Sushi Typhoon, the North American genre film distribution arm of the Nikkatsu Corporation, is the wildest film company I’ve ever come across. From their directors parading on stage in sumo diapers to the goriest horror comedies and thrillers that I’ve ever seen, Sushi Typhoon takes full advantage of its films cult following by listening to them and bringing them exactly what they want to see.
Sushi Typhoon has been parading its films across the festival circuit and doesn’t appear to be holding back with its future films. Marc Walkow of Sushi Typhoon hosted a panel at the NY Comic Con and it was here where I learned about all of their upcoming films, release dates and other great news bits. You can check out the short version and long version after the jump.
The Short Version:
- –Takeshi Miike will most likely be making his first Sushi Typhoon film in the middle of 2011 –Karate Robo Zaborgar is a tribute to the 1974 Japanese television show, Denjin Zaborger, and will be released in the spring of 2011. Director Noboru Iguchi wrote the subtitles for the trailer.
-Director Yudai Yamaguchi will be making a film called Deadball which will star Tak Sakaguchi. It may or may not be a sequel to Yamaguchi’s film Battlefield Baseball
-The trailer for Yakuza Weapon was very cool. Didn’t feel like a action comedy, more like a dark yet slightly more realistic film than Full Metal Yakuza
-There will be a new Helldriver trailer coming soon. It will include more footage than the teaser that premiere on Twitch a few days ago (video located at the bottom).
The Longer Verision:
Takeshi Miike (13 Assassins, Ichi the Killer), one of the most famous working Japanese directors, is the “Head Chef” and is one of 10 personalities currently on the label. If all goes according to plan, he will begin making his first Sushi Typhoon film sometime in the middle of 2011. This is the film that diehard Japanese cult fans have waiting for. While we love the work of all the other directors, the anticipation for a Miike splatter film has been killing the fans and now we at least have some confirmation that he will be making one after all.
If you haven’t check out the trailer for Noboru Iguchi’s latest film Karate Robo Zaborgar you are missing out. Iguhci, best known for Robo-Geisha and Machine Girl decided to pay homage to one of Japan’s most famous television series, Denjin Zaborger. The television show actually introduced the world to transforming robots and is probably the reason why Transformers now exists. The movie will be about the adventures of a policeman who does battle by having his motorcycle transform into a crime fighting robot.
Iguchi claims that the movie is very authentic when compared to the original show but as Mark puts it, it may not necessarily be respectful. You’ll understand what that means after you see the wild looking trailer which is to be released by the end of the year. What’s great about the film is that it looks like it was made in the 70s which is why it probably feels so authentic. The best part about the trailer is the amazing subtitles. Iguhci wrote them himself which, if you know Iguchi, may be a surprise to you because the man doesn’t really speak any English. The film is currently in post production.
Here is a picture of the motorcycle version of the robot.
In addition to finding out all this great news, Marc showed us a rough cut trailer for Tak Sakaguchi and Yudai Yamaguchi’s upcoming film, Yakuza Weapon. The film stars Sakaguchi, Jun Murakami, Arata Yamanaka and choreographed by Yuji Shimomura. Now I can’t exactly put into words everything that I saw in the trailer but I can say this, there is a naked girl whose head drops and a machine gun comes out of her neck, Tak does a shit ton of martial arts and the film includes all the genre aspects that we all love minus the comedy so far. Although the trailer seemed a bit darker and more dramatic than some of Tak’s most recent films, Marc calls Yakuza Weapon a film that’s about “badass repressed homosexual rage.” So take that for what it’s worth.
Yudi Yamagchi’s follow-up to Yakuza Weapon will most likely be Deadball, a film which may or may not be a sequel to his debut film, Battlefield Baseball. His good friend Tak Sakaguchi will be starring as a baseball player from hell or a baseball player that will be fighting in hell. Either way it seems like another gory baseball movie couldn’t hurt anyone since I know we don’t see too many of those here in the states.
Lastly, expect an extended trailer for Helldriver to hit the net soon. I saw it at Comic Con and right now the teaser is the only thing floating around the net, so brace yourself for more of Yoshihiro Nishimura’s zombie epic.
As for everything else you can head on over to Sushi Typhoon’s website to check out the latest on the popular festival film Cold Fish (Venice Film Festival, TIFF, Fantastic Fest), directed by Sion Sono, as well as Mutant Girls Squad and Alien vs. Ninja.
Helldriver Teaser
Recent Comments