Chiba Check Up Vol. 2: Yellow Fangs (1990)

 

The Bear sees its newest victims

As much as I love going through the obscurities of lesser discussed and under-appreciated areas of Japanese film, sometimes I need to get my fix of one of Japan’s greatest cultural exports…Sonny Fuckin’ Chiba. That’s right. #ChibaCheckUp is back and with a mighty vengeance. This Chiba Check Up will not be from a 4 DVD pack I bought off Amazon for $2. There is a bit more curating with not just films that he starred or had a supporting role in but with one of the 2 (or 3, depending on where you look) films he directed.

Chiba’s career as a leading man and much lesser one as a director was preceded by a childhood of top level athletics. In 1957, a 17 year-old Maeda Sadaho was in the running for the Japanese Olympic team but an injury prevented him from further competition to make the cut. This was the turning point. This was the road leading to Maeda Sadaho becoming Chiba Shin’ichi. Instead of sulking over this defeat, he started training in martial arts under Mas Oyama (who he later portrayed in the Karate trilogy - Karate Bullfighter, Karate Bearfighter, and Karate for Life). This led to some TV and film work. His first films were in 1961, in one directed by his long time collaborator Fukasaku Kinji, which was Fukasaku’s first film (He also had a small part in Fukasaku’s final film, Battle Royale II). Around this time, he adopted the English stage name of Sonny Chiba. Since then he has appeared in over 130 films, produced, choreographed fight sequences, and even worked as a stunt man. If you’re reading this, you’ve seen something with him in it.

The line up in Vol. 2 is all available on Amazon video and other streaming services. The title gives away the opener - Yellow Fang. The rest are Shogun’s Ninja, Sister Street Fighter, and concluding with Wolf Guy.  

 

  

Yellow Fangs aka Remains: Beautiful Heroes aka Rimeinzu Utsukushiki Yusha-tachi: 900 lbs of Terror reign terror in a sleepy Hokkaido village. It stalks and kills women…and then eats them. This is no ordinary bear. It’s Red Spots. Local chief, Kasuke (played by Sugawara Bunta), gets his team of bear hunters to track down the beast. As they try to track it, the village goes weary of their efforts and the government stomps through recruiting people to the copper mines. A young woman, Yuki (played by Muramatsu Mika), wants revenge after Red Spots slaughtered her family. She and bear hunter, Eiji, get trapped in a cabin as the bear lays siege. They kill it together.

Yuki and her doggy, Meru.

At first, the notion of a bear attack film directed by the legendary Chiba is a strange one. My gut reaction was that this is a silly premise for a crazy action movie. However, upon watching this I realized how wrong I was. There are crazy sequences but this is not what I expected based on the reputation of Chiba and the title. A minor issue but the translation of the Japanese title is Remains: Beautiful Heroes. Yellow Fangs is not indicative of anything present in the film. The bear is called Red Spots, never Yellow Fangs. This is more misleading than Throne of Blood. Anyways, Chiba’s directorial debut is aided by his longtime friend and collaborator, Fukasaku Kinji. Despite that, this does not feel like a Fukasaku film.

Fukasaku isn’t the only returning face from the past. The central cast includes the BWHAH All-Star himself muthafuckin’ Sugawara Bunta (one of the shining cinematic treasures I came across as a result of this site), Natsuyagi Isao (from #ChibaCheckUp Vol. 1 - GI Samurai, and a later film coming up), Sanada Hiroyuki (from #ChibaCheckup Vol. 1 - Ninja Wars, GI Samurai, and Legend of the Eight Samurai and did the music for Yellow Fangs), Kurihara Satoshi (from The Street Fighter) and Muramatsu Mika (who appeared with Chiba in the Okamoto TV Movie, Taikoki). The brightest quality of Yellow Fangs is the cast. The people that he’d worked before and those who didn’t make the forced and ultimately hallow drama work. Everyone is equally pulling their weight. Not a single performance is wasted. Even though these never mesh into an emotionally fulfilling story, Chiba understands actors in a way that an ordinary director would not. In particular, Mika’s performance lifts this up. Her quest for revenge secretly turns into the drive forcing the meeting of bear and hunters. Bunta and Sanada appear to the leads but once the second act kicks in, the scope expands. Mika gets a flashback with a flashback within that original flashback. She swings into the story and sets up camp with her adorable dog. Her presence isn’t always seen but it’s felt by everyone and everything. The transformation from tough tomboy to badass bear hunter living off the land is silky smooth. It looks easy, the true mark of a great actor.

Yuki with Eiji

Taking inspiration from the true events that transpired in 3 Hokkaido towns during December 1915, Chiba and Sato Shigeko upped the death count but lessened the more gruesome details of the actual events. There was a real bear that went on a killing spree, abducted a woman, and tried to eat humans. I won’t get into those details but it is a fascinating story that feel closer to a grisly Gore film than what the final results of Yellow Fangs turned out to be. The bear bookends the narrative. The hunt for the killer animal appears to be the crux but we instead see the effects of the bear and modern life closing in on this small community. This manifests primarily with the relationship between the bear hunters and the village. In addition to a serial killer bear, there are local copper mines stealing villagers from their traditional old-fashioned lifestyle. It’s ham-fisted and not smoothly handled. The attempt to make this more of a societal exploration of modernization doesn’t mix well with a serial killer bear on the loose. When I refer it as a serial killer, this is not a stretch. It sneaks around the village and carefully picks out the most vulnerable women to terrorize and carry away. This was taken directly from the true events that inspired but amped up to a 70s Toei sleazy fun level that it taints the serious tone in the middle. Jumping genres this freely is a fun move for a first time director but bites off more than it could chew. It comes across as different films snitched together in a quilt that could have been better but still does its job.

The Bear apparently has Ninjutsu training.

I’ve been avoiding the elephant, er, bear in the room. The bear is a problem. In the first act, we get to see the bear from a distance. This is footage of a real bear, just hanging out. Up close, we get a man in a shitty suit. Suit quality is a priority if you're going to make a creature feature. The colors, textures, size, and physicality change drastically. The man in the suit, does not embody the animalistic motion needed to convince me, he and the nature footage bear are one in the same. It doesn’t help that the Amazon and Tubi version is a VHS rip. Usually, I don’t care about this too much but…it looks really bad when it really needs to deliver the goods at this aspect of the film. However, the epic shots of nature look fantastic and they amount to filler. There are so many that it gets old and then gets good again by the end. Beautiful shots of nature do not make up for the sub par bear effects. There's a monster movie siege on a cabin that should be terrifying but the goofy costume does not help amp up the tension. It's not nearly as effective as it could have been.

This isn’t the fun I had hoped based on the premise and pedigree of Chiba. It is an intriguing aspect of his legendary career and a good way to start #ChibaCheckUp Vol. 2. He only ever directed 1 more film (or possibly 2 depending on where you look). A quick warning…there is simulated (I hope) animal on animal violence in the beginning. Not quite Touki Bouki (not a slight, Mambety's French New Wave infused film is a muthafuckin masterpiece) graphic but still there.

Anyways, #ChibaCheckUp is back and that is the most important thing. A fun(?) drinking game for this film, drink every time you see an animal and double that if they barge through a wall. Also, drink every time anyone says bear hunter. If you play, please have a someone else there to check on you.

Yellow Fangs is available streaming on a few services currently.