Category: J-horror

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extreme J-horror

Cartoons and Killer Pianos: A Review of “Hausu”

Obayashi Nobuhiko’s Hausu (House, 1977) is an assault on the senses. This is a movie designed to make the viewer say “what the…” Through a twisted plot, a barrage of visual effects and bizarre music choices, Obayashi creates an unforgettable horror film with touches of dark comedy throughout. Naturally the film contains plenty of violence, gore, and some nudity.

The basic plot of the film follows six school girls (Angel, Fantasy, Sweetie, Melody, Kung Fu, and Mac) on their summer vacation trip to the countryside. They plan to stay with Angel’s aunt. When they arrive at the aunt’s house they slowly learn things aren’t quite as they seem and they are one by one eliminated by the haunted house. The plot sounds like standard fare for a horror film. However, there is nothing typical about this film.

One cannot watch the screen for more than five seconds before something strange happens. Shots are often from atypical angles, seen through mirrors, with different coloured tints applied, and/or seen through special lens. The camera rarely stays in one place. Instead it constantly cuts, sometimes to a quick a dream sequence and then right back to the action.

Obayashi is especially creative with the death scenes. Superimposed images and video effects one might find in 1980s music videos are used heavily. Often the “killer” is a piece of furniture which becomes active and violent towards the girls including one memorable scene in which a piano eats Melody. There’s plenty of blood and severed limbs but it’s often not used to scare but for dark humour – a severed head of one of the girls taunts and laughs at another girl.

The characters are all named after their most distinctive traits. For example, Kung Fu is good at fighting and Mac (short for stomach) likes to eat. These extremely one-dimensional characters poke fun at typical horror film characters and are another source of humour for the film. Perhaps the biggest source of humour is the male teacher character Togo. Togo is supposed to join the girls on their trip but gets left behind and is constantly trying to catch up. His character is introduced as the handsome, responsible adult but what the viewer sees is a silly man with goofy sideburns. His scenes are especially cartoony (a trait which could be applied to the whole movie) – he trips downstairs and bounces around, complete with cartoon sound effects.

The music throughout the film complements this cartoon feel and contrasts the violent imagery. The main theme is a catchy, happy-sounding tune, completely atypical for the horror genre. The film also features a corny-sounding vocal pop song which is also unfit for the violence on screen. The main piano theme plays an important role in the plot as it is the song that Melody plays before she is eaten by the piano. The other characters can hear her playing the tune as they walk throughout the house but once she is attacked they start to hear discordant random piano notes. When they return to the piano room, they once again hear the happy piano tune, now being played by Melody`s floating severed fingers. The main theme is also featured in a bizarre duet between the aunt and her cat which is certainly a candidate for the scene least typical of the horror genre. The sound editing, much like the video editing, is maniac and inventive. Often a character`s line will be looped several times or brought back and played over top of a later scene. The effect subverts typical narrative structures and again draws out the cartoon nature of the film.

Obayashi was ahead of his time in his heavy use of effects and cartoonish atmosphere. Similar absurd humour achieved through those means can be seen in contemporary movies such as Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow, 2004) and television such as Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007-present). It`s clear that a lot of effort was put into making this film as fun and bizarre as possible. Hausu is a restless film that simultaneously leaves viewers scared, laughing, and scratching their heads.

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J-horror literary adaptations

The Horror of “The Ring”

Ringu (The Ring, 1998), directed by Nakata Hideo and based on Suzuki Kôji’s 1991 novel of the same name, is a blend of mystery and horror that deals with the relatively new cultural anxiety that is nervous about the way movies and video can affect us as people; for example, the debate around whether or not violent movies make people more violent or not. This theme of anxiety was expressed in a similar mysterious and horrifying way by director David Cronenberg in Videodrome (1983).

The Ring begins, like any good thriller, in ordinary life. In this case it is two teenage girls named Tomoko (Takeuchi Yuko) and Masami (Sato Hitomi). Masami tells her friend Tomoko about a videotape that when viewed will cause you to die within exactly seven days to the very second. They laugh, and try to brush it off, but Tomoko is obviously concerned.  Finally, she relates to Masami that her and three other friends viewed a film seven days ago that fits this one’s description exactly; down to the detail that they received an anonymous, voiceless phone call right after their viewing. Subsequently, Tomoko dies that very night with a vacant, but agonized expression lacerated on her face. The film then cuts to Asakawa Reiko (Matsushima Nanako) a journalist who is investigating the story of the video tape and its possible connection to the deaths of teenagers.

Reiko, it turns out, is the aunt of Tomoko but it takes her a while before she connects her niece’s death to the video tape. When Reiko finally makes this connection she is able to find clues to the mystery in Tomoko’s room, namely a curious picture. The picture has an interesting detail that really adds to the story’s eerie qualities. Once you have been marked for death, by watching the videotape, any picture that is taken of you will have your face blurred, or smeared across the photo like blood on a wall. Therefore when Reiko, after tracing Tomoko’s footsteps, finds and watches the video tape in a cabin her niece went to, the film is able to give solid proof that Reiko is also now affected by the curse and will die in seven days.

The impending death of Reiko is what drives the film’s plot. Reiko now has to hurry her investigation against a ticking time bomb to discover what makes people die from this videotape in order to save her own life. In the course of events she enlists the help of her ex-husband Takayama Ryuji (Sanada Hiroyuki) and an old man from a small island fishing village called Oshima. During the course of the investigation a very close loved one of hers views the tape as well which increases the gravity and desperation with which her search must succeed.

To tell too much of the plot is to give away the film’s sense of mystery. These mysteries are: one, how the videotape kills and two, why it even possesses this lethal power. These story points help drive the action and excitement of watching the film. Suffice to say that on Oshima Island there is the history of an old psychic who was exploited and then humiliated that helps open the doors to understanding the mystery. Further, the mystery beyond driving the plot ultimately leads to a dark and dismal theme about choosing your life or another’s. Despite this, even if you have seen the film before, or watched the Hollywood remake, The Ring (2002), or read the book, you know the mystery is just one aspect of the film’s intrigue. The horror and suspense adds another level to the film.

As mentioned before the film draws upon the anxiety of what film, video, or simply an image may be able to do to you. Beyond the social implications of this anxiety there is a more visceral one: what if the horrible evil in a film could crawl out and attack you within the comfort of your home, or movie theatre. The video tape itself resembles a 1920’s surrealist silent film, one that could have been made by Salvador Dalí and/or Luis Buñuel. It has dark and grainy images that cut in jarring and unmotivated ways to reveal an emaciated girl with long black hair covering her face and an old well; if a film could come and end your life this may be the film to do it.

The film’s music is very distinct as well and really helps place the film in the horror genre. At moments of intensity and anxiety the violins screech similar to the way Hitchcock employs them in Psycho (1960). The effect is great in increasing the film’s tense, uneasy anxiety. For example, the final scene with Takayama Ryuji would probably still be horrifying without the music but the addition of it really helps bolster the anxiety and fear Ryuji must be feeling and therefore the audience as well. Along with this technique the film’s cinematography lends tan anxious tone. The characters are often framed very tightly; they seemed somewhat cramped on screen either with each other or with the scenery around them. Not much is revealed as a result of this. As an audience member all you can see is a small frame and anything could be lurking around the corner; whether it is a clue to solving the mystery or some deadly force ready to take another life. One of the film’s climactic scenes shows this. Reiko and Ryuji are underneath a cabin and in an old well. The space is claustrophobic in and of itself with its low ceiling, dark space and suffocating water. The camera increases this by framing the two characters almost exclusively in medium and close-up shots. The director even includes shots of the bright, cheerful, sunny day outside to contrast the dark dismal interior he has placed his characters in. This sense of claustrophobia created by the set as well as the camera really works to increase the anxiety of this scene.

The anxiety that this film creates is truly unique. Often people comment how a film kept them on the edge of their seat; this film has done that. It achieves this effect without intense scenes of violence or gore. Instead the film has played upon the strange fear that the visual media may have over us. This more psychological tactic to frighten the audience is similar to the techniques used by Hitchcock in his horror, mystery, thriller, films. All in all it is a film that you will want to watch a few more times just to see if the film can frighten you again, and its themes and images, beyond their chilling effect, are intriguing to think about even when you are done viewing the film.

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J-horror literary adaptations

“Uzumaki”: Dangerous Obsession

Higuchi Akihiro’s Uzumaki (Spiral, 2000), based on Ito Junji’s horror manga, is a horror film of Goshima Kirie’s (Hatsune Eriko) experience when the population in her small hometown becomes bizarrely obsessed with spirals. Goshima is unaware of this strange obsession until her boyfriend, Saito Shuichi (Fhi Fan) warns her about the strange situation with uzumaki. Higuchi has also adapted Ito Junji’s Long Dream (Nagai Yume, 2000) into a television film, but both of these films are not internationally well known.

The story is separated into four chapters, “Premonition”, “Erosion”, “Visitation”, and “Come into the Uzumaki”, and each has significant events. Goshima Kirie narrates the film in regards to her experience with her hometown’s strange behavior and deaths related to uzumaki. At first, she comes across Mr. Saito’s (Ren Ohsugi), Saito’s father, attraction to film the slow movements of a snail on an alley wall. Soon after, she engages in a conversation with Saito about his father. Saito says that his father’s interest in spirals is not just a hobby. It has become an obsession and it is changing him to the point that he is now a father Saito no longer knows and understands. Mr. Saito not only has a huge collection of spiral-related objects, but things are clearly out of control as he only eats things with spirals in it, such as Japanese fish cakes (naruto, fish cakes with a pink spiral), and can drink miso soup only after he creates a spiral with the spinning motion of chopsticks. Mr.Saito’s obsession with spirals soon spreads to Goshima’s father (Tarô Suwa), a ceramist, when Mr. Saito suggests to him that uzumaki is the highest form of art and must be incorporated into his ceramics. The power of uzumaki rapidly spreads throughout the town, and one by one they quickly fall to their inevitable deaths, by turning into human snails, having hair coiled into uzumaki that defies gravity, or turning into uzumaki by committing suicide in a washing machine. The story reaches its climax when Goshima finally realizes that uzumaki has possessed this town and needs to find a way to escape this terrifying power.

The film’s theme, terror of spirals, is simple and yet interesting. Uzumaki clearly depicts the horrors of spirals. Firstly, it presents spirals as an unbelievable attraction just like many illusions and puzzles. However, in uzumaki one can never escape once they have been drawn in. Other than the characters dying in a series of accidents and suicides due to obsession with uzumaki, there are many little spirals that are lurking within the film, such as the close-up shots on the spinning wheels of a bicycle or cars, the wind blowing leaves in a circular form, the spiral staircase, and the random spirals occurring in the sky, and on the floor. Higuchi also choose to film with green colour filters causing the whole film to have a greenish background. The greenish colour adds to the creepy nightmarish atmosphere and gives the town a characteristic of deterioration and destruction. Higuchi also uses spinning shots often with the characters’ head in the middle. This strangely attracts attention and causes an unsettling feeling. The image of uzumaki is situated in every part of the film in a variety of ways. While Uzumaki takes over the lives of the characters, it is not until the end that one realizes that the film was taken over by uzumaki at the very beginning.

The character Goshima Kirie is very interesting because she never demonstrates any sign of extreme fear facing the obsession with spirals situation. Even after witnessing the death of a classmate failing off a spiral staircase, she is able to recover soon after. Moreover, a few days later, when she witnesses the death of Mr. Saito in the washing machine, she faints after the incident but she is able to recover the next day as if everything is back to normal. She is definitely aware of spirals taking over but does not acknowledge it as a problem and something she should worry about. Even when Saito warns her as he becomes more and more suspicious about the power of uzumaki, she is merely listening to his observations. She is a passive character, who does not actively look for how to fight against uzumaki, or run away from it. Nonetheless, it is because she is such an innocent and simple-minded character that audiences are able to enjoy the story in an unbiased, and surrealistic manner.

The film contains many disturbing and bloody scenes and viewer’s discretion is advised. The film’s theme of spirals is twisted and may cause uneasiness for the audience. After the screening of Uzumaki, one may never look at spirals in the same way again. It was not a great film, but it was still an enjoyable film. The story’s idea is simple but extremely bizarre. This film is recommended to those who wish to see a creepy and unsettling thriller.

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J-horror literary adaptations

Stepping on Eggshells: A Review of Nakata Hideo’s “Ringu”

The original 1998 feature film The Ring (Ringu) was diected by Nakata Hideo and was loosely based on a novel of the same title by Suzuki Koji Suzuki.  The anxiety-driven J-horror film was then adapted into a popular North American version in 2002 starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson.  The story follows an attractive young journalist named Matsushima Nanako (played by Asakawa Reiko) as she investigates the mysterious deaths of a group of high school students who after an encounter with a strange videotape are given one week to live.  While in the midst of gathering evidence for her work, Nanako soon finds that she and her beloved family have fallen victim to the supernatural killer-video.  Ringu then becomes a race against the clock.  Will Nanako be able to life the curse or will she and her family end up like all the rest?

The film begins with two lively teenage girls as they share scary stories about a cursed videotape with one another while conveniently managing to avoid their homework.  While the scene begins with laughter, the film’s tone quickly darkens as the girls begin to realize that the stories they are telling are in fact, not stories at all.  Soon after, we meet Matsushima Nanko, a courageous mother and reporter who has been sent to interview local high school students in regards to the suspicious deaths that have been occurring around town.  After rushing around and gathering information, Nanako is eventually led directly to the videotape that ends with a deathly phone call and seven-day warning.  In attempt to save herself and her young son from becoming the next videotape victims, Nanako seeks help from her ex-husband in hopes of tracking down the original filmmaker in order to lift the curse and potentially outlive their fatal doom.

Nakata’s use of special effects is perhaps one of the most horrific aspects of a film filled with such dreadful imagery. The most powerful effect includes a dead girl climbing her way out of a well before crawling out of the television set, straight into a living room.  While the carefully crafted scene would have included hours of tedious editing and green screen work, its gruesome effect and use of juxtaposition (literally linking the real world and the televised world together) help bring the film to its climax.  Other special effects worthy of mention include the film’s disturbing use of hair and makeup to portray a living dead girl.  The girl’s fingernails appear to be bloodily ripped out from continuous scraping and scratching at the well’s wall, while her long hair hangs limply over her disturbing blood-shot eyeballs (which are powerfully presented in an extreme close-up toward the end of the film).

Another aspect of the film worth mentioning is the overall tone.  From the beginning of the film we are presented with a reference to the date and time in which the scenes are taking place.  This trend continuous throughout the narrative and adds a sense of urgency and pressure to the already tense situations that the characters find themselves in.  With the constant reference to time and the seven day-deadline hanging over head, the film becomes darker and darker (literally, as many scenes take place inside of a well towards the end).  The darkening tone of the film becomes all the more horrifying when paralleled with the actually death-video footage, responsible for killing many of the film’s characters.  This gritty, green-tinged video includes unsettling images of a woman brushing her hair in a mirror, a human figure standing with a bag over their head and a still shot of a well looming in the distance.  These images are intended to shock and horrify viewers while promoting a sense of dread.  As a result, the film’s tone is responsible for creating such severely nerve-racking levels of anxiety and fear amongst viewers.

While the film’s disturbing and at times, grotesque content may be too much for sensitive viewers to handle, it is filled with many jaw-dropping effects and opportunities to scream in terror for those who are accustom to the genre.  I would deem this film a necessity for any horror fan or lovers of the 2002 North American version who have not yet explored the roots of the pre-existing narrative.  Viewing Nakata Hideo’s Ringu is sort of like tiptoeing around eggshells, the film seems steady and endurable until eventually, an egg is stepped on, resulting in complete panic and utter chaos.

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drama, melodrama experimental extreme J-horror literary adaptations new cinema / new wave cinema

A review of “Blind Beast”

The Blind Beast, also called Mōjū, was released at 1969 and directed by Masumura Yasuzo who was recognized as the starter of Japan’s “New Wave” of the 60s. And the story itself was primarily written by Japan’s leading horror writer whose name is Edogawa Rampo. Other film cast members include Funakoshi EIji, Midori Mako and Sengoku Norijo. This movie was ranked as the number-one grotesque story in the Asahi National Newspaper between 1931 and 1932.

There are two main characters in the film. One is called Michio, a blind sculptor who is fed by his mother. His mother is a pedophile and gradually misrecognizes him as her husband. Another character is called Aki, a shapely young model, who is the only victim to form the basis of Michio’s latest project. The movie starts from Michio’s Art Studio when he seeks a suitable female model to construct into a perfect sensual sculpture. Aki, as an applicant, goes to the studio and is finally kidnapped by Michio. The rest of the scenes happen in the same place, which is the secluded warehouse where Michio lives.  The warehouse is designed very strangely. It contains a huge room with no lights and two of the walls contain large reproductions of female anatomy. In the center of the room, two giant nude sculptured bodies are lying on the floor. At first, Aki is distraught and threatens to kill Michio and his mom but gradually she begins to love him even though she has already tempted Mochio to kill his mother. The rest of the film is seriously filled with sadomasochism, sex, and violence.

The most important aspect of this film is characters because it is produced 50 years ago and there was no one making this kind of movie before its success. There are many naked and extremely violent scenes in this movie such as Michio chopping off Aki’s arms and legs. Those scenes required actors to devote themselves because no one knows whether this film is successful or not.

Another aspect of the film is camerawork. In order to make the horrific scenes, the director utilizes the static shots with huge body parts crowding into the full screen. And also, at the end of the film, most audiences can feel scared because the director delivers all the chopping detail to them.

Michio’s world is just like all simple animals because he can only know things by touching and smelling them. He only knows what he wants and just like this simple. This is pathetic of course. However, in my opinion, the “blind animal” should be Aki rather than Michio. There are many scenes contained in this movie that can prove this. For example, after Michio’s mother dies, he and Aki crazily make love in the dark warehouse. Therefore, Aki gradually loses her sight because she stays in the dark environment too long but she feels happy because she now is the same as Michio.

Another scene also can prove my opinion. At the end of the film, Aki asks Michio to chop off her arms and legs in order to obtain greatest happiness through this sadomasochistic action. This is never adapted by a normal person but Aki accepts this because she has already become blind and will never be a person. This film contains extreme violence and sadomasochistic sex. I would suggest anyone who wants to see this film that stays away from child. I would not recommend this movie to classmates.

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drama, melodrama experimental gendai-geki J-horror literary adaptations

“The Face of Another”: Appearance and the Psychological Mind

Teshigahara Hiroshi’s The Face of Another (Tanin no kao, 1966), based on Abe Kobo’s novel, is a science fiction dramatic film that closely follows Mr. Okuyama’s (Nakadai Tatsuya) psychological recovery after a laboratory fire that left him entirely facially scarred. Dr. Hira (Hira Mikijro), Okuyama’s psychiatrist, proposes to him an experiment to create a lifelike mask that can assist him in the integrated return to society.  When Okuyama accepts the challenge to put on a mask created from a mold of a stranger, the mask pressures him to choose between appearance and identity. The theme of masks and identity and the usage of mirror images and repeated scenes is a trademark of many of Teshigahara’s films, and The Face of Another is no exception.

The story encircles Okuyama’s return to society followed by an accident that scarred his face. At first, he conceals himself under layers of bandages; however, everywhere he goes he is still given stares and pondering looks. He goes into a paranoia that no one wants to look at him, and feels that even his wife (Machiko Kyo) is disgusted. He seeks help from his psychiatrist, Dr. Hira, and then he is offered the chance to undergo a face transplant experiment.  Okuyama accepts without hesitation and they quickly go out in search of his new face. Surprisingly easy, a stranger agrees to sell his face to create a mold for 10,000 yen. Furthermore, Dr.Hira’s experiment turns out completely successful and Okuyama now has a face without flaws. The sudden change in appearance boosts up his confidence, but on the other hand, it influences him to drastically change his style and behaviour to a more attention-seeking manner. Thus, one may question, is the mind over matter or matter over the mind? As Okuyama continues to explore the functions of his new stylish looks, he changes his lifestyle by moving into a new apartment. Meanwhile as Okuyama undergoes his transformation, he is reminded of a film that he has seen before about a girl (Miki Irie) who was facially scarred on the left side of her face and neck due to the radiation of the Nagasaki bombing during World War II. The film intertwines these stories together as the main characters goes through the loss of appearance with the fear that they will not be accepted back into society. The story reaches its climax when Okuyama discovers that his mask can lead to the loss of control over one’s body.

The psychiatric clinic has an intriguing set design that calls for attention. The clinic has no boundaries, the furniture is always changing, and mirrors and reflective surfaces are located everywhere within the space.  The hanging of the Langer’s lines, Leonardo DaVinci’s Anatomy diagrams, random black blotches, and rigid shapes all add to the mysterious and uncomfortable atmosphere of the clinic. In addition, Teshigahara uses interesting camerawork, such as sudden dimming of lights and zoom ins and outs, especially in the clinic, to portray a sense of the unknown and the cruelty of loneliness.  Much of the film takes place inside this open space, where he undergoes the face transplant, and has discussions about how Dr.Hira plans to monitor Okuyama’s behavior after the transplant. In contrast to real psychiatric clinics which are bright with simple designs, a place where patients feel safe and prepare to recover from their psychological problems, this clinic serves as a base for radical experiments and personality alterations that make Okuyama stray off into this unknown space. When Dr. Hira repeatedly puts the plastic to shape Okuyama’s face into a machine to soften the plastic, it is a metaphor for how easily malleable the human mind is.  This paradoxical set design creates an incredible sense of eerieness.

There is a usage of symmetries, and parallelism throughout the film, Teshigahara uses camerawork such as doubling of shots, and changing the aspect ratios, to foil scenes. The story in the background of the girl who was facially scared by the Nagasaki Bombing is introduced by “melting” from a full-frame aspect ratio into a widescreen ratio. This girl serves as a constant comparison to Okuyama, when Okuyama receives stares and looks of pondering, she also did, when the film reaches its climax, her story also reaches its climax. This draws the audience into deeper thoughts about what is real and what is not. Then there is a repeated scene where Okuyama rents the apartment in a bandaged face in comparison to the scene when he rents the apartment with his new plastic face. These two scenes are filmed identically, with the actors doing the same things and with the same dialogue. However, in the second time around expressions and tones have changed, the landlord shows that he is less scared of talking to him, and Okuyama talks and walks with more confidence. It presents an interesting example of compare and contrast using this technique of identical shots. Teshigahara’s methods grab the audience’s attention in a way that penetrates minds, consequently, scenes cannot be easily forgotten.

Although The Face of Another was not a successful film internationally and it was a huge letdown from the previous Teshigahara film, The Woman of the Dunes (Suna no onna, 1964), to see it just as a twisted horror film would be a shame. The film in fact touches upon many aspects in life where one must reflect on, to find one’s true self. The Face of Another is strangely attention-grabbing and highly recommended.

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J-horror

“Matango”

Matango, also known as Attack of the Mushroom People or Fungus of Terror, is a psychological and science fictional horror film. It is directed by Honda Ishirō, who is well known for his movie Godzilla (Gojira, 1954). The movie was released on August 11, 1963. It was never officially released in America but it was first aired on American television in 1965.

The film first starts off with a scene at a psychiatry ward where a man is telling the story. It is a story about a group of people who decide to go on a trip on a yacht to escape their stressful lives. On board are psychologist Marai (the man in the psychiatry ward); his girlfriend Akiko; wealthy businessman Kasai; famous singer Mami; writer Yoshida; sailor Koyama; and captain Sakuda. Their pleasant trip comes to an abrupt end when they are blown off course by an unexpected storm. As they float in their yacht aimlessly, they soon discover an island with a jungle and an abandoned ship covered with fungus and a strange type of gigantic mushroom growing on it. There is some canned food on the ship and so they decide to clean the ship and use it as their shelter. They discover a log by the crew the previously owned the ship that warns of the mushroom’s damaging effects on the human nervous tissue. The captain warns the crew not to eat the mushrooms but it is very hard temptation due scarcity of food. One night, as Kasai tries to steal the limited supply of canned food, he encounters a monster and screams for the help of the others. The next scene is a cut to the next morning where everybody is discussing of what they saw. Things do not get any better as tempers being to flare and everyone starts turning on each other under the stress of not knowing whether or not they will be able to make it off this island alive. Sakuda eventually betrays them all and steals whatever is left of the food as well as the yacht and escapes off the island. Yoshida eventually gives in and eats the mushrooms which eventually became addicting. Yoshida’s appearance begins to change as well as his personality. He starts to act very oddly and on two occasions threatens to kill all the men on the ship. He eventually shoots Koyama and he and Mami, who has an affair with Yoshida, are forced off the ship and they disappear into the jungle and survive off of the giant mushrooms. Eventually Kasai gives into the stressful environment and follows Mami, who came back to find Kansai, into the jungle. She shows him the mushrooms that she and Yoshida have been living off of and he eventually gives in to the temptation and eats the mushroom that also gives him an eccentric high. She explains to him that when you eat the mushroom, you eventually turn into a mushroom monster (a Matango). Now only Marai and Akiko are left on the ship which leaves the question of will they be able to withstand the temptation of eating the mushrooms and also will they make it off the island alive?

The special effect make up for this movie is very well done, considering this is a film made in the 1960s. The faces of the mushroom people were very realistic and scary. In fact, the makeup was so well done that the movie was banned in Japan for 2 years because the makeup resembled wounds suffered from the bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The use of weather to portray the stressful environment of the island is used very well. In the beginning of the film, it was all rays of sunshine as the crew enjoyed their journey on the yacht. As the people begin to suffer in depression and stress, the weather eventually turns into a rainy season. The change of weather allows the audience to feel the gloomy mood on the island. The weather made the island feel very damp and depressing. The constant rain made me, as an audience member, feel very agitated and claustrophobic.

One of the more memorable scenes for me was when they first encountered the mushroom monster in the ship. Honda uses lighting to create shadows which was very appropriate because of the tense mood. When the monster first appears in front of Kansai, the camera sticks very closely to the monster, as to not reveal the grotesque figure which leaves you to your own imagination. The slow and lagging movement also added to the suspense. When the mushroom monster enters the room, I felt the shadows allowed me to have a better look at the mushroom monster because it forces you to focus on the parts that were in the light.

Overall I enjoyed watching the film. It has a very strong message which was to not give into temptation, which was the mushrooms, which symbolized drugs. The people on the crew knew these mushrooms should not be touched but they eventually gave in. If Yoshida never touched the mushrooms, they could have all still been on the ship together fighting for survival together. The film also depicts very well what can happen to someone when they are left in desperate situations; betrayal, tempers flaring and friends turning on each other as they all fight for survival. The ending was very surprising and shocking which made it a great finish to this psychological, science fictional horror film.

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