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Horror Hall of Fame
audition
— 1999 —
Here is another one of those movies I have had laying on my watchlist for a long time, but since it is already filled up with hundreds of movies, I never got around to it. I actually even remember why I put it on there in the first place… I searched for great horror movies and somehow this kept popping up. Obviously I had heard of the director before, and it holds decent ratings with both critics and audiences alike. Now, after finally watching it I must say it was nothing of what I expected. It took many turns in multiple directions and you could never quite predict it, and I liked that aspect of it.
The first hour or so is nothing like a horror film. It doesn’t even hint at it, really, and when it gets a little creepy it mostly feel like a mystery thriller. As others have said it has a varied mix-up of genres going from comedy to drama and from thriller to horror… very interesting build-up indeed. It is defiantly a slower film but I was never bored with it, and I loved how the characters were fleshed out more in this one (some more than others if you know what I mean lol). But seriously though, I was more invested in the characters than your average horror flick, and it was actually a fun time to go from all the different aspects of it and finally ending up in this big nightmarish world at the end.
That brings me to the biggest change-up in the film, which is the “main attraction” so to speak: the actual horror. Miike has really gone for something far out when it comes to constructing the last act of the film. It is a bit confusing, but it leaves you with questions that you want to answer yourself, and there are plenty of different viewpoints to it. Also, the whole build-up with the protagonist loosing his wife and finally beginning to date again, and all the reflections and concern that you consider in the process, really makes for an interesting character-study. It is not as symbolic or tightly scripted as I wanted it to be, but it does the job well. You feel what is going on below the surface and you are pretty interested in all of what is happening.
I had heard the words “gross” and “macabre” often mentioned by fans of the movie and those who hated it as well. But I must say it wasn’t that bad at all. I fell upon some random critic describing the well-handled violence in the film as done by “a director who knows just when to cut” so that it stays pretty disturbing and slightly gross, but never downright sickening. And that is very true in my opinion… Overall in relation to the entire film, I wished it had an even tighter story, and that we dived further into the mind of the main characters, as well as all the backstory and general aspect of violence (and the thereto image of violence of which it creates)… but interesting and a fairly good time. I liked it more than I thought I would and less than I hoped I would.
audition
— 1999 —
Here is another one of those movies I have had laying on my watchlist for a long time, but since it is already filled up with hundreds of movies, I never got around to it. I actually even remember why I put it on there in the first place… I searched for great horror movies and somehow this kept popping up. Obviously I had heard of the director before, and it holds decent ratings with both critics and audiences alike. Now, after finally watching it I must say it was nothing of what I expected. It took many turns in multiple directions and you could never quite predict it, and I liked that aspect of it.
The first hour or so is nothing like a horror film. It doesn’t even hint at it, really, and when it gets a little creepy it mostly feel like a mystery thriller. As others have said it has a varied mix-up of genres going from comedy to drama and from thriller to horror… very interesting build-up indeed. It is defiantly a slower film but I was never bored with it, and I loved how the characters were fleshed out more in this one (some more than others if you know what I mean lol). But seriously though, I was more invested in the characters than your average horror flick, and it was actually a fun time to go from all the different aspects of it and finally ending up in this big nightmarish world at the end.
That brings me to the biggest change-up in the film, which is the “main attraction” so to speak: the actual horror. Miike has really gone for something far out when it comes to constructing the last act of the film. It is a bit confusing, but it leaves you with questions that you want to answer yourself, and there are plenty of different viewpoints to it. Also, the whole build-up with the protagonist loosing his wife and finally beginning to date again, and all the reflections and concern that you consider in the process, really makes for an interesting character-study. It is not as symbolic or tightly scripted as I wanted it to be, but it does the job well. You feel what is going on below the surface and you are pretty interested in all of what is happening.
I had heard the words “gross” and “macabre” often mentioned by fans of the movie and those who hated it as well. But I must say it wasn’t that bad at all. I fell upon some random critic describing the well-handled violence in the film as done by “a director who knows just when to cut” so that it stays pretty disturbing and slightly gross, but never downright sickening. And that is very true in my opinion… Overall in relation to the entire film, I wished it had an even tighter story, and that we dived further into the mind of the main characters, as well as all the backstory and general aspect of violence (and the thereto image of violence of which it creates)… but interesting and a fairly good time. I liked it more than I thought I would and less than I hoped I would.