‘Lesson of the Evil’ Trailer: Takashi Miike’s Bloody Schoolyard Rampage

From slashfilm, Takashi Miike is one of the most prolific major filmmakers alive, and that leads to the fact that he’s one of the spottiest. When one churns out stories the way Miike does, not every one is going to be great work. But every once in a while he makes a stunner like Thirteen Assassins, or a whackadoo wonder like Gozu or Visitor Q, and then I’m hooked again.

So here’s the first footage from Lesson of the Evil, an adaptation of the novel of the same name that was originally serialized in Japan starting in 2008. The teaser makes the situation pretty clear, even for those who don’t understand Japanese without subtitles: there is a good-looking, popular teacher who also happens to be insane. Teacher-on-student violence ensues, and it looks like a happy ending might be right out of the question.