Hailed both as Japan's Mad Max and its Evil Dead, Sogo Ishii's high-octane, loud-and-proud debut was one of that country's strangest success stories, a graduation project from a film school punk rocker bought by Toei Studios and released nationwide. Not letting his lack of money or experience get in the way, Ishii threw all the flair he had into this postapocalyptic tale of well-coiffed biker boys in black leather, roaring chrome engines, and an urban wasteland of neon and twisted metal. The plot involves Ken, a gang leader dreaming of a quiet life with his girlfriend Noriko, and Jin, Ken's maverick successor, who isn't about to let yakuza kingpins or right-wing nutjobs tell him what to do or whom to kill. Jin's violent individualism in a world where even outlaws follow the bosses' orders references the doomed anti-establishment heroes of Kinji Fukasaku, but Crazy Thunder Road points toward a new style of genre filmmaking-fast-paced, quick-witted, and brilliantly stylized.