Takashi Shimizu's "Shock Labyrinth" gets UK distributor before it even opens in Japan

by Chris MaGee

Ever since it was announced back in June Takashi Shimizu's "The Shock Labyrinth" has been garnering more and more online buzz. With the director of "Ju-on (The Grudge)" at the helm and the fact that this is the very first feature length 3D film in Japanese cinema history it's easy to see why. There's buzz and then there's buzz though. "The Shock Labyrinth", Filmed at Fuji-Q Highland amusement park and revolving around a group of young men and women who must contend with the return of their long lost friend returning and bringing a series of strange occurrences with them, hasn't even opened in Japanese theatres yet, but it's already been picked up by an English-language distributor.

Ahead of its October 17th Japanese theatrical release UK-based distributor Artificial Eye has picked up the rights to Shimizu's latest scare fest. Obviously Shimizu has a built in audience, but will this 3D film get the 3D treatment on DVD? Glasses shrinkwrapped into the case? No word yet, but to tide over Japanese and UK fans Yahoo Japan is streaming two behind the scenes clips from "The Shock Labyrinth" which you can check out here.

Thanks to 24 Frames Per Second for pointing the way to this news item and these clips.