Sayonara Cinema

THE CITY OF VIOLENCE (2006)When retired gang leader Wang-Jae is murdered, detective Tae-Soo returns to his hometown for the first time in ten years after leaving to become a detective in Seoul. Tae-Soo reunites with his old high school friends to say farewell to Wang-Jae, but feels that something is not right about his death. With his fists and temper at his side, Tae-Soo uses the power of the law to stir up a few hornet nests trying to figure out just what happened. For his troubles, Tae-Soo is beset by multiple gangs, all trying to keep Tae-Soo from finding out too much. But with his friend Seok-Hwan at his side, whose fists are just as merciless, Tae-Soo starts tearing through the lies, deceptions, and criminal activity setting up shop in the tourist district. And when he finally gets someone to talk, he learns that it may just be their mutual friend Pil-Ho behind the murder.

The domestic release of The City Of Violence comes courtesy of Dragon Dynasty, a genre label under the newly formed Weinstein Company. The Weinsteins, who were once the targets of the seething wrath of Hong Kong fans for their Dimension releases of Jet Li and Jackie Chan films, which only featured English dubs and shortened versions of the movie, have finally come around and given the fans just what they want — original dialogue and subtitles, the uncut film, and plenty of extras. A quick look at the original CJ Entertainment extras looks like they’ve ported over the entire Region 3 release. As well as a Dolby Digital and DTS Korean soundtrack, an English dub is also made available on this DVD, for those that can’t deal with “reading” a movie. [Read My Full Review at Geeks Of Doom]

ALONE (2007) When Pim’s mother falls fatally ill, she is forced to return to Thailand from Korea to oversee her care. Along with her is her Thai boyfriend Wee. Pim (Masha Wattanapanich), who is the sole survivor of conjoined twins, is thrown face first into her old life as both painful and beautiful memories resurface when she and Wee move into her old house. In Pim’s old room, her and her sister Ploy’s clothes still hang, each set lovingly hand-sewed together by their mother.

But Pim’s return brings back not just distant memories, but it seems as if Ploy’s spirit has also returned to seek revenge against Pim. But Pim is the only one who has seen the face of Ploy in mirrors and reflections, and Wee believes that it is merely stress which are bringing upon these hallucinations. Pim visits Wee’s psychologist friend, who comes to the same conclusion as Wee, but with Pim’s visions become more frequent and more violent, she is utterly convinced that Ploy is after her. Has Ploy truly returned from the dead, or is Pim merely falling down a spiral staircase of madness? [Read My Full Review at Geeks Of Doom]

PHANTOM OF DEATH ( 1988 ) A brilliant pianist in his mid-thirties and at the peak of his career is diagnosed with a disease that is quickly eroding his mind and degenerating his body at a rapid rate. Spurned by this disease, the ever maddening Robert lashes out at those who know his secret and are too close to his heart. His murders attract the attention of Inspector Datti, who become obsessed with catching a man whose appearance changes every week. Robert, who knows deep within that he must be stopped, but can not bring himself to merely surrender, eggs Datti on in an cat and mouse in which both the lives of Datti’s daughter and Robert’s pregnant lover at stake.

To many, the name Ruggero Deodato means only two words - CANNIBAL and HOLOCAUST, with a few less knowing his JUNGLE HOLOCAUST and THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK. But the director has marched on through the eighties and into the millennium churning out lesser quality works as he distanced himself from his landmark pictures. This is one of those flicks, as Deodato works from a trio of screen writers whose work had been previously brought to the screen by Deodato and Lucio Fulci among others.

This psychological slasher is a bit uneven, as the first half hour starts out in strong giallo fashion with two brutally graphic and impressive murder sequences and what appears to be camera tricks to not only keep the killer’s identity a secret, but gives several side characters that will serve as false leads for the audience. This is all disposed of though as Robert is revealed to be the killer, and the film switches gears into a tragedy that watches Robert deteriorate, with some quite convincing make up effects. Robert gets several chances to turn back to his killing stylings, and after several false starts and some hammy silloquies about death and savoring life, the film switches gears back into a thriller, as Robert closes in on his final victim.

Deodato unfortunately blows the gore load pretty early on. The first is an jugular gushing sucker punch as a woman’s throat is gashed open by a sword. Another woman is then impaled before being shoved through a pane of glass. The two shocking kills should promise of even greater grue to splash across the screen later in the film, but unfortunately never does, despite Robert’s menacing threats to kill the young because they have the lives ahead of them and the elderly for having lived a full life.

Michael York, who you’ll recognize as Basil Exposition from the AUSTIN POWERS series, stars as Robert. His physical acting here is far better than the cheesy dialogue he has to chew through, as he easily musters up the proper movements and vocalization to match the always aging make up. Donald Pleasance, who returned to the role of Dr. Loomis the same year in HALLOWEEN 4, essentially is Loomis here. His intensity and great character traits that he created with Loomis is alive and well in Datti. He may not have the much of a range, but he is a master of the range he possesses. Also of note to Italian cinema fanatics, this movie marks what is basically Edwige Fenech’s final screen performance. She would return in a few television mini-series and HOSTEL 2, but this is where her career basically ends. Her talents are mostly wasted here as well, with little to do but sit on the couch and wait for Robert to come and try to kill her. But in a throwback to many of her pervious roles and the giallo genre, her character does work in fashion.

This hard-to-find title is now available from Bloodwave DVD. As with most rare films, this is a full-screen transfer with the English soundtrack (of which York and Pleasance voices are included) and is VHS quality. Fortunately, to get over the lackluster quality, this is the even harder to find uncut print, with the complete two opening murder sequences in all their blood-spraying and shocking glory.

EXILED (2006)When Wo is discovered to be living in Macao, Boss Fay orders Blaze to kill him. Wo once attempted to assassinate Fay, and now he must pay the price. But Blaze and Wo were once friends, and Blaze is unable to pull off the job. Even more so, his friend Tai has pleaded for Blaze to spare Wo’s life. These three, along with their gangster friends Cat and Fat, conspire to pull off a highly risky assassination job of Boss Keung, and intend to give the money they earn from it to hide away Wo and his family. Their plot to kill Keung is quite tricky, and even the slightest deviation from their plan will alert Fay, and bring his henchmen down on them. And on top of all this, the clock is slowly counting down to the handover of Macao to the Chinese government, their lives and fates are up in the air as to what the future holds.

For fans of Hong Kong action with knowledge that goes past John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat, you have only to look at the laundry list of talent attached to this film to know that it will succeed on every level. Johnnie To directs, through his Milky Way Image production company. The script comes from the pen of two writers whose previous scripts include EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, A HERO NEVER DIES, and BREAKING NEWS. And the cast is a perfect assortment of Hong Kong’s classic gangster actors including Anthony Wong, Simon Yam, Francis Ng, Lam Suet, and Roy Cheung, which coincidentally is most of the main cast for Johnnie To’s classic THE MISSION. [Read My Full Review at Geeks Of Doom]

DEEP RED (1975) Helga is a telepathic visiting Italy who feels the frightening presence of a disturbed mind when she is at a lecture. That night, while trying to focus on that mind, she is brutally killed by a hatchet-wielding maniac. Her death is seen by Marc, a jazz pianist who lives in the same building as her. While trying to save her, Marc thinks he sees something as he races through her apartment. It is this sliver of memory, that he can’t recall if he imagined or if he truly saw something, that propels him through the city streets, trying to piece together the puzzle. His path leads him into constant contact with a local reporter, Gianna, who is trying to make a name for herself. But as each piece comes into play, or as a person comes too close to a vital clue, the black-gloved assailant returns from the shadows to murder again. Marc is certain that he is closing in on the truth, but the final discovery could also spell the end of his life!

Director and co-writer Dario Argento once again returns to a familiar world of unknown killers in this genre defining mystery, which was also written by Italian screenplay master Bernardino Zapponi. Together, the two create a film that would shape the crucial ingredients for the 70’s giallo - shocking gore, a dizzying storyline, characters that evolve so that any of them could be the killer, and a pounding soundtrack. But those these would be the standard ingredients, it is Argento’s eye aided by Luigi Kuveiller’s cinematography that keeps DEEP RED a unique film experience that brings fans new and old to the movie again and again. [Read My Full Review at Gorezone]

SOUNDLESS (2004) Viktor is a perfectionist hitman, who is on his current job. After killing his target, he sees a young woman sleeping in the target’s bed. Viktor becomes instantly smitten with her, and uses his skills as an assassin to watch and learn about her. When the young woman tries to kill herself, he saves her from drowning. Viktor and the woman, Nina, begin to see each other, and though Viktor believes he has found a way to win his soul back, and find happiness in retirement with her, he is hesitant to divulge too much. Meanwhile, an obsessive and expert profiler named Lang has been assigned to track down Viktor, and as Viktor’s last target was an undercover officer, Lang becomes increasingly bent on discovering his identity.

From THIS GUN FOR HIRE to LE SAMOURAI, from THE KILLER to LEON, and even GROSSE POINTE BLANK, women offer a way for professional killers to find redemption for their criminal action, and that by saving their new found “love”, they can in essence save themselves. German director Mennan Yapo, who came up with the story for SOUNDLESS, continues that thematic arc here, with assistance from the team behind THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR to give the story a soft and personal edge.

Yapo who makes his feature-length directorial debut here, opts not for wild shoot ‘em up set pieces here, but instead a precise and calculating patience on both the parts of Viktor and Lang. He takes a slow and detailed look at the methods and time devoted to both Viktor’s accumulation of information on his targets, and then waiting for that perfect and clean shot. Lang spends just as much time using his expertise to whittle down a list of potential killers that Viktor could be, before choosing the only man who could possibly be the man he is looking for, and concentrating solely on that individual. It is these laborious scenes that provide a key look at the make up of each man. Such scenes would most likely become cutting room fodder in an American version, but here they are the engaging scenes that make the film so interesting.

Joachim Krol, who takes on the role of Viktor, has just the right screen presence for this non-descript assassin. Krol, who normally is cast as next door neighbor types or in comedy, uses these roles to his advantage. He does not operate like your typical Hollywood assassin. He blends right into the crowd, moving steadily, confidently, and silently, much like Jef Costello. Nadja Uhl, who plays Nina, while quite beautiful, does not seem unapproachable or even unreal. Yapo goes to great lengths to make sure she seems like a real person, fragile and unsure of herself. It is this vulnerability that allows her character to remain grounded in reality. And though there are several key plot devices to move along their relationship, Viktor and Nina never seem forced in their growing connection. They are merely two people unsure if they can love, or even deserve to be loved.

During few tense action sequences, Yapo keeps the film at mid-tempo, and firmly based in a proper and procedure following reality. This is perfectly exemplified in the final showdown, as the cool as ice SEK (German SWAT) stick to trained tactics to keep control of the situation, and never reduce themselves to cannon fodder.

Yapo and company have set up an introspective tale of an assassin on the verge of retirement and a cop out to catch him. And though Viktor may be the protagonist of the tale, as we follow around, but Lang easily avoids the pitfalls of the classic antagonists. He is just doing his job, with no secret ties to Viktor or grudges to settle or personal vendetta to get him. He is simply a cop, and a very good one at that, doing his job. And that is what makes this film work in the way that Yapo wants it to - these are just characters doing their job. No more, and no less.

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973) An impoverished thief, who is brought to a city to work briefly for a circus, is seen as a Christ figure by those around him. And due to his physical similarities to Jesus, he is taken in and used as a model for paper mache models of a crucified Jesus by a local merchant selling Christian knick-knacks. But this thief rejects this image, and in his escape, he comes across The Alchemist. This alchemist cleanses the thief, and then shows him his powers over the elements by literally turning excrement into gold.

With the Thief firmly under the Alchemist’s tutelage and indoctrinated into several rites, the Alchemist tells the Thief of his plan to bring together seven other disciples, and together they will search for the mystical Holy Mountain, where nine immortals live. Once the Alchemist brings together the other seven - each of which represent a planet and have a hold over different aspects of life such as consumerism, politics, and artistry - they perform a ceremony to destroy their devotion to wealth, body, and self. Once free of these trappings, they group begins their journey toward Lotus Island, where the mountain top they seek is on.

If EL TOPO, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s previous film, is a search for spirituality and God, then THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is the destruction of the Christ figure and a questioning of master and pupil, and of the faith that the “unenlightened” put into the teachings of the “enlightened”. As with EL TOPO, which this can almost be seen as a companion piece as the two are almost always linked during discussion and on recommendation lists, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is filled with intense imagery that is meant to stimulate a raw emotional response. Unlike EL TOPO however, almost all that we are shown here is meant to be in real life, as opposed to dream or hallucination, and thus becomes even more shocking. When a group of followers marches down the street early on in the film each holding a skinned and gutted dog crucified on a stick, that is really happening, meaning that in Jodorowsky’s take on this world, an actual religious sect felt compelled to do this.

Jodorowsky places himself in the role of The Alchemist, which leads to an allegory that not only is the character of The Alchemist leading his disciples, but that Jodorowsky as the director is leading us the viewer on the same journey - he asks us to place our trust in him to lead us to through the movie and onward to a finale that will reveal to us a satisfying conclusion. His character is shrouded completely in either black or white during the film, and as such is he becomes an absolute. Should the disciples not follow precisely what is told and asked of them, they will fail.

Each of The Alchemist’s disciples represent an overseer of sorts of portions of our life, and are those that the commoners place absolute trust in to make decisions that will affect their daily lives. Fon, who is the representative of Venus ironically played by a man, is the head of a cosmetic and fashion empire. Isla, who represents Mars and is a woman, creates military weapons and even has a line of psychedelic guns and grenades for the protesting youth. Klen, who represents Jupiter, runs an art factory, who mechanically designs a new art fad every season. Sel, that of Saturn, makes predictions of wars to come, and creates children’s toys that will create a hatred for their future enemies when they are grown soldiers. A treasurer, a captain of police who collects the testicles of those under his command, and an architect who creates freedom by taking away housing, round out those that the Alchemist has chosen. By choosing representatives of these professions, Jodorowsky creates a hierarchy of disciple and master, of leader and follower.

As with EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN requires that it viewers actively watch the movie, and make connections to their own lives and feelings on religion, teachings, and what they believe to interpret what Jodorowsky is trying to say. He starts the film with a series of images of eyes, as if foreshadowing that sight above all else will be the key to understanding the film. Jodorowsky makes the impression that one should not believe what they are told to be true just because someone says so, but to seek out the truth, to witness it with your own eyes and senses, to make your decisions from there, and to discover that those masters with power over us only have it as long as we give it to them.

Jodorowsky once again fills his screen with images of brutal violence, shocking sexuality, dead and dying animals, and the dualities that beauty and ugliness hold. It is a film not for the faint of heart or undaring, and he makes no apologies for what he is trying to convey. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN is a journey to the secret of immortality. And in the final scene, Jodorowsky himself provides just that, at the risk of all that you hold true to cinema.

EL TOPO (1970) In the desolate and barren desert wastelands, roams El Topo, a wild gunslinger, clad exclusively in black, and assisted by his seven-year-old and completely nude boy apprentice. When he comes into a village being ravaged by a ruthless and savage group of bandits, El Topo instinctively saves the village, and meets Mara. For saving her, Mara throws herself to El Topo. El Topo leaves the boy with the villages remaining monks, and heads off with Mara. Mara tells El Topo that the only way she will love him, is if he finds the four master gunfighters in the desert and defeats them.

Though no easy task, El Topo eventually finds the four gunfighters, but in the end is betrayed by Mara and left for dead. When El Topo finally awakens back to consciousness, he finds that untold years have passed, and that he is in the care of a deformed and inbred horde that is forced to live inside a mountain. The only way out is through a tiny hole at the very top of the mountain. El Topo sets out to create a surface level tunnel, so that all of the clan may leave and live in the nearby town, unaware that this is the worst decision he will ever make.

Forget THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, this is the original, the unbeatable, and the pinnacle of the “midnight movie” Thrust upon the United States and the world when John Lennon and Yoko Ono saw Alejandro Jodorwsky’s underground film and persuaded a friend to distribute it worldwide, EL TOPO took audiences unaware, became a jewel in the crown of film critics, and soon became a must-see in the early seventies.

EL TOPO is a hallucinogenic western that is difficult to follow, challenging to decipher, and filled with cryptic symbols and spiritual overtones that will have the movie mulling in afterthought long after the credits have rolled. However, the film does have a clue to help interpret El Topo’s journey, which is found in the powerful and simple narrative opening - “The mole [which translates to el topo in Spanish] digs tunnels under the earth, looking for the sun. Sometimes he gets to the surface. When he sees the sun, he is blinded.” Jodorowsky, who also wrote the screenplay and stars as El Topo, uses this short speech as an allegory over and over again, sometimes via metaphor and sometimes literal, thorough out the movie. It is the constant the keeps the film’s themes going, and with it the rest of the clues to understanding will fall into place.

Jodorowsky’s tale is that of a spiritual journey, of a man who is in search of something to make his life feel complete. As such, religious symbols and mystical elements play an important part of the film. Most of the film centers around Christian fixtures - including the cross, monks, mass, prayer, and divine faith. The film is divided into chapters named after books of the Bible, and El Topo is even crucified in a most unique way at one point. However, it is never quite clarified that El Topo is in fact searching for the Christian God, as the film also works in The All Seeing Eye (an eye inside a triangle, similar to the one a dollar bill), the element of fire, and meditation.

EL TOPO truly takes full advantage of film as a visual medium. Jodorowsky fills the screen with wild scenes of bloodshed and death, sex that is hedonistic, violent, sensual and taboo, visually arresting characters, the most memorable being an armless man with a legless man strapped to his back holding a gun. He sets out to shock with imagery that is designed to trigger an emotional response in all but the most soulless viewers. Jodorowsky also casts a spell over the entire film with his camerawork and editing, as he blurs reality to the point that what is on screen could very well be reality, a character’s imagination, a vision of the future, or an aid to define the theme of the current sequence.

As mentioned before, EL TOPO is a very difficult piece of cinema to watch, but do not succumb to frustration so easily. Part of the wonderment of the film is its ability to mean multiple things as once, and to be seen by people in different ways depending on what they bring into the movie as a viewer. In that sense, the viewer goes on very much the same journey that El Topo does. And what you take out of the viewing may very well be a reminder and definition of just who you are. To that end, EL TOPO is more like a motion painting rather than a motion picture, and a piece of artwork that is worthy of the utmost respect.

THE LAST SUPPER (2005) Doctor Yuji Kotorida is a charming and chanting plastic surgeon, who is known as “God’s hand” for his work he does on celebrities, and has recently been the subject of a TV expose. The expose coincidently enough, is even done by Saki, a former patient of his. But life wasn’t always grand for Yuji. At one time, he was an awkward and introverted student, taken in at his current job as a lowly assistant. But one night, when he took home a small pouch of a woman’s recently removed fat and cooked it up to eat, he felt something he had never felt before. He felt fulfilled.

Yuji quickly graduated to the eating the flesh of a woman, when he discovers a housewife in the woods who had recently hung herself. Yuji, using his expertise with a knife, creates meal sized portions and makes sure to eat part of her every night. His personality change to the suave gentleman he currently is grabs the attention of all the staff, who become infatuated with him. On a journey to Hong Kong for a convention, he discovers he is not alone, when he is drawn into a secret dinner society that dine on freshly killed women. Back home, Yuji takes Saki up on a dinner invitation, and breaks his rule about seeing patients. With his hunger growing more ravenous by the day, he must decide if Saki will become his guest of honor at dinner.

Snuggly planted deep between THE UNTOLD STORY and HANNIBAL, writer/director Osamu Fukutani adapts the book by Kei Oishi that some called “unfilmable.” Here, a sensuous and almost erotic element is added to the cannibal genre, that save for Thomas Harris’ novels and subsequent films, is usually regarded for its outrageous gore and exploitative traits. But don’t let the way that Yuji sees his cannibalistic ways - he sees his daily meals as the equivalent of having intercourse once a day - fool you. There is some grotesque and stomach churning violence here. Though the actual killings by decapitation are somewhat hokey, the dismemberment of the bodies are anything but. Fukutani’s dedication to realism here verges on material that would be at home in the GUINEA PIG series. Fukutani’s use of sound effects, especially the squishy sounds of entrails and the grinding of the bone saws, are down right hair raising.

There is also an element of humor found here. Granted, this is the darkest kind of humor that only coroners and crime scene investigators laugh at to keep from going insane, but it is there. The finest example is when Yuji on several occasions tells his soon to be victim that he wants to eat them. This is at the height of a sensual massage, and while Yuji is thinking one thing, his female companion is thinking something quite different. Several guests at Yuji’s apartment are also treated to his “special meat”. These scenes, which feature close up shots of his cooking and shows off the masterful presentation of the finished dish, are some of the best sequences in the film. The way that Fukutani sets up these scenes may have vegetarians in the audience particularly glad for the culinary choices, but carnivores watching may find themselves oddly attracted to the idea of sampling the forbidden.

As with any film that is essentially a single character study, the actor filling Yuji’s shoes has a great responsibility to carry the story. Masaya Kato, does a quite believable job as Yuji. Even as he performs the most inhuman and unspeakable crimes of modern society, he comes off as sympathetic and charming. The fact that his kills are instantaneous and without malice make the character more easy to stomach. He does not give off any sense of hatred toward woman. Quite the opposite, Yuji’s happiness and content as he dines is almost a salute to women, though in a most garish and twisted way. He feels empty and incomplete without a woman.

Though the climax of the film gets a bit out of hand, it seems out of character for the Yuji we have grown to know during the movie. This may be partially to blame for its transition from book to screen, which must condense the storyline to fit into a reasonable timeframe, and thus loses part of the evolution of Yuji. It is a little over the top, and comes too quick to fully enjoy as the main course it should be, as if the film needed to be over at that exact moment. It does however include a most satisfying brief scene that brings Fukutani’s power of suggestion to a delicious crescendo that will make you want to want to cook your own food for the rest of your life.

THE UGLY (1997) In a mental institution in New Zealand, where the sadistic orderlies look like they’ve just returned from a Korn concert and the voyeuristic warden looks like he would be right at home preaching at a black mass, resides deranged serial killer Simon Cartwright. Simon, who is about to go on trial for his crimes, personally requests psychologist Karen Shumaker for an independent evaluation of his sanity. When Karen arrives, she immediately gets the impression that she is not welcome, and her forward attitude is definitely not common place among the facility. Over the next two days, Karen interviews Simon, using her kind and sincere nature to get through to Simon and let him open up.

But Simon, who as a boy was tormented by his classmates and beaten by his abusive mother, is not one to open up so easily. Simon, who now sees himself in mirrors and a horribly disfigured man, goes into detail about the murders he has performed over the years before being caught. His reasons for killing change with each inquisitive question, but seem to center around the vocal commands of The Ugly, that Simon can not disobey. Karen may never be able to uncover the “why?” she is so desperately seeking, but if she is not careful she may just get to experience it herself.

Released in the US in early 1998, and buried alive with little attention given amidst the fashionable horror streaming from the pen of Kevin Williamson at the time, this debut from New Zealand writer/director Scott Reynolds melds together the “serial killer interview” dramatic style with the chaotic slasher style of the early nineties. What comes of it is a schizophrenic tale that can’t decide if it wants to play it safe as a psychological thriller or fully commit to being a horror film. This unsure choice in genre somewhat resonates within the conflicted Simon, who never truly commits to deciding if his actions are forced due to circumstance or the choice of free will. Meek and innocent looking Paolo Rotondo, who bears a striking resemblance to Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, was chosen to bring to life the conflicted Simon. His shy and introverted performance is so convincing and encompassing, that it is shocking to watch him lash out against his victims, and was a gambling choice that paid off.

Scott Reynolds sets up two stylistic devices in his film to try and make his movie just that more interesting to watch. The first is his choice to make blood in this film the color of jet black ink. Whether this is how Simon himself sees blood to help him cope with his killing, if it was a choice to get pasted censors, or just a cheeky nod to PSYCHO is never explained, but it is certainly an artistic choice that is open interpretation. Reynolds’ other key choice was in how he explores the frequent flashbacks as told by Simon. Past and current time overlap one another here, as present day Simon and Karen frequently wind up “sitting” together within his flashback as he tells the story. It shows that Simon’s life is so jumble and confusing that he is never able to commit to what time period to devote himself to, and a simple visual aid that draws you deeper into the story.

For the creation of “The Ugly”, a hive-like collection of Simon’s victims that he claims to follow him around and demand that he kills again and again, Reynolds taps the shoulder of pre-LORD OF THE RINGS Weta, a New Zealand based effects house. These gloomy corpses, that spew that same black blood that Simon sees when he kills, are dressed in white following rags and have eyes that penetrate from the screen. They resemble the “long haired ghosts” that America would become inundated with five years later, and one might wonder if the Kiwis were a bit too far ahead for their time.

Not all is delicious and evil in Reynolds’ tale though. He does resort to several invigoratingly aggravating scare pieces that unfold for several minutes before reverting back to real time to show the attack you just saw was only in Simon’s head. While it does show that different thoughts are battling for dominance in his mind, it is not done well enough so as to not damage the narrative flow and credibility of the scares in the film. And in an all out steal from THE USUAL SUSPECTS in one scene, we are brought for a brief moment to question everything that Simon has been telling Karen, but it is never touched upon again to prove the theory it places in the back of the viewer’s mind.

Had THE UGLY been embraced during its too-quick theatrical run and after being dumped on the then fledgling DVD format, it would have been a slap in the face of the glossy horror that was coming out at the time and certainly would have seen a needed sequel. Many films produced after would step up to the plate to make that important slap to glossy horror, and with better films to boot. Because of this, THE UGLY falls into the ravine of the would’ve-could’ve-should’ve horror releases. The film has lost its importance and place in history, and while it is a solid watch with some memorable scenes and a good mind-twist, it remains solely as proof that Peter Jackson is not the only filmmaker in New Zealand.