Review of Audition (2000) by Gino P — 22 Dec 2009

For more than half of this movie you won't even know that it's a horror movie, and to me that's its greatest strength. Takashi Miike lulls the viewer into a sense of comfort, and then slowly creeps under your skin, until your finally blown away by the film's climax.

The slow, sweet beginning is in sharp contrast to the brutal & disturbing climax. In my opinion, what really makes a horror film is not the confrontation between the "monster" & the protagonists, but the tension, suspense, & anticipation that lead up to that confrontation, and this movie is a perfect example of that.

As the film progresses towards its ending the plot does get a little hard to follow & the viewer may have a hard determining what is real & what's a dream, but I love a movie that actually makes you use your brain.

The genres of drama, romance, and horror are blended seemlessly throughout this truely disturbing movie, that'll always be hotly debated among movie fans. Most people are either going to be "bored" by the slow beginning or are going to be put off by its disturbingly violent ending.

But those who do sit down and take the movie as a whole, studying all of the subtleties and metaphors, will be in for a treat.