PLEASE NOTE: All articles are the property of the authors and/or SciFi Japan. Reprint or reproduction of any material in part or in whole, including the copying or posting of articles on any internet or computer site, without the authors' consent is strictly forbidden. Links to articles appearing on SciFI Japan are allowed (and appreciated).
SPLICE is a “science gone wrong” tale concerning two scientists who dare to play God. The film is a Freudian biological nightmare revolving around Clive and Elsa (played by Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley), a romantically involved pair of scientists who have helped revolutionize genetic engineering by splicing together the DNA of different animals to create new hybrid creatures. When they try to experiment with human DNA, the company that funds their research won’t let them due to their fear of public outcry. Knowing that doing so could lead to breakthroughs in science and medicine, Clive and Elsa decide to conduct the experiments anyway.
The result is Dren, a creature made up of human DNA, as well as the DNA of various animals. Dren appears and acts more human as she ages at an unusually fast rate. From there, the scientists develop all kinds of complex relationships with the creature from paternal to sadistic to sexual. Through it all, Clive and Elsa’s relationship grows extremely complicated and we see Dren put through an existential hell.
Directed by Vincenzo Natali (CUBE), and mentored/produced by horror guru Guillermo del Toro, SPLICE is a weird, freaky little film that goes in places that you probably won’t see coming. Continued…
Last December, Fox Home Entertainment launched a DVD on Demand program through online retailer Amazon.com’s CreateSpace service. Similar to Warner Bros’ Warner Archive Collection, CreateSpace DVD on Demand will allow Fox to make available classic titles from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film and television library that would would most likely not be released as mass-market entries, particularly in today’s tough and over-crowded home video market. While mass-produced retail DVDs are manufactured by a factory stamping process, the CreateSpace program individually burns NTSC format, Region 1 DVD-Rs sourced from archived studio materials.
“MGM has a vast library of classic films and TV shows, which up until now have never been available for purchase,” said Eric Doctorow, general manager MGM Worldwide at Fox. “Working with CreateSpace gives us the opportunity to preserve and release some of these films and TV shows for fans everywhere.”
One title of particularly interest to SciFi Japan readers will be JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT (1967), the Americanized version of the Japanese FX show GIANT ROBO (Jaianto Robo). Fox Home Entertainment has announced that the complete 26 episode series will be released in a seven disc set through MGM DVD on Demand. Continued…
J-Pop Idol Erina Mano to Attend and Perform at Premiere Screening of Her Feature Film Debut
Source: Japan Film Society, BAM! Marketing, Publicity and Promotions press releases
Additional Material: Kai Saari
Official Site: Facebook.com/TalesofTerror (US), shinmimi.net (Japan)
Official Twitter Profile: Twitter.com/ShinMimi
J-Pop’s #1 idol and Hello! Project singing sensation Erina Mano will be attending and performing at the world premiere of her break-out feature film role in KAI-KI: TALES OF TERROR FROM TOKYO (怪談新耳袋-怪奇) on July 1, 2010 (World Premiere at noon and 2nd screening at 3:00 pm) at the world famous venue, Club Nokia, in Los Angeles, California. Advance tickets for both events are now available at club2themax.com.
KAI-KI: TALES OF TERROR FROM TOKYO is based on the hit Japanese TV franchise TALES OF TERROR FROM TOKYO AND ALL OVER JAPAN and is comprised of two separate short stories: TSUKIMONO: THE POSSESSED and NOZOMI, both starring Erina Mano. The film was written by Ryuta Miyake and directed by Makoto Shinozaki (TOKYO ISLAND), and features the song “Returning Home” performed by Ms. Mano.
Erina Mano will be in attendance at both screenings and will also partake in a Q&A session with audience members and perform a mini-live concert at the event as well. In addition, she will also be take part in a fan meet & greet and a mini-autograph session for a limited time at the event. Also in attendance will be legendary J-Idol producer Andrew Tamon Niwa (the man behind Pocky 4 Sisters, Tokyo Shojo, and Miyazaki Aoi; in addition to Miss Mano) and the acclaimed horror/ghost-folktale aficionado and Tales of Terror author Hirokatsu Kihara, whose work inspired the hit Japanese TV series and now the highly anticipated theatrical release. Continued…
A year ago, New York-based publisher HarperCollins announced their upcoming release Godzilla and Friends: The Art of the Japanese Monster. After various delays, the book finally went on sale this past week with the revised title Killer Kaiju Monsters: Strange Beasts of Japanese Film. The hardcover volume was written and edited by Ivan Vartanian (Full Vinyl: The Subversive Art of Designer Toys) and features illustrations by Mark Nagata (Max Toy Company), Shoji Ohtomo (An Anatomical Guide to Monsters), Ryohei Tanaka (Panic Attack!), and a cut-out paper toy by renowned paper engineer Keisuke Saka.
Killer Kaiju Monsters: Strange Beasts of Japanese Film at first looks to be typical of what we come to expect from mainstream published books on Japanese movie monsters. The Japanese studios prohibit the use of the names or any likeness or their characters on the cover (hence the change from Godzilla and Friends), so a more generic title is used and any monster design is by necessity an original one, i.e. not of a movie monster. So ordinarily, the cover belies its contents. However, in the case of Killer Kaiju Monsters, the cover is oddly emblematic of what the rest of the book delivers. Continued…
EVANGELION 1.11 and FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD on DVD and Blu-ray; GOEMON and ROBOGEISHA
Source: Madman Entertainment
The Australian distributor Madman Entertainment is releasing several anime and Asian live action titles on Blu-ray and Region 4 DVD in June. Highlights include…
ROBOGEISHA
Yoshie and her sister Kikuyakko are recruited by the handsome Hikaru to help overthrow the corrupt Japanese government, agreeing to become cyborgs in his geisha army. Now armed with robotic blades and missiles, Yoshie must fight for good, and become… Robogeisha!
GOEMON
Master thief Goemon steals evidence of a secret pact to assassinate the mighty warlord Nobunaga. Pursued by the conspirator Hideyoshi, Goemon finds himself fighting for his life and must return to the battlefield one last time to bring peace to his country…
FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD COLLECTION 1
As children, brothers Edward and Alphonse used the clandestine science of Alchemy to attempt the unthinkable – the resurrection of their dead mother. They failed, unleashing an alchemic reaction that ripped their bodies apart. Four years later, Ed and Al comb the country in search of a legendary stone rumoured to possess the ability to amplify their alchemy & restore their bodies to normal.
EVANGELION 1.11
It is 2015: half of Earth’s population is dead, victims of the “Second Impact”. Summoned by his enigmatic father, 14-year-old Shinji arrives in the rebuilt city, Tokyo-3, just as a giant creature, an Angel, attacks! Forced to pilot a bio-mechanical suit known as an Evangelion, Shinji must face his fears and defend the city – or die trying. Continued…
SciFi Japan would like to thank 4Digital Media, Organic Marketing, and everyone who entered our recent “JU-ON: WHITE GHOST and JU-ON: BLACK GHOST DVD” giveaway competition. The following randomly drawn entrants correctly answered all contest questions:
Gareth Earls Craig Sheppard Michael O’Sullivan Keiko Taylor Paul Shepherd
plus runner-up Hassni Malik
Congratulations to all the winners! Each of you has won a free copy of the new JU-ON: WHITE GHOST and JU-ON: BLACK GHOST Double Feature DVD from 4Digital Media. Organic Marketing has already shipped out the DVDs. Continued…
On May 9th, CJ Entertainment officially confirmed financing for SECTOR 7 (Je chil gwanggu, aka MINING AREA 7), a 3D monster movie that will be directed and produced by Youn Je-kyun. CJ reportedly was very impressed by a creature effects demo shown at a recent presentation and expects the film will be successful in the wake of the 3D boom caused by James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster AVATAR (2009). Fiming is scheduled to begin next month.
The amount of money CJ Entertainment will invest is expected to be 10 billion Korean won (about 8.67 million USD). CJ previously financed, co-produced and distributed Youn’s 2009 disaster film HAEUNDAE with great success. HAEUNDAE attracted 11.3 million admissions last year to top the domestic box office and become the 4th highest-grossing Korean film of all-time.
SECTOR 7 is about a mutated deep sea creature that runs amok in an oil rig. Award-winning actress Ha Ji-won, who also starred in Youn’s HAEUNDAE and MIRACLE ON 1ST STREET (1 Beon-ga-eui Gi-jeok, 2006), is slated to join the director once again. It marks the second Korean feature film that will be shot in 3D after THE SONG OF THE STRINGS which began production in March, but is the first to be financed by a major company. Continued…
The Special Effects Line Continues
Author: John “Dutch” DeSentis
Source: Anime Jungle
Official Site: kaiyodo.co.jp/revoltech
Special Thanks to Tetsu Shiota and Jim Ballard
As previously reported on SciFi Japan, the Kaiyodo Company in Japan has begun a new series in their Revoltech figure line called Sci-Fi Revoltech. There will be three figures released for Wave 3 on June 1st. First up is a figure based on the character Jack Skellington from Tim Burton’s THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993). The other two figures, which will be of more interest to kaiju fans no doubt, are Gamera and Gyaos from 1995’s GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE (Gamera: Daikaiju Kuchu Kessen). If the advance photographs are any indication, the high level of quality set forth in the first two waves will be carried over here.
Wave 4 is due for release on July 1st and will feature figures based on the DC Comics icon Batman as he appeared in the blockbuster film THE DARK KNIGHT, and the classic Japanese tokusatsu superhero Giant Robo from the show of the same name (released in the US as JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT). Both figures will come with the usual array of interchangeable parts. Continued…
The Legends of Tono (Tono Monogatari) is a book with a complicated history. In the prefecture of Iwate in the village of Tono a local folklorist, Kizen Sasaki (1886-1933), had been collecting the folktales of the region at the turn of the 20th Century. He was the sort of person who you might imagine walking from house to farm to field just conversing with the people of the land and mentally cataloging their reminiscences and anecdotes.
In 1908 Sasaki had a chance meeting with Kunio Yanagita (1875-1962). Already an active writer in Tokyo, Yanagita was a fan of ghost stories ranging from Chinese folktales and Japanese classics to the Western stories of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Meeting with Sasaki and hearing some of his local stories inspired him to take a trip to Tono and then finally to write this collection. Yanagita’s method was to listen to Sasaki’s reports and then visit the locales where they took place and then write the tales in his own words.
So the book comprises the individual accounts of the people of Tono collected by Sasaki and then codified into a cohesive whole by Yanagita. Plus consideration of the careful translation by Ronald A. Morse, this was quite an enterprise. Continued…
SciFi Japan is pleased to present another giveaway contest for Japanese horror fans in the United Kingdom.
On April 26th, the two latest films in the hugely successful JU-ON/THE GRUDGE Japanese horror series— JU-ON: WHITE GHOST and JU-ON: BLACK GHOST— will be released together on DVD in the UK by 4Digital Media. The one disk set continues the franchise under the helm of the original JU-ON producer Taka Ichise and creator Takashi Shimizu whose horror filled vision was remade in America as THE GRUDGE (2004). To celebrate the release of these horrifying films 4Digital Media and Organic Marketing have 5 copies of the DVD to give away to SciFi Japan readers.
4Digital Media’s JU-ON: WHITE GHOST and JU-ON: BLACK GHOST DVD is Region 2 PAL, cert. 15, has a running time of 121 minutes, and presents the films in their original 16×9 Anamorphic widescreen, with Japanese language audio (Dolby Digital 2.0) and English subtitles. The suggested retail price is £15.99. Continued…
Valentine’s Day turns twisted for Mizushima after the vampire schoolgirl Monami gives him a chocolate laced with vampire blood. One bite of the delicious sweet infects him with immortality. This does not sit well with Mizushima’s jealous girlfriend Keiko. She wants him all to herself. A bloody battle between the two women ends with Keiko falling to her death. To her luck, Keiko’s mad scientist father reanimates her into an undead Frankenstein girl. Now on a level playing field, the undead damsels fight for the heart of Mizushima.
FUNimation Entertainment has acquired home entertainment, digital and merchandising rights to the live action horror comedy VAMPIRE GIRL VS. FRANKENSTEIN GIRL (Kyuuketsushoujo tai Shoujofuranken, 2009) from Eleven Arts Entertainment. FUNimation will release the film on DVD and Blu-ray in October 2010. Continued…
Coming to US DVD and Blu-Ray this Summer
Source: Media Blasters
Special Thanks to Richard York
Media Blasters has released the English language trailer for DEATH KAPPA, a new Tokyo Shock original film produced with Fever Dreams Japan. DEATH KAPPA is an “old school” daikaiju movie from the creators of cult favorites THE MACHINE GIRL, DEATH TRANCE and TOKYO GORE POLICE and director Tomoo Haraguchi, the celebrated make-up, creature and effects master whose credits include the last four Gamera films, ASHURA, UZUMAKI, RING 0, Showtime’s MASTERS OF HORROR series. and REIGO: THE DEEP-SEA MONSTER VS THE BATTLESHIP YAMATO. Haraguchi has also directed a handful of films such as MIKADROID, SAKUYA, and KIBAKICHI. Continued…
Classic monsters and heroes return to the big screen in Germany with the VINTAGE MONSTERS FESTIVAL, running May 7-9, 2010 in Hamburg. Event organizers Ralf Lorenz (GUALAGON, Pranke: Das Filmmagazin für Monsterfreaks) and Andreas Schiefler (Vintage Movie Posters) will be screening 35mm prints of the German language versions of nine fan favorites at the Metropolis Kino, Steindamm 54, 20099 Hamburg, Germany.
Scheduled to be shown are CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982), GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972), THE BLACK PIT OF DR. M (1959), THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961), THE GREEN SLIME (1968), ANDY WARHOL’S BLOOD FOR DRACULA (1974), DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN (1970), TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970), and PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965). Continued…
This month sees the premiere of Vintage Monsters, a new German magazine featuring rare and beautiful international posters and lobby cards from monster, sci-fi, fantasy and horror films. The magazine is the brainchild of Andreas Schiefler (owner of Vintage Movie Posters) and Ralf Lorenz (GUALAGON, Pranke: Das Filmmagazin für Monsterfreaks).
Vintage Monsters #1 runs forty pages and focuses on the movies playing at next month’s VINTAGE MONSTERS FESTIVAL in Hamburg with more than 150 full color illustrations from CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982), GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972), THE BLACK PIT OF DR. M (1959), THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961), THE GREEN SLIME (1968), ANDY WARHOL’S BLOOD FOR DRACULA (1974), DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN (1970), TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970), and PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965). The text is written in both German and English. Continued…
SPOILER WARNING: This article contains plot details for a new movie.
In “Clash of the Titans,” the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on earth.
Perseus sets off on a perilous journey deep into forbidden worlds, leading a daring band of warriors, including Draco (Mads Mikkelsen), an experienced soldier who encourages the defiant Perseus to make use of his god-given abilities. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, they will only survive if Perseus can accept his power as a god, defy his fate and create his own destiny.
Propelling audiences into a mythological world of epic action and adventure, “Clash of the Titans” will be presented in 3D, making the gods even more formidable, the creatures even more fearsome, and taking audiences even deeper into the mythological realm of Perseus’ quest. Continued…
CLASH OF THE TITANS is a remake of the 1981 film of the same name. The original film, based on the Greek mythology about the adventures of Perseus, was directed by Desmond Davis and featured stop-motion visual effects by the legendary technician Ray Harryhausen. It was the last film in which Harryhausen produced the visual FX, and many of the fantastic creatures in this film, especially Kraken, Medusa and Pegasus, are still lovingly-remembered by fans.
The 2010 remake was co-produced by Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures which brought us such international hits like BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT, 300, HANGOVER and WATCHMEN (the companies also recently announced another big property to remake – Godzilla. See the previous SciFi Japan coverage). Louis Leterrier of THE TRANSPORTER, UNLEASHED and THE INCREDIBLE HULK fame, directed. Continued…
Natural Disasters and Mutant Animals Terrify and Entertain
Source: Madman Entertainment
Two of the biggest box office hits in Korea last year were the mega-tsunami thriller HAEUNDAE and the killer wild boar horror/comedy CHAW. The Australian distributor Madman Entertainment has picked up both films and is releasing them on Region 4 PAL DVD. HAEUNDAE went on sale last month, and CHAW is scheduled for April.
Neither movie has been released on home video in North America. Continued…
The Popular Toy Line is Expanded to Include Kaiju and Special Effects Movie Characters
Author: John “Dutch” DeSentis
Translations: Jim Ballard
Source: Anime Jungle
Official Site: kaiyodo.co.jp/revoltech
Special Thanks to Tetsu Shiota
Fans and collectors are probably familiar with the brand Revoltech, which is owned by the Kaiyodo Company of Japan. It is a series of super-articulated figures in the 4-6 inch scale and based on various popular characters from manga, video games, television, film, and anime. The name itself reportedly means “Revolver Technology” as the revolver joint is what gives the figures their super-articulation.
Of interest to kaiju fans is the upcoming line, SCI-FI REVOLTECH, which will showcase popular characters from both east and west. The first figures up for release on April 1st are the Xenomorph from Ridley Scott’s ALIEN and the vengeful god DAIMAJIN from the Daiei movie series of the 1960s, followed on May 1st by Tsuburaya Productions’ friendly beast Booska and Toho’s Baragon (from FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD). Continued…
After far too long an absence, the popular fanzine Monster Attack Team returns!
Edward Holland and the late Joe Riley began Monster Attack Team (the name taken from the anti-monster team in RETURN OF ULTRAMAN) began in the early 1990s as a fan club for aficionados of Japanese science fiction and fantasy. It soon evolved into a Dallas, Texas cable access television show and a small newsletter that grew to become a fan favorite mag. The print version of Monster Attack Team ran for seven issues, edited by Ed Holland with the assistance of David May and Michael G Keller, and featured articles and contributions by authors such as Ed Godziszewski, Kip Doto, Bob Johnson, Kevin Grays, August Ragone, Daisuke Ishizuka, Norman England, and Damon Foster.
Nearly 15 years after the last issue, Ed Holland and Michael Keller have brought back Monster Attack Team with Issue 8. The editors have rounded up an “all star” group of tokusatsu writers and historians and produced a massive, 132 page edition that matches the quality of those truly great English language genre publications The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal, Markalite, and Japanese Giants. Continued…
From Yoshihiro Nishimura, the man behind the outrageousness of TOKYO GORE POLICE and THE MACHINE GIRL comes this crazed response to both TWILIGHT and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, a film that consistently overwhelms the viewer in its sheer dementia…
Based on a manga by Shungiku Uchida, VAMPIRE GIRL VS FRANKENSTEIN GIRL (Kyuketsu Shojo tai Shojo Furanken, 2008) will be released on DVD (£15.99) in the UK by 4Digital Media on 15th March, 2010.
Handsome high school student Mizushima (Takumi Saito) receives Valentines Day chocolates from a new student, Monami Arukado (Yukie Kawamura). Little did he know that the chocolates contained traces of Monami’s vampire blood. He gets infected from eating them and Monami confesses that she wants to live with him forever as vampires. Keiko Furano (Eri Otoguro), Mizushima’s girlfriend, sees the two on the school rooftop kissing and in a state of hysteria, attempts to throw Monami off the roof but falls off herself instead.
Keiko dies but her father, Kenji Furano (Kanji Tsuda), the mad scientist, resurrects her as Franken girl. Thus begins a deadly combat between Franken Keiko and Vampire Monami in the name of love. As we all know, this kind of Vampire vs. Frankenstein conflict can only be solved by fighting, beating, stabbing, chewing, clawing and a showdown high atop Tokyo Tower! Continued…
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/scifijapan/scifijapan.com/articles/wp-content/plugins/nicearchive.php on line 51
Warning: reset() [function.reset]: Passed variable is not an array or object in /home/scifijapan/scifijapan.com/articles/wp-content/plugins/nicearchive.php on line 56
Warning: end() [function.end]: Passed variable is not an array or object in /home/scifijapan/scifijapan.com/articles/wp-content/plugins/nicearchive.php on line 58
Warning: key() [function.key]: Passed variable is not an array or object in /home/scifijapan/scifijapan.com/articles/wp-content/plugins/nicearchive.php on line 60
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/scifijapan/scifijapan.com/articles/wp-content/plugins/nicearchive.php on line 67
