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Asian Horror questions (1 Viewer)

EricSchulz

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I just got done watching Audition not five minutes ago. For all you fans of this film (and I know there are MANY) can someone PLEASE email me and explain what the hell I just watched? The first hour was EXCRUCIATING in its dullness. When it FINALLY started to get interesting (at about the 1:15 mark) I got completely lost! I don't care if my mailbox is inundated with explanations, but I just did not get it!

And before I get any "you just don't appreciate Asian horror" emails, I LOVED Ringu(which was LIGHT YEARS better than the US version) and The Eye, but was completely bored by Cure. So help me out here!
 

David_Blackwell

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Double Vision starring Tony Leung and David Morse is my top pick for good Asian Horror. I liked The Eye (better than The Sixth Sense) and I thought Ringu was better than the remake.
 

Mike<R

Agent
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besides the ones already mentioned
Tell me something
junk
versus
another heaven
Stacy
wild zero
bio-zombie
hypnotist
deadly camp
inner senses
nightmare
nightmare zone
story of Rikki
demons baby
the record
horror hotline
Satan returns
soul guardians
wicked ghost
ghost actress
holy weapon
the misa series
and probably a lot more if I could remember them all
 

Rich Malloy

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I love the first hour of "Audition". I think the more you know about Japanese family dramas, the better you'll like it (think how many Ozu films revolve around marrying someone off, completing the family, etc.)... but it's good drama anyway. Excruciating in its dullness? I thought it was poignant, thoughtful and emotionally true. For me, the lack of such carefully drawn characters and situations is the downfall of most horror films (otherwise, you don't care about the characters and don't find the situation realistic). And don't forget... a successful sucker punch is all about the careful setup! ;)

SPOILERS FOLLOW...

As for the meaning, it's basically a revenge picture. But with a twist. The character upon whom revenge is exacted is the one we identify with most. He seems a good sort, and the worst you can say about him is with regard to his tacit acceptance of Japanese paternalism and the deceitful-but-not-quite-devious method he adopts to find a wife. He seems a benign sort, and yet the objectification of the "audition process" is obvious (requiring breast baring and everything, and all under false pretence), not to mention his standards for what sort of person would make for a good wife (specifically, the passive and submissive sort who's dutiful, youthful, and talented "but not too talented"... all of which he initially takes Asami to be). Unfortunately for our hero, he selects a woman who's suffered the full brunt of unbridled male sexual violence. Her history of abuse has created an avenging angel against any sort of male bourgeois repression.

Have you ever heard people trying to justify films like "I spit on your grave" and "They Call Her One-Eye" as feminist revenge fantasies (as opposed to male rape fantasies)? I think that's pretty dubious in those instances. Here, with regard to "Audition", I think it's right on the mark.
 

Kevin M

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In regards to Audition's "dullness" I said something in the other horror thread about this:

...I suppose it all comes down to personal taste as to what "dull" is....I (like Rich) think it is a brilliantly deceptive quiet set-up to the blind siding third half of this film....but then again in the light of MTV's influence some think The Exorcist is "dull"....to each their own.
 

EricSchulz

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Keith and Rich:

Maybe I wasn't as clear on my dislike for this film...had I not heard so many great comments on the movie (and many were of the "don't find out too much about what happens" variety) I would probably have given up on the movie by the half-way point. SPOILER ALERT: I did get the point about how she was abused and this was her revenge on men. What I didn't get was the whole flashback/dream sequence/what is real? tone of the last twenty or so minutes. I guess that with so many glowing reviews of it, I expected more...
 

Rich Malloy

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I love the first half of "Audition". Believe it or not, I think it would make for a fine flick even without the horror twist!

The flashbacks and dream sequences don't exactly conform to logic or the laws of nature, so don't be concerned if you're not sure at any given point whether something is real, imagined, presumed, dreamed or hallucinated. Asami's history could be partially confabulated, and the revisiting of earlier scenes could be the protagonist "re-seeing" them in his mind given his new knowledge.

As for expecting more... well, that's how I felt about "Ju-On" and "The Eye"! Though immensely popular, I found both to be mundane, derivative, and (in the case of "The Eye") stricken with the sort of pat sentimentality one usually finds in Hollywood fare (though not as gag-inducing as "Shikoku").

Given your negative reaction to "Audition" and "Cure" (both of which I think are far superior to nearly every other film discussed here, and leagues beyond low-rent crap like "Ju-On" and "The Eye"), you might not care so much for "A Tale of Two Sisters". Though quite different than "Cure" or "Audition", I sorta suspect it's gonna rub you the wrong way, as well, and I doubt you'll find the ending to your liking. Instead, I'd probably recommend you check out "Evil Dead Trap" and maybe the genre-bending sci-fi/horror/yakuza/martial arts flick "Versus". And if you want to see a half-serious/mostly parody take on the Ringu phenomena, check out Miike's "One Missed Call" (aka "You Got A Call" believe it or not!). I'm fairly certain it's meant as parody, and it definitely deals out all the cliches from recent Asian horror, but it's also very geniuinely creepy in the Ringu/Ju-On sorta way. But not a great movie by any measure.

While not exactly horror (or any single genre whatsoever), I wonder what you'd make of "Save the Green Planet"? I sorta doubt it's your cup of tea (and, again, it really isn't "horror" anyway), but it comes to mind in the present context...
 

Bob Turnbull

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Dec 2, 2001
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Whereas I dig all 4 of the films mentioned...Though I do agree with you Rich about some of the "sentimentality" of The Eye, I felt it still had enough creepy and well set up moments (like the elevator scene) to be effective.

Great description of Audition by both Rich and Keith (uh, I mean Kevin...:D ). The end section is that much more powerful because of the "slow" beginning.
 

Robyn

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Sorry you couln't find it at Netflix. I found my copy on ebay a couple of years ago. It will probably be released in the US on DVD when the Amercian theatrical version (starring Jennifer Connely) is released. When The Ring was released on DVD, Ringu was released on DVD. Shortly after The Grudge opened in theaters, Ju-on was released on DVD. Notice the pattern? :D
 

Matt Butler

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Could you guys please put spolier tags in your posts?! Even though I was able to skip it I still saw a bit about Audition that I didnt want to know!

:angry:
 

Kevin M

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Dark Water is now available at Netflix....in fact an amazing amount of Asian Horror films are now available there.

Dark Water was fantastic! ...but I'm not too enthralled with the ending rather sacrine, out of place with the rest of the film and a bit too "nice little bow on top" for me.


Any new asian horror recommendations?
I have been looking at Acacia at netflix, anyone seen this?
 

Simon Massey

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I saw Acacia. Nothing that hasnt been done before and unfortunately if you have seen the cover of the box, it completely gives away an important plot element which makes the second half of the film a complete waste. It has its moments and is creepy in places but some of these recent Asian horror films are starting to become quite repetitive
 

Kevin M

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Ahhh...see how if we both try, our cultural differences can be breached and we can hold hands in the brotherly spirit of film cliche and abject artistic mediocrity......**sigh** I got the warm fuzzys just thinking about....let's all sing Cum-ba-ya & throw-up.;)
 

Kevin M

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Well I have to say that I wasn't prepared for the amount of suck that Ringu 2 has, even after reading several reviews online warning how it doesn't hold a candle to the first Ringu.....an understatement to say the least IMO, just bad, crappy, boring, uninspired cash crab on the popularity of the first film.....BLAH!


....um..did I mention that I was disappointed in this film?:D
 

Simon Massey

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Ringu 0 is a much more interesting film than Ringu as it is a prequel showing how Sadako came to be. Dont be expecting a horror film though.
 

SteveGon

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Interesting thread!

I recently watched Audition for the first time and found it, well, meh. Sorry. I enjoyed the first three quarters, but then it turned into a mishmash of Fatal Attraction and Misery
and completely flatlined for me. Maybe it was a dream, maybe it wasn't, I just didn't care. Miike also loses points for actually falling back on the hackneyed convention of having the psycho kill the family dog (and you saw it coming a mile away).
That's so old school, Takashi. :rolleyes

OTOH, I just screened Kuroneko, an eerie tale of ghostly vengeance from Kaneto Shindo, the director of Onibaba. Available on a nice R2 DVD from Eureka. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

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