A Fan Video to Sky High

Welcome to the Gate of Rage. You are no more but a spirit. Here come those dead of misadventure or murder. Choose one way to proceed, out of three. One: accept death, ascend to Paradise, and prepare for rebirth. Two: as a ghost, forever haunt the realm of the living. Three: curse one living person and bring about their death.

A serial-murderer is removing his victims hearts and taking them with him. Kanzaki (Shosuke Tanihara) is a detective on the case. The day he is due to be married his fiancé Mina (Yumiko Shaku) is killed displaying the same Modus Operandi as the other victims. He discovers geneticist Kudo (Takao Ôsawa), and Rei (Kanae Uotani), his evil secretary to be the killers. When they have six hearts they will be able to summon demons from beyond the Gate of Rage to grant any wish, but darkness will fall upon the earth (wow :) Mina becomes the Guardian of the Gate of Rage, and must fight Kudo when he is killed. Kanzaki enters the world of the dead to protect her (good boy).

Okay, you've got somehow the idea. Add ninja. It's Sky High, a movie made by Ryûhei Kitamura in 2003. Here's what berty2001 has to say:

As with many of Ryûhei Kitamura's film, Sky High displays plenty of great ideas (a serial killer ripping people's hearts out, the gates of Rage, where murdered people go and are given three choice - heaven, earth, or hell), an genre bending story (sword play, horror, sci-fi, love story, serial killer) and plenty of visual style. However, Sky High also fall foul of Ryûhei Kitamura's usual faults. For this type of film, and the way it is shot, it is just too long, running at over two hours. Kitamura tries to give the story depth and meaning (failing most the time), when it should be a great popcorn flick with less depth. Take his two major success - Versus and Azumi. Here there is very little plot, just great action. Alive, another of Kitamura's films, which is very similarly themed to Sky High, also suffers these faults. Given the right script, Kitamura will make a genuinely great film (he almost did it with Versus), but until then, he need someone to come and cut his film down.


And here's a fan video with Bleed For Me performed by Saliva.

(video by ultimateversus2005)

All I ever wanted
was to be at your service
but now I'm alone
cause you were here and you're gone

(Ryûhei Kitamura)