Overview
A wild ride through the chaotic world of underground filmmaking and yakuza feuds.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Breakneck
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- irreverent
- visceral
- witty
- cult movie night
- late night viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly viewed the film as an energetic, inventive collision of naive cinematic optimism and graphic midnight-movie comedy, though its excesses were deliberately abrasive.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Director Hirata and his renegade crew pursue an idealized action movie while becoming entangled in an actual yakuza feud.
The film pairs gang warfare, gore, and weapons with naive optimism and midnight-movie humor.
The yakuza clan feud, samurai imagery, gunplay, blades, and bloodshed are presented with flamboyant action-film excess.
The plot joins a yakuza revenge conflict to the crew's determination to create a legendary film.
Films like Why Don't You Play in Hell?, and why
The Guard
shared yakuza violence, anarchic comedy, kinetic action, and heightened genre excess
One Cut of the Dead
shared meta-cinematic storytelling, irreverent humor, stylized violence, and filmmaking obsession
Gozu
shared Japanese crime chaos, revenge themes, comic brutality, and delirious visual energy
The Villainess
shared self-aware filmmaking, gangland violence, comic spectacle, and maximalist style
Movie Details
- Director
- Sion Sono
- Release Date
- 2013-09-14
- Runtime
- 130 min
- Rating
- 7.3 / 10 (335)
Cast
- Jun Kunimura
- Shinichi Tsutsumi
- Hiroki Hasegawa
- Gen Hoshino
- Fumi Nikaido
- Tomochika
- Tak Sakaguchi
- Itsuji Itao
- Jyonmyon Pe
- Hiroyuki Onoue
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Google Play Movies, YouTube
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Why Don't You Play in Hell? about?
- A cinephile's delirious yakuza bloodbath turns a renegade film crew's dream of making an action masterpiece into anarchic lived spectacle.
- What is Why Don't You Play in Hell? like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Why Don't You Play in Hell? as breakneck, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Why Don't You Play in Hell? violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Why Don't You Play in Hell? as graphic.
- What did critics think of Why Don't You Play in Hell??
- Critics broadly viewed the film as an energetic, inventive collision of naive cinematic optimism and graphic midnight-movie comedy, though its excesses were deliberately abrasive.
- Which films are like Why Don't You Play in Hell??
- Films with a similar feel include The Guard, One Cut of the Dead, Gozu, and The Villainess.
- How long is Why Don't You Play in Hell??
- Why Don't You Play in Hell? runs 130 minutes.
- Where can I watch Why Don't You Play in Hell??
- In United States, Why Don't You Play in Hell? is available to rent or buy from Google Play Movies, YouTube.
