Banho Turco Assombrado

This isn't the kind of film I'd usually check out, but the title was eye-catching and the listed genres made it sound too intriguing to pass up. A comedy/horror/crime/drama/romance movie? Sign me up!

I don't really know how a couple of those genres played into this, to be honest. It kind of works as a unique and sometimes very out-there film, but I don't know if I found it particularly good; just unique. I guess that's on me for giving a sleazy exploitation movie a shot when I know I don't usually like this brand of exploitation movie, but sometimes being adventurous pays off.

I think I can recognise some positive qualities here, and it could've been worse in some ways. But at the end of it all, I can't really call myself a fan either.

While this movie may start out as a yakuza and prostitutes skin flick it evolves into horror when the Ghost Cat Lady shows up. A brothel decides to convert to the titular Turkish Bath House in order to try and avoid a government prostitution crackdown. Physical abuse against the women is brutal and after one gets pregnant you see how bad the pimps and even other girls are. But don't worry revenge is on the way.

After some hilarious flying cat sequences the ghost cat lady appears and quickly becomes the coolest thing about this movie. I quite liked this movie, its a bit slow to get going but the last half hour is gold.

This film seemed to be hard to find in the past but now has a Blu Ray from Mondo Macabro. I actually think it deserves to rank quite high on the best Japanese Horror films of all times list, and hope it finds a new audience as a cult favorite.