Another Heaven

A pair of Japanes detectives are after a body hopping alien who kills victims, hollows out their heads, and puts their respective brains in stew. If you're looking for any originality or something different, I suggest keep movie. But if you merely want a fun, solid little horror flick I say do yourself a favor and pick this one up. It's not without flaws (it's a bit too long winded at over 2 hours, among other things), but it's entertaining none the less and it's a good deal better than the Director Jôji Iida's previous film "Rasen" (which was a poor Ring sequel indeed)

My Grade: B-

DVD Extras: Fangoria article; Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for "School's Out", "Slashers", "Wilderness", "Angel of the Night", & "One Hell of a Christmas"

I would have given the film 8 stars if it had been a bit more tightly edited. Clocking in at 2 hours and 10 minutes it's just too long. Maintaining tension is a tricky business and this exhausts itself after about 105 minutes. That being said, it is still a very enjoyable action/horror/sci-fi flick. The cast, a mix of novice and veterans, acquit themselves nicely. I actually cared about what happened to them. A scene of brutality between two of the main characters a little over half-way through really shocked me and reminded me of a scene that could have been written by Neil Labute. Unfortunately, some other scenes tended to drag on too long and the movie lost its dark humored edge sometime after the first hour. The revelation at the end of the film is a bit anti-climactic and surprisingly unimportant by that point. Otherwise, the film is enjoyable with some great action sequences and a script that continues to surprise and thwart viewer expectations. I look forward to seeing more from this director and cast.

A brutal killer with superhuman strength is murdering, then cooking the brains of the victims. The police are baffled, the entire city is terrified, and the brains are medium rare.

ANOTHER HEAVEN is a wonderfully gory horror / sci-fi thriller with an intriguing story line. The first three quarters are fantastic, with the unstoppable killer on a rampage. The final part isn't as exciting, sort of grinding to a rather sappy, drawn-out conclusion.

While still worth watching, the 2 hours+ running time could have been shaved by at least 20 minutes, resulting in a tighter, more suspenseful experience...

Hmm…had mixed feelings;

I couldn't stand the main detective Manabu played by Yosuke Eguchi. He reminded me of the reason cops have bad reps. He wasn't corrupt; rather took police brutality to another level. Yet he was supposed to be the protagonist.

I enjoyed the character Asako…One of Miwako Ichikawa's better performances.

This is worth seeing for the fact that it has a unique plot. Be warned that there are a lot of slow points that are meant to built certain characters up.

The movie Audition aka Ôdishon, (1999), was way better.

Okay, first, think David Fincher's SE7EN with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and that's what you get with this supra-slick Japanese action/horror flick. All the ingrediants are included: gorgeous Japanese gals covered in blood, grisly crime scenes featuring brains in boiling soup, and cops chasing serial killers possessed by spirits of Angels or Aliens. I'm not too sure which, but you can make the decision after watching it yourself. The only drawback I could possibly think of would have to be that ALL the "Goddess-like" Japanese women in this film should have had a nude scene and not just the main star's girlfriend. It's also alittle more "mainstream" compared to most of the other movies I've reviewed so far. But other than that, this is a much overlooked gem in the Japanese action/horror cinema and I recommend it to any fan of the genre.