Shimako Sato's "K-20: The Fiend With Twenty Faces" coming to R1 DVD

US distributor VIZ Pictures will finally be releasing Shimako Sato's K-20: The Fiend With Twenty Faces (K-20: Kaijin Niju Menso Den, 2008) on DVD on April 20th. The company picked up rights to the film last summer and it has since been screened at several major film festivals as well as VIZ's own theater in San Francisco's Japantown. To celebrate the DVD's release, they'll be holding a special theatrical screening at VIZ Cinema on April 20th at 7:00pm. For full details, see this link.

K-20 takes place in an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened and the Japanese capital of Teito has become home to a dichotomy consisting of the ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called "The Fiend (Kaijin) with 20 Faces" begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20's crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20's next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.

Region 1, NTSC, 137 min., anamorphic widescreen. Japanese Dolby 5.1 audio with English subtitles.

Source: SciFi Japan

Available at the following retailer(s) on April 20, 2010: