Drama
Rod Lott
Vanguard director Takashi Miike is not one to repeat himself, and in Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, he hasn't — not really. Yes, the film is the Japanese filmmaker's follow-up to 2010's 13 Assassins; yes, both are remakes and focused on samurais. But they approach the genre from such varying ways that other than excellence, the similarities end there.

Horror
Rod Lott
Grudge guru Takashi Shimizu isn’t at a career apex. His 2009 film, The Shock Labyrinth, was a dud. His latest American effort, the airline ghost story 7500, was supposed to come out in theaters last summer, but got pushed to next month. So I hoped Tormented, a 2011 J-horror effort fresh to Blu-ray on these shores, might mark a return to form.