Asian horror is now starting to have a strong impact on how American movies are made. The Ring is a prime example as that is a direct remake from the Japanese movie Ringu. Battle Royale is no exception to how much of an impact a horror film can have. The controversy surrounding this film has the buzz hitting the Americas full force due to its graphic violence, and the way violence is depicted against children.

The population, and the economic system is in shambles in Japan, and to make matters worse teenagers have started to walk out of schools, and being rude towards their elders. The program works in taking a randomly selected school group once a year, and putting them on a deserted island for 3 days. The object during the 3 days is to eliminate the other classmates with weapons given to them by the organization.

To restrict their where about the students go on the island, they are forced to wear explosive collars. During the day coordinates are read off of where a "danger zone" is. A danger zone makes any student's collar explode automatically. How far would you go to survive, and would you kill your best friend?

Though the controversy is strong surrounding the violence, it really isn't that gory of a movie. Though there is a lot of blood usage, it's more of the idea of slaughtering teenagers. The actors really look as if they are around the age they are supposed to be in the movie, and it's a nice choice of casting. The actors do a nice job of not only being ruthless, but also being scared for their lives.

The one character that I really enjoyed was that of the psychopathic student added into the class. Though his name slips my mind, I love the fact that he was the most ruthless out of all the students.

Though it's a bit of cartoon style violence it still is a strong movie. The style of survival filming is starting to come more to play in American media as seen in the USA pictures release of Series 7, also a very good movie. Though it might not be for everyone, it is still a nicely put together film with some good acting, nice camera work, and for us horror fans some good kills. I say for anyone looking to experiment with Asian horror, this is the film to start with.