Through all that’s foul and fair
Nov. 2nd, 2024 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowhiveI didn’t make a post on Halloween, because my focus was off but happy Halloween (belated!). I did do some cupcake decorating and pumpkin carving but as you can see I lacked creative skills.
Halloween was spent finishing Agatha All Along (definitely my fav of the marvel series I’ve seen, and I definitely hope they do follow ups) and watching the new 4k of Trick R Treat. I also watched a Hammer documentary which wasn’t as good as the Christopher Lee one which was a shame.
Friday I had even less energy, I woke up with a head and it wouldn’t go away, only getting worse couple with my stomach being funny. I think it’s due to anxiety of medical stuff (I might make a post about that sometime but locked, though there’s no updates). It was annoying cause I wanted to watch the Traick R Treat special features that night but alas nope. (So that’s delayed for awhile)
I intend to start the Doctor Who Season 25 boxset tonight, cause I do feel a bit better today which is good.
But onto the main post, which is thoughts on films! Starting with the two j-horror rising ones.
Shikoku - 7/10
So I’ve finally started the J-horror rising boxset! I was hoping to do it sooner but head’s been fuzzy. I always was hoping to do double bulls with them (3 of the 4 discs have two films on them) but alas when I watched this Monday I knew I’d be too tired for another to.
So! First one is Shikoku, which is named after a Japanese island. I dunno how many of the customs/rituals shown in this are actual things that go on there or how much is fictional to the film. I’m gonna guess there’s equal parts of both though. (I did just skim the wiki briefly and there IS a 88 temple pilgrimage on the island like in the film, so at least that is true)
The central premise is a woman comes back to her home town (it seems she’s gotten a house somehow, possibly from an inheritance but it’s not elaborated on) only to find her childhood friend has died years ago. Said friend’s mother has been going on the 88 temple pilgrimage, but backwards. (That’s how it’s described on the blu ray back, which made me think she was literally walking backwards but no, she was doing them in the reverse order)
The whole thing has a kinda uneasy vibe, like you can tell that something strange is going on but you can’t tell what until near the end. Which I like, cause it’s definitely in the vein of investigation type stuff.
There is a main ghost that shows up (which you might guess, is the dead girl) but she doesn’t do anything threatening or malicious in most of her appearances (and, even when she does hurt people it’s not clear if that’s her intent).
One thing that is a head scratcher is other ghosts are seen, but only very briefly and, while it’s practically stated to be as a result of the ritual going on it doesn’t exactly go anywhere. (They make two or three appearances total and all very briefly)
Overall it feels like a good start, though it is a bit of a slow burn and not very scary.
The main special feature for it was new interview with the director and he’s very sweet. You can tell he has a lot of love for the film. Also I learned from it it was filmed on location in the actual Shikoku island and it was based on a novel (and originally released as a double bill with ring 2!)
Isola: Multiple Personality Girl - 5.5/10
The premise behind the second one is that, after the 93 Kobe earthquake, a woman with psychic abilities goes to help out in the relief efforts and, in doing so ends up starting with a school psychologist who is helping a girl with multiple personalities. The problem is a new one has shown up, resulting in mysterious deaths.
I admit the concept did make me worry a tad, because there’s stigma about people that have multiple personalities and I worried this would be along that line.
Thankfully this wasn’t like that. The girl (who isn’t called Isola) has multiple personalities as the result of trauma (both her parents dying in a car crash she was also involved in, and abuse from her uncle). And I felt sorry for her because it’s clearly she was bullied by both other students and teachers who should know better (a teacher even slaps her so hard she falls down some stairs!)
The mystery is where this new, supernatural, personality has came from. Now the synopsis of the film on the case made me think that the earthquake was involved somehow so I thought that the earthquake had either caused trauma or unleashed something. And, while the earthquake was involved it wasn’t how I expected.
Spoiler time!
Turns out just before the earthquake two scientists were doing an experiment about out of body experiences with one of the, being in an isolation tank. They succeed, so the woman in the tank is separated from her body and that’s when the quake hits. The guy ends up with his leg trapped and can only watch as rubble falls onto the tank.
I think one reason I didn’t like it as much was it felt like the attached ghost changes its motive. Like at first she’s just protecting the girl and then part way through it switched to her wanting revenge for what happened to her.
But all in all they were both pretty good and it was interesting I loved that, despite both featuring ghosts, that they were so different to one another. Like Shikoku is set out in the countryside, while Isola is in a town and both ghosts are different in terms of motive. Although there was also a similarity in the endings which amused me.
If either of these sound interesting as well as the boxset both are coming to Shudder in a few days. (It seems that most of the boxset films are on the same day which feels strange!)
Trick R Treat
Trick R Treat is a film I’ve watched annually on Halloween night for years (I think there’s only one time I didn’t see it on the night itself, cause I lost the dvd and had to replace it… only of course to find it later).
Anyway if you’ve not seen it the basic premise is this: it’s Halloween nights a town in Ohio. Over the course of the night four main stories are told. (And honestly I dunno how best to describe them without giving away what happens in each)
Trick R Treat is, at its core, an anthology. But unlike most anthologies out there these all take place at in the same place at the same time and, they’re all woven together. Features and people from each of them show up in other stories which really makes it feel like they’re all happening together. It makes it feel like a cohesive place, as opposed to some other ones I’ve seen where the stories feel separate from one another.
Every story is well done and there’s some twists that are truly horrifying, but at the same time it’s not gory. I suggest going in blind if you can first time, to really experience the full twists and turns of what happens. Even now, despite watching it many times, I notice little things I didn’t before and I’m sure I will on this new edition.
When arrow posted there was gonna be a new 4K edition I knew I had to get it, especially with J-horror rising. Included is a poster, some art cards and a booklet and there’s a bunch of new special features I’m looking forward to going through soon.
I’ve not rated it cause that’s for the j-horror rising stuff which is new to me but if I did I’d say it’s a ten, or at least close to it. There’s a reason why it’s one of the very few films I watch annually.
Anyway, I’m gonna walk the pup, then hopefully fic some more and maybe go on Fortnite before starting Who (expect a post on that tomorrow!)
Halloween was spent finishing Agatha All Along (definitely my fav of the marvel series I’ve seen, and I definitely hope they do follow ups) and watching the new 4k of Trick R Treat. I also watched a Hammer documentary which wasn’t as good as the Christopher Lee one which was a shame.
Friday I had even less energy, I woke up with a head and it wouldn’t go away, only getting worse couple with my stomach being funny. I think it’s due to anxiety of medical stuff (I might make a post about that sometime but locked, though there’s no updates). It was annoying cause I wanted to watch the Traick R Treat special features that night but alas nope. (So that’s delayed for awhile)
I intend to start the Doctor Who Season 25 boxset tonight, cause I do feel a bit better today which is good.
But onto the main post, which is thoughts on films! Starting with the two j-horror rising ones.
Shikoku - 7/10
So I’ve finally started the J-horror rising boxset! I was hoping to do it sooner but head’s been fuzzy. I always was hoping to do double bulls with them (3 of the 4 discs have two films on them) but alas when I watched this Monday I knew I’d be too tired for another to.
So! First one is Shikoku, which is named after a Japanese island. I dunno how many of the customs/rituals shown in this are actual things that go on there or how much is fictional to the film. I’m gonna guess there’s equal parts of both though. (I did just skim the wiki briefly and there IS a 88 temple pilgrimage on the island like in the film, so at least that is true)
The central premise is a woman comes back to her home town (it seems she’s gotten a house somehow, possibly from an inheritance but it’s not elaborated on) only to find her childhood friend has died years ago. Said friend’s mother has been going on the 88 temple pilgrimage, but backwards. (That’s how it’s described on the blu ray back, which made me think she was literally walking backwards but no, she was doing them in the reverse order)
The whole thing has a kinda uneasy vibe, like you can tell that something strange is going on but you can’t tell what until near the end. Which I like, cause it’s definitely in the vein of investigation type stuff.
There is a main ghost that shows up (which you might guess, is the dead girl) but she doesn’t do anything threatening or malicious in most of her appearances (and, even when she does hurt people it’s not clear if that’s her intent).
One thing that is a head scratcher is other ghosts are seen, but only very briefly and, while it’s practically stated to be as a result of the ritual going on it doesn’t exactly go anywhere. (They make two or three appearances total and all very briefly)
Overall it feels like a good start, though it is a bit of a slow burn and not very scary.
The main special feature for it was new interview with the director and he’s very sweet. You can tell he has a lot of love for the film. Also I learned from it it was filmed on location in the actual Shikoku island and it was based on a novel (and originally released as a double bill with ring 2!)
Isola: Multiple Personality Girl - 5.5/10
The premise behind the second one is that, after the 93 Kobe earthquake, a woman with psychic abilities goes to help out in the relief efforts and, in doing so ends up starting with a school psychologist who is helping a girl with multiple personalities. The problem is a new one has shown up, resulting in mysterious deaths.
I admit the concept did make me worry a tad, because there’s stigma about people that have multiple personalities and I worried this would be along that line.
Thankfully this wasn’t like that. The girl (who isn’t called Isola) has multiple personalities as the result of trauma (both her parents dying in a car crash she was also involved in, and abuse from her uncle). And I felt sorry for her because it’s clearly she was bullied by both other students and teachers who should know better (a teacher even slaps her so hard she falls down some stairs!)
The mystery is where this new, supernatural, personality has came from. Now the synopsis of the film on the case made me think that the earthquake was involved somehow so I thought that the earthquake had either caused trauma or unleashed something. And, while the earthquake was involved it wasn’t how I expected.
Spoiler time!
Turns out just before the earthquake two scientists were doing an experiment about out of body experiences with one of the, being in an isolation tank. They succeed, so the woman in the tank is separated from her body and that’s when the quake hits. The guy ends up with his leg trapped and can only watch as rubble falls onto the tank.
I think one reason I didn’t like it as much was it felt like the attached ghost changes its motive. Like at first she’s just protecting the girl and then part way through it switched to her wanting revenge for what happened to her.
But all in all they were both pretty good and it was interesting I loved that, despite both featuring ghosts, that they were so different to one another. Like Shikoku is set out in the countryside, while Isola is in a town and both ghosts are different in terms of motive. Although there was also a similarity in the endings which amused me.
If either of these sound interesting as well as the boxset both are coming to Shudder in a few days. (It seems that most of the boxset films are on the same day which feels strange!)
Trick R Treat
Trick R Treat is a film I’ve watched annually on Halloween night for years (I think there’s only one time I didn’t see it on the night itself, cause I lost the dvd and had to replace it… only of course to find it later).
Anyway if you’ve not seen it the basic premise is this: it’s Halloween nights a town in Ohio. Over the course of the night four main stories are told. (And honestly I dunno how best to describe them without giving away what happens in each)
Trick R Treat is, at its core, an anthology. But unlike most anthologies out there these all take place at in the same place at the same time and, they’re all woven together. Features and people from each of them show up in other stories which really makes it feel like they’re all happening together. It makes it feel like a cohesive place, as opposed to some other ones I’ve seen where the stories feel separate from one another.
Every story is well done and there’s some twists that are truly horrifying, but at the same time it’s not gory. I suggest going in blind if you can first time, to really experience the full twists and turns of what happens. Even now, despite watching it many times, I notice little things I didn’t before and I’m sure I will on this new edition.
When arrow posted there was gonna be a new 4K edition I knew I had to get it, especially with J-horror rising. Included is a poster, some art cards and a booklet and there’s a bunch of new special features I’m looking forward to going through soon.
I’ve not rated it cause that’s for the j-horror rising stuff which is new to me but if I did I’d say it’s a ten, or at least close to it. There’s a reason why it’s one of the very few films I watch annually.
Anyway, I’m gonna walk the pup, then hopefully fic some more and maybe go on Fortnite before starting Who (expect a post on that tomorrow!)
