Ultra-violent Japanese cult film goes viral for DVD release

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 29-May-03, 15:00

LONDON - The ultra-violent Japanese film 'Ichi the Killer' is being promoted with a viral campaign featuring graphic scenes from the movie, daring viewers to watch the gorefest.

The campaign promotes the DVD release of the cult film by Medusa Communications & Marketing. The campaign was created by Egovision, and follows the agency's work on the Hong Kong Legends DVD label, a series of films starring martial arts heroes including Bruce Lee.

The Ichi-the-killer.com viral campaign breaks in the run-up to the film's launch on June 2. It challenges viewers to sit through a promotional clip for the film, which was directed by Takashi Miike, featuring scenes of dismemberment and torture.

The DVD campaign is being promoted with a chance to win a trip to Amsterdam, as well as a screening at the Prince Charles Cinema in London's West End.

John Lyons, interactive director at Egovision, said: "Cult movies are particularly well suited to online strategies, and initial research showed a great deal of newsgroup and forum discussion about the movie, cast and release dates."

Egovision said its strategy is to feed this interest and allow the promotion to spread organically throughout the online communities and interest groups for predominately male horror and Asian cinema fans aged between 18 and 24 years old.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum here.