If you thought large scale disaster movies were the sole province of Hollywood then you've not been keeping your eye on Japanese cinema, which in the recent years has delivered Sinking of Japan (Nihon chinbotsu), where the threat is outlined in the title, and the coast guard actioner Limit of Love: Umizaru. Now we have 252: Signal of Life (252: Seizonsha ari), and this one's about... oh, I'll let the press release do the talking.

Inspired by a miraculous real-life rescue event that occurred following the Chuetsu earthquake of 2004 and named after the Tokyo Fire Department code that indicates the discovery of survivors in need of rescue, 252: Sign Of Life is an epic, special effects-laden disaster movie that combines the thrills and dramatic heroics of The Towering Inferno with the elemental spectacle of Sinking Of Japan.

Giant, baseball-sized hailstones and a devastating tidal wave are merely precursors to the main event, a mega-typhoon that strikes Japan and virtually destroys Tokyo, leaving a handful of survivors trapped in the rapidly flooding and collapsing subway system with their fate of hanging in the balance. Among them is a former Hyper Rescue Squad member, Yuji Shinohara, and his young deaf-mute daughter, Shiori, along with a desperate businessman, an antagonistic medical trainee and a beautiful Korean nightclub hostess.

Taking turns to tap out the 2-5-2 distress signal on the surrounding walls and pipes as chaos continues to reign above and below ground, they manage to attract the attention of an elite response force from the Tokyo Fire Department on the surface who were about to give up hope of finding anyone alive. With the eye of the huge, killer storm about to hit the area, both the rescuers and survivors must find the courage to risk everything in order to avoid certain death at the hands of nature.

Directed by Nobuo Mizuta (No More Cry; Boy Meets Ghost; Maiko Haaaan!!!) and starring Hideaki Ito (Sukiyaki Western Django), Takayuki Yamada (Maiko Haaaan!!!), Yu Kashii (Death Note) and Korean model-turned-actress Minji (A Lush Life), 252: Sign Of Life (cert. 12) will be released on DVD by MVM on 10th January 2011 at the RRP of £15.99. No extras have been listed.