Yamaguchi breathes cult. Whatever he tackles, be it comedy, horror or even crime, the result is always a bonkers genre film with infinite cult potential. Not all his work is outstanding, but he's made plenty of great films, and they're never boring.
Movies
Ten Nights of Dreams
A wonderful collection of shorts, visually pleasing, fun to watch and from time to time refreshingly weird.
If you don't mind a bunch of 40-year old actors playing 16-year old high school student with greasy hair and no manners to speak of, you're probably fine.
An entertaining action film, that has the extra benefit of being pretty meta. Fans of Tak Sakaguchi will no doubt see how this film was built around him (not unlike JCVD), though it's not essential to appreciate what Yamaguchi is doing here. The brawler scenes are cool, the cinematography is slick and Sakaguchi oozes flair. There are some badass villains too, and there is no unnecessary padding. Everything I want from a good action flick, and then some.
It sports a cool main character, some nice camera work and very atmospheric and detailed styling.
The ABCs of Death
An Encyclopedia of Unconventional Women
Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Present
One of those films that prefaced the Sushi Typhoon age. It was Yudai Yamaguchi's first feature film, fronted by action/horror bad boy Tak Sakaguchi, and adapted from a manga. There was bound to be craziness galore, and crazy is what you're getting. It's just that the execution is a little wonky.
Read all
There are some crazy ideas and insane plot elements, which are mostly played for laughs. The film works better as a comedy, the gore is a bit basic and looks rather cheap. It doesn't hinder the film too much, but since then crazier, weirder, and more outrageous films have been released. Still good fun, but not really a masterpiece anymore.
Yamaguchi's latest film is probably a good indication of the position Japanese underground horror finds itself in these days. Underfunded, without a dedicated international audience and straining to survive. With the proper talent and budgets backing this film this could've been a lot of fun, now it's mostly just unrealized potential.
Read all
The film plays a little like a horror anthology, with one main thread bringing all the shorts together in the end. There are some fine ideas here, and it's not hard to see how this could've been a great Japanese horror film, but cheap production values, poor performances and icky CG don't really help Yamaguchi. It's a shame, because underneath that cheapness this was good fun.
