Mel Lang Witty, original and a little bit stupid. It doesn't matter how many times I see this film, I love it more and more with every viewing. It challenges every concept of a 'good' movie, instead opting for almost slap-stick style comedy coupled with HEAPS of fake blood and strange ways to die at the hands of infected food, not to mention the crude nature of Japan's take on sex appeal. 10/10, I'd recommend this to anyone and everyone - regardless of your taste you're guaranteed to get a laugh out of this. With the exception of a handful of moderately adult moments (and a female chest), this is definitely a film that every generation can have a chuckle at. If you're a fan of sushi, martial arts, Japanese culture, cheesy comedy or cheap gore, you'll have a new favourite by the end of the night.

Greg I have to admit – I am not particularly a fan of outlandish Japanese films. Machine Girl, RoboGeisha… I just don't find them entertaining for anything outside of a quick Youtube clip. Yet, I cannot deny that their cultish popularity. As the audience began amassing inside the theatre for the Toronto After Dark Festival screening of Noboru Igushi's Dead Sushi, the excitement was more palpable than for any other film in the very successful Festival in 2012. Groups of all ages huddled in cliques discussing the wonderful array of colors and absurdity that was about to be presented on screen. And of that, they were well quenched quite satisfyingly.Directed by Noboru Iguchi (the aforementioned Machine Girl and RoboGeisha), Dead Sushi is a not so serious action/horror/comedy about Keikio (Rina Takeda) who runs away from home and takes up residence in a quaint inn renowned for its sushi plates.There a couple of laughs, chuckles and head scratching moments that lead us to a former employee from a Pharmaceutical company who has a serum that turns sushi into human flesh hungry monsters. What happens after the serum is given to the sushi dishes is something that needs to be seen to be un-believed. Sushi zombies (or is it zombie sushi?), flying squid and even thousands of baby sushi that come courtesy of two pieces of sushi engaging in some kind of sexual act are all part of the fun.The audience at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival knew exactly what they were about to revel in and they did so with an unwavering glee. They clapped, cheered and laughed and seemed to be having more fun Frank the Tank at a Kegger. We, well, we were mildly entertained more by the audience reaction than anything else. If the same film was given to us as a screener for home, we are not sure we would have gotten past the first few chapters of the DVD let alone laugh along with the prevailing crowd from credit roll to credit roll.It would be hard for us to recommend this film to anyone that is not already a fan of Noboru Igushi's work. It a packed house, you will surely laugh along with the crowd, but would this be a movie you would pull off the DVD shelf on a rainy day. Maybe. Just not us.www.killerreviews.com

brionesb I just had the pleasure of seeing this great Japanese comedy-horror film at the Fall 2012 HIFF film showcase tonight and I'm glad that I got tickets for it and went to see it! First off, I want to tip my hat to the director & his film crew for making a great film that will appeal to genre & foreign film fans. Also, I'd like to tip my hat off to the main actress, Rina Takeda who showed up for both screenings of this film at HIFF over the weekend. I always enjoy seeing any of the people involved with any film big or small show up at festival screenings and really show off and share their labor of love with the audience as well as interact and answer questions too.If you don't know the director, Noboru Iguchi, go and look up some of his previous work such as 2008's Machine Girl and also check out his entry in the horror film anthology The ABCs of Death which is circulating around the film festival circuit. Not one to make your typical comedy OR horror film that the Japanese can be known for, Dead Sushi is no different from his previous work. What is really enjoyable about this particular film is how campy it is but also how it really seems like everyone involved had a good time making the film which is always a plus!The basic plot of the movie is that Rina Takeda plays Keiko, a girl who is the daughter of a sushi chef in Japan. Keiko's father attempts to pass on the fine culinary art of sushi making to her but is disappointed that she has great difficulty in mastering the skill which eventually causes her to leave home and find another job elsewhere as well as her true calling. Short while later, we see that Keiko is working at a hotel-inn that is renowned as a popular getaway spot as well as supposedly for its sushi. Unfortunately, Keiko is pretty burnt out from working at such a soul sucking place where serving the customer is a high priority but she also gets picked on by her fellow workers(2 other hostesses). Just as the other 2 hostesses have finished playing a little prank on her by giving her the 2 trays of food they are each carrying, a big corporate client comes in with his entourage of businessmen looking for a nice inn to stay at and be served. Poor hapless Keiko, wanting to be as best a servant as possible, quickly but sloppily cleans herself off and comes out to join the other hostesses in greeting the visiting client(s) but winds up embarrassing the owners of the inn & herself by showing up rather disheveled with remnants of food hanging from her hair and yukata. Because of this embarrassment, the owner of the inn & his wife take her aside and chastise her for making a mockery of their business and tell her that she needs to take her job more seriously which causes Keiko great frustration. Shortly after this dressing down by the owners, she is approached by the groundskeeper Sawada who tells her not to give up and to keep trying her best.Up until this point, the film is fairly straightforward and normal which isn't what you would expect from a Noboru Iguchi film but I promise you that things slowly but surely pick up from this point forward. The next scene features a young Japanese couple that have just landed in the area and have walked 20 minutes and found the hotel inn. The couple get into a brief little argument and start making out a little bit before they are interrupted by what seems to be a homeless man that is nearby and watching them make out while eating sushi. The young man that was making out with his girlfriend at this point decides to pick a fight with the homeless man and this basically results in death by squid(you have to watch to see the hilarity of this play out). It is from this exact point that the movie starts to move into the realm of the bizarre with the various seafood & sushi coming to life and attacking the hapless businessmen and the owners of the inn which all culminates in a ridiculous fight featuring:-a battleship size sushi -a million little baby sushi that are the result of 2 pieces of sushi mating-a huge walking "Maguro(tuna) Man"fish-sushi-zombiesIf this all sounds wildly crazy, that's because it is! But if you've seen Noboru's previous work such as Machine Girl, you'll know that this is par for the course. Now you're probably wondering why I'm rating such a movie that is as ridiculous as this so well... Yes, this movie goes into the realm of the bizarre with "monster" sushi and other weird things including a talking egg sushi but it's all done very cleverly. As I mentioned earlier, you can clearly see that the actors are having fun with this film and enjoying themselves acting out ridiculous scenarios. The special effects are also really cheesy and obviously very low budget but again, that's not what you're here to see. In contrast to Machine Girl however, this film is a little more down to earth which is a little odd to say in the same sentence with "monster sushi", but trust me on this. By and large, what we have is a relatively mundane & normal situation taken to its extreme opposite but it never feels like the filmmakers and actors are going overboard and asking the audience to take things very seriously.If you want to spend a fun night or would like to turn your mind off for a few hours and get a little cultural education about sushi and Japanese culture, this is a great film to do it with.

Virginie Mikaelian Astounding is hardly a strong enough word to describe just how truly sublime DEAD SUSHI was...This was perhaps the most tremendously fun cinematographic experience of my life! I cannot remember laughing as much while pulling my hair and jumping up and down my seat squealing every five seconds to a point where trying to restrain my reactions became impossible! I also never imagined ever feeling so incredibly hungry, sitting on the edge of my seat, holding my breath and literally drooling with my fists both against my chin while looking at a hundred flying zombie sushi famished for something human.And yes. If you see me walking around, speaking softly to a small omelette sushi safely tucked on my shoulder, fear not! Omelette sushi are the most adorable creatures and they save lives. Yes. They do. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥