Freaky Fridays
Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend
For a long time, Japanese animation had a bad rep in America: “those freaky violent cartoons with the schoolgirls and the tentacle monsters.” UROTSUKIDŌJI: THE LEGEND OF OVERFIEND is the film that’s largely responsible for this reputation. Hideki Takayama’s gruesome adaptation of Toshio Maeda’s horror comic had a brief stint in U.S. theaters rocking a well-earned NC-17 rating. Grim-faced and grotesque, it’s a hellish Freudian vision of torn bodies, and bitter pessimism. The apocalyptic film picks up just before the prophesied rise of the demon-god The Overfiend, whose re-birth would merge the worlds of men and demons. As time of prophecy draws closer, demons flood into the dimension of men, throwing the Earth into a chaotic storm of sex and violence.
Due to graphic content, including sexual assault, no one under 18 will be admitted.
1989, Japan, 101 minutes, English Dubbed, NC-17, Directed by Hideki Takayama
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“A non-stop procession of ever-grander atrocity, but this is a must for strong-stomached horror fans."
- William Thomas, EMPIRE -
“It's a sort of Speed Racer and Godzilla in Caligula amalgam that gets its rocks off on wanton sociopathic destruction.”
– Todd Anthony, MIAMI NEW TIMES -
“You can’t unwatch it”
– MUBI