Dead Sushi (Deddo sushi) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy / Horror	Featurette-Making Of Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	87:18 (Case: 97)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Noboru Iguchi
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Rina Takeda Kentarô Shimazu Takamasa Suga Takashi Nishina Asami Yui Murata Marin. Nao Ibaraki Yûya Ishikawa Kentaro Kishi Demo Tanaka Hiroaki Murakami Hiyori Hachiya
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Yasuhiko Fukuda

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, outtakes with closing credits

     Keiko (Rina Takeda) is the daughter of a master sushi chef trying to learn from her father. But he wanted a boy; so he belittles all Keiko’s efforts to make sushi and trains her in martial arts so she will be less feminine. Disconsolate, Keiko runs away from home and gets a job at a resort inn, although things are not much better there as she is made the brunt of pranks by her fellow workers. Indeed, the only one friendly to Keiko is Mr Sawada (Shigeru Matsuzaki), the gardener, although even he has his secrets. But everything changes when the President and staff of Komatsu Pharmaceutical arrive at the resort for a weekend of relaxation and sushi.

     The company staff are loud, ignorant, boring and pretentious and determined to have a good time with only the good looking Nosake (Takamasa Suga) showing any manners towards the inn staff. But they are about to get their just deserts – or I should say, sushi. Disgruntled ex-company scientist Yamada (Kentaro Shimazu) has come to the inn seeking revenge. He has invented a serum that will revive the cells of dead creatures bringing them back to life. But there is a side effect; the revived creatures become violent, blood-thirsty monsters. Worse, any human they kill becomes infected by the virus, turning them into zombies! When Yamada injects the serum into a squid, the squid in turn infects all the sushi in the inn, which go on a rampage. As the sushi bite back it is up to Keiko to come up with a solution and save the day.

     Dead Sushi (Deddo sushi), is another weird, gory and very funny film from director / co-writer Noboru Iguchi who has films such as the wildly entertaining The Machine Girl (2008) and RoboGeisha (2009) on his CV. However, the real star in this wave of Japanese gorefest films is the visual make-up effects crew as the CGI is usually poor. Dead Sushi is no exception; its CGI, such as the flying sushi and the flame thrower sushi, look cheap and unreal, however the visual effects are another matter. They are by Taiga Ishino who has been in the vanguard of the genre working with not only Iguchi but also with Yoshihiro Nishimura, in such films as Tokyo Gore Police (2008) and Helldriver (2010), and important Japanese director Sion Sono for Love Exposure (2008). This is an impressive list, and in Dead Sushi he certainly does not disappoint.

     In Dead Sushi the effects are innovative and gory; we get severed heads, eyes popping out, a squid attached to a face, a man turning into a giant tuna and enough blood and gore for anyone. Throw in zombies, talking sushi including a friendly egg sushi, two of the most grotesque kisses ever shown on screen, a bit of nudity, some funny dialogue, broad humour and a wonderful performance by diminutive Rina Takeda, who has a black belt in karate, and the result is an insanely entertaining film, possibly Iguchi’s best and most accessible to date. None of it is logical of course; as one character comments “things have reached the point where they no longer make any sense” which is spot on. But the film is so exuberantly good fun that it just doesn’t matter.

     If you are a fan of Noboru Iguchi or of Japanese gorefiest films, you will enjoy Dead Sushi. Even if you only have a passing interest in the genre, treat yourself to Dead Sushi; it is a weird, gory, very funny and wildly entertaining film. And, as well as all the fun, the film provides some good tips on how to prepare and eat sushi properly without being a sushi snob! Then, as the final credits roll we learn from the director that “no sushi were harmed in the making of this motion picture”. Somehow, I very much doubt that!!

Video

     Dead Sushi is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original theatrical ratio being 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     Except in a few cases where detail is lost due to the light source being behind the actors (such as at 6:09) this is a nice sharp print. In scenes where the sushi eats into the flesh of the undressed hostesses the individual blood drops and sprays are finely detailed and easily seen. Colours are deep and vibrant, skin tones natural, brightness and contrast consistent. I don’t remember any dark scenes with which to judge the blacks and shadow detail; I guess they were fine.

     Other than some very slight ghosting, artefacts were absent. There were no marks.

     The layer change at 51:57 resulted in a slight pause.

    English subtitles are in an easy to read yellow font and seemed to be timely. At 52:19 there is a line translated as “ this is too mush” which could be a mistake, or may be a joke! It is that kind of film.

     A good looking print without technical issues.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The only audio choice is Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps.

     Basically this is a 2.0 audio as there was nothing in the rears – indeed I rechecked my system to make sure it was working (it was). Dialogue was clear and centred, although occasionally it seemed somewhat soft. The effects in the front surrounds had no real depth. In reality a bit of music or flying sushi effects in the surrounds may have helped, but this was not a film that needs sonic fireworks. I noticed no subwoofer use.

    Lip synchronisation was good.

     The original score by Yasuhiko Fukuda was neither memorable nor distracting so worked fine.

     The audio track got the job done, barely.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Making Of (11:02)

    This is an on set video diary showing behind the scenes footage and tongue in cheek comments from the director and star. Short and entertaining.

Theatrical Trailer (1:52)

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for The Thieves (1:58), Mutant Girls Squad (1:42), Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (1:13) and Big Tits Zombie (1:38).

     The Region A US Blu-ray of Dead Sushi includes the same making of and trailer as our DVD and adds a World Premiere Stage Greeting (11:00), Extreme Sushi Eating Contest (13:34), a Fantasia Film Interview (2:38) with the director and star and an English dub (for what that is worth). However, from listings it seems that the Region 1 US DVD not only has no extras but is listed as being cropped to 1.33:1, although I cannot confirm that. There is no Region 2 UK release as yet and, perhaps surprisingly, YesAsia.com lists only the US version, and nothing from Japan.

     Where DVD is concerned this is a win to Region 4.

     Dead Sushi is another weird, gory, very funny and insanely entertaining film from director / co-writer Noboru Iguchi, possibly his best and most accessible to date. If you are a fan of Noboru Iguchi, or of Japanese gorefiest films, you will enjoy Dead Sushi.

     The video is good, the audio may as well be advertised as 2.0. A short making of and trailer are the extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall