Iki-jigoku

At first, I was a little disappointed by the synth score and what looked to be a low-budget schlocker...but then A LIVING HELL opened up to be a wrenching, well-written horror film that surpasses the landmark TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE on just about every level.

When a Japanese family accepts a pair of relatives into their house -- an old woman and her mute, feral daughter -- no one seems to know the pair's murderous past. It would ruin the fun to reveal much beyond this. Let's just say that the film gradually builds its level of intensity with such raw skill that it's almost unnerving. A LIVING HELL leaves nonsense like EVIL DEAD TRAP at the starting gate.

This one is well worth seeking out through auction and collector's channels.

I have to say I was kinda disappointed in LIVING HELL. I had initially read some reviews in Rue Morgue magazine, and I had high hopes for this film due to the fact that their reviews usually match how I feel about a film pretty closely. I read how "disturbing" and "graphic" this film was, so naturally I was ready for an all-out bloodbath. Unfortunately, LIVING HELL didn't provide on that front. I do have to say that the first half or so of the film was entertaining and had some cool concepts and visuals. The idea of the kid in the wheelchair being unable to defend himself from the two psychos that are torturing him, and also being unable to make anyone else believe him, did amp up the tension factor. But after awhile the story started wearing thin and by the end I think I just didn't really care anymore. All-in-all, not a bad low-budget effort. There is some gore and shocks, just not enough for my taste. 7/10

I love horror movies. Good ones, bad ones, silly ones - I like them all, except when the only plot device requires the characters to all be total idiots.

I picked this up at blockbuster today because I generally find Japan low budget horror films to be better than most. I don't want to tell you readers to skip this one so I'll offer some questions. You can make up your own minds.

Q1: You are a journalist who is investigating a missing mental patient and murderer that the police are looking for. You track down the address of her son. If you'd call the police, you might want to pass on this one. If you'd drive over at night (when you know he's home), sneak in a bathroom window and start wandering around, this movie could be for you.

Q2: You come home and find your brother beaten, bleeding and frightened. Power is out, phones are dead and you know that two evil people are still in the house. Brother says "Go out the window and get help". If you'd get help, skip this. If you think wandering though the house looking for your cell phone is a better idea, have at it.

Q3: You find your cell phone. Dial 911? Not for you. Nope, watch this movie if you think the best action is to now get a flashlight and start looking for that lost first aid kit.

There's a lot more stupid stuff. Watch this film only if you can totally and I mean totally turn off your brain. You won't find a bigger collection of morons until you get to a slapstick comedy.

Living Hell (2000)

** (out of 4)

Yasu (Hurorito Honda) is a troubled twenty-two year old who is confined to a wheelchair due to some sort of anxiety, which has taken over his body. The young man lives with his father, sister and brother but soon two new relatives show up at the house. Chiyo, a senile older woman and her granddaughter strike the young boy as being a bit weird but soon he realizes that they are a lot more than that. Within days of moving in the two women start torturing the boy but no one in the family will believe him because they think this is just an act to get more attention. With no one to believe him Yasu is trapped in the house with the women who go all out to serve their deadly plans.

I went into Living Hell with high expectations but in the end I found myself checking my clock way too much to totally enjoy the film. There are many wonderful ideas floating around in the film but in the end we're left with a pretty empty film without any characters to root for and an ending that's so over the top and ripped from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that the eeriness the director tries for went way over my head.

The first thirty minutes really kills the film with its boring introduction to the new family, which will soon be stalked by the crazy grandmother and granddaughter. We first see the family gathered around the breakfast table arguing about the new guests that are about to arrive. All this fighting is so incredibly annoying that within minutes you'll be wishing they'd get knocked off right then and there. Also in this time we never really get to know any of the family members, especially the paralyzed boy who is supposed to be the guy we're rooting for throughout the film. What we do get to see of him doesn't make us care too much for him and the wooden performance by Hirohito Honda doesn't help mattes either.

Without anyone to care for I really had a hard time getting into the actual torturing that goes on. I'm quite certain the director wants us to cheer for our young hero yet since he never bothered to let us get to know him then we're left without any real emotions going throughout the film. Another incredibly boring and pointless plot line has a local detective trying to track down the grandmother but this here turns out to be nothing more than filler, which adds an extras thirty-minutes to the running time and doesn't offer us anything interesting. Even without a likable character I was hoping the violence would push this into the entertainment level but that didn't happen either.

I think the film tries to appear a lot meaner than it actually is. Perhaps I'm just a little too jaded but the violence here wasn't really anything we haven't seen before and if you've seen any horror films from Italy then I highly doubt you'll be shocked by this film. In the torture department we see teeth being pulled out, heads beaten with hammers, the young boy used as a dart board and to top it all off we even get to see his private area soaked with water only to have a stun gun put to test. None of this is done overly graphic and the director makes a mistake by keeping the film a bit too clean. With such films like Organ and Men Behind the Sun I'm really not sure what the point of this cleanness was. Perhaps budget problems? Director Shugo Fujii adds some nice touches here and there but the bad editing and constant blackouts really start to get annoying very quickly. The director does a wonderful job trying to set up a doomed atmosphere, which is nicely brought to life by the way the film is lit. Most of the scenes take place with light only coming through windows while other scenes are merely lit by candles. Another nice addition are some wickedly creepy sound effects that come into play throughout the movie. Living Hell is worth a viewing but I can't help but feel it should have been a lot better.

I am a horror film junkie. For a low budget horror movie ... this movie delivered. I still can't believe this movie only had a budget of $100,000 and was made in 9 days. The movie had great cinematography... it had a Hitchcock meets Anime feel to it. My only wish was that the movie should have more gore... (I am always in search for the goriest movie.)

You could tell the director wanted to do more with the film but did not have the resources. If you really feel this movie is a horrible movie, you probably haven't seen many horror movies. Horror movies should be in a league of there own when it comes to rating/critique since they are almost always low budget and are usually the first movies done by fledgling directors.