90's Asian Horror Part Ten - (Gakuryū Ishii Edition)

ANGEL DUST
(1994)
Dir - Gakuryū Ishii
Overall: MEH
 
Stepping away from the cyberpunk aesthetic of his earlier movies, filmmaker Gakuryū Ishii's Angel Dust, (Enjeru dasuto), takes its cue from American police procedurals, particularly the ones that emphasis serial killer psychiatric profiling.  While it boasts a brooding atmosphere and fetching cinematography from Norimichi Kasamatsu, Ishii and co-screenwriter Yorozu Ikuta's script never picks up the necessary steam to make the arduous pacing forgivable.  The murder plot seems straightforward at first, (somebody picking off random women in crowded subway terminals every Monday), but once Kaho Minami tracks down her former, annoyingly smirking lover and his deprogramming clinic that allegedly "cures" former cult members, the story goes off the rails with a monotonous stream of sluggish set pieces and cryptic dialog.  Several bizarre details are thrown into the mix, (like Minami being married to a hermaphrodite for reasons that are never divulged), but they seem to serve no purpose in an already nebulous narrative and only make the running time feel that much longer.  Not without some merit, but the results are nevertheless frustrating.

 

AUGUST IN THE WATER

(1995)

Dir - Gakuryû Ishii

Overall: GOOD

 

A New Age, sci-fi-adjacent abstraction, August in the Water, (Mizu no naka no hachigatsu), continues writer/director Gakuryû Ishii's stylistic shift from his kinetic early work into transcendental surrealism.  Glacially paced, a sort of coming-of-age story is buried beneath picturesque visuals of natural landscapes, blue waters, skies filled with clouds and lunar close-ups, reflective skyscrapers, and symmetrically-framed interiors.  It all alludes to mystical entities, extraterrestrial manipulation, enlightened comprehension, and metaphysical transformation in a heady exercise that answers no questions in lieu of gradually contemplating its many impenetrable themes.  The movie is frustrating from a narrative perspective and indulgent to a point, which may not be to the tastes of anyone who is trying to piece together a stream of conscious delivery of ideas that is otherwise disguised within a plot-driven scenario.  At the same time though, there is no denying that Ishii's agenda here is fascinating if not comprehensible, unfolding with an ethereal atmosphere, Norimichi Kasamatsu arresting cinematography, and a low-key musical score that often times takes a backseat to equally subdued nature sounds or even dead silence.

LABYRINTH OF DREAMS

(1997)

Dir - Gakuryû Ishii

Overall: GOOD

Writer/director Gakuryū Ishii's third and final film from the 1990s, Labyrinth of Dreams, (Yume no ginga), closes out his trilogy of impenetrable, surreal arthouse movies and is the most aggressively motionless of the lot.  An adaptation of a story by avant-garde, Shōwa period author Yumeno Kyūsaku, it concerns an introverted buss conductor who struggles with her feelings towards her latest work partner who may or may not be a serial killer that has affairs with his coworkers before dispatching of them in automotive "accidents".  While the plot line is easy enough to follow, it is the completely unemotive nature of the characters and comically still presentation that confounds.  People sit or stand across from each other as if physically paralyzed, either not answering one another's questions or waiting literal minutes before offering up a vague response.  This along with a largely barren soundtrack that cuts out the background noise to focus on specific things that offer no further clues, all gives the movie a purposeful hypnagogic atmosphere that never lets up.  Once again, Ishii's frequent collaborator Norimichi Kasamatsu delivers spell-binding cinematography, this time of the soft-focus, black and white variety that makes it seem more at home with something out of the early Japanese New Wave than the era of contemporary J-horror, which it technically almost belongs in.

90's Asian Horror Part Nine

EVIL DEAD TRAP 2

(1992)

Dir - Izô Hashimoto

Overall: MEH

An unrelated sequel to Toshiharu Ikeda's sluggish giallo-throwback Evil Dead Trap, Evil Dead Trap 2, (Shiryô no wana 2: Hideki), takes on a similar motif yet jacks-up the head-scratching insanity.  Writer/director Izô Hashimoto takes over here, concocting a baffling story that throws infidelity, abortion, jealousy, Freudian mommy issues, psychic abilities or the lack thereof, perversity, madness, loneliness, and various other things into an increasingly incoherent narrative that goes for blood-spewing mayhem and ethereal style, all over substance.  Shoko Nakajima makes for a deliberately unconventional protagonist; homely, overweight, and with a sheepish demeanor, she finds herself surrounded by either unhinged weirdos or her own disturbed, waking nightmares brought on by her self-loathing isolation.  Nothing is made remotely clear due to the aloof performances and meandering pacing, culminating in a spectacularly gory third act where Nakajima's best friend, her potential married love interest who has recently been impregnated her best friend, a phony shaman dying of cancer, some other woman, and a ghost kid are all intermingled in a nonsensical, raving slice and dice extravaganza.

 

THE UNTOLD STORY

(1993)

Dir - Herman Yau

Overall: MEH

The first of several collaboration between actor Anthony Wong and filmmaker Herman Yau, The Untold Story, (The Eight Immortals Restaurant: The Untold Story, Bat sin fan dim: Yan yuk cha siu bau), helped significantly in establishing Wong's typecasting as utterly immoral psychopaths.  To provide some relief from the horrifically disturbing and explicit moments that rightfully garnished the movie a Category III rating in its native Hong Kong, Yau plays much of the first two acts as a comedy where the misogynistic police force constantly act like degrading, horny buffoons and their lone female officer both lashes out and does everything she can think of to appear sexy and ergo be taken more seriously by her objectifying cohorts.  Such elements create a massive tonal inconsistency as one would suspect, turning the film into a bizarre, exploitative hybrid that becomes increasing overshadowed by the monstrous deeds of Wong's character who was based off of gambler Huang Zhiheng who murdered multiple people, (including an entire family), and allegedly served them up as BBQ pork buns.  Such acts are shown here in graphic detail and Wong lets loose with an award-winning, diabolical performance that is worth the price of admission for those who can stomach such an unflinching depiction.

 

JAPANESE HELL

(1999)

Dir- Teruo Ishii

Overall: GOOD

For his penultimate film Japanese Hell, (Jigoku: Japanese Hell), Teruo Ishii concocts a quasi-remake of Nobuo Nakagawa's seminal, 1960 arthouse movie Jijoku, be it with a singular story that utilizes the real life atrocities committed by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult that unleashed sarin gas in a Tokyo subway system in 1995, as well as those of child murderer Tsutomu Miyazaki.  Told in an anthology fashion, it is bookended by a former cult member who is calmly approached by Enma - the goddess of death and is then given a tour of the underworld in order for her dedicate the rest of her life in the pursuit of enlightening people of their sinful ways.  While witnessing the torments of hell, Kinako Satô's protagonist gets to experience the comeuppance of both the aforementioned child murderer and her former diabolical guru and his cohorts, which is to say that goofy looking demons mutilate their bodies in cartoonishly horrific ways.  Working outside of the confines of proper studio backing, Ishii is left to concoct such an ambitious story with a noticeably non-existent budget and the results are as unintentionally silly as they are fascinatingly bizarre.  The simple morality tale serves as a proper backdrop for gaudy unwholesomeness, nudity, and some outrageous gore sequences which certainly shows that the filmmaker has lost none of his determination to deliver the exploitative goods, even when he can only afford cheap Halloween masks and a black backdrop for a train and courtroom set.

90's Asian Horror Part Eight

A CHINESE GHOST STORY III

(1991)

Dir - Ching Siu-tung

Overall: GOOD

With two of the previous actors returning and playing different characters, (Joey Wong and Jacky Cheung, respectably), plus director Ching Siu-tung still on board, A Chinese Ghost Story III, (Sinneoi Jauwan III: Dou Dou Dou), is perfectly in line with each entry that came before it.  Set a hundred years after the first film and resurrecting the tree demon from its century-long slumber, the story follows a similar trajectory of said, initial installment.  A sheepish monk and his wise, no-nonsense Master hide out in a haunted temple with a spell-casting mercenary at their side, only to encounter beautiful ghost succubi and do battle against otherworldly forces which take the form of a ridiculous, androgynous madame spirit as well as enormous puppets that spring right out of the cursed earth.  The tone is still hyper kinetic and light on its feet with silliness, yet there is a competitively stronger emphasis on naughty seduction, mild nudity, and severed body parts that itch this one closer into adult territory than straight goof-ridden fantasy.  While some could argue that the plot is merely a rehash and ergo too derivative to keep things together, the grandiose set pieces fly at the screen at a mile a minute and are arguably the most inventive and fun in the whole series.

BLOODY MUSCLE BODY BUILDER IN HELL

(1995)

Dir - Shinichi Fukazawa

Overall: MEH

With a title like Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell, one would go in with some unshakable expectations and for at least half of the running time, Shinichi Fukazawa's only movie of any kind delivers on its promised ridiculousness.  A Z-rent, SOV Evil Dead knock-off, it was originally shot in 1995, yet decades went by before it garnished any form of release, making this sort of a long lost gem that hardly anyone knew about for most of its existence.  Running only sixty-two minutes, it takes eighteen of them until anything happens and even then, things only fly off the rails for the second, claustrophobic half where Fukazawa, his girlfriend, and a psychic get trapped in a tiny, tiny house to do battle, with the latter two getting possessed by stop-motion/papier-mâché goo that looks like a combination of red Play-Doh, spaghetti sauce, and ground beef.  The "special" effects are laughably appalling, (which is a large selling point of course), and Fukazawa has the charisma of a soiled rug, that is until he Hulks-out of his shirt in the last few moments and delivers some groan-worthy one-liners that even Bruce Campbell would be embarrassed by.  Derivative, painfully cheap, and fifty-percent boring as shit, it is still eventually worth one's time when it stops messing around and delivers the stupid.

AUDITION

(1999)

Dir - Takashi Miike

Overall: GOOD

Takashi Miike's first venture of many into horror with Audition, (Ōdishon), also doubled as his most lauded work in the genre, particularly across the Pacific where its torture porn finale was met with wide arms amongst exploitation fans.  An adaptation of Ryu Murakami's novel of the same name and put into motion by the company that produced Ringu the previous year, its gradual tonal shift is masterfully handled by Miike, presenting the first act as something that more resembles a light romantic comedy before unveiling a dubious mystery which finally sets up the brutal last act that is hardly the stuff of easy consumption.  It can be argued that Miike goes too far with the torture scene, yet it actually "only" takes up ten minutes of screen time and is bookended by surreal dream sequences that both offer the viewer a break and tap into the psyche of Ryo Ishibashi's protagonist whose unassuming chauvinism and smitten obsession has led him right into the arms of Eihi Shiina's avenging, feminist angel of death.  The fact that Shiina plays her with an icy, porcelain doll calm is perfectly disturbing, subverting the docile Japanese woman stereotype while making Ishibashi's character come off as both a buffoon and a victim at the same time.  It is ultimately a film that can be appreciated more than it can be enjoyed, but it is also more chilling and artful than obnoxiously brutal.

90's Asian Horror Part Seven

THE BLUE JEAN MONSTER

(1991)

Dir - Kai-Ming Lai

Overall: MEH

While it at least deserves points for originality, The Blue Jean Monster, (Jeuk ngau jai foo dik Jung Kwai), is a mostly obnoxious yet wacky Hong Kong interpretation of what Robocop would be like if it was more horny, gross, and also a comedy.  The second full-length from director Kai-Ming Lai starts off goofy with a cop and his pregnant wife praying to Buddah for a healthy baby boy while their weird, perpetually unfunny housemate drops a fart joke before later having diarrhea after eating regurgitated noodles that come out of an open wound in the stomach of said cop who is now an electric zombie.  So yeah.  As tasteless as any Category III film has ever been, there are homophobic jokes, a prostitute's humongous boobs get the milk deflated out of them, and a guy fondles a pair of Big Macs while something about criminals trying to get their hands on stolen bank money is also haphazardly going on.  There is no shortage of moments to shake your head at while pointing and laughing, but the humor is both too odd and annoying to land.  In this respect, what you are left with is a movie that is equal parts grating and amusing in its weirdness, but for those who can look past how occasionally gross and politically incorrect it is, enjoy.

 

DON'T LOOK UP

(1996)

Dir - Hideo Nakata

Overall: MEH

For his second full-length Don't Look Up, (joyū rei, Ghost Actress), filmmaker Hideo Nakata sets his narrative on a movie set that is plagued by vague supernatural activity; too vague in fact to work its bewitching magic on the audience.  Stylistically, Nakata goes for subdued spookiness where little to no drama is taking place between characters who are professionally getting along well enough to wrap up principal photography on a war time drama.  Said drama is being shot at the same studio that an earlier, unreleased film was being made, resulting in one of the actor's falling to her death.  In this sense, it is a movie about a movie that is haunted by another movie, but that is unfortunately less interesting than it sounds.  Nakata apparently lamented the fact that he showed the specter's face too much, which is odd since it barely makes any appearances in the first place and hardly causes any chills when it does show up in its mostly out-of-focus form.  Large portions of the narrative grow aimless as the stakes never raise behind merely the curiously unexplained, that is until the last act where the ghost lady finally starts going for a body count.  Low-key and unexciting stuff in this variation, it would later get remade twice, once by director Fruit Chan as an American version with the same title and then again in 2015 by Nakata himself as Ghost Theater.

 

NANG NAK

(1999)

Dir - Nonzee Nimibutr

Overall: MEH

 

Thailand's ghost story of Mae Nak Phra Khanong has been the subject of various fictitious interpretations both before and since director Nonzee Nimibutr's version Nang Nak, which is an adequate if unremarkable take on the subject matter.  Written by Thai New Wave filmmaker Wisit Sasanatieng, it concerns a pregnant, teenage bride who bids farewell to her husband as he leaves to fight during the Siamese-Vietnamese War, only for her to die during childbirth and linger on as a spirit that bewitches said husband upon his return.  The story is simple and sticks to the basics of the legend, focusing on the tragic relationship between the two leads who separate under troublesome circumstances and then fully embrace their reunion which is doomed to fail long before Nak's ghostly form lashes out against those who try and break up the spell that is prolonging her family life.  A strong Buddhist undercurrent propels the drama where terrified villagers and monks eventually intervene to restore the natural order of things so that Nak's spirit can progress to the Netherworld, reuniting her and her husband in their resurrected forms.  Nimibutr keeps the melancholic music swelling through most scenes and stages the supernatural moments with furious gusts of wind, but the movie is more concerned with its concepts of grief and acceptance than in delivering either spooky or overt scares.

90's Asian Horror Part Six

HIRUKO THE GOBLIN

(1991)

Dir - Shinya Tsukamoto

Overall: MEH

 

For his follow-up to the career-making, cyberpunk fever dream Tetsuo: The Iron Man, filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto adapted Daijiro Morohoshi's manga Yōkai Hunter, here titled Hiruko the Goblin, (Yōkai Hantā: Hiruko).  Comparatively more user-friendly than his previous movie, (which can be said about nearly every other movie), it has a fittingly wacky tone where a school hosts an underground lair of spider creatures with the heads of their victims attached to them.  Said spider goblin things also stick out their nasty, fat purple tongues which cause people to hallucinate sunny, pleasant memories of their loved ones, making it easier for them to commit violent suicide under such a spell.  The movie is ridiculously violent at times and the set pieces are inventively wacky, all of which is played for laughs as Kenji Sawada and Masaki Kudou run around like a bumbling, screaming Abbot and Costello duo.  Pacing wise, it loses momentum at several intervals and eventually runs in circles until the climax which offers more of the same instead of upping the stakes as was probably intended.  Such issues could be attributed to Tsukamoto apparently going over-budget and having issues with his cast during shooting as this was a considerably bigger production than his earlier, DIY freak-outs.

 

KOKKURI-SAN

(1997)

Dir - Takahisa Zeze

Overall: MEH

 

A rare work in ethereal horror from prominent pink filmmaker Takahisa Zeze, Kokkuri-san takes its stylistic cue from the work of Kiyoshi Kurosawa in its deliberate pacing and emphasis on foreboding chills instead of aggressive jump scares and hacky genre tropes.  In this respect, the movie is atmospherically a triumph, even if the screenplay by Zeze and frequent collaborator Kishu Izuchi is too self-absorbed to properly grasp.  It concerns three teenagers who play the Ouija board style game of the title after being instructed to do so by a clandestine radio personality who hosts a strange, call-in show where people share sexual encounters and whatnot.  Things remain vague throughout as far as the both the plotting and the supernatural occurrences go, which bypass the usual vengeful spirit motif and instead offer up a world where these young women's parents are almost nowhere to be found and manipulation via past versions of oneself bring about repressed sexual anxieties.  While it deserves points for being narratively unique, it becomes frustratingly impenetrable like a cumbersome dream, which is likely intentional yet not as engaging as would be preferred.

 

SHIKOKU

(1999)

Dir - Shunichi Nagasaki

Overall: MEH

While it is overlong and stumbles through a clunky ending, Shunichi Nagasaki's Shikoku, (Land of the Dead), is impressive in its ambition and has a more profoundly thematic agenda than typical jump-scare-ridden J-horror.  Both Kunimi Manda and Takenori Sendo were first time screenwriters, adapting a story from author Masako Bandō which concerns a teenage girl who drowns at the age of sixteen with unfinished life goals and unrequited love beckoning her back, along with her Shinto priestess mother that concocts a long scheme to raise her from the dead.  All of the camera work appears to be handheld which is a unique juxtaposition to the otherwise conventional presentation that indulges in soaring, romantic music just as much as it lingers on deliberately downplayed moments.  The atmosphere is mostly thick and chilling as director Nagasaki only bothers with a few standard scare tactics and mostly lets things play out with intimate patience.  This unfortunately becomes a detriment in the final, sluggish act which makes some curious missteps such as one character spontaneously appearing in an unintentionally goofy manner and another one exhibiting absolutely no emotion whatsoever as her childhood friend and current love interest succumbs to his doom.

The Taishō Roman Trilogy

ZIGEUNERWEISEN

(1980)

Dir - Seijun Suzuki

Overall: GOOD

 

Filmmaker Seijun Suzuki's Zigeunerweisen serves as ground zero for a career resurgence, a stylistic shift from his earlier genre work, and as the first in a trilogy of movies that explore ambiguous narratives with haunting, imprecise motifs that welcomes endless interpretation.  At a hundred and forty-five minutes, it is purposely challenging, coming at a point in Suzuki's career where he had little to lose and everything to gain by going for broke in adapting Kyakken Uchida's novel Disk of Sarasate as something impenetrable.  The narrative begs endless questions as to its small crop of characters and what they metaphorically represent, as well as whether or not they are alive, imaginary, or spectres that are struggling to understand the nature of what befalls them.  Stylistically, it balances odd eroticism, straight-faced black humor, cold performances, a significant lack of incidental music, unnerving supernatural elements, and overall strangeness that could have as little or as much to do with man's inner duality, possessive and dismissive tendencies towards women, and the cultural shift of a post-war, modernized Japan.

KAGERO-ZA

(1981)

Dir - Seijun Suzuki

Overall: GOOD

 

Equipped with a larger budget and the lauded reputation of his previous entry Zigeunerweisen at his disposal, filmmaker Seijun Suzuki's Kagero-Za, (Heat-Haze Theatre), boasts another impossible "story" while embracing the visual poetry that is possible within the cinematic medium.  In other words, this is a movie that "makes no sense" as it were, but can wield endless interpretations for those that feel compelled by its alluring images.  The second in Suzuki's artistically liberating Taishō Roman Trilogy, it concerns a central playwright character who wanders through a series of encounters with two women who may be the same woman, as well as said woman's husband who always has a shotgun on his person.  Anything else plot wise that could be shared would merely involve describing the individual set pieces which grow more and more strange as it goes along.  Whereas Zigeunerweisen seemed to be concerned with similar themes on paper, its companion piece here is arcane in an aggressive sense as there are no simple solutions to be found.  That said, such an assumption can only be made if one was to see this as a puzzle that needed solving.  Instead, basking in what Suzuki and cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka have been able to capture on screen is the most obvious and immediately rewarding route to take.  Though it may be challenging to a fault, arthouse enthusiasts need look no further for something to sink their teeth into.

 

YUMEJI

(1991)

Dir - Seijun Suzuki

Overall: MEH

 

Ten years after the one-two ethereal punch of Zigeunerweisen and Kagero-Za, filmmaker Seijun Suzuki and screenwriter Yōzō Tanaka closed out the series with Yumeji; the most narratively impenetrable of the lot.  This is the only movie in the trilogy to be a biopic of sorts as it features the poet/painter Yumeji Takehisa as its central protagonist, though considering this a conventional telling of an actual person's life, (as well as a conventional anything), would be a grave misstep.  It was nothing new for Suzuki to indulge in the surreal at this point in his career, but it is more in the levels and end result that differentiate it from the still arcane structure of his earlier entries.  The movie detours regularly into evocative, strange imagery which certainly present highlights that are fitting to a story with a real life artist at its center, but all of the characters are intentionally impossible to grasp.  Takehisa was known for his fascination with beautiful women and three of them float in and out of the film, with everyone's mannerisms bouncing between sudden bursts of energetic rage, confusion, sorrow, lust, and calm introspection.  At no point is the audience any wiser as to where it is all leading and once we are given the final shots of Takehisa's painting “Song of Evening Primrose” as the camera slowly pulls back from it, a sense of frustrated curiosity permeates more than anything else.

The Teito Monogatari Series

TOKYO: THE LAST MEGALOPOLIS

(1988)

Dir - Akio Jissoji

Overall: MEH

The first live-action adaptation of Hiroshi Aramata's epic dark fantasy novel Teito Monogatari, Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis is a visually stunning spectacle with an overbearing and confused plot.  At the time, it was one of the most massive-budgeted tokusatsu films in the country's history which makes use of sprawling sets, H.R. Giger creature design, stop-motion animation, and recreations of the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923, as well as 1910 and 1920's Japan.  Kyūsaku Shimada's portrayal as the towering, militant demon villain Yasunori Katō is a memorable one that amongst other things, would heavily inspire the look of Street Fighter's main baddie M. Bison.  Though there are some interesting, ambitious ideas inherent in Aramata's source material which combines ancient magic of the Orient with real world events, (plus there are enough special effects showcases to warrant the intense production), cramming the first four book volumes out of twelve into a coherent cinematic form makes for messy results.  None of the characters are fleshed-out and things progress so quickly that it becomes difficult to keep up, something that is further problematic when the narrative jumps ahead several years.

 

TOKYO: THE LAST WAR

(1989)

Dir - Takashige Ichise

Overall: GOOD

Producer Takashige Ichise takes his first stab at directing in a full-length capacity with Tokyo: The Last War, (Teito Taisen), which is the second and to-date last live action installment of Hiroshi Aramata's Teito Monogatari series.  As opposed to the previous year's Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis which forced four novel's worth of story lines into one film, this one is an adaptation of just the eleventh book Great War in the Capital, be it a substantially tweaked version of said source material.  Kyusaku Shimada is the only actor to return, once again playing the towering, supernaturally-charged bad guy Yasunori Katō with his M. Bison getup in tow.  Stylistically, this is a different beast as Ichise adopts a slow-moving, deliberate tone that is in completely juxtaposition from the first film which bounced all over the place without letting any of the central drama sink in.  Part of this change was no doubt due to the smaller budget which meant that the special effects moments had to be toned down, though Screaming Mad George still delivers the usual goods when the gore gets a chance to shine.  The lack of bombast is a good thing though as characters are properly multi-layered and given room to breathe, plus the harrowing backdrop of World War II's end puts a more emotional emphasis on events that are still a fascinating combination of the mystical, supernatural, and pseudoscience variety.

DOOMED MEGALOPOLIS

(1991/1992)

Dir - Rintaro/Kazuyoshi Katayama/Koichi Chigira/Kazunari Kume/Masashi Ikeda

Overall: MEH

Released in its native Japan a mere two years after the live action franchise wrapped itself up, the OVA adaptation of Hiroshi Aramata's Teito Monogatari struck while the popularity iron was hot, even bringing back Kyusaku Shimada to once again portray the main baddie Yasunori Katō, in voice only form of course.  Considering that the bulk of Aramata's volumes remain unproduced in a cinematic capacity, this anime missed an opportunity to be a comprehensive sequel to Tokyo: The Last War.  Instead, it once again adapts the same first four books in Aramata's series as did the initial film Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis.  In this regard it is a redundant viewing experience, though fans of the source material will appreciate the violence, nudity, and adult-oriented tone, plus Madhouse studio takes advantage of the medium to showcase the more outrageous, otherworldly elements in a manner that the flesh and blood films could not.  This gives the project a comparatively more grandiose scale and broken up into four episodes that each run for roughly forty-five minutes, it covers more ground than what was composited together in its live-action counterpart.  Yet due to its length, the series suffers pacing issues where each segment features a cataclysmic showdown that is proceeded by repetitive conversations between characters that seem useless against the story's unstoppable, villainous force.

80's Asian Horror Part Fourteen

LOVE MASSACRE

(1981)

Dir - Patrick Tam

Overall: MEH

An unfocused narrative and poor character construction undermine Patrick Tam's sophomore effort Love Massacre, (Ai sha); an otherwise stark and menacing art film.  Set in San Francisco yet exclusively a Hong Kong production with no Americans in sight, Tam builds an intense, borderline surreal atmosphere within a modest budget, utilizing lingering/photogenic shots, minimal incidental music, some aloof performances, a largely white color scheme, and a lumbering pace.  Apparently, the only existing print as of this writing have omitted much of the bloodshed and particularly leaves the final act in a stage of disarray, which is hardly Tam's fault if this is merely a result of permanent censorship.  Even with the gore left on the cutting room table, the story still comes off as hazily constructed and could be about love's obsessiveness or merely the tragedy of undiagnosed mental illness.  Likely a little of both, Tam's emphasis on style over substance does not render viewer interest for either Brigitte Lin's protagonist, her suicidal buddy Tina Lau, said buddy's unhinged brother Kuo-Chu Chang's, or said buddy's boring ex-boyfriend Charlie Chin, all of whom get thrown into a love-square that gets abandoned at regular intervals for more beautiful and subdued mood-setting.

CALAMITY OF SNAKES
(1982)
Dir - Chi Chang
Overall: WOOF

A rightfully infamous Tawain/Hong Kong co-production, Calamity of Snakes, (Ren she da zhan, War Between Man and Snakes), features the real life murder of a countless amount of its title reptiles while simultaneously playing itself off as an exploitative comedy.  Most of the first two acts revolve around cartoonishly sleazy rich people having mind-numbingly boring conversations, but thousands of snakes of various sizes are utilized, showing up in every location imaginable from a construction site, to a warehouse, to cars, to every room in a luxury apartment complex, (including a hallway scene where the carpet is invisible due to the amount of slithery reptiles that are crawling all over it).  As far as the animal cruelty is concerned, they are sliced apart, bitten, stomped on, crushed by equipment, set on fire, thrown haphazardly at the poor actors, and even have their gallbladders cut open so that even less fortunate actors can drink the blood.  That last part may be fake, but the on-screen snake destruction certainly is not.  Unsurprisingly then coming from arguably the least classy movie ever made, it is about as entertaining as it is intentionally funny, (meaning not at all), but trash fans may have a field day with the horrendous tonal issues and shameless dedication to its obnoxious shock value.

TWILIGHT OF THE COCKROACHES

(1987)

Dir - Hiroaki Yoshida

Overall: GOOD

Serving as a bleak allegory for both Japanese and Jewish racial perceptions, Hiroaki Yoshida's Twilight of the Cockroaches, (Gokiburi-tachi no Tasogare), is an ambitious live action/animation hybrid, as well as one of the earlier animes to break through to Western audiences.  Anthropomorphizing insects with human faces, voices, and their own culture seeped in traditions and religion, the lone human characters have no dialog and are seen as an imposing, passive force that mirrors the cruel detachment of a higher power.  At the same time, it is impossible not to look at the roaches plight as being anything but concurrent with both the holocaust and the atomic bomb genocide of Japan from World War II.  There are generational issues at play as well, concerning the tribe's assimilation into a world that has always been out to get them, with the younger members having lived a life of luxury and the elders being more accustomed to a survival of the fittest mentality in order to strengthen their divine species.  Throw in a love triangle, a clever first act where the roaches live the high life in a bachelor's inhumanly filth apartment, and the reveal that said bachelor has only come to coexist with his Blattodea roommates due to a crippling depression after his family has left him, and this becomes a dense work with a lot more to unpack than say Joe's Apartment for obvious comparison.

80's Asian Horror Part Thirteen

VIRUS

(1980)

Dir - Kinji Fukasaku

Overall: MEH

 

An intercontinental doomsday film from celebrated Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku, Virus, (Fukkatsu no Hi, Day of Resurrection), exists in multiple versions that range in length and also present different degrees of hopelessness.  The premise is a variation of every post-Hiroshima-bombing disaster epic, with the specifics here revolving around a super virus that moronic scientists have concocted; a virus that breaks free and wipes out the entire human population in a span of seven months.  Well, the entire human population save some scientists and whatnot who are up in Antarctica where the sickness cannot survive, which forces a couple hundred men and eight women to set up their own cooperative counsel in order to move forward and repopulate after such world obliteration.  Allegedly the most expensive Japanese movie at the time, the ensemble cast is loaded with recognizable faces from all sides of the globe, plus the use of some stock footage otherwise disguises what is essentially a talky affair where individual character arcs and thrilling set pieces are kept to the bare minimum.  Still, its combination of bleak circumstances and logical human behavior prevailing, (or at least giving the situation its best shot), are admirable.

 

THE KILLING OF SATAN

(1983)

Dir - Efren C. Piñon

Overall: WOOF

 

Top-to-bottom awful, The Killing of Satan, (Lumaban ka, Satanas), is one of many Fillipino genre films with zero production qualities going for it as well as various ingredients thrown in willy-nilly style.  For one, the lead is a pudgy middle-aged man with a mustache who has all of the charisma of a candy bar that was stepped on, plus two different bad guy's wear ridiculous devil costumes right out of a dollar store Halloween bin.  Considering that one of these villains is supposed to be the Devil himself, you can imagine how threatening of a presence he has on screen with his constant mugging, red cape, and pitch fork.  Along the way there is a naked elf thing that climbs up walls, horrendous laser effects, inane dialog, a cage full of also naked women, snakes being murdered on camera, slap-dash editing, and about two pieces of random, library-cued music that never, ever, ever stops playing.  Director Efren C. Piñon has zero chops from behind the lens as well as none of the finances to pull off anything besides one embarrassing set piece after the other and despite how ridiculous the entire ruckus is, the pacing remains comatose-inducing throughout.  So in other words, good luck staying awake long enough to find anything to deservingly point and laugh at.

 

LADY TERMINATOR
(1988)
Dir - Tjut Djalil
Overall: MEH

 

One of the more notoriously absurd mockbusters ever made, Lady Terminator, (Pembalasan Ratu Pantai Selatan, Revenge of the South Sea Queen), is too stupid to take seriously on any level, which is exactly what has given it such a long-standing reputation.  Shot in his native Indonesia with a mix of local and Caucasian actors, the hilariously wretched, ADRed dialog is the first thing that slaps one across the face when viewing.  Well, that and some opening sex scenes involving a mystical goddess who has a snake in her vagina that bites off men's dicks when penetrated.  It is this combination of puzzling perversity, sensationalized/quasi-folklore, embarrassing production values, and the bulk of the plot being a direct rehash of James Cameron's 1984 blockbuster that make for a singular, terrible end product.  As the title villainess, Barbara Anne Constable starts off as not a woman but as an anthropologist, (paraphrasing an actual line of dialog), only to get her legs spread and her clothes ripped off by the aforementioned sex serpent, at which point she spends the rest of the movie mugging like a badass, having more sex, and unloading countless rounds of ammunition at literally every person she sees.  A handful of "wait, what?" moments are laugh-out-loud funny, but the film's relentless buffoonery and virtual abandonment of narrative grows tiresome by the explody showdown.

80's Asian Horror Part Twelve

GHOST NURSING

(1982)

Dir - Wilson Tong

Overall: MEH

 

The first supernatural film from actor-turned-director Wilson Tong, Ghost Nursing, (Yang gui), suffers from inadequate pacing, yet its barrage of Hong Kong exploitation cliches are occasionally riotous.  Set in Thailand and concerning a down-on-her-luck young woman who turns to a particularly bizarre form of black magic for help against the barrage of sexually harassing men in her life, the supernatural elements do not come in until the second act, though their ridiculousness is intensified from that point on.  In typical fashion from such low-budget silliness, there are many unintentionally goofy set pieces ranging from harmless ones like somebody karaoking "Greatest Love of All" twice in a row, to a fetus ghost ritual, a guy puking up maggots, possessed zombie bodyguards in the shower, a botched exorcism, and all manner of agile monks flipping around in mystical battle against the forces of wacky darkness.  Also, keen horror fans will recognize music piled on top of each other that is swiped from Psycho, Maniac, The Amityville Horror, and even Pink Floyd's "Careful With That Axe, Eugene".  The movie sounds more fun on paper than it is as Tong's direction is mostly flat outside of some atmospheric and colorful set dressing, Shirley Yim is dull in the lead, and even when it kicks up the silly in the final twenty-odd minutes, it still struggles to find its kinetic footing.

 

SATAN'S BED

(1986)

Dir - Tjut Djalil

Overall: MEH

Indonesian director Tjut Djahl continues his trajectory as one of the country's lousiest, (if not oddest), filmmakers with Satan's Bed, (Batas Impian Ranjang Setan, Ranjang Setan); yet another A Nightmare on Elm Street knock-offs to emerge in the wake of Wes Craven's original.  Similar to Djalil's Mystics in Bali and Lady Terminator, this one is loaded with zero production values and non-emotive performances, but unlike those unintentional nyuck-fests, there is hardly enough ridiculousness on display here to put it in the same league.  Set pieces from Elm Street come at the screen from left and right, with the sticky floor, the supernatural bad guy smiling while slicing off his fingers, the ghostly body bag victim, and the clawed-hand emerging out of the bathtub which miraculously turns into a swimming pool to name but a few.  The plot specifics are tweaked enough to not warrant a lawsuit since it concerns a family that was murdered on Christmas, the dad of which comes back as the Freddy Kruger stand-in except with none of the charisma, barely any screen time, and a whole lot more embarrassing of a make-up job.  Every other character is bland enough to not remember their names, faces, or what even happens to them and still after a finale with numerous holy men trying to exorcise the evilness that is afoot, it all ends with an anticlimactic, "wait, that's it?" whimper.

 

TETSUO: THE IRON MAN

(1989)

Dir - Shinya Tsukamoto

Overall: MEH

Shinya Tsukamoto's full-length debut Tetsuo: The Iron Man remains his most known cinematic work and is as gleefully absurd as any that sprung from the ashes of the midnight movie heyday.  A continuation of his early short films as well as his avant-garde theater productions, the black and white, sixty-seven minute, 16mm, conventionally plotless, cyberpunk nightmare is a bold achievement to come out of the gate with for Tsukamoto.  Exploring a disturbed yet comically bombastic fetishism of man and machine, it turns its characters into literal metal monsters which can be seen as anti-conformist since the people on screen are breaking out of their mundane urban existence and ultimately embracing their new grotesque yet liberating form.  Frantic to the point of art house parody, the film is also too much of a, (very), weird thing; quickly establishing its relentless aesthetic, perversely surreal visuals, and incoherent "story" which only grows more exhausting as it plows forward.  It is still an undeniably singular accomplishment and one that would not only set Tsukamoto off on his continually challenging career, yet also influence various other filmmakers who have infused some of its techno-mayhem into their own projects.

80's Asian Horror Part Eleven

DREADNAUGHT

(1981)
Dir - Yuen Woo-ping
Overall: WOOF

Intentional Hong Kong "comedies" are inherently painful viewing experiences and martial arts choreographer/director Yuen Woo-ping's Dreadnaught, (Yong zhe wu ju), is one of the more wretched offenders of such dated, hare-brained nonsense falling on deaf ears decades after its release.  Mislabeled as a quasi-horror film, there are no supernatural components of any kind, unless you count the usual physics-defying bouts of agility that every character seems to possess.  Though Yuen had previous success with Jackie Chan on similar goofy genre hybrids, this one is ruined by horrendous characters, a comparative lack of wild fight sequences, and some of the worst attempts at humor involving a bumbling police force, (including the least funny man who ever lived, cross-eyed character actor Tau Wan Yue).  At least a showdown in an empty theater is inventively staged and atmospherically sinister, plus the finale bought between Yuen Shun-yee's kabuki made-up bad guy and Yuen Biao's cowardly dipshit "hero", (who inexplicably becomes a kung-fu dynamo with mere minutes in the running time left to spare), is enjoyably absurd if anyone watching can make it that far.

 

GAKIDAMA

(1985)

Dir - Masayoshi Sukita

Overall: GOOD

A fifty-four minute, oddball feature and the only solo directorial venture from cinematographer Masayoshi Sukita, Gakidama, (Gakidama - The Demon Within), is slim on story yet brimful of surprisingly subtle atmosphere and some wonderfully grotesque puppet work/shots of people eating.  A twisted, Japanese answer to the 1980s Gremlin craze of knock-offs, this one is void of any and all kid-friendly cutesiness and for a film about a tiny rubber ghoul that gets puked up from humans only to want to crawl back inside of them, it has an eerie, low-key atmosphere that favors dimly-lit scenery, hardly any incidental music, and a deliberate pace.  Playing out more like a somber supernatural tale than puppet monster mayhem, it is a strikingly unique work that delivers intense set pieces and stomach-churning spectacle.  The creature of the title, (which goes from a will o’ the wisp spirit, to a larva-esque insect, to slimy Ghoulies reject), is hilariously unconvincing, yet Sukita's camerawork and sense of staging is endlessly inventive, which culminates in an extended homage to Dan Curtis' seminal Trilogy of Terror Zuni doll cat and mouse chase.

TO SLEEP SO AS TO DREAM

(1986)

Dir - Kaizô Hayashi

Overall: MEH

The highly experimental debut To Sleep So as to Dream, (Yumemiru yôni nemuritai), from filmmaker Kaizô Hayashi is evocative in its images, yet the stationary pacing and boldly incomprehensible narrative make it an unnecessarily challenging viewing experience.  Describing what may or may not be going on here is a fool's errand, but condensing it down to a film noir trapped in a silent movie fever dream may be as close as one can get to pinning it down.  Though it contains an array of sound effects, lush music, and voices are heard on a tape recording and through the words of a benshi narrator, the only other dialog is shown in intertitles as a hard-boiled-egg-loving private investigator, (get it?), and his assistant follow a gyroscope for clues in finding an elderly actor's kidnapped daughter.  The black and white cinematography was done by Yûichi Nagata and Shoji Taki and is the star of the show, capturing the expressionistic aesthetic of silent cinema with an endless stream of ethereal images.  It is certainly unique from a stylistic standpoint and defies genre classification, but it is also unavoidably pretentious and frustrating by spinning its wheels with zero momentum at too many intervals.

80's Asian Horror Part Ten

A MONSTROUS CORPSE

(1981)

Dir - Beom-gu Kang

Overall: MEH

 

A rare, South Korean zombie film from the early 80s, (doubly rare since horror movies were hardly one of said country's primarily cinematic exports the way that they were in Japan, Indonesian, and Hong Kong), A Monstrous Corpse, (Goeshi), is an unofficial remake of Let Sleeping Corpse's Lie.  While it is missing the latter film's hilarious dialog, over the top violence, and anti-hippy angle, the plot line is virtually identical and still revolves around experiential pest control technology unwittingly animated the dead, with the cops still targeting the main protagonists until the reality of the situation is right in front of their dumb faces.  The cinematography by Yeong-kil Yang is surprisingly effective for something clearly made with no dollars and some of the undead here have a unique, silver-skinned look that makes them as creepy as intended.  Unfortunately though, the pacing is horrendously sloth-like from beginning to end.  This is clearly due to the minuscule production values which not only affords absolutely zero gore of any kind, (making this probably the only zombie film with no bloodshed since George Romero came on the scene), but can only muster up increasingly boring talky scenes between characters.  That is when they are not staring in unhurried terror at dead people slowly trying to choke them.

 

WITCH FROM NEPAL

(1986)

Dir - Ching Siu-tung

Overall: MEH

 

The second film from Hong Kong director Ching Siu-tung, (which was made only a year before he embarked on the first in the A Chinese Ghost Story series), is a slick though terribly sluggish bore up until the final showdown.  Witch from Nepal, (Qi yuan), has leading many Chow Yun-Fat as an architect who for some reason is chosen by the title mystic to defeat a demon, whereby he has visions of her, has an affair with her, is granted supernatural powers, and propels himself via steam to stab the bad guy with a magical knife in mid-air.  It reads as a more ridiculous affair than it comes across on screen since there is minimal to no humor present, though the aforementioned finale does have some hoot-worthy moments.  Yun-Fat is not the most sympathetic of protagonists and not just because he cheats on his girlfriend; he is also terribly underwritten and largely boring.  The same goes for the bulk of the film which never seems to have enough fun with its material in the way that say a wacky Shaw Brothers production would.  It is well photographed by cinematographer Tom Lau even if the somber atmosphere is ill-placed, but as a horror/romance/fantasy hybrid, it is far from memorable.

DOGURA MAGURA

(1988)

Dir - Toshio Matsumoto

Overall: MEH

The final cinematic work from experimental filmmaker Toshio Matsumoto, Dogura Magura, (Dogra Magra), is challenging if not futile to comprehend, but offers up some compelling visuals.  Centered around a young man who wakes up in an isolated room in an insane asylum with no memory of how he got there, he spends the entirety of the movie trying to unlock such a mystery with two different doctors pulling him in conflicting directions.  One of these doctors seems "normal" enough while the other is squarely on the eccentric side, laughing aggressively after everything that Yôji Matsuda's confused protagonist says.  The plot line is impossible to follow in a conventional sense, yet as a means of exploring the frustrated madness that comes with amnesia, its construction is deliberately unorthodox.  Matsuda's insanity could be hereditary in nature, led him to bizarre acts of violence, or some by-product of both and there is no official answers to such questions which lead to a raving finale that suggest the perpetual loop that such traumatic events can induce.  Cinematographer Tatsuo Suzuki deserves particular praise here, constructing a number of shots and pulling off ambitious single takes that weave in flashbacks to what is currently happening.  It goes too hard in the running time to be an agreeable watch, but it is still impressive in its grasp.

80's Asian Horror Part Nine - (Shan Hua Edition)

XIE YING WU

(1981)

Overall: MEH

Hopelessly befuddling, Xie Ying Wu, (Bloody Parrot), is another wacky genre hybrid from the Shaw Brothers.  A wuxia film with more than its fair share of highly choreographed, martial arts break-outs where every character of every age and sex exhibits impossible athleticism and kung fu skills, there is also macabre weirdness and nudity to fit this into the sleazy horror camp.  The movie often feels as if it is edited down from a much longer epic as protagonist shifts wield an inconclusive plot line where it becomes increasingly impossible to follow the plethora of characters that we are introduced to, let alone keeping track of what any of their motivations are.  It is frustrating in this respect, but the sheer amount of inventive details keep it from being a total bore, even if it still regularly stagnates.  Something about being a granted a wish by a demon bird, then that only being an illusion, then the demon bird being an actual person, then that person being someone who was thought to be dead, then his wife also showing up who was supposed to be dead, stones that possess people or make them vampires maybe, some stuff with another guy and his clan, a witch, a black magic wizard, women who are deadly with pins and a frisbee made out of a human face, maggots, naked boobs, etc. 

 

KUNG FU ZOMBIE

(1981)

Overall: WOOF

 

A failure as both a horror and martial arts movie, Kung Fu Zombie, (Wu long tian shi zhao ji gui), is a wretchedly obnoxious viewing experience.  The first of two back-to-back staring vehicles for Billy Chong that involve otherworldly elements, it has all of the rapid-fire, physics-defying, flipping through the air, unnaturally loud sound effects fighting scenes that Samurai Sunday films gleefully abuse.  What becomes far more painfully unendurable though is the moronic tone that throws one thoroughly unfunny gag after the other, with characters wildly gallivanting about with pathetic attempts at Three Stooges hijinks.  Virtually every person on screen is interchangeable in their loud, stupid mannerisms and the movie even has the classy taste to have an inconsequential side character cook and eat a dog to wonky cartoon music.  Also, a screaming vampire shows up because he might as well.  Consider yourself extra unfortunate if you come across the English-dubbed version which on top of being unavoidably sillier, is also edited to a pulp.  Yet for audience members who never get bored with such endless buffoonery that all members of the Wu-Tang Clan champion, this will hit the appropriate requirements, only with some extra supernatural elements thrown in for "good" measure. 

PORTRAIT IN CRYSTAL

(1983)

Overall: GOOD

With a convoluted plot, only thirty-five second breaks between kung fu sequences, and more atmospheric eye candy than genre fans could hope for, Portrait in Crystal, (Shui jing ren, Crystal Man, Sujeong-in), stands out as one of the most engaging of the Shaw Brothers horror/wuxia/fantasy hybrids.  Of course opening with some narration as was a common practice for the studio's mystical offerings, the lore concerning crystal statutes that become human if blood is spilled on them ultimately establishes a bizarre story with treacherous clans, murder, and vengeance.  It all culminates in a lengthy third act where we enter a magical fortress of sorts where women warriors hold the key to healing one's wounds while simultaneously keeping "morons" in cages, maintaining torture devices, and unleashing Indiana Jones-worthy booby-traps depending on what part of their labyrinth-like dwelling that certain unwilling, sword-wielding warriors venture into.  The middle section drags with childish comic relief surrounding the dopey exploits of a character named "Fatty", but the entire production goes all out with superb set design and colorful lighting that would make Mario Bava stand up and applaud.  Nudity, gore, vomit, and rapid-fire fight scenes all round out the ridiculous experience, forgiving the razor-thin story that barely has enough glue to keep the wacky set pieces together.

80's Asian Horror Part Eight

XIE MO

(1981)

Dir - Jen-Chieh Chang

Overall: WOOF

Director Jen-Chieh Chang's first foray into horror is the barely tolerable Xie mo, (The Devil), which is one of several gross-out Hong Kong genre films from the era.  Sadly, this one thickly lays on the plodding melodrama and unlikable characters, with people yelling "Bastard!" more times than in a Paul Naschy movie and of course an obnoxiously crying woman who is married to the main scumbag and still loves him after he beats her, kills her father, runs the family business into the ground, and gloats about it.  Speaking of obnoxious, there is a kid named Ding Dong here who fulfills the horror movie trajectory of a youngster that you just want to throw off of a bridge.  On the "plus" side, the ten percent of the running time that is not dedicated to everyone's uninteresting squabbles features a whole lot of disgusting insect and snake vomiting, which seems to be the go-to outcome of black magic practitioners putting hexes on people.  So for those who can stomach the stomach-churning aspects, stupid little kids, hysterical wailing, repetitive dialog, and snore-inducing pacing, this might be worth a casual glance.

KUNG FU FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
(1982)
Dir - Chiu Lee
Overall: MEH

 

Though there are wacky details galore in martial arts leading man Billy Chong's follow-up to the gratingly stupid Kung Fu Zombie, the resulting Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave, (Yin ji), still cannot withstand the monotonous pitfalls of other such movies.  It is no exaggeration to proclaim that there are at most eleven seconds between each fight scene here, as if the film itself is suffering from some soft of OCD affliction and simply must have choreographed battles constantly following each other to keep the bad thoughts at bay.  Said battle sequences are as elaborately ridiculous as fans would hope for and they are designed by stunt coordinator Chin-Lai Sung, who also appears as a black magician.  There are a barrage of characters present and all of them seem to be on equal footing as far as unnatural flipping and punching abilities go, so naturally there is no suspense or stakes in anything that is happening.  Not that this is a faux pas for the production since who in their right might could possibly care what the story is?  Something about Chong's dead zombie father tasking him with getting revenge on a guy who has to have two hearts from an orgasming couple set on fire so that the blood can be spat on his bare chest to make him invincible.  Also, Dracula shows up and a bunch of women warriors throw menstrual pads at the villain.

SEEDING OF A GHOST

(1983)

Dir - Chuan Yang

Overall: MEH

 

One of the latter entries from the Brothers Shaw and ergo done on a minuscule budget as the company was undergoing financial hardships in its later years, Seeding of a Ghost, (Zhong gui), unfortunately suffers from a molasses-leaking first half before indulging in full-on, gross-out body horror in the second.  The infidelity plot kicks right in as two married people engage in a passionate fling behind their spouse's backs, only for the woman to find herself at the mercy of two thugs who rape and accidentally send her flying off of a balcony to her violent death.  Because black magic almost always has to find its way into Hong Kong horror films from the period, the grieving widower enlists the diabolical services of a shirtless and sweaty practitioner of the dark arts and everything that happens from that point on is a hilarious bombardment of outrageous, off-color gore.  A guy pukes up worms, another guy eats brains out of a coconut, a guy has sex with an animated/animatronic corpse, and a woman gets pregnant with a revenge spawn right out of John Carpenter's The Thing which has a human head inside of its mouth.  If not for the sluggish start, (which overuses an unconvincingly cheap police station, boring sex scenes, and various characters all knowing kung fu), the movie would have been a home-run in supernatural ridiculousness.