2/6     http://www.ichithekiller.com  the site is work safe, but not the movie
        trailer.  Anybody seen this movie?  Supposedly it's better and more
        gory than Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  I haven't seen it but I believe
        that.  You don't know violence and gore until you've seen asian
        horror movies.  Thanks.
        \_ ichi is very gory, yes. it also has a sort of nonsensical plot,
           which is supposed to have a lot of hidden meaning or some shit, but
           which didn't really strike me as that. i felt like it was a waste
           of time, though this is probably one of those films where you
           love it or hate it.
           \_ the plot sort of makes sense if you really analyze it.  I
              thought ichi had a lot of extremely artistic digital
              composting.  Very dada, though.  Gore for the sake of gore,
              compositing.  Very dada, though.  Gore for the sake of gore,
              gore to the point where it transcends just plain old gore and
              becomes a statement on the nature and reason for gore in films;
              a statement that you as the viewer have to decipher and decide
              for yourself.  Plus it has Shinya Tsukimoto playing the
              mastermind of all the violence.
        \_ I love Takashi Miike.  This is one of his gorier films, though
           I'd personally start with something like Dead or Alive or
           City of Lost Souls and move up from there.  I think you'll
           appreciate Ichi more that way... and though my personal favorites
           are Audition and Happiness of the Katakuris, they don't have
           quite the effect unless you've already seen his gorier films.
           Visitor Q has one of the best necrophilia scenes ever put to
           celluloid.  Oh, BTW, he has a new one in the SF Indie fest,
           called Gozu.  http://www.sfindie.com
           \_ I've seen both Audition and Happiness of the Katakuris,
              and thought the latter was really excellent while the
              former was somewhat boring.  Do any of his other movies
              veer towards arty, rather than gore-as-spectacle?
              \_ all of his films are different.  After seeing Dead or
                 Alive, I found Audition to be one of the most suspenseful
                 movies I've ever watched.  Everything seemed so tame and
                 maybe normal, it gave me heart palpitations waiting for
                 it to get as weird and gorey as I knew it must get.  There's
                 a lot of gore, and to some degree that's the point of a lot
                 of his films.  It's more than just shock cinema, though.
                 It's shock cinema that makes me, at least, re-evaluate the
                 boundaries of conventional taboo and consider their purposes.
                \_ I loved the Audition. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is also the shiznit.
        \_ slightly OT: has anyone seen Kitano's version of Zatoichi..worth $$?