May 2014 *
Fan’s of the extreme and macabre would no doubt know this man’s name. You might even recognize his face from Eli Roth’s Hostel which was totally disappointing (well not really, but yeah kinda, anyone else expecting something more extreme from Hostel?....Anyone?.... ANYONE????!!!). But I do love the visual reference, having Takashi Miike attached to any project will no doubt spring interest!
The purpose of this thread is simply to glorify some of my favourite movies from this guy. I am no expert on Miike, I mean the man has directed nearly 100 movies and I’ve seen maybe just over a handful! So please feel free to add any thoughts, reviews etc you have on Miike to this thread. All opinions are most welcomed!
I suppose I should start with my first introduction to Miike, and that’s with Audition.
We watch a widowed man hold a fake audition, looking for the right girl who he could fall in love with. Audition often makes the lists when discussing the most disturbing movies. I wouldn’t say it’s the most disturbing I’ve seen, but it does get extremely unsettling. Miike has gone on record saying he purposefully made the movie painfully slow so when the ending comes, it hits so deeply. It worked wonders for me, but to be honest, I wasn’t bored at all during this movie. I forgot I was watching a horror movie and was just so engrossed with the characters, I mean the main protagonist is the nicest guy! I just wanted him to find someone to love and live happily ever after!
Though this movie has a whole different agenda planned. The age old story of boy meets girl, boys loses girl, boy gets girl has such perverted twist to it. The movie progressively gets darker and darker. The last third have some genuinely chilling moments, including one scene where method actress Eihi Shiina vomits into a bowel and feeds it to a terrible mutilated individual. Yes you read that correctly, look it up!!!
By the time we get to the climax of the film, I do believe the term ‘cringeworthy’ can be applied as we watch a man that we all kinda like and feel bad for, have the most dreadful things done to his body. I do love the irony that the femme fatale inflicting such brutal pain, is using the most delicate weapons, that’s just a nice touch!
When Audition ended, I immediately jumped straight onto imdb to find out what else the director had made that I would be interested in watching. Truly, I was onto something very special!
I spent the next several years trying to track down Ichi the Killer because Australia sucked majorly and didn’t have any in stock until like two years ago. So settled for what I could find and ended up with a copy of his entry to the Masters of Horror series, Imprint!
A man who is searching for his long lost love, finds a friend of hers who knows what happened to her. But naturally, her story is far more devious than it seems.
You know what I loved about the advertising of this? The fact that this one was banned from cable TV due to its extreme content. When I hear stuff like that, I get giddy like a school girl. I was confident I was about to watch something truly excruciating. And I was right!
You guys ever had to stop a movie because it was so crineworthy? I have more than a few times, and this is one of them. Holy Hell! If you though the needles in Audition were bad, this one is upped up a notch! Cringeworthy doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Because Imprint is only 63 mins long, it gets straight to the point. No hour build up, nope, we get straight into tragic love story and straight into the horror, though it does still up an interesting build up and a very interesting climax.
On top of the brutal torture, we also have some very eyebrow raising taboos, I might want to add that pro life peeps should stay away from this one, Miike is not for you.
The only thing I probably needed to add is I kinda wished it was in Japanese with Eng subs. The main actress spoke English very well, but most of the cast… I am pretty sure they didn’t have a clue what they were saying…. And they STILL acted better than Billy Drago. Poor Drago, your acting sucked on Charmed and it sucked here too! But we still love ya!
Hooking and entertaining, it maybe a little silly, but this one is sure to delight fans of extreme horror fanatics alike.
Okay, still looking for Ichi the Killer…. Still looking, still looking, (fucking Australia) still looking, but then hooray, another Miike film! One Missed Call!
It’s at this point that I realised how versatile Miike is, this one isn’t extreme, it’s your standard Japanese horror movie!
Kids start getting mysterious phones calls from what appears to be themselves just as they die horrific deaths.
I really liked the story of this, very fascinating idea and an interesting little take on the ghost theme. Though I did find it unfortunately pretty average. While I liked the movie, there was nothing too exceptional about it, and to be honest, I don’t really remember it too well. But, I did remember liking it for what it was, and it must have made some impact, cos naturally, they remade it.
One thing I have to point out about this movie is it’s got Mitsuko from Battle Royale in it! So… it gets like 10 extra points right there!!! [dance]
It also had a very catchy ringtone, which was the ringtone of death!
Unfortunately, I don’t remember much more to say about it, so I’ll gracefully move on to my favourite Miike film.
Australia no longer sucks, Ichi the Killer is now available!
The build up to an epic showdown between the ultimate sadist and the ultimate masochist. Without a doubt, one of the most entertaining, awesome, sick, depraved and just flat out amazing films ever! And I gotta say, that story is beautiful! I mean, the ultimate sadist and masochist! That’s like a love story! Just a very twisited and perverted love story.
And extreme! This one is majorly extreme! Lots of violence, gore, sadism etc. The opening title comes up from a pile of sperm for goodness sake (eww). But it’s so outrageously over the top, it also hilarious! You laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll go ewwwwwww and you’ll have a ball! Ichi the Killer is pure disturbing insanity and I loved every bit of it!
Major shout out goes to the real star of the movie, Kakihara! I mean just look at him! Iconic is the word that springs to mind for me. Truly epic performance and such a memorable character. Bravo! [clap]
I should wrap this up before I really bore you guys, so I will leave you with yet another eye brow raising experience and that is the ever notorious Visitor Q. No use waiting for that one on DVD here, twas a futile exercise so I *ahem* obtained it another way. What? Don’t look at me like that, don’t you judge me!
So, what’s it about? A man hit anothers in the head, and then comes to live at their house and observe their family. Okay! Let’s see what we can gain from Visitor Q. Hmmm, well, daughter has sex with her own father? Check. Son abusing his mother? Check. Mother lactating breast milk? Check. Father raping dead chick? Check. Father getting stuck in said dead chick during? Oh good lord what the bloody hell am I watching here?! And why am I laughing?!!! This isn’t funny is it?! Well, it kinda is, but so very very VERY sick. I have no bloody idea how Miike comes up with this shit, but good lord this shit is insane!
I never thought it was possible to find a movie more insane then Ichi the Killer, though since this one has a documentary vibe to it, it feels so much dirtier. That and there’s incest and weird shit going down. I mean really weird shit! Damn! Whether you love Miike or hate him, you gotta admit, this guy is insane! Heh, I guess that’s why I do love him!
I wanted to get into a few more Miike films, but I reckon that’s enough for now. Till then, thankyou for reading!
Fan’s of the extreme and macabre would no doubt know this man’s name. You might even recognize his face from Eli Roth’s Hostel which was totally disappointing (well not really, but yeah kinda, anyone else expecting something more extreme from Hostel?....Anyone?.... ANYONE????!!!). But I do love the visual reference, having Takashi Miike attached to any project will no doubt spring interest!
The purpose of this thread is simply to glorify some of my favourite movies from this guy. I am no expert on Miike, I mean the man has directed nearly 100 movies and I’ve seen maybe just over a handful! So please feel free to add any thoughts, reviews etc you have on Miike to this thread. All opinions are most welcomed!
I suppose I should start with my first introduction to Miike, and that’s with Audition.
We watch a widowed man hold a fake audition, looking for the right girl who he could fall in love with. Audition often makes the lists when discussing the most disturbing movies. I wouldn’t say it’s the most disturbing I’ve seen, but it does get extremely unsettling. Miike has gone on record saying he purposefully made the movie painfully slow so when the ending comes, it hits so deeply. It worked wonders for me, but to be honest, I wasn’t bored at all during this movie. I forgot I was watching a horror movie and was just so engrossed with the characters, I mean the main protagonist is the nicest guy! I just wanted him to find someone to love and live happily ever after!
Though this movie has a whole different agenda planned. The age old story of boy meets girl, boys loses girl, boy gets girl has such perverted twist to it. The movie progressively gets darker and darker. The last third have some genuinely chilling moments, including one scene where method actress Eihi Shiina vomits into a bowel and feeds it to a terrible mutilated individual. Yes you read that correctly, look it up!!!
By the time we get to the climax of the film, I do believe the term ‘cringeworthy’ can be applied as we watch a man that we all kinda like and feel bad for, have the most dreadful things done to his body. I do love the irony that the femme fatale inflicting such brutal pain, is using the most delicate weapons, that’s just a nice touch!
When Audition ended, I immediately jumped straight onto imdb to find out what else the director had made that I would be interested in watching. Truly, I was onto something very special!
I spent the next several years trying to track down Ichi the Killer because Australia sucked majorly and didn’t have any in stock until like two years ago. So settled for what I could find and ended up with a copy of his entry to the Masters of Horror series, Imprint!
A man who is searching for his long lost love, finds a friend of hers who knows what happened to her. But naturally, her story is far more devious than it seems.
You know what I loved about the advertising of this? The fact that this one was banned from cable TV due to its extreme content. When I hear stuff like that, I get giddy like a school girl. I was confident I was about to watch something truly excruciating. And I was right!
You guys ever had to stop a movie because it was so crineworthy? I have more than a few times, and this is one of them. Holy Hell! If you though the needles in Audition were bad, this one is upped up a notch! Cringeworthy doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Because Imprint is only 63 mins long, it gets straight to the point. No hour build up, nope, we get straight into tragic love story and straight into the horror, though it does still up an interesting build up and a very interesting climax.
On top of the brutal torture, we also have some very eyebrow raising taboos, I might want to add that pro life peeps should stay away from this one, Miike is not for you.
The only thing I probably needed to add is I kinda wished it was in Japanese with Eng subs. The main actress spoke English very well, but most of the cast… I am pretty sure they didn’t have a clue what they were saying…. And they STILL acted better than Billy Drago. Poor Drago, your acting sucked on Charmed and it sucked here too! But we still love ya!
Hooking and entertaining, it maybe a little silly, but this one is sure to delight fans of extreme horror fanatics alike.
Okay, still looking for Ichi the Killer…. Still looking, still looking, (fucking Australia) still looking, but then hooray, another Miike film! One Missed Call!
It’s at this point that I realised how versatile Miike is, this one isn’t extreme, it’s your standard Japanese horror movie!
Kids start getting mysterious phones calls from what appears to be themselves just as they die horrific deaths.
I really liked the story of this, very fascinating idea and an interesting little take on the ghost theme. Though I did find it unfortunately pretty average. While I liked the movie, there was nothing too exceptional about it, and to be honest, I don’t really remember it too well. But, I did remember liking it for what it was, and it must have made some impact, cos naturally, they remade it.
One thing I have to point out about this movie is it’s got Mitsuko from Battle Royale in it! So… it gets like 10 extra points right there!!! [dance]
It also had a very catchy ringtone, which was the ringtone of death!
Unfortunately, I don’t remember much more to say about it, so I’ll gracefully move on to my favourite Miike film.
Australia no longer sucks, Ichi the Killer is now available!
The build up to an epic showdown between the ultimate sadist and the ultimate masochist. Without a doubt, one of the most entertaining, awesome, sick, depraved and just flat out amazing films ever! And I gotta say, that story is beautiful! I mean, the ultimate sadist and masochist! That’s like a love story! Just a very twisited and perverted love story.
And extreme! This one is majorly extreme! Lots of violence, gore, sadism etc. The opening title comes up from a pile of sperm for goodness sake (eww). But it’s so outrageously over the top, it also hilarious! You laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll go ewwwwwww and you’ll have a ball! Ichi the Killer is pure disturbing insanity and I loved every bit of it!
Major shout out goes to the real star of the movie, Kakihara! I mean just look at him! Iconic is the word that springs to mind for me. Truly epic performance and such a memorable character. Bravo! [clap]
I should wrap this up before I really bore you guys, so I will leave you with yet another eye brow raising experience and that is the ever notorious Visitor Q. No use waiting for that one on DVD here, twas a futile exercise so I *ahem* obtained it another way. What? Don’t look at me like that, don’t you judge me!
So, what’s it about? A man hit anothers in the head, and then comes to live at their house and observe their family. Okay! Let’s see what we can gain from Visitor Q. Hmmm, well, daughter has sex with her own father? Check. Son abusing his mother? Check. Mother lactating breast milk? Check. Father raping dead chick? Check. Father getting stuck in said dead chick during? Oh good lord what the bloody hell am I watching here?! And why am I laughing?!!! This isn’t funny is it?! Well, it kinda is, but so very very VERY sick. I have no bloody idea how Miike comes up with this shit, but good lord this shit is insane!
I never thought it was possible to find a movie more insane then Ichi the Killer, though since this one has a documentary vibe to it, it feels so much dirtier. That and there’s incest and weird shit going down. I mean really weird shit! Damn! Whether you love Miike or hate him, you gotta admit, this guy is insane! Heh, I guess that’s why I do love him!
I wanted to get into a few more Miike films, but I reckon that’s enough for now. Till then, thankyou for reading!
I think that for me, it comes down to Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q as my favorite Miike films. I've never hated any of his movies, though as you said, some can be rather average, but I've easily watched those two the most.
I still say you should check out Gozu. More of Miike's obsession with breast milk in that one!