How on earth do you follow a film like “Entrails of a Virgin”? Surprising no one, director Gaira took the logical route and came up with “Entrails of a Beautiful Woman”. Genius. Even those who haven’t seen the original should have a good idea what to expect given the title...

What do you get for the exploitation fan that’s seen everything? Actually, that question might be better unanswered, but should the situation arise, consider “Entrails of a Virgin”. Although showing its age after nearly 20 years, this archetypal sleaze film from Japan still has the...

“Human Pork Chop” is a certain type of film, for a certain type of viewer. Seriously, given the title and the Category III rating so proudly displayed on the box, I’m quite sure that fans of more serious cinematic fare and those of a nervous disposition are highly unlikely to even consider...

In addition to Chan-wook Park (”Old Boy”), South Korea has one of the most talented directors working in cinema today in Ki-duk Kim. Like his fellow countryman, Kim’s films are raw, emotional and uncompromising, though they tend to focus more on the psychological rather than the visceral,...

Hypnotism has a long history of being used as a plot device in cinema. Recently it was featured in several Asian “I see ghosts”-type films as a cheap explanation for supernatural occurrences. However, there aren’t all that many films about hypnotism itself, and so “Hypnosis”...

At first glance, “A Lamb in Despair” appears to be every bit the typical Category III release. It certainly has a number of the genre’s expected elements: a suggestive title, a lurid cover, and the presence of a prolific Hong Kong star, Anthony Wong (”The Untold Story”,...

“Appleseed” is a mixture of CGI and traditional anime, and is based upon an early manga by Masamune Shirow, creator of the seminal “Ghost in the Shell” and its sequel, “Innocence”, amongst others. The comic had previously been adapted for the screen back in 1988 as...

“Soul Survivors” comes to us with the all too familiar stench of an oft-mentioned, long delayed release. I first heard of this film a couple of years back, nodded with vague interest then completely forgot about it. Fast-forward to the present day, when I see the flashy trailer that sort...

With “Spiderman 2″ cementing his reputation as one of Hollywood’s elite, I thought now would be a good time to check out “The Gift”, one of “Evil Dead” director Sam Raimi’s early studio films. I must admit I had put off watching it for some time, fearing...

“The Peeping Tom” arrived quite late in the 1990s Hong Kong boom of Category III psycho killer films. With most niches of depravity such as cannibalism, necrophilia, and so on having already been covered by earlier efforts, the filmmakers of “Tom” were forced to dig deep to give...

“Last Life in the Universe” has been quietly gathering acclaim on the festival circuits for some time now, and given that its cinematography is by Christopher Doyle (best known for his work on “Hero” and “In the Mood for Love”), I was very keen to catch it on the big...

Chan-Wook Park’s “Oldboy” comes to us on a wave of expectation, having garnered a series of high profile accolades at film festivals around the world, including the Grand Prix at Cannes and several of the Grand Bell awards in its native South Korea. Add to this almost unanimous acclaim...

Although “A Living Hell” came out several years ago in Japan, the film has only recently been gathering word of mouth in the West as a “must see” cult item. Comparisons have been made with other Eastern films such as “Audition” and Western films like “The Texas...

With the ever-increasing list of Asian films being remade by Hollywood, it’s easy to forget how the West has influenced Eastern cinema. For every Americanized “Ring” or “Dark Water”, there are films like “So Close”, “Bloody Beach”, and the countless...

The Category III rating of Hong Kong cinema is as much a genre as it is a certificate. Coming to prominence in the 1990s, the rating was created to classify those films containing extreme violence and near-pornographic sex, allowing them to be released free from censorship. The first Category III was...

For anyone with delusions that Japanese high schools are orderly and filled with overly studious teens, “Blue Spring” is sure to shatter that idea. “Blue Spring” is a study of teenage nihilism, and while it displays some style and a memorable performance by the male lead, the...

“The Amityville Horror” was always a rather strange choice of films to revisit, given that it lacks the instant recognition and built-in fan bases of other recent remakes such as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Dawn of the Dead”. In fact, the original film is not...