The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
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Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend
Animation · Action · Horror · 1989
Legend has it that the human race is not the only dominant civilization living on Earth. Two other races exist in this world: the Makai (a demon race) and the Jujinkai (a half-man, half-beast race). Once every 3,000 years, a supreme being known as the Choujin (Overfiend) will emerge and bring balance to all three realms on Earth. In present-day Japan, after 300 years of endless searching, a Jujinkai named Amano Jyaku has discovered the presence of the Choujin inside high school slacker Tatsuo Nagumo. But now, Amano, along with his sister Megumi and their sidekick Kuroko, must protect Nagumo and his new girlfriend Akemi Ito from the Makai, who believe that Nagumo is not the Choujin, but an evil entity bent on destroying all living beings on Earth.
Movie details
Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend
1989 Animation · Action · Horror 1h 45m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.0 / 10
Community rating
Legend has it that the human race is not the only dominant civilization living on Earth. Two other races exist in this world: the Makai (a demon race) and the Jujinkai (a half-man, half-beast race). Once every 3,000 years, a supreme being known as the Choujin (Overfiend) will emerge and bring balance to all three realms on Earth. In present-day Japan, after 300 years of endless searching, a Jujinkai named Amano Jyaku has discovered the presence of the Choujin inside high school slacker Tatsuo Nagumo. But now, Amano, along with his sister Megumi and their sidekick Kuroko, must protect Nagumo and his new girlfriend Akemi Ito from the Makai, who believe that Nagumo is not the Choujin, but an evil entity bent on destroying all living beings on Earth.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Samurai Reincarnation
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After surviving the slaughter of many Christians 350 years ago, a samurai denounces God for ignoring the pleas of believers. He sells his soul to Satan and receives the power to resurrect the dead to join him in a murderous rampage.
Alive
Action · 2003
Tenshu is imprisoned and sentenced to death for murdering the men who raped his girlfriend. However, he manages to survive his execution and is presented with an option: face another execution attempt or subject himself to their bizarre and dangerous experiments.
Versus
Horror · 2000
A group of ruthless gangsters, an unknown woman and an escaped convict have met, in The Forest of Resurrection, the 444th portal to the other side. Their troubles start when those once killed and buried in the forest come back from the dead.
Vampires
Action · 1998
The church enlists a team of vampire-hunters to hunt down and destroy a group of vampires searching for an ancient relic that will allow them to exist in sunlight.
Southbound
Fantasy · 2015
The film contains five stories set on desolate stretches of a desert highway. Two men on the run from their past, a band on its way to a gig, a man struggling to get home, a brother in search of his long-lost sister and a family on vacation are forced to confront their worst fears and darkest secrets in these interwoven tales.
The Company of Wolves
Horror · 1984
An adaptation of Angela Carter's fairy tales. Young Rosaleen dreams of a village in the dark woods, where Granny tells her cautionary tales in which innocent maidens are tempted by wolves who are hairy on the inside. As Rosaleen grows into womanhood, will the wolves come for her too?
Mandy
Fantasy · 2018
The Shadow Mountains, 1983. Red and Mandy lead a loving and peaceful existence; but when their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed, Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.
Urotsukidōji III: Return of the Overfiend
Animation · 1993
As the Overfiend slumbers, the mad emperor Caesar rises to power, enslaving a new race of demon beasts. Into this cruel existence is born the Lord of Chaos, the Overfiend's nemesis. As the blood-thirsty beasts capture the tyrant's daughter in a brutal coup, the Overfiend must awaken to an apocalyptic battle of the Gods.
Dead Space: Downfall
Animation · 2008
On a deep space mining mission to a remote planet, an ancient religious relic - thought to be proof of the existence of God - is unearthed and brought aboard. When the unholy artifact unleashes a long-dormant alien race, its glimpse of Heaven transforms the ship into a living Hell. A prequel to the events of the 2008 video game Dead Space.
Devilman - Volume 3: Devilman Apocalypse
Animation · 2000
Fear runs rampant throughout Tokyo with the revelation that demons in fact exist amongst us. Paranoia and the darker side of humanity boils onto the streets as people turn on one another, suspecting that anyone could in fact be a demon hiding in human clothing. Amidst the growing tensions, tragedy strikes Akira causing his mind to snap, retreating into his subconscious, allowing his Devilish alter-ego Amon to break free from Akira's cage of flesh and wreak havoc on both human and demons alike.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Hideki Takayama
Written by
Sho Aikawa
Tomohiro Nishimura
Amano Jaku (voice)
Maya Okamoto
Megumi Amano (voice)
Hirotaka Suzuoki
Tatsuo Nagumo (voice)
Yoko Asagami
Akemi Ito (voice)
Tsutomu Kashiwakura
Kuroko (voice)
Kenyu Horiuchi
Yoriichi Ozaki (voice)
Norio Wakamoto
Suikakuju (voice)
Court is in session
Put Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.