(1960)
Dir - Kim Ki-young
Overall: MEH
Narratively absurd with a steadfast, forlorn tone, The Housemaid, (Hanja, Hanyeo), is an oddity from South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-young, who remade it eleven years later under the title Woman of Fire and then remade it again eleven years after that under the title Woman of Fire '82. The writer/director seemed hellbent on slamming home his cautionary message of male infidelity wreaking havoc, which is bookended here as a couple reads about a man who fell in love with his maid and then breaks the forth wall once the ordeal is all over, looking directly at the audience to tell all the men to keep it in their pants. Though it all sounds like silly stuff, Kim presents it as anything but, with characters curiously behaving illogically amongst easily avoidable stakes. There could be a generational as well as a cultural gap in viewing the film so many decades after it was made in a post Korean, War-torn era where economic hardships were aplenty and women in particular were expected to carry out their usual mother-bearing duties as well as holding down their own jobs for steady income. In any event, the movie is claustrophobic and repetitive in structure, causing more confounded giggles than profound suspense.
(1967)
Dir - Haruyasu Noguchi
Overall: WOOF
The Nikkatsu Corporation jumped on the kaiju boom with the painfully derivative and snore-inducing Gappa: The Triphibian Monster, (Gappa, Daikyojū Gappa, Giant Beast Gappa, Monster from a Prehistoric Planet), a not-really-remake of the 1961 British film Gorgo, itself a formulaic cash-grab on the giant monster genre. The bare-bones premise is intact of a bunch of uninteresting humans granted way too much screen time who kidnap a baby version of the title monster, only to unleash the maternal fury of the adults, but the plot unfolds at a wretchedly stagnant pace. All of the characters are forgettable and one-note, (a handsome, good-natured hero, his pretty love interest, an older corporate bad guy fueled by greed, primitive-speaking locals, an adorable kid, etc), but the towering, bird/dinosaur creatures look ridiculous, awkard, and cute which renders them about as threatening as a mother hen puppet designed by someone with their eyes blindfolded. It is unfortunate that Nikkatsu allegedly spent a considerable amount of money with a longer shooting schedule than normal to achieve something so pathetic amongst the over-saturated horde of other goofy yet comparatively more amusing monster flicks out there, but hey, at least we never got a sequel.
(1968)
Dir - Kazuo Hase
Overall: MEH
Though not strictly adherent to the pinku genre which was still steadily emerging in the late 1960s, Curse of the Blood, (Kaidan Zankoku Monogatari, Cruel Ghost Legend), still has its share of gore, mild nudity, and perverse characters. An Edo period piece, the story was based off of Renzaburō Shibata's novel Kaidan Kasanegafuchi and also bares narrative similarities to the famous "Yotsuya Kaidan" play and Nobuo Nakagawa's 1957 film Ghost Story of Kasane Swamp. Shot in black and white with some of the supernatural atmosphere found in other cinematic kaidan stories, it has a more nasty tinge. None of the characters are likable as we witness deplorable, greedy acts performed by two generations of people who backstab, sleep with, and murder one another, (often times and unbeknownst to them, even members of their own family), all for the allure of gold pieces. The vulgar, internal dialog is occasionally hilarious, ("Her tits are huge", "I can't get in the mood with a dumpy old broad like her"), and some serious bloodshed plus one decapitated head provide some effective ghastliness. It is too monotonous structurally and some of the unintentional quirky elements do not jive with others, but it is at least an interesting footnote for the time period.
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