Yakuza Apocalypse

“Yakuza Apo­ca­lypse” is a 2015 Japanese action film dir­ected by Takashi Miike. The film com­bines ele­ments of the gang­ster film, the horror film and the comedy into an absurd and exag­ger­ated mix.

The plot revolves around the yakuza boss Kamiura, who is adored by his sub­or­din­ates. But it turns out that Kamiura is a vam­pire and passes on his skills to his loyal sidekick Kageyama before he is murdered by a rival gang. Now Kageyama must not only take con­trol of the yakuza clan, but also come to terms with his new­found vam­pire nature. In the pro­cess, he becomes embroiled in an absurd battle against a host of quirky char­ac­ters.

The film is not­able for its zany ideas. Here are a few examples: First of all, there is a vam­pire yakuza boss who feeds on human blood. This idea alone is extraordinary enough. But then it is taken to an even greater extreme when the main char­acter, Kageyama, receives vam­piric powers and sud­denly has to deal with his new abil­ities.

In addi­tion, we meet other bizarre char­ac­ters such as a man in a frog cos­tume who turns out to be a dan­gerous fighter, or a vam­pire who looks like a little girl and uses a deadly skip­ping rope. The plot of the film takes a number of unex­pected turns that con­stantly sur­prise and con­fuse the viewer.

“Yakuza Apo­ca­lypse” is a film that not only breaks genre con­ven­tions, but also com­pletely rein­vents them. The com­bin­a­tion of gang­ster film, horror and absurd comedy may not be to every­one’s taste, but for those who get involved in the quirky adven­ture, the film offers an enter­taining and unique exper­i­ence. The visuals are impressive, the action sequences are dynamic and the quirky char­ac­ters provide laughs and wonder in equal measure.