Battle Royale
In this controversial career-capping Japanese thriller from director Kinji Fukasaku, middle-school children are rounded up by the government and sent to an island where they’re made to compete in a particularly nasty game of hide and seek: each child must kill the other in order to win. The shocking premise and worldwide acclaim led several American distributors to consider releasing it theatrically, but the tragedy of Columbine put an end to that. Bootleg versions became rampant on DVD. It is still banned in Germany. Fukusahi’s son Kento directed a 2003 sequel, but plans for a US remake have faded largely due to the co-opting of the concept by The Hunger Games. Everything you need to know can be found in Haika Soru’s The Battle Royale Slam Book, which features essays on the BR phenomena by a passel of gifted writers including our own TFH Guru Sam Hamm.
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About Josh Olson
Josh Olson was the only student in his second grade class to see The House That Dripped Blood. Many years later, he wrote and directed the no-budget horror film, Infested, a brutal assault on The Big Chill, with zombies. He went on to write the screenplay for A History Of Violence and was nominated for the WGA, BAFTA and Academy Awards for Best Screenplay. He kept losing to Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, but that’s okay.
He has written features and TV shows with Harlan Ellison, Walter Hill, Slash, Willie Nelson, and Mick Jagger. His Village Voice essay “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script” became an internet phenomenon, getting upwards of five million hits.
The ten-part audio drama Bronzeville which he wrote, starring Laurence Fishburne, Larenz Tate, Tracee Ellis Ross, Omari Harwicke and Tika Sumpter was a popular and critical hit, and is currently being developed for TV. He and John Brancato (The Game) recently wrote and sold the feature spec Trigger Warning, which is being produced by Thunder Road.
Josh is the host of Trailers From Hell's official podcast, The Movies That Made Me, available everywhere podcasts are streamed and downloaded!