Marathon Man

I finished watching Pyrokinesis at 5:30 am. and thoroughly enjoyed it. Pyrokinesis is also known as Crossfire and is aflame with fun. Think if Charlie McGee* had grown into an adult and started punishing bad guys by incinerating them.

*Drew Barrymore's character in Firestarter.

Here is the rest of the lineup:

I caught a few hours of ZZZs and woke up around 9:30ish for the last of Juon: The Grudge. I've seen it a few times, so that gave me a chance to have breakfast and shower. 

Next up was "World Apartment Horror (1991), a comedy about some Yakuza types who try to evict some foreigner renters so they can have the building for themselves. Lots of yelling and a ghost joined in the melee. You can give this one a pass. Not even worth linking to but the manga is worth checking out.

Evil Dead Trap (1988) is just bloody awful with an emphasis on the bloody. It has a Tubular Bells soundtrack that shows up when ever the gore starts.

 

Guzoo (1986) is only 40 minutes long and has lots of oozing tendrils attacking young ladies. Even so, it is pretty darn good. You can check it out for yourself here:

I'd seen "As the Gods Will" (2007) in the cinema and though confusing was a ton o' fun. It was nice to catch it with subs again so I could follow along. That ending though sets it up for a sequel that I don't think ever materialized. You find the Movie Pamphlet analyzed here a few years back. (Thank you dailymotion for your devotion. Watch it in its entirety at that link.)

"One Cut of the Dead" is unique and is worth checking out. I've seen it before in the cinema and with subtitles so I didn't pay much attention while it was on.

I've been wanting to watch this one for a long time and "A Slit-Mouthed Woman" was SO good! Some very troubling scenes of child abuse but the makeup, acting and everything else was topnotch. (Hey, some more dailymotion commotion has it for you!

We interrupt this marathon for a word from our Yokai Sponsor.

口裂け女 (くちさけおんな) or Kuchisake Onna who "is the ghost of a woman who was mutilated and has come back to wreak vengeance on the world. Her name comes from the deep, bloody gash which runs across her face, grinning from ear to ear. She appears at night to lone travelers on the road, covering her grizzly mouth with a cloth mask, a fan, or a handkerchief."

 Kuchisake onna sneaks up on her victims in the dark and asks them if they think she is beautiful: “Watashi, kirei?” If the victim answers yes, she pulls off her mask and reveals a red, blood-dripping, grotesque mouth. Then she asks in a grisly voice if they still think she is beautiful: “Kore demo?” If her victim answers no or screams in terror, she slashes him from ear to ear in an imitation of her own mutilation. If he lies and answers yes a second time, she walks away—only to follow her target home and slaughter him brutally that night.

The spirits of the dead who were killed in particularly violent manners—abused wives, tortured captives, defeated enemies—often do not rest well. The kuchisake onna is thought to be one such woman. However, during the Edo period, a large number of kuchisake onna attacks were blamed on shape-changed kitsune playing pranks on young men. During the 20th century, the blame began to be placed on ghosts, serial killers, and simple mass hysteria. This resulted in an explosion of kuchisake onna sightings over Japan. Over the years, clever young people claim to have outsmarted kuchisake onna by delivering quick, confusing answers, or by throwing money or hard candy at them. This buys enough time to escape from the kuchisake onna’s wrath and lose her in the darkness.

 

As you can see, I saved you the trouble of going to Yokai.com and copied it all for you.

Oh No! Hunger Games Battle Royale has just started and it's a Director's Cut. Ciao for now.

Monkeying Around.

Satori (覚 さとり) are strange intelligent ape-men. "Satori appear to travelers on mountain roads, or folks living in mountain huts far from civilization. If the opportunity presents itself, they gladly dine on anyone they can get their hands on. In cases where they encounter a lone human female, they often take her away into the mountains and rape her. Satori are most well known for their uncanny ability to read people’s minds and then speak their thoughts faster than the individuals can get the words out themselves. This makes it very difficult to hunt, trick, or escape from a hungry satori. However, should something unforeseen happen, such as being unexpectedly hit by an object, satori grow very frightened and run away. One of the only ways to avoid being eaten by one of these yokai is to completely empty one’s mind; with no mind to read, the satori grows bored and wanders away."

 I'm about 1/4 the way through a 48 hour marathon of Japanese Horror, and the movie that's on now (Exte) is one that I've seen twice before. I gave a very brief review of it last year. I came home from work today while Unholy Women (2006) was on. Too bad, I missed most of the first part (Katakata/Rattle Rattle), it seemed to be the best one. Well, what do ya know, I can catch up on it here. The second part was about a girl with a sack over her head who was beaten a lot (Hagane) and the third part (Uketsugu Mono/ The Inheritance) had child abuse going on which was unsettling. So seek it out if you wish, I've linked to the only worthy section.

Next up I watched "Pulse" (2001) which I found rather dull, lots of ghostly dudes and disappearing people. Apparently it was popular enough to be remade in America and spawn two sequels. 

I kind of enjoyed "Marebito" (2004) about an underground dwelling vampire gal. If that's your cup of tea, it's worth seeking out.

Exte ended and "The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch" (1968) has just started. It's worth watching, pretty creepy and it also almost satisfies my Junjo Ito quota for it is based on a work by his mentor, Kazuo Umezu, 蛇娘と白髪魔, Hebimusume to Hakuhatsuma.

Fortunately, since I watched it last year (see link above), it makes for good background viewing so I can keep typing as I watch it.

"Pyrokinesis" is up next. That may be my last viewing before I nod off. It was called Crossfire stateside.

I had a costume party (thanks to my suitcase full of attire) and it went over well with my class of engineers who really got into it. The other class wasn't quite as enthusiastic. 

Here I am with one of the lads. (I'll upload pics of the gals once I can figure out how to blur their faces.)

I treated myself to some Halloween goodies from the Supermarket, neither were very good.

To match my Yokai theme, here is another monkey of sorts, when King Kong fought the JLA.

Here is Chimp with a bow tie by Mr. Ito.

As for a fellow blogger, Chad Savage, fits the bill.

I'm going to lie down and watch the rest of Snake Girl. I'll update you on what other flicks I view tomorrow. (It's nice to have three days off in the final hours before Samhain.)

Five, Six Grab your Crucifix!

I got home late from school today and ate some Halloween Gyoza.

Pretty good and enough for tomorrow's dinner as well.

My students spent the day decorating their classrooms. They did a great job and a pretty good job.

How did that get there?

Last week's Potat o' Lanterns have gone extremely bad. They put the ants to good use.

They decided to spook up the loo.

 The class of all gals (but two) did their typical half-assed attempt at their task. This is the result.

It's not entirely their fault, the first class had first crack at the decorations and chose the best ones. (Then again, 1/3 of the class just sat on their duffs and did naught to assist.)

Tomorrow is a costume party with Trick or Treating. Let's see if they all participate when snacks are on the line!

A truncated post tonight, for I spent the evening watching Wes Craven. First, "Invitation to Hell" a TV movie with a very sexy looking Joanna Cassidy. Then halfway through "A Nightmare on Elm Street", it dawned on my that I have never seen this in its entirety. Apart from Wes, ya know what connects these two movies? Joanna was in Roger Rabbit and the voice of Roger (Charles Fleischer) was the Doctor at the sleep clinic!

Pleasant dreams!

I almost forgot, I popped into the mall and found a box of Junji Ito pins. 

I bought Slug Girl!

Sticking Your Neck Out.

This giant Yokai, 大入道 (おおにゅうどう) or Ōnyūdō may resemble a priest but they are unrelated to the clergy. Ōnyūdō is a catchall term for giants and "can be separated into four general groups: those that harm humans; those that help humans; transformations of other yōkai; and other, truly unique ōnyūdō that do not fit into any of these categories."

"Regardless of how good or evil at heart a particular ōnyūdō is, they are by nature extremely dangerous. It is generally wise to leave them be. Better to avoid all contact with them than risk enraging an ōnyūdō and bringing destruction upon nearby villages."

Here is one in a parade. He will stick his neck out for anyone.

 This Junji Ito creation is not a Giant, but is an old man. Check out Professor Kinda.

As for me, I too am feeling like an old man, a dinosaur of sorts. We had a fun Halloween party for a bunch of school kids.  Mostly Marios and Princesses but there were a few standouts such as a Grim Reaper gal.

We had a fun game of Quidditch hosted by one of the Gryffindor Professors.

In the background there, you can see Alice has been mutated into a Cheshire Cat. (The Cat part of her attire was home-made.)

We were also aided by a shy witch and a Jack o' Lantern.

I paraded around in my Gachapin track suit. The epitome of lazy costuming.

This time I brought along a little friend.

After the event, I went shopping at the mall and had more gawkers than usual and a few whisperers of "Gachapin!" I took every opportunity to show off in the various displays.

I dropped another 30 bucks on Halloween decorations on sale. I'm a sucker for this.

Speaking of suckers.

And I even won a King Caesar at UFO Catcher (after innumerable attempts.)

I scored a couple of old comics as well for two bucks a piece!

All in all, a pretty good day!