Abunômaru: Ingyaku

In many ways, Abunômaru: Ingyaku is very similar to Daisuke Yamanouchi's infamous Asian shocker Muzan-e: both films are Japanese; both films revolve around a woman investigating mysterious snuff films; and both films go by the alternative title of 'Celluloid Nightmares'. It would be easy to confuse the two. Except that Abunômaru: Ingyaku isn't as gruelling as Muzan-e -- it's more of a softcore sex film (Pinku) masquerading as a horror, with very little in it to genuinely disturb the viewer.

In terms of naughtiness, the film is quite the trouser stirrer, with plenty of steamy shenanigans, including bondage, incest, and lesbianism, the action including oodles of nudity and lots of graphic gusset rubbing and crotch sucking. Perverts are more than catered for. Extreme horror fans, however, might feel let down by the lack of splatter. The murders, clearly inspired by Michael Powell's '60s classic Peeping Tom, are fairly tame and although the ending features a fair amount of claret being sprayed about, it's unlikely to upset modern horror fans, who are accustomed to far more outrageous gore these days.

4/10. If you're looking for something really rough, this one will disappoint.

Over the last week, I've been on a full-on Hisayasu Sato kick. Starting on August 15th, the man's birthday and i've been revisiting his filmography. It's one of those descents where once you're in, you're not just in for the long haul; you're strapped in and given a complimentary bag of popcorn that smells suspiciously of maggots. This glorious binge-watch trip landed me back at Celluloid Nightmares aka Abnormal: Ugly Abuse.

This thing is a real techno-sleazoid dripper from the jump, opening with some fuzzy snuff footage before a severed arm literally hands you the actual VHS tape. What follows is like a watered-down, sex-drenched Videodrome that gets so abstract and disorienting it feels like a bad dream, oozing a creepy vibe that'll kinda make your skin crawl. It's not hitting that hardcore Guinea Pig series level, nor does it have the legendary snuff cred of something a serial killer might adore, which is probably for the best, because who wants that. But man, it loses its way with this gimmicky masked killer who won't shut up about society-like, we get it, dude, put a sock in it-and the surprisingly tame Pinku sex scenes just feel dumb and off.

The whole thing is sprinkled with Sato's usual ingredients: incest, dismemberment, and a plot that's vaguely a police procedural, borrowing heavily from Peeping Tom and Fulci's eyeball close-ups. The dialogue was funny, especially a character's casual suggestion to, "Come on, let's commit incest!" (which, okay, did get a chuckle). There are some truly wild moments, like a bowl of spaghetti with maggots and a camera strapped with a blade that finally makes the last ten minutes riveting, but it's buried under drawn-out, slimy sex scenes that are just, well, meh.

This is one of Hisayasu Satõ's more graphic films. Yet in reality it's not very graphic. You don't actually see the worst stuff and with low budget special effects it often has a fake look which doesn't give a real shock value.

Kiyomi Ito does an amazing acting job as usual as does the rest of the cast.

It's a pink film so has it's prerequisite number of sex scenes. Some include bondage, lesbianism and tongue sucking.

My only gripe is the ending was a bit convoluted. Too much happens in the last few minutes. Time constraints of a pink film I guess. You are kept guessing until the very end.

It is a good movie. Not sure I would call it a horror movie. As in some other Satõ movies, it's more about solving a crime or story which is what keeps your interest. Worth a watch.

A gruesome snuff video is found in an abandoned refrigerator.It shows a young woman,who is tortured,killed and dismembered by an unknown sadist.The deadly blade is hidden inside the camera itself.Hisayasu Sato's regular Kiyomi Ito begins to investigate a videotape."Re-Wind" is a perverse and bloody pinku eiga thriller that is obviously influenced by Michael Powell's classic "Peeping Tom".There is a dismembered hand in a garbage dump,gory arm-cutting,nail-carving,mutilation with a syringe and bloody bashing with a tripod.The sex scenes are pretty hot and there is enough tension to satisfy genre fans.The distorted view of reality via camera lens is truly unsettling."Re-Wind" is easily one of the best and goriest movies from Hisayasu Sato.8 out of 10.