Martyrs [2008]

director: Pascal Laugier

A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.

Run! Bitch Run! [2008]

Catherine and Rebecca are two Catholic School girls going door-to-door selling Religious paraphernalia in order to pay for their books and education. Things go horribly wrong when they knock on the wrong door in the wrong neighborhood. Run! Bitch Run! is a throw back to the classic 1970's Rape and Revenge films like 'Last House On the Left' and 'Ms. 45.


Run! Bitch Run! Trailer from Freak Show Entertainment on Vimeo.


Last house on the left [2009]





Last house on the left [1972]

REC 90%: Karaoke Terror / The complete Showa Era Songbook [Shôwa kayô daizenshû - 2003]

Director: Tetsuo Shinohara (Heaven's Bookstore)

"One of a gang of karaoke loving middle aged women is murdered by a young man. Her friends track him down and kill him. His friends track them down and kill the killer ..... and it escalates!

The story comes from a novel by Ryu Nurakami, the writer of Audition, Happiness of the Katakuris, Ecstasy, Coin locker babies. Like that film, this one is a quite literal battle of the sexes that does have something to say when you strip away the black comedy, with commentary about both sides: The young men have no sense of purpose, finding profundity in pop songs because they've got no sense of it from anywhere else; indeed, murder is the first substantial thing any of them have ever done. Meanwhile, the women initially have little self-esteem, since they're treated like they should be grateful for any notice or attention given them, no matter how crude and self-serving it is. It's only when they unite to seek their revenge that they recognize that they are not failures for being divorced; they contribute to society and deserve some respect and support. When they lay in wait for the boys, only to see them emerge in lipstick, leather, heels, and sheer body stockings, a substantial part of the audience is going to be with them - these young punks don't have any conception of how good they've got it, so it's time to strike back."

Karaoke Terror in my opinion is a closer sister of Yukihiko Tsutsumi's 2LDK, as they're both in the same genre of black comedy and insane killing until there's no man standing. I don't remember laughing this much at the whole absurdity of situation not even in any comedy genre movie. The songs of the Japanese Showa and the whole karaoke theme will make you probably think of Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat!Kill!Kill! as much as the behavior of the not so innocent women, as I for one took the side of men the entire time of the movie (and yes, I'm a woman) as their primitive ways of dealing with the women bought pity out of me.

Besieged city [Wai sing - 2008]

Director: Lawrence Lau

Lawrence Lau (aka Lawrence Ah Mon) is without a doubt one of Hong Kong's best and most under-appreciated directors, specializing in gutter-trawling tales of down-and-out youth frittering their lives away in an endless orgy of petty crime and street hustles. GANGS, SPACKED OUT and QUEEN OF TEMPLE STREET are all essential parts of the Hong Kong canon (especially QUEEN OF TEMPLE STREET about a brothel madam dealing with her out-of-control teenage daughter; it's a movie that deserves the Criterion treatment). He still directs like a madman, with Lau Ching-wan's MY NAME IS FAME as his latest highest-profile movie, but he also recently made A CITY WITHOUT BASEBALL which was released in November, 2007.
His newest film is BESIEGED CITY about kids going berserk in the Tin Shui Wai housing development, one of the towns built out in the middle of the New Territories that wound up becoming traps for their residents as much as they provided affordable housing. Mei Ah, the film's distributor has high hopes for the film and although it's not slated to be released in Hong Kong until March, 2008 they held a one-day qualifying run so it could be nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards. A sharp-eyed reader found out about the screening and here's their report, right from the front lines.