‘Grotesque’: A Closer Look

Since the BBFC banned the DVD of Koji Shiraishi’s latest flick, Grotesque (Gurotesuku) a few weeks ago, it’s become one of the most talked about (and certainly one of the most Googled) horror movies in months. And predictably, it has launched a new dialogue about the banning of horror films in general.

You can add the guys over at the HorrorEtc podcast to that list. In their latest episode (No. 99), Tony, Ted, and guest host Doug actually fire up a copy of Grotesque and combine some running commentary on the torture flick with well-thought-out observations about horror movie censorship in recent years.

This commentary is something really tailor-made for the HorrorEtc crew. While the odd factual error may tick-off the die-hard fright fans (e.g, pinku films are actually Japanese softcore porn flicks rather than torture or horror films), HorrorEtc’s strengths has always been in the avuncular, enthusiastic manner of its hosts. And when delving into the details of an extremely nihilistic piece of work like Grotesque, it helps immensely to have likable guides who also give the impression that they’re not the jaded, giggling schoolboys who often put together horror podcasts.

Check back soon for a wrapup of horror podcasts that just may rekindle your enthusiasm for the genre.

`Audition’, Take 2

It is WAY too early to get too excited about this (Restraints! Where are the restraints?!), but a cinematic adaptation of Ryu Murakami’s Tokyo serial killer novel In the Miso Soup has been cleared for take off, with Paris, Texas director Wim Wenders and Willem Dafoe attached.

Japan Extreme die-hards will recall that Takashi Miike’s breakout flick, Audition, also was based on the work of Murakami (which remains annoyingly untranslated into English to this day, damn it). Shooting on the $8 million film begins in February, according to Screen International.

Another Murakami adaptation, Coin Locker Babies starring Val Kilmer (I know, I know), Tadanobu Asano (Kakihara from Miike’s Ichi the Killer) and Asia Argento, is also supposed to be in production, with distribution being handled by Miramax. This story of two men who were abandoned as children in coin lockers at a Tokyo train station will be Asano’s first English-speaking role, according to this snippet from The Guardian newspaper.