Over Your Dead Body – 88 Films (Blu-ray)
Theatrical Release Date: Japan/France/China, 2014
Director: Takashi Miike
Writer: Kikumi Yamagishi
Cast: Kô Shibasaki, Hideaki Itô, Toshiaki Karasawa, Ebizô Ichikawa, Toshie Negishi
Release Date: December 15th, 2025 (UK)
Approximate Running Time: 94 Minutes 15 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 18 (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: DTS-HD Stereo Japanese, DTS-HD 5.1 Japanese, LPCM Stereo English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £14.99 (UK)
"Set against the backdrop of a kabuki production, the story follows actors whose personal jealousies and desires dangerously mirror the ghostly play they perform. As tensions rise, the boundary between stage and life dissolves, unleashing a nightmarish spiral of obsession, betrayal, and supernatural horror." - synopsis provided by the distributor
Video: 4.5/5
Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, “High Definition Blu-ray Presentation in 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio."
Over Your Dead Body comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.
Disc Size: 31.4 GB
Feature: 29.7 GB
When compared to Shout! Factory's 2016 Blu-ray release, 88 Films Blu-ray release, is an improvement in every way. Most notable areas of improvement: image clarity and shadow detail. That said, flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, and compression is solid.
Audio: 4.5/5 (DTS-HD Stereo Japanese, DTS-HD 5.1 Japanese), 4/5 (LPCM Stereo English)
This release comes with three audio tracks, a DTS-HD stereo mix in Japanese, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in Japanese, and a LPCM stereo mix in English. All tracks sound clear and balanced, and ambient sounds are well-represented. The edge goes to the two Japanese tracks, which sound better sonically than the English-language track. Included are removable English subtitles for the Japanese language tracks and removable English subtitles for the Japanese text when watching the English-language track.
Extras:
Extras for this release include a poster & image gallery with music from the film playing in the background, a theatrical trailer (1 minute 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with non-removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with Takashi Miike biographer Tom Mes, reversible cover art, removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings, and a 20-page booklet (limited to the first pressing) with cast & crew information, an essay titled Theatre of Cruelty: Miike Takashi and Over Your Dead Body written by James Oliver.
Summary:
An actress starring in a play based on the ghost story Yotsuya Kaidan uses her power to get her lover, an unknown, cast in a significant role.
Takashi Miike has a massive filmography that encompasses over 125 films and television shows, and it spans 35 years. Although less prolific than before, Takashi Miike continues to be active. Where most filmmakers find a genre and attached themselves to it, what is most impressive about Takashi Miike’s filmography is how diverse it is.
Something that sets the films of Takashi Miike apart from other filmmakers is how he takes familiar genre elements and makes them his own. A prime example is Over Your Dead Body, a horror film set during the production of Play, which blurs the line between fiction and reality. Instead of leaning into the obvious horror elements, a play based on a ghost story, Takashi Miike focuses on the characters and their relationships.
All around, the performances are excellent; they do a remarkable job drawing you into the story that unfolds. Anyone who’s familiar with the films of Takashi Miike knows they often can be challenging, and Over Your Dead Body’s narrative is a textbook example of that. The first 60 minutes move at a deliberate pace that many will find too slow, while in the last 35 minutes, things get weirder and are filled with flourishes that Takashi Miike is known for.
The worst thing anyone can do when watching a new Takashi Miike film is go in with expectations that are linked to his cinematic past. Takashi Miike’s greatest attribute as a filmmaker is his ability to genuinely surprise you, and with Over Your Dead Body he delivers his spades in this regard. An unfair criticism when discussing Takashi Miike’s more recent films is how they do not hold up well against his most celebrated films. That said, some of Takashi Miike’s films from the last 20 years deserving recognition are Crows Zero, 13 Assassins, Lesson of the Evil, and First Love. Ultimately, Over Your Dead Body is a well-crafted thriller with body horror elements that, in another director's hands, would not have worked.
Over Your Dead Body gets a first-rate release from 88 Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a pair of informative extras. Recommended.
Written by Michael Den Boer





















































