Synopsis from the Press Release:
When a duplicitous scheme by the low-level yakuza, Kase (Shota Sometani) goes hilariously wrong, a terminally ill boxer, Leo (Masataka Kubota), and a disturbed drug addicted call girl, Monica (Sakurako Konishi), find themselves innocently caught in the crosshairs of two warring gangs. Over the course of the increasingly ludicrous night, the two fall passionately in love, while the hail of bullets and blood fall quietly in the background. From prolific auteur Takashi Miike, this noir-tinged, violent yakuza film, is Miike at his most fun and anarchic.
Adam Says:
To talk about a Takashi Miike film is to talk about Miike himself. The filmmaker is almost his own genre, making many movies that are mixes of noir, violence, gangsters, and pitch-black humor in a blend that is all his own. Sure, others have made movies in this genre, but you know when you’re watching a Miike film. He’s so prolific that he has well over 100 directing credits to his name, putting him well within the auteur space. First Love is very much within his formula and not a great stretch for him like some of the others in his body of work. That said it is still an immensely fun movie, full of surprises and some nicely gross moments. Depressingly there’s almost no extras besides trailers but the film itself is enjoyable enough to be worth picking up.
Special Features Include:
- Trailers
Synopsis from the Press Release:
After the death of his wife, veterinarian Chase Matthews and his 13-year-old son, Jeff, move to Ludlow to rebuild their lives. Antagonized by the neighborhood kids, Jeff befriends another outsider, Drew Gilbert, who lives in fear of his cruel stepfather, Gus. After Gus cold-bloodedly shoots Drew’s beloved dog, the boys bury the body in the local Indian burial grounds – a place rumored to have the powers of resurrection. But when evil is awakened, the boys realize that sometimes you should just let dead dogs lie.
Adam Says:
Pet Sematary Two is hard to place in terms of quality. It really comes down to how you feel about the original and how you feel about sequels in general. This film has been much maligned either way. I myself was a huge fan of the first one and at seeing this film in the theater I openly disliked it. Has time been kind? Well yes and no, it is still not very good but decades later, it’s not entirely terrible either. This is especially given how many truly terrible sequels and remakes have come out the last twenty-five years. In 2020, I think it is safe to say Sematary Two has grown somewhat into the campy fun category. It’s got some extraordinarily gross moments and at times veers so far over the top you can’t help but laugh and be entertained. With this Scream Factory release I think it’s safe to finally unbanish part two and play it back to back with the original on a Friday night (at least it’s not the remake).
Special Features Include:
- NEW 4K scan of the original camera negative approved by director Mary Lambert
- NEW Audio Commentary with director Mary Lambert
- NEW Young and Brooding– an interview with actor Edward Furlong
- NEW Playing Over the Top– an interview with actor Clancy Brown
- NEW My First Film– an interview with actor Jason McGuire
- NEW A Thousand Dollar Bet– an interview with special makeup effects creator Steve Johnson
- NEW Orchestrated Grunge– an interview with composer Mark Governor
- Theatrical Trailer
Adam Ruhl is a writer and life long Cinephile. He is the Executive
Cinema Editor of Pop Culture Beast’s Austin branch; covering festivals,
conventions, and new releases. When not filing reports, Adam can be
found stalking Alamo Drafthouse Programmers for leads on upcoming
DrafthouseFilms titles. Adam once blocked Harry Knowles entrance to a
theater until he was given extra tickets to a Roman Polanski movie.