DEAD BALL

DEAD BALL

Events commence with a flashback to Jubeh’s childhood, in which his promise as a rising baseball star is cut short when he discovers a unique power that enables him to throw a ball with such force that it literally caves his father’s face in.

As he lies dying, the father begs Jubeh to take care of his younger brother Musashi. Unfortunately Musashi has witnessed the entire episode and is none too pleased.

Fast-forward several years later, and a news report tells us of how dangerous juvenile serial killer Jubeh (Tak Sakaguchi) has been caught, thus ending his killing spree. He’s been sent, we’re told, to the maximum security Tochigi prison. The newscaster also informs us that, to many of his followers, Jubeh is a hero: he only kills the lawless (yakuza bosses etc).

And so, surly Jubeh enters the prison with his trademark ciggie hanging from his cool teenaged lips. His first encounter is with the establishment’s no-nonsense warden – a hard-ass whose personalised number plate boasts "Jagged Edge" – who offers him freedom before death, but only if Jubeh agrees to join the prison baseball team.

Of course, Jubeh has upheld a vow never to play ball again, ever since his father’s death. So he’s incredibly reluctant to, er, play ball here. Which may be why, five minutes later, he’s suffering the indignity of being anally fisted by prison guards under the pretence of a ‘strip search’. Ouch.

After that he’s sent to Pterodactyl Hall, a wing of the prison that’s run by Nazi-loving bitch Ishihara (check out her badly applied black lipstick), and meets a friend in the form of 16-year-old androgynous cellmate Suzuki (Mari Hoshino).

From there, Jubeh is slowly but surely cajoled into baseball practices as Ishihara’s wing prepare to take on all-girl school, St Black Dahlia. All the while, Jubeh keeps an eye on what’s going on around him, observing how the screws are more brutal than his fellow inmates.

And, of course, there’s the small matter of him discovering that his lost brother Musashi also attended the prison …

Throw in a pop act by the name of Shiny Squeaky Poo-Poo, robotic zombies and some insane gore gags that seemingly pay homage to the likes of BASKET CASE, and you have a pretty wild ride in front of you here.

It’s sort of like a cross between THE STORY OF RICKY, BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL (obviously, given that the director is Yudai Yamaguchi again – although he insists this is NOT a sequel) and PORRIDGE THE MOVIE. Yes, you read that right.

Gags are often broad but occasionally subtle, allowing for pathos to creep in now and then without the overall tempo or tone of the film seeming too schizophrenic. DEADBALL is best described as a comedy drama. With lots of bad taste set-pieces and some frankly head-spinning sequences of gore.

Performances are knowingly broad, allowing lines of dialogue such as "Your ringworm infested genitals stink so bad, you’ll die!" to merge into the preposterously staged action with little shame.

Gore is rife but often assisted by truly woeful CGI. Whenever it relies on old-fashioned foam latex and corn syrup, the FX are pretty primitive – we’re back to STORY OF RICKY again. But that’s not a complaint.

Overall, I thought DEADBALL was a really fun way to spend 98 minutes. It’s fast-paced, daft and righteously gory. But it has an emotional core, helping the viewer to care for its outlandish characters. And the eclectic score – 80s electro, punk, Western pop etc – is tremendous.

Eureka’s subsidiary label Bounty Films continue their sterling work, releasing quality DVDs of Asian genre fare. Here, DEADBALL is treated to a most excellent uncut 2-disc release.

Disc 1 houses the film, uncensored, in its original aspect ratio. The picture is 16x9 enhanced and pleasingly brighter, bolder than your average Japanese picture. Some of the gore scenes are incredibly vivid, while compression issues are kept in check and colours vie with brightness in an effort to impress the viewer.

Similarly, the Japanese 5.1 and 5.1 DTS mixes are excellent propositions. Both make full use of their channels with an even balance of sound design, although it is admittedly impossible to discern which is the better of the two. Optional English subtitles are easy to read, despite the occasionally clumsy spelling.

The only ‘extra’ feature on disc 1 is an isolated music track, which you can select to play over the film via the "Set Up" menu page.

The disc opens with a static main menu page. From there, a static scene-selection menu allows access to the film via 12 chapters.

Over on disc 2, we get a plethora of interesting and break-neck bonus materials.

First up is an enjoyable 12-minute Making Of featurette. This is a brisk, tightly edited and amiable EPK-style affair. Though it reeks of ‘promo’, it does at least illustrate how jovial the shoot must have been.

FINAL DEADBALL is a great, stylish 20-minute short film exploring the travails of an ex-con who can’t escape premonitions of his downfall by the sport. Gory, funny, expertly shot – it’s like a lost reel from the completed film.

"Toki’s Wedding Part 2" is a faux documentary concerning director Yamaguchi’s visit to his estranged sister in preparation of her wedding. It comes complete with a disclaimer warning of inferior video quality, and works on humour which is a little more low-key than that in the main feature. It’s a pretty good watch.

"Battlefield Baseball High School" is a 4-minute fake advert for Toriyu High School, and plays like a Troma extra – from its appalling humour through to its equally bad video quality presentation.

"Opening Day Stage Greeting" is an entertaining 6-minute look at a cast and crew Q&A session. In this swiftly paced piece we learn of the cast’s graciousness, and how they felt like they were having "air sex" with the director during the shoot of his "grubby" film …

7 minutes of cast interviews continue to race by at 100mph, prompted by onscreen text questions.

9 minutes of footage detailing the reunion of cast members from BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL is sure to delight fans.

Finally we get the film’s original 1-minute trailer. It’s a high octane offering, coming on like an episode of Power Rangers with insane levels of gore.

The trailer is windowboxed. All other extras are 16x9. All come with Japanese audio and English subtitles.

DEADBALL is wacky, perhaps too much for some, but wickedly inventive and impossible not to approach with a wry smile. Bounty Films have done it a huge service with this cracking 2-disc DVD set. Hopefully people will take the plunge, as it is – ultimately – fun.

And we all like fun. Don’t we?

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Bounty Films
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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