Update on Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater hexalogy: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's HOUSE OF BUGS, Tadafumi Itô's D

Thanks to ScreenAnarchy's own logboy for bringing to my attention the fact that Shochiku Co. Ltd. (Shôchiku K.K.) is releasing the Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater (Umezu Kazuo: kyôfu gekijô) hexalogy on DVD in Japan between now and the end of the year. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's House of Bugs (Mushi-tachi no ie) and Tadafumi Itô's Diet (Zesshoku) are scheduled to be released together on October 29th (DA-0756; NTSC, region 2, no subtitles), Noboru Iguchi's Snake Girl (Madara no shôjo) and Atsushi Shimizu's The Wish (Negai) are scheduled to be released together on November 26th (DA-0759; NTSC, region 2, no subtitles), and Yûdai Yamaguchi's Present (Purezento) and Taiichi's Death Make are scheduled to be released together on December 22nd (DA-0762; NTSC, region 2, no subtitles).

As was previously reported in ScreenAnarchy's third, second, and first articles on the Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater hexalogy, the movies in it were based on manga by Kazuo Umezu. (Shûsuke Kaneko's horror movie God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand (Kami no hidarite akuma no migite) - which finished shooting earlier this month - similarly is based on a manga series by Umezu. Umezu apparently is also in that movie, as well as Sakichi Satô's Tokyo Zombie (Tôkyô zonbi)). Below is some additional information on each of the six movies (the synopses are from this page for the hexalogy on one of Shochiku's websites); there are links to downloadable trailers for each of them - as well as one for the entire hexalogy - at the bottom of this article.

House of Bugs (Mushi-tachi no ie): directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa; screenplay by Sadayuki Murai; starring Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tamaki Ogawa, Asahi Uchida, and Hisako Shirata. Synopsis: "Koji confesses to his lover that his wife, who has been cheating on him, is not a human being anymore. He asks her to visit his home to check if he is seeing an illusion or not. Is the bug in your head, or is it in my head? What is real and what is not? Who is the one who has lost their mind?"

Diet (Zesshoku): directed by Tadafumi Itô; screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi; starring Miku Ueno, Shôko Nakagawa, and Kanji Tsuda. Synopsis: "A fat girl goes on an excessive diet to impress a guy who has dumped her. She succeeds with the diet, but just as she's able to appear in front of the guy once again, her appetite that she has suppressed for so long springs to life...."

Snake Girl (Madara no shôjo): directed by Noboru Iguchi; screenplay by Chiaki Konaka; starring Riko Narumi, Arisa Nakamura, Minako Tanaka, Kyûsaku Shimada, and Shôko Nakahara. Synopsis: "Yumiko has been invited to spend the summer vacation with her cousin at a rural village. For some reason, she is not welcomed by the village people, who keep on calling her 'Snake Girl'...."

The Wish (Negai): directed by Atsushi Shimizu; screenplay by Sadayuki Murai; starring Orito Kasahara, Kyôko Tôyama (Tooyama Kyooko), Toshinori Omi, and Natsumi Okumura. Synopsis: "A lonely elementary school boy finds a block of wood at a garbage dump that seems to be in the shape of a human head, and makes a puppet. He names it 'Mokume', and starts playing with it and becoming friends. Things do not turn out to be so innocent when the puppet starts to become haunting...."

Present (Purezento): directed by Yûdai Yamaguchi; screenplay by Tamio Hayashi; starring Mai Takahashi, Takamasa Suga, Yôko Mitsuya, and Hitomi Kurihara. Synopsis: "College students are enjoying themselves at a Christmas party. However, things turn extremely bloody and gruesome once Santa Claus comes to town to punish those who are naughty. They better watch out, and they better not cry!"

Death Make: directed by Taiichi; screenplay by Chiaki Konaka; starring Alice, Hitomi Miwa, Anna Nakagawa, and Tomorowo Taguchi. Synopsis: "A teenager, Kuroe, and a TV director, Satomi, visit an abandoned warehouse to shoot a horror TV program. They find a mysterious mask at the warehouse. Suddenly...."

House of Bugs trailer (downloadable 6.5 MB MOV file)

Diet trailer (downloadable 6.8 MB MOV file)
Snake Girl trailer (downloadable 5.6 MB MOV file)
The Wish trailer (downloadable 5.2 MB MOV file)
Present trailer (downloadable 5.6 MB MOV file)

Death Make trailer (downloadable 5.5 MB MOV file)
Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater hexalogy trailer (downloadable 8.7 MB MOV file)
Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater hexalogy trailer (downloadable 4.0 MB WMV file)
Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater official website