Hot Wasabi Action Comes to Fantasia with Dead Sushi
Fantasia International Film Festival
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The Fantasia Film Festival just got a bit more spicy as yet another Japan-based sliver of lunacy has been added to their already brimming with cool film line-up! Read on for the latest and some stills from Dead Sushi!
From the Press Release
Walker Pictures and Nishimura Eizo have announced that DEAD SUSHI, the latest horror/comedy from acclaimed Japanese director Noboru Iguchi, will have its world premiere at Montreal’s prestigious Fantasia International Film Festival on July 22nd, followed shortly thereafter by its Asian premiere at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) in South Korea.
Iguchi, best-known for his high-octane 2008 action/comedy The Machine Girl, has become an international sensation with jaw-dropping, boundary-pushing films such as RoboGeisha, Karate-Robo Zaborgar, and Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead.
“It’s an honor for us to host the world premiere of such a hilarious and bloody joy ride like DEAD SUSHI,” says Nicolas Archambault, Co-Director of Asian Programming at Fantasia. “It’s even better when we have the charismatic and talented Rina Takeda and director Iguchi, surely one of Japan’s most creative directors when it comes to using strong symbols of Japanese pop culture to kill people in the most singular ways. He’s one of the most enthusiastic and generous guests we’ve had at Fantasia, and our audience will be thrilled to see him again this year.”
The film, which stars 21-year-old martial arts prodigy Rina Takeda, tells the tale of Keiko, the daughter of a legendary sushi chef, who runs away from home when his kung fu-like regimen becomes too severe. Finding work at a rural hot springs inn, she is ridiculed by the eccentric staff and guests, including the employees of a pharmaceutical firm there on a work vacation. But little do they know that a disgruntled former researcher has also come to the inn with a plan for revenge, using a serum he developed that can awaken the murderous instincts of ordinary sushi, turning it into bloodthirsty monsters! Keiko must use both her sushi training and her martial arts skills to save the others and defeat the flying killers.
Following the eclectic style of the director’s previous work, DEAD SUSHI is a tasty mix of action, comedy, and splatter as only Iguchi can do. With special effects by Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police) and appearances from The Machine Girl and Sukeban Boy’s Kentaro Shimazu, Asami, and Demo Tanaka, this lethal sushi is well worth a nibble!
Iguchi is practically a one-man genre film factory, marrying a fetishistic personal vision with a remarkably self-assured filmmaking method and a complete unwillingness to self-censor any crazy idea that comes into his head. In addition to the films noted above, Iguchi’s lengthy resume includes his 2003 debut feature, A Larva to Love, one-third of the Sushi Typhoon round-robin film Mutant Girls Squad (2010), the horror reboot Tomie: Unlimited (2011), and a segment in Magnet Releasing and Drafthouse Film’s upcoming anthology The ABCs of Death.
A karate disciple since she was ten years old, Rina Takeda was inspired to study the sport after witnessing her father’s defeat in a tournament and committed herself to eventually beating his opponent. When her skills were noticed by a film scout in 2008, she was asked to audition for High Kick Girl! and won the lead, which became her debut performance. Since then, she has starred in the films Karate Girl and Kunoichi, several TV dramas, and also pursues a successful singing career for Sony Music. She previously worked with Iguchi on his 2010 late-night TV series Dogoon Five.
For more visit the official Dead Sushi website, “like” Dead Sushi on Facebook, and follow Dead Sushi on Twitter.
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