps into "'Beat"' Miike territory as a couple of hit-men who meet when they turn up for the same assassination turn out to be childhood friends and enjoy a nostalgic wallow as they return to the orphanage where they met, re-encounter other old pals and even stand in for some injured actors putting on a play for the children. White-suited and terminally ill Sawada (Riki Takeuchi) and bleached blond and Hawaiian-shirted Otamoko (Sho Aikawa) get back to gunplay, committing contract murders and funnelling the profits into third world charities, which earns them occasional angel-wings or transformations back into innocent children. In constant danger of collapse, the film keeps pulling surprises: txt msg-addicted killers, an animated diagram of bullet trajectories through an unfortunate dwarf's brain. The first film blew up the country because it couldn't think of an ending, and this also has a lot of trouble signing off, with protracted deaths and redemptions for the heroes. Miike alternates clumsiness and confusion with exciting and powerful cinema. --Kim Newman

• Full Metal Yakuza | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A wannabe yakuza seems permanently grounded on the lowest rung of the local crime syndicate. However an unsual (and rather unpleasant) incident renders this no-hoper as a formidable cybernetic fighting machine! Another mightily wacky underworld thriller from cult Japanese director Takashi Miike.

• Gamera 2 - Attack Of Legion | DVD | (19/01/2004) from £6.73   |  Saving you £13.26 (66.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A classic Kaiju (monster) movie from Japan! A freak meteor shower near Sapporo Japan brings with it more than just a killer light show. Electrical problems over-grown plant life and a whole slew of rather irritable critters also drop in to threaten the human race! Local science instructor Midori Honami (Miki Mizuno) is called to assist the brave Colonel Watarase (Toshiyuki Nagashima) in the military's oft-confused attempts to save mankind. With giant flying turtle Gamera (Gua