Fukasaku's Versus: Film Analysis

The second collaboration between Tak Sakaguchi and Ryuhei Kitamura after "Versus," resulted in a film very similar in themes and aesthetics with the splatter and cult favorite.

A family on vacation runs on a group of bank robbers near na isolated forest. The gangsters take the family as hostages but soon after, a samurai rises from the grave and attacks them. Sometime later, some policeman who were pursuing the robeers arrive in the same place only to be ambushed by a zombie who seems to have organized everything.

If the concept of a pairing between samurais, zombies, cops and thieves, and an innocent family was not enough, the creators also included some humor moments, chiefly resonating form the policemen who, at times, even address the

The film has an anime feel, both in terms of story and visuals, since the bright and motley colors are omnipresent in every aspect of the girl 's life, from her clothes to the place she lives.

Ayako Fujitany is great in portraying a very eccentric character, who is actually and metaphorically, herself.

27.Crest of Betrayal (Kinji Fukasaku, 1994)

Kinji Fukasaku combined two of the most renowned stories in Japanese culture, the tale of the 47 ronin and the ghost story of Yotsuya, creating in that fashion a film that is as cult as it is elaborate.

The script revolves around Iemon, one of the 47 masterless samurai, who sets aside the revenge designed by the group, to marry the granddaughter of Yoshinaga, the perpetrator of his former master 's execution.

Before the wedding though, he kills a prostitute he was involved with in a hideous and torturing fashion, that disfigures the woman before her death. On his wedding night, the ghost of the woman returns to torture the couple.

Fukasaku combines the two stories ingeniously, presenting a masterful film that deals with socioeconomical themes, morality and the supernatural, disguised as a costume

The Steelman from Outer Space (Teruo Ishii, 1957)

Japan 's first onscreen super hero could not be missing from this list, in a film that spawned eight sequels, manga and American adaptations and became popular in France and Italy.

The Steelman is a human-like creature created in the Emerald Planet form the strongest available in order to fight evil. In this first installment he arrives on Earth and assumes a human 's identity, in order to discover and stop terrorists who threaten to destroy Japan with the atomic bomb.

Watching a black-and-white 1957 Japanese science fiction film is a cult act by itself, but for the audience of the time was a horrifying experience, since Teruo Ishii used footage of atomic bomb tests and explosions, while the memory of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was still fresh.

Furthermore, the costume of the superhero was stuffed in the crotch area, because the producers thought that this would attract female audience, thus resulting in an appearance that seems quite ludicrous. Ken Utsui, who plays the part of the Steelman in all of the films, hated the role and refused to talk about it until his