Japanese film-maker Takashi Miike pretty well invented the genre of J-horror as it came to be understood with this shocking, scabrous, satirical movie from 1999; adapted by Daisuke Tengan from the 1997 novel by Ryû Murakami. Above everything else, it has something which makes it very different from the vast majority of horror movies – a female evil-demon figure who terrorises the male.
Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) is an ageing widower in the film business who hits on an underhand ruse for finding a new wife; he will audition for a non-existent female supporting role in a movie – which will attract the right kind of submissive, non-diva woman, whom he can let down gently and ask out on a date. This premise on its own would be enough for a smart comedy, but from here it turns into something else.
Aoyama is obscurely excited and moved by the beautiful Asami (Eihi Shiina) with her story of having had to give up dance because of a disabling injury. It’s not unlike the photographer Mark Lewis in Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, being electrified by the facially disfigured model in his seedy studio. But Asami is an avenger, bent on punishing Aoyama’s typically Japanese male arrogance, but also his self-pity and his incipient masochism – in truly horrible scenes. A stomach-turning masterpiece.
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