While laughing at trailers for weird movies that we’d come across (my film of choice was Princess Raccoon), a friend showed me the peculiar preview for Dead Sushi. The movie looked hilarious and in the vein of Attack to the Killer Tomatoes/Evil Dead/ Piranha 3D. Coincidentally, the Downtown Independent in Los Angeles was screening this gem (1/18-1/24), so I made sure to attend! Of course, I donned my “Is that sushi in your pocket or are you just happy sashimi” t-shirt, and we went out for sushi in Little Tokyo right before the film. We had the entire theater to ourselves for the 11pm screening, and we had an absolute blast!
Dead Sushi follows a young woman, Keiko (Rina Takeda), who is the daughter of a highly skilled sushi chef. His training in sushi making and martial arts eventually become too much for her, so she runs away from home. Keiko finds a job at a rural inn where she is constantly bullied and she cannot seem to make things go her way. The president of Komatsu Pharmaceuticals and his associates arrive at the inn and Keiko’s torment only continues. Unbeknownst to everyone at the inn, a former research scientist from Komatsu Pharmaceuticals has followed the group, and he is determined to get his revenge for being wrongly accused and subsequently fired. The wronged associate has developed a serum that re-animates dead creatures, but it also causes them to be murderously violent and he unleashes this serum in a sushi squid that infects all the sushi at the inn! Keiko teams up with the inn’s former sushi chef, Sawada (currently the gardener) in an attempt to fight off the killer sushi and save anyone who’s still alive. Will Keiko be able to use the skills her father taught her to prove she is a true sushi chef? Who will survive and not become a meal themselves to these blood thirsty flying morsels of rice and fish?!
If you could not already tell, this film is OVER-THE-TOP in more ways than one. It provides a hilarious ride as long as you go with the flow and preferably watch with like-minded company. There was a moment while watching the film where I thought it could not get any weirder, but then it continued to surprise me (hint: shrimp cannons).
A few of the visual effects are CGI (flying sushi) but the meat (hehe) of them are practical (which I prefer), and the effects in Dead Sushi are done rather well. Be sure to watch through the credits to see an entertaining look at how some of the sushi were animated. A few characters have the unfortunate fate of their faces being attacked, and the practical effects here are gag worthy gross and may even make you sick to your stomach. There is also a simple exchange between two characters that involves an egg yolk that surprisingly made us squirm more than any of the blood did.
Blood is plentiful in the film, and the sushi attacks are creative and entertaining. The martial arts are fun and impressive to watch, and can be rather humorous at times (one sequence involves a naked man). Of course, what kind of horror film would it be without a little sexiness? There is a titillating dance performed by some of the inn workers clad in lingerie and a scene with a naked girl in the spa. The film has everything a horror/comedy movie fan could want, and Dead Sushi is ludicrously funny as long as you can laugh at its campiness. Do not take the film seriously and just enjoy all the flavors it has to offer.
Watch the trailer for the film below, and if you end up watching it, let us know what you think! You can check out the Downtown Independent’s schedule here, and if you can’t make it, Dead Sushi also released on DVD yesterday (January 22nd). Check it out!
