Happiness Of The Katakuris
2001
Best known for his dark splatterfests (AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER), director Takeshi Miike takes a detour from his usual style with HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS. After losing his job at a department store, patriarch Masao (Kenji Sawada) has opened a country inn at which the whole family can work. The trouble is, whenever someone .. Read more
| Starring | Kenji Sawada, Naomi Nishida, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda |
|---|---|
| Director | Takashi Miike |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
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Happiness Of The Katakuris
Best known for his dark splatterfests (AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER), director Takeshi Miike takes a detour from his usual style with HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS. After losing his job at a department store, patriarch Masao (Kenji Sawada) has opened a country inn at which the whole family can work. The trouble is, whenever someone checks in, they seem to die before checking out! The inn spells a different adventure for each member of the family, and Miike somehow finds the ability to work in some surreal clay animation along with several elaborate karaoke-style musical numbers.
| Starring | Kenji Sawada, Naomi Nishida, Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinji Takeda, Tetsuro Tamba |
|---|---|
| Director | Takashi Miike |
| Studio | PALISADES TARTAN |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 53 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Thriller, World Cinema |
| Language | DVD: Japanese |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 29 Sep 2003 Production year: 2001 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (4)
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Forget the schlock grotesqueries that have become Takeshi Miike's trademark and instead revel in the colourful kitsch of this hilarious zombie musical that gleefully references both Psycho and The Sound of Music. The tale of a family whose dream of running a rural retreat is confounded by the guests' unfortunate habit of dying, is packed with quirky characters, macabre comedy and song-and-dance routines that succeed in revealing emotion while cranking up the camp quotient. There are even flights of claymation fantasy that evoke the surrealism of Czech master, Jan Svankmajer. The cast is sporting to the extreme and Akio Nomura's photography is exhilarating, but paramount is Miike's outrageous sense of mischief. This really does have the Rocky Horror stamp of cult greatness.
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Bizarre mix of black comedy with over-the-top musical sequences and jokes in bad taste that can amuse in an inconsequential way.
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Most helpful member's review
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12 out of 14 people found this review helpful
Gloriously insane black comedy, in which a family buy an isolated hotel, but all their guests start dying. Its a funny premise, and well acted by all concerned, but the films masterstroke is in it's relentless genre hopping, with sudden jumps into cheesy musical numbers, claymation animation, and dazzling special effects and editing. Very funny, very inventive and original, and with a warm heart - highly recommended.
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Most recent members' review
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2 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Just a bit too odd!
As a fan of the Asia Extreme collection I have been making my way through them expecting over the top horror and suspense. It came as somewhat of a suprise then that thic musical 'comedy' should land at my door.
The problem this film suffers from is that the humour does not cross cultural barriers, it just ain't that funny.
There are elements that I enjoyed includinf several of the songs but the lack of any coherence to the rest of the film means this is one to miss unless you are a fan of obscure films. -
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Best known for his dark splatterfests (AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER), director Takeshi Miike takes a detour from his usual style with HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS. After losing his job at a department ... -