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Masters of Horror: Haeckel's Tale (2006)
Maybe the worst episode so far
**SPOILER**I really liked the episode till the point where it turns out that the woman needed to resurrect her dead husband just for sex. Admittedly, the actress was gorgeous and the student's profile kinda reminded me of the young Harrison Ford, but that doesn't do any good at all when the writing is as bad as in this episode. It honestly was annoying to not see the woman pay for her deeds, but to see her older husband, the student and the necromancer getting killed. Which by the way, happened for no obvious reasons either, and why did the husband get killed by the zombies in the first place and then why didn't the student, who was taken into the old man's home, not even have the damn decency to save him? Why didn't the zombies eat/kill him while he was lying there all nightlong? Where are Takashi Miike's influences on this episode? I like horror movies, but I just hate it when the most annoying characters survive (see House of 1000 Corpses).**SPOILER**
Riri Shushu no subete (2001)
Nothing new
I admittedly liked the camera and some of the pictures in the movie but other than that All about Lily Chou Chou had little to offer for me. Another story about bullying mixed with another story about some mysterious force (Ether, there's a long list of movies and video games from Japan with similar topics). The movie has a length of almost 2 1/2 hours, but even though I like lengthy movies and long-shot scenes which are often used in Japanese cinema, I got the impression the the time was almost utterly wasted in Iwai's allegedly "intelligent" movie. I don't want to complain too much about how the same topics are being used again and again, but at least try to bring in some new points of view and add some thoughts.
From a very subjective point of view I'd also like to state that all that arrogant talk about "Lily Chou Chou" from the chat room annoyed the living hell out of me. And Iwai-san, you shouldn't have mentioned the Beatles.
This movie could've been brilliant, but considering the incredible story flaws it's hardly average and I'd definitely suggest to expect as little as possible if you're already familiar with Japanese cinema. I could imagine though that it is very intriguing if you haven't seen any Japanese movie before.
Uzumaki (2000)
Don't try to understand it without knowing the Manga
I watched this movie a couple of years ago, and when I first saw it I was just annoyed by it, since the story didn't make any sense at all. There are hardly any hints about what might be going on in this village and in the end you're left with no clue at all. For some movies of that genre this works just fine for me to a certain extent, I just didn't like the way Uzumaki left you completely in the dark.
Maybe if you knew the Manga, you'd be able to understand a lot more, so this review probably isn't of much value for you and if you just want to watch something strange I guess this movie will satisfy you, and admittedly can be entertaining to some degree.