Philosophy of a Knife

Philosophy of a Knife is a 2008 Russian-American horror film written, produced, shot, edited, and directed by Andrey Iskanov. It covers the Japanese Army's Unit 731, mixing archival footage, interviews, and extremely graphic reenactments of experiments performed there.[1]

Philosophy of a Knife
DVD cover
Directed byAndrey Iskanov
Written byAndrey Iskanov
Produced byAndrey Iskanov
StarringYukari Fujimoto
Yumiko Fujiwara
Svyatoslav Iliyasov
Manoush
CinematographyAndrey Iskanov
Edited byAndrey Iskanov
Music byAlexander Shevchenko
Production
company
Distributed byTLA Releasing
Release date
  • July 8, 2008 (2008-07-08) (United States)
Running time
247 minutes
CountriesRussia
United States
LanguagesEnglish
Russian

The film is four hours long and is presented in two parts (Part one and Part two). It was shot in black and white and in English. The interviews are shot in color and have English subtitles.

Plot

During World War II in China, a Japanese covert division known as Unit 731 conducts gruesome experiments on humans in its research for biological and chemical warfare.

Release

Philosophy of a Knife was shown at the 2008 Sitges Film Festival.[2] TLA Releasing and Unearthed Films released the unrated film on DVD in July 2008.

Soundtrack

The film features Manoush and Cyanide Savior's song "Dead Before Born" as well as a song by A. Shevchenko, "Forgive Me", with Manoush speaking the introduction to the track. It also includes an original score by Shevchenko. A selection of tracks named Choice Cuts from Philosophy of a Knife has been released as a limited edition double vinyl, plus a bonus CD by Spikerot Records in 2018.

Reception

The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre has Philosophy of a Knife listed as the fifth most disturbing film it has covered, and stated that while it was interesting and intense "I was reminded of Gibson's Passion in that the movie takes an ambitious and difficult subject, then spends most of its time focusing only on gore".[3]

Rob Hunter of the Film School Rejects called it a "crappy exploitation film" and "pseudo-documentary" that could only be worth watching "if all of Iskanov's footage was edited out, and just the documentary footage coupled with the dry, British, informative narration were left".[4] A 0 out of 5 was given by Dread Central's Scott A. Johnson, who concluded, "As a reviewer, one tries to find a few positive things to say about each film. Congratulations are in order for Philosophy of a Knife in that it succeeded in being the crappiest pile of masturbatory, art-house wannabe, pedantic and mean-spirited shit I've ever had the displeasure of watching".[5]

See also

References
  1. DVD Talk
  2. Philosophy of a Knife, Festival de Cine de Sitges 2008. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
  3. "Andrey Iskanov". Philosophy of a Knife. The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
  4. "Foreign Objects: Philosophy of a Knife". Film School Rejects. 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  5. Johnson, Scott (5 July 2008). "Philosophy of a Knife (2008)". dreadcentral.com. Dread Central. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
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