The joke used to be that by the time a trailer for a new Takashi Miike film came out, he had already finished his next three movies. The Japanese filmmaker known for taking violence and sexual depravity to the extreme with films such as Audition, Ichi the Killer, and Dead or Alive, has finally begun to slow down a bit and has just one movie coming in 2023. That would be Lumberjack the Monster, and based on this trailer it’s right in the Miike wheelhouse.
The story involves a remorseless lawyer who is attacked by a masked assailant, and engages in a violent game of cat and mouse to get revenge before the cops can get in the way.
Yep, classic Miike.
Starring Japanese singer, model, and actor Kazuya Kamenashi, along with Nanao, Riho Yoshioka, Shota Sometani, and Shido Nakamura, the film is an adaptation of Mayusuke Kurai‘s novel Kaibutsu no Kikori.
Lumberjack the Monster doesn’t have a U.S. date yet but we’ll stay on the look out!
Akira Ninomiya (Kamenashi) is a remorseless lawyer who doesn’t hesitate to eliminate anyone who stands in his way. One night he is brutally attacked by an unknown assailant wearing a “monster mask.” Although he miraculously survives the assault, Ninomiya becomes fixated on finding the attacker and getting revenge. Meanwhile, a series of gruesome murder occur where the victims are found with their brains removed from their bodies. While police conduct an intensive investigation, Ninomiya seeks revenge against the assaulter. Who will uncover the truth first?!