At long last, we're back with our first episode of 2023 (sorry about the wait!). This week, Chris and Nick check out a pair of Japanese films that, it turns out, have very little in common aside from their country of origin. First up is Tetsuya Nakashima's The World of Kanako, a brutal mystery/crime film that strays a little bit from the conventions of horror but nevertheless remains one of the most disturbing (yet also wildly energetic and complex) films we've seen in a long time. And then, with Evil Dead Rise right around the corner, we thought we'd spend an hour and change with the "Japanese Evil Dead," which goes by the amazing title Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell. This 1995 film, not released until nearly two decades after it was made, is a madcap no-budget reimagining of Sam Raimi's iconic horror/comedy franchise from writer/director/star Shinichi Fukazawa. Clearly a great appreciator of Raimi's films, Fukazawa tries on the well-worn shoes of Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell in a movie that is an obvious and reverent labor of love, made on a shoestring but never skimping on the splattery goodness that its inspiration brought so spectacularly. And, keeping with the Evil Dead theme, we discuss our thoughts on Rise and the 2013 Fede Alvarez reboot; we also get into the latest works of filmmaker Edgar Wright and Rodney Ascher, both of which are "horror-adjacent" movies that we think our listeners might want to look into.