Country: Japan

Kwak Jae-Young has a PhD in stirring emotions and this film has more heart-pulling moments of manipulative magic than a room full of kittens playing with balls of string.

A Japanese monster movie with a samurai twist, ‘Daimajin’ from 1966 is a slowburn film that is part period drama and part giant stone man Kaiju extravaganza.

‘Danger Dolls’ seems to have been recorded on someone’s iPhone and there are a greater range of sets in an Andy Milligan film than this one.

Like the majority of Hideo Nakata’s work, ‘Dark Water’ proves to be more of a psychological entry into the genre rather than an all out gore-fest.

‘Dead Leaves’ is a fantastic injection of animated insanity that will leave your brain absolutely buzzing.

Extremely silly, camp, surreal and gory, ‘Dead Sushi’ is a bonkers ride of flesh eating sushi, kung fu, flying squids, sushi sex (!) and a daughter’s quest to earn the respect of her father.

Not a total strike out but could have been a whole lot more fun, and funnier, with a little more energy injected into it.

‘Death Kappa’ is a real mess of a film that seems to be trying too hard to be considered cult rather than focusing on getting the basics right.

Right from the opening, it’s blatantly obvious that ‘Death Note’ is skipping some of the more important and enjoyable aspects of the story.

‘Death Trance’ isn’t quite as good as ‘Versus’ but is nevertheless a visually striking, always creative and if a little slow in pace at stages, still packed with great Eastern flavoured action.

Tackling a taboo subject with maturity and outstanding sensitivity, it should be of no great surprise to see ‘Departures’ striking a chord with audiences around the globe.

A life-affirming work that came at a key time for a director whose self-confidence was at its lowest ebb, ‘Dersu Urzala’ is cinema at its most vital.