Gusha no bindume

Hellevator: The Bottled Fools is set in a dystopian future somewhat reminiscent of THX1138. Apparently the outside world is no longer fit for human habitation so everyone is forced to stay indoors. Large elevators are used to get from one place to another and the commute time on these vehicles seems to be substantial for most people. After dropping an illegal cigarette and running away from the police, thus starting a chain of events that culminates in a large explosion a few minutes later; Luchino Fujisaki, a seventeen year old telepathic schoolgirl who has recently been released from a mental institution in spite of her ongoing violent urges and/or delusions, enters one of these elevators. The elevator soon becomes a HELLEVATOR when a young, nervous police officer enters with two extremely dangerous prisoners moments before the aforementioned large explosion causes him to be distracted long enough for the prisoners to get the upper hand and wreak havoc. Eventually Luchino gets a little berserk herself and the bodies start to pile up. As this unusual scenario plays itself out each of the eight passengers is involved in multiple acts of violence and it's revealed that virtually every one of them has something to hide.

Although rookie director Hiroki Yamaguchi pulls out a lot of tricks to make Hellevator at least moderately visually interesting, it's clear from the get go that the film was shot on a tiny budget. Still, there are some nice dreamlike special effects shots when Luchino enters the minds of her fellow passengers and the frequent gore effects were done fairly well. Yamaguchi also does a good job of creating some atmosphere, both in the green tinted elevator scenes and the interwoven interrogation scene that makes use of a dark blue color palette. Hellevator is a fairly well done cyberpunk movie that makes adequate use of an unusual setting but runs out of steam just before the inexplicable ending.

The low-budget origins and "arty" look initially had me worried this would be another Shinya Tsukamoto-esque Japanese film, high on style but low on content. Thankfully, HELLEVATOR is a very accessible, very watchable science fiction flick that is not trying to answer the meaning of life, just deliver 90 minutes of first class entertainment.

It resembles CUBE in that respect, making the absolute most of its location, and building the tension around the personalities of the characters accidentally thrust together in a high-stress situation. In fact, it could be seen as an ultra-minimalist riff on that film, confining the action to just one single room, but providing breathing room via the schoolgirl's telepathic "visions", and varying the tone via the comical parade of passengers getting on and off.

Great fun.

An underground country, each level of its underground home is another set of strange people. From the casual crowd, to families and civilians, to scientists, and military. However there are also floors you don't want the elevator to stop at. What could happen if the elevator were to stop on a psychotic prisoners level, sending them to be disposed of is what we get to see and how things can go completely bizarre when you involve telepathic powers, violence, rape, and gore all into one enclosed elevator.

All scores are out of a possible 10: Story: 8 - There's several stories twisted into one. The main girl Luchino has a twisted past with her father but has telepathy powers and the ability to see into peoples soul. The prisoners background is freakish and very violent. Even the mild mannered people in the elevator have strange background stories that while all we get is a glimpse, its very cool and explains why they act the way they do.

Acting: 8 - Acting is superb. The two prisoners are especially insane! When he's not crawling around licking everything he's yelling all kinds of freaky stuff at people. The other prisoner is calm and collected but oh MAN, he's speaking -backwards!- its really twisted how this sounds on screen. Everyone else goes just insane enough to be believable if not over the top but hell, when you see deaths like they do how can you not lose your mind!

Characters / Fashion: 10 - The outfits in the movie stand out a lot! Elevator lady especially with her uniform thats sexy yet professional looking. The military in their Nazi-esquire getup. Even the prisoners have their own unique creepy style sense.

Music: 8 - The classical music thrown in fits right in, especially how its used. Much like Battle Royale and other Japanese horror films, there's something eerie about how the classical music can be used at the most disturbing scenes. There's also Noize and Drum & Bass riffs that fit in well too during some of the more gruesome scenes.

Sound Mix: 8 - Sound is mixed almost TOO well, its kinda disturbing how the people who made this could actually come up with a "sound" for splitting people's throats in half, or bashing someones face in. Elevator sounds too go really well and amplify the scenes enough that you almost get claustrophobic yourself.

Camera-work / Lighting: 9 - VERY good. The elevator is all you ever see but the lighting effects are very freaky. All of the speed-ups, the slow downs, heck.. even bullet-time is incorporated in this film! During the scenes with telepathy, they edit-cut the dialog between two characters and throw in the film burn effect so it gives you the twisty psychic feeling. Its very cool and should be used in more films the way this used it.

Uniqueness: 8 - Maybe its because I've seen a lot of Japanese horror/thriller but this one wasn't about one crazy guy trying to kill everyone, or a group of school kids killing each other. This is a twisted, different world with no rules, and nothing leading you into guessing what could happen next. The movie's setting isn't explained but by the end you should figure out how it works.

Worth: 7 - For fans of Japanese horror/thriller its definitely one to see. Ichi The Killer, Old Boy, Izo fans would like this but quite possibly fans of violent anime as the characters in this definitely take some influence from the movies.

Overall Score (Not an average): 8 - Previews of this movie definitely got me interested and its been a good while since something totally new and different came along. I'm a big fan of the Silent Hill series of games and this was right about the same category as it. The movie never let up at all, and the fast-forward effects and telepathy scenes really got me interested. Watch with a group of friends and definitely spread the word to get an official release of this in America as more people should see this twisted film!

I went into The Bottled Fools hoping for a lot. I knew it was low budget, but the trailer and synopsis had me very intrigued. I guess that's why companies have marketing departments. It's probably the only way to sell this film.

The set/feel to the movie reminded me of the mid 70's Dr Who show. It was very low budget and almost looked like it was shot on a camcorder. This didn't really bother me however, it's more I'm letting others know what to expect. I've seen my share of low budget productions and I've grown to learn that a strong story or cast can take a movie much more powerful than it's CGI effects.

So now I'll get into the story. While the concept was somewhat good, the execution was not. The story seemed pretty basic after the first 30 minutes, however upon the 45th minute passing I realized I was wrong. I guess the writer wanted to make a statement on human interaction, so he decided at the expense of the audience to keep the film going much after one would have assumed this disaster would have finished.

I won't ruin the film by saying what happened, but the final scene made my laugh out loud.

Not something I'd suggest anyone waste time on. I'm guessing Tokyo Shock made a killing on this one as the hype around the DVD was fairly good. I'm starting to wonder if they may have got the rights for this film for free. I wish I would have got my copy for that price.

This is certainly not the best Japanese movie ever, there are a bit too much technical flaws (could partially have been due to a bad tape though, I've seen it on the Brussels BIFFF festival), and a bit too many cliché's in the plot, and the gore was a bit too soft(for a movie advertised as a horror movie, that is) it doesn't really have something to stand out from the rest of the new Japanese movie....except for its atmosphere...really liked the atmosphere, which had a lot to do with the decors, which were very well put together.... the two people who I went to see the movie with hated it, mainly for the flaws I've mentioned before, but I guess this is a typical case of "if you concentrate too much on the flaws you'll hate it, otherwise it just might grab you, and you're in for a very enjoyable ride"

So to be brief: I loved it but I can't really recommend it...still I'll give it an 8, mainly to promote a talented filmmaker which I'm sure will deliver a few brilliant movies if he gets the budget he deserves