Massacre Gun (Review)

Massacre Gun

aka みな殺しの拳銃 aka Minagoroshi no Kenjû aka Slaughter Gun aka Ruthless Gangster
Massacre Gun
1967
Written by Yasuharu Hasebe (as Takashi Fujii) and Ryûzô Nakanishi
Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe

Massacre Gun
A long time ago (2017!) I saw Massacre Gun at the Roxie, but despite it being some good stuff, I was far too busy to get a proper writeup completed. This is TarsTarkas.NET, after all, where the reviews are all made up and the deadlines don’t matter, so we thought we’d just watch it again and give a nice, nuanced review from multiple viewings. So thus bursts the review of Massacre Gun!

At this point the Nikkatsu borderless action films are becoming very well represented on TarsTarkas.NET, thanks in part to a large swatch of them getting wonderful restored and subtitled releases in the West, thus making watches easy. These films have a tone that make them very good watches even though too many at once can lead to bleak feelings due to the tone. Despite that, the films are largely high quality stories crafted with care, and have a clear evolution over time before the entire genre was just dropped in favor of the Roman Pornos. From the early youth/troubled youth films to the increasingly violent and dreary action pieces, the entire genre (and their inspirations and imitators) just create so many things to talk about. There is even the side journey with our slow but study dive through Seijun Suzuki’s filmography. The director here is Yasuharu Hasebe (the amazeballs Black Tight Killers!) and he might be one of the few Nikkatsu directors to give Suzuki a run for his money in regards to interesting shots and techniques (while still showing it straight enough to not anger the bosses enough to get fired!)
Massacre Gun
By now this is 1967, the genre is in full swing, Jo Shishido is owning the screen, and Yasuharu Hasebe is about to drop yet another required viewing film onto an eager audience with Massacre Gun! Three brothers get pushed too far by their Yakuza employers and decided to strike out on their own and strike back against the disrespect, but we all know things aren’t going to end happily for most of them. Ken Sanders crooning gives this film an amazing vibe (backed up by the ever-present boarderless action jazz, which seems to be extra juiced in this film. There are album collections of tracks from these films which are great to study or write movie articles too, trust me!) We also get a lot of gangsters feeling sorry for themselves sitting around smoking while he croons. If that doesn’t hammer the tragic life of the yakuza gangster into your brain then maybe Teletubbies is more your speed, leave the Nikkatsu flicks to us, thanks.
Massacre Gun
Continue reading

Boy in the Attic creeps into Lifetime’s rafters!

Boy in the Attic Lifetime

No, he’s just…cleaning their vents. Yeah, that’s it!


[adrotate banner=”7″]Lifetime breaks out the creepy with Boy in the Attic (formally known as Secrets in the Attic), the story about a boy who secretly lives in a family’s attic, and of course the daughter falls in love with him because drama. Unlike other movies about a weirdo secretly living inside a house, this one might not be a serial killer. Maybe. He’s framed, or so he says! But is he???

The script is by Christine Conradt (from a story by Ken Sanders), which is great because she is the Queen of Lifetime Original Movies, so you know it is going to be full of ridiculous Lifetime tropes and twists!

A teen girl and her mom inherit an old house… but little do they know that a mysterious person is hiding in the attic — a teen boy who has been living there for months. When the girl finally meets the boy, she falls in love with him and agrees to keep his hiding place a secret from everyone, including her mother. But when she finds out that he has been falsely accused of murder, she must decide if she will risk everything to protect him.

Boy in the Attic is directed by Paul Shapiro (Spring Break Shark Attack) and stars Abbie Cobb (The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Story), Gina Holden (I Didn’t Kill My Sister), Iain Belcher (Preggoland), and Max Lloyd-Jones (The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Story). Yes, that’s right, two actors from The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Story reunite and now we can warp reality and make this film into 90210 fanfic! Huzzah!

Boy in the Attic premieres Saturday, August 20th on Lifetime!

via Lifetime!