Director Yasuharu Hasebe died from pneumonia on June 14th.
He worked at Nikkatsu where he directed Black Tight Killers, Bloody Territories, Stray Cat Rock films, Assault! Jack the Ripper… which are among his most famous works in the West.
RIP.
Via KineJapan
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Damn. He was always an interesting director, even if a bit over-rated.
S..t ! F..k ! D..n !
I’m so sad !
One of the most interesting japanese filmmakers. I intend to publish today a kind of “obituary”.
RIP !
Over-rated? I guess most people reading this post don’t even know who he was.
BTW, just for fun, Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter’s french title is “The Wild Pussies Boulevard“.
An interesting director in the Nikkatsu stable, he had an important role in the shift from ‘traditional’ action hero-movies to more violent flicks in end of the 60s (Savage Wolf Pack, Bloody Territories,and then Stray Cat , Blood for blood)
Though, he’d be best remembered by exploitation fans for his infamous ‘rape’ movie serie for Nikkatsu the roman-porno line between 76-79.
@ Michael
Sorry, I meant this movies are a bit over-rated. The man himself was very important, being one of the front line men during Nikkatsu’s action And pink periods (as Martin explained already). However, his pink films are not really the best out there, although they were highly succesful in terms of box office. But quality wise Jack the Ripper never quite lives up to its potential, and some stuff like Sengoku Rock is really bad.
13th Hour is probably my favourite of his pink films, featuring loads of symbolic content to analyze and have fun with… even though the director denies such intentions.
And french readers will be pleased to learn, Hasebe’s YARU! (it’s one of his ‘rape’ films) just got french subbed !
There are French subs for four of his rape films:
- Bôkô Kirisaki Jakku (Assault! Jack the Ripper!) [1976]
- Okasu! (Rape!) [1976]
- Reipu 25-ji: Bôkan (Rape! 13th Hour)[1977]
- Yaru! (Raping!) [1978]
Still unsubbed : Osou! (Attack!)
(A bit disappointed by this one. Don’t know if I’ll be making subs for it.)
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RIP HASEBE
As a reminder, Osou (Harcelée) & Reipu 25-ji: Bôka (Le violeur à la rose) will be released by Wildside
Did not know that. Good news!
http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/03/23/wild-side-nikkatsu-films-in-september-09/