Burst City (1982)

Directors: • Sogo Ishii

Irreverent, Manic, Anarchic And Energetic - Burst City Is Pure Punk!

Set in a barren, futuristic Tokyo of highways and wastelands, a rowdy group of punk bands and their fans gather to protest the construction of a nuclear power plant. Riot police and the factory owner's yakuza friends soon move in to break it up. However, the arrival of a pair of mysterious, metal-clad bikers and a revolt among the disgruntled construction crew makes for a situation that spirals dangerously out of control...

Directed by Sogo Ishii (Electric Dragon 80,000V, Gojoe, Angel Dust), Burst City boasts an impressive lineup of early 80's Japanese punk bands, including The Stalin, Battle Rockers, The Roosters, and Inu. An eclectic mix of Mad Max-style imagery with yakuza elements, filtered though a punk sensibility, Burst City reveals the seeds of many of the developments in contemporary Japanese cinema and beyond. Brimming with incredible energy and first-rate rock 'n' roll, Burst City is a lost masterpiece of extreme cinema that has influenced everyone from Takashi Miike to Shinya Tsukamoto.

Electric Dragon 80,000V (2001)

Actors: • Masakatsu Funaki • Tadanobu Asano • Masatoshi Nagase
Writers: • Sogo Ishii
Producers: • Takenori Sento
Directors: • Sogo Ishii

There Is No Higher Voltage!

Reptile investigator Dragon Eye Morrison has possessed high-voltage superpowers ever since a childhood accident at a power station. With megawatts of power coursing through his body, he discharges his surplus energy by playing high voltage rock 'n' roll with his electric guitar. He spends his days looking for lost lizards in the alleyways of Tokyo, and his nights fighting the reptilian part of his brain that is making him increasingly violent. A shadowy figure named Thunderbolt Buddha soon surfaces and begins following Dragon Eye about town. A former TV repairman turned super-villain, Thunderbolt Buddha uses his high-powered love of technological devices to aid in his evil plans. Powered-up to the max in his electrical body suit, the two finally come face to face in an all out electrified rock 'n' roll battle for the supremacy of Tokyo!

Starring Japanese megastar Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, Last Life in the Universe, Zatoichi) as Dragon Eye Morrison, and directed by cult icon Sogo Ishii (Burst City), Gojoe, Angel Dust), also starring Masatoshi Nagase (Suicide Circle, Hidden Blade, Stereo Future) as Thunderbolt Buddah. A hyperkinetic descent into electro-charged punk madness, set to an eardrum-shattering industrial punk/noise soundtrack by Mach 1.67, Electric Dragon 80,000V transcends film to become an overwhelming, all-immersing experience. Nothing will prepare you for the assault on the senses that is Electric Dragon 80,000V!

Carnival Of Souls (1962)

Actors: • Candace Hilligoss • Sidney Berger • Frances Feist • Herk Harvey

Writers: • John Clifford

Producers: • Herk Harvey

Directors: • Herk Harvey

Herk Harvey's macabre masterpiece gained a cult following through late night television and has been bootlegged for years. Made by industrial filmmakers on a modest budget, Carnival of Souls was intended to have the "look of a Bergman" and "feel of a Cocteau," and succeeds with its strikingly used locations and spooky organ score. Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) survives a drag race in a rural Kansas town, then takes a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she becomes haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels her to an abandoned lakeside pavilion. Criterion is proud to present the ultimate special edition of his eerily effective B-movie classic that continues to inspire filmmakers today.