sevdah Reviews

Dead Girl Walking (2004)

Dead movie walking

[1/10 · 13 January 2009]

I really like J-horror, the weirder the better. That's why I was looking forward to finally seeing " Dead girl walking" - the reviews sounded promising. Unfortunately, that's where the fun started and ended for me. With the reviews.

As far as I'm concerned,almost everything in this movie sucked. Directing, acting, screenplay, make - up, special effects, you name it. There was not a shred of anything eerie, ghastly or convincing. Behavior of the girl who inexplicably dies but is still "alive" is simply laughable. Her mother's acting is Z - grade ( the scene where she aimlessly swings the hatchet was stupid beyond belief ). The basic premise of the movie is interesting, but it is executed in such a clumsy, cheap, amateurish and childish fashion that I'm not able to take any of it seriously. No budget, no acting, no characters, no atmosphere, no redeeming value. 1/10.

Scrapbook (2000 Video)

Crapbook

[1/10 · 27 July 2008]

I thought I might give this movie a chance despite the multitude of bad reviews. Hell, August Underground's Mordum received a lot of them, and I still like it. And now here goes my review of Scrapbook which goes along the lines of the said multitude.

Yup, I made a mistake watching this. Here's why.

Scrapbook might be called a lousy attempt at no - budget, no - plot worth mentioning , almost no acting, silly yet pretentious, unjustifiably slow - paced and over - hyped cinematography. It won a prize? What for - the most unconvincing scenes of slapping ? It tries to be violent, gory, shocking, dark, even some sort of psychological thriller at times - and fails in everything. It's way too long, too unconvincing. I found myself fast - forwarding quite a few times, just to skip a minute or two of totally pointless garbage. And again, and again, and again... and it was still too long.

Special effects and make - up are crap. Acting is mostly crap. Story too - banal, unoriginal and it doesn't really go anywhere. A serial killer abducts this poor girl, takes her to a decrepit house on a farm and subjects her to various forms of torture, all along ranting about his scrapbook full of mementos from previous victims and their descriptions of what they went through. He's going to be famous and rich after he's done with her, she's the last one to write in the scrapbook. So, is he psychotic or retarded? Because, you know, this story sounds stupid to me. By the way, we don't get to see much of the photos in the scrapbook, and they're supposed to be super - shocking. The torture is also supposed to look shocking, but it doesn't. It doesn't look realistic enough.So, this guy is giving this girl a very rough and degrading treatment, so she realizes that her only way out is to manipulate him... by writing some very unbelievable things in the scrapbook. Eventually/very quickly he buys it, succumbs to his masochistic drives, allows the girl to tie him up to the bed and they start some kinky sex... which quickly ends in his murder. Girl stabs him off - screen and for some part on - screen, takes several Polaroid snapshots of poor bastard screaming, puts them in the scrapbook and goes away. The end.

I see absolutely no point in this movie. I don't find it educational. Too short of gore for gore hounds, definitely not suitable for fans of mainstream horror... so, what's the point? To earn some money and pseudo - cult status using sick cinematographic clichés that don't live up to the hype, internet gossips and reviews done probably by the film crew and their friends? Come on, we already got a lot of that.

1 out of 10.

The Redsin Tower (2006)

Very average

[3/10 · 27 October 2007]

Being an August Underground series fan, I could hardly wait to get my hands on this movie and see something different from the obviously talented ToeTag crew. Yeah, sure, it's different, but this is not for me. I give it 3 out of 10 because of this: 1. This type of story is told about 10 000 000 times already. Girl breaks up with her mentally unstable boyfriend and he begins to stalk her. His behavior is increasingly aggressive and near the end of the movie he ends up butchering someone with an axe.This storyline meets one that is very reminiscent of movies such as " Evil Dead" because his girlfriend hooks up with the bunch of brainless , shallow bores and goes with them to party in an abandoned tower ( but where are the stairs inside of that tower? ) which is haunted by evil forces that like to kill and rape for no apparent reason. Nothing at least slightly original . From beginning to the end.

2. Most of the movie is boring and consists mainly of these characters ( i didn't get the impression that there are real characters here ) getting high, drinking beer, and talking about absolutely nothing relevant or interesting.It takes a lot until we get to the gore, guts and demons. And when we do, it ends quickly. Not much for the gore fans here.

3. The acting is mainly lousy and flat. It adds to my impression that this departure from previous entries made by the same crew is disappointing, because AU movies included good , very convincing acting.

4. Fred Vogel is obviously a talented director and he proves that in " Redsin Tower", but he's not good when it comes to writing scripts for horror flicks of this kind. Or maybe he is, because this type of mainstream banalities needs no good ideas, just recycling of the old, old, old senseless rubbish. But still, it could have been more interesting and dynamic.

5. The special effects are good because they are done by Jeramie Cruise , and he proved himself as the master of that art in AU series. There aren't much of them though.

6. The overall atmosphere in the movie is fairly O.K. , but it's not frightening or creepy because the plot quickly becomes very predictable.

7. There is something lacking at the end of the movie: explanation for the fact that the only person spared from wrath of " evil forces " is the dumped , homicidal boyfriend. Why? Did they like him because he's a murderer? But who cares, this is not the movie that's supposed to raise questions and make you think. At least I got that impression.

All in all: very typical,mainly boring, directed skillfully, acting average or below ( but the guy who played the dumped boyfriend was O.K.), good SFX and make-up... You can see thousands of movies very similar to this one. It's pale, predictable and unimaginative. I think I'll stick to the ToeTag's earlier work.

Girl Hell 1999 (1999 Video)

Hell on earth - or somewhere else?

[7/10 · 5 October 2007]

First of all, it's not very easy ( and it might not make much sense ) to review a Japanese movie with no subtitles available anywhere if you don't speak Japanese. I watched " Red room 1" , apparently only Yamanouchi's flick with translation ( Thanks to Unearthed Films )and found out that it's not just pure senseless exploitation and sickness. From my personal point of view, director and screenwriter is an intelligent person with fairly bizarre imagination ,but, unfortunately, this is obscured by the fact that there is no other author's movie translated to English ( I hope this will change eventually ). " Girl Hell " , therefore, might seem chaotic, unintelligible and pointless, but my feelings are that this is not the case. I'll try to explain this right away:

The movie has a plot that is coherent and events presented in this shocking, disgusting piece of nihilistic nightmare are obviously connected and represent pieces of a very tragic story - to say the least. The main character - girl with the bicycle - is actually a sister of the horribly victimized woman bandaged , tied with duct tape and repeatedly raped by her father. I know this because the main character talks to her using the word that means " sister" ( I learned that watching Japanese films with subs). So, there's a very violent incest on top of all other horrendous things. It seems that the main girl is somewhat spared from this abuse, so it might result in her feelings of guilt over her sister being a " sacrificial lamb" , and herself being at least partially spared because of that ( or maybe some other reason too). The victimized sister bears a horrible wound on her stomach that looks like a result of a failed suicide attempt ( seppuku ). Although the luckier sister is able to call the police and end this nightmare, she chooses not to, which is actually not a rarity in cases of a severe domestic abuse. Maybe she is somehow blackmailed by her sadistic father.

Now, let's say something about two young rapists. One of them, the dominant one, is somehow acquainted with the situation in the sadist's family. He himself is also a sadist. When he talks to his buddy we see a flashback that reveals the images of a brutalized girl in bandages- it's like he knows her. And what I find very interesting about it, is that during that part , the guy also uses the word " sister". Maybe he is their brother who escaped from that hellish household. There is no doubt about the fact that he is very much alike that disgusting sicko prone to incest and torture; he proves that on more that one occasion. He knows where the house is, and when confronted with the father on the front door of the house, we can observe that father doesn't look surprised when he sees him. He kills the father. The subsequent abuse of the poor girl in bandages by two young maniacs is just a logical continuation of her previous torment.

And what about that surreal, huge, red moon over that horrid house? My guess is that it might be a hint to something that places the plot in the context that suits the movie title: maybe it all happens in some sort of hell, another dimension made for punishment and suffering.But maybe I'm wrong.

I don't know what to say about homeless woman, except that her death by the hand of the main character also looks surreal ( I mean, you can't decapitate someone with the baseball bat just like that, but on the other hand, Yamanouchi's " Kyoko vs Yuki" is richer with even more ridiculous acts of violence).

Sickness breeds sickness, depravity creates depravity, violence causes violence. These are some of the messages in this movie. I liked it in a weird sort of way and hope someday someone will invest some effort in translating this strange flick so I can finally know what it's all about. 7 out of 10.

My Nightmare (1993)

I think this is garbage

[1/10 · 19 August 2007]

Why do I think this short movie is garbage? The idea is lame, unimaginative and disappointing ( to me at least ). The previous reviewer claims there are some disturbing images in the movie. Where are they? Maybe the part where the photographer drinks girl's urine. There is no violence. No sadism. Nothing to make the ending seem more effective. When it ended , I though - Hey, is that all? I felt like a jackass for wasting my time on this pale, irrelevant, pathetic piece of cinematic masturbation.

It's not that this movie is absolutely without quality , it's just that I get irritated over the lack of any decent idea. " My nightmare " could have been a lot better - but there was not enough creativity involved.

1 out of 10.

Sex & Fury (1973)

This is exploitation?Oh , come on !

[2/10 · 1 July 2007]

To sum it up right away : as far as I'm concerned , the script is very lame , plot is full of highly unbelievable events , dialog is clumsy and doesn't sound convincing at all , acting is mostly bad , story is plagued with one stereotype after another , there is not enough gore , violence and perversion to justify this pathetic , unimaginative exercise in bad cinematography ... I'm not saying that everything in this movie sucks , but it's mostly garbage . That's just what I think , I hope the fans of this completely irrelevant and inferior visual wanking will not be offended because this is nothing personal . I just hated watching this pointless little snot of a movie .

I love Japanese movies and cherish every opportunity to get my hands on them , especially if they're twisted . I hoped this was twisted , or at least watchable . What I got is something almost on the same level as the early Bruce Lee movies . I liked them when I was in primary school , but that passed almost 20 years ago .

" School of the holy beast " is good Japanese exploitation , and same goes for " Shogun's sadism " . " Sex and fury " is so pale , unimaginative , restrained and melodramatic compared to them that it makes me sick to my stomach . It would make me sick even if I hadn't watched those movies .

If you like watching naked chicks kill people so much that you can tolerate completely silly and childish story with no originality or depth whatsoever - than watch this . You'll see the main actress butt - naked , sword in hand , splattered with blood of her enemies - and not just once , but twice . Wow , what a treat . Too bad the movie doesn't consist only of these two scenes , because it would be much better that way .

2 out of 10 .

Tokugawa onna keibatsu-emaki: Ushi-zaki no kei (1976)

Wow!

[9/10 · 30 June 2007]

First of all , to all the Japanese people out there , especially those who make weird movies : I am eternally grateful to you for having such an interesting cinematography . It never stops to amaze and entertain me in the strangest and most unexpected ways . I hope your movies will flourish in number , creativity and the ability to appall and shock people . Or at least maintain this level of quality and weirdness .

Now about Joy Of Torture : this is not just some gruesome , sickening exploitation flick perfectly suitable for gore addicts . It's not all about being torn to pieces , or repeatedly raped , cooked alive , beaten to death , crucified and then stabbed in the belly or genitals with the spear . It's not just having your feet crushed with a hammer , fetus ripped out straight from the womb of a severely abused prostitute without painkillers or anesthesia ( after which she is forced to get back to work where a customer gets to hump her literally while she's dieing ), it is not just about some little girl blinded with hot iron and then thrown out on the street to become a beggar ... It is also not just about humiliation , tragedy , utter depravity , unimaginable injustices and extreme abuse of power . There is something deeper in this movie , certain things that , in my opinion , sets it apart from mindless celluloid carnages who's sole purpose is to shock people and score some money and attention by making viewers sick .

The movie is divided into two stories , first takes place in 17. and the other in 19. century . Both represent cruel side of the Japanese history , and I really don't recommend this movie to anyone unable to stomach the most extreme horror movies . It's painful to watch it . Not just because of sickness and blood - it's also very tragic . There are no happy endings . Each character in this movie that can be labeled as relatively positive is horrifically abused , and in the most cases killed . Their torturers , the most revolting human beings imaginable , seemingly remain unpunished .But just seemingly . And this is where the movie takes an interesting turn into something deeper and more meaningful . This is my interpretation : Two main characters from the first story , the sadistic shogun ( bad guy ) and his rebellious samurai ( good guy ) appear in the second story , 2 centuries later . My assumption is that they are reincarnated . But this time with different roles : ex shogun is now an owner of a brothel ( degradation compared to his past life ) , and the ex samurai who died because shogun tortured and killed him for not obeying him ,is some sort of a detective , which means that he is a wealthy , relatively powerful and respected person ( some kind of improvement compared to his previous status ) . The roles have reversed and ex samurai is now superior to his ex shogun . The ex shogun is still some sort of a sadist , and his brothel is hell on earth where employees get mutilated , tortured and killed for trivial reasons . Ex samurai is now also a torturer because that's his job - to torture anyone who's accused of a crime .

Through these two characters we can see the descent and ascent of a man through reincarnation and Carma , as well as the ability of power to corrupt people .

I am very pleased with the fact that 2nd part of " Joy of torture " is not so naive , melodramatic and romantic as the first part . Actually , it's a quite depressive movie . And a good one too . 9 out of 10 .

Meatball Machine (2005)

Entertaining and cheerful massacre

[7/10 · 30 June 2007]

I don't know whether to recommend this movie to the fans of " Tetsuo " or not . Why " Tetsuo " ? Because you can easily label some things about this movie as a very obvious " Tetsuo " rip - off . The concept is similar , editing is equally frantic and fast - which is good because , aside from making the movie more dynamic , it obscures some flaws caused by low budget and other factors .

There is lot more gore , less eroticism and , in the case of " Meatball machine " , the transformation of human being into a creature that's partially a machine( sounds familiar ? ) called " Necroborg " ( very original ) is caused by slimy little aliens .

These slimy little scums from outer space actually use human beings as vessels for their gladiator games that they play with each other . They infest the body , somehow manage to put an insane amount of mechanical parts in it pulling them seemingly out of nowhere and turn it into a killing machine that targets other Necroborgs . Their aim is to defeat another alien who is in another Necroborg , rip it out of the corpse and eat it .

All in all , the plot sounds somewhat silly and I didn't expect much , but at the end I actually enjoyed this film .

As I said before , this is a low budget flick , but it's still relatively decent . Don't expect much from actors , they're mostly not very good , but it can be tolerated . I liked the atmosphere and gore , certain bizarre situations and the way the movie is directed and edited . Although the story is not too original , it possesses certain charm - to me at least .

7 out of 10 .

Ringu (1998)

Everything is relative

[2/10 · 17 June 2007]

And depends on the point of view , and of the preferences of the person perceiving or experiencing something, and is questionable in terms of validity, blah, blah, blah ... and IMDb reviews are an excellent example . RINGU got some great reviews . Great plot, suspense , atmosphere, scary , made me wet my pants , blah blah blah again ... OK , we're all entitled to have an opinion. So, here is mine opinion about having these opinions about ANY horror movie in general - and later on about the infamous RINGU .

To all the good people who either claim that this movie is full or devoid of suspense and cite this as an advantage or disadvantage : it's neither , actually. Or both - it's relative . Horror is not just suspense , there are different types of horror : the horror of being tortured , the horror of going crazy , the horror of watching your daughter being raped and so on . Therefore , there are different types of horror movies , and to expect all of them to conform to what you like is not realistic . I found RINGU almost devoid of any suspense , except for the first 20 minutes or so , and even that was partially because of everything I heard about it before ( that it's VEEEEERY scary ) . But that's not the problem .

Some say the story is good . OK . What story ? That ancient cliché about curse , ghost and a video cassette mambo - jumbo that reminds me of childish threats scribbled ( and in the era of e -mail , typed ) in chain letters ? If you don't pass it someone else , you'll die ? No kidding . Now I'm terrified . And amazed at the originality of this idea to cash in on a million - times - seen - and - used concept . OK , nothing new can be invented in 21st century , but at least you can come up with some relatively fresh combination of old elements. Or maybe not .

What is scary is subjective . Someone is afraid of spiders - someone is not . I wasn't afraid of RINGU. Mildly creepy at the beginning - expectations - but nevertheless , for the most part not interesting.

For me , the worst thing about this movie is the fashion in horror genre it spawned : that video cassette from the RINGU is getting distributed alright, but in the real world. Horror movies are plagued with repetition. THAT is curse .

2 out of 10 .

Murder-Set-Pieces (2004)

Chaotic , pointless and certainly not that shocking

[2/10 · 3 June 2007]

OK , i won't go into much detail here - no need for that . I see this movie as a failed attempt at making something worthy of attention only for it's shock value . The attempt is failed because it's not THAT shocking as some reviews might suggest . And the rest is mainly lack of talent , skills , ideas , and so on .

The main actor is good at what he does almost to the point where a wooden chair could completely replace him . He has a Valium - blunt expression on his face most of the time , and when he gets mad - oh boy , I've seen plastic pistols in the toy stores that look more convincing . No story , no characters , no moral to the whole story ( but as I said - there is actually no story , just random killings) , the SFX are OK ( Toetag crew , one of the rare positive details in this whole mess ) , girls are very OK most of the time , nudity is pleasant and there is some sickness to make it a bit less boring . All in all , a lousy movie by my standards .Incoherent , incomplete , immature , shallow , pointless .

But as I said , the Toetag crew ( I am their fan ) and nude chicks made me keep this abortion in my collection . 2 out of 10 .

Evil Dead Trap (1988)

What do you get when ...

[2/10 · 3 June 2007]

... you mix some Japanese porn stars and acting that usually goes with this kind of cast , lousy script , semi - imbecile and imbecile dialog , about 30 000 000 logic holes in each 20 minutes of the movie , twice as much clichés , then throw in some gore , creepy locations , twists that become obvious a lot before they happen , and characters mainly consisting of an unbelievably stupid TV crew that behaves very illogically when confronted with danger represented in the killer who carries a homicidal fetus inside of his body that makes him slice people up for no clear reason ? You get " Evil dead trap " , of course . And a pleasure to endure it , if you want to . I wanted , because I've read some reviews that described the ending of this glorious piece of Japanese horror cinema as good , brilliant , shocking ... I kinda hoped that the ending will make it at least semi - worthwhile for me .Too bad it never happened .

My impressions : poorly directed , irritating , cheap sounding soundtrack , silly editing , a lot sillier story , not to mention an abundance of details that are nothing short of amazingly stupid ( members of the TV crew react as if they want to die or at least get hurt ) ... What's so good about this film I really don't know . It seems to have some sort of cult status . The porn stars look good , but ... I think it's maybe better to see them in their adult movies . This one is more suitable - at least that's my opinion - for elementary school . Elementary school of making bad , nonsensical horror .

Only reason why I'm giving this 2 out of 10 : weird , mildly creepy atmosphere and hot girls . Two positive thing about this slimy Japanese movie fetus that can kill you with the overdose of stereotypes . That's enough for 2 .

August Underground's Penance (2007 Video)

They did it again , folks

[9/10 · 29 May 2007]

First of all , I feel an irresistible urge to say something about those " Fred - Vogel - and his - gang - of - non - talents - made -a horrible - piece - of crap " reviews . OK , I acknowledge the fact that we're all entitled to have our own opinion and like or dislike all sorts of things , but for God's sake , how can anyone state something that's obviously not true and ignore things that are apparently there ? Is orange blue ? Is cat a mouse ? Unbelievably small crew , using equally small budget , makes a horror movie so terrifying , meticulous , realistic , important and effective that all the slasher - ghost - haunted house - mutated zombie - cannibal inbred redneck killer nonsense put together fades away when compared . These people are talented . These people are intelligent . There are characters in this movie , there is even a story , albeit a simple one . This is not some amateurish attempt at shocking people , this is extreme horror at it's best .

That being said , I can go on to reviewing .

What we have here , in the 3rd part of August Underground series , is a complete downfall of our beloved , slimy , pathetic characters . I have to admit that I enjoyed their suffering , that's how much I started to hate them . And exactly because of that I felt that there is something lacking in Penance : we don't get to see more of their misery . That's too bad . But what we DO see is educational : these killers obviously get less and less pleasure from all the twisted things they do , and that's something that happens in reality with serial killers. There is some character development , especially in the case of Crusty's character . The scene when she breaks down and cries " I wanna die ! " is one of the strongest - and definitely proves that she is a good actress . Besides , she looks a lot better in this sequel because she got thin and really cute ( except in certain scenes where she applied some really horrible make - up to show us the physical effect of her decline ) , I wish she stays that way ... but that's slightly off - topic . Fred's character still shows no remorse , but apparently disintegrates .

Of course , Mr Cruise did a brilliant job with special effects , make - up is also top notch , and acting very good . The whole crew works like a precise , powerful mechanism . The movie is delivered with great force and without compromise or relenting . I'm not saying it's perfect - I prefer Mordum , because I think it's stronger - but this is still some very serious horror cinematography , no doubt about it . It becomes apparent if you get to see the snuff edition which contains some deleted scenes and audio commentary from the crew . There is also a documentary about making of two scenes that involve some nasty disemboweling . Yummmy , yummy .

All in all , Toetag crew are my definite favorites when it comes to contemporary horror movies and I can't wait to see their future projects . I give Penance 9 out of ten . It's one of the best horror movies I've seen so far .

Broken (III) (2006)

Above average horror

[8/10 · 3 May 2007]

First off , being a jaded horror fan , I am not easily disturbed or disgusted by the things i see on the screen . However , the beginning of this movie made me squirm in my seat and look away with unease . The scenes where the women pull razors out of their stomachs are among the most disturbing scenes I have ever seen . They are pretty convincing too . SFX are fairly good , and so is the acting . Same goes for the script and directing .

The plot is gruesome and will probably not appeal to the fans of mainstream horror such as " I know what you did last summer " and the like . But these things happen , and it is important for us to recognize that fact . These movies are educational - they are not made just for shock value , although they certainly have one. And this movie is shocking. Ripping a girls tongue out just to make her stop screaming is rather shocking . And so is the ending . I wont go into details here -I don't want to spoil a pleasant surprise .

They were just a few things that irritated me . These women are abducted , taken to a forest in which they are forced to live without any shelter whatsoever - but they still manage to wear some make up after spending days and weeks there . Also , they obviously don't eat much - but are not getting any thinner , which would be inevitable in a situation like that , especially when you take into account all that mental and physical abuse .

All in all , I am glad i saw this movie . It stands out among other movies of this genre . Good story , good execution . 8 out of 10 .

Tumbling Doll of Flesh (1998)

Porn , bondage and dismemberment

[8/10 · 18 March 2007]

First of all , you should watch this only if you don't mind the lack of subtitles , pornography , kinky sex and utter , horrifying and truly shocking depravity . I mentioned kinky sex , but to call sex in the second half of the movie " kinky " would be a great understatement . It's more like a punch in the face if you aren't prepared for this sort of sickness . That being said , I can go back to reviewing this morbid piece of pseudo - snuff genre brought to us by our fellow Japanese .

The plot seems to be fairly basic , almost nonexistent : a girl is hired to perform in amateur porn movie . Don't expect much in first 30 - 40 minutes . There is some dialog - if you don't speak Japanese it's not going to mean much to you - that seems to be an occasional chatting between the girl and the crew & performer , then there is some porn ( straight sex ) , and after the scene is finished the performers and the crew take a break . And then ... it starts to happen .

It seems that the girl is talked into performing one more scene - this time tied with the rope . The abuse begins : whipping , slapping , hot wax ... In the end , girl breaks down and cries . They untie her .

Then we see performers and crew sitting at the table as if nothing had happened - except for the girl . She is visibly shaken and looks like she wants to leave . She walks to the door , sits on the floor to put her shoes on ... and that's when hell breaks loose .

She is hit in the head with the baseball bat , her wound is treated , she is tied to the bed . What ensues can be briefly described ( I'm not going to spoil everything for you ) as rape during dismemberment . Think of " Flower of flesh and blood " , mix it with porn and you will get the idea .It goes on for about 20 minutes or so . SFX are very good , makeup too . Everything is shown , with no mercy for the viewer . You have been warned .

I thought " Visitor Q " was a very sick movie . After watching " Niku daruma " it looked like a fairytale to me .This movie is so sick , so depraved , so twisted , so disgusting that the harshest words pale in comparison to it's finale . Too bad it's released only on VHS so there are no subtitles available . But the movie still works without them . So , if you are into ultra sickness , extreme sadism and other beauties of this beloved genre , check this out . I hope you won't have nightmares .8/10 .

Dr. Lamb (1992)

Doesn't live up to the hype

[3/10 · 13 March 2007]

And why do I think it doesn't ? Well , here's the explanation : This movie is described as infamously sick , twisted , depraved , gory and whatnot . You will find a lot of websites that review " Dr Lamb " as if it was one of the meanest movies ever made . But it's not , or at least - it depends on who you ask .A " Scream " fan might see it as the nastiest possible piece of carnage since WWII , but then again, a person that finds this Craven's nonsense anywhere near scary , shocking or gory is -in my opinion - somewhat confused . " Dr Lamb " is not very gory either. There are only few murders and very little blood . You have a couple of dismemberment and mutilation scenes , but they are not too elaborate or long ( and the SFX are nothing to write home about ). Most of the movie consists of boring , almost comical dialogs , interrogations , unconvincing attempts at making some parts of the movie look like drama , cheesy humor , grimacing , yelling , beating up and so on . In other words - it's not very interesting .

The acting sucks . That is , most of it . The main actor is decent , it's just that his character is underdeveloped , vague , almost two - dimensional . There is one part of the movie where the killer establishes some sort of connection ( at least that's what he thinks ) with one of his victims that he , for some unknown reason , sees as " pure and innocent " - but kills her anyway and has sex with her corpse . I suppose this part of the movie is meant to show us the sensitive side of a ruthless psychopath , but miserably fails at it . It's too unconvincing and melodramatic, not because of the actor ( well ... )but because of the lousy screenplay , poor dialog , shallow characters . OK , you might say , but this movie is just a low budget exploitation , no one should expect too much here .That's right , but the truth is it's not too exploitative and might leave jaded gore hounds unsatisfied .

I have to mention that certain moments are dubbed in English in a manner of Bruce Lee movies , which makes the whole experience even more ridiculous .

So my verdict is : unimaginative , somewhat boring ,lousy acting , not enough gore , not enough murders , cheap looking SFX , unconvincing characters , lame story ... 3/10 . If you want a strong dose of movie violence and depravity , check out " August underground's mordum " or " Guinea pig " movies . They are far better than " Dr Lamb " .

August Underground's Mordum (2003 Video)

So sick it's unreal

[9/10 · 22 February 2007]

This is , by far , the sickest movie I've ever seen . And after watching Guinea Pig series , Niku Daruma , Aftermath , Nekromantik , some shockumentaries and the like , I'm definitely not easily disgusted . I don't want to say it was a problem for me to watch this movie in one sitting - it wasn't - but I was definitely impressed by sheer brutality ,unocompromising portrayal of man's worst depravities , good special effects , convincing acting and the overall atmosphere that is so dark , vicious and nihilistic that it almost hurts . This is the gem of pseudo snuff genre and not to be missed by it's true fans .

I expected sickness , but not a dead baby covered with maggots rotting in the trash can placed in the room ( is it some sort of a shed ?) filled with corpses in various states of decomposition , along with at least one live , conscious and bound person .Simply put , this scene is a depiction of hell , worst imaginable suffering and hatred for everything that lives . And this hell is real - it happens right now , on many places across the planet . In one form or another .

I didn't expect a scene where a maniac rapes the corpse of a little girl that was obviously forced to eat his ( or hers ? ) feces prior to her death .Only thing that's merciful about this scene is that we don't see her torture and murder - but we get to see some of the torture of her parents who are in the next room .

OK , enough with the spoilers , just one final statement : this movie will NOT appeal to more than 90 % of the human race - but it's still good and able to teach us certain things about ourselves . If we're ready to listen . And watch .

August Underground (2001 Video)

Not exactly the sickest movie ever made , but ...

[7/10 · 22 February 2007]

But definitely one of the sickest available anywhere . I first saw " August Underground's Mordum " and thus expected something equally disturbing and disgusting from AU . It didn't happen . I'm not saying the movie is not disgusting - it's absolutely gross - but , as far as I'm concerned - not to that extent as AUM .

AU is less convincing than AUM , SFX and makeup rather good , but we don't get to see too much gore or mutilation while it happens . It's not that explicit , it's more about degradation and humiliation . There is no story involved , and in AUM we have some sort of a twisted love triangle as a story . AU contains more boring , empty moments when nothing significant or sick happens . However , movie is fairly good . It does what it's supposed to do - shock , sicken and warn . It' s really successful when it comes to these things .Acting is chillingly convincing . These guy really look like psychos .Their twisted , sadistic reactions to their victim's pain and suffering look and sound authentic .

If you can't handle a sight of the naked girl tied to the chair , her nipple cut off and body smeared with her own blood , urine and feces ( plus , she's forced to eat them ) , or dismemberment , or extreme verbal and mental abuse , DON'T EVEN TRY TO WATCH THIS ONE . It will make you puke and feel sorry for yourself . However , if you are a gore hound looking for some good pseudo - snuff , this is the real deal . Rent it , buy it , whatever , you won't regret it . Probably .8/10 .

Elephant (2003)

70 and something minutes of boredom

[1/10 · 21 February 2007]

An actual massacre happened in Littleton , we all know about it . Great tragedy , absolutely horrid thing . And what do the makers of " Elephant " do with this extremely strong and powerful material ? They create a disaster of a movie . It was like trying to make a gallon of lemonade by using just a couple of lemons . So the result has to be almost unwatchable - at least to me .

The author seemed to have started from the assumption that long scenes devoid of any significant events , confusing ending , lack of acting , lack of real characters , and sadistic and tedious filming of absolutely boring and trivial behavior is what the art's all about . Come on , what's so artsy and creative about a camera that simply follows a kid on his way through the school halls that goes on and on for minutes without any other event worth mentioning ? We don't even get to know who these kids actually are - there's too much time spent on showing banalities of an everyday life . That's supposed to be a movie about one of the worst school shootings ever ? If so , that's one of the worst movies ever that cover the subject . I couldn't take it in just one sitting but in three - and it's just a little over one hour long . Dentists can use it instead of anesthetics , psychiatrists can use it to cure insomniacs .It's mind - numbing , hypnotizing in it's slowness and apathy .

But hey , if it's boring , it will be recognized as art . At least you can't say it's just entertainment 'cause there's nothing entertaining about it .

I'd actually like to rate it with a 0 , but since 0 is not available ,here's 1 out of 10 . More than enough , as far as I'm concerned .

Donnie Darko (2001)

Work of a true genius

[10/10 · 20 February 2007]

That's right , Richard Kelly is a genius . It takes to be one to write a screenplay like this when you're only 21 ( or maybe 22 , I'm not sure )in only a few weeks while doing your regular , day - to - day job . And to direct it in such a professional manner when you're just 26 , and if that's your first full length movie after a few short ones at the academy - then it's truly mind - blowing .

Do yourself a favor and 1. find the Director's cut version because it's more complete and richer with meaning and ideas ( and more comprehensible ) , and 2. stay away from this if you're too lazy to use your brain during and after watching . This is pretty deep stuff , complicated , multi - layered , with references to philosophy , science and whatnot . I've seen it three times so far and can't say I really got it . I know I'll never understand it entirely . But it doesn't bother me , 'cause this is one of the best damn movies I've ever seen in my entire life . No matter what I come across in the future , this fact will remain , no doubt about it .

This movie is also a lot of fun. You get to know the mysterious phantom in a creepy bunny costume with skull mask instead of a face , hear how Donnie makes fun of the manipulative pedophile guru in front of the entire school or gives his buddies a lecture about sex life of the Smurfs , and there are also horror , suspense , sf and philosophy of time travel . It's completely insane . Great , great , great movie . Richard Kelly , thank you . You are a true genius .

Scream 2 (1997)

Complete and utter nonsense

[1/10 · 19 February 2007]

First of all , I have a question for all the fans of " Scream " series : why do you like this boring , unoriginal - as - hell ,less - than - mediocre pile of donkey dung ? You call this a horror movie ? The only horror about it is the fact that it's horrible . And that flicks like this spawn their copycats , just the way they were spawned themselves- right out of the monotonous , teenager - slashing stupidity of " Friday the 13th " , " Texas chainsaw massacre " and the like . Pardon me for blaspheming , I know these are true classics to many , but , let's face it , folks - what's frightening about a movie where there are no surprises to speak of , no originality , no real suspense , just one stereotype after another ? WE HAVE SEEN IT BEFORE , MORE THAN 20 YEARS AGO . It was fresher then .Now , it's like a fish slowly rotting away on a fish market one week after it's been pulled out of the water . Wow , how yummy .Wes Craven is a true genius - he found out a way to make big bucks by selling something that's been sold more times than Viagra .

The story is ridiculous , the conclusion barely makes sense , and that first scene in the theater- boy , what a farce ! A girl , fatally stabbed with a knife through a dashboard ( these serial killers must be doing a lot of workout ) crawls out of the lavatory bleeding like a pig , stumbles through the crowded theater just to scream her last scream right in front of the movie screen and then drop dead - instead of searching for help ?It's a straightforward comedy , no need for a parody - because that's what the whole movie already is . Someone's killing teenagers ? Really ? Oh ,no ! He stalks them , calls them on the phone using a voice modulator , mask and a big knife ? How original , how new , never seen before ! All the teenagers are pretty and sexy ? Well , another surprise , in other slashers they usually look like Quasimodos .

As far as I'm concerned , this is not horror , this is pure commercial exploitation of the horror genre in the most shallow , dumb , farcical and materialistic manner . I wish movies like this never existed . Period .

Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985 Video)

Sick , but not a nonsense

[9/10 · 19 February 2007]

This is one of my favorite horror movies . I've seen it six times so far , and can't help but wonder why people think it's just a pure splatter fest without any real meaning .Maybe I'm wrong ,but I'm convinced that the last scene of the movie pretty much gives it a deeper , more meaningful aspect .

First of all ,things like this happen every day . That's a fact , and that's also a reason why movies like this make sense . They are a warning . They inform us about a monster that lurks inside of a homo sapiens .

And then , dismemberment and death of an innocent girl who's body parts are put in a gruesome collection of other victim's body parts leads to creation - because they are used as a fertilizer for flowers . They spawn life - plants and maggots alike . We live in our reality , in our societies , just as those maggots crawl through rotting flesh - we are equally alive. So , death gives birth to life , as it is - and always have been - in the nature . Death and life are intertwined and this movie shows it very graphically . It's not a justification for a horrible crime - it's a simple fact . Things just work like that .

Besides , there is another unique aspect of this carnage - almost no sexual motivation . The motivation is mainly aesthetical and - in a very weird sort of way - creative.The killer sees the ultimate beauty in blood gushing out of the open wounds .In the meantime , while he rips and cuts , he is RECITING POETRY. Yes , it's sick and insane , but at least he's not some Michael Myers who kills for some absolutely vague - in fact nonexistent - reason . That's one of the reasons why this flick is not your average horror flick , it's not just because of all the guts and gore .

And that's ( mainly ) why my rating is so high . Call me nuts , by I think there is a metaphysical aspect to all this . " Chiniku no hana " is a small window into a small but meaningful portion of reality that is not to be ignored .

Hannibal Rising (2007)

Rather uninspired fiasco

[2/10 · 19 February 2007]

From my point of view , " Hannibal Rising " is nothing more than a trivial ,nonimaginative attempt at making some more money out of an already overused story . No previous glory of the " Silence Of The Lambs " helps here , it's just good old commercial flogging of the dead horse. Let me dwell on this a bit .

The screenplay is mainly plot driven and devoid of any deeper character studies . Hannibal is portrayed somewhat without his well - known charisma , and the reason for his monstrousness and cannibalism is rather unconvincing . There is a shocking , brutal story about a severe childhood trauma that's supposed to explain why Hannibal became Hannibal The Cannibal - but I think it's simply not working well enough . Actually ,it's a bit naive .

Don't expect stylish and grotesque killings as displayed in " Hannibal " - no such thing here . Murders are rather unimaginative , not very gory at all . Oh ,did I mention there is also a love story involved ? Yup , Hannibal is in love again - he's such a romantic chap . We get to see his more gentle side - although , that doesn't give us any deeper insight into his personality and motives .

Speaking of motives , this movie is mainly about the revenge . Yawn .You can easily predict the outcome right from the start .

I suppose we can expect a sequel in a few years . One thing's for sure - I'm not going to watch it .

Conclusion : the title of the movie is not supposed to be " Hannibal rising " but " Hannibal irreversibly declining " because it represents , as far as I'm concerned , the ultimate decline of an installment that started so well . Now it's just another money - driven show - biz banality , shallow , nearly empty and mildly entertaining .