Another Hole in the Head Festival 2009

Tak Sakaguchi’s directorial debut of SAMURAI SCHOOL offers incredibly vivid, Manga inspired violence and martial arts mayhem. Sakaguchi is unquestionably the “real deal,” getting his start in acting only after spending his youth as an actual street fighter in Japan. After a number of films, including the lead role in Ryuhei Kitamura’s cult film Versus, he still insists on doing all of his own stunts. He’s a martial arts renaissance man who has the scars to prove it! SAMURAI SCHOOL is an adaptation of Akira Miyashita’s “Sakigake!! Otokojuku” which remains a best selling comic book series. SAMURAI SCHOOL is an institution where boys learn to be men and are accordingly subjected to “character building” exercises and punishments so extreme that you’ll wince and cackle with delight. One particularly memorable scene involves a student sitting in a cauldron of boiling oil. Does he wince? Never! How about a form of water boarding involving a modified fish tank fitted over a hapless student’s head and then filled with ‘sake?’ Incredible! An expelled student returns with fighters who defeat the older students and several of the teachers. It leads to a death match where only the new students are left to defend the school’s honor. SAMURAI SCHOOL delivers sidesplitting humor along with an explosion of Manga style battle scenes and characters with super human powers that will pull you right through the screen and into the cartoon pages! - Mike Skurko