{"id":29622,"date":"2024-09-27T01:05:28","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T08:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29622"},"modified":"2024-09-27T01:05:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T08:05:28","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-threat-1966","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29622","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE THREAT (1966)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video is now\navailable for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The late Kinji Fukasaku was a notable Japanese director who\nslowly developed a massive North American cult following late in life. Over\ndecades making movies in Japan, he helmed some incredible pictures in a wide\nvariety of genres. Readers in this part of the globe will be most familiar with\nthe campy science-fiction feature The Green Slime<\/em>, the Yakuza films Sympathy\nfor the Underdog<\/em> and the Battles Without Honor and Humanity<\/em> series,\nas well as Battle Royale<\/em>. Alone, these titles mark an incredible resume,\nbut he also directed more than 55 other titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, movie fans are interested in seeing more of this\ncatalog. This week, Arrow Video is helping by putting out a Blu-ray of The\nThreat<\/em>. This hostage thriller is the earliest picture for the moviemaker\nthat has been released in this part of the world on disc. However, its long\nabsence here doesn\u2019t mean that it isn\u2019t every bit as compelling as his other\nworks. Even in 1966, Fukasaku clearly had the skills to set up tension and\ndramas, and he delivers it here in spades.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reminiscent in some respects story-wise of Desperate\nHours<\/em> and Akira Kurosawa\u2019s High and Low<\/em>, this tale involves Misawa\n(Rentaro Mikuni), a company accounts man willing to do just about anything for\nthe benefit of his bosses. After agreeing to deliver a flowery speech at a\nforced marriage between the head of the corporation\u2019s mistress and a young man\nshe doesn\u2019t love, the figure heads home to spend a bit of time with wife Hiroko\n(Masumi Harukawa) and son Masao (Pepe Hozumi). Thefamily are surprised\nto find escaped death row convicts Kawanishi (Ko Nishimura) and Sabu (Hideo\nMurota) at their door with a baby. The pair take the family hostage, making\nterrifying demands. While Hiroko and Masao show resistance, Misawa falls into\nhis routine of following instructions and doing exactly what he is told. It\u2019s\nsoon revealed that the inmates are expecting a ransom payment for the baby and\nthat Misawa will be their bagman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Home invasion and hostage dramas aren\u2019t anything unusual,\nbut Fukasaku delivers the goods. It has great performances from his cast,\nexcellent photography, social commentary and genuine tension throughout. The\nmain character is a fascinating critique of Japanese work culture and the\nmentality of businessmen during the period. He treats his employers with\nunwarranted reverence and the villains realize very quickly that he won\u2019t\ndisobey them. Naturally, they take advantage of the situation, and, perhaps\nmore horrifically, the emasculated and frustrated lead starts taking his\naggressions out on his wife (who does her best to refuse their threats and\nadvances). Of course, Misawa justifies his actions by thinking that he\u2019s trying\nto save his family, but it\u2019s simply an excuse. The scenario leads to some dark\nand disturbing interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This results in a psychological crisis for Misawa, who must\neventually deal with his inner turmoil and stand up to the aggressors. All of\nthe actors are exceptional. Obviously, Misawa is a deeply flawed character who\ntakes his inadequacies out on his own loved ones, but that is the point of the\nmovie and he delivers it exceptionally. This is an obsequious man who must see\nthe error of his ways and confront himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s also interesting to see the plan on the part of the\nstressed villains, who are using kidnapping and hostage taking in two instances\nwithin the same story in order to try and get money and secure an escape route.\nThis is another unique presentation of sinister parties, as they use infants as\nleverage in order to get what they want and taunt those around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The black and white photography is excellent, along with\nsome creative photography. Fukasaku uses overhead shots, Dutch tilts, as well\nas a few rapid camera moves to create both an energetic and unsettling tone.\nPhysical confrontations between characters are messy and violent, far more than\none would expect from films of this period. And when the protagonist starts to\nhave his own breakdown, there are some unique experiments used with the shutter\nand camera speed to put him at odds with the world around him. Everyone about\nthe movie is consistently tense and dynamic and the pacing never lets up. It\ndoes a great job of making the viewer wonder if he can stand up to the threat,\nor if he will completely fall apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It serves as another incredible feature in the director\u2019s\nalready notable career. The high-definition master supplied to Arrow Video by\nToei Company is very good as well. This is a solid transfer that looks quite\nstrong with little noise. There are plenty of little background details in the\nhouse and especially in the later outdoor sequences that are impressive and\nlook excellent upconverted on a 4K Ultra HD disc player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This release also contains plenty of bonuses. The first is a\nfilm historian commentary that gives all sorts of relevant background\ninformation about the movie, cast and crew as well as the director. There are\nalso notes on the editing and camera angles that are informative. Additionally,\nanother Japanese movie expert is interviewed and talks about Fukasaku and his\nearly works. He notes other titles of the era that may have inspired the story,\nwhile also noting interesting differences in this effort along with its more\nextreme stylistic elements.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, a trailer is included. As for the packaging,\nyou\u2019ll get a booklet with writing on the film, as well as a reversible sleeve\nand double-sided fold-out poster containing original and newly created artwork\nfor the movie. Again, Arrow Video has done a wonderful job with this\npresentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you enjoy the films of Kinji Fukasaku, there\u2019s no doubt\nyou\u2019ll be impressed with this \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray of The Threat<\/em>.\nThe movie has some very distressing elements, and yet is tense, engaging and\nultimately entertaining. The time flies by and it delivers the kind of\nimpressive camerawork and even deeper meanings one would hope to see from the\ndirector. It may be the first time this title has been available in this part\nof the world, but it\u2019s yet another winner. This Blu-ray can sit on the shelf\nproudly right next to the director\u2019s famous pictures.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video is now available for purchase. The late Kinji Fukasaku was a notable Japanese director who slowly developed a massive North American cult following late in life. Over decades making movies in Japan, he helmed some incredible pictures in a wide variety of genres. Readers in this part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[96,1836,2933,2939,4910,6251,9353,10385,11671,11805,16883,22401,22402,22403,22404,22405,22406],"class_list":["post-29622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-96","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-crime","tag-drama","tag-hostage","tag-japan","tag-kidnapping","tag-kinji-fukasaku","tag-rentaro-mikuni","tag-the-threat","tag-the-threat-1966","tag-the-threat-blasts-from-the-past","tag-the-threat-blu-ray-review","tag-the-threat-film-review","tag-the-threat-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}