Quick Review: The Booth (2005)

 

Directed by Yoshihiro Nakamura

Country of Origin – Japan

An egomaniac disc jockey gets super cranky when his usual studio is undergoing construction and he’s forced to do his popular advice show from the station’s original sound booth. The titular booth just happens to be in the spooky basement where another DJ hung himself in the 1950s during a broadcast. Hijinks ensue. I had very low expectations going into this film until I saw that writer/director Nakamura was one of the screenwriters on Dark Water (2002), and who has gone to direct a decent smattering of horror movies over the years. The story is deceptively simple and is tightly told with lots of tension, both of the melodramatic and ghostly varieties. I dig the bits that feel like an urban legend and especially when things take a turn for the surreal.   

Quick Review: Red Eye (2005)

 

Directed by Dong-bin Kim

Country of Origin - South Korea

A group of unsuspecting travelers are beset with all manner of ghosts as their train makes its final run on the anniversary of a terrible tragedy. Red Eye -not to be confused with the Wes Craven film of the same name and release year- is surprisingly good and a little smarter than I thought it would be. Though not groundbreaking, it has a decent mystery plot that unfolds in an ambitious way. The plot slows down a little in the last third but there’s enough going on in the finale to hold your interest. Also of note: because I’m very immature, director Kim, who helmed The Ring Virus (1999), has a first name that makes me giggle.

Doppelganger (2003)

Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Country of Origin: Japan

Engineer Michio Hayasaki (Kôji Yakusho) is a bit of a perfectionist. While in the middle of developing a revolutionary wheelchair that will vastly improve the lives of quadriplegics, something strange happens. After seeing an exact double of himself, Hayasaki assumes that the pressure from the board of directors funding the project has finally gotten to him. Before he can blame just being overworked, his very real doppelganger steps into his life, promising him things that he can’t achieve on his own. The original Hayasaki is a pushover who never has the courage to say or do what he truly wants. This never version of himself has no such limitations. He is bold, headstrong, confident, and totally immoral. The moment Hayasaki gives in to his doppelganger, his life begins to spin out of control. It doesn’t take long before he has to stand up for himself but is it already too late?

I have yet to see a Kiyoshi Kurosawa film that I didn’t enjoy. Unfortunately, the cruddy trailer I initially saw for Doppelganger was not very flattering and I did a hard pass on the film. As usual, I was a fool! Much to my surprise, this film is frickin’ gloriously wicked and very unpredictable -more than a little bit like a certain doppelganger! This Faustian parable about how, while being a total wimp and letting people walk all over you is bad, doing whatever the hell your deepest, darkest desires crave will likely not end very well. Once you give in, even just a little, it’s already too late.

Kurosawa’s sense of humor is very dark and seeing the doppelganger in action results in some creepily funny moments. He also fills the movie with fun little touches like the wacko pseudoscience of Hayasaki’s futuristic wheelchair technology and unique plot tangents that would take me forever to get into here. Yakusho, who’s worked with Kurosawa many times on classics like Cure (1997) and Séance (2000), is in rare form here playing two very different sides of the same unlikeable man that I end up rooting for in spite of myself. Did I mention that my doppelganger won’t let me finish this review? He’s mean and you shouldn’t trust him. Hey, look! Hitomi Satô of Ringu (1998) and Ringu 2 (1999) is in this! Gotta go!

Ghost Snatchers (1986)

Directed by Ngai Choi Lam

Country of Origin: Hong Kong  

Ghost Snatchers AKA Bi gui zhuo is about two loser security guards Chu Bong (Jing Wong) and Fan Pien-Chou (Stanley Sui-Fan Fung) who run afoul of ghosts haunting the building they work in. These particular haints have chosen the lovely Judy (Shu-Yuan Hsu) to possess and force to do their dirty work. Meanwhile, Chu must also contend with his girlfriend Hsueh’s (Joey Wang) loan shark brother Tai (Michael Wai-Man Chan). Tai wants to kill Chu and/or charge him interest that compounds by the second on money he didn’t even ask to borrow. After Tai gets whacked by the ghosts, Hsueh calls in her priestess pal Ling (Joyce Godenzi) to put a hurtin’ on these gosh dang supernatural beings and get rid of them once and for all.

While this has all the plot trappings of a typical Hong Kong ghost comedy (which might even outnumber vampire comedies over there), Ghost Snatchers gets completely crazy, outrageously colorful, and needs to be seen to be believed. Actor Jing Wong also wrote this thing which isn’t too surprising. The dude is still acting, writing, producing, and directing to this day. That’s a triple threat -if you only count three of those things! Wong also directed one of my all time favorite Stephen Chow movies, Tricky Brains (1991). I think I’m gonna swoon over here. It’s too bad Joey Wang retired from acting in 2004 with over 70 credits under her belt. She’s so unbelievably cute and naive in this film that I almost believe that she’d go out with a goofus like Chu. Almost.

I have an ongoing relationship with the films of director Ngai Choi Lam. He rarely disappoints in terms of bringing completely baffling bullshit to the screen. Does that name ring a bell for you? It should! He’s the director of cult favorite Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991). While this film never gets quite THAT wild, it contains Lam’s everything-and-the-kitchen sink attitude that has yet to let me down. Ghost Snatchers has bad gags of the smelly socks and fat joke varieties as well as a huge amount of gore makeup and visual effects. You might want to brush up on your mahjong rule book and your Chinese horoscope before you dig into this film. Don’t let that discourage you though because I swear that it’s never boring. And bonus: you really won’t need your brain for Ghost Snatchers because it’s as weird as it is loud and as awesome as it is stupid.

Eko Eko Azarak III: Misa the Dark Angel (1998)

 

Directed by Katsuhito Ueno

Country of Origin: Japan

The bloody and battered body of a woman is discovered on the streets of Tokyo. Normally, this wouldn’t be something of interest to a powerful witch like Misa Kuroi (Hinako Saeki) but her weird uncle Satoru (Bang-ho Cho) performs an autopsy on the body and discovers a parasite from another dimension inside it. The clues from this corpse lead Misa to the drama club of a fancy private school for girls, which she immediately enrolls. This drama club is putting on a real snoozer of a fantasy play that is secretly an incantation that’s going to bring about some serious evil stuff. The girls decide to practice in the old abandoned schoolhouse next door which is said to have been the home of an evil wizard. If you’ve seen this film before and this is not actually the plot, please don’t say anything.

It would seem that this movie was not a huge hit since Eko Eko Azarak series wouldn’t have a feature film for another 8 years after this. Director Katsuhito Ueno wouldn’t go on to do much else and screenwriter Sôtarô Hayashi would go on to work on the Ultraman series in the 2010s -nice work if you can get it. If Hinako Saeki looks familiar to you Japanese horror freaks out there it’s because not only was she in Uzumaki (2000) and Stacy (2001), she also played Sadako herself in Rasen (1998). Keep an eye out as well for Hitomi Miwa as Mami, the neat freak. She was in Hirohisa Sasaki’s gory rape fest Crazy Lips (2000) and the mostly forgotten cannibal horror, The Last Supper (2005).

It’s a real shame that this third entry in the film series isn’t better received because I’ll be darned if I don’t think it’s great. Don’t get me wrong, the plot is either confusing or so simple that I forgot it but this has atmosphere to spare. The whole movie (and once again, it could be the Tokyo Shock DVD) looks overly dark and mostly purple. Adding to this dreamy and sleepy weird ass look is there’s a lot of soft focus being thrown around. I especially enjoy the summery vibe (queue the cicadas) and the surreal, disorienting Hausu (1977) quality to the supernatural goings on. I know this won’t be for a lot of folks but I enjoy it more than Eko Eko Azarak II and look forward to throwing it on again sometime.

Sadly, this is where my journey through the world of Misa Kuroi ends but I suspect I’ll get back to it someday. I need to read more of the manga and hoo boy, there’s a lot more of her in media. Between the 1996 sequel/prequel and this film, an Eko Eko Azarak TV series came out in Japan (featuring Saeki as Misa Kuroi yet again). It ran for 26 episodes of which I can only find 3 online. It looks like a fun show but I didn’t get a chance to review it properly. There’s also another 13-episode series in 2004 that I didn’t even know existed until just now. But that’s not all. There’s an anime from 2007 but it doesn’t look very promising. There are also three more films (two in 2006 and one in 2011) which I have yet to check out! So file this under “to be continued” or don’t.

 

Update: A helpful reader just let me know that there's ANOTHER Eko Eko Azarak film that I didn't mention. In 2001, another attempt to reboot the series came out with Eko Eko Azarak: Awakening (2001). I need to check that out as well. Thanks, Luna!