Youth of the Beast

Synopsis

To infiltrate a criminal organization responsible for the death of one of his colleagues, the Detective Tajima adopts the behavior of a brutal thug and plays opposing yakuza bosses against each other.

Cast

Release

Youth of the Beast was released in Japan in April 21, 1963. It received an American release in the United States by Nikkatsu in 1993.

Youth of the Beast was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection on January 11, 2005. Eureka Entertainment released the film in on both Blu-ray and DVD release in 2014 as part of the Masters of Cinema range.

Reception

In contemporary reviews in Japan, the film was generally ignored. The film was not placed in the years top 40 films by Kinema Junpo and managed to place at 21st place in Eiga Hyron's through a single ballot vote.

From retrospective reviews, Michael Brooke of Sight & Sound described the film as the first of Suzuki's Nikkatsu films to feature "what became recognised (albeit farm from immediately) as his characteristic approach", which Brooke described as "wildly over-composed and colour-coordinated (even the smoke billowing out of a wrecked car is a fetching reddish-brown)" stating that its "style and substance virtually indivisible and equally exhilarating." Brooke found that "Suzuki doesn't so much undermine conventional gangster flick cliches as turn them up to 11, creating a powerfully satiric effects in the process"

Remake

John Woo announced in 2012 that he would direct a remake of Youth of the Beast titled Day of the Beast. The film is set to be produced by Woo and Terence Chang's Lion Rock Productions along with Nikkatsu. The film is set in Tokyo where a Westerner becomes entered into a gang war between the Yakuza and Cold War Russian mafia. The film will be written by Rob Frisbee. Following the box-office disappointment of The Crossing, Woo and producer Terence Chang disbanded Lion Rock Productions.