Blu Release – 3.5/5
Visitors
Director – Kenichi Ugana (Rolling Marbles, We Are Aliens)
Starring – Ryuta Endo (The Tokyo Wind Orchestra, Junnai Dissonance), Saki Hirai (Aru Shokuba, Omimi ni Aimashitara), and Rii Ishihara (Flashback Before Death, The Lump on My Heart)
Release Date – 2023
Rating – 3/5
I’m always open to Japanese horror. Over the years I’ve seen some of the wildest and most depraved films that Japan has to offer. These are some of my favorite films and I’m always recommending them to genre fans that have never stepped outside of the country in regards to what they watch. I’m always on the lookout for other Japanese horror films that I had never seen before.
Recently, Terror Vision released a Japanese horror double feature that really caught my eye. The release featured two films, Visitors and Yellow Dragon’s Village, with Visitors really peaking my interest. I snagged a copy and tossed it on my watch list until I had the time to check it out.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a group of friends as they make the trip to visit the brother of one of them. He hasn’t spoke with them for some time so they are paying him a visit. This quickly turns deadly when they one by one become possessed by something ancient and sinister. One of them survives and starts hunting demons where she saves a man from a trap set by a different demon. She becomes possessed and follows the man she saved back to the apartment where this all began where they encounter even more zombies but live in relative peace. That changes when demon hunters show up and start killing everyone. Those that survive find themselves abducted by visitors from another world. **Spoiler Alert**
I went into Visitors knowing absolutely nothing about it aside from the comparison to Evil Dead and that it had a cameo from Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman. I went into it blind and was a bit confused. After doing a little bit of research I learned that this was originally a short that had subsequent shorts attached to it which is why it felt like an anthology at times. It was fun for what it was but the entire time if felt like a huge missed opportunity.
The acting in this one is solid for what it was. The characters have some pretty big characters to bring to life but they brought the energy to do so. The characters are a lot of fun and they bring so much to the film but they are lacking depth. In fact, it’s hard to keep a lot of the character separated.
The story for this one has a lot going on but the film itself is stretched too thin. I loved the idea of the friends visiting a friend only to be possessed one by one by an evil presence. The short should have left it at that. Instead, we drag it out with other connected shorts that ties back to the original short. This is what makes this the complete edition. Honestly, I wish I would have just seen the original short instead of the follow up segments. They don’t do a great job wrapping up the story and feel out of place from everything else.
Finally, the film has a lot of practical effects. The deaths have a lot of blood and some light gore along with some seriously fantastic make-up effects. The movie does draw a lot of inspiration from the Evil Dead franchise and the effects are the most obvious. Overall, Visitors is a must watch for fans of Troma, Evil Dead, and Japanese horror. It does fall a bit short of what it could have been but it’s still fun as it is. Check it out.
Yellow Dragon’s Village
Director – Yugo Sakamoto (Green Bullet, Baby Assassins)
Starring – Yuni Akino (Stop the Bitch Campaign: Reboot, My Favorite Girl), Itsuki Fujii (Vampire Clay 2, Pan), and Wataru Ichinose (Antihero, Sacrifice)
Release Date – 2021
Rating – 3.5/5
I’ve been actively watching Asian horror films for around 15 years now and while my knowledge of Asian cinema is fairly small, I know that some of my favorite horror films I’ve seen have been Japanese. Movies like House, Tokyo Gore Police, Meatball Machine, Ichi the Killer, Versus, and Helldriver just to name a few.
Several weeks back I bought a Japanese double feature from Terror Vision and added it to my watch pile to check out when I had the time. I bought the set for the second film, Visitors, which is why my review appears out of order. I had to watch the second film first but once I finished with it I quickly tossed in Yellow Dragon’s Village.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a group of college students who are making a trip out into the country for some camping when they run into car troubles. They just happen to break down near an old village steeped in tradition with promises of getting their car repaired the following day. However, the next day they awaken to one of their own missing and at breakfast they learn that the village has a strange ritual that involves butchering outsiders that stumbles upon them. The town descends on them to slaughter when they flee but several in the group are actually trained in hand to hand combat for just this occasion after losing a family member to their sick game some years before. **Spoiler Alert**
I went into this one absolutely blind and found myself really enjoying it. The movie, much like Visitors, is far from perfect with a lot of issues with the story but is still very entertaining. In fact, I could see this one spawning a sequel or even a prequel due to it’s rich story with endless possibilities.
The acting in this one is very consistent and very well done. Much like Visitors, the characters are very one dimensional with very little personalities. The cast does the best with what they were given but the characters are easily forgettable.
The story for this one is pretty fucking clever. The film’s artwork made me think I was getting into a slasher. Instead, the film follows a small village that lives like a cannibalistic cult that slaughters anyone that walks into their domain. This would have been good enough for a straight forward horror flick. However, we get the additional storyline of several of the youths who have trained to seek revenge against the villagers for killing someone they loved sometime ago. It feels a bit cheap and doesn’t really improve the film. In fact, it pulls the film down in my opinion. The movie would have been much better if the film followed the campers as they fought off the villagers.
Finally, the film has plenty of blood and minimal effects. The kills fit the film very well but if you are looking for memorable deaths and outstanding gore then you will be disappointed. Yellow Dragon’s Village is a pretty solid Japanese horror film with a decent enough story. While some of it could be edited out to improve it, the film is just fine as is. It’s not going to be someone’s favorite film but it is entertaining.
Special Features:
Interview w/ Yugo Sakamoto and Nakano Tsuyoshi on Yellow Dragon’s Village
Trailers
Newly Created Subtitles
Both are featured with their original audio soundtracks
Region Free
2.0 Audio
