Audition

It's a strange scenario indeed, following the growing popularity of the eastern horror genre within the european horror fan scene (mostly through the success of 'Ring') - the eastern horror film is now being embraced by the western mainstream film goers through the art house cinema chain. The latest film to attract the attentions of the mainstream critics (and film goers alike) is the stunning 'Audition'.

The film opens with the death of a film producer's wife, leaving him and his young son alone in the world. The story cuts to seven years later where the son now is keen for his father to pick up his life and seek out a new wife. Slightly unsure he's soon convinced by one of his industry chums who convinces him the best way for him to find a new wife would be to audition lots of young girls under the pretense of finding a new leading lady for a ficitious movie role. And find a potential candidate he does...

Let's get things straight here, 'Audition' is a fantastic film - stylishly directed, well written, suspenseful and brimful of great acting talents with all the main leads putting on performances that are far more deserved of (the somewhat pretentious) Oscar awards than say the staid show by the gang behing 'Cringing Tiger' et al. And regretably the writing is on the wall already (the mainstream embrace of the film) for the inevitable torturous Hollywood remake ala 'Basic Instinct', and we all know they'll turn the film into pure glossy rot.

But I digress, at around two hours long I have noticed many genre fans grumble about the pacing of this wee gem, complaining that it takes too long for their terror fix to steam into action. This train of thought is a shame, I thoroughly enjoyed the film as a whole, the aforementioned performances by the cast deserve your time and appreciation. The build up in the plot is integral to the brutal sucker punch finale that is delivered in the last reel of the film. And boy does this film deliver.

That's also probably the other shame about the coverage of this lovely slice of genre cinema, the more people hear about it - the less the impact of the finale probably will be (though I hope not!). I've been watching horror films for a long long time (don't ask!) and even I found the film's finale very intense and it did have a great impact on me, but only in the context of being lulled by the movie as a whole. Watch it, you'll see what I mean.

The Region 3 disc from Universe really is bare bones stuff but the print on show here is delicious indeed. A nice strong image is on show in this widescreen print, and there's a decent enough 2.0 Japanese audio with the usual ropey english subtitles on offer also.

A truly stunning film and a great print for this release also. Well worth discovering why eastern genre cinema truly leading the way in the horror scene at the moment. Check it out now!