Black Society, We are the Flesh, and Psychomania Ring in 2017!

After several years spent working almost exclusively in the direct-to-video world of “V-cinema” in Japan, Takashi Miike announced himself as a world-class filmmaking talent with this trio of thematically-connected, character-centric crime stories about violence, the underworld of Japanese society, families both real and surrogate, and the possibly hopeless task of finding one’s place in the world. His first films made specifically for theatrical release, and his first for a major studio, the “Black Society Trilogy” was the beginning of Miike’s mature career as a filmmaker and they remain among the prolific director’s finest works.

Set in the bustling Kabuki-cho nightlife neighborhood of Tokyo, Shinjuku Triad Society follows a mixed-race cop (Kippei Shiina, Outrage) struggling with private issues while hunting a psychotic criminal (Tomorowo Taguchi, Tetsuo the Iron Man) who traffics in children’s organs. Rainy Dog, shot entirely in Taiwan, is about an exiled yakuza (Dead or Alive’s Show Aikawa) who finds himself saddled with a son he never knew he had and a price on his head after the Chinese gang he works for decides to turn on him. Ley Lines moves from the countryside to the city and back, as three Japanese youths of Chinese descent (including The Raid 2’s Kazuki Kitamura) seek their fortune in Tokyo, only to run afoul of a violent gang boss (Naoto Takenaka, The Happiness of the Katakuris).

Three of the most dramatically moving films created by the director, the “Black Society Trilogy” offers clear proof that Miike’s frequent pigeonholing as a specialist in bloody spectacle is only one aspect of his filmmaking career, and taken as a whole, the films are among the finest works ever to deal with the way violence and brutality can unexpectedly destroy even the most innocent of lives.

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films.

Street Date: 01/24/17
PreBook Date: 12/13/16
Label: Arrow Video »
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run Time: 302 mins
Number of Discs: 2
Audio: STEREO
Year of Production: 1995
Director: Takashi Miike
Actors: Kippei Shiina, Tomorowo Taguchi, Kazuki Kitamura, Naoto Takenaka
Box Lot: 30
Territory: US
Language: Japanese

WE ARE THE FLESH on Blu-ray and DVD on February 14, 2017

A visionary and bizarre slice of Mexican art house cinema, We Are The Flesh is an extraordinary and unsettling film experience, a sexually charged and nightmarish journey into an otherworldy dimension of carnal desire and excess, as well as a powerful allegory on the corrupting power of human desire.

A young brother and sister, roaming an apocalyptic city, take refuge in the dilapidated lair of a strange hermit. He puts them to work building a bizarre cavernous structure, where he acts out his insane and depraved fantasies. Trapped in this maddening womb-like world under his malign influence, they find themselves sinking into the realms of dark and forbidden behaviour.

Visionary, unrelenting, and certainly not for the prudish or faint-hearted, We Are The Flesh is an erotic inferno of the senses that manages to pack all manner of delirium into its short running time, including incest, necrophilia, and cannibalism. This is extreme art cinema at its boldest and most taboo-bustingly bizarre.

Reactions and Quotes:

‘Disturbing’ ★★★★ Total Film

‘The most disturbing horror debut since Hellraiser’ ★★★★ SFX

‘Truly nightmarish and hypnotic’ ★★★★ SciFiNow

★★★★ HeyUGuys

‘Feverishly intense’ The List

‘Beautiful and hypnotising’ ★★★★ Flickering Myth

“I loved this film. It takes over our waking thoughts, like a recurring dream we try to forget, because we are fearful of finding out it may be a memory.” Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron

“We Are the Flesh is a very personal, very powerful film that deeply impressed me.” The Revenant director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu

* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork