An Asian movie marathon and a couple others

Freeze Me-A Japanese rape/revenge flick, where a girl gets assaulted, and years later, her assailants come back to reenact what they did before. This time, however, she’s not letting it slide, and she kills each one and puts them in a freezer. As she attempts to rekindle things with her old flame, her secret gets out, so she has to take care of him too, and then plummets to her death (or so we gather). A decent movie in the genre, but all too tiresome with the same violence and assault against women, which is prevalent in Japanese shock cinema.

Ichi the Killer-I saw this many years ago, way before I really knew who Takashi Miike was, and before Japanese splatter cinema made it’s way into the mainstream. So, I thought I’d give it another shot, and to be honest, I was rather bored based off the high praise it always receives, and my vague remembrance. I was doing other things while I watched it the first time, but little did I realize after all these years, that it wasn’t Ichi on the DVD cover, but Kakihara. Duh, I know you’re saying, and starting to question whether I'm a true Miike fan, but I say bullocks, are names really important in these kind of movies anyway? No, it’s about how outrageous situations can be, and what director can one-up the other. Granted, there are some pretty sweet parts in it, like Kak’s mouth/fist sequence, and the hot grease/suspension scene, but compared to the Japanese extreme films of today, it’s pretty tame. I think I need re-watch Visitor Q now.

Wayward Cloud-Quite a quirky little movie with sexual innuendos galore (and some outright in your face), about a porn star who’s been looking for love in all the wrong places, but finds it in the water lady, while a drought is going on. It has musical numbers, a watermelon make out scene, a watermelon birth, AND watermelon sex, and has to be the first melonsploitation movie I’ve ever seen. And, holy shit, that video store has friggin oodles and oodles of movies (VHS and DVD). **Note to self, buy more movies.** If you’re a fan of oddball Asian cinema (this one’s from China), and don’t mind strong, mature subject matter (heck, that’s probably why you’d want to watch it), this may be a film for you.

Puppet Monster Massacre-This puppet/animated feature has been compared to Meet the Feebles and Mad Monster Party. While it does have some of the same humor as MtF, it just didn’t do a whole lot for me. Gramps, Otis, and Raimi are the best characters, and the puppet nudity takes it to the next level, which you obviously won’t see in a Jim Henson movie, but with only a few giggles and somewhat overplayed gore scenes, this was a one-watcher for me. But, get a bunch of friends, throw back a few cold ones, and then put this on, and I guarantee it’ll be a rip roaring good time.

Made in Serbia-After seeing A Serbian Film and Life and Death of a Porno Gang, anything coming out of that region is now a must-see for me. I purchased this from Diabolik DVD (in PAL form), and it's a great accompaniment piece to the two movies above. It focuses on one man’s mission to not only educate himself on the porno industry in his country, but to get the help of lead directors, in order to make his own porno flick, starring his ex-girlfriend, a somewhat retired porno star who is willing to do one more feature before calling it quits and saying goodbye to her home town. The lives of several up and coming actors are talked about, as well as those who just do it for the money. The production value of these films are pretty low-grade, as well as the acting, and it’s a wonder how anyone gets their jollies off this stuff. Different strokes for different folks, that's for sure. It’s definitely worth a watch for those who like porn documentaries, and if you haven’t seen A Serbian Film, it gets an official Blu-Ray and DVD release in the states in October. However, if you just can't wait, Diabolik has a DVD release right now that will only set you back 14 bucks plus shipping.