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Distributed by: Well Go USA
Released on: Apr. 9, 2013
Dir. by: Yuji Shimomura
Starring: Tak Sakaguchi, Mari Hoshino, Miho Ninagawa, Takamasa Suga
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Question: What does baseball have to do with Nazis, Klaus Nomi, fisting and homophobia?
If you answered Deadball then you'd be right.
Jubeh (Sakaguchi) is a young baseball pitching prodigy with a pitch that's literally deadly. After accidentally killing his father and left in charge of his younger brother Jubeh soon runs afoul of the law, losing his temper and letting his vicious pitching arm mete out bloody justice against those deserving it.
Years after dad's death he finds himself in the Pterodactyl Juvenile Facility, a cruel place run by evil headmistress (and granddaughter of a Nazi collaborator) Ishihara. How cruel? She sadistically watches video feed of the inmates being violently violated in contraband searches while her German-martials-arts-trained Nomi lookalike attends to her needs. Her other evil assistant is named Ilsa. She feeds the inmates vomit. And she's just up to no good, using her baseball team for more evil purposes.
Jubeh is haunted by images of his long-lost brother and sworn to his vow of never using a baseball to kill. But when he discovers that his brother died at the prison Jubeh vows revenge on the world and joins the headmistress' baseball team, The Gauntlets. His cellmate and teammate is 4-Eyes (Hoshino), a nervous young thing that'll follow him anywhere. A cast of stereotypes rounds out the team roster and soon they're off to face down the nefarious St. Black Dahlia High School team, as evil as they are sexy.
But they're no fools, these Gauntlets - they know the headmistress is up to no good. And, soon enough, they figure out that they're being served to die in spectacular fashion for the headmistress and her fellow Nazi cronies. Is money involved? Or are they just sadistic toward the criminal element, not caring about reforming them but, rather, deforming them? It's never really explained although the contempt from the “game†announcer makes it pretty clear on the latter notion. Regardless, it's up to Jubeh to put himself in danger and for the rest of the team to buy him as much time as possible so he can put an end to it all. But will he have to make the ultimate sacrifice and break his vow to finish it all? Only the natural excitement of a baseball game holds the answer...or does it?
More akin to a gory version of Shaolin Soccer (but also only limited to a single game) Deadball is just as exaggerated, goofy and entertaining. Sakaguchi plays up the Man With No Name style of his character very well, his best train being his ability to summon a lit cigarette out of thin air constantly. At barely 99 minutes, the movie doesn't over-tax any sense or sensibilities, rampaging through its goofiness with a wit and certain amount of aplomb. Combining CGI and practical f/x it has a bit of charm about it, too, that helps sell its playability quite nicely.
Audio/Video/Extras:
This Blu-Ray is presented in an AVC-encoded full 1080p transfer in 1.78 widescreen. The film itself looks like it was shot in HD so the overall presentation is pretty clean. Some black levels overwhelm in a couple scenes but those are only noticeable due to the majority of the film taking place in dark, shadowy scenes. But there is some good differentiation going on within those scenes so it's not too badly done. The audio track is pretty stellar, in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and using every available bit of range within that to help punch up the film's viscerality. Big hits on the subwoofer and very well-balanced upper-range screams and shouts all work out quite well despite the majority of the sound coming from the center speaker. The English-only subs hold up quite well, too, presented clearly and in time with the on-screen action.
The disc comes with a few extras that are entertaining enough: First up is a “Spinoff Short†titled Final Deadball. Presented in 1080i HD it follows one of the main film's characters in a Final Destination-style of story, where he avoids his fate in the film only to be haunted by it later. At just about :20 min. it's actually a pretty decent little include and, if anything, as entertaining as the main film. A short (:12 min.) Making of is also available which is primarily concerned with the film's visual f/x - though it does feature more of the hot Japanese gals from the St. Black Dahlia High School, which is nice. A cast interview (:7 min.) that's helped by Sakaguchi's silliness rounds out the extras specific to the film here. Other previews for both Sushi Typhoon and Well Go USA titles are also included here.
The Final Word:
Despite the homophobia of the lead character (and a guy showing up in blackface during the short film) Deadball is still a gore-infused good time, silly but in a good way that feels kind of refreshing as its clear their only intent here is to entertain - and they meet that goal with a bloody, offensive fun time.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
