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Reviews
Evil Dead II (1987)
Cabin+Woods+Evil Spirits = Hilarious Horror!
Sporting the tagline, `Kiss your nerves goodbye' - Evil dead 2 is essentially a re-make of Sam Raimi's first Evil dead movie. This time round the movie's bigger budget is noticeable in the effects department. However, the movie remains loyal by weaving in and out the original storyline. It differs with its slightly more tongue-in-cheek approach with more gore, more frights and an interesting twist at the end allowing for the classic pun in the third movie in the series: The Medieval Dead.
Bruce Campbell is back in his superb role as Ashley, the store clerk looking forward to a quiet weekend away with his girlfriend in a cabin in the woods. His weekend turns out to be anything but quiet. Inadvertently, he summons evil spirits when he finds spooky incantations on a tape recorder belonging to a Professor researching into the phenomena. When his girlfriend is possessed, Ashley is forced to kill her and buries her out in the woods. But she doesn't stay in the ground long. She returns to the cabin to aide the evil spirits in wrecking havoc and generally making Ashley's life hell. And they succeed with horrific and hilarious results.
This is a gem of a movie paying tribute to the original, which in it's own right is an all time classic having inspired and influenced a whole new genre of horror flicks. The camera work, in particular the first person POV of the `demon/evil spirit' is unique for its time, producing astonishing results. Bruce Campbell's role is highly commendable. His facial expressions alone allow the audience to empathise with his agony. The film does lack the eerie spookiness of the original but makes up with the laughs and the gore that is exaggerated for maximum effect. A must for horror fans!
Anaza hevun (2000)
Heaven for Japanese horror fans!
Two cops investigate a series of gruesome murders involving gourmet cooking with human brains as the main ingredient! After capturing the serial killer who also happens to be brainless (quite literally!) they close the bizarre case as solved. However, when sporadic copycat murders follow, the cops are drawn back deeper into the case and begin to discover some unsettling truths about who, or more precisely what they're dealing with. Even though the film doesn't score high for originality, director and writer Jôji Iida does a fantastic job maintaining the suspense factor, keeping the audience guessing right to the end. As a result, the occasional slower moments in the movie don't really slow the overall pace, if anything, it helps with the character development. All the acting is on a superior level, more notably the two cops displaying awesome on-screen chemistry. Yosuke Eguchi plays the younger, 'good cop' with Yoshio Harada as his older, slightly more ruthless counterpart. Overall, this genre merging sci-fi / horror movie manages to deliver, captivating the viewer with suspenseful twists and at the same time not over-doing the gore to unbelievable levels. The shocks are kept moderately frequent and the intelligent, well thought out ending followed by the excellent Japanese theme song at the credits make this a movie guaranteed to satisfy fans of the genre(s).
Jipangu (1990)
A definite gold medallist
Set in a fantasy futuristic medieval Japan, 'Zipang' is a deliciously quirky action movie following the wacky adventures of outlaw Jigoku-goraku-Maru as he is pursued by a band of bounty hunters led by Teppo Oyuri otherwise known as Pistol Lily. During their escapades they meet a half naked guy and decide to help him recover the legendary sword thought to be the key to 'Zipang' the city of gold where his lover is held hostage by the evil king.
The characters are interesting, requiring no real development due to their comic book style appeal. Director Kaizo Hayashi does a great job paying a tongue-in-cheek tribute to an era of classic martial arts characters including a not-so-blind samurai and a ninja displaying amazingly ability. The style over substance element means the film does slow down at points and the ridiculous plot doesn't give the viewer enough to cling on to. But who cares? The action scenes are excellent and the humour is great, remaining buoyant even when the plot spirals into absurdity.
Shiryô no wana (1988)
Scooby-Doo meets Jeepers-Creepers Japanese style.
When a Television reporter receives what appears to be a snuff movie and directions to the scene of these atrocities, her curiosity gets the better of her. Longing for fame and an opportunity to boost the ratings of their TV show, her colleagues follow suit and before long, the five hapless television workers are driving to an old, abandoned building situated in a remote part of the city. This movie remains loosely within the boundaries of conventional survival horror, maintaining (for at least the first half of the movie) the minimal level of suspense required to keep the audience interested if not entirely captivated. At first glance, this movie appears to be predicable but tends to surprise occasionally by touching on extremes ranging from ultra-graphic scenes of gore, sex and violence to plain simple absurdity. A particular scene involving an eye lasts about ten seconds but rates about fifteen on the ten-scale cringe factor and is guaranteed to remain with the viewer long after the credits roll. The curious reporters make up a very 'Scooby-Doo' like team, seemingly oblivious to the apparent dangers of entering the old abandoned building. Their sanity is questionable when they continue their casual investigation, entering dark spooky places and continuing to put themselves in grave danger throughout the movie, even after their colleagues seem to be dropping like flies. But without their stupidity, there would be no movie so the audience is left to merely sympathies as they bear witness to the fate of each victim. However, unlike most survival horror movies where it is difficult for the audience to care about the person getting killed, Evil Dead Trap, even with it's lack of character development and the stupidity of the characters walking into certain doom a certain level of empathy is felt as they are after all, reporters doing their jobs and not a bunch of 'pesky' kids just waiting to get killed. The camera work is superb. The first person shots of the stalker appear to resemble Sam Raimi's Evil Dead. Thrown in is a seemingly gratuitous and prolonged sex scene just to make sure all the ingredients are present for the standard stalker/survival horror movie genre. The movie does slow down halfway through with certain scenes prolonged unnecessarily to pad it out a bit. Clues are thrown at the audience haphazardly building up their confidence temporarily and at the same time leading them astray before revealing the extremely bizarre and unpredictable ending. Overall, a fair movie for die-hard fans of Japanese horror, but likely to be dismissed by fans of western mainstream horror due to it's slow pace and the bizarre twists in the storyline.
Gokudô kuroshakai (1997)
A dog that swims well in the city of rain
Director Takeshi Miike takes a break from his usual trademark ultra-violent comic book style action to bring us this slow paced, yet interesting drama, portraying an ex-Yakuza hit-man exiled to Taiwan for reasons unknown. The rain throughout the movie not only sets the mood but also symbolises the monotony of normal, everyday life felt by the protagonist as a contrast to his previous life as a Yakuza. Coming to terms with his new life, he does small time hits for a local gang and manages to maintain some stability and a sense of purpose in the otherwise meaningless existence of a hit-man. However, his world is turned upside down when a woman he doesn't remember leaves him with a child who is supposedly his. As he goes about his business of contract kills, his newly acquired 'son' follows him with fascination, observing and mentally clinging onto his alleged father in a cold, lonely and rainy city. Things get even more twisted when he befriends a prostitute and here starts the mingling of this unlikely trio, a subtle touch, typical of the twisted world of Miike. Overall, a heart warming yet poignant drama depicting the harshness of life, comparable to Luc Besson's Leon or Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro no natsu.