(1983)
Dir - Lau Hung-chuen
Overall: GOOD
The over-the-top, nonsensical splatter film Devil Fetus, (Mo tai), is the directorial debut from Chinese cinematographer Lau Hung-cheun. The set pieces are more ridiculous and consistently funny than ever creepy, yet the tone seems to suggest that an earnest attempt is being made to make it a more frightening, be it still unconventional horror outing. In any event, the barrage of bizarre, arbitrary set pieces backed by primitively delivered yet ambitious visual effects are quite entertaining. At the same time though, things do no truly rev up until the final act and the plot throughout is utterly nonexistent. Western audiences can easily follow everything without the aid of any subtitles whatsoever as ultimately, it is merely an elaborate showcase for off-the-wall, (literally), demonic possession showstoppers. There is enough to easily delight those who want to see a mystic holy man engage in a kung fu battle against said possessed individual while another guy cuts off his many, elongated heads with a katana after he has been stabbed with spilled eagles blood. No point in asking.
(1984)
Dir - Toshiharu Ikeda
Overall: MEH
At times, Toshiharu Ikeda's Mermaid Legend, (Ningyo Densetsu), is visually interesting with some beautiful underwater photography and two comically violent set pieces that dip into splatter territory. For the most part though, it is a bore. Besides some bloody carnage, the only horror angle is how the wronged wife of a fisherman, (Mari Shirato), seems to supernaturally summon a hurricane and survive being stabbed, raped, and drowned numerous times. For a revenge film, it delivers with its excessive mayhem, but only if one is to ignore the bulk of the screen time being devoted to a thin plot that meanders for far too long. Tone wise, it becomes problematic in the sense that it seems romantic and otherworldly at some instances, dark and uncomfortable at others, and humorous in perhaps unintended ways at others still. While some of the shots are captivating, many of them linger unnecessarily. Tighter editing would have benefited the rather simplistic story; a story that has a handful of memorable ideas, but either goes too far graphically or not far enough narratively to work.
(1988)
Dir - Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
Overall: GOOD
This adaptation of Taichi Yamada's novel Strangers is odd in presentation at times, though it has an unmistakable, emotional undercurrent rare for what is essentially a somewhat traditional Japanese ghost story. Coming from director Nobuhiko Obayashi whose seminal Housu is one of the most gleefully insane horror movies ever committed to celluloid, the quirky aspects to The Discarnates, (Ijintachi to no Natsu), are hardly surprising. These are more to do with things like swelling, romantic music rather clashingly playing through supernatural scenes and some dialog choices that provide almost comically simplified explanations. While these aspects may appear to oddly confuse the more powerful, central themes, they enhance the more fantastical qualities at the same time. One can theorize as to whether or not Morio Kazama's central protagonist has manifested the spirits he spends a summer with through sheer trauma and grief, but the resulting experience is quite heart-breaking and beautiful in its resolution. Only a horror film on paper really, it hits at home emotionally the way few genre movies allow.
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