WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL: Yakuza Movies

With the final screening of Sion Sono's yakuza film coming up, it seems like an excellent time to take a look at some classics of WTF yakuza film!

Fudoh: The New Generation (1996) directed by Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike was one of the first directors MM Programmer Colin Geddes brought to Midnight Madness. Riki Fudoh (not to be confused with Riki-Oh) takes over the action at his high school before taking over the whole island of Kyushu. His gang of adolescent assassins cut a swathe through the gangster community. But Riki isn't just looking for power, he's looking for revenge.




Branded To Kill (1967) directed by Seijun Suzuki

Jo Shishido is a very peculiar leading man. Deciding he was too blandly handsome, he got cheek implants (since removed) and his career as an antihero took off.  In Branded To Kill, Shishido plays, Goro, a hitman given a mission by a mysterious woman. Goro becomes a target when he fails to fulfill his contract. It sounds straightforward, but it's anything but, as the hitman hunting him psychologically torments him first. The mysterious woman has a thing for dead butterflies. And Goro himself has a fetish for the scent of steaming rice.  In short, Sono and Miike didn't come out of nowhere.



Tokyo Drifter (1966) directed by Seijun Suzuki

What can I say? I'm a sucker for Suzuki. Tokyo Drifter is an incredibly stylish and stylized portrayal of Tetsuya Watari as a yakuza hitman trying to leave the life. And just try to get the theme song out of your head.




Battles Without Honor Or Humanity (1973) directed by Kinji Fukasaku

Fukasaku is probably best known now for Battle Royale (2000), and he will always have a special place in my heart for The Green Slime (1968), but he sure made his mark on yakuza movies. In Battles Without Honor Or Humanity is part of a series of five films, The Yakuza Papers. Bunta Sugawara plays a veteran in Post-War Hiroshima whose loyalties are torn when his boss and his sworn brother's yakuza family feud.  and all of the films portray a brutal, highly unromantic view of the yakuza



Minbo: The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (1992) directed Juzo Itami

In Itami's comedy, a hotel is troubled by yakuza in their lobby, frightening off guests and generally being an intimidating nuisance. They hire Mahiru Inoue, played by Nobuko Miyamoto, who specializes in getting rid of the yakuza. But she doesn't shoot or stab them, she uses the law and yakuza tradition against them. While the film itself might be seen as mild to non-Japanese people, Itami reportedly was murdered over it.


If you are curious about real life yakuza, check out Jake Adelstein's journalism and books.

WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL Final Screening:

Saturday, Sept 14th, 3:45 PM SCOTIABANK 1

Midnight Madness Alumni Throwdown: Hitoshi Matsumoto vs. Gackt

 In a televised competition, two legendary Midnight Madness Alumni Hitoshi Matsumoto (Dainipponjin aka, Big Man Japan; Symbol; and R100)and singing superstar Gackt (Bunraku) throw down on Japanese television.

Hello, Dears!

It is a tremendous battle that shakes the very foundations of 25 years of Midnight Madness History. Steel yourselves for "The Don't Laugh Contest!"




They try not to laugh some more.


And the winner goes to "heaven" and the loser goes to "hell":



Matchan and Gackt have had other contests, including a televised game of billiards. This is the only footage I could find of it, but it is excellent footage.



No matter who you root for in these competitions, put enmity aside and enjoy R100 on Thursday night. Maybe even stop for a moment and gaze at the very red carpet that Gackt once walked.
 

R100 Screening Times:

Thursday, Sept 12th, 11:59 PM RYERSON

Friday, Sept 13th, 11:30 AM SCOTIABANK 9

Saturday, Sept 14th, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK 10

R100: Hitoshi Matsumoto: A Man Who Sold His Soul To Comedy

Director and superstar comedian, Hitoshi Matsumoto is returning to Midnight Madness with his new film, R100.

But who is Matsumoto, you ask?

MM Programmer Colin Geddes made a video answering that very question before the premier of Dainipponjin / Big Man Japan at Midnight Madness 2007.


Matsumoto stars in, co-hosts and produces multiple variety shows on Japanese television as part of the comedy duo, Downtown, with his partner Masatoshi Hamada. In 1989, Downtown launched a popular variety show, Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! followed by a mind-boggling number of shows. (Just look here). Downtown's Downtown no Gottsu Ee Kanji ran from 1991 to 1997 and popularized Downtown's sketches or "kontos."*  In 2010, Matsumoto started another sketch show, Matsumoto Hitoshi no Konto.  But as his own comedic sensibility changed and became more surreal, he began making films. As he told Indiewire in 2011:

I think that in Japan, because I'm really famous as a comedian, in a way it's a bit difficult when I make films. They're always seen in the background, on the side of my other activities. In other countries, I'm more appreciated as a film director, it's not just a background thing. So it's completely different.

Matsumoto's first two films, Dainipponjin / Big Man Japan (2007) and Symbol (2009), premiered at Midnight Madness. And Matsumoto will always be enshrined in my heart as the man who got MM Programmer Colin Geddes to wear pajamas and a luchadore mask on stage.

Learn more about Matsumoto in Professional : Style of Work: File 143, a documentary that follows Matsumoto over six months in 2010. It has some fascinating behind the scenes look at Matsumoto's process working with writers and other comedians and as he begins work on his third film, Saya Zamurai (2011). As the announcer states with great gravity, "What the camera captures behind the stage is the solitary fight of a man who sold his soul for comedy." Watch it, subtitled, here.

*This glossary of terms from Japanese comedy might be useful, too.

R100 Screening Times:

Thursday, Sept 12th, 11:59 PM RYERSON

Friday, Sept 13th, 11:30 AM SCOTIABANK 9

Saturday, Sept 14th, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK 10

Midnight Madness Memories: CABIN FEVER

"Catch it! Fall 2003"

Check out a piece of Midnight Madness history. Midnight Madness Programmer Colin holds one of the surgical masks from the world premiere of Eli Roth's Cabin Fever in 2003. Cabin Fever was Roth's first film at Midnight Madness. Roth's Hostel played Midnight Madness in 2004 and Roth was back last year starring in (and producing) Nicolás López' Aftershock.  Roth is returning to Midnight Madness this year with Green Inferno.

And I'm sure that the test results will reveal that stain is nothing to worry about...

THE GREEN INFERNO screening times:
Sat., Sept. 7th, 11:59PM, RYERSON
Mon., Sept. 9th, 1:30 PM, SCOTIABANK 13

YOU'RE NEXT Filmmakers Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett: "We are the horror audience."

Midnight Madness Alumni Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett talk about their film You're Next with The Los Angeles Times.

You're Next had a rollicking world premiere in 2011 as part of the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival that had the audience on its feet cheering during the screening.That first showing has become part of the film's lore, a signal of its effect on audiences. It opens Aug. 23 around the U.S.

"We came to realize that the best way to deconstruct horror nowadays is actually just to make a really great horror movie," Wingard, 30, said recently in East Hollywood, not far from where he and Barrett live on the same block. "You don't have to sell the reference thing or be that clever. Recognizing all the horror tropes and playing off audience expectations is kind of the new deconstruction."

Though the film is full of spiky scares and elaborate bloody kills, it is also driven by a sharp wit[.]

"We went into the recesses of our minds and said, 'What got us into filmmaking?'" noted Wingard. "And we realized it's fun, action-y horror stuff geared toward having a good time."

Read more here.

JOHN DIES AT THE END Premieres Tonight!

Director Don Coscarelli returns to Midnight Madness tonight with John Dies At The End!


JOHN DIES AT THE END
Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59pm:  RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16, 5pm:   CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2

Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: Evil Children

Midnight Madness alumnus Joe Dante comments on the trailer for Children of the Damned (1963), the movie that was made immediatelly after, Village of the Damned, but was not a sequel.  It was about the same problem of children with fearsome psychic powers.

While the children of Come Out And Play appear to prefer getting their hands dirty, the Damned Children prefer to supervises the destruction of adult society.

Mr. Dante has more on why he thinks Children of the Damned is undervalued re-imagining of Village of the Damned.





COME OUT AND PLAY screens:
Thurs., Sept. 13th, 11:59 PM RYERSON
Fri., Sept. 14th, 3:15 PM CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 10
Sat., Sept. 15th, 6:45 PM SCOTIABANK 11

Preview of The RAID Sequel, BERANDAL

The Raid (aka, The Raid:  Redemption) opened last year's Midnight Madness program, ripping up Ryerson before punching, kicking, slashing, choking, gouging, elbow-striking, hacking and blasting its way through theaters all over North America and the world.  Director Gareth Huw Evans and star Iko Uwais are following up with Berandal, the second in a proposed trilogy.



Evans discusses Berandal in interviews with Heatvision, The Collider and BBC News South East Wales.  Twitch has concept art for Berandal's mysterious and obviously dangerous, Hammer Girl

Can't wait to see what Hammer Girl smashes, hopefully at Midnight Madness.

Midnight Madness at Trailers From Hell: Joe Dante

Director Joe Dante is not only one of the fiendish master mind behind Trailers from Hell, he's also a Midnight Madness alumnus. He directed a segment in the horror anthology, Trapped Ashes, which screened at Midnight Madness 2006.

As the first among TFH gurus, Dante comments on a lot of films, but one film, he commented on twice:  Mario Bava's classic giallo, Blood and Black Lace. and an excellent movie to watch in anticipation of Berberian Sound Studios, a movie that plays with giallo history and conventions.

James McNally has already covered giallo in depth at our Vanguard sister blog, so I'll just say that giallo is an Italian crime film genre that is generally more lurid than straight detective stories--and possibly more honest in its way. It often has weird or psychic phenomenon elements. And giallo influence the development of both slasher horror like John Carpenter's Halloween, sexy thrillers like Brian de Palma's Body Double and even artsy psychodramas like Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.

It's somehow fitting that a giallo film would get two slightly different takes.

Here's Dante's most recent commentary:



And here is the original commentary, if you are curious to hear if he says anything different and to see the transfer quality for yourself.



BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIOS screening times:
Mon., Sept. 10, 6:00PM:  The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
Tues., Sept. 11, 2:45PM:  Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 3

Midnight Madness at Trailers From Hell: Don Coscarelli's Return!

Director Don Coscarelli talks about his love for Godzilla, King of the Monsters on Trailers From Hell, even noting that it was the first monster movie he ever saw and that it remains one of his favorite movies. That's right, the 1956 American version. You better believe it, baby.



See if you can catch the Honda Ishiro and Ifukube Akira's influences on Coscarelli's new movie, John Dies At The End at this year's Midnight Madness.

JOHN DIES AT THE END
Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59pm:  RYERSON
Sun., Sept. 16, 5pm:   CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 2

Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: Eli Roth Returns!

When last we had left director and producer Eli Roth, he had commented on 15 film trailers for the mighty Trailers From Hell. Eli Roth is returning to Midnight Madness this year as the star of Nicolás López Aftershock and he's returned to Trailers From Hell with a commentary on the trailer for the  controversial, Goodbye, Uncle Tom an exploitation film that's not Blaxploitation of sexploitation, so much as slavesploitation. As it's described at Trailers From Hell:

Those Mondo Cane guys are back with an astoundingly non-P.C. farrago purporting to expose the history of black subjugation in pre-Civil War America. Gorgeously mounted but stunningly exploitative, it was rated X when first released in the States in a considerably reworked version. NSFW.

Follow the link if you're curious to see the original trailer and Roth's commentary. If not, enjoy this thoughtful and worksafe commentary on the trailer for The Birds.





AFTERSHOCK
Tues., Sept. 11th, 11:59pm:  RYERSON
Thurs., Sept. 13, 6:15pm:  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 3
Sun., Sept. 16, 3:30pm:  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS

JOHN DIES AT THE END: Poster Gallery!

 On its journey from digital horror novel to film adaptation, from SXSW and Sundance to reaching its perfect audience in closing out Midnight Madness, Don Coscarelli's John Dies At The End has accumulated a whack of poster art, including some weapons--The Bible Belter above and the Paintball and Propane Flamethrower below.

 (This individual kindly demonstrates the importance of wearing safety equipment)

The poster promoting the South By Southwest screening.

And here are two covers for David Wong's original novel. 

(via Creative Book Design)

(via City on Fire)

JOHN DIES AT THE END screening times:

Sat., Sept. 15, 11:59PM:  RYERSON  

Sun., Sept. 16, 5PM:  CINEPLEX YONGE AND DUNDAS

HELLBENDERS: Found Footage of JT Petty

Found footage of JT Petty holding a contest seeking found footage to include in Hellbenders.  What does it mean? If the camera's not shaking how can I tell if this is fictional or not? 

I don't know what's real anymore!


HELLBENDERS screening times:

Sun., Sept. 9, 11:59pm:  RYERSON
Tues., Sept. 11, 7pm:  CINEPLEX YONGE & DUNDAS 7
Sat. Sept., 15, 9:15pm:  SCOTIABANK

Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: The Return of Stuart Gordon

Midnight Madness alumnus Stuart Gordon has returned to Trailers from Hell with a commentary on Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust.
 

One of the most brutal and controversial horror films of all time, Ruggero Deodato's fake snuff movie is heavily influenced by the makers of Mondo Cane. Banned in many countries due to inexcusable animal cruelty and all-too-realistic-looking gore scenes, it has been hailed as an anti-imperialist media expose and condemned as racist torture porn. Shot on location in the Amazon with a "found footage" format, it presages both The Blair Witch Project and that most terrifying of modern horrors, The Reality Show.

Viewers under 18 and those of a sensitive disposition be warned, Stuart Gordon discusses Cannibal Holocaust beyond this link.

Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: Eli Roth

Midnight Madness alumni Eli Roth might well be the most prolific commentator on the Trailers from Hell website. He's commented on 15 film trailers. 

And because Roth's Cabin Fever and Hostel in 2004 both played Midnight Madness (2002 and 2004, respectively), it'd be easy to think that he only covers horror. But, instead, Roth covers a helluva a lot of genre ground.

From the Ramones and Rock'n'Roll High School



to the science fiction classic, Forbidden Planet



and a defense of Exorcist II



To Star Crash, the Italian "version" of Star Wars, starring Christopher Plummer.



Rolling Thunder




The giallo film, The House with the Laughing Windows




And I Dismember Mama.



Roth also discusses trailers for Creepshow; Africa: Blood and Guts; Three on a Meathook; Squirm, The Birds; Superfuzz; and The Mole People. You can catch them all right here on Trailers from Hell.

Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: Don Coscarelli

Previously on Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell, we looked at MM alumni Stuart Gordon's contributions to Trailers From Hell, a site dedicated to the proposition that any movie can be great in 2 1/2 minutes. Now it's Don Coscarelli's turn.

Midnight Madness alumni Coscarelli is responsible for one of my most cherished memories:  seeing Bubba Ho-Tep on the legendary Uptown Theatre's big screen, with Coscarelli, Bruce Campbell and a Madness crowd in attendance in 2002.

At Trailers from Hell, Coscarelli comments on four trailers. The first is Elvis' finest movie, King Creole, directed by Micheal Curtiz (Casablanca) featuring Walter Matthau as a rotten to the core club owner.




Coscarelli also discusses Sydney Pollack's Three Days of the Condor starring Robert Redford, Ishiro Honda's Godzilla and the evil hand classic, The Beast With Five Fingers, starring Peter Lorre. You can see them all at the Trailers from Hell website.

Midnight Madness at Trailers from Hell: Stuart Gordon

Trailers from Hell was born of belief, a belief that there should be a website devoted to horror and exploitation film trailers and that these trailers should include the commentary of current filmmakers. It was born of the belief that, "Any movie can be great at 2 1/2 minutes!"

Trailers -- you know -- those fast-paced 2-to-4 minute theatrical promo shorts that have preceded the Feature Attraction since the dawn of sound? An exciting montage of all The Best Parts of a movie the exhibitors want you to NEED to see! Full of swirling letters screaming hyperbolic promises of THRILLS! ACTION! MYSTERY! ROMANCE! Packing all the highlights of a whole picture into its own mini-movie in just a few minutes!

TRAILERS FROM HELL is the brainchild of film director Joe Dante, new media entrepreneur Jonas Hudson, graphic artist Charlie Largent and producer Elizabeth Stanley. The series was born out of their mutual love of classic films of all types, but particularly horror and exploitation films.

TFH is the premier showcase for a breathtakingly eclectic assortment of trailers from classic era films both in their original form and punctuated with informative and amusing commentary by contemporary filmmakers.

This mandate is oh so compatible with Midnight Madness, though Midnight Madness is dedicated to the idea of 90 awesome minutes. Fortunately, Trailers from Hell has invited some Midnight Madness alumni to choose films and provide their commentary.

First up is director Stuart Gordon, whose movie Stuck premiered at Midnight Madness in 2007.

At Trailers from Hell, Gordon adds commentary to four film trailers:

William Castle's, Mr. Sardonicus



Nightmare Alley with Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell



The Thing With Two Heads co-starring Rosey Grier and Ray Milland. (And one of my sentimental favorites)



and the classic, True Grit, starring John Wayne and Kim Darby

Coming up on Friday, September 2, Gordon will be presenting the trailer for Cannibal Holocaust. From Trailers from Hell's newsletter:

One of the most brutal and controversial horror films of all time, Ruggero Deodato's fake snuff movie is heavily influenced by the makers of Mondo Cane. Banned in many countries due to inexcusable animal cruelty and all-too-realistic-looking gore scenes, it has been hailed as an anti-imperialist media expose and condemned as racist torture porn. Shot on location in the Amazon with a "found footage" format, it presages both The Blair Witch Project and that most terrifying of modern horrors, The Reality Show.