For the past few days, I've been downloading a number of movies that I've been itching to watch. Anything that flashes through my mind that's either recommended by a friend, something that I've read off an article or review, just via random pick or by cross-referencing some movies and the genre its under, finding a few gold nuggets in the process.
I really love obscured films. In fact, back in the days when I was still an avid customer of one of the leading video rental companies here in the Philippines and when VHS and VCD's reign the market, I never failed to rent at least 3 types of movies depending on my own selection/criteria: (1) either I pick a recently released movie or something new off their selection (2), a slasher/horror or comedy flick (3) and either obscured films (the ones that you can see at the back of the row of the genre selection) or at least something from the rated selection (well, I don't need to lie on that one, right?). There's something about renting or buying a CD. You really don't know what to expect. It's like buying a pair of boxers and not knowing what it felt until you actually wore them.
I don't know if this film can be considered as obscured but when I say Japanese horror films, first thing that comes to a person's mind would probably be Ring. However, I must say that in my own opinion, you can watch Ring, Ring Zero, Ring 2 and Spiral (if you haven't seen them all, please do if you love the film) and one movie can match the scare off these 4 films: Audition.
Audition first caught my eye when I was buying DVD's in Quiapo. I never really picked it up because I had a few movies in mind back then but I was told by a friend that Audition is for keeps.
Originally released in 1999, Audition is directed by Takashi Miike and starring Ryo Ishibashi and Eihi Shiina. It was from a novel by Ryu Murakami of the same title. It's a story of a guy named Shigeharu Aoyama played by Ryo Ishibashi who is in a personal mission to re-marry as requested by her son years after his wife died due to an illness. The title was taken from the idea of Aoyama's friend and colleague which is a film producer to hold a mock-audition for a slot in a film on who'll get the lead actress role. The audition's real agenda is for Aoyama to pick a girl from those that auditioned so that he can ask her out on a date. He had his eyes on a mysterious lady named Yamazaki Asami (played by Eihi Shiina). Eventually, Aoyama got the courage to ask her out and as he tries to get to know Asami, he'll learn that there's more to the lady than what caught his eye.
This officially is one of my favorite slasher/horror films of all time. In fact, this is the only horror flick that actually messed with me. After watching this flick, I actually had a dream that included one of the torture scenes in this film (what a wuss). FYI: I watch horror/slasher/gore films either late night or when I'm alone. It's not a bravado thing or whatever. I just believe that it's best to get the feel out of what you're watching. Comedy is to laughter same as Horror is to scare. Right?
Well, one thing that I loved about this film is the mood. It seems that Asian horror flicks set the trend for those gloomy and often natural BGM (as evident in Ring) compared to it's western counterparts that uses shrieks and screams and cliche BGMs. It's a good thing to use the natural feel of the scene to scare the hell out of you. Like for example, the entire scene in Ring before Sadako came out and up until she caught Ryoji's mesmerized to death eye. Now, imagine that with a BGM ala Wes Craven using contemporary rock music. In fact, if you'll think of it, classics like The Night of the Living Dead, The Shinning and others have the same minimalist approach. The highlight of the film are the sadistic acts done by Asami but compared to other films, the torture scenes in this film are few. Most of it is at the end part.
To sum it up, I recommend that you watch this movie if you're into slasher/horror films. This one sits up at my personal top 10. I really think that Eihi Shiina's portrayal of the character carried this one. Not that her acting was superb but her overall aura gives her that demure and deadly vibe to it.
I also recommend you watch this Korean thriller/slasher film titled I Saw the Devil. Despite the fact that Korean pop culture raided our local TV stations' time slots and almost blew the brains out of everyone by playing their songs rampantly, this is a great movie to break that nasty cycle they plagued us with.
If you have nothing to do, give these films a shot!
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