Director: Takashi Miike
Screenplay: Itaru Era
Starring: Kenichi Endō, Shungicu Uchida, Kazushi Watanabe, Jun Mutô, Fujiko
Country: Japan
Running Time: 84 minutes
Year: 2001
BBFC Certificate: 18
This micro-budget Japanese movie is a dark surrealist perverse comedy that mines the depths of depravity and despicable behaviour. I implore any horror fans reading this with the remotest interest to go in blind, as I did, and then eventually come back to this review.
Radiance has put together a reliably in-depth package with some profound extras. Just be warned, the film is flagrantly pornographic and I should probably drop a trauma warning for some of the worst things imaginable. There’s a lorry load of potentially distressing elements in this movie as it plays with taboo topics.
Radiance is releasing Vistor Q (2001) with a new transfer from the original master beta tape. The budget was ¥8 million, which is around £36k/50k with inflation in today’s money, and it was filmed with handheld digital cameras. The picture is fairly sharp in places but doesn’t look spectacular, by any means.
The old handheld digital footage has a charm and character to it, so reminscent of that early 2000s just as the digital age was beginning. It lends a distinctive real authentic looking edge to the movie.
The film comes with a newly improved English subtitle translation, an audio commentary track from a Miike biographer, interviews with the director and two of the stars, and a video essay from a film expert.
Helmed by prolific director Takashi Miike, the film is best described as an erotic black comedy-horror. The straight-to-video film is about depraved as it gets, following a dysfunctional family who are the vilest human beings imaginable – they get up to some awful business.
There were so many moments when I had to look away from the screen due to how excruciating I found the action. The 20-minute opening scene alone was jaw dropping. The final act is just so brutal. Throughout my viewing, at times I was confused, freaked out, utterly disgusted and not sure whether I should be laughing. It deliberatly makes for uncomfortable viewing and it had some hilarious moments of shock and gross-out humour.
Radiance describes the plot as follows: ‘A struggling news reporter (Kenicho Endo, The Raid 2) keeps pushing boundaries to impress his superiors, finally winding up in a motel room with his estranged daughter. Back home, his bullied son takes his violent rages out on his mother, who turns to heroin to cope but must prostitute herself to afford the habit. Into this scene of severe family dysfunction steps Q, a mysterious stranger with a knack for knowing just what each member needs most, whether it’s a rock to the head, a sexual reawakening, or a bout of murder.’
The film has an eery out-of-this world tone that develops into a euphoric type of madness. Kenichi Endō as the father Kiyoshi is sympathetic and emotional as he stumbles through life in a nebbish manner. He looks pained and you really feel for him.
Shungicu Uchida as the mother Keiko is another character who induces sympathy. Abused by her son and casually taking heroin in her bedroom, it’s impossible not to feel sorry for her. Her movements are so slow and deliberate, she comes across as vulnerable and fragile. These feelings of sympathy ebb away into horror and revulsion as the film progresses.
The two leads really ignite this film but the rest of the cast supply ample support. Fujiko is surly as the daughter and provides a particularly tender moment during the film’s emotional climax. Jun Mutō adeptly switches from cruel predator to craven victim. Kazushi Watanabe is mysterious and compelling as Visitor Q. Shōko Nakahara as Asako Murata, the father’s work colleague, plays off Endō really well, they have great comic timing.
On a final note, Miike says in the extras he wanted to portray a twisted kind of love, and he certainly achieves it in this thoroughly peculiar and horrifying comedy. It’s not for the faint-hearted.
Film:
Special Features
Audio commentary by Miike biographer Tom Mes (2026): Mes provides an in-depth commentary track which is fairly dry but takes an in-depth analytical approach. He analyses character motivations and finer details in the movie, looking at interesting moments, exploring the semiotics of Miike’s decisions. He also grounds the commentary track with contextual details, making clear how audiences felt at the time and how the film fits into the V-movie genre (movies made for the direct-to-video rental market).
Newly filmed interviews with director Takashi Miike, stars Kenichi Endo and Showko Nakahara (2026, 22 mins and 19 mins and 21 mins): Each of these interviews has a philosophical edge. They speak about making this outrageous movie on a tiny budget and it seems it had a profound effect on each of their lives. Miike speaks about the genesis and execution of the project, how it felt like ‘professionals were making a student movie’. Endo speaks about meeting Miike for the first time drunk, performing the extreme scenes in the movie and how he was given freedom to improvise. Nakaha speaks about getting the role, the unique type of performance she had to give and the changing perceptions of the movie overtime and internationally.
Mother’s Milk: Visitor Q and the Feminine Principle – new visual essay by Kat Ellinger (2026, 16 mins): A reliably erudite essay from Ellinger. She discusses the themes of masculinity, surrealism, Japanese exploitation and taboo topics in the movie. She packs a lot analysis into the 16 minutes.
Special Features:
Radiance releases Visitor Q on bluray on 19 October, 2026.