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    HORRORSCREAMS VIDEOVAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR
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    HORRORSCREAMS VIDEOVAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR

    Peter 'Witchfinder' HopkinsBy Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins21st July 2019Updated:21st July 201929 Comments2 Mins Read
    AUDITION ***** Japan 1999 Dir: Takashi Miike. 115 mins

    Takashi Miike’s breakthrough movie for Western audiences, this is a haunting masterclass in escalating dread that has far more to offer than the (comparatively brief) gruelling moments of torture for which it became (in)famous. It opens as a poignant tale of loss and grief as middle-aged father Ryo Ishibashi spends seven years mourning his late wife before a close friend recommends an ethically dubious means of finding a new female companion. The faux “auditions” they stage results in a union with timid, soft-spoken 24 year old Eiki Shiina, a sombre former ballet-dancer who harbours a lot of troubling secrets.
    Superficially echoing the workmanlike cycle of Hollywood thrillers spawned by FATAL ATTRACTION, the film finds tenderness in the developing central relationship before we become immersed in a suffocating sense of unease. As Shiina’s misanthropy and fragile mental state become ever more apparent (“Please love me…Only me…”), the movie delivers some of the most disturbing images of 90’s horror and, of course, a startling and hallucinatory final act involving a sustained torture sequence of the kind that would become far more sensationalistic during the 21st century cycle of sadistic, post-HOSTEL American horror films. Though undoubtedly indebted to the darkest cinematic forays of David Lynch, the film has a melancholic mood and carefully controlled style all of its own, and is as bleak as anything Miike has put his name to. Even in the relatively light-hearted early stages, a key character summarises the film’s overall theme, lamenting “The whole of Japan is lonely….”

    Review by Steven west




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    Asian Horror Audition Takashi Miike

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    29 Comments

    1. Eloise on 1st May 2016 5:03 PM

      Has to be Battle Royale

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    2. Elzbieta Znyk on 28th April 2016 9:41 AM

      Battle Royale

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    3. Thomas Perry on 28th April 2016 6:43 AM

      Battle Royale is my fave, the hunger games ripped this movie off massively

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    4. Warren Lee on 27th April 2016 11:07 PM

      Oldboy

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    5. Carole Nott on 24th April 2016 2:20 PM

      Battle Royale

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    6. Stevie Fairbairn on 19th April 2016 12:51 PM

      I actually love Audition.

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    7. Crown86 on 17th April 2016 9:05 PM

      The Good, the Bad, the Weird

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    8. Anonymous on 14th April 2016 1:13 PM

      @mattangelides

      my favorite is one of the first Asian movies i ever saw:

      Hard Boiled

      Log in to Reply
    9. Victoria Prince on 10th April 2016 6:48 PM

      Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 🙂

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