Rinne (2006)

An actress is the target of weird supernatural happenings after getting the lead in a movie about a massacre that happened in a hotel 35 years ago. Meanwhile, a college student tries to figure out why she has reoccurring dreams and visions about the same hotel.

Shimizu tries to get out of the shadow of Ju-On with this picture. While the mainstream gets hooked on the “technocurse” stories, Shimizu uses his movie as somewhat as a shoutout to his inspirations and weaving it in an original story, making it his own. His signature location shots really bring this out. While it’s touted as a “horror movie”, this is more of a psycho-thriller as it slowly uncovers inch by inch of a mystery. It’s very well paced and works well with jump scares.

While I don’t have problems with the movie, many have been bored with the pacing as well as become confused with the understandable ending. Another thing that hurts the movie is that it was part of the 8 Films To Die For collection. A lot of the movies in the collection use a lot of gore and shock. To be hit with a slow rise horror like Rinne really hurts it.

The disc from Lionsgate includes a behind the scenes journal, an interview with Shimizu, deleted scenes which are just odds an ends and trailer park. The Audio and video were great as always.

3 stars.

Chakushin Ari (2003)

A viral curse goes through cell phones and sends “messages” to the owners giving them evidence of their deaths at a certain time in the future. It’s up to a woman and the brother of a former victim to figure out how this started or risk becoming their next victims.

This is Takeshi Miike’s jaunt in “mainstream” picture. His first time away from indy and V-cinema and his handling of “new wave” cinema. While I do want to say something good about the picture, this is a…standard effort from Miike. I think he took this job to see if he can work under set and dried rules instead of working with his own. All he put out was a standard. Sure, his cinematography and certain themes he works with is in there (dysfunction, The Outcast), if you put this side by side with other technocurse genre, you wouldn’t be able to pick out his. There is some great scare sequences and stuff that builds suspense though. I do like the idea that the curse transmits via cell phone. Over in Japan, The cell has got this omnipresent presence in culture. It’s a perfect subject to prey on.

I definitely find it funny that Hollywood, out of all the movie catalogue of Takashi Miike, choose this movie. The movie that has the least amount of Miike How retarded are they? “Let’s see. We can never win with Fudoh, Visitor Q, Dead or Alive or Happiness of the Katakuras. I can’t make fuck all of Audition and Ichi the Killer….*sigh*…wait. Long haired ghost girls? Cell phones? What Is this movie!?!” I will laugh my fucking ass off if they bring Miike in to direct an Erin Kreuger written sequel. It’s freaking silly.

Tokyo Shock has put out a two disc feature. First disc is the movie with English Subtitle and Dub. The second disc is interviews with the cast. Deleted scenes which are nothing to write home about, trailers and an interview with Miike himself.

I’d recommend it to Miike completest. Nothing more. General fans can rent it when they want to. Again, it’s not a bad movie, but if you seen one scary ghost girl movie, you saw them all.

three stars.

Coming Attractions…

Coming Attractions…

Seiju Gakuen (1974)

A woman goes undercover in a convent to find out what had happened to her parents. What she finds in the convent is worse then the daily life. And the more deeper she gets, the more uglier it gets.

Holy noogie. If there was any movie representative of the sub genre of Nunsploitation, this is it. It’s got everything. I mean everything. Self flagellation. Flagellation of others. Lesbianism. Witch hunters. Inquisition. Flagellation with roses. Japanese Rasputin. Yes, Japanese Rasputin. That’s how hardcore this movie is. And I’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg. It’s that good.

Another thing that makes it good is the cinematography. There is very lush color throughout the film and the angles are awesome. Especially in the start of the film when we’re introduced to the abbey. Long shots of the building cut in with a swirling dust storm gives the effect of a Gothic manor you might see in a Hammer film. One of the Dracula films maybe. The Rose torture is also very excellent. The blocking of the movie makes it as well. It helps to show an idea of ordered chaos vs. chaotic order. Nuns in line like soldiers present a very powerful image.

Cult Epics does and awesome job cleaning this up and shipping it out. Excellent Audio/Video. On the disc is a trailer and interviews with Yumi Takugawa, who played the lead and film critic Risaku Kiridoushi, who talks about the beginnings of sexploitation in Japan. Even though both segments could be edited a bit more, they’re great segments none the less.

Four Stars.

Movie trailer provided by Nunsploitation.net

Shiryo no Wana (1988)

A Reporter gets a snuff movie via mail and decides to trace it. Her search leads her to an abandoned factory, not knowing a psycho killer is at large.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that this is japan’s version of what a Dario Argento movie looks like to them. From the gruesome murders to the music, it somewhat has Dario’s fingerprints on them. That’s cool. Nothing wrong with paying homage to the ones who inspire you. In fact, that’s the thing that makes it great. It’s a valiant effort.

What shuts it down is the last 45 minutes. I mean, yeah, try to tie it up, but do you wanna tie it up that way? It all feels rushed and listless in where you want the movie to go. This was totally breakfast meeting material. Walks in the park could have come up with better material then this. Not that I’m against leaving the audience going “WTF?” at the end, but geez, can we just anchor it a little better then what you put out. It makes everyone feel cheated.

While this is a cornerstone for J-Horror Cinema, I don’t think one should put out an effort yet to search this out. If you must get it, make sure you get the essentials before it. Like Gojira and Tetsuo.

2 stars.