Audition Year: 2002 Director: Takashi Miike Written by: Daisuke Tengan Threat: Ballerina Weapon of Choice: Razor Wire Based upon: novel -- Ryu Murakami Color/B&W/3D: Color Language: Japanese Country of Origin: Japan IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
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The tyranist's thoughts
If you haven't heard of this film, I should tell you that it has a reputation as a particularly nerve-wracking, revolting movie. Or, at least, that's how it was described to me when I first heard about it. Unlike the run of popular Japanese ghost stories that we've been seeing turn up more and more lately, this one is a good old-fashioned psychopath.
A single father is tired of being single, but it having a hard time finding a girl to go out with. His friend concocts a scheme in which they'll hold an audition for a non-existent television show to find the perfect girl. The audition is held and one girl stands out. In spite of his friend's misgivings, he is soon as deep into this relationship as he can get.
There are some admittedly sickening moments, but there is little suspense through out the movie and it is really only the last half an hour that makes this a horror movie. In fact, it has the opposite plot of the way I think most American productions would have gone given the same premise.
I'm pretty uncomfortable with the real-life psychopath movies like The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and this one threatens to be just like those. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your taste, there are quite a few Hallucinations and Dreams toward the end that ultimately confuse the plot a little and remove the realistic edge that bothers me.
I wanted to like this movie. It has such a good reputation. I didn't hate it for the reasons I thought I might, but I couldn't like it all that much either. I found it uncomfortable, but ultimately mediocre. It is more concerned with creating discomfort than ultimately telling a satisfying story and I think it suffers for it. Depending on the kind of film fan you are, I probably wouldn't recommend it, unless you have a strong stomach and like to be uncomfortable.
Posted: February 6, 2005

Rish's Reviews
Tyranist said a lot up there. I won't contradict him in this one.
I had not heard of Audition when we got together to rent movies. My friend recommended we give it, and a couple of other foreign language horror flicks, a try, and I agreed. I didn't know what to expect once it began, but this was a rough one. I didn't enjoy this film.
But I suspect we're not supposed to.
This was a very scary film, due, in part to the decency of the main character. Normally horror films put a weak, naive, or potentially-vunerable young woman in danger, because as a society we feel fear for the young and attractive. This one, though, puts a middle-aged man in the victim slot, while the young and attractive character--sweetie that she is--is in MUCH less danger. And it really works, especially since they take great pains in making the man a sympathetic and decent person.
The film is well-made and well-told. But wow, there are a few excruciating minutes that are supremely difficult to take. I keep a mental list of the most disturbing things I've ever seen in movies. Right now, at the head of the list are Highlander 2, the scene with the outhouse in Schindler's List, and the curb scene in American History X. While not reaching those levels of sheer repulsion, there's a moment in Audition (tyranist, what's the Japanese title?) that belongs on the Top Ten list.
One of my complaints about Japanese Horror is that they don't feel the need to explain things the way that we do. I'm not used to one character saying, "Don't go into the elevator. The last girl who went in there turned into a Sony Playstation 3." So, of course, when the new girl goes inside and is transformed into some kind of sentient video game, I just don't understand how that could happen, or why the elevator maintenance guy can go in and out as many times as he wants, or why the girl didn't just take the stairs to begin with, after visiting the other Playstation in the hospital. Of course, none of this has anything to do with Audition. Sorry.
We don't find out, entirely, the Whys of Audition, but we understand enough. The story, pretty much, is a universal one, and could easily be remade and understood by Western audiences. The ending, however, is the deal-breaker, though it's certainly an effective one, creeping out and disturbing the audience (though it also frustrates them). It'll be an ice-skating holiday in Hell when this sort of thing flies in a mainstream Hollywood release.
I'd Recommend It To: This film is not like 98% of Horror out there. So if you have a strong stomach, and want to see something new, you might enjoy the experience. See you on the other side.
Posted: April 5, 2006

Total Skulls: 26

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?