Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness

Of the only two Japanese horror films I've seen, Eko Eko Azaraku (Wizard of Darkness) and Ringu, I enjoyed Wizard of Darkness far more. I didn't find myself watching the clock as I did with Ringu and it seemed to be just the right length for this type of movie.

Kimika Yoshino did a fine job in the leading role and is a fine actress. She grew on me more as I got further into the movie. Ryôka Yuzuki was another actress I enjoyed watching, as she was probably the best looking female in the movie. She didn't have a very big part but the part she had was fine with me.

Overall, no one stood out as a bad actor or actress, which is rare, but it was in Japanese so what do I know? I looked all right from my perspective.

And finally, the plot wasn't too terribly original, but the movie did have it's own unique feel to it. I really couldn't find much wrong with the movie as a whole. I gave it an 8 of 10.

Based on the Shinichi Kogo comic. Mika (Kimika Yoshino) is a new student who hopes to protect 12 other students from being killed by a Satanic cult. At first glance the film would seem to be your basic supernatural hack & slash. To an extant I feel that it is, but the film plays with such style it's rather hard to fault it for lacking originality. Violence, blood, gore, a touch of nudity, a pretty good (if unoriginal) story, what more could a horror fan want? Oh and Ryoka Yuzuki, who plays Kuzumi has a pretty damn nice body

My Horror Grade: B+

DVD Extras: Making of; Interviews with the director, Shimako Sato, and star, Kimika Yoshino; Film Premeire footage (a meager 10 seconds!); Theatrical trailer; Trailers for "Eko Eko Azurak 3: Mika the Dark Angel", "Kunoichi Lady Ninja", "Pyrokinesis" and "Versus"

Version: Japanese, with English subtitles (by SBS)

With my knowledge of Japanese horror movies limited to the 'Ringu' and Takashi Miike's 'Audition', I caught this on SBS one night. I really liked 'Audition', but I found the Ring movies to be rather boring, so I watched this few expectations. When it was over, I was pretty impressed.

Misa Kuroi (Kimika Yoshino) is a witch, her secret means she gets transferred from school to school. Rumours constantly follow her - they say that people in her presence are prone to dying. Naturally, dark forces at work at her new school, and one night, Misa and twelve other students (that makes 13, get it?) are locked in the school. They will all die unless Misa can protect them.

Story wise, it isn't very original, but its still rather interesting. Horror wise, it is pretty good. Dealing with the occult and supernatural, 'Wizard of Darkness' is stylish and gory. Nice special effects, and what surprised me was the fact that there were good actors in what is essentially gory teen-horror.

It gets a bit Japanese at times, and if you've seen a few Japanese horror or action movies, you'll know what I'm talking about, e.g. unusual situations involving lesbians. If you don't like these movies, then maybe its best to avoid 'Wizard of Darkness, as it features unusual situations involving lesbians, among other things.

8/10 - Check it out if you like Japanese horror, or horror in general.

I have never read the 70's manga by Shinichi Koga, so I cannot say how well the film follows its source.

I first saw this a decade ago on a Japanese grocery store rental tape without subtitles, but this first film had such a straightforward minimal plot that a full translation wasn't really necessary to follow the story. After seeing it subtitled, I feel the same way I felt back then: It's a decent low budget splatter film with witchcraft elements which seems to have spent the bulk of its budget in about 3 minutes of CG SFX scenes at the end of the film. Almost the entire film takes place in the school, but the limited setting doesn't hurt the film.

It's a pretty decent low budget film, but as the director stated is basically more of a relationship film with a horror backdrop than a typical horror film. I liked Kimika Yoshino in the lead role and thought she wasn't bad for a gravure model turned first time actress. Miho Kanno plays her new friend who shows her around school. You may recognize her from her role a few years later as the first Tomie. Prolific actress/voice actress Ryouka Yuzuki (aka Kanori Kadomatsu / Ayumi Nagashii) plays a schoolgirl who is having a lesbian affair with the teacher played by Mio Takaki (an actress from a few Ultraman films). The lesbian affair and its resulting nudity seems to be an idea of the producers to appeal to the exploitation audience and really doesn't add anything to the film.

STORY: Misa Kuroi is a witch who battle the forces of darkness and tries to protect the innocent, not that she has too good a track record for saving her friends, as she readily admits. Unfortunately for her, the trail of deaths left in her path makes some see her as an evil occult murderer, when in fact she just goes where the danger happens to be. She's somewhat of a victim of circumstance in this regard. She transfers in to a new school where five local murders have made a pentagram of blood and now an evil cult plans to kill off 13 more hapless victims to bring Lucifer into the world to obtain his powers. A group of students has to stay after school to retake a test and is trapped inside, trying to escape what seems to be a certain and rather messy death at the hands of an unknown enemy. The resident 'goth' kid has read some books about magic and decides Misa's knowledge makes her the number one suspect.

Sadly, the subtitlers at Tokyo Shock have an issue with consistency as they use at least 2 or 3 noticeably different spellings for the 3rd line of the Eko Eko Azarak chant. Luckily, the DVD is packed with extras.

Unlike most Western horror films aimed at a teen demographic, this high-school horror from the land of the rising sun comes complete with gore (including that old Asian favourite, the arterial geyser) and even a fairly racy lesbian sex scene between a teacher and a female student: those naughty Japanese just can't help themselves. The blood-letting and sexiness certainly helps to make this otherwise unremarkable satanic movie a reasonably painless watch.

The plot sees thirteen classmates become trapped in their school for the night by a mysterious Satanist who intends to sacrifice the kids so that they can invoke Lucifer and gain demonic powers; new student and good witch Misa Kuroi (Kimika Yoshino) tries to help her friends escape with their lives, but doesn't do a very good job. That's pretty much all there is to it story wise, the fun being in the way that the victims die, the mystery surrounding the devil worshipper's identity, and all those girls in their sailor-style school uniforms.

To sum up: one drowning in a bathroom cubicle, five mangled bodies, one decapitation by a window, two lesbian sex scenes, several deaths by knife (including one suicide), one crucifixion, one death by fire axe, and the villain being sucked inside out by Lucifer (which sounds way cooler than it actually is).

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.