Blog Archives

Why Don’t You Play in Hell (2013)

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Posted on November 24, 2013 by Deni

Sion Sono’s Why Don’t You Play in Hell is, I think, a little like modern art – staring at it, you’re pretty sure you’re missing the point. Not that Sono’s work has necessarily been thematically deep to date, but it’s hard to look at a film about a filmmaker making a film without trying to read into it a little industry commenatary. The problem is, if you are, it’s difficult to work out what the hell Sono is trying to … (read more)

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Suicide Club (2001)

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Posted on July 7, 2010 by Samson

Those of our readers who are familiar with Japanese cinema should be no strangers to gory films from Japan. Suicide Club, which I am going to be reviewing here, is one such example. However, in contrast with recent popular gore-packed films such as The Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl, which are all way over-the-top in their handling of violence and have premises that are unlikely to happen in the real world, … (read more)

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Strange Circus (2005)

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Posted on March 25, 2007 by Christian

Since the advent of Ring in 1998, Japanese horror has been largely engulfed by the sub-genre popularly labelled as “J-horror” — with its eerie girls in white, faces hidden in black matted hair. These days the flag is still being vehemently waved by directors such as Takeshi Shimizu and Norio Tsuruta, but other sub-genres of horror are beginning to rise to the surface. It would be true to say that a blend of psycho-sexual horror has been gaining momentum in … (read more)

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