Dead Sushi (Japan, 2012) - Color, Director(s): Noboru Iguchi
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Approx. 92 min.
Z-rating: 4 out of 5 stars for zany Japanese craziness
Cheese Factor: 5 out of 5 stars for one of the most bizarre plots I've heard in awhile
"Dafuq did I just watch?!?" is the only question going through my mind at the moment as I reflect on this movie that I had been DYING to see. Noboru Iguchi, director of other Japanese movie madness such as Machine Girl and Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead, is at it again with this movie about an outbreak of killer sushi. Be warned, this type of movie is NOT for everyone. I'm sure a lot of people won't get it and will just write it off as a bad movie.
I am not trying to call this a good movie by any means, I just don't think it's a particularly bad one. This movie is purposely cheesy (and sleazy!) with a ridiculous plot about killer sushi that spreads its infection much like a zombie virus. The ridiculous part? This sushi can fly for some reason... whatever. If you're willing to ignore common sense and just accept that killer sushi can fly, this movie is actually a lot of fun. Really stupid fun, but fun nonetheless. Their creator is a vengeful research scientist that was wrongly jailed for a crime he did not commit. The story really revolves around a cute daughter of a sushi chef who happens to working the night that killer sushi attacks the restaurant. In addition to knowing all about sushi, she also seems to be well-versed in martial arts. To make a long story short, the vengeful research scientist unleashes the killer sushi on a night where the girl happens to be working as a waitress before injecting himself and turning into a giant killer fish. Yes, it's one of those types of movies.
Nudity: There's only one scene with nudity that I can remember. The boss of the company is running from the killer fish and hides in a women's shower. A girl comes in and proceeds to bathe while completely oblivious to his presence. Another great scene that I can remember is where a piece of killer sushi was in the process of eating a chick's tongue out of her mouth, a guy is just standing there deciding whether or not he should cop a feel since she's probably going to be dead soon. I'm sure every guy has pondered this scenario at least once in their lifetime.
Gore: A lot of it was CGI gore, which means most of it is poorly done. The scenes that did have practical effects were alright. Not particularly convincing, but you don't watch these kinds of movies for their special effects anyway! I was a little surprised to find that this movie wasn't overly gory. Considering the director and the potential for over-the-top gore with a story about killer sushi, I was surprised the gore factor is so low in this one!
Awesome: Definitely!!! But only if you're into this type of movie. As I said before, this movie will probably be lost on most people and probably be written off as "too weird" or "bad", which really sucks because this movie is a lot of fun. People who enjoy this type of bizarro film will no doubt find it funny. My biggest complaint was that I wasn't prepared for how much CGI was actually going to be in this movie. I feel like the bad CGI will be the biggest reason for people to write this film off as a bad movie. Sure, it's low-budget garbage, but it's still fun!!! I mean, the girl busts out sushi nunchaku at the end of the movie, were you expecting a great drama? For a silly movie, the choreography was decent and really stylishly filmed. (Better than ANY fight scenes from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy)
The zombie sub-plot kinda reminds me of Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies but the whole movie kinda reminded me of Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl overall. I would recommend this movie if you're a fan of movies like Sukeban Boy, RoboGeisha, or Tokyo Gore Police. Definitely made me hungry for some sushi afterwards!!!