Review: Human Lanterns

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2022
Images from the Internet

Human Lanterns (aka Ren pi deng long; Human Skin Lanterns)
Directed by Sun Chung
Shaw Brothers; Celestial Pictures; 88 Films; 88Asia Collection; MVD Entertainment
99 minutes, 1982 / 2022
www.MVDEntertainment.com

Back in the mid-1970s through the 1980s, if you were not there, it is hard to describe the effect and influence of the Shaw Brothers kung fu films, especially the ones taking place in some mystical time, long, long ago, when warriors with long hair could fly through the air, elderly people were the best fighters, and moustaches indicated evil.

Bruce Lee has survived the ages as far as legacy goes, but back then, it was the Shaw Brothers releases that were nearly omnipresent. There were theaters that dedicated themselves to showing them (such as one at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge), and a local New York station played their films every weekend at pre-set times.

But what I think helped popularize them were the sheer wackiness of the story mixed with a lot of martial arts action. Most were the equivalent of Roger Corman releases: you really needed to let go of any pretense towards art, and just enjoy the over acting and high drama for what it was: sheer entertainment. I have never seen this particular film before, so I am looking forward to it…

Tony Liu

The main theme of the story here, which is the complete and uncut version, is social jealousy in the feudal period of Phoenix Town. The main protagonist is wealthy warrior with classic Spock-like eyebrows, Lung Shu-Ai (Tony Liu), who is in rivalry with the local mustachioed Third Master T’an-Fu (Kuan Tai Chen). T’an provokes him by choosing Lung’s favorite prostitute, Yen Chu (Linda Chu) as his own concubine at a big feast, therefore causing Lung to lose face. To be fair, Lung is not a nice guy, who is consumed by competitiveness.

To retaliate, Lung decides to use the upcoming Lantern Festival contest (for best lantern, natch; remember the film’s title) by getting a skilled lantern maker, Chao Ch’un-Fang (Lieh Lo), who was Lung’s previous rival for Lung’s present wife, Lady Chin (Ni Tien), to create a masterpiece for him.

Then, again considering the title, there is a horror aspect to the story, represented by some dude in a mixed monkey/skull mask and costume who wants to destroy Lung. He kidnaps a woman and brings her to his underground lair, reminiscent of The Phantom of the Opera. There he very graphically does a Buffalo Bill/Leatherface on her. There is a reason the original name of the film was Human SKIN Lanterns. I don’t believe I’m giving anything away. I figured out almost instantly who was, as Lux Interior of the Cramps sang, “What’s behind the mask.” Actually, it’s given away pretty early, but I will not be the one to do it.

Kuan Tai Chen

Add an assassin into the mix to increase the action in the form of bearded Kuei Szu-Yi (Meng Lo, He does a lot of the fighting in the picture, which has its fair amount of martial arts, and yet less than usual for a Shaw Brothers release, though it certainly picks up by the third act. What is there, however, is imaginative, uses many different tools such as arm knives and fans, and there is a lot of wire work as they fly through the air with the greatest of ease. Meanwhile, the police, led by Sergeant P’an (Chien Sun), is trying to stop the jealousy-fueled violence and figure out why people are going missing.

Of course, the film is in Mandarin, with English subtitles. One thing that is not included in this package is the English dubbed version. Shaw Brothers films often used the same voice actors over and over, so they became easily recognizable by sound, if not by name. For me, it was one of the hallmarks of a Shaw Brothers release, but I can forgive them. I would have watched the film in the original Mandarin, and then again with the English dub, but that didn’t happen this time. Not a complaint, just an observation.

Lieh Lo and Hsiu-Chun Lin

Okay, let’s talk about some of the extraordinary Extras that are included with the new Blu-ray, both the physical and the digital. I’ll start with the latter. To begin, there is a full-length commentary by Kenneth Brorsson and Phil Gillion of the On Fire Network podcast. Both men are heavily accented (Swedish and British, respectively), and it was a bit of a strain to make out what they were saying, but it was worth the focus. At least until I gave up about halfway through.

Next is the featurette “A Shaw Story: An Interview with Susan Shaw” (14 min.), filmed in 2005. In this, the actor, who had a small role in the film, tells of her tumultuous career before Human Lanterns thanks to international politics, what it was like to work with the director and her opinion of the film, and her career after. She kept my attention. The next featurette is for one of the bigger stars of the film, “The Beauty and the Beasts: An Interview with Linda Chu” (14 min.). Chu talks about how she became involved with the Shaw Brothers films and her career there, and especially on her opinion about nudity. Again, it’s a good interview, but she does come off a bit vain here and there. Part of the charm, I guess. Both interviews are in Chinese with subtitles.

The last featurette is “Lau Wing: The Ambiguous Hero” (51 min.) And who is Lau Wing? That is the real name of this film’s star, Tony Liu. He goes into great detail about the art of acting, and his place in that, all while chewing gum. Of course, he discusses the film and the director, but he was working three films at the same time, and he admits his memory is hazy. It’s his relationship with actors and the studios that make this the most interesting. Lastly on the digital end is the Trailer, that the film is in HD (1080p), and the English subtitles have been retranslated.

On the physical side, there is a nice slipcover with new artwork by Robert O’Brien, a double-sided case cover with the original poster, a two-sided folded paper poster insert included with the clamshell, and lastly a lush, multi-page booklet with text and photos.

The trailer’s quality makes the viewer appreciate just how gorgeous this release looks now, with vibrant colors, incredible cinematography by An-Sung Tsao, and sharp editing. The sets by Ching-Shen Chen are shown in great and sharp detail. All of this brings up the value of the release that was most likely missing from the earlier VHS copies.

While the fighting throughout most of the film often feels like under-played and Kung fu-interruptus, the final battle royale certainly makes up for it. It is beautifully staged and includes everyone of importance that’s left alive at this point. It alone makes the rest of it worth the wait, but I should add that the whole story is pretty intense and enjoyable. My old pal, Mariah Aguier (2005), who was an infamous person on the New York punk scene in the 1970s and also a martial arts film aficionado, would have probably loved this (or already did). Now, so do I.

IMDB Listing HERE 

Review: Evil Dead Trap

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Evil Dead Trap (aka Shiryô no wana)
Directed by Toshiharu Ikeda
Joy Pack Film; Unearthed Classics; MVD Entertainment
102 minutes, 1988 / 2021
www.Unearthedfilms.com/carronamovie/
www.mvdb2b.com

Japanese extreme cinema has thematically come a long way since this was originally released in 1988. There are still some tropes that are often repeated, such as women abused while wearing schoolgirl uniforms usually by middle aged men, adult stars, and especially torture porn. A good example of this is the infamous gore-spectacle Guinea Pig series, starting by predating this film by half a decade. In fact, a couple of the then-top Japanese adult actors were used in the filming of this movie (much as Marilyn Chambers appeared in 1977’s Rabid and Harry Reems in 1980's Demented).

It is pretty obvious where they lifted the title of this film back in the day, but it is arguable whether there is anything supernatural going on here. An insomnia-plagued late-night talk show host, Nami (Miyuki Ono), receives a VHS snuff tape in the mail, that we get to see in loving, grainy detail. Does she call the cops? Of course not, but rather goes out to investigate. You know how in 1980s films you can spot all the stupid decisions and actions that characters make (e.g., going upstairs instead of out the door)? This one sticks out like a knife in the eye. Oh, yeah, the snuff film…

Miyuki Ono

Nami takes off with the future body count: three other women who are her production team, and a goofy, sexist male assistant director, who calls his superiors “girls.” Gotta love the ‘80s. A slight sidebar here: it may sound like I am talking this movie down, but I am not; part of the fun of this period’s genre films is the sometimes sheer ridiculousness of some of the cultural and cinematic motifs, but it is said by me in a full-smile way. This hindsight really is part of the joy of these gruesome releases. If I have a real problem with something, I will certainly let you know, so in the meanwhile, please know the basis of the snark.

The video tape leads our intrepid-but-not-so-wise group to an abandoned military base (filmed at Camp Drake, a deserted since the 1970s US Army/Air Force quarters, in Saitama, Japan) from 1956 says a sign, which is not on the map (of course). And what’s our group to do once they get there? Why lift and separate into two groups of two, with Nami off on her own. They seem to repeatedly rejoin and cleave into individuals roaming around the expansive space, down long corridors or into booby-trapped rooms.

Yuji Honma

The base setting is actually superb, if you are fascinated by abandoned buildings as I am. It is incredibly atmospheric and creepy as hell with dusky rooms, boarded windows, old furniture and equipment. You can just feel the destitution practically reeking off the screen, and the anticipation for the violence to come. And come it does. A perfect setting for a torture abattoir. Dark shades mixed with flashes of color make it a labyrinth of decay and death.

While the kills are violent, I would not categorize it as torture porn. Most of the butchery is pretty quick (albeit explicit) and not lingering.

While all hell breaks loose in malevolent ways, there are also some interesting characters floating around the base that show up at unexpected times. such as a relatively stoic man, Daisuke (Yuji Honma), who is in search of his younger brother, a man who is being systematically tormented and ordered to kill to be free, and the mysterious masked and hooded parka-wearing killer himself.

This all sets up for a third act of mano e majer, or I guess, otoko tai on’na. Throughout the film, Nami shows an interest – if not attraction – to the mindset of the mentality that would cause such a wave of nasty behavior. This helps set up the final extended showdown that is both psychological and physical, and by far the most interesting part, even though it is pretty obvious early on who is the killer and certain aspects of his behavior. That is not to say this is the only segment that will keep the viewer riveted, but the build-up is worth the nail-biting wait.

Booby-traps abound, and one might wonder if this was possibly an inspiration for the Saw franchise, especially the first one, but as with most proto-films, the ideas are there, just not as detailed in their execution, though bloody enough. And by the end, you could easily sing, “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.”

Of course, I won’t give away the ending, but while I had a close approximation of where the story was going, it certainly took a left turn that could have been influenced by the likes of David Cronenberg or Frank Hennenlotter that I did not expect, I am happy to say.

I cannot emphasize how beautiful this film is shot by cinematographer Masaki Tamura and edited by Akimasa Kawashima. The visuals are stunning, with artistic (yet not heavy handed) elan, close-ups, and the occasional (and sped up) blue-filtered monochrome. It seems a bit ahead of its time, and is jaw-droppingly framed. The gore is plentiful, of course, and looks amazing, unsurprisingly, handled by Shin’ichi Wakasa (who has also done special effects for Godzilla and Mothra films since the 1990s). This is overlaid by a repetitive and eventually annoying electronic soundtrack that reminds me of the Italian giallo films of the period.

Extras on the 4K Blu-ray include three full-length commentaries. The first is by director Toshiharu Ikeda (d. 2010) and SPFX Manager Shinichi Wakasa (badly dubbed into English) from the mid-2000s, which is somewhat sparsely discussed, mostly innocuous anecdotes about the filming, rather than deep meanings. I jumped around a bit on this one after about 30 minutes. Next is by filmmaker Kurando Mitsutake, director of films like Gun Woman (2014). It is contemporary and in English, and much more in-depth and interesting than the previous one.  The last is with James Mudge (English), of the Website easternkicks.com. Mudge not only tells anecdotes about the film, but also places it in the context of Asian Cinema – especially Japanese – writ large.

There is also a contemporary featurette, “Trappings of the Dead: Reflecting on a Japanese Cult Classics” (19 min.; English), focusing on cinema academic and author Calum Waddell. He shows both the influences of other films that led to this one, and how Evil Dead Trap has influenced others that followed, dropping dozens of names and others such as some of the ones I mentioned above, and the likes of Dario Argento and Oliver Stone. Also, he puts the film in context of Japan’s relatively modern history, from its role in World War II and the post-atomic period. Then there is the Storyboards, Behind the Scene Stills, Promotional Artwork, and a few Unearthed Trailers, including for this film.

In 1992, there was a sequel of sorts to this release, Evil Dead Trap 2 (aka Shiryô no wana 2: Hideki) that perhaps will be a future Unearthed Films release. I would definitely watch it, though it was directed by Izô Hashimoto, rather than Ikeda.

 

Reviews of 5 Horror Shorts for August 2015

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2015
Images from the Internet

Cynthia

Written, edited and directed by Christopher Wells
Kaleidoscope Pictures Inc.
10:35 minutes, 2014
www.kpictures.com
Early morning and nothing is going right for our central character (Christopher Wells). Food has spoiled, and the apartment is in as much disarray as it seems is his emotional state. It’s not long before we know why, as he starts talking with his obviously passed wife, the titular Cynthia (Katie Issel Pitre). Meanwhile, a mysterious white faced person is peaking in on the whole she-bang (Matt Perfetuo). It’s a slow build to the finale, but worth the wait, even if you figure out what the end result is going to be for our protagonist. Wells’ acting is naturalistic and Pitre a bit wooden (well, she is a ghost or whatever, after all), but the emotion is there, and the ending is just the right measure. A well-made showcase for which Wells can be proud.

 

Apartment 41

Directed and produced by Veemsen Lama
Javiya Films
6:38 minutes, 2014
As this British film opens, we watch a woman (Grace Rowe) enter her new apartment and walk around. The camera follows very closely, giving a claustrophobic feel, even though the apartment itself seems quite huge. In a similar theme to the film above, there is obviously a presence there (Harriet Feeny). In a story of guilt and/or revenge, we learn the reason for the spirit being there. Or is it there? A nice, moody piece, it doesn’t feed on the fear of the audience, but gives us enough information to both be unnerved and understanding. Well lit (even the dark bits) and worked through, it’s an effective piece of short cinema. The ending is actually quite satisfactory to the story (no, I won’t give it away).

 

3 Doors of Horror: DELETE

Directed by Sidney Chan
Doghouse 73 Pictures
14:10, 2014
One of my favorite things is when a film can use a well-worn trope, give it a new spin, and make it exciting. Chan does all of this in a short-but-sweet horror tale based somewhat around the tendency for selfies (does anyone else find it interesting that the English word “selfie” is used in nearly all languages?). This Asian release (with subtitles) revolves around a group of four teenage girls who trespass into a mysterious and abandoned factory, and take a group selfie on a camera found in bathroom stall (?!). It’s filled with pictures of the empty bathroom, which is eventually explained. There is also, I am assuming, a cultural in-joke about a security guard, that I didn’t get, but that’s just a blip. Well and clearly filmed in HD with medium shots, and more than one scare. Extremely effective for such a short piece.  

 

The Babysitting

Written and directed by Jan Nanne
Bad Ass Films
9:59, 2009
www.youtube.com/hollanddirector
Oh, those Dutch! Filmed in English, this is a cautionary tale of what happens when you let your kids watch too many horror films before they’re able to process it. Well, in theory anyway; or if they’re a tad psychotic.  Vicky (lovey and wide-eyed Nadine Stephan, who has amazingly long, cascading hair) is hired as a babysitter by a creepy mom (Angela Zandbergen) who’s last comment before heading out the door is, with eyebrows raised, “Have fun.” It’s a family Vicky hasn’t met, and doesn’t know what to expect. Neither will the viewer. Made as an entry for a short film contest (hence the English), it’s effectively creepy on a few different levels. Being (relatively) older, it’s a bit on the grainy side during the dark scenes, but the story holds up.  After the credits is a decent albeit short gag reel.

 

The Flying Man

Directed by Marcus Alqueres
9:20, 2013
www.facebook.com/tfmshort
Much like a zombie apocalypse, some are holding fast that maybe a true super man will someday arrive, much like the Samuel Jackson character from 2000’s Unbreakable, but in a case of being careful what you wish for, in this short, such a person has arrived. The question it brings, however, is whether it’s a positive or negative. This Flying Man is certainly not out of Marvel or DC, as he has no second thoughts about throwing people under trains or dropping them from dizzying heights. This is a vigilante, and the questions this film asks – be it directly or indirectly – are good ones, such as does one have the right to take the law into one’s own hands if it’s for the better good, and who is the judge of that “good”? It’s not a new question, but one that was brought up before in the slogan, “Who will watch the Watchmen?” Supposedly in the works to be made into a full length film.

 

BONUS (because it made me smile):

 

Review: Sanguivorous (Kyuketsu)

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2013
Images from the Internet

 

Sanguivorous (aka Kyuketsu)

Directed, edited and music by Naoki Yoshimoto                       
Tidepoint Pictures
Rain Trail Pictures
Stavros Films                                
56 minutes,2009 / 2013
www.MVDvisual.com

Literally translated, the title of the film is to feed off the blood of the living, usually referring to parasites and certain bats; here, it is merely shortened to “sucking blood.” That works, too.

It is not surprising to me they shortened the definition, because the film runs just over 56 minutes. It’s on that borderline that makes it more of a featurette, which works well on the festival circuit rather than a cineplex. But this will probably never play as a first liner except at conventions, fests and possibly art theaters.

Sangafanga, as I’ve been calling it, is a Japanese vampire film that is over-burdened with an art aesthetic that is both beautiful and cumbersome. Much like films such as Where the Dead Go to Die (2012, reviewed HERE) or Profane (2012; reviewed HERE), the director, Naoki Yoshimoto, has a more ambitious vision that he wants to put to digital celluloid, as it were.

Ayumi Kakizawa

Mixing black & white, color, muted color, and digital film effects, Yoshimoto brings us into a world that is usually dark, both in tone and vision (or, if you will, figuratively and literally), as we are introduced to the only four characters. First there is a young woman played by Ayumi Kakizawa, who is haunted by weird visions, strange feelings, and general anxiety. Her thin-cut side-burned (hipster?) boyfriend, embodied by Mutsuko Yoshinaga, reads a text that borrows from the Bram Stoker idea that a ship with a coffin containing a many-hundred year-old vampire came ashore onto Japan centuries before, and the heirs of its contents still have the vampire blood floating around waiting until it is aroused (the film’s term, i.e., lose your virginity and…). Joining in is an older couple (her parents?), played by Masaya Adachi, who has the prerequisite Asian long, white fingernails, and the striking, muscular and bald Ko Murobushi, who looks like he was imagined from a manga comic (Ko is a leading avant-garde butoh dancer in his “day” job).

The story is kind of murky for a number of reasons. First, there is barely any dialog, other than exposition, so most of the storytelling relies on visuals and sounds. The main reason, however, is its artistic bent. Mostly filmed in black and white, it is often digitally treated to look like the Nosferatu period (1922), or scratchy, or with just a hint of color. Occasionally there may be one object in vibrant color, such as a red kimono, and more rare, a shot entirely in vivid color, such as a field of yellow flowers.

Ko Murobushi

Even with the blending of visuals, arty editing, unusual angles, extraneous close-ups of objects, and all the other modern methods to make it look older, there is definitely a beauty to the film. The way characters move, and how they are presented speak as much as the sparse dialog. Sure, you really do need some patience in this post-MTV/Transformers world, because this mostly moves at a snail’s pace, while still managing to fill the senses with unusual imagery.

While there is some blood, and some wicked looking teeth, I would hardly call this a gory film by any stretch of the imagination. Most of the shock value comes from the use of sound, be it a sudden loud noise, a piece of dissonant music, or just silence. Yoshimoto, who plays the piano on some of this, ties it all together to make it work, even if it is unconventional.

Speaking of Yoshimoto, there is a 10-minute or so making of short where the relatively young director talks about how the film came to be, mixed with some short interviews with Kakizawa and Murobushi. His solid grasp of English makes it coherent and helps to explain a bit of what is going on in the film.

The other extra is an additional short film called Nowhere, which is also around10 minutes. It definitely has a similar auteur feel to Sangafanga, in which a man stumbles into a deserted factory and screams a few times, before walking out an meeting someone on the road. Again, there is no dialog other than the repeated yelling, and we a presented with a switching of color and B&W. I believe it is about a post-apocalyptic world, but I am not sure. It did win a prize for digital short at a festival, and that is hardly surprising.

To recap: the film is esoteric (perhaps not as much as, say, Dog Star Man (1962, by the way overrated Stan Brakhage) and intentionally obscure, but it is also a beautiful piece of art with horror as it heart. I’m leavin’ it all up to yo-oo-oo, as the song says.

 

Review: Strawberry Cliff

Text © Richard Gary/Indie Horror Films, 2013

Images from the Internet 

Strawberry Cliff

Directed and written by Chris Chow                     

Cinema Asian Releasing              

105 minutes, 2010 / 2012  

www.MVDvisual.com

Let me take you down coz we’re going to Strawberry Cliff, a late comer in the Asian horror genre that has apparently taken it’s time to get to the Western market. This is strange, considering it is mostly filmed in English and contains location shots in Los Angeles, Paris, and the majority takes place in Hong Kong.

 

 

Apparently, L.A.’s occidental waitress Kate (Leslie-Anne Huff) has the ability to know when someone is going to die just by looking at them, though she doesn’t know how, as is explained in the very first and expository scene. She tells a young man that he will perish that very night. It seems everyone she tells has no more than a couple of days. In typical Asian cinema, there is some figure that is too white to be natural crawling around to help speed things up.

 

 

Leslie-Anne Huff

To further complicate matters, this doomed man, Jason (Anthony Chaput), is part of a mental collective of three called a hive, where different individuals all share a “soul”. They can each see what the other is doing as they live their own lives. One character explains that it is like watching multiple televisions as the same time. Truly a cosmic consciousness. The other two, are Jeanne (Antonella Monceau) in Paris, and Darren (Chinese pop star Eason Chan) in Hong Kong.

 

 

The irony of the film is that while Kate can look at others and know, she cannot do the same with herself, despite the fact she has grown up with a congenital heart disorder that should have killed her years before, even though she is a young woman in this story (the film description is that she is a teen, but I don’t buy that). A secondary fatefulness is due to her and Darren’s particular psychic histories, as both have low-level jobs, with Kate working in a diner and Darren as a bartender; we see both taking abuse from overly masculinist customers. You know something has changed when one stands up to their bully. An inconsistency, however, is that both Jeanne and Jason seem to be doing quite well, judging by their clothes.

 

 

Despite some reminiscence of Ringu (1998), such as the quest and the fate of one of the characters, this film relies a lot more on atmosphere than on horror. Sure, there are a couple of good scary moments peppered within, but much is played up in mood, highlighted by a haunting score full of drawn out violin bass notes and woodwinds.



Eason Chan

While Huff’s Kate is obviously the central character of the film, it is also abundantly clear that Chan is the star. Heck, it’s his picture on the cover, and his appearance is probably what sold most of the copies of this film. The Asian markets love their pop stars, and Chan is right at the A-line. As with so many of these stars, especially in Hong Kong, he is also an actor, but thankfully a good one. This is his first film in English, and though he states that he had to learn a whole different rhythm of acting thanks to the new language (from the making of documentary that is not on the disk, but is on YouTube for those interested), it is seamless, and he appears confident in the role.

 

 

Huff’s character often seems stunned about what is happening or being said around her, but that is not surprising as I have found that Asian horror either over- or under-explains things, and this case is the former. Not a complaint, just an observation.

 

 

Another character of the film is the city of Hong Kong, with its numerous dauntingly high buildings (this statement coming from someone from New York City), and both new opulent and older seedy neighborhoods. For us in the West, a good thing about filming in Hong Kong is that because it was until recently a British regent, nearly everyone speaks English, and all the store signs are bilingual.

 

 

 

The way the film leaves off would make it primed for a sequel, though as far as I know there haven’t been any plans for it. I get the feeling this didn’t get the audience numbers it was expecting, despite Chan’s presence. I’m not surprised, because today’s audience of Asian horror have come to rely on much more creepy killings, in such now classics as the aforementioned the Ringu (The Ring) series, Ju-on (aka, The Grudge, 2002), Gin qwai (The Eye, 2002), or Chakushin ari (2003), rather than this amount of suspense and mood.   

 

That being said, this film kept this viewer’s attention throughout, even with all the expository chatter, and the action moments (such as the growing shadow) were all the sweeter for their moments. Personally, I hope a sequel does rear its head.

Bonus video: