List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $14.99YOU SAVE $4.99!
Buy it
DVD Audition (Uncut Special Edition)
If you want the full sledgehammer-to-the-stomach effect of Audition, stop reading this review now. Just watch it and take the consequences. At first glance, Takashi Miike's jack in the box of a movie works like a romantic comedy: amiable widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) decides it's time to find a new wife, and a friend suggests holding a fake audition to find the right girl. It soon becomes clear that there is something wrong with Aoyama's choice. This is no ordinary Fatal Attraction-style thriller, however; Audition slowly and carefully builds into a wrenching exploration of both deep male fears and the stereotype of the cute, submissive Japanese woman. Audition is by no means an easy movie to watch--even hardcore horror fans may have trouble--but it will stay with you for a long, long time. --Ali Davis
After seeing a little preview while watching AMC's scariest movies of all time, I decided to purchase the movie, WOW what a mistake; the entire movie is downright boring. I say the best part of the flick was when she sawed his foot off, and when you say her a$$ cheeks.
DO NOT BUY THIS CHEESEY FILM
This film is not for everyone..for more reasons than one.
It can be hard to commit to a movie you know nothing about. But I will try to give a review of Audition without spoiling the film.
First of all, you should know that Audition is NOT a horror film. It is more of a psychological thriller with very intense, very disturbing images.
There is a lot of character development in this movie. This goes on for almost 2/3 of the film. Some people may find this to make the film drag.
To be honest there are subtle hints that everything may not be quite right early in the film but the first real scare is probably 40-45 minutes into it (The scene where he finally calls the girl back after three days or so and it cuts back to her flat...if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about..for those who haven't seen it I would love to tell you but all I can say is I jumped a mile when it happened).
The character development, for me, works very well..I even found myself enjoying watching the two characters develop the relationship almost like a love story.
But...the film suddenly turns on you and then it has you.
For the last 20 minutes or so the film just becomes disturbing. All bets are off, everything that the film was building to make you comfortable is shattered and you are left squirming in your seat.
There is a halucination scene that messes with your mind, not to mention that part of it is a very disgusting. Then a torture scene - played in real time. The camera doesn't show everything but it doesn't look away ether.
So...Final Thoughts..
I was very impressed (and disturbed) by Audition. The character build up reminded me of The Exorcist or even The Usual Suspects, where it builds up slowly and then takes off without warning then doesn't let go.
If you are the type of person who needs the shock, horror and graphic gore up front and immediatly...this film is not for you.
If you are easily disturbed by unrelenting, in your face graphic violence (even for the short amount of time it is in this movie) this film is not for you.
If you are willing to be patient, commit yourself to the story that is unfolding in front of you, let the film sneek up on you and then stay with it to the end then you won't be sorry.
"Ripe" With Violence?
Although there is certainly something worth saying about "ripeness" in Audition, Michael W's review should have said the violence is "rife," as in abundance, not well-aged. Thanks as well to Michael W. for the spoilers, and the redundant observation that he thinks the film is about loneliness. One character even says that everyone in Japan is lonely. Perceptive.
I read quite a bit about this movie before actually seeing it. I was expecting some incredibly depraved, unholy sickness, just flowing over me and making me wonder why I wasn't turning the film off.
Eh.
That sure didn't happen. There's some unhappy stuff, but nothing shocking to me. It's not disturbing.
There is gore. I like that. I don't like that it's CGI. That about ruined it.
Then there's the story. Whatever. I didn't find it all that interesting, to be honest. WOOHOO SADOMASOCHISM. Yeah, ok. They got the point across fairly early on, and then the movie last another two hours. Really, this film kinda dragged near the end.
At least(MINOR SPOILER ALERT AHEAD) we got to see a little kid die. And in the end, that's what... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Takashi Miike DVD Release Date: Released the 18 November 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $24.95 Your Price: $19.96YOU SAVE $4.99!
Buy it
In the realm of revenge thrillers, you'd be hard pressed to find more ultra-violent vengeance and psycho thrills than in the creepy story of Oldboy. This Korean import made a pop splash at the Cannes Film Festival and during its limited theatrical run thanks to the imprimatur of Quentin Tarantino, who raved about it and its visionary director, Chan-wook Park, to anyone who would listen. It's easy to see why QT fell in love with the grindhouse attitude, fast-paced action, violent imagery, and icy-black humor, but it's a disservice to think of Oldboy as another Tarantino homage or knockoff. The darkly existential undercurrent in the themes that Oldboy traces over its life-long narrative arc is much more complex and deeply disturbing than anything of its kind. The... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Min-sik Choi - Ji-tae Yu - Hye-jeong Kang Director(s): Chan-wook Park DVD Release Date: Released the 23 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $24.99 Your Price: $18.74YOU SAVE $6.25!
Buy it
Two young sisters recovering from an unnamed trauma must face a mysterious past in this excellent South Korean shocker. A worldwide hit upon its release and based on an old Korean fairy tale; two sisters (wonderfully played by Su-jeong Lim and Geun-yeong Mun) come to live with their cold and distant father and turn-on-a-dime stepmother in a house where nothing is as it seems. A wonderfully haunting score, starkly beautiful imagery, and a labyrinthine plot that twists and turns at every dark corner all set the stage for a riveting and often terrifying guessing game of a movie. Equal parts drama, mystery, and ghost story, A Tale of Two Sisters is a richly complex and challenging cinematic treat that may very well demand repeat viewings. --Matt WoldMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Ji-woon Kim DVD Release Date: Released the 29 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $24.99 Your Price: $19.99YOU SAVE $5!
Buy it
This has to be the most outrageous and funnist movie I have ever seen. I think that the only taboo that wasn't covered was bestiality - maybe Takashi Miike's next movie. And to think that this film was actually shown on television in Japan - which I suppose is why (at least in my NR-version of the film) genitals were blurred out. Makes you wonder what type of subject matter the Japanese would consider as poor taste or out of bounds. In the U.S. this movie wouldn't even make it past the ratings board without getting an X rating. Some of the other reviewers wrote thorough enough synopses, so I won't repeat all that. I'll just say what I liked about the movie.
For one one thing I liked the way the movie keeps you off balance. As soon as you think you've got a line on what's... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Takashi Miike DVD Release Date: Released the 26 November 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $29.95 Your Price: $23.96YOU SAVE $5.99!
Buy it
The director of Dead or Alive, Takashi Miike, made his name on the international scene with Audition, a chilling psychological thriller that builds from a quiet start towards a prolonged torture sequence almost too unbearable to watch. But such deliberate pacing isn't typical of Miike, whose movies often assault the viewer with an onslaught of slam-bang action that makes John Woo look like Eric Rohmer. Dead or Alive, his most successful cops-vs-yakuza thriller to date, kicks off with six nonstop minutes of machine gun-paced violence, sex, and slaughter, all set to a pounding heavy-metal beat. Thereafter things calm down a little, though not much. Given Miike's penchant for murky, livid-toned visuals and skewed camera angles, it's not always too easy to work out... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sho Aikawa Director(s): Takashi Miike DVD Release Date: Released the 27 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.95 Your Price: $17.96YOU SAVE $1.99!
Buy it
