Film Review: Helldriver

Directed by: Yoshihiro Nishimura

Starring: Yumiko Hara
Eihi Shiina
Kazuki Namioka

Synopsis: A meteorite crashes into Japan releasing a toxic ash that turns the inhabitants of the Northern half of the country into bloodthirsty zombies. Some time later with the North now walled off from the rest of Japan a young woman is charged with leading a group of ragtag soldiers into the infected region to kill the 'zombie queen,' who happens to be her homicidal mother.

My Thoughts: If you have not yet been lucky enough to watch a Yoshihiro Nishimura film then I truly feel sorry for you. Seriously. Unless you've seen Helldriver, Tokyo Gore Police, Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl or any of the other batshit crazy films he's been involved in, then you've never truly experienced just how dedicated the Japanese are to created the most bizarre and wonderfully insane films out there.

Nishimura is actually more often employed in the special effects department, and the chances are if you've seen a Japanese film where someone loses an eye, an arm, the top of their head, or grow a mutant pair of gator-jaw legs then you've seen his work. He's incredibly dedicated to his craft, and potentially has one of the most wonderfully creative minds in the business. Each of his films employs various film techniques (i.e. Claymation, CGI etc) and blend a variety of genres to create a film completely unlike anything else ever to be made. At BIFF last year Nishimura attended the screening of this film and answered all of our questions...while wearing his sumo wrestler mawashi and balancing a zombie fetus prop on his head. In cast that doesn't give you an idea of how magically insane and wonderful this film is, here's the trailer...



Like Tokyo Gore Police, Helldriver is a very humourous and campy take on horror. It definitely falls into the splatstick subgenre of horror. If you think of the bikie/cream pie fight in the original Dawn of the Dead and dial it up in intensity and campiness by about 50 you'll be coming close to what this film delivers. However, as hilarious as this film is (I'm pretty sure I grew bodybuilder abs by the end of my first viewing of this!) it also has an interesting story behind all the flashiness. After a devastating ash cloud turns the Northern inhabitants of Japan into zombie-like mutants with weird Y-shaped horns, the country is divided into two with a large, guarded wall separating the zombies from the uneffected Japanese citizens. Kika is our protagonist and after a devastating and extremely brutal attack by her mother and uncle, she is reconstructed by the government to deal with the zombie citizens and eliminate the zombie queen. The rest of the film weaves government conspiracy and corruption, with drug addiction (the horns fetch a high price on the black market for their hallucinogenic effects), family drama and trauma, love, poverty, war and authoritarian issues.

One of the real draws of this film is the creative use of zombie enemies for Kika to come up against. While the hordes may be uniform in appearance, the individual zombies that Kika battles are each unique in their construction and fighting technique. One builds a zombie car to chase her on, one uses it's zombie fetus (umbilical cord still connected) as a projectile, one is made up almost entirely by legs and wields heavy machine guns...and so on, getting bigger and better and battier. There is a videogame-esque format as Kika battles through a certain area and then versus a "boss" before moving on to the more difficult level and boss, eventuating in the climactic fight that blows all the earlier fights right out of the water. The closest Western counterpart I can think of would be Scott Pilgrim Vs the World. They both borrow aspects from video games, pop culture and push the boundaries from what people traditionally expect in a film, however Helldriver is definitely more for horror enthusiasts considering the amount of blood, gore and destruction that goes on.

This film may not be for everyone, but if you like you the creative craziness of Japanese B-grade horror complete with gore, claymation, cameos, pop-culture references and awesome chainsaw-swords then this is definitely the film for you.

4.5 out of 5 acordian playing zombies.

Discussion: The differences between Asian and Western horror, or, why Asian horror rocks.

I don't think I've met many horror fans who haven't fallen under the spell of Asian horror. Perhaps they came to it after the rush of Western remakes, the 2002 remake of The Ring in particular, but almost everyone I know has a deep appreciation for the unique cinematic techniques and tropes utilised in Asian horror. Thanks to the films that have been coming out of Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand over the past three decades or so, audiences are able to succumb to the dark and disjointed cinematic representation of our greatest fears, often through the utilisation of the creepiest ghosts and child spirits to ever grace the silver screen.

This isn't to say that Western horror is in anyway lacking, or of a lesser quality, however in Western horror it typically seems to be the smaller budget or independent films that achieve the same great heights as Asian horror cinema, while the mainstream industry is intent to repackage Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Saw in a dozen different guises for audiences every year. Unlike these bigger budgeted films, Asian horror seems to align itself more closely to the horror films of the 1970s and 1980s. Although Asian horror films are often the ones which have me jump the most, they're also about much more than simply making audiences shriek or clutch their hands over their eyes. The special effects are typically comprised of physical special effects (masks, prosthetics and mechanised monsters) and film techniques created in the filming or editing processes (jump cuts etc), and the films themselves often have personal or social themes wound neatly up into the supernatural or horror story. When I watch an Asian horror film which falls within these parameters (and not all of them do) I'm reminded of films like The Fly, The Thing and Dawn of the Dead, films which had horrors that were tangible and gritty and pervasive, yet also had social commentary that struck the audience member as hard as the effects did.

There is a lot of ambiguity in Asian horror, and I find that the film tends to head in one of two directions. The first is that it appears, like Ring or The Grudge, to be a fairly typical ghost/monster horror story, yet there is a level of symbolism or discourse that simmers just below the surface, identifiable by a more observant audience member, but not necessary for an enjoyable experience. Or the film will be disjointed, non-linear and blatantly ambiguous, such as MPD-Psycho (a TV series) or Pulse. These films place the emphasis on the thematic concerns of the films, and rarely follow your traditional Western film structures.Both of these two styles employ supernatural or superhuman forces to externalise the internal fears of the characters. I've found that it is rarely a case in Asian horror that the ghost or monster is simply there to terrorise characters, there is always a deeper reason for its arrival, for its tenacity and for its endurance.

Regardless of which two categories a film fits into (and some don't fit into either) Asian horror appears to be more comfortable with letting the audience leap to their own conclusions, to make connections that may or may not have been the film-makers intention, and to take away a more personal reaction to the film. Western films seem much more intent on explaining the continuity of the film, of why everything is happening the way it is, and why that particular character is being punished. Some Asian horror made more recently seems to have fallen victim to this approach, such as the film Dark Water (2002) which had 15 minutes tacked onto the end which was completely unnecessary and simply explained what the film had already perfectly construed through the ghostly water-abounded tale of divorce, loneliness and single parenthood. This is probably the perfect moment to share a quote from horror researcher and author Andy Richards from his book Asian Horror;

 Generally, the slow-burn pacing of the Asian originals is sharply ramped up, combined with an increase in the number of scare-jolts administered to the audience, while the low-fi special effects of the originals are usually  replaced with CGI-enhanced spookery. But more significantly, while Asian horror films are content to leave certain mysteries unexplained, or for the narratives and character motivations to retain a core of ambiguity, the remakes tend to add layers of exposition hat attempt to rationalise - and thereby contain - their supernatural stories.

I have chosen to steer away from discussing Western remakes of Asian horror films, though a post on that topic may soon pop up, but much of what I've said applies to that issue as well. Asian horror may not always be at the same level of technical achievement as a Western horror, and the story and acting may also suffer compared to some of the Western horror films out there, but that never seems to matter. Even amidst the 5-10 minutes worth of dodgy CGI that Pulse employed, the complexity and weight of the film was heads and shoulders above the dozen other horror films I've seen so far this year.

There is a desperate eagerness to tell a story or to represent a current social concern in Asian horror that Western horror simply lacks, and this drive is far more important in creating an impacting and lasting horror film than million dollar special effects or the latest A grade celebrity to feel the need to add some variety to their audition reel. Simply put, Asian horror still believes horror is an important cinematic tool, much like the Western film-makers from the 1970s-80s did, and some indie horror creators still do today. They understand the genre and they continue to experiment and try unbelievable and sometimes crazy things, all to benefit the message they're trying to convey or the story they wish to tell. That's why Asian horror rocks, and that's why every Western production company is falling over themselves to recreate these films, the sad part is that they don't realise how much they're still missing.

Of course, this is all personal observation and opinion, and some of you may feel the complete reverse. Is Asian horror something you seek out to watch, or a style of horror that you just can't enjoy in the slightest?

Film Review: Dark Water (2002)

Directed by: Hideo Nakata


Starring: Hitomi Kuroki
Rio Kanne


Synopsis: A mother and her 6 year old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water

My thoughts: Hideo Nakata is a man I owe a great deal too. Ring, albeit originally through the American remake, was a milestone in developing my taste in horror fiction - moving me away from the teen slashers of Wes Craven and John Carpenter and opening me up to a much broad definition of what horror can be. Beyond being an exercise in feeding that primal need to see people go splat, an exercise which America horror seems to struggle moving past in recent years, Nakata knows how to employ subtly. He uses genuine pathos to suck you in, gives you little peeks at what's hiding under the bed and then finally he gets you by exposing you to some of the creepiest imagery every committed to cinema.

Dark Water is a solid film that Hideo Nakata should be proud to put against his name. It isn't nearly as seminal as Ring is, but it achieves a similar atmosphere, has some terrifying moments and manages to tackle some interesting themes. At its core, the film is about divorce, instability and that terrifying moment in everyone's childhood when your mum isn't there to pick you up after school. This is my favourite thing about J-horror - the supernatural is seldom an arbitrarily evil force that the protagonists most do battle with. Rather, it is a manifestation of the characters' inner fears, working first to destroy their mind before destroying the body. Edgar Allan Poe knew it, Shirley Jackson knew it and Hideo Nakata knows it. You could possibly argue that these accolades belong to Koji Suzuki who wrote both the stories that Ring and Dark Water were based off, but the difference between Nakata's rendition of Ring and Suzuki's leads me to believe that they were trying to achieve different things with the same premise (I thought Nakata's was better).

As much as I enjoyed it, I think there was a bit of fat that could have been cut off Dark Water. I find it pretty hard to believe Yoshimi was able to win her custody battle after losing her child on the late-night streets of Tokyo and having a break down and assaulting her ex-husband at a tribunal. This probably could have been tightened. The dénouement of the film probably could have been skipped altogether, seeing as it was just explicitly showing what the climax of the film eluded to. Something else I would like to see is more twists on the "vengeful spirit" archetype. It is a formula that has produced some of the best horror films of the last two decades, and I would hate to see it go stale(r).

But yeah, I recommend you see this movie. Well-paced, classic J-horror complete with nightmarish imagery. Well worth it for the bath tub scene alone.

4 out of 5 mysterious red bags.

Review: Pulse/Kairo (2001)

Directed by: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Starring: Haruhiko Katô
Kumiko Asô
Koyuki

Synopsis: Japanese university students investigate a series of suicides linked to an Internet Web cam that promises visitors the chance to interact with the dead.


My Thoughts: I really enjoyed  Pulse, it is a slow paced film that beautifully demonstrates the disconnection of life in (and outside of) Japan both literally and metaphorically. The story is rather disjointed and non-linear, so a thorough synopsis is actually rather difficult, but what you need to know is that at the same time that men and women are committing suicide or disappearing, a student encounters a website offering to show him footage of the dead and a series of doors sealed with red tape are becoming more and more frequent. There are two main story threads that weave this movie together, the story of Ryosuke Kawashima, (played by Haruhiko Katô) a business student who first encounters the ghost website, and after it persistently appears on his computer tries to make sense of where it has come from and why it keeps forcing itself onto his computer, and Michi Kudo (played by Kumiko Asô), a young florist, who witnesses the disintegration and suicide of two of her colleagues and stumbles upon the red taped doors. The two tales circle one another for much of the movie before colliding with one another in time for the film's third act.

There are large gaps within both individual stories and the film in its entirety which made it difficult to follow the direct plot of the film, however the story is easily recognisable. In the early days of the general public using the internet, people were connecting with more frequency on websites, chat-boards and online forums, however as their online presence grew their physical offline presence decreased. They began to shrink away from the real world piece by piece before all that is left is a mere shadow of their former self. Loneliness has long been an element utilised in horror cinema and literature, but Kiyoski Kurosawa managed to take an exciting new aspect of technology (in 2001) and twist it into something dark and scary that will lead to our downfall. Considering what we know about people's online presence nowadays and their addictions to Facebook/twitter/YouTube and preferences for virtual interactions, I found the focus of this movie to be intelligent, philosophical in tone and ahead of its time. The cinematography, scripting and sounds choices equally reflected the isolation and loneliness of this story creating a cohesive film that I found a real pleasure to watch.

The disjointed aspect of production made following the plot incredibly difficult at times, but this really is a film that places the importance on the metaphysical elements rather than the plot, and those elements definitely are clear. It means the film is a real slow burner, however it isn't devoid of scares or moments of faster pace. There are some deliciously spooky moments involving creepy Japanese ghosts with tentacle-style floating hair or who walk endlessly from one end of a room to another as they flicker in and out like a stuttering computer system.

This is probably one of the more impressive J-Horror films I've ever encountered.  Because of the ambiguous story, non-linear narrative and the unconventional pacing I'd hesitate to recommend this to anyone unfamiliar with this style of film, however  it is a film I think the right audience will appreciate for the beauty, philosophy and impeccable cinematography and directorial decisions.


4 out of 5 red tape sealed doors.