It follows Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano), a masochistic yakuza hitman, who is searching for his missing boss. His motivation is not so money, or revenge – it’s that his boss happens to be the preferred sadist in his pain games. In his quest, he finds out about another hitman, the powerful schitzophrenic “Ichi”, who might be able to provide some answers along with the pain Kakihara needs.

The array of gore is disturbingly impressive, including hot grease, involuntary piercing, severed nipples, several rapes, complete vivisection, and particulrly memorable scene in which a gangster is tortured as he hangs from the ceiling on hooks.

As part of the promotion for the film, sick bags were given to the audience when it showed at the Toronto International Film Festival.

• Ichi the Killer (Wikipedia)
• Ichi the Killer (Movie Martyr)
  “Every time Miike pushes us farther than we thought we could go, it ratchets it up a level by either growing even more violent, or by disarming our shock with a bit of morbid humor.”
• Ichi the Killer (2002) Movie Review (Beyond Hollywood)
  “For many, this is the quintessential Miike film, a hyper stylised visceral barrage of over the top gore, torture and rape, which hangs loosely on a threadbare skeleton of inconsequential plotting and that boasts a madman’s sense of logic.”
• Ichi the Killer (Snowblood Apple)
  “Frankly, Quentin Tarantino would have given his right arm to have made this film”
• Ichi the Killer (KFC Cinema)
  “Already infamous for it’s extreme display of violence and gore, Ichi proceeds to shock and disturb audiences and bring them to a whole new level of queasiness.”

The films are relatively short, each taking one repellant concept and stringing it out for as long as possible. Flower of Flesh and Blood depicts a man dressed as a samurai, torturing and mutilating a young girl he is holding prisoner, who eventually dies. Mermaid In A Manhole is about an artist who finds a mermaid, then creates a gruesome masterpiece out of her decaying body. He Never Dies has a suicidal office worker, who – you guessed it – finds he cannot die, and uses this to take revenge on those he blames for his unhappiness.

The first two films (Devil’s Experiment and Flower of Flesh and Blood) had no credits, and were promoted by an underground advertising campaign that presented them as genuine snuff films.

Copycat crimes

The films have purportedly inspired a number of copycat murders, most famously by child killer Tsutomu Miyakaki. Inspired by a massive collection of violent manga and films, Miyazaki renacted his favorite scenes on a number of unfortunate victims, including a gruesome scene from the Flower of Flesh and Blood.

In inquiry following Miyazaki’s 1989 capture, it was clear that he had been thoroughly psychotic without the aid of the films, but their association with him earned them a lot of bad press.

Confused with real snuff films

In 1991, actor Charlie Sheen came across one of the tapes (Flower of Flesh and Blood). Believing it to be a real snuff film, he reported it to the FBI, who didn’t take long to work out the film was a fake.

Change of direction

In the wake of this controversy, the films were taken over by a new production company, Japan Home Video, who realised the commercial potential of their new found infamy. They added credits and a score to make it clear the films were fiction, while retaining the gore and sick humour.

To date, the official Guinea Pig films are:

• Devil’s Experiment (“Akumano Jikken”, 1985)
• Flower of Flesh and Blood (“Chiniku No Hana”, 1985)
• He Never Dies (“Senritsu! Shinanai Otoko”, 1986)
• Making of Guinea Pig (“Mekingu Obu Za Ginipiggu”, 1986)
• Mermaid In A Manhole (“Manhoru No Naka No Ningyo”, 1988)
• Androids Of The Notre Dame (“Notorudamo no Andoroido”, 1988)
• Devil Woman Doctor (“Peter No Akuma No Joi-San”, 1990)
• Making of Devil Woman Doctor (“Bangaihen: Akumano Joi-san Meikingu”, 1990)
• Slaughter Special (“Zansatsu Supeshiyaru”, 1991)

• Guinea Pig (Wikipedia)
  “The first five films of the series were found showcased in the 5,763 videotape collection of Japanese serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki”
  
• The Guinea Pig Series
  Overview of the Guinea Pig Series
  
• Unearthed Films presents The Guinea Pig Films
  Official site
  
• Guinea Pig (Mondo Digital)
  “Repellent and tasteless though they may be, the Guinea Pig videos almost seem inevitable in the evolution of horror”

Although he’s played a range of characters, he’s most famous for his work with a sword, earning him a lead role alongside Tom Cruise in ‘The Last Samurai’.

His 2004 divorce case drew massive media attention, with Mrs Watanabe claiming in court that he had affairs with 15 other women, including ‘Last Samurai’ co-star Koyuki.

In 2005, Watanabe appeared opposite Christian Bale’s Batman in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins’, as Ra’s al Ghul, a mysterious ninja cult leader.

• IMDb: Ken Watanabe

Although he has spent most of his career playing desperate criminals, he’s a teetotaler and a graduate of the prestigious Meiji University.

His Hollywood debut was in 1975, as a yakuza hitman in Sidney Pollack’s ‘The Yakuza’, which also starred Robert Mitchum.

Since then, he has appeared alongside Michael Douglas in 1989 (as a hard-nosed Osaka cop in Ridley Scott’s ‘Black Rain’) and Tom Selleck in 1992 (as the manager of the Chunichi Dragons baseball team in ‘Mr Baseball’). These roles helped break his typecasting in Japan.

• Japan Zone: Ken Takakura
• Metropolis: Ken Takakura
• IMDb: Ken Takakura

It’s the chilling story of a young journalist investigating a mysterious videotape that seems to be killing everyone who watches it.

The film uses creepy, exaggerated motions from traditional kabuki theatre to increase the frights.

• The Ring World

The studio has been a massive success, notably producing international hits like ‘Mononoke Hime’ (‘Princess Mononoke’) and ‘Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi’ (‘Spirited Away’).

His work is remarkable for its compelling characters, entertaining stories and intelligent treatment of serious social and environmental issues.

• The Hayao Miyazaki Web

His career started with TV productions. There are rumors that he made a number of yakuza-funded, straight-to-video movies in money laundering schemes.

He rose to fame in 2000 with the release of ‘Audition’, a startling horror movie, and ‘Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha’, a violent yakuza epic.

His most controversial film is ‘Ichi the Killer’ (2001), the story of a sadomasochistic yakuza searching for a mysterious killer who’s targeting his gang. Gory scenes included a man being cut in half from head to groin, and someone’s face being sliced off. Sick bags were distributed at the movie’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and the film was heavily cut in many of the countries it was released in.

However, his career has a less bloody side. Many of his films have been serious dramas, often about the lives of minority groups in Japan.

• IMDb: Takashi Miike
  
• Takeshi Miike interview

His best known films are feudal-era epics, most notably ‘Rashomon’, ‘The Seven Samurai’ (remade into ‘The Magnificent Seven’), ‘Ran’ and ‘Throne of Blood’ (based on ‘King Lear’ and ‘Macbeth’ respectively).

In 1970, Kurosawa attempted suicide after he was replaced as director of ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’ (a US/Japan co-production about Pearl Harbour) by Kinji Fukasaku.

• Akira Kurosawa Database
  Unofficial Akira Kurosawa Fan Page

After dropping out of university, he worked as an MC in a strip club before forming part of a successful TV manzai duo (“The Two Beats”).

He earned his fame by pushing the limits of taste in the name of a laugh: swearing, cross-dressing, offending minorities, and assaulting the editor of ‘Friday’, a popular magazine (for which he was arrested).

He started directing by chance in 1989 – taking the reins when the intended director of ‘Violent Cop’, which starred Kitano, dropped out.

In 1994, he had a serious accident while riding drunk on his moped, which he was extremely lucky to survive. Since then, his film-making has become broader and more thoughtful.

• Takeshi Kitano Spot
• Senses of Cinema: Takeshi Kitano

Kusanagi, a robot with a human brain, leads a covert operations team in a hi-tech chase with ‘The Puppet Master’, a master cyber criminal who is hacking into people’s minds.

Breaking new ground, it was one of the first animated films to blend traditional cel animation with CGI.

It’s also another Japanese anime to which ‘The Matrix’ trilogy owes an enormous debt – from directly “borrowed” shots to ideas about “ghost hacking” and the relationship between perception and reality.

• IMDb: Kokaku kidotai (1995)
• Matrix and Ghost in the Shell
  Scene-by-scene comparison between the two films