| Battlefield Baseball | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | 地獄甲子園 | ||||
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| Directed by | Yūdai Yamaguchi | ||||
| Written by | Gatarō Man | ||||
| Produced by | Ryuhei Kitamura | ||||
| Starring | |||||
| Edited by | Shuichi Kakesu | ||||
| Distributed by | Klock Worx Co. | ||||
Release date |
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Running time | 87 minutes | ||||
| Country | Japan | ||||
| Language | Japanese | ||||
Battlefield Baseball (地獄甲子園, Jigoku Kōshien, "Hell Kōshien") is a 2003 Japanese film directed by Yūdai Yamaguchi. The film is written by Gatarō Man, based on his manga series of the same name, and stars Tak Sakaguchi, Atsushi Itō, and Hideo Sakaki. It was produced by Ryuhei Kitamura.
The film is a combination of several genres, mixing martial arts action with the clichés of the sports film—particularly skewering baseball, one of Japan's most popular high school sports—and the violence and brutality of a horror film. The film's bizarre—sometimes almost incoherent—plot, blood and gore, and unique comedy have given it something of a "cult" popularity in the Western world.[not verified in body]
Though the film is ostensibly about high school baseball rivalries, the amount of actual baseball in the film is fairly light. There are many scenes involving bats and balls, however.
The film was released on Region 1 DVD by Subversive Cinema.