Unseen Terror 2023: Wrap it Up Ryhan (Days 29-31)

Well, I hope everyone had the greatest of times during Halloween. No clever title for this final entry folks. Let's get these last three flicks knocked out while I'm still somewhat awake though.

Writer/director Brian de Palma is definitely no stranger to the marathon, but somehow his rock opera/horror-comedy hybrid Phantom of the Paradise had only been on my radar for about six years or so, as I would often confuse it with other similarly titled pictures or different projects outright. Still, once I took a glimpse at the Blu-Ray from the reliable Shout! Factory (specifically thanks to the managers at Rockville's Barnes & Noble location which I worked at for six years), I officially became determined to track this sucker down at some point while I was still breathing without having to spend an absurd amount of money. Hey, sometimes I'm just a cheapskate folks. *shrugs*

The plot to this oddball of a flick reads like a mixture of Phanom of the Opera and classic German tale Faust, and it follows a young naive singer-songwriter named Winslow (played by the late William Finley of Sisters fame) who is fooled by well-known music producer Swan (Paul Williams) into surrendering his works over to the far more established figure. Framed, jailed, and scarred (both mentally and physically), Winslow dons a new menacing persona that proceeds to terrorize Swan's newly opened concert hall, all the newly masked madman insists that his stolen music be performed by a younger, adored singer (Jessica Harper). The two come to an agreement of sorts but suffice to say things don't turn out how Winslow wants them to. I don't want to get too much further into plot details, because I believe approaching any motion picture as blind as possible is vital to enjoying it as much as you can.

I feel like it's been quite some time since I've been so unapologetically upfront about any flick that I've watched during an "Unseen Terror" marathon, but if there were ever such a thing as an instant buy, Phantom of the Paradise absolutely fits that description. I had such an unbelievably fun time with this, and I'm kicking myself for having slept on it for so bloody long. The cast is all fantastic, with Williams in particular proving why he's such a respected talent in the entertainment industry by not only playing a real arrogant jerk of a villain, but also scoring its undeniably catchy soundtrack. I've yet to explore much of actress Jessica Harper's non-Suspiria film roles (mostly due to laziness), but I had no earthly idea she was also a GREAT singer. Had the whole acting thing not worked out at all, she could have made a killing in the music industry. Finally, there's reliable Gerrit Graham (The Critic, Child's Play 2, TerrorVision) who plays a fabulously flamboyant glam rocker simply known as "Beef." He arguably steals the show every time he's on screen, and his inclusion not only exists to help move the story along, but to also serve as part of another great aspect of Phantom: its subtle takedown of the music industry and its shameless attempt at jumping on board of trends. Hell, look no further than the inclusion of Swan's own pet project known as "The Juicy Fruits," who undergo more than one genre transformation throughout its running time. Now that I think about it, perhaps that's the only minor complaint I have about this eccentric project: I wish it was longer.

I don't have much more to offer when it comes to gushing over Phantom of the Paradise. It's audacious, stylistic, loud, and very colorful. Most of all though, it's fun! This is the kind of movie that I wish Rocky Horror could have been (no disrespect to that crowd though), and it's a shame that people still sleep on it. Go find it however you can (I viewed mine on an on-demand cable TV channel) and just kick back.... for the hell out of it.

........Uh, you'll understand that if you've seen it. Sorry.

Before I type out the review for this bad boy, I'll just preface it by saying that I've only played the first Five Nights at Freddy's video game and while I don't think it's a bad game per se and it certainly has some nice atmosphere, it was a little too reliant on jump scares and too repetitive for my taste. Call me a boomer, but I'm more of a sucker for stuff like Resident Evil or the first-person Alien games. So, I'm approaching this mostly blind and with no great attachment to the source material. After the whole picture had wrapped up and the credits began to roll, I came to the realization that this was very much the definition of "not for me."

If you're unfamiliar with the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, the core concept (at least in the first game) is that it's a first-person, point-and-click video game where you play a security guard who has taken on an overnight job at a rundown pizzeria. The main problem arises from having to survive each of those evenings while the homicidal animatronic creatures that roam the restaurant during afterhours try to murder you. Some gig huh? To be honest, with how expensive things have been getting as of late, I can't say that I wouldn't try for some sort of similar gig to pay my own bills. I mean, Dollar Tree is now $1.25 tree? Twenty dollars barely gets you half a tank of gas? But I digress.

Off the bat, I could tell that this was likely going to appeal almost exclusively to diehard fans and unlikely to sway casual, unfamiliar viewers over to its side. Plus, it wasn't too long ago that we got the eerily similar Willy's Wonderland with (a mostly silent) Nicolas Cage, which didn't exactly set the world on fire. Unlike that film though, there are a number of more recognizable faces this time around. The movie adaptation focuses primarily on Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), who takes the aforementioned overnight job from a career counselor (Matthew Lillard of Scream and Scooby-Doo fame) to prevent social services from taking away his younger sister and placing her in the hands of her negligent, asshole aunt (Mary Stuart Masterson from Fried Green Tomatoes). Honestly, that's about the best description I can give considering how this is actually a bit messier than I expected it to be, and most of these characters are as interesting as dried milk. Yes, Hutcherson's character is sympathetic, but there are times where I feel like someone should've provided the poor fella with a cup of coffee. Aside from him, everyone just seems to be going through the motions or has very little to work with. I'll always treasure seeing Matthew Lillard on screen, but he's barely present until the very end (taking part in what was one of the silliest twists I've seen in quite some time). Whereas the human presence in the film is lacking, I did appreciate the work that Jim Henson's Creature Shop put into making some very accurate-looking animatronics. It's just too bad that they chose to spend so much of this film's running time on Hutcherson's frequent dream sequences instead, rather than the impressive practical effects. Oh well.

Five Nights at Freddy's is a little too boring and depends far too often on suffocating the viewers with a quick "boo!" gag as much as it can (so I guess it IS game accurate then). It gets to be very tiresome towards the end and I just didn't see anything that would be able to convince someone other than perhaps little kids to make a return to this universe. Then again, kids/preteens are the primary target audience here, and this could be a nice gateway to bigger and more established horror films for some of them (maybe their parents could lend them a VHS player with some fine gems from the 80s/90s for starters). Ultimately my opinion is just that of a small percentage of people who weren't wholly interested in watching this anyway, but I do see the appeal and do hope that it inspires a new generation to seek out some genuinely creepy stuff. As I said several paragraphs ago, it just wasn't my cup of tea, but I hope it makes its fans happy. Currently, it's streaming on Peacock and playing in whatever cinemas are left closest to you.

Ah, but what better way to finish October than with a motion picture where a VHS player is pivotal to its plot? Somehow, I had never seen Japan's highly influential Ring (or Ringu if you're going to be a real weeb) back when I was trying to seek out as many bizarre Japanese horror films as possible. Perhaps it was never available at the Suncoast Video stores I frequented. Perhaps it was because I favored the gorier side of things (a.k.a. the Takashi Miike stuff) rather than the slower, more atmospheric efforts. Regardless, I decided to finally take the plunge and check out Ring on Shudder and though I do wish I could have closed out October with something more in line with Halloween, I feel like this was a damn fine way to conclude this iteration of Unseen Terror.

I feel as though the concept of Ring and/or its American remake The Ring (also good in its own right) is fairly well known, but I'll give a CliffsNotes version anyway: a reporter investigates the mystery behind a supposedly cursed video tape which causes those who view it to die within seven days. The tales of this tape reach our protagonist Reiko, who takes a particular interest to this rumor when she hears of her niece mysteriously passing away after watching it. Teaming with her ex-husband Ryuji, the two dig around to discover its origins and to find out if there's a way to break this purported curse. Though only a mere twenty-five years old, it's still pretty astonishing to see how much of Ring has been lifted or copied by other motion pictures over the decades (for better or worse). Few could hope to reach this level of creepiness though.

There is so much to appreciate here. The film establishes what it is right out of the gate, yet after its initial, shocking opening, it turns into a very slow burn more akin to that of a mystery than an outright horror film (I understand that this is also the case with the book it's based on). It eases you into its bleak universe, which despite being set in the real world, still feels distinctly "alien." Our protagonists are written very well and are quite sympathetic, which adds to the sense of fear whenever you see the flick's "time clock" pop up on screen every now and then. Ring's most impressive aspect is arguably its atmosphere. It looks far dirtier than I expected it to be, and much smaller in scope. When we finally get a glimpse of the film's most notorious...erm, aspect (a.k.a. one of the first images you're likely to see when Googling Ringu), it's no surprise they turned out the way that they are. It's a terribly depressing world, and only adds to the creepy vibe scattered throughout. I also noticed quite a bit of double meaning in its title and dialogue, but that would be giving away some major plot spoilers so I will only address that with people who are indifferent to reveals.

Honestly, what can I say about Ring/Ringu that assorted video essayists haven't already said themselves? It's a tense, slow burn whose impact is still being felt in the horror genre to this day, and I'm hoping that despite its age, it will still garner some new viewers as often as it can. I'm very happy to put one more stamp on my "J-Horror" card that was long overdue, and perhaps I'll finally be able to seek out Ju-On: The Grudge now as well. Ring is streaming on services such as Shudder and Tubi, with a loaded Blu-Ray from Arrow Video out there for purchase as well.

And with that..........we are done. Sort of. Come back in a couple of days or so if you're interested, because I may have some quick notes and extra tidbits about what didn't make the list (and why), what to expect in the future (if anything), and more. Stay spooky.

Unseen Terror 2022: Day 3

It's no secret that I'm a pretty diehard "kaiju eiga" fanatic, which stems back to when I saw my first Godzilla films around the time that I was entering second grade. In the three decades that have followed, I've been able to witness the genre twist and turn into all sorts of directions while still retaining some of its utter majesty and, well, coolness. As technology advances forward (with the likes of The Big G and King Kong themselves being entirely digitally rendered now), a motion picture like 2019's Howl from Beyond the Fog is a welcome throwback to a time when these features were doing what they could with what they had in terms of financial backing (if any at all). In this case, Howl is a beautifully done low budget short film featuring a cast comprised of nothing but puppets.

No, you certainly didn't read that wrong. Remember what I said yesterday?

The story is set during Japan's Meiji era, which ran for close to sixty years back in the 1860s. A young man named Eiji returns to Kyushu to meet his mother but when he arrives, he is startled to meet a blind woman named Takiri living with her, who instructs him to never speak of their encounter because according to her she's "supposed to be dead." One evening he spots Takiri near a lake. She hums softly and summons a giant creature from the water. Initially frightened, Eiji flees, but soon discovers through Takiri that this monster (named "Nebula") is quite misunderstood. Around this same time, developers are attempting to convince Eiji's mother to sell her land to facilitate the construction of a dam. Without going too much into spoilers, things...don't go well.

What makes Howl feel like a such a special little piece isn't just its aforementioned filmmaking choice, but how much they're able to accomplish by nearly make you forget that you're staring at primarily stone-faced marionettes and dolls. It also has remarkably good atmosphere in utilizing fog and water effects without it looking very jarring or the contrast being too noticeable. The score is also artistically orchestrated but not overpowering. I suppose that if I were to have any complaints (other than wishing this was a full-length feature and not a short film) it would be that the voice acting is a bit on the hit-or-miss side. Eiji and Takiri's performers are very good, but the film's primary antagonists sound very static or unenthusiastic rather than menacing or cruel. Those are very minor complaints though, as the positives far outweigh the negatives here.

I'm likely preaching to the choir here, but Howl from Beyond the Fog is an essential watch for those who are searching for something that is a love letter to the kaiju genre that doesn't seem like pandering. It's a beautiful passion project made by and for fans who yearn for something a little different but not distinctly alien. Currently, it's streaming on both Amazon Prime and Tubi. The actual movie itself runs for about thirty minutes, and the second half of its "runtime" is a behind-the-scenes look at its inception and creation. Pretty sweet.

Oh, I didn't mention that Nebula is cool, did I? Because Nebula totally is.

Tomorrow, we're ditching class and elegance and going back to Italy for some BRAAAAIIIIINNSSS.

Unseen Terror 2019: Day 1

*sigh*

Here we are. Again.

I feel as though I owe the folks who exclusively visit this site to read my thoughts and/or reviews (rather than on my letterboxd page) an explanation of sorts for why last year's marathon was never finished.....well, on here at least. Again, LETTERBOXD IS YOUR FRIEND AND YOU ARE A FOOL IF YOU DON'T USE IT (cheap plug time: find me on there as Woodshatter1985). During a pair of rather lengthy reviews that I had been working on for over two hours, Blogspot decided to just randomly delete all of my hard work. To say that I was not particularly happy would be the understatement of the decade. Seeing as how I only do this for shits and giggles and not for any extra income (though that sure would be nice), my frustration died down, and I put this silly thing to bed.

Alas, we are back to square one for now. Though I'd strongly prefer to just stick with the other website, I'll suck it up and continue here for the next thirty-one days. Plus, you can't embed videos on letterboxd, and that's a bummer.

Fun fact about Takashi Miike's Audition: I have been in possession of my physical copy for close to fifteen years. I've recommended it to any and every person who is remotely interested in the "J-Horror" genre, and often describe it as one of the most influential horror movies of the 1990s. But as I was finalizing my list for this year's marathon (cutting it down from 90+ to thirty-one flicks was HARD), I came to realize that I had never sat down and watched the film in its entirety. I remember specific parts and all of the praise that it received on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments" countdown (funnily enough, its segment on Audition is included as a bonus feature here), but even then it never dawned on me until now that this picture was just sitting there collecting dust and waiting to be played from beginning to end.


Anyway, the plot to Audition is fairly simple: Aoyama is a widower whose son suggests that his father needs to start dating again, as it seems that the man's disconnect from humanity seems to be slowly fading away. Aoyama's closest friend Yoshikawa, who happens to be a movie producer, devises that they create a fake casting call to meet women who will audition for the part of his "wife." After a seemingly endless amount of women show up and just fail to capture their interest, Aoyama finds himself fixated on a very meek, yet alluring young lady called Asami. Surprisingly, they respond to each other rather well, and even begin to date. Over time though, her dark past begins to surface and "complicate" things between the two. That is where your synopsis ends, because anything beyond that would ruin the many surprises and more memorable aspects of the picture itself.


I'm actually happy that it took me so long to watch Audition from beginning to end, because oh boy is there a lot of dissect here. For starters, the characters and their decisions made throughout will severely affect how you view the product as a whole. I can see an equal amount of arguments on both sides about whether this movie is a pro-feminist piece or misogynistic torture. The character of Aoyama (played by Ryo Ishibashi of The Grudge & Suicide Club fame) doesn't come across as a scumbag per se, but making the conscious decision to go along with the initial sketchy concept of a fake audition just so he can meet girls doesn't exactly make him feel relatable. Still, when you see him and Asami begin to interact with one another, you do believe that he genuinely likes this woman and isn't looking to just get in her pants. On the flip side, Asami herself (portrayed by the wonderful Eihi Shiina of Helldriver and Tokyo Gore Police, which are also worth checking out) is written to be sympathetic at first, though obviously disturbed in ways that could make some male viewers want to see her just leave the picture entirely or "get what she deserves" during its final act. But this isn't Annie Wilkes we're talking about here, because the more that you discover about this very quiet girl, the more you can understand why she is the way that she is. This conflicting nature can be seen in later-day motion pictures such as Hard Candy, though that was a little more on the nose about who to root for considering it was about pedophilia. Personally I found it to just be about trusting outside advice rather than intuition before it bites you in the ass. The similarities to previous Unseen Terror entries like The Vanishing are uncanny, and it's just as much of a slow burn as that movie was. Then again, maybe I just need to watch this one again so I can truly make up my mind.


Movies like Audition aren't necessarily meant to be enjoyed by general horror audiences (there's only one "jump" scare found in its two hour running time), but few will get under your skin or leave you feeling completely uncomfortable like this one will. It's all about patience, and the payoff is unsettling enough (and seems eerily grounded in realism) to stick in your mind for quite some time. If you haven't gotten a chance to watch this yet, I'd highly, though cautiously recommend that you get a chance to do so. It's currently streaming on Shudder, and if you're like me and want to continue supporting physical media, the Uncut DVD from Lions Gate is still available, as is a recently-released Blu-Ray from the reputable heavyweights at Arrow Video.


Tomorrow, Toho makes their yearly appearance on the list, though kaiju eiga isn't the name of the game this time around!

Unseen Terror 2017: Day 7

A young schoolgirl named Gorgeous is ecstatic when her father returns home from his film composing job, as the two had previously made plans for an extravagant summer vacation. Upon his arrival, he introduces his daughter to a woman, who is to become Gorgeous' new stepmom. Upset about the unannounced inclusion of a new person into their family, especially after her biological mother had passed away several years ago, Gorgeous writes a letter to her aunt and asks if she can come to visit for the summer instead. Surprisingly, she receives a positive response back, and rounds up a group of her friends to travel alongside with her. Upon their arrival, they are warmly greeted by Gorgeous' elderly family member, and set out to enjoy their time off. Well, until the students start encountering strange spirits, disappearing, and dying in an unusual manner.

Watching Japan's Hausu (naturally translated as House), a 1977 effort distributed by the oh-so-notable Toho Co. this soon after viewing Brian Yuzna's Society may have been a terrible idea. While the former is nowhere near as disgusting as the American picture released eleven years later, it is just as bizarre, lavish, colorful, and flat-out weird as anything out there. I actually bumped this up from a later number in the movie listings for this year's Unseen Terror solely because they were showing it in a theater not very far from my apartment. Passing up the chance to see what some call the undisputed king of trippy, fucked up Japanese cinema on a large screen would have bothered me for quite some time. But my goodness, I just wasn't prepared for such an experience.


Hausu's strengths lie in its (un)natural ability to show you things that even the darkest and most demented part of your psyche didn't think could actually be filmed. There are several key moments which feel as if you have landed inside the mind of a filmmaker who has made the conscious decision to say "to hell with anything making sense." This decision doesn't necessarily mean that it turns in bad results however. Some creators make that work wonders and it increases the overall memorability and fun factor (pictures such as The Machine Girl or Tetsuo: The Iron Man come to mind). While Hausu doesn't sport nearly the same budget or body modification-based ideas that those have in spades, it is very vibrant and for all we know, the script could have been dipped into a large vat of LSD before filming began. The images and sequences found throughout its eighty-eight minute running time are enough to fill out an entire television series, which makes it all the more impressive that they were able to fit all of them into one motion picture.


Cast-wise, I couldn't honestly tell you much about any actress' background or even much of their character traits. Well, besides Mac, Kung Fu, and Gorgeous, who are renowned for being an excessive eater (like "Big Mac." GET IT?), skilled in martial arts, and for being rather pretty. It doesn't serve that much importance in the end as we all get the feeling that they are just laboratory rats that have wandered into a maze with traps at every single end. The creativity in which people are offed or disappear in Hausu show an early sign of things to come from future entries in the "horror comedy" genre. I don't want to go into spoilers, but when you have a schoolgirl named "Melody" being devoured by a piano during your second act, then you know that you have stepped into a rather twisted, but hilarious world. And no, I did not forget to mention that this movie is quite amusing. Many bits feel like they were lifted from a Looney Tunes cartoon or Three Stooges shorts. If you can not stand humor that seems to gorge upon the absurd and over-the-top, then this flick may not be for you.


Hausu feels less like a movie than it does an experiment. Yes, it succeeds in what it sets out to do, but my goodness. I just can't quite comprehend what I sat through, and it may take quite some time for me to fully digest the entire shebang. In fact, that statement may actually be the strongest compliment that I can give this flick. The plot is simplistic in nature (the whole "friends travel to a haunted house" formula), but insanely wacky in its execution. The imagination and nearly-euphoric feelings that director Nobuhiko Obayashi and his crew manage to conjure are nothing short of mesmerizing, yet dizzyingly peculiar. If you are curious about laying your eyes upon something that you don't see every day, Hausu is available to purchase on DVD and Blu-ray from Criterion (yes, really!), and can be viewed on the streaming service known as Filmstruck.



I'm uncertain about whether either source would be willing to provide you with psychedelics to accompany you during your session though.




Tomorrow, the late, great Wes Craven makes his first appearance for this year's iteration of Unseen Terror, and the results of one particular release could generate some real electricity!

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' (2015) Movie Review

Many years ago, the evil space overlord Freeza paid a visit to the planet Earth in the hopes that he would find and destroy the one who defeated him previously: the "Super Saiyan" known as Son Goku. Instead, he would meet his demise at the hands of a young man known as Trunks, a half-saiyan who had come to the past to warn us of a larger, greater threat. Much time has passed, and while the tyrant suffers in the bowels of hell, a small pocket of his remaining forces and servants have gathered the dragon balls with the hope of reviving their master. Once his restoration is complete, the universe's greatest evil plots for revenge, but only after he can achieve a new level of strength in which to combat his enemies.



It just dawned on me: it's been twenty years. Mind you, not since we last dove into the fantastical and bizarre world of Dragon Ball, but it's been two decades since my first exposure to the initial thirteen episode run (originally distributed here by Canada's Ocean Productions) of said Japanese franchise. It had all the wonders of similar properties that I was fond of at the time, such as Power Rangers and X-Men, but there was something magical and uniquely amusing about creator Akira Toriyama's take on the old Chinese novel "Journey To The West." Without a care in the world, I've never looked back in anger or shame and have been proud to call myself a fan since that time in my life. My goodness, I've even contemplated getting tattoos to commemorate my fanaticism, which is an idea that outside of Godzilla, I haven't even reserved for other geeky niches of mine.


And yet, never in my wildest dreams did I think that there would be several new pieces of animation created throughout the first several years of the 21st century revolving around Son Goku and his friends. In 2008, the short film Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return was released as a tribute to the weekly anthology "Shonen Jump," which is where the series got its initial start. It was fun and sweet, though somewhat forgettable. Five years later, we received a full-length motion picture titled Dragon Ball Z: Battle Of Gods, a charming piece of nostalgia that also served as the first piece of continuity in the realm of cinema for the series (previous entries were, to put it lightly, incredibly difficult to fit into the series' timeline and of varying quality). So what better way to follow up Dragon Ball's glorious return than with another trip down memory lane, albeit with a very familiar, sinister face?


In terms of familiar faces, most of the cast from Battle Of Gods returns, including its previous antagonists Beerus and Whis, and some newer faces such as Freeza henchman Sorbet, a blue, diminutive homage to old accomplices such as Piano (from Dragon Ball). Sadly, a small portion of the "post-Freeza" heroes are conspicuously absent from Resurrection 'F'. The lack of Trunks, Goten, and Mr. Satan might be disappointing to some, but it imbues the movie with a more distinctive feel, giving us the indication that this is a natural followup to the saga that seemed to take an eternity to wrap up when it first aired. For longtime fans such as myself, I don't see why any single person would complain about seeing Tenshinhan or Master Roshi get a little bit of time to shine and fight, especially considering how any person who was a pure-blooded human being got the shaft after the aforementioned arc had come to a conclusion (just as any woman who had served her purpose in the series became a mother and stopped participating in anything dangerous). There's also the introduction of a recent and rather funny creation of series mastermind Akira Toriyama in the form of Jaco The Galactic Patrolman, who assists in providing a great chunk of the lighthearted humor that permeates throughout its ninety three minute running time. Still, if you aren't familiar with the character's prior existence (if I'm not mistaken, this is his first animated appearance in anything outside of video games), his inclusion may seem puzzling or shoehorned in for anyone who isn't a diehard fan.


To the chagrin of some of my own friends, I've always been fairly outspoken about my dislike for the dubbed versions of Dragon Ball, as it just wasn't what I grew up with or what I was accustomed to (even the Ocean Dub seemed a little off to me after I discovered the Japanese version on the obscure Maryland television station known as The International Channel). No one should hold grudges over something so petty though, as I've grown to just accept them for what they are, and the Japanese audio is just as readily available these days for older folks like me anyway. In retrospect, it's actually a good thing that importing fansubbed VHS tapes is a thing of the past now, especially in this economy that we live in. Chris Ayres is just as good at voicing Freeza as original performer Ryusei Nakao was. He gets the character, and he understands his nuances and personality while still managing to not go too overboard unless the end is nigh or he's been angered to the brink of insanity. Kyle Hebert is a fine Son Gohan too, as are Master Roshi and (personal favorite) Pilaf's voice actors. I'm still not sold on the choices they made for Son Goku, Vegeta, or Piccolo (for western actors, Scott McNeil is my favorite for the latter), but again, power to the people that like them and also grew up with those the same way that I grew up with mine. My years of being a complete snob about Funimation's cast are dying a slow death.


Combat-wise, nothing in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' has the same impact as some of the more memorable moments of the various series (Son Goku's first battles with Piccolo and Vegeta, the first Super Saiyan transformation for Son Goku, Vegetto v. Majin Buu), but there are a small handful of scenes that will stick with you for at least the following few days after you've left the theater. They are animated exceptionally well and thought out as if it were a real motion picture, with every combatant present in the film getting a time to shine and most of the blows being dealt fast, but not too fast. A common complaint about the franchise is also tossed aside as not every sequence is overloaded with energy blasts to the point where you can't see what is happening. Hell, when characters such as Jaco and even the Turtle Hermit leave you beaming with excitement and wanting to thrust your fist up in happiness, you know that you've done something right. Fans of the entire Dragon Ball canon (not just DBZ) will likely be able to appreciate the structure and layout of these fights more than the casual Dragon "Bro" fan.


It isn't likely to convert any new fans, but Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' is an unabashed love letter to the older and/or more established fans anyway. I mean, my Kami, we even had an on-screen introduction from the folks at Funimation, complete with behind the scenes footage and trivia with the voice actors, that played before the flick began. If that isn't genuine love for its audience, then what is? During the same week where our animated heroes will be combatting the forces of Tom Cruise and a superhero franchise going through yet another reboot, it seemingly may not stand much of a chance. Mind you, that is solely at first glance. Perhaps the main reason as to why I would recommend that you see this on a larger screen is not just because it's a good deal of fun for any fan of any age, but because there's a good possibility of this film's success ensuring that we get more of these released theatrically in the future. Though it only grossed $9.3 million in the United States, we fans are still trying to get the taste of that OTHER Dragon Ball movie out of out mouths, and I'm sure that we can show the naysayers over here that it can be done well when it's done with honest adoration and effort.



Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go download this little gem of a song and play it over and over until my ears bleed and I need Shenron to repair my hearing.