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Cold Fish

Play trailer Poster for Cold Fish 2011,  2h 24m,  Drama/ Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 75% 24 Reviews Tomatometer 75% 1,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
75% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 75% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
The passive owner of a fish store becomes entangled with a murderous couple and implicated in their gruesome crimes.

Critics Reviews

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Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times Aug 4, 2011
4/5
A deliciously warped wallow in misogyny, depravity and dead-eyed manipulation, "Cold Fish" charts the twisted alliance of two tropical-fish salesmen with baleful glee. Go to Full Review
Mark Olsen Village Voice Aug 2, 2011
Cold Fish is wild, head-turning, stomach-churning stuff, and it makes a bracing addition to the overstuffed canon of serial-killer cinema. Go to Full Review
Jaime N. Christley Slant Magazine Jul 31, 2011
0/4
Don't let me talk you out of it--after all, I'm no kibbitzer. Go to Full Review
Justine Smith Vague Visages Jun 6, 2024
A slow-boil of escalating hatred, the film builds tension on the pulsing contempt growing inside of Syamoto. Go to Full Review
Ard Vijn ScreenAnarchy Jan 15, 2020
What could have been one of the best and most disturbing thrillers of the year gets somewhat spoiled by a potentially vile subtext and a very mean-spirited finale where the film totally lost me. Go to Full Review
Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Movie Pulse Dec 1, 2019
"Cold Fish" is one of Sono's masterpieces, a great combination of Japanese exploitation, outstanding acting and technical and artistic elaborateness. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Finn W Dec 8, 2018 What a crazy, insane, crazy, insane, crazy, insane movie. There were so many major twists, each one of the shocking variety. I'm so glad someone from r/horror recommended this to me. Theres tons of gore, tons of blood, but if its possible at all, it still has a great story and the gore/blood is needed to express that fully. It really drives home the point of what's going on. The antagonists are awesome, you hate and despise them so much. The protagonist (i think) is even better because you really feel empathy for him. In typical j-horror fashion the acting and dialogue is way over the top, but it totally fits right into the blueprint of this movie. Even with a very long run-time (144min) its very exciting, suspenseful and interesting, from beginning to end. Definitely watch this movie without seeing a preview or reading a description. See more
Rey P Jul 27, 2017 Well shot with an escalating plot that bathes in violence, pain. But there is drama, characters and a family (Sono's favorite target) to be seen as well. A "snapshot of aspects of life" movie that does not disappoint. See more
Albus M Jul 11, 2017 Loosely based on a true story, this film sees a struggling couple who own an exotic fish store jumping at the chance to have a seemingly kind, older gentleman who helped them when their daughter was stealing continue to do them favors, but soon enough, he starts making requests in return. This includes hitting on the other man's wife and forcing the husband to help him dispose of a body, all of which builds into some truly strange twists by the final reel. Great little film, well worth a look. Sion Sono has yet to let me down. See more
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Cold Fish

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis The passive owner of a fish store becomes entangled with a murderous couple and implicated in their gruesome crimes.
Director
Sion Sono
Producer
Yoshinori Chiba, Toshiki Kimura
Screenwriter
Sion Sono, Yoshiki Takahashi
Distributor
AMC Entertainment
Production Co
Nikkatsu
Genre
Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
Japanese
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 5, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 20, 2016
Runtime
2h 24m
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