By Nia Edwards-Behi
Later this year Takashi Miike returns with Yakuza Apocalypse, pitting the titular gangsters against vampires. I don’t wish to suggest that Miike’s been somewhat pipped to the post, but Hiroshi Shinagawa’s Deadman Inferno also pits the fearsome Yakuza against the undead – only in this film it’s zombies causing mayhem. As we’ve seen from the recent trailer to Miike’s film, pitting yakuza against the undead can only be batshit insanity, and Shinagawa’s film very much takes that approach as well.
Takashi (Shingo Tsurumi), a yakuza, has just been released from prison. His teenage daughter, Hyuga (Maika Yamamoto), who hasn’t seen him since she was a little girl, has run away with a friend to Z-island in order to avoid him. Unfortunately for the girls, Takashi and his yakuza cohort, including his estranged wife and the big boss Hiroya Munakata (Sho Aikawa), the formerly dead inhabitants of Z-island are reanimating and wreaking havoc. Teaming up with uninfected islanders, will anyone escape the zombie horde alive and uninfected?
My first thoughts while watching Deadman Inferno was ‘gosh, this looks a bit cheap’ – followed, a few minutes later, by ‘where the heck is this going’. Luckily there is a scene not too long into the film that completely got me on side and won me over – a scene in which two runaway schoolgirls randomly decide to goad and kick the shit out of some local ne’erdowells. I am naught if not predicable. A bored local cop tracks them down and arrests them, and the ensuing interview is both inappropriately hilarious and somehow quite sweet. It sets the tone for the rest of the film – bizarre but extremely likeable characters are placed in ridiculous situations, and madness ensues.
The slight cheapness of the film doesn’t really matter. It’s well-acted and well-directed, and the zombies are done well enough to not distract. The action is, in fact, very well handled. The presentation of the zombies is very knowing, and this contributes well to the humour. A doctor on the island escapes an infected hospital only to stop, turn back to the hospital and wonder aloud, “Which is it, walkers or runners?” – and his query is soon answered. Lines such as “A yakuza is eating that cop!” aren’t quite so funny taken out of context, but I was chuckling so much to myself while watching the film the person next to me in the BIFFF screening room had to check what I was watching.
There’s a particular sequence which is especially brilliant, which encapsulates the different ways in which the film was entertaining to me. The yakuza have landed on the island and realised everything’s gone very wrong. Teamed up with the doctor, the cop and only one schoolgirl (they misplaced the daughter), Takashi sets about explaining to the underworked cop what he should be doing to call in the emergency to the mainland. But then there’s the small matter of trying to explain the situation without using the word ‘zombie’. They all have a go and they all fail to convince the operator that they’re not pranksters. It’s a glorious scene, showcasing excellent comic performances and a tight script. If only all zombie comedies were so self-aware and unpretentious about it.
This is another film that manages to be quite sweet and a bit moving in amongst the mayhem, particularly once father and daughter are reunited, and through the use of flashbacks. Over-ridingly though the film is an incredibly funny take on a very familiar plot, and in ensuring the characters are likeable and well developed, that familiar plot never seems tired. Of course, stick a yakuza boss on a motorbike and brandishing a katana at a whole load of zombies, and I’m very likely to enjoy myself. I hadn’t heard of Deadman Inferno before seeing it at BIFFF, and it’s certainly stayed in mind as a highlight of the festival for me. This is an absolute gem of a film that shouldn’t be missed.
Deadman Inferno is released in Japan in May – and hopefully elsewhere soon!