Anime!

The makers of Oldboy think it appeals to the anime and manga crowds.

It's got dismemberment sequences, a live octopus-eating scene, stupendous fights and flashy cinematography. So it's not surprising that Quentin Tarantino pushed hard for "Oldboy" in May when he headed the judging panel at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

After South Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park took home the Grand Jury Prize for "Oldboy," the marketing challenge boiled down to how best to promote a movie without stars. "Oldboy" lead player Min-sik Choi is hardly a household name, and even though MJ Peckos, chief executive of Tartan Films USA, has followed Asian cinema for years, she was unfamiliar with Park's pre-"Oldboy" oeuvre. But Peckos says that marquee names are not particularly important to "Oldboy's" target audience. "A lot of these films are appealing to the same group that discovered anime and manga, and they don't need to be hit over the head with well-known actors. There's an appreciation for the filmmaking."