Editorials
[Butcher Block] Takashi Miike’s Extreme Gorefest ‘Ichi the Killer’
Butcher Block is a weekly series celebrating horror’s most extreme films and the minds behind them. Dedicated to graphic gore and splatter, each week will explore the dark, the disturbed, and the depraved in horror, and the blood and guts involved. For the films that use special effects of gore as an art form, and the fans that revel in the carnage, this series is for you.
Prolific director Takashi Miike has directed over 100 films in his career, spanning all genres from family-friendly films to dramas. But he’s most known for his boundary-pushing films that are centered around extreme violence, gore, and a warped sense of humor. There can be an almost cartoonish quality to just how graphic and bloody his scenes of violence and horror can get, and Ichi the Killer may be the best example of that. Perhaps the most controversial of all his films, and there’s quite a lot, Ichi the Killer cemented Miike’s reputation for torture and carnage.
Based on a manga, Ichi the Killer has two main characters, Ichi (Nao Omori) and Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano). The opening scene introduces us to both Ichi, and Miike’s unflinching style; Ichi lurks on the balcony of an apartment, masturbating while he watches the prostitute inside get assaulted by her pimp. His semen spills onto a house plant and forms the title card of the film. Yup. Ichi is a cowering, weak-willed character who’s progressively manipulated into becoming a reflexive, effective killer. Kakihara is a yakuza enforcer looking for his missing boss. He also happens to be a sadomasochist, and when Ichi’s gnarly body count starts piling up, Kakihara swoons over the potential pain Ichi could give him.
The kills in this movie are creative, painful, and very, very messy. The more Ichi is manipulated into killing, the more the body parts and blood fly. The yakuza clean up crew have to mop up not just the floors, but the walls and ceiling after Ichi has been unleashed. A master of pain, Kakihara delights in torturing victims for answers. At one point, he gets his hands on a rival yakuza leader and suspends his naked body up in the air with hooks. Then he skewers his mouth. Then, Kakihara pours scalding hot oil over him, until the skin blisters and peels off. It’s slow, methodical, and gruesome. There’s also a face severing and a groin to head slicing that serve as highlights to this tour de force of visceral gore.
Miike always seems to keep in mind the manga roots of the story, and the violence wavers from uncomfortably real to over the top comical silliness. It’s effective either way, thanks to special makeup effects artist Yuichi Matsui (The Grudge, Audition, Kill Bill: Vol. 1) and visual effects supervisor Misako Saka (One Missed Call, banned Masters of Horror episode “Imprint”). Between Miike’s style and the gory effects, Ichi the Killer is often a tough watch.
Naturally, the extreme violence has meant that Ichi the Killer has faced numerous bans in many countries since its release; the British Board of Film Classification took issue with the violence toward women in the film, and it refused to allow the film to release uncut. It was banned in Norway and Malaysia, and banned for distribution in Germany. Ichi the Killer premiered in 2001 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the attendees were given barf bags prior to the screening, an effective and appropriate memento that some viewers might actually use when watching.
Ichi the Killer is Miike’s finest example of no holds barred extreme cinema. Though Kakihara is one of modern cinema’s most charismatic villains, the truth is that neither he nor Ichi are sympathetic at all. That’s more because Miike is making a point about how we consume violence in media. In other words, there’s more depth than meets the eye to this gorefest. It just might be hard to see it past the torrent of blood, viscera, and depraved mayhem.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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