ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

The titular storm in director Shinji Sômai’s Typhoon Club (Taifû kurabu; Japan, 1985) is both a literal one, as the story takes place before, during, and after a typhoon event in Japan, and a figurative one as a group of rural junior high school students deal with the realities of teen life and the frustrations of a lack of adult role models. Yuji Kato’s screenplay treats its teenage characters with a realistic eye, and the ensemble cast of young performers nail every nuance that is asked of them.

Starting with the near-drowning of a boy by the girls he was spying on at the school pool — closed at night, but when did that ever stop teenagers who wanted to swim by the moonlight? — and featuring a maddening sequence of a boy stalking and terrorizing a girl classmate — whose back he has scarred with acid during science class in an earlier scene — inside their school that is more unnerving than many horror movie scenes, there are many reflections on death and danger. Typhoon Club isn’t solely focused on the gloomy, though, as the students try their best to live life their way, including a lesbian couple and their energetic friend, and a boy who hopes to escape his smaller town and attend high school in Tokyo. There’s a dance sequence that feels more authentic than practically any one that you can name from a major Hollywood feature about teenagers.

Beautifully shot, framed, helmed, written, and performed, Typhoon Club deserves its reputation as a classic slice of Japanese cinema. If you haven’t seen it before, this new 4K restoration is a perfect way to watch it.

Typhoon Club, from Third Window Films, is now available in a new 4K restoration, region-free blu ray.

Bonus Features

• New 4K digital remaster from the original negatives
• Feature audio commentary by Tom Mes
• Selected audio commentary by Josh Slater-Williams
• Assistant Director Koji Enokido Talk Event
• Introduction by Ryusuke Hamaguchi at the Berlin Film Festival
• Trailer 
• Slipcase with artwork from Gokaiju
• ‘Director’s Company’ edition featuring insert by Jasper Sharp – limited to 2000 copies