'Score' (1995) - Atsushi Muroga.

Like a more rabid Reservoir Dogs on weaponized PCP, maestro, Muroga's dazzlingly kinetic, spectacularly squib-happy, hyperbolic heist gone south actioner 'Score' is an adrenalized assault on the senses, and a more bravura, blood-soaked example of 'unheroic' Bloodshed might be sheer madness to contemplate! As a slightly quibbling aside, I'm not entirely sure if I approve of the verbatim purloining of an iconic Shane Black line, but maybe I'm just being super-precious about it!!?? - Weirdlingwolf.

 

 

 

 

'The Wolves (1971) - Hideo Gosha.

Widely regarded as one of Japan's most eminent filmmakers, Hideo Gosha's exceptionally refined artistry is put to inspired use in his immaculately shot, doom-laden masterpiece 'The Wolves'. Dark, brutal, melancholic, and peppered with astringent outbursts of uncomfortably intimate violence, 'The Wolves' retains all of its visceral intensity. Hideo's layered, emotionally dense, potently simmering study of loneliness, fealty, and love is never less than impressive. While ostensibly a stark tale of Yakuza blood feuds, there's a depth to these lucid characters actions which lends gravitas to their scheming. This rich, consistently fascinating, highly detailed narrative is brought to vivid life by a compellingly focused lead performance from Japanese icon, Tatsuya Nakadai as weary, flint-edged gangster, Seji Iwahashi. 'The Wolves' (1971) is muscular, vital filmmaking with an unsually deft touch, music maestro, Masaru Satô's sprightly score is exemplary, and the bravura, brine-lashed climax is sure to take your breath away! 

 

 

 

'Bangkok Haunted' (2001) Oxide Chun Pang & Pisut Praesangeam. 

This inventive, engagingly lurid terror triptych from Thailand remains an atmospheric, darkly compelling, deliciously haunting horror compendium! Like all spook-slathered anthologies, it's a mixed body bag, nonetheless, this sporadically chilling creepshow exudes a singular strangeness that makes it stick out from the shroud! Capable filmmakers, Oxide Chun Pang & Pisut Praesangeam deliver some shuddersome visuals, offering frightfans a uniquely twisted tableau of quintessentially Thai terror! I have a strong preference for blackened occult fantasies, and these eldritch excursions into hell are sinisterly steeped in folkloric fright. Macabre, stylishly shot, and fabulously freaky, I enjoyed every sultry, skin crawlingly creepy second of these ghostly far-flung tales, with the hauntingly off-beat 'Legend of The Drum' being a sinisterly simmering highlight!! While manifestly Asian, doomily drenched in eerie exotica, 'Bangkok Haunted' might also appeal to fans of the classic Amicus anthology style. 

 

 

 

'Kichiku Dai Enkai' (1998) - Kazuyoshi Kumakiri.

The controversial student 16mm splatter-fest 'Kichiku Dai Enkai' is certainly NOT ideal dinnertime viewing for those with delicate stomachs! Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's cruel, grievously grisly, low budget independent feature has a rare intensity that recalls 'Last House on Dead End Street', and 'Snuff' with infinitely more effective gore! Uncompromising, brutal, and searingly visceral cinema, the bestial, blood-soaked mayhem in 'Kichiku Dai Enkai' are disturbingly based upon true events! The precociously talented young director,Kumakiri, like, Van Bebber before him documents the sadistic slaughter perpetrated by a group of increasingly maniacal students with a raw, disturbing verisimilitude. Time has done little to soften the bruising impact of the film's demented climax which unleashes a torturous tsunami of genital mutilation, gruesome eviscerations, and splattery shotgun savagery! 

 

  

'Keoma' (1976) - Enzo. G. Castellari.

I recently rewatched Castellari's dark, stylish masterpiece 'Keoma' (1976). I absolutely adore everything about this one, Nero, Strode, Berger, G & M De Angelis and the uncommonly beautiful, Olga Karlatos! Franco Nero's itinerant, steely-eyed, knife-throwing Keoma has a potently mythic quality, an ascetic with a shotgun? savage or saviour? Sinner or Saint? Who knows, but, Keoma is undeniably one of cult cinema's most righteous avenging angels!