It seems as though the world has been taken over by Battle Royal fever. Video games like PUBG, H1K1 and Fortnite are consuming our spare time and breaking Twitch viewing records left, right and center. So where did it all start?
There are more than a few parallels to be drawn from the current digital entertainment craze and some great movies from the past couple of decades. The most obvious one is of course The Hunger Games - books before they catapulted Jennifer Lawrence into stardom.
But there's one film (one of our all-time faves) that should not be forgotten. Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル) is Kinji Fukasaku's adaptation of Koushun Takami's novel. This Japanese cult classic featuring the always amazing Takeshi Kitano remains a cold, brutal but sometimes funny look at a not-too-distant future that may contain such crazed, forced bloodshed. Trailer time, please:
Battle Royale pops up on Netflix here in the UK from time to time and is well worth a watch if you like a little sadistic twist to your high school outings. In the meantime, don't forget to check out our newly released tees which pay tribute to PUBG and Fortnite. Prey that they are the closest you'll ever get to a real Battle Royale!