Tomie and Junji Ito

So, thanks to everyone (yes, all four of you!) that voted for movies for me to watch. The winner was Tomie: Replay, followed by Dark Water (the original Japanese version). To start off, I wanted to give you my history of the Tomie series:

TOMIE MANGA BY JUNJI ITO

600 Pages of Junji Ito manga-goodness (Plus my cat's tail!)

To really appreciate this series, you have to understand that these movies were based on the manga by Junji Ito.

I first read about these horror comics from Viz's now-defunct anthology series, PULP. The article was about how there were these movies based on Ito's works (Uzumaki and Tomie). By this time I had already enjoyed Uzumaki, or "Spiral"? because the art and story was really easy to follow. Ito has this wonderful art style, you can always tell it is by him (even in his early works - which looks BAD, but it's still very Ito-ish).

Anyroad, I picked up ComicOne's reprint of Tomie book 1 and 2 and "Flesh Color Horror" books (which originally appeared in "Monthly Horror Magazine" from 1988 to 1994). So yes, I have had an interest in Tomie before the movies.

Okay. Before I review Replay, I have to tell you about Tomie. The very first Tomie comics explained it all: she was a student in this class that went on a field trip and there was an accident and she fell off a cliff. The teacher was totally NOT going to let this ruin his career (I guess maybe some other students also died in his care ??????!!??). Who knows. So he didn't want to get in trouble and none of the students wanted to get in trouble either (because they accidentally pushed Tomie off the cliff).

They got a toolbox and decided to cut Tomie up in forty-two pieces (one piece for each student).

But when they started cutting off her legs and arms, she screamed and choked - SHE WAS ALIVE !!!!

Since they had already started, they decided to keep going !!!!!!

So anyway, each student got a piece and they all have to hide it where it can never be found...

Of course, it doesn't end there. Each of the piece grew into a full Tomie girl... to get her revenge !!!

Tomie: Replay (Japanese) (2000), Ventura Distribution

TOME: REPLAY
You don't really need to watch the first movie to understand this movie, because each Tomie movies can stand on its own.

This is the second of five Tomie film. I have four of the movies (I'm just missing the 'lesbian' Tomie movie, which looked like it was shot on cheap digital video...) I think if I ever see it for sale used, I will pick it up, but in the meantime, I have no desire to buy it.

The movie starts off with a six year old girl going into the emergency section of a hospital. The main doctor (who also co-own the private hospital) took the girl into surgery. She looked pregnant. As they were cutting her open, you realized that she has a HEAD inside her body. The head's name is TOMIE.

Then the movie starts and it seems like a pretty boring movie. No matter how strange people act (especially at the hospital), people talk and act like it's normal. (Maybe Japanese people are just that strange...)

Anyway, so there are a few plots you have to follow: 1. The head of the hospital went missing, his daughter is searching for him and 2. Tomie was kidnapped and taken in by this Takeshi boy.

Did I leave my car keys on the ceiling again? (The creepiest scene from Tomie: Replay)

Like the previous film, Tomie inspires complete love adoration from her male friends. Then after a time, they all want to murder and cut her up into pieces.

Yep, that's what happened over and over again. Oh that Tomie! She just really need to stop dating :/

The whole movie ends up back at the hospital where it's the daughter in a wheel chair versus the undying crazy Tomie girl with an ax. Guess who wins ?

This is actually a pretty creepy movie. It's best seen in complete darkness with the sound pumped up. The visual and screaming of "KILL HER KILL HER KILLER HER" is pretty intense. There's definitely scenes that doesn't make much sense, but it's scary and creepy that you don't really need to think about the logic of it.

This is a pretty good movie, by itself. If you like horror/creepy/weird Japanese movies, this is a must-see.

I'm glad I finally got to watch it.

PLEASE PICK NEXT MOVIE:

Whispering Corridors (S Korea) (1998), TLA Releasing

Ostensibly a teen fright-fest about a vengeful ghost, WHISPERING CORRIDORS follows in the best horror tradition of using the supernatural for displaced social commentary. The film is an illustration of the growing gap in Korean society between the values of the youth and the older generations, focused around the misogyny and cutthroat competition in the educational system. It became a huge hit in its native country after word got out that the ministry of education wanted to ban it for its critical viewpoint. The plot concerns a series of grisly murders at an all-girls school, which the administration has tried to cover up as suicides. A former student, who has returned as a teacher, finds something familiar about the deaths, and launches her own inquiry into the events. She discovers that something far more sinister than simple murder is taking place. WHISPERING CORRIDORS was followed by two sequels.

H (S Korea) (2002) , TLA Releasing

A combination of SEVEN and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, H is a stylized serial killer thriller from Korea. It begins with the grisly discovery of a murdered pregnant girl, a crime that Detective Kim and Kang recognize as having the same MO as Shin Hynn. The problem, of course, is that Shin rots in a prison awaiting execution, and the murder appears to be the work of a copycat. As the killings continue, Kim and Kang realize that Shin may know more about these crimes than he lets on, and come to the chilling realization that it may not be just one copycat they've been trailing.

Kichiku: Banquet of the Beasts (Japanese) (2004) , Ryko Distribution

Literally translated as "banquet for demonic beasts," KICHIKU was shot on a shoestring budget as a student thesis film, but it introduced a raw, visceral style that was virtually unseen before. Set in 1970s Japan and often interpreted as a critical depiction of the student political scene of that time, it depicts a radical leftist group whose charismatic leader, Aizawa, has been put in prison. His girlfriend Masami takes over, but is considerably less effective in maintaining the group's cohesion, and when Aizawa commits hara-kiri in jail, the group falls apart in a frenzy of paranoia and internal purging that incorporates an orgiastic excess of brutal torture and bloodshed. This has been called the most violent movie ever made, but its political and critical intentions has made it an arthouse favorite.

Two Champions of Shaolin (Hong Kong) (1980) , Shaw Brothers

Master kung-fu director Chang Cheh delivers this straight-ahead period martial arts saga. Tung Chien-chen (Lo Mang) was accepting into the hallowed Shaolin Temple even though he is Manchu, because his parents were both killed by the same. Shaolin has been locked in a fierce rivalry with the Wu Tang clan, which is allied with the Manchu born Ching emperor. When Tung is wounded in a skirmish with a group of Wu Tang's men, he is given safe haven from a master of knife throwing named Chin Tai-lei (Sun Chien) and his sister, Pei. Tung soon learns the finer points of their art and eventually, along with fellow kung-fu master Hu Wei-chen (Chiang Sheng), strikes revenge against the Wu Tang. Later, Tung proposes to Pei, but during the reception, the Wu Tang attack, kidnapping Tung and killing Pei and her brother. Will Tung get out of this ugly situation and find justice?