BATTLE ROYALE ~DTS Directors Cut 122 min DVD

Plot: An explosive film about a class of teenagers who are stranded on an island and forced to kill one another–or be killed.

Overview: Thinking they are about to enjoy a field trip, a class of 9th graders calmly boards a bus that brings them face-to-face with the worst instincts of mankind. Director Kinji Fukasaku decided, at the age of 70, to make a film warning young people not to trust adults. The message may be obvious, but its delivery is chilling. It’s a nightmare teenage version of “Survivor,” a deadly game with no talk show appearances awaiting the victor. And your host for the carnage is the stone-faced Takeshi Kitano, a past teacher of the students.
Kitano explains the rules. Each student is given a backpack with minimal supplies and one weapon (some of which appear completely useless). They are given a limited time to kill each other off; failure to do so will result in their own termination, via bomb-enabled collars affixed to their necks. The disbelieving teens are shocked into action when Kitano demonstrates the deadly force of the neck collars, and the murdering quickly begins. Some students band together, some try to figure out how to avoid killing anyone, and some give in eagerly to their basest instincts in order to exact revenge. The question changes from “Who will survive?” to “Who wants to, when the price is so high?”