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.
Rare treats
Ten Nights of Dreams
A wonderful collection of shorts, visually pleasing, fun to watch and from time to time refreshingly weird.
The good stuff
Sakigake!! Cromartie High
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.
It sports a cool main character, some nice camera work and very atmospheric and detailed styling.
Solid pieces
Chin-Yu-Ki: The Journey to the West with Farts
The ABCs of Death
An Encyclopedia of Unconventional Women
Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Present
Meatball Machine
The inoffensive
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.
Though they haven't seen each other in 10 years, Izumi and Mika decide to meet up again and catch up for old time's sake. Meanwhile, a string of seemingly unrelated hauntings is taking place. When Mika reveals a lingering trauma from their childhood days, everything appears to be coming together.
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.
