The best Shigeru Kōyama’s thriller movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Shigeru Kōyama’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Shigeru Kōyama.
Black Rain
6.6/10
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.
Graveyard of Honor
7.1/10
A look at the life of renegade yakuza, Rikio Ishikawa, particularly the years from 1946 to 1950 when his violent antics get him in trouble with his own clan, Kawada, and then with the clan of his protector, Kozaburo Imai. In these years, he can rely on Chieko, a young Tokyo courtesan who gives him shelter. He's banished to Osaka, where he picks up a drug habit. Through it all, he keeps his friends and enemies off balance with unpredictable behavior - and he seems indestructible.
The Man Who Stole the Sun
7.5/10
A high school science teacher is the butt of all his students' jokes, until their bus is hijacked on a school trip. But something more sinister lurks beneath the surface: he's building an atomic bomb in his apartment.
August without Emperor
6.8/10
Taking the Chilean coup as an example, a group of young officers plan to overthrow the Japanese government on V-J Day. They aim to abolish the post-war constitution, restore the national army and revive the traditional spirit of Japan. As the conspiracy is exposed, the coup squadrons are wiped out one by one. The remaining squadron takes over a night train bound for Tokyo.
The Rapacious Jailbreaker
7.3/10
Convicted of murder, Masayuki Ueda is sent to Hiroshima Prison along with his accomplice. But for a man like him, breaking out of prison is easy.
Queen Bee
6.4/10
In order to solve the mystery of a murder of an old governess which takes place at a wealthy Daidoji family's country estate, family secrets and lies dating back several generations must be sorted out once and for all.
Blood End
6.6/10
BLOOD END is one of the great unknown films from Japan's golden era of the late 1960's. Starring NAKADAI Tatsuya in one of his best roles, this is the story of the Mito Tengu Group who attempted to overthrow the Shogunate at the beginning of the Bakumatsu Period. Their political aspirations led to countless assassinations, as well as senseless killing of innocent people who got in their way. Sentaro (NAKADAI), a farmer who's been severely beaten for his outspoken defiance of the government and the high taxes during a time of famine is befriended by one of the group's leaders, KADA Gentaro (KATO Go) and joins up. This is the masterpiece of director YAMAMOTO Satsuo (who is best known for the first film in the NINJA, BAND OF ASSASSINS series) the erstwhile 'Leftist' director, who used his films to make his political points. Stunning fight choreography, and ultra-violence make this one of the bloodiest films of that era. A powerful film Rare classic!
Black Dead Ball
A talent scout who had his eyes set on a star left-handed pitcher in the high school baseball world falls to his death at his hotel. Was it a homicide or suicide? His junior colleague pursues the mystery of his death.
Main Line to Terror
6.3/10
Akiyama is an intern, disgusted with the noise pollution caused by the bullet trains and the heart attacks that noise has been causing in older hospital patients, plots to disrupt and, in ten days, destroy a unit of the operation. He warns the Japan National Railway, that, if nothing is done to reduce the noise, he will derail a bullet train. Takigawa is the police detective sent to stop him.
