It's been a while since I've mustered up the will to review another horror flick, particularly seen most of the ones I've seen lately have been dull and forgettable. Last week I watched 'The Rite' with Anthony Hopkins, but just found it more of a chore than a pleasure to write my thought on yet another ridiculous exorcism movie. I suppose with last nights viewing of Sion Sono's 'Exte: Hair Extensions', my will has been restored.
I've always been quite a big fan of Japanese horror, and most people who even have a slight interest in the genre know that one of the big components of many traditional Japanese flicks is the use of supernatural pale ghost characters with long, dreadful black hair. The appearance of these ghost are a big part of Japanese culture, and specifically these types of ghost figures are known as 'Yurei' to the Japanese. Some of us Western folk may think of more popular films such as 'The Ring' or 'The Grudge' remakes when we think of these kinds of ghosts, but there are actually tons and tons of movies that use this traditional depiction of ghosts to scare their audiences. My take on 'Hair Extensions' was initially that it would probably be some kind of parody regarding Japan's seemingly cultural obsession with hair in horror films. I suppose I was partially right, but this movie turned out to be more of a mind fuck that I initially expected.
The movie starts out when a shipping crate is discovered, full of hair and a dead woman's bald corpse. It appears that her body has been gutted and stuffed with hair. The girl is taken to the morgue, where a strange fellow named Yamazaki works as a morgue assistant of some type. Turns out Yamazaki is OBSESSED with hair. When he discovers that the corpse of the murdered girl rapidly regrows her beautiful black hair even after death (from every opening in her body, mind you), he steals the corpse to take home with him. The other plot in this film focuses on Yuko: a young, jubilant hairdresser whom also has a passion for hair, albeit in a much less creepy way than our pal Yamazaki. Yuko is a passionate hairdresser who takes great pride in her ability to transform people via her craft. She works at the Gilles de Rais hair salon (nice touch), and seems to be a fairly well adjusted young lady. The only issue is that Yuko has a deadbeat loser of a sister who keeps dropping off her young daughter Mami to Yuko's home unexpectedly so she can go out and party. Though initially upset at her careless sister for dumping her responsibilities onto her, Yuko eventually figures out that Mami is covered in bruises and being abused by her sister. Yuko takes Mami in and the two of them begin to bond. I must say it was kind of a nice touch to have such a subplot in an otherwise goofy film. I really felt bad for Mami and was rooting for her. I think the dynamic of the relationship between Yuko and Mami is one of the highlights of the film.
The two plots begin to mix when Yamazaki meets up with Yuko and her salon in an attempt to hawk some of the dead girls ever-growing locks to be used for hair extensions. The salon staff is extremely impressed with the quality of the hair, and decides to take a few locks to sample on themselves and customers. It appears that hair extensions are all the rage in Japan. Unfortunately, the hair does not quite agree with its clients and any unfortunate souls whom wind up putting the doomed extensions on their heads also wind up dead. The hair has a mind of its own and seems to be on some sort of not-clearly-explained vengeance mission against anyone whom gets in its path. The rest of the film focuses on the battle between the hair monster and its caretaker Yamazaki versus Yuko and her valiant attempts to save Mami from the same fate endured by some of her hairdresser friends and sister.
Thematically, the film got a little confusing for me. There were parts of this film that were just so silly and added for comedic effect, and then there were other parts (such as the abuse of young Mami) that come across very serious. The film was never really scary, but it did have a few really creepy and effective shots of the hair slinking around and invading peoples orifices. Some of the CGI in this film was downright terrible, but it did add to the humor. The absolute highlight of this crazy film for me was the acting of the Yamazaki character, portrayed by Ren Osugi. This character and performance was just nuts. Every scene featuring Yamazaki brought a smile to my face. I guarantee you will have his little song about hair stuck in your head for a bit after watching this film. I would say the film is worth watching for him alone. You may recognize Osugi from Takashi Miike's 1999 film 'Audition', amongst many other films in his rather prolific career. Overall, the film was a bit too silly for me at times but I can definitely appreciate a good parody when I see one. I think Sono was sending a clear message about the J-horror scene with this film, but he also managed to effectively weave a few subplots into the mix which really elevated this film to a point where I can't really call it a pure parody or a pure horror film. I also can appreciate a film that manages to creep out the viewer without use of gore (even though I certainly love my gore too). This movie is hardly graphic, but for those of you who are bothered by hair some of the scenes should be enough to freak you out. Pretty average J-horror for me, but definitely check it out if you're getting sick of all those ghost-child films that get churned out every day. It certainly has enough originality to warrant your attention.
RATING:
*** out of *****
I've always been quite a big fan of Japanese horror, and most people who even have a slight interest in the genre know that one of the big components of many traditional Japanese flicks is the use of supernatural pale ghost characters with long, dreadful black hair. The appearance of these ghost are a big part of Japanese culture, and specifically these types of ghost figures are known as 'Yurei' to the Japanese. Some of us Western folk may think of more popular films such as 'The Ring' or 'The Grudge' remakes when we think of these kinds of ghosts, but there are actually tons and tons of movies that use this traditional depiction of ghosts to scare their audiences. My take on 'Hair Extensions' was initially that it would probably be some kind of parody regarding Japan's seemingly cultural obsession with hair in horror films. I suppose I was partially right, but this movie turned out to be more of a mind fuck that I initially expected.
The movie starts out when a shipping crate is discovered, full of hair and a dead woman's bald corpse. It appears that her body has been gutted and stuffed with hair. The girl is taken to the morgue, where a strange fellow named Yamazaki works as a morgue assistant of some type. Turns out Yamazaki is OBSESSED with hair. When he discovers that the corpse of the murdered girl rapidly regrows her beautiful black hair even after death (from every opening in her body, mind you), he steals the corpse to take home with him. The other plot in this film focuses on Yuko: a young, jubilant hairdresser whom also has a passion for hair, albeit in a much less creepy way than our pal Yamazaki. Yuko is a passionate hairdresser who takes great pride in her ability to transform people via her craft. She works at the Gilles de Rais hair salon (nice touch), and seems to be a fairly well adjusted young lady. The only issue is that Yuko has a deadbeat loser of a sister who keeps dropping off her young daughter Mami to Yuko's home unexpectedly so she can go out and party. Though initially upset at her careless sister for dumping her responsibilities onto her, Yuko eventually figures out that Mami is covered in bruises and being abused by her sister. Yuko takes Mami in and the two of them begin to bond. I must say it was kind of a nice touch to have such a subplot in an otherwise goofy film. I really felt bad for Mami and was rooting for her. I think the dynamic of the relationship between Yuko and Mami is one of the highlights of the film.
The two plots begin to mix when Yamazaki meets up with Yuko and her salon in an attempt to hawk some of the dead girls ever-growing locks to be used for hair extensions. The salon staff is extremely impressed with the quality of the hair, and decides to take a few locks to sample on themselves and customers. It appears that hair extensions are all the rage in Japan. Unfortunately, the hair does not quite agree with its clients and any unfortunate souls whom wind up putting the doomed extensions on their heads also wind up dead. The hair has a mind of its own and seems to be on some sort of not-clearly-explained vengeance mission against anyone whom gets in its path. The rest of the film focuses on the battle between the hair monster and its caretaker Yamazaki versus Yuko and her valiant attempts to save Mami from the same fate endured by some of her hairdresser friends and sister.
Thematically, the film got a little confusing for me. There were parts of this film that were just so silly and added for comedic effect, and then there were other parts (such as the abuse of young Mami) that come across very serious. The film was never really scary, but it did have a few really creepy and effective shots of the hair slinking around and invading peoples orifices. Some of the CGI in this film was downright terrible, but it did add to the humor. The absolute highlight of this crazy film for me was the acting of the Yamazaki character, portrayed by Ren Osugi. This character and performance was just nuts. Every scene featuring Yamazaki brought a smile to my face. I guarantee you will have his little song about hair stuck in your head for a bit after watching this film. I would say the film is worth watching for him alone. You may recognize Osugi from Takashi Miike's 1999 film 'Audition', amongst many other films in his rather prolific career. Overall, the film was a bit too silly for me at times but I can definitely appreciate a good parody when I see one. I think Sono was sending a clear message about the J-horror scene with this film, but he also managed to effectively weave a few subplots into the mix which really elevated this film to a point where I can't really call it a pure parody or a pure horror film. I also can appreciate a film that manages to creep out the viewer without use of gore (even though I certainly love my gore too). This movie is hardly graphic, but for those of you who are bothered by hair some of the scenes should be enough to freak you out. Pretty average J-horror for me, but definitely check it out if you're getting sick of all those ghost-child films that get churned out every day. It certainly has enough originality to warrant your attention.
RATING:
*** out of *****