Holy shit, last day of the month!

I've been a negligent poster, dear reader. I'd like to say January zipped right by, but it didn't. I've spent the month revising and editing my new book, a pursuit that has unfortunately completely consumed any available blogging time (and I still ain't done). But why am I making excuses? This is my blog, right? There's no Blog Boss I gotta answer to, I can do anything I want so screw it. As long as I make my self-imposed one-post-per-month quota, I'm golden. (Phew, just made it.)

Oh, I guess I should mention a shocking Asian film while I'm here. How about this: Sleepy Eyes of Death: The Human Tarantula. Here's a review by Paghat the Ratgirl. Great flick, definitely among the more scandalous of the series.

I'll be back ...

Holiday Harangue

While I'm not really into the spirit, I wouldn't say I hate the holidays per se. I get it: People bum out in the Winter time and look around for something to get excited about. They have festivals, perform rituals, drink a lot of booze, whatever it takes to get them through the long, dark nights. However, there are certain things about the American holiday scene that I find truly repulsive. Like Christmas carols. I loathe Christmas carols. All that crap about snow and bells and "do you hear what I hear" -- it's saccharine and phony and each year it bugs me a little more. The other day, standing in a long line at Borders, I finally got a break -- no fucking Xmas carols on the sound system. However, a middle-aged woman behind me insisted on whistling a number of them (off key, of course). I finally lost it and burst out singing to her wonky accompaniment: "Walking in my winter under-wear!" Everyone in line laughed and it seemed to shut her up.

The other thing that vexes me is the consumer panic. You can't just go about your business at the holidays, you're bound to get sucked up into the shopping frenzy of others. Why must I be inconvenienced by someone else's religious mania and/or deadline-driven flight of false consciousness? God forbid I go to Costco for some toilet paper and coffee -- I'll be trampled by the harried hordes with their gift baskets and giant bottles of hooch! Happy holidays my ass, the only people that are happy at the holidays are kids. Media-programmed, conformist little id monsters who must be appeased at all costs. They're the main reason adults are lined up outside big box stores before dawn the day after Thanksgiving, bleary-eyed and ready to duke it out with whoever stands in the way of them and the shit their stupid kids want. Kids. Who needs 'em? As some wag put it, "They're needy, boring and they can't hold their liquor." 'Nuff said.

So instead of some Hallmark sentiment, I'll just wish you health and some measure of peace of mind. These are things we could all use, no matter the season.

Quick-Draw Okatsu

I've been waiting for years to see this flick, ever since I saw a production still in Alain Silver's The Samurai Film. Oh how happy I am that Synapse has finally released it in all its gruesome glory. It's part of their Legends of the Poinsonous Seductress series. This film, and it's sequel, Okatsu the Fugitive, were directed by Japanese horror legend Nobuo Nakagawa. The old boy proves he can dish out cruelty-laden exploitation fare as well if not better than his Toei contemporaries. I'll be writing more about this film in my upcoming book, Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves 2: Deeper Into Samurai Film. For now, all I can say is check it out!

Piece in Rue Morgue

I wrote a one-pager for the big 10th Anniversary Halloween issue of Rue Morgue Magazine (October, 2007) reviewing Teruo Ishii's Horrors of Malformed Men and Nobuo Nakagawa's Snake Woman's Curse, both recently released by Synapse. It's on page 100. So run down to your local well-stocked kiosk or big box bookstore and get your copy today!

Ebola Syndrome

Back when I was researching films for Asia Shock, I screened a couple of Category III classics by Hong Kong shockmeister Herman Yau, The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome. I wrote about the former, but not the latter, as I felt it was too similar. (In fact, due to the success of The Untold Story, a horrendous tale of a psychotic restaurateur selling human meat roast pork buns, the producers of Ebola Syndrome insisted the same gimmick be inserted into the script.) I'm happy to report that Diskotek has released the definitive DVD version of Ebola Syndrome (the Hong Kong disk I got left something to be desired transfer-wise and had no extras). So for all of you out there who enjoyed the lurid pleasures of The Untold Story, not only will you get more cannibalism schtick, but the great Anthony Wong is back and up to his heinous old tricks, robbing, killing and spreading Ebola everywhere he goes (he caught it when he raped a sick African villager). Of course he winds up in Hong Kong, gets a couple of hookers and soon all hell breaks loose -- cops in hazmat suits all around. Pretty outrageous flick, not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. Check it out, Sid.

MovieMaker Magazine digs Asia Shock

There's a nice review of Asia Shock in MovieMaker Magazine Issue #70. They don't put that stuff online, so you have to just go buy the mag.

EDIT: OK, I scanned the review for virtual posterity. BTW, while I appreciate the praise, I disagree that the films reviewed were merely the usual suspects. Take a look at this list and decide for yourself.

The H-Man

Finally got to see this gem of Toho weirdness from 1958. Once again, nuclear fallout has done nasty things, this time turning people into slime that can reconstitute into ghostly, green, glowing glob-men. Intermixed with the horror/sci-fi is a police procedural involving a yakuza gang, one of whose members is a very young Makoto Sato (above, right) in his film debut. The cops include kaiju/samurai regulars Akihiko Hirata and Yoshio Tsuchiya. Great flick, with all the creeping, existential dread of Matango (aka Attack of the Mushroom People) and dialog like this: "The high voltage discharge unit, once deployed, will stop liquid human infiltration upstream at these checkpoints." Unfortunately, dear reader, you will not be able to see The H-Man (aka Beauty and the Liquid Man) unless you're hooked into the Japanese film bootleg underground -- it's not available commercially, at least not yet. Shame that, as it's an absolute must-see for Toho fantasy film enthusiasts. Fortunately this blog is read by all the industry bigwigs, so I'm sure within weeks of this post Criterion, Image, Media Blasters, AnimEigo or some other outfit will be rushing this baby into production. Yeah, right after I turn to slime and drip down the walls of their corporate headquarters ...