Tag Archives: Takashi Miike

Summer of 84 + As the Gods Will

Posted on November 25, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
Summer of 84 + As the Gods Will

Adolescents faces the threat of imminent demise. Childhood games go very, very wrong. Summer of 84 taps into the ongoing 80s-kids-on-bikes genre. The overwhelming sense of dread. When the twist is simply delivering on the promise. Adults, and how they basically fuck everything up for everyone. The oppression of daily life before legal coming-of-age. Films getting the hooks in. Takashi Miike plays a dangerous squid-less game with As the Gods Will. Earth’s new obsession with bottle films revives this prior unsceen WTF film. Soviet Montage Theory inspires Japanese CGI theory. Asian cinema – is it weird, or is it cultural ignorance? Even on the podcast, two Americans can’t put together enough collective knowledge of childhood games to make sense of it all. Continue reading →

Blade of the Immortal + L’Atalante

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Alice Thirteen
Blade of the Immortal + L’Atalante

1v100. Takashi Miike returns to Double Feature with his hundredth film, Blade of the Immortal. French pronunciation secrets and Jean Vigo’s first and only film, L’Atalante. Alice and Michael ignore Alec Baldwin’s roles in both films and talk about bigger things. Having too much information. Someone who seems to still love his job, 100 films in. Barge life and dull synopses. L’Atalante is about feeling and is fucking amazing as a very early piece of cinema. Actual fucking cats. Michael presents a history of basic things invented after L’Atalante was filmed. Alice explains French New Wave and some of the art that followed in the footsteps of L’Atalante.

Starman + Visitor Q

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Alice Thirteen
Starman + Visitor Q

Visitors from afar come to John Carpenter’s Starman and Takashi Miike’s Visitor Q. Observing humanity from a non-human perspective. John Carpenter’s Starman fits right in with his other early films. The original Jeff Bridges uncanny valley. Movies where aliens just try to get back to their spaceships and leave mankind alone. Everyone still remembers Run Fatboy Run. The significance and impact of Carpenter’s career and films. Takashi Miike is the best, even after over 100 films. Visitor Q forces the audience to accept everything it presents to them. Making as many films as Miike forces him to be an experimental filmmaker. Shooting film on early digital cameras to look like a home movie. Has necrophilia been on the show before? Making something as fucked up as possible to get people talking about it.

The Greasy Strangler + The Happiness of the Katakuris

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Alice Thirteen
The Greasy Strangler + The Happiness of the Katakuris

Absurd films with horror bents. The Greasy Strangler pounds it in. Just pounding. Just hitting that point over and over. And over. By pounding. The point. Pounding it in. Until pounding looks strong on the display. Pounding. Is that even how it’s spelled? Pounding? What does that word really even mean? What’s even happening here? Michael learns all the secrets of The Greasy Strangler and it turns out nothing is going to help. Jim Hosking is a bullshit artist. The Happiness of the Katakuris and the happiness of Takashi Miike. Doing a film on a sort of dare. An alternative to funding. Humanism: it’s probably in there! The Katakuris live on (until everyone dies). Continue reading →

Audition + Blood Feast

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Alice Thirteen
Audition + Blood Feast

Takashi Miike and Herschell Gordon Lewis, super names in horror. Chapters: Learn to use a search engine. Audition (Odishon) as another side of Takashi Miike. Romantic comedy. Nightmares in dating. Letting the horror be a surprise. Committing to your setup. When do you know? The infamous bag. What makes the bag so effective? Things get weirder. Making torture uncomfortable again! Another reason the Music Box Massacre episodes were a terrible idea. Blood Feast, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and minimalism? What makes you watch Blood Feast. What’s remembered about Fuad Ramses. Hair coloring. Who is Herschell Gordon Lewis and what did he do? Nudie Cutie films and Russ Meyer. David F. Friedman and the miscellaneous crate of obscure films! Descending into obscurity. The strange evolution of HGL’s work. Connie Mason. EGGGGYYYYYPPPPTTTT. Buying time. The minimum length for a movie. Continue reading →

Ichi the Killer + Opera

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Alice Thirteen
Ichi the Killer + Opera

Pet the white cat! A secret to making Starbucks Frappuccinos at home. Horror in the years before and after Ichi the Killer. Blowjob Foley. Using sex in horror when you can’t show the sex parts. Ambitious violence. A contender for worst CD scene in Double Feature history. What inspired Takashi Miike? Karen! Misdirection via overwhelming. Attacking the senses. How do you not talk about psychic Animals? Dario Argento and the opera. Brian Eno, David Bowie, and I’m Afriad of Americans. Backwards Diva walkout. Betty, the hot little 80s final girl. Buying into the needles. The best bit of action violence in Opera. The worst plan ever. Slasher deaths and ending fake-outs. The Year 4 theme revealed. Continue reading →

Django + Sukiyaki Western Django

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Alice Thirteen
Django + Sukiyaki Western Django

Spaghetti westerns and Sukiyaki Western spaghetti westerns! A better example of italian exploitation. Dialogue so bad you shouldn’t even bother dubbing. A gunslinger who mad libs. Exploitation theme songs. The coffin reveal. The wort dubbing gets worse. Opening the package. Is it a good trade? Contrasting Django with The Man With No Name. Unauthorized sequels. New to Takashi Miike! What the fuck is Sukiyaki Western Django doing? Japanese fashion hybrids. Sergeant Hugo Stiglitz and Bloody Benton. Making the cartoonish violence. The better gun. Michael says something insane. Continue reading →