(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.
(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.
(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.
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