Sadistic human experiments inside Japan's notorious WW2 Unit 731 where PoWs were infected with plague, raped and buried alive are brought to life in ultra-violent Chinese movie

UK Daily Mail ^ | 12/27/2025 | IMOGEN GARFINKEL

[DFG]

There are no documented survivors of Unit 731, the covert department of the Imperial Japanese army that conducted lethal experiments on thousands of civilians in occupied China.

As it sought to develop chemical and nuclear weapons, the unit subjected its mostly Chinese victims to a catalogue of horrors beyond the human imagination between 1936 to 1945, when the Empire of Japan surrendered.

Civilians were dissected alive without without anesthesia, infected with bubonic plague, typhus and cholera and used as human guinea-pigs for frost-bite treatments in spine-chilling torture laboratories.

A new Chinese film called 'Evil Unbound' has brought to life the unspeakable acts that occurred in the germ warfare prisons, where even pregnant women - raped by guards - were subjected to vivisections, and the dead were hastily disposed of in electric furnaces.

The ultra-violent movie, directed by Linshan Zhao, isn't just a deep-dive into old wounds, but has the potential to stoke anger in the present day due to its disturbing revelations about the crimes against humanity committed by the Japanese.

In fact, before its theatrical release in China on September 18, the Japanese embassy issued a security advisory cautioning Japanese nationals to be 'vigilant against anti-Japanese sentiment' due to films and events held in conjunction with World War Two's 80th anniversary.

Its debut was even abruptly postponed from its original July 31 date, sparking speculation in Japanese media that the delay may have been aimed at avoiding diplomatic tensions.

While the gory spectacles showcased throughout 'Evil Unbound' may seem excessive, in reality the film hardly touches the surface of what truly occurred in the notorious facilities.

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TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: japs; movies; unit731; ww2

[DFG]

Story has graphic pictures

[BipolarBob]

When is this blockbuster coming to the big screen? It’s got Emmy wrote all over it.

[BenLurkin]

Well that should whip up the masses. Makes going to war easier if Bob in Huwei can be made to reflexively hate japanese people.

[BenLurkin]

A double feature with Green Inferno.

[Frank Drebin]

This is nothing more than propaganda warfare by China. They're upset about Japan beginning to flex its influence in the region and reaching out to Taiwan.

The Japanese paid the ultimate price for what they began in 1937, it is done. The CCCP is committing atrocities in many spheres at this very moment. Let's keep our eye on the ball.

[Leaning Right]

I don’t know if the movie will mention it, but soon after the war ended General MacArthur granted immunity to all Unit 731 physicians and leaders in return for exclusive access to their “research”. So the monsters walked free.

Nice going, MacArthur.
Not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731#Surrender_and_immunity

[BipolarBob]

The same director as Hostel? No thanks. I couldn’t finish that movie.

[Retain Mike]

The Japanese were also intent on waging biological warfare as part of the homeland battle. During occupation searchers uncovered large stockpiles of viruses, spirochetes, and fungus spores throughout rural Japan. These biological pathogens had already been tested on several hundred thousand people in Chinese villages and on prisoners of war. Japanese civilian militias were to stay behind advancing Americans to infuse pathogens into food and waters sources, to release infected animals and insects into American compounds, and to infect themselves with choleras and plaque germs.

This was just one of the things we avoided by dropping the atomic bomb. Japanese Biomedical Experimentation During the WW II Era, Sheldon H. Harris, PhD

About Unit 731

https://unit731.org/

[abigkahuna]

Yes, this is the plan—to whip up animosity toward the Japanese. What happened in WW2 was horrendous—as horrible as the actions of the Nazis in Europe—but when comes the point when the sins of the great grandfathers are no longer visited upon the great grandsons? We —the United States have done that with Japan and Germany, but then again, our population did not suffer the personal ravages, except for those unfortunate enough to be POW or otherwise interned by Japan.

I have wondered these past few years as to when China would touch upon these very subjects. No doubt the Japanese will be treated as evil, buck toothed, comic book villians with a myopic squint...(much as we did in propaganda during the War)

China has every right to revisit the past—but to what end? As part of the campagin to absorb Tawain? To keep Japan’s nascent offensive military at bay?

Japan probably should revisit the past also and aonce again pologize for such atrocities humbly and then close the door on the subject.

Yes, this all happened—Japan was not a good guy then, but is now. Societies can change (ie slavery) I don’t agree with China’s actions because of timing and the ultimate goals, re: Tawain. But like I said, China has every right to open this can of sorrow and pain and expose its gross mistreatment during the war.

[Bonemaker]

“The Japanese were also intent on waging biological warfare...”

The democrats learned well...able to ruin much of Trump’s first term with covid.

[Steven Scharf]

When is this blockbuster coming to the big screen? It’s got Emmy wrote all over it.

I think you mean an Oscar. In order to qualify, a film must have a theatrical release in eith NY or LA of a certian number of days during this year.

[sockmonkey]

The Nanjing Massacre was also an atrocity against Chinese by Japan.

In one example on November 23, the Nanqiantou hamlet near Wuxi was set on fire, with many of its inhabitants locked within the burning houses. Two women, one a 17-year-old girl and the other pregnant, were raped repeatedly until they could not walk. Afterwards, the soldiers rammed a broom into the teenager's vagina and stabbed her with a bayonet, then "cut open the belly of the pregnant woman and gouged out the fetus". A crying two-year-old boy was wrestled from his mother's arms and thrown into the flames, while the hysterically sobbing mother was bayoneted and thrown into a creek. The remaining thirty villagers were bayoneted, disemboweled, and also thrown into the creek.

FWIW, This history is not taught in Japanese Schools.

[x]

China has every right to revisit the past—but to what end? As part of the campagin to absorb Tawain? To keep Japan’s nascent offensive military at bay?

Focusing on an external enemy is a great way of maintaining control and keeping people disciplined.

[bray]

Isn’t Buddism wonderful.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

No matter how bad they make it, the real thing was much worse.

[Dacula]

I have family who lived through this atrocity, and the stories they tell are even worse.

[DesertRhino]

“The Men Behind the Sun” covered this. Horrifying beyond words.

[waterhill]

I have read about this. Gruesome.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I used to work with a man from China who was a young teen during the Japanese occupation of China and he HATED the Japanese.

[BipolarBob]

Yeah. I don’t keep up with those vanity awards.