oh, the Japanese horror...

Audition

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So, I've been hearing all kinds of talk about Japanese horror films. I've seen the American remakes of The Ring and Dark Water, but I haven't seen the original Japanese movies. Nor have I seen the whole other slew of oriental freakshow movies. Until now.

Audition is a bizarre tale. Almost two movies in one film. One story is a love story between a widower and the woman he's cast in his next movie. The other is a story of revenge between the woman and basically every man she knows.

So, when Aoyama loses his wife, his son and business partner convince him to start dating again. When his partner convinces him to use the audition process on their next movie to scout potential women, this is when the trouble ensues. Aoyama falls in love with a woman named Asami, but she isn't a normal woman. No, no, she's had some problems in the past. Like being abused by her step father, which left her with physical and emotional scars. And, there's that big canvas bag that keeps moving around in her living room...

Honestly, I have to admit that there were parts of this movie I might have understood more had I watched it a second time, I just couldn't though. The gruesome part at the end was almost painful to watch and was scary, but it almost seemed to come from nowhere. The movie did do a wonderful job of building tension (which is one of the cardinal rules of horror/suspense), but I thought the payoff was a little weak.

All in all, I thought Audition had a lot of potential, but just didn't deliver overall for me. Hopefully the next couple Japanese horror movies I watch are better than this one.