Madame de Sade

Original title: Madamu Sado: Mesu jigoku 
Japan, 1986
Director: Yoshihiro Kawasaki
Stars: Machiko Wachi, Kazuyo Ezaki, Isshiki Hikaru
IMDB: 6.8

In the 1980s, Nikkatsu produced a bunch of S&M themed Roman Pornos with distinctive airbrush-style promotional posters such as the one shown at right. Naturally one wonders what kinky delights await the intrepid viewer of such material, so I set out to track one down.

Turned out to be no easy task. Madame de Sade, also known as Madame Sado: She Beast in Hell, has not as far as I can tell ever been released outside of Japan. Yeah I know, probably with good reason right? Well, thanks to dedicated amateur aficianados, this masterpiece of cinematic perversion has been resurrected - and subtitles produced - to allow the film to live on and find a new audience worldwide (if you know where to look, that is).

OK, so my liberal employment of the word 'masterpiece' is admittedly playing fast and loose with the Queen's English, and you'd be completely justified in raising an inquisitive eyebrow. I take it back.

So what's it all about? Well hey, it's porno - usually the story would be little more than a flimsy scaffold to support the sexual vignettes, and of no significance whatsoever. Luckily, we're in Roman Porno territory here, a cut above, so actually there IS a story. There's even characterisation, machinations, revelations, and all that other filmic stuff. (In addition to the domination, flagellation, strangulation, fornication, urination, masturbation, etc).

* Note: While Roman Porno is erotic, and contains the word porno, it is definitely not PORN as we would define it in the West. For a start there are absolutely no genitals shown - and along with a reasonable cinematic quality, ensures it belongs more in the genre of Erotica.

The film starts by introducing us to Reiko (Machiko Wachi) as she is jilted at the altar - her fiancee Ryoichi not only failing to appear, but going completely missing. Although she doesn't know it yet, his ex Yumi (Kazuyo Ezaki), in a fit of jealousy has him chained up in her attic, refusing to let him go. Even dressing as a bride to complete her fantasy.

Not only that, as the title implies, she's a bit of a sadistic bitch - dispensing humiliations and degradations on Ryoichi with the aim of forcing him to completely forget his fiancee and become her obedient dog. Hell hath no fury... and all that.

Anyway, months later it seems Reiko has given up on Ryoichi ever returning, and has developed something of a carnal itch. Coincidentally, and rather incestuously, a convenient substitute is on hand in the form of Ryoichi's younger brother Shinji, who works with her in her jewellery business and seems more than a little interested.

Inviting him to a home-cooked dinner after work, soon enough they crack a bottle of wine together and flirt, only to be interrupted by Shinji's girlfriend Midori (Isshiki Hikaru) who has no intention of leaving him alone with Reiko. After all, he's a bit of a dweeb - and Reiko's a certified sex bomb.

After Shinji leaves, Reiko is not only drunk, but moist too. Left with nothing but a half eaten dinner, the dinner table, and an empty wine bottle - what's a poor girl to do?

Get creative! In a completely gratuitous, undeniably redundant, but neverthless astonishing turn of events, she scoops up an unidentified white substance from her plate and lathers it lasciviously over her bright red lips, spilling it all over her chin in what I can only assume is some kind of Freudian metaphor. But that's not all ! After whipping her top off, she spreads the food messily over the rest of her body, before discovering that the table leg is seductively hard, and proceeds to grind up against it.

It's a pretty sexy scene - but that's still not all! Remember the wine bottle? Well in the interest of good taste, I'll leave that to your imagination!

What am I saying? We're no purveyors of good taste here at Twisted Flicks, especially concerning the good bits. Yes, I can confirm that she proceeds to enjoy a rather intimate, extended, and gratifying sexual liaison with the wine bottle - sometimes in close-up, and almost certainly without the benefit of CGI.

I say "almost certainly", because this of course could never be decisively ascertained due to the standard optical censorship that Japan requires by law to cover all genital areas in their films. Consequently this scene, and many others, are blurred by a large foggy patch over the relevant areas which is of no small detriment to the film. Don't get me wrong though, the scene is still hot as hell.

Anyway, Shinji is not going to be denied some of that action, and promptly breaks up with Midori in order to fuck and fall in love with Reiko. Bizarrely, it turns out that Midori works for Yumi (you know, the bitch that has imprisoned Ryoichi?), and has told her about the situation. So Yumi suggests that Reiko and Shinji visit her and Midori to try to find an amicable solution.

But Yumi has an ulterior motive.

Without going into detail - all our main characters (who are all convolutedly related to each other in various ways) end up in Yumi's house together, including Ryoichi of course in the attic. Yumi and Reiko battle it out in a tale of revenge, passion, treachery, and outright debauchery.

By the end of the night, pretty much everyone has fucked everyone else, and in a wide variety of configurations. The imagination involved in cramming so many perversions into one movie is breath-taking, and actually pretty impressive, even if it doesn't always make perfect sense

Interestingly, it is the MEN who are the unwitting pawns of these two powerful women, which makes for an interesting reversal.

For a film containing such highly sexual ideas and situations (of which I've described only a small portion, trust me!) - the story, acting and cinematography is of a remarkably high order. For those who enjoy some titillation in their movies, but cannot put up with the cinematic dross so often exemplified by most adult entertainment, I can most certainly recommend.

Also, and importantly for this type of film, Machiko Wachi is a stone-cold knockout. She not only looks fabulous, but is given plenty of opportunity to show her acting chops as well.

Rating: 7/10

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The Evil Dead

USA, 1981
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor

The release of The Evil Dead on Blu-ray seems like a good excuse to revisit this iconic horror film. Ordinarily I'd hesitate to review such a well-known movie - for the simple reason that most horror fans will have already seen it.

But the film is now 30 years old, and I'm sure there's a whole new generation of horror fans yet to discover it, and others who may be wondering how the bluray holds up. If either of these sounds like you, read on ... for there's no doubt that it belongs on this site.

When the film was made, it was highly controversial - either being banned or given an X certificate in many countries. Unfairly referred to as a 'video nasty', it's far better than that description might suggest, and deserves a more educated assessment. This is a highly accomplished genre film that pushed the creative envelope in many directions, despite its low-budget origins.




The story has a ring of familiarity that horror fans will instantly recognise - a bunch of friends head to a secluded cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway, and thereafter die gruesome deaths one by one. I'm not giving anything away by saying this ... from the first few minutes there's no doubting what territory you're in. But don't let this synopsis put you off, because this is no Hollywood-sanitized, by-the-numbers horror film. For one it is genuinely scary, secondly it has a sly humour about it, and thirdly there is no pandering to conservative ideals of good taste. All of which sets it apart from the vast majority of U.S. horror films made in the 30 years since.

On arriving at the cabin, an old book is discovered along with a tape recording made by the previous occupants. The book is none other than The Book of the Dead, containing the necessary incantations to bring demonic entities back from the underworld. Unfortunately for the group, this is exactly what happens and mayhem ensues. And when I say mayhem, I mean utter ... fucking ... pandemonium. It's gory, twisted and taken to the extreme. Which is my way of saying its an incredibly good time.

 


Where the film saved on budget was obviously with the cast, who were all unknowns at the time, and for the most-part still are. The obvious exception is chisel-jawed Bruce Campbell who went on to carve himself into cult history with this role and the subsequent sequels.

Technically, the film's accomplishments are astonishing given that it was independently produced on a very limited budget. The camera-work is inventive (especially love the POV shots), and the effects are varied and effective. But what really stands out for me is the sound design - this is a movie that aurally envelopes you in the experience, the sounds being at least as disturbing as the visuals and ensuring that psychological tension is applied and maintained at all the right times. This is where the bluray really shines - I doubt the original mono sound mix could ever have sounded as good as this new DTS HD Master Audio surround-sound presentation. Play it loud!

 


As for the bluray transfer - I wasn't holding my hopes too high, given that the film was only shot on 16mm to begin with. And while the picture quality can't compete with new release studio films, it was still better than expected. The picture is clean and probably the best it could be ... and besides, the grainy low-budget look to the film adds an extra level of creepiness that suits the film.

For any horror fan this is a must-watch. It has an over-the-top level of creative gore, and is a genuine horror experience. Much more horror than comedy, it straddles the divide between traditional horror and the horror-comedy of its sequel, The Evil Dead II.The Blu-ray has many extra features and is worth picking up for the awesome sound quality alone.

Rating: 8.5/10. Highly recommended.

Cold Fish

aka Tsumetai Nettaigyo
Japan, 2011
Director: Sion Sono
Starring: Denden, Makoto Ashikawa, Megumi Kagurazaka, Asuka Kurosawa

I've been a fan of director Sion Sono's films ever since Suicide Club introduced the world to his signature style. And his later effort, Strange Circus is one of my all-time favourite horror movies. If you're in the market for films inhabiting the twisted fringes of Japanese Horror cinema, or Ero Guro¹, Sono is your guy.

So it was with much anticipation that I caught his latest flick at a Film Festival this weekend. I was expecting something surreal and gory, and I knew it was based on a real-life serial killer. But what I didn't expect was the funniest movie I've seen this year.

That is, if you prefer your humour black. While it may seem unlikely, harvesting comedy from the serial killer sub-genre actually makes dark sense. Films such as Happiness of the Katakuris and American Psycho have mined this field before ... and Cold Fish is about as gut-wrenchingly hilarious as they get.

There's also a lot of blood. But where films such as Hostel could be categorised as gore for gore's sake, here it's employed in the service of humour, which is certainly the way I prefer it. Sono even manages to turn a rape scene into a comedic opportunity. And while that might sound quite twisted .... well yeah I guess it is. But its also deliriously, eye-wateringly funny.




If that isn't enough to satisfy your twisted sensibilities, this Japanese production also goes the extra mile that Hollywood rarely travels - by throwing in an abundance of sex and nudity as well. Considering most of the characters in the movie have little or no moral compunction, not only is life cheap, but sex is too.

Wanton licentiousness abounds - infidelity, partner-swapping, exhibitionism - even a charmingly cute lesbian interlude. All of which makes for the exact kind of envelope-pushing cinema pundits of Japanese genre movies will appreciate.




The humour is helped along substantially by ex-comedian Denden (Uzumaki, Juon) whose larger-than-life character dominates the film, as well as the characters within it. Charming and vicious by turns, his ebullient good-nature is infectious and infuses the film with dark humour.

Inspired by true events known as the "Saitama serial murders of dog lovers", the movie transposes proceedings to a pair of rival Tropical Fish shops, one run by the meek Shamato (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), the other by the gregarious Murata (Denden). Their paths cross when Shamato's daughter Mitsuko is caught shoplifting, and Murata suggests she come and work in his shop.




Murata is a wildly successful entrepreneur in stark contrast to Shamato. Irresistably charming, the Shamato family are quickly drawn into his web, with little realisation of the darker side to his personality. At least at first. But extricating themselves won't be so easy.

The film won't dazzle with its visuals or production values ... but has a tight script that builds momentum ensuring you'll barely notice its 2.5 hr running time. This is a definite highlight of the year for genre fans, and is highly recommended.

Rating: 9/10

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For an interesting interview with the director, check out Channeling Chaos - An Interview with Sion Sono