A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Alias:
楳図 かずお
Birthplace:
Kōya, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
Born:
September 3, 1936
Kazuo Umezu or Kazuo Umezz (楳図 かずお, Umezu Kazuo, birth name 楳図一雄; born September 3, 1936) is a Japanese manga artist, musician and actor. Starting his career in the 1950s, he is among the most famous artists of horror manga and has been vital for its development, considered the "god of horror manga". In 1960s shōjo manga like Reptilia, he broke the industry's conventions by combining the aesthetics of the commercial manga industry with gruesome visual imagery inspired by Japanese folktales, which created a boom of horror manga and influenced manga artists of following generations. He created successful manga series such as The Drifting Classroom, Makoto-chan and My Name Is Shingo, until he retired from drawing manga in the mid 1990s. He is also a public figure in Japan, known for wearing red-and-white-striped shirts and doing his signature "Gwash" hand gesture.
Author:
1995 Drifting School
Comic Book:
1980 Makoto-chan
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
Creator:
1980 Makoto-chan
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
Director:
1980 Makoto-chan
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2014 Mother
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
Novel:
1980 Makoto-chan
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2006 God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2014 Mother
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
Original Story:
1968 The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch
1980 Makoto-chan
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1990 The Curse of Kazuo Umezu
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
1996 Baptism of Blood
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Death Make
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Diet
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: House of Bugs
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Present
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Snake Girl
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: The Wish
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2006 God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2014 Mother
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
2016 My Name is Shingo
Screenplay:
1968 The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch
1980 Makoto-chan
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1990 The Curse of Kazuo Umezu
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
1996 Baptism of Blood
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Death Make
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Diet
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: House of Bugs
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Present
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Snake Girl
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: The Wish
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2006 God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2014 Mother
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
2016 My Name is Shingo
Story:
1968 The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch
1980 Makoto-chan
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1990 The Curse of Kazuo Umezu
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
1996 Baptism of Blood
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Death Make
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Diet
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: House of Bugs
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Present
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Snake Girl
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: The Wish
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2006 God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2014 Mother
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
2016 My Name is Shingo
Theme Song Performance:
1968 The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch
1980 Makoto-chan
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1990 The Curse of Kazuo Umezu
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
1996 Baptism of Blood
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Death Make
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Diet
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: House of Bugs
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Present
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Snake Girl
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: The Wish
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2006 God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2014 Mother
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
2016 My Name is Shingo
Writer:
1968 The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch
1980 Makoto-chan
1985 Evil Heart
1987 The Drifting Classroom
1990 The Curse of Kazuo Umezu
1993 Kazuo Umezu's Terror Zone: Horror!
1995 Drifting School
1996 Baptism of Blood
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Death Make
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Diet
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: House of Bugs
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Present
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: Snake Girl
2005 Kazuo Umezu's Horror Theater: The Wish
2006 Cat-Eyed Boy
2006 God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand
2008 Orochi - Blood
2008 Tamami: The Baby's Curse
2014 Mother
2015 Tales of the Bizarre 25th Anniversary Spring Special: Popular Manga Artist Competition
2016 My Name is Shingo
Creator:
1976 Cat-Eyed Boy
Novel:
1976 Cat-Eyed Boy
2002 Long Love Letter
Writer:
1976 Cat-Eyed Boy
2002 Long Love Letter
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Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.