Helldriver screening at the Japan Society
April 29th, 2011 by Mr. C
The Helldriver screening at the Japan Society on thursday night was hella’ full of zombie fun! It was our 1st time attending an event/screening at the J-Society and boy, if this was indicative of how the Japan Society, Sushi Typhoon, & Subway Cinema do things there…um, where do we sign up?! The director, Yoshihiro Nishimura & actress, Eihi Shiina were on hand at the screening to introduce the film & do a Q&A with the audience immediately after! Marc from subway cinema did a great job MC’ing the event as well as surfacing on the screen in a cameo role in the film! Nishimura & Marc both appeared onstage at the japan society after the film in a psuedo sumo loincloth, what da? It was over the top, wacky, & hilarious which pretty much describes the movie! Nishimura even whirled around a devilish inspired zombie baby attached to a cord as a weapon of choice which made chucky from child’s play look like a choir boy! Eihi and Yoshihiro were gracious enough to stick around after the screening to take photos & sign autographs! A few limited photos & logo hankies were made available for sale to benefit the Japan earthquake relief fund. Ticket sales for this event also went to the cause. Some good snacks on a stick, beer, & Vaura, a death metal band were waiting in the wings in the lobby for the after show party!
The movie would showcase a beautiful young lady played by Yumiko Hara who has been physically & mentally tortured in all of her existence. Through trials, tribulations, & circumstances from a stolen heart by the dirty soul of her mother played by Eihi Shiina, Yumiko will find a power invested in thee to wield a chainsaw in a configuration of a samurai sword in the name of saving japan from the savages of a zombie nation led by her twisted & abusive mom & her psychotic uncle which reminded me of Anthony Wong with a mohawk. The zombies would lurk around with a devilish looking horn on their head which looked like a modified wishbone! They looked voraciously for an opportunity to prey on human flesh! The movie did not waste any time from the get go as the 1st scene went right into battle mode with the zombie hunter slaying his subjects for their wishbone horn! Later on in the movie, they will explain the significance of the horns! After what seemed to be like 20 to 30 minutes into the film, they finally showed the opening credits! If that was the intro to the film, then what was to become of the climax! The amount of glorified blood gushings, violence, guts spillage, over the top characters, & insane zombie voiceovers were totally absurd which made it that much more fun! The soundtrack was a mix tape full of rock, metal, & classical pieces all under the guidance of a devil maestro if you may! My favorite props & visuals of the film included the insane hot rod car infused together by zombie limbs which looked partially designed by Frank Kozik! The giant monster mothership was composed of dead zombies with the head comprised of the evil mom accompanied by the maestro was pretty wicked as well! Also, who can forget the pickup truck jousting with the multiple zombie hands slicing & dicing with the samurai swords! A really funny scene in the movie involved our tenacious zombies prancing & dancing about like in Michael Jackson’s Thriller video! Kamikaze, bonzai, & heads will fly! If you liked Tokyo Gore Police then Helldriver is definitely up your alley! I can’t wait for more of these insane movies to surface at the NY Asian Film Festival at the Japan Society!
Eihi Shiina & the director, Yoshihiro Nishimura introduce the film before the screening!
Q&A after the film!
Tags: eihi shiina, helldriver, japan society, subway cinema, sushi typhoon, yoshihiro nishimura, Yumiko Hara, zombie
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
