Post by sin on Dec 17, 2009 14:11:39 GMT -6
Plot:
Courtesy of Wiki:
"Christopher (Billy Drago), a Victorian era American journalist, is traveling through Japan looking for Komomo (Itô), a lost girlfriend whom he had promised to rescue from prostitution and bring to America. Landing on an island populated solely by whores and their masters, he is solicited by a syphilitic tout (Yamada). She claims no knowledge of Komomo, but Christopher has to spend the night, requesting the company of a girl (Youki Kudoh) lurking back in the shadows, who joins him in his room.
Disfigured and disturbed, the girl claims a closer connection with the dead than the living. She tells him that Komomo was there, but hanged herself after her love never came for her. Distraught, Christopher seeks solace in sake. Falling asleep, he requests a bedtime story. The girl recounts her past — her mother, a midwife, was forced to sell her to a brothel after her father died, and eventually she wound up on the island. Komomo was the most popular girl there, making the others jealous. When the Madam's jade ring was stolen, Komomo was tortured to confess. After suffering hideously — underarms burned, needles driven under fingernails and into gums — she killed herself in shame and torment.
Christopher refuses to believe the girl's story, and he pleads for the whole truth. The girl starts again, in the second telling, her family is no longer happy nor loving; her father was an alcoholic, her mother an abortionist. She was taken in by a Buddhist priest, who, presumably, molested her and inspired an obsession with hell. Her father never died of lung disease — she beat him to death for raping her. Again she tells of being sold into prostitution, but gives a new version of the dark fate of Christopher's beloved Komomo. Despite the kindness of Komomo, who befriended her, the disfigured girl stole the jade ring and planted Komomo's hairpin to frame her — and after Komomo was tortured, killed her. She explains to Christopher that she intended to save Komomo from hell: as Komomo would be doomed for having such an evil friend, only through betrayal could she sever the friendship and ensure Komomo a deservedly beautiful afterlife.
Christopher, losing control, is desperately convinced something has been left out. He begs for the whole truth. The woman then reveals a horrifying secret: a tiny second head in the center of a hand hidden beneath her hair — her "Little Sis", a parasitic twin. Her mother and father had been brother and sister, "Little Sis" was the fruit of their incest. It was "Little Sis" who commanded her to kill her father, and to steal the ring. As the hand begins to talk like Komomo in a high-pitched voice, Christopher is overcome by madness and shoots the girl in the heart and then the head. Before dying, the girl's body turns into Komomo.
The epilogue finds Christopher in a Japanese prison serving time for the murder of the girl. He is kept company only by the ghosts of his past."
(4 of 7 was removed by youtube for graphic content)
***Komomo's torture scene**
If you haven't seen this, it's a must see. I was pretty impressed, given it was a 'Masters of Horror' collection movie. I borrowed a boxed film set from a friend. The 12 films which accompanied this one, pale in comparison. This was the thirteenth, and hands-down the best of the collection.
I found it contained many of the ideals of the Cthulhu mythos.
It even had a few funny parts, I laughed out loud.
Just when you think you know what is going on, you don't. The movie ends, with an interesting turn.
Alternate realities, based on alternate perceptions of both the observer and observed.
Horrific creatures, wholly human.
Eldritch weirdness, you are a tourist to an unseen world that exists - between worlds.
What you believe to be true, is false.
What you think you know about humanity, forget all hope...ye who enter here.
Courtesy of Wiki:
"Christopher (Billy Drago), a Victorian era American journalist, is traveling through Japan looking for Komomo (Itô), a lost girlfriend whom he had promised to rescue from prostitution and bring to America. Landing on an island populated solely by whores and their masters, he is solicited by a syphilitic tout (Yamada). She claims no knowledge of Komomo, but Christopher has to spend the night, requesting the company of a girl (Youki Kudoh) lurking back in the shadows, who joins him in his room.
Disfigured and disturbed, the girl claims a closer connection with the dead than the living. She tells him that Komomo was there, but hanged herself after her love never came for her. Distraught, Christopher seeks solace in sake. Falling asleep, he requests a bedtime story. The girl recounts her past — her mother, a midwife, was forced to sell her to a brothel after her father died, and eventually she wound up on the island. Komomo was the most popular girl there, making the others jealous. When the Madam's jade ring was stolen, Komomo was tortured to confess. After suffering hideously — underarms burned, needles driven under fingernails and into gums — she killed herself in shame and torment.
Christopher refuses to believe the girl's story, and he pleads for the whole truth. The girl starts again, in the second telling, her family is no longer happy nor loving; her father was an alcoholic, her mother an abortionist. She was taken in by a Buddhist priest, who, presumably, molested her and inspired an obsession with hell. Her father never died of lung disease — she beat him to death for raping her. Again she tells of being sold into prostitution, but gives a new version of the dark fate of Christopher's beloved Komomo. Despite the kindness of Komomo, who befriended her, the disfigured girl stole the jade ring and planted Komomo's hairpin to frame her — and after Komomo was tortured, killed her. She explains to Christopher that she intended to save Komomo from hell: as Komomo would be doomed for having such an evil friend, only through betrayal could she sever the friendship and ensure Komomo a deservedly beautiful afterlife.
Christopher, losing control, is desperately convinced something has been left out. He begs for the whole truth. The woman then reveals a horrifying secret: a tiny second head in the center of a hand hidden beneath her hair — her "Little Sis", a parasitic twin. Her mother and father had been brother and sister, "Little Sis" was the fruit of their incest. It was "Little Sis" who commanded her to kill her father, and to steal the ring. As the hand begins to talk like Komomo in a high-pitched voice, Christopher is overcome by madness and shoots the girl in the heart and then the head. Before dying, the girl's body turns into Komomo.
The epilogue finds Christopher in a Japanese prison serving time for the murder of the girl. He is kept company only by the ghosts of his past."
(4 of 7 was removed by youtube for graphic content)
***Komomo's torture scene**
If you haven't seen this, it's a must see. I was pretty impressed, given it was a 'Masters of Horror' collection movie. I borrowed a boxed film set from a friend. The 12 films which accompanied this one, pale in comparison. This was the thirteenth, and hands-down the best of the collection.
I found it contained many of the ideals of the Cthulhu mythos.
It even had a few funny parts, I laughed out loud.
Just when you think you know what is going on, you don't. The movie ends, with an interesting turn.
Alternate realities, based on alternate perceptions of both the observer and observed.
Horrific creatures, wholly human.
Eldritch weirdness, you are a tourist to an unseen world that exists - between worlds.
What you believe to be true, is false.
What you think you know about humanity, forget all hope...ye who enter here.