Too Strange..

VITAL-2004-A man named Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) survives a car accident that kills his girlfriend. He gets amnesia but later joins a medical school dissection group. Somehow he winds up dissecting his girlfriend. A weird J-horror film that I didn't particularly care for. Director Shinya Tsukamoto also made TETSUO 1 & 2, SNAKE OF JULY and TOKYO FIST. Star Asano was also in ICHI THE KILLER and Beat Takeshi's ZATOICHI.

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Marebito

MAREBITO-THE STRANGER FROM AFAR-2004-Overall this Japanese horror-fantasy film is great but it’s resolution is a disappointment.

Video obsessed voyeur Masuoka (Shinya Tsukamoto; the director of TETSUO 1 and 2) sees a suicide on TV. He can’t understand the horror in the victim’s face when the guy plunges a knife into his eye. It seems tied to the legend that there is a world underneath the Tokyo subway system. He does actually find it and while investigating finds a woman (Tomomi Miyashita) chained to a post. Somehow he brings her back to his apartment and monitors her progress via video while he’s away at work. He names her F. She doesn’t eat or drink and he becomes worried until he cuts his hand. Then he finds out blood is her nourishment. Scenes of blood sucking stand in for oral sex and Masuoka must find “food” forher.

I found the whole movie fascinating yet leading to the big letdown as the discovery of the underground world and the brief scenes of monsters called “Deros” are left unexplored.Much of it seems to be based on the stories of Richard Shaver (who’s mentioned several times).

Director Takashi Shimizu made this between the Japanese sequel THE GRUDGE 2 and the Hollywood remake.

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