Versus (2000)

While many consider the film "Versus" an original break through, I was simply not impressed or entertained by it. There were moments that had my attention but those were unfortunately few and far in between. The acting was mediocre, the plot was meandering, and the comic moments came across as flat. I appreciate that the director, Ryuhei Kitamura, tried to incorporate so many different styles and succeeded in doing so for the most part, but it failed to keep me invested with the characters or the story itself.

The "hero" is simply known as Prisoner KSC2-303 and he is on the run from a group of Yakuza strongmen who want to kill him and a mysterious girl that they brought along to a secret meeting. The action of the movie takes place at the Forest of Resurrection, a location that is suspected to be one of the 666 portals on Earth that connects it to the Other Side. Prisoner KSC2-303 and the Girl run off and hide in the forest while the Yakuza follow, trying to capture the two before their boss, the Man, comes. Inside the forest, everyone encounters and is forced to fight a horde of hard to kill zombies. The film is a twisted mess of nonsense, sword fights, zombies, and eternal show downs.

Premonition (2004)

"Premonition" is a supernatural Japanese horror film all about based on the manga "Kyofu Shinbun" which means "Newspaper of Terror" in English. The way the movie was presented would be deemed silly if it was made of an American audience but it is  perfect example of how the Japanese have a wider ability to accept and be entertained by such themes. I loved the film and found both the first two-thirds and final third of the film to be vastly different and yet effective. The film deals with receiving premonitions by a phantom newspaper, Polaroid images, and being mentally tapped into the future.

Two college professors and their daughter are driving back home after visiting their parents. The father, Hideki, needs to use a payphone so he can send an important email to work. While he is slowly sending his message, he finds an old looking newspaper clipping and reads on it that there was a horrible accident and his daughter died. He's shocked and confused and while he tries to tell his wife about the newspaper, a truck comes along and hits their car head on, with their daughter still inside. They try to save her but the car explodes and she dies.

A few years later, Hideki and his wife Ayaka are separated and living their own lives. Ayaka is working on finding out the truth about the "Newspaper of Terror" by interviewing and testing psychics. Hideki is still teaching but is beginning to have premonitions of his own, typically by writing down the events without realizing what he is doing. Ayaka seeks out Hideki when she finds the psychic that she's working with dead at home, clutching a Polaroid with his picture. Meanwhile, Hideki tries to save one of his students after reading a premonition of their death but he arrives too late. Together, the two begin to search out an expert in the field. When the find where the expert lives, they go to the house and discover that he had the power to change the future but it took a special toll on him, to the point that he eventually died. Later, Hideki saves his wife from her own death when he pulls her off a train after her car wouldn't start. Hideki shows signs of the toll and promises to not use his gift anymore.

The final third of the film focuses on Hideki having short, intense nightmares involving the victims he could have and tried to save. He then starts reliving the moment when his daughter died, experiencing the accident from several different view points and outcomes. Finally, he is able to save his daughter by sacrificing himself and then the movie ends.

Cure (1997)

"Cure" is an earlier collobration between director Kiyoshi Kurosawa and actor Koji Yakusho. Much like "Retribution", "Cure" is a crime story that focuses on a detective trying to find the connecting theme between murders and their victims. While there isn't a ghost or some other supernatural entity, the movie does deal with mysticism in the form of hypnosis. What makes this film worthy of the horror genre is the fact that the "innocent" murders are unaware and unable to resist the urge to kill. The scene where a hypnotizes murderer is peeling off the scalped face of her victim is pretty horror-genre worthy too!

Detective Takabe, who is trying to solve a string of murders by people who would never want to kill anyone, let alone their victims. Detective Takabe discovers that each of the murders has spent time with a young man with extreme amnesia named Mamiya. Everyone who meets Mamiya ends up killing someone close to them; a wife or a coworker for example. It turns out that his amnesia is just a ploy and a part of how he hypnotizes his victims. When Takabe finally meets Mamiya, Mamiya becomes fascinated that he can not hypnotize the detective. To what ends will Mamiya go to force his will over Detective Takabe?

Uzumaki (2000)

"Uzumaki" or "Spiral", is easily one of the most confusing and yet entertaining films I've ever seen. I was first introduced to this amazing piece of work when it was showcased as one of the major films at the H.P Lovecraft film festival in Portland, Oregon one year. It was a perfect addition to the line up just because it's so odd and other worldly. It was adapted from a popular manga of the same name and includes several of the story lines into the film. It's because the movie touches on several story lines that there isn't one completely clear focus. The other issue that most people have is the weird ending that doesn't make any sense; like most cartoons or movies adapted from a manga, the manga wasn't yet finished and the ending was left up to the director and his creative team to figure out what would work for the film. If anything, this approach makes me want to read the manga that much more and see what the real ending could have been. What I really appreciate are the translated, subtitled director comments that you can turn on if you have the DVD. These comments help fill in some gaps that are missing in the film.


Kirie is a high school student whose small town develops an unhealthy obsession with spirals. Spirals are seen all over and have different effects on the various characters that are introduced. Shuichi, Kirie's boyfriend, is the first to notice something is odd when his dad begins filming snails and collects any and all objects with a spiral on them. Shuchci's father eventually kills himself when he tries to record from inside a washing machine. Kirie's classmates begin to be influenced by the spirals as some turn into giant snails while the "popular" girl in school is turned into a medusa-like host for her wild, spiraling hair. As Kirie and Shuichi try to figure out what is going on, their loved ones and friends continue to fall under the mystical influence, that has something to do with the nearby pond, and even Shuichi himself will find it hard to resist for long!


Favorite moment - I love how the director and crew try to add as many moments and screen shots with a spiral throughout the film.

Retribution (2006)

"Retribution" is a truly unique ghost story, at least when compared to the typical American/British kinds. In this detective story, an older detective is starting to believe that he is a suspect in a series of murders that he's investigating. A missing button is found at the crime scene, the kind that matches his coat, and his finger prints are sound on one of the murder victims. He also begins to see glimpses of a woman in a bright red dress. As the story progresses, more people are killed in the same fashion, by being drowned in salt water, by their loved ones over minor offenses. A father kills his son because the son owes a classmate $4500 and a wife kills her young husband because he was sexually aggressive with her when she wasn't in the mood. The detective soon learns that the first victim was killed by her boyfriend when she broke up with him. Cleared of any suspicion himself, the detective is still haunted by the ghost in red. The one clue connecting all of the killers, and the detective, is that they all rode a ferry daily fifteen years ago, and passed an old asylum where the girl in red was kept and evetanully died. Because none of them tried to help her, she is now causing them to kill. Will the detective solve the ghostly riddle before he kills someone hie loves or is he already too late?

Kaidan (2007)

In 2007 Hideo Nakata, the director of the Japanese version of "The Ring" and "Dark Water", decided to try something different and directed a classic style Japanese horror film called "Kaidan". The movie has great production values and is believably set in ancient Japan. The story focuses on the concept of eternal revenge between two families. Because of the actions of their fathers, a man and a woman are destined to suffer similar fates. When the man is ultimately responsible for the death of his wife, he ignores the dire warning his wife makes before she dies, which in turn effects and ruins his life later on.

Kindan no ôsama geemu (1999)

"Kindan no ôsama geemu", aka "The Red Room", is a low budget Japanese film that sets four contestants against each other in a bizarre game show with a large fininical prize to awarded to the winner. The four players are interviewed one by one before the game begins and we learn that two of the contestants are married and are in a vary one sided, abusive relationship. The other two, a teen girl and a older girl in her mid/late twenties are also very focused on the prize for the their own reasons. The game is simple; each player turns over a card in front of them, if the card is a king, they get to choose two other players to perform some degrading, or perhaps dangerous or violent, act upon the each other. The winner is the last one to be able to still play. The film takes this concept to some extrememes, starting slowly and mildly before running straight into the the gruesome acts that await. There is a fair amount of character development, at least enough to reveal each players real motive for playing the game. The movie is creative considering it's minimal use for props and set. The most gruesome challenge involves a broken light bulb in a place that you should have a light bulb in the first place....

Kwaidan (1964)

"Kwaidan" is a collection of four classic Japanese ghost stories that were translated, rewritten, and published by American Lafcadio Hearn in 1904. The film feels like a living painting, with minimal dialogue or action but still being stretched out to a full 183 minutes. Maybe it's because it was only 1964 or perhaps because of the Japanese culture at the time that "Kwaidan" feels like a made-for-tv movie, more of a fairy tale than horror film. Stark colors are used with obvious fake backgrounds, which adds a certain flare and unnatural feel that seems appropraite for a ghost film.

I was familiar with three of the four stories after reading Lafcadio Hearn's work and was quite impressed.

The first story, "The Black Hair", is about a poor man who leaves his wife for a rich woman, only to be be disgusted by her personality and habits. He eventually leaves her and returns to his first wife but things have changed...

"The Woman in the Snow" is a typical Japanese tale where a spirit/ghost/monster makes their intended victim promise to never tell anyone but this encounter in exchange for saving their life. The victim promises, soon marries the spirit/ghost/monster in human form, breaks the promise and is killed. The segment "Lover's Vow" from "Tales from the Darkside the Movie" was inspired from this story.

"Hoichi the Earless" is one of the more errie stories in Hearn's collection and this lives up to that telling. Hoichi, a blind musician, is living and working at a shrine. One night when he is left alone, a samurai comes and asks Hoichi to perform for his master. He is taken a ways away and performs for a full royal court, singing about the Battle of Dan-no-ura. He spends the night doing this and returns to the shrine late in the morning. This happens a few nights in a row, which concerns the priest of the shrine. He discovers that Hocihi is being led away and is performing for a full court of ghosts. Before they are able to claim his soul forever, the priest and his apprentices cover Hoichi with prayers and tell him to ignore the commands of the samurai. That night when the samurai comes, he can not see Hoichi, except for his ears which were accidentally overlooked during the preparation. The samurai ghost takes Hoichi ears and never returns.

The fourth story is an complete piece titled "A Cup of Tea" where various people keep seeing a face in their cup of tea.

"The Black Hair"

"The Woman in the Snow"

"Hoichi the Earless"

"A cup of tea"

Author's Note - Japanese Horror week 1

It feels like the American audience didn't become aware of Japan's amazing horror scene until the late 90's and early 2000's, and this was only because American companies began crafting their own remakes of some of Japan's major hits. I was introduced to Japanese horror from they typical sources; the remakes of "The Grudge" and "The Ring". Since then I've taken a personal interest in Japanese horror. Yes, there are way to many low budget films that feel like copycats of each other, just like American horror movies! Yes, some Japanese films can be really freaking weird and don't make sense. So? And just like American,French, and Italian horror films, they can be extremely violent. But there are so many gems and intriguing stories that you just don't come across here in the States that often.

Sole Survivors (2001)

"Sole Survivors" is a film with an interesting concept that fails to turn it into scary or entertaining movie. What happens when a soul is stuck between the world of the living and the world of the dead? I personally feel that the film"Sublime" handles this topic better, even if that movie failed to be entertaining as well. The most annoying part of the film are the two cultists that continously chase the main character around; their first appearance in the movie doesn't make any sense except for the fact that it establishes them as the villains. The upside of this film is getting to see Eliza Dushku play a role besides the main love interest/heroine.

This is simply another movie that I suggest you skip if you value your time.

Rest Stop (2006)

"Rest Stop" was touted as being  "hauntingly realistic" on the DVD cover but I didn't feel that that was quite accurate. Very little about this film felt realistic and that's ok, it's a horror movie after all! There are plenty of times throughout the movie where you get to, or have to, suspend your sense of reality to enjoy the horrific moments that are taking place. Part "The Vanishing" and part "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Rest Stop" is all about being stranded alone and completely helpless in the middle of nowhere while being emotionally prodded by a twisted individual in a yellow truck. While Jaime Alexander is recieving rave reviews for her performances in the "Thor" series, her acting in this film is rather inconsistant and I expected more from directed John Shiban (who worked on "X-Files" and "Break Bad") to ensure that his actors would be up to the part. Jaime's character does have moments of expressing her fear and hoplessness but she lacks any sense of being drained and exhausted after how long her ordeal lasts.

Jess and his girlfriend Nicole are skipping town and heading towards Hollywood. The road trip is full of loving glances and teasing insults. They leave the main highway shortly after crossing into California and find a lonely derersted road to have sex, which they film, and sleep through the night. The next day their moods have completely changed as Nicole accuses Jess that they're lost and are running low on gas. A old yellow truck almost runs into them as it barrels down the road in their lane, the same truck that drove by the couple while they were having sex the day before. Their fighting contiunes until Nicole demands that they stop at a rest stop so she can use the restroom. Jess begrudgily does so and waits at the car. Nicole goes to the restroom and when she returns, Jess and the car are gone. Nicole gets pissed off, stomps around for a while, and waits for Jess to come back. Soon the yellow truck returns and almost hits Nicole; as it drives past the driver throws out Jess's cell phone and speeds away. Nicole now realizes that the truck driver has done something to Jess and realizes that the trucks license plate number was written on the door of the restroom stall she used. She goes back to the rest room and sees that other people have left warnings about the same truck, some dating as far back as to the 1970's. An insane family in an old winnebago, an escaped victim trapped in the broom closet, and a highway patrol officer all prove to be useless in saving Nicole from the truck driver's relentless cat and mouse game.

Good times for Nicole and Jess

Bad times for Jess

Very bad times for Jess and the Highway Patrol Officer

Extremely bad times for the yellow truck, Burn, baby, burn

No Man's Land, the Rise of Reeker (2008)

"No Man's Land, the Rise of Reeker" is an interesting take on the slasher sub-genre, feeling like a bloodier and more violent take of the film "Indenity". A mix matched group of strangers are stuck in the middle of a desert rest stop, unable to leave, and are being stalked and killed by an unseen force. That force happens to be the disembodied spirit of a seriel killer who was caught and executed in the 1970's. While the movie itself was mediorce I must admit that I really enjoyed the ending and how it explains and reveals the little details that take place throughout the movie. And I recently discovered that this is a prequel of a film titled "Reeker" that was released in 2005.

Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)

For years horror fans had speculated that Freddy Krueger would go toe to toe with Jason Voorhees, especially after Freddy's trademark glove came up through the floor and grabbed Jason's hockey mask at the end of "Friday the 13th part 9". That was in 1993; it wouldn't be until an additional "Friday the 13th" was made and ten full years had passed before the world was given "Freddy Vs. Jason" in 2003. The movie....is what it is. It takes elements from both franchises, dozens of teens to kill, and a story that finds a way to blend the two together easily. The best scenes are of course when the two villains are going at each other but the teens deaths are fun as well. This film is more about action and satire than horror and that's ok. This is the last appearance of both title characters before each series was rebooted.


Freddy Krueher is trapped in Hell and can't escape unless the teens on Elm Street believe in him. Since no one remembers or knows of him, he decides to trick Jason Voorhees into going to the suburbs and killing on his behalf, hoping to stir up some memories. Eventually someone does, a patient in a mental hospital, and Freddy is released. But Jason keeps on killing Freddy's victims, so the two go head to head in Freddy's dream world. During this time, some teens are able to drug Jason long enough to return him to Crystal Lake where he and Freddy have a final showdown in the real world, where Jason has the upper hand.

The Last Broadcast (1998)

Watching "The Last Broadcast" is an exercise of patience and disappointment. The movie had potential but loses and hope early on in the film. It is a slow, lumbering collection of interviews and film clips that never create any sense of dread or scares. The acting is fine considering that they are all amateur but the performance of the narrator is just plain god awful.

A public access show called "Fact of Fiction" goes out into the Pine Barrens in New Jersey to film a show about the Jersey Devil. One of the group, James Suerd, is the only member of the four person group to come back from the trip. He calls 911 and tells them that he doesn't know where the others are; he is then arrested a few days later when two of the bodies are found mutilated. James was added to the group to be the guide and psychic. The movie then shows how the evidence was used to convict him and then later to reveal how the others were really killed.

AVOID THIS FILM

Wolf Creek (2005)

"Wolf Creek" is an unrelenting, realistic horror film about three taking a cross country trip around Australia who meet up with a sadistic hermit. The film draws inspiration from previous grind house style movies and delivers a similar dark and brooding atmosphere. The violence in the film is realistic and simple which is why it comes across as begin so effective. The realistic intensity is reinforced by the claim that the film is inspired by real events.

Ben, an Australian, is taking his two British friends, Liz and Kirsty, on a trip across the Great Northern Highway in Australia. Along the way they stop at Wolf Creek, the location where a massive meteor had crashed into the earth. When the three return to their car they find that it won't and that they are stuck there until someone comes along. Eventually a "local" hermit named Mick shows up and offers to tow their car back to his camp where he can repair the car. Seeing that they don't have many options, they agree but soon find that they are being driven farther and farther away and that they are completely lost after a few hours. Once at the camp, the four enjoy dinner and some water that happens to be drugged; the three friends pass out and are left to the whims of the mad man they just met. The movie then focuses on Liz and Kirsty suffering the twisted abuse and trying to escape from Mick's secluded camp.

Valentine (2001)

"Valentine" is just another insipid slasher flick that tries to capitalize on a holiday. It has a similiar feel to "Prom Night" and doesn't add anything new to the slasher sub-genre, effectively tripping over all of the cliches that the first "Scream" film so politely pointed out. It is clever enough that it includes an element of foreshadowing as to how everyone will die, something that I really appreciate. The casting choices were made be who was pretty and not necessarily for their acting skills, although the film does star Katherine Heigl a few years before she became a household name.


During a junior high dance, a socially awkward boy bravely asks five girls to dance. Three of them are mean and insult him, the fourth politely turns him down, and the fifth accepts. The two soon find themselves making out under the bleachers but when they are discovered by some other kids, the girl screams that he is assualting her. The boy is badly beaten and transfers away from the school soon after. Thirteen years later, after everyone has grown up to be as gorgeous as models, the five five friends begin to pay for their behaviour from that dance that happened so long ago. Some receive cards with threatening messages while one recieves a box of chocolates filled with maggots. And then people start dying; the girls, their boyfriends, police detectives. The movie boils down to trying to figure out who the killer is and if it is indeed the boy from thirteen years ago or someone who is using him as an excuse....

Lost Souls (2000)

To wrap up my themed week dedicated to big Hollywood names that appeared in a horror film, I've chosen "Lost Souls" because it stars Winona Ryder and was produced by Meg Ryan. MEG RYAN of all people?!?!?! These are two names that you would not think would be associated with a demonic/satanic movie. Including John Hurt and Elias Koteas to the cast helps to give it some genre credibility. The overall story of "Lost Souls" is pretty simple and feels like a watered down, realistic version of "End of Days". The lighting is inconsistent and at times annoying and film quality made it feel like the movie was produced years before it's time. The good thing about the film is that the clues to the mystery of the film are revealed in a moderate pace and nicely build upon each other.


Peter Kelson has been raised and tailored to become the human host of Satan himself. Peter is unaware of this and only finds out when Maya, a member of a small Roman Catholic group that knows about this secret, tries to warn him of his fate. She begs him to find the clues for himself, and when he begins to find such clues, he realizes that everyone around him and his entire life has been a lie....

Bless the Child (2000)

"Bless the Child" is a bloated, slow moving horror film about a satanic cult and the religious war between good an evil, a popular theme around this time period that includes such films as "The End of Days", "Lost Souls", and "Stigmata". The movie stars Kim Basinger in her first horror film; her performance is the best part of this film and I wouldn't mind seeing her taking another role some day. Having 19 years worth of film experience which include several major blockbusters, she is by far the biggest star in the film. She appears along with Jimmy Smits, Rufus Sewell, and drama/action/horror regular Ian Holm; Jimmy Smits also gives a great performance and it's a shame that he has such little screen time.

What I don't like about this film is the pacing; it takes over an hour before the action really begins with the first sixty minutes spent building up the plot. A little less exposition, a more effective soundtrack, and less random coincidences might have made the film more enjoyable. And as always, I hate when movies use CGI poorly and this film is very guilty of this habit.

What I did enjoy is the performance of the young girl who plays Cody, the character that the movie is based around. She has some amazingly tender and touching moments. I also enjoyed the random appearances of guardian angels because they are used so sparingly and at the right moments.


Maggie is visited one night by her drug addicted sister Jenna, who has an infant her arms. Jenna tells Maggie that she doesn't know who the father is and that the infant is a little weird. Before Maggie can respond, Jenna is out the door and leaves Cody in Maggie's care. Six years later, Jenna comes back for Cody, just as unexpectedly. This time she is clean and healthy and a newlywed to Eric, a famous self-help guru. They want Cody because they believe that she is special "servant of god". They kidnap Cody, forcing Maggie to turn to the police for help. At the station, Maggie meets FBI agent John Travis, an expert occult and ritual killings. He believes that Eric and his cult are responsible for the recent series of killings of small children who were all born on the same day as Cody. Cody is gifted and Eric gives her the choice to join him and grant him her powers or to die as the servant of god that she is. It's a race against time as Maggie and John try to save Cody from Eric's plan.

Hide and Seek (2005)

Robert De Niro is an excellent, beloved actor who never seems to be loved when he takes part in a horror movie. He's tried a few times over the years with films such as "Angel Heart" and "Mary Shelly's Frankenstein"; his performance in "Frankenstein" was panned so much that some critics could not understand why an actor who "does nothing but gangster films" be cast as the Monster. "Hide and Seek" is another film where the suspense and mood seem to never truly develop and the viewer is left bored and unsatisfied. I personally feel that this has more to do with the attempt to create a spooky psychological movie than De Niro's performance.


Dr. David Callaway and his daughter Emily move out to a quiet rural town after Emily's mother commits suicide. David and his daughter have a troubled relationship and he tries the best he can, using his background as a psychologist to make some kind of breakthrough. Emily begins talking about her friend "Charlie", whom David takes to be an imaginary friend. David's friend Katherine believes this is healthy, but when David finds angry messages written on the wall and the family cat drowned in the bath tub, Emily claims that"Charlie" did it. Soon "Charlie" becomes violent and David is powerless to find or stop Emily's dangerous friend. Will David and Katherine be able to save Emily from "Charlie" before it's too late?