Review of Ichi the Killer (2001) by The W — 10 Aug 2010

Jesus. Christ.

I haven't read the manga or known too much about this movie going in, I've heard some disturbing things about it, though, but I thought it had more to do with hype than actually being this messed up.

This is one of the most fucked-up movies I have ever seen, and it's pretty rare, almost non-existent, really, for a movie to make me hit pause and reach for the Rum bottle. Whether or not that's a good thing - it's debatable.

I did give this movie an 8/10, because I felt like it made an impression that I'll probably never forget, I quite enjoyed it, to be honest, but that's probably more a sign of my fucked up psych, and the general fatigue I feel from watching so many cookie-cutter, run of the mill, sterilized Hollywood slosh that the studios so insist upon unleashing onto the susceptible public time and again.

Seriously, Uninvited what? The Ring who? Nightmare on Who's Street? Chainsaw where? All those movies are so tame (and lame) when compared to this little outing from Takashi Miike, concerning a screwed up little dude by the name of Ichi. Completely harmless at first glance, he dons a rubber stuntman suit and kills people at night, having been adopted and trained by Jijii, as well as brainwashed into believing that sexual arousal and homicidal blood-lust are one and the same.

I won't go too much into the plot because I believe that if you are interested in this movie, you should watch it with as little knowledge of what's going on as possible, as it really throws some unexpected curve-balls at you.

CGI is kept to a minimum, although when used, it looks really fake and downright funny, but it's the practical effects that make this movie what it is - severed tongues, hook torture, rape, assault, decapitation and tons of pitch-black humor are just some of the little surprised that await to pounce on you like I pounce on Doritos when I reach the "Munchies" stage after taking my herbal medicine. *cough*idontreallyhaveaprescription*cough*.

And, I mean, let's face it - Japanese are some of the most twisted people in the world, and if you want to watch this movie - you probably already know that it's gonna be some messed up shit. Still, this is pretty out there, even for that little island. Proceed with extreme caution, and by God, don't let children watch this - I'm an adult, and I'll probably have dreams about this.

If you don't mind excessive violence, gore, masochism and a little misogynistic slapping around - go for it. Underneath all that - the movie is really quite fascinating.

Thanks for reading and please comment and state your opinions about my review, the movie or my state of mind.

Don't forget to thumb up/down:).