Be
prepared for one of the very best thrillers of this year... perhaps
the past decade! A pair of sadistic killers finds their bloody game
of carnage turned against them in this adaptation of Masayuki Shuno's
bestselling Japanese novel. Methodical madman Yasunaga and his self-destructive
sidekick, Chinatsu, have been carving up schoolgirls across Tokyo, but
when a mysterious stranger beats them to their next victim, they unexpectedly
become witnesses for the police.
Besides
the obvious emphasis on violence, the film also seems to be preoccupied
with suicide. This is perhaps a sad and telling observation since director
Toshiharu Ikeda would die from suicide a short time later. Mr Ikeda
was best known for helming the landmark EVIL
DEAD TRAP in 1988 (one of the best horror films to ever emerge
from Japan). He made numerous other films - mostly thrillers or erotica
- for Nikkatsu and Toho Studios. MAN BEHIND THE SCISSORS
won Best Movie at the prestigious Tokyo Film Festival in 2008. It would
be his last feature film; Toshiharu Ikeda committed suicide by drowning
in December 2010 at age 59..
A Japanese
film; widescreen (2.35:1), uncut (119 min.) version in DVD encoded for
ALL REGIONS, playable on any American DVD machine; in Japanese language
with removable English or Japanese subtitles.
