Audition - Lisa's Review

I became a Japanese horror fan 12 or 13 years ago and Audition was one of the first movies Japanese movies I watched.  I had watched a couple before this so was prepared for the odd style, which is just as well, as Audition is probably as odd as it comes.  From the off I'll say it.  I love this movie.  It's all kinds of strange, the words of an old rock song by a band called Crimson Glory sum it up quite succinctly... "Strange and beautiful... wicked and wonderful".  I'm deliberately not going to go into much detail on the story as it's a movie a lot of people won't have seen and they really should change that as it is well worth a watch.  It is also a movie where a lot is left to the viewers own interpretation.  There are quite a few interpretations of the movie to be found online, one of which I am most definitely on board with.  Again, it's not something anyone who hasn't seen the movie should read beforehand.  It's better to go into this movie with as little knowledge as possible.  I'll happily talk about my interpretation if any reader (are there any out there??) wants to know after having viewed the movie.

Kwaidan - Will's Review

Says Wiki:

Kaidan (怪談) (sometimes transliterated kwaidan) is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 (kai) meaning “strange, mysterious, rare or bewitching apparition" and 談 (dan) meaning “talk” or “recited narrative.”

In other words "Ghost Stories", which is what we have here; a collection of 4 short films based on stories by Lafcadio Hearn. 

Ringu (Ring) - Lisa's Review

*** CONTAINS SPOILERS ***

This weeks movie leaves me with no confusion or confliction when writing the review.  This movie was my introduction to the wonderful world of Japanese horror.  A colleague told me about the movie as he knew I liked my horror.  He lent me a copy and so it began!

We start the movie with talk of an urban legend of sorts surrounding a strange movie on a VHS tape.  Apparently anyone who watches the movie is supposed to die within 7 days.  Of course anyone who hears the story does the usual poo-pooing and insists on watching it.  This is the case for 4 teenage girls.  Sadly they find out there is more than an element of truth to this legend.

The movie gets properly underway with the introduction of Reiko Asakawa, a young reporter who is investigating the stories about the creepy video.    She discovers there have been unexplained deaths of several teenage girls, who it is claimed watched the video.

I won't go into any further detail about the rest of the story, but what this movie achieves (and in fact is true of most Japanese movies) is managing to scare the bejezus out of you with no need for loads of effects and obviousness.  The movie manages to hold a disturbing, creepy air for the duration.  I can honestly say I was hooked and genuinely scared from 5 minutes in.  This is from someone who had, before the first time I watched Ringu, never watched a Japanese movie.  The movie also included a scene that honestly had me almost shitting my pants!  Seriously frightening!

Following watching this movie, I watched any Japanese horrors I could get my hands on and discovered a wealth of wonderful new movies.  There are a lot of American remakes of these movies, including this one.  I would strongly recommend you watched the Japanese version, rather than the remade American version.  They just don't manage to get under your skin like the originals.

If you didn't already guess, I thoroughly recommend this movie if you haven't seen it.  Even if you've seen the American remake, watch the original, it's a world apart.  Sticking a big, fat 'Recommended' on this one.

Pulse (2001) - Lisa's Review

FINALLY I get around to posting a review for 'Pulse'.  Apologies - A family trip to Yorkshire and subsequent catch-up with other aspects of life has me running behind on a lot of things.

So, to the movie.  This is a very difficult one.  I am usually a big fan of Japanese horror and I don't argue that this movie is definately unsettling and has a great score throughout, but for me, there is more lacking than there is positive about the movie.  Having watched the movie, I was left feeling rather confused by some aspects of it.  I did some reading...all I can say is, how the viewer is meant to come to the conclusions about the supposed social commentary and reflections on the evils of the internet is beyond me.

The movie has two stories running parallel.  In one a young woman is concerned about the disappearances of first one and subsequently more of her work colleagues.  We follow her search for answers as to what has happened and then why.


The second story follows a student who has just had the internet installed (ahhhh I remember that old dial-up noise well).  All of a sudden his computer is logging onto the internet by itself and he is being shown images of different people in what seems to be a repetitive loop of activity.  These images are rather creepy, but only in the same way that some CCTV images of today are creepy when you know something is amiss.  We follow his search to find answers as to what is going on.

Asides from a few creepy images, there was nothing in this film to produce any scares usually associated with Japanese horror movies.  It all boils down to a ghostly conclusion and explanation as to why ghosts are present in our world and to be honest that thought is the scariest aspect of the movie for me.  I'm a person that takes a lot of scaring, but do this subject correctly and you'll scare the bejezus outta me.  Sadly, this movie didn't deliver for me in this respect, although I will say I will think about it later in bed when I really shouldn't.

I would recommend this to any lovers of Japanese Horror, but most definately not to a casual horror viewer. The confusing attempts at a warning as to the evils of technology and the internet within this movie seems to be more of a priority for the director than how the movie would translate for the viewer.

In all, no big thumbs down or up from me this time around.  One to watch if the genre interests you.  ne probably best to avoid if you're not a lover of confusing movies with social messages.