Kazuyoshi Katayama’s "King of Thorn" looks like a very cool, very dark ride

by Chris MaGee

Sometimes films kind of come out of left field and surprise the hell out of you. No buzz, no advance PR, but then you suddenly catch a trailer and you're suddenly counting the days until the film is released. That happened today when I caught this trailer for Kazuyoshi Katayama’s dystopian sci-fi animted film "King of Thorn" posted at Affenheimtheater. Based on Yuji Iwahara's manga of the same name that ran in Monthly Comic Beam "King of Thorn" takes the nightmarish scenario of a killer virus that has human civilization putting themselves in suspended animation until the pandemic passes. After a century passes only 160 human survivors awaken to discover the pandemic has passed, but that Earth has become a very, very inhospitable place.

Thus far only the trailer for "King of Thorn" has screened, but at the 62nd Annual Locarno Film Festival, which isn't too shabby; but now comes that counting the days until release that I mentioned. So far the film's official Myspace page gives no indication as to when the full film will see a release, but we'll keep checking back to see if and when that changes.