American actor and martial artist of Chinese and Japanese descent Kane Kosugi will appear opposite Gotham star Ben McKenzie and Beyond Skyline actress Bojana Novakovic in a new horror movie Bloat based on Japanese folklore scary legends. The story unfolds around a mom (Novakovich) and two sons who are vacationing in Japan while the father of the family (McKenzie), a military officer, is away stationed in Turkey. During their stay outside Tokyo, their younger son almost drowns in a lake. Soon after the accident, the parents realize that something is wrong with their boy. Kosugi plays McKenzie's character's friend who comes for rescue. He will join Bon Koizumi, great-grandson of the legendary Japanese folklorist and horror story collector Lafcadio Hearn and the director of his museum.
Kosugi made his film debut at the age of 8 with a role in Revenge of the Ninja (1983) opposite his father, Sho Kosugi, the iconic actor behind the 1980's Ninja craze in Hollywood. In the 90's Kosugi moved to Japan, where he continued to work in films and television. He played in the Super Sentai Series Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and appeared on numerous Sasuke programs with younger brother Shane. Kosugi is known for a 1997 movie adaptation of the manga series Cat's Eye and a Hollywood martial arts action film DOA: Dead or Alive (2006), based on the video game franchise Dead or Alive. Kosugi starred in TV series Ultraman: the Ultimate Hero (1993) as Ultraman's alter ego and co-starred in Ryuhei Kitamura's action-packed tribute to kaiju eiga Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).
Bloat is the international co-production of the Hollywood filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov's banner Bazelevs (Wanted, Unfriended, Searching), French production and sales house Pulsar Content (The Deep House) and Japanese production company flag Co., Ltd. The story is written and directed by Tokyo-based horror filmmaker, J-Horror shorts queen Pablo Absento. Her horror short SHI became a festival favorite and received accolades from Guillermo del Toro and Eli Roth. Absento also directed several episodes for SMA Horror produced by the creator of The Grudge Takashi Shimizu.
