Movies
[Fantastic Fest ’13 Review] ‘Why Don’t You Play in Hell’ Is a Hypnotically Insane Movie About Movies
The experience of watching Shion Sono’s Why Don’t You Play in Hell is probably a lot like snorting a bottle of 5 Hour Energy. Only the effect of the film lasts two and a half hours and you won’t be hospitalized afterwards. Maybe. During those two and a half hours, we follow a rabidly enthusiastic group of amateur filmmakers called “The Fuck Bombers” as they get mixed up with a rivalry between two Yakuza clans. The gangs are beefing over a young girl who used to be famous for her work in a strangely popular toothpaste commercial. And the girl’s mom is serving 10 years for slaughtering Yakuza members with a butcher knife around town. Yes, the plot itself is insane, but Sono manages to present this hodge-podge of material in a coherent manner – creating an unforgettable movie in the process.
Hirata is the leader of The Fuck Bombers (FBs). He’s a devout soldier of cinema and swears to the “Movie God” that he will die to make one masterpiece. He’s possessed with a powerful, but naive, determination. The other members of FBs are a giant lesbian who calls herself the Queen of the Handheld Shot and an overweight man perpetually on roller-skates so he can act as a human dolly. When we first meet them they’re out on the street, capturing a real life rumble between junior Yakuza members. One of the, Kitamura, joins FBs as their wannabe Bruce Lee action star.
While the FBs relentlessly struggle to make their masterpiece, childhood star Mitsuko gets fired from her toothpaste commercial gig because her gangster father Muto (Jun Kunimura – Outrage) and her murderous mother aren’t really what the brand is looking for. The way everyone is obsessed with Mitsuko’s toothpaste commercial and its contagious jingle is a running joke in the film – one that’s made even funnier when its hard-ass Yakuza gangsters unable to get the jingle outta their heads. The jingle also acts as a clever remark on the disposable and catchy social contributions made by advertisers. It’s one of the many ways the film looks at how media shapes reality – whether you want it to or not.
So Muto’s wife is sentenced to 10 years for killing a whole lot of rival Yakuza thugs. Here the film jumps forward a decade to find everyone basically stuck in the same existence as when we first met them. The FBs are still misguidedly striving for their masterpiece and the two Yakuza clans are still beefing. With his wife being released from prison shortly, Muto is desperately trying to make Mitsuko a movie star. She’s not interested in starring in some melodramatic romance bullshit, she wants to be a badass action star – like the badass she is in real life. Seriously, see if you can get past the “farewell kiss” she gives her ex-boyfriend without cringing.
Muto can’t find a film crew that’ll work with Mitsuko, so enter the Fuck Bombers. Finally their prayers to the Movie God are answered and they have the means to create a masterpiece. Their leader, Hirata, refuses to compromise his filmmaking integrity even in the face of the Yakuza. In a very strong way, he’s the kind of guy most directors start out as in their youth – before huge paychecks and the politics of the industry cloud their morals. Sono returns to that state with Why Don’t You Play in Hell as he utilizes everything in the toolbox like a giddy film school student. Insane zooms, transitions, pans, etc. – the whole shebang is on full, glorious display. In essence, the film is a hyper-stylized celebration of cinema, with buckets of blood thrown in for good measure.
Everything leads up to the shooting of Hirata’s masterpiece, which is basically a John Woo shootout cranked up to 11. This is where the lines of reality and fantasy truly blur. We’re not quite sure what’s really happening or who’s really dying. Characters who just a moment before took a katana to the brain continue to rumble and even the FBs get into the action with automatic weapons that materialize from out of nowhere. It’s amazing, giddy stuff that homages a ton of films, like Bruce Lee’s Game of Death and Kill Bill.
Huge in scope but focused in its bravado, Why Don’t You Play in Hell is Sono (Cold Fish, Love Exposure) delivering a big, sloppy Bugs Bunny-style kiss to cinema. Like the Fuck Bombers and their excitable leader Hirata, Sono wants his audience to go crazy over movies again – to scream our love of cinema to the world, which he and his characters certainly do here. It’s a stunning audio-visual seizure that laments the end of 35mm, but celebrates all of the possibilities of cinema. Hirata frequently proclaims that he’ll die for cinema and, after watching his film, I have a feeling Sono isn’t just talking shit.
The Bloody Disgusting-powered SCREAMBOX is home to a variety of unique horror content, from originals and exclusives to cult classics and documentaries. With such a rapidly-growing library, there are many hidden gems waiting to be discovered.
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At the Abigail premiere, Dan Stevens listed Norway among his four favorite vampire movies. “I just saw a great movie recently that I’d never heard of,” he told Letterboxd. “A Greek film called Norway, about a vampire who basically exists in the underground disco scene in ’80s Athens, and he can’t stop dancing ’cause he’s worried his heart will stop. And it’s lovely. It’s great.”
You won’t find a better endorsement than that, but allow me to elaborate. Imagine Only Lovers Left Alive meets What We Do in the Shadows by way of Yorgos Lanthimos. The quirky 2014 effort follows a vampire vagabond (Vangelis Mourikis) navigating Greek’s sordid nightlife circa 1984 as he dances to stay alive. Not as campy as it sounds, its idiosyncrasies land more in the art-house realm. Stylized visuals, colorful bloodshed, pulsating dance music, and an absurd third-act reveal help the existentialism go down in a mere 74 minutes.
With the recent solar eclipse renewing public interest in the astrological event, Bloody Birthday is ripe for rediscovery. Three children born during an eclipse – Curtis Taylor (Billy Jayne, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose), Debbie Brody (Elizabeth Hoy), and Steven Seton (Andrew Freeman) – begin committing murders on their 10th birthday. Brother and sister duo Joyce (Lori Lethin, Return to Horror High) and Timmy Russell (K.C. Martel, The Amityville Horror) are the only ones privy to their heinous acts.
Bloody Birthday opened in 1981 mere weeks before the release of another attempt to claim the birthday slot on the slasher calendar, Happy Birthday to Me. Director Ed Hunt (The Brain) combines creepy kid tropes that date back to The Bad Seed with slasher conventions recently established by Halloween and Friday the 13th – with a little bit of the former’s suspense and plenty of the latter’s gratuity. The unconventional set up helps it to stand out among a subgenre plagued by banality.
Starting in the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s, Italy built an enterprise out of shameless rip-offs of hit American movies. While not a blatant mockbuster like Cruel Jaws or Beyond the Door, 1989’s Alien from the Abyss (also known as Alien from the Deep) was inspired by – as you may have guessed from its title – Alien, Aliens, and The Abyss.
After a pair of Greenpeace activists attempt to expose an evil corporation that’s dumping contaminated waste into an active volcano, the environment takes a backseat to survival when an extraterrestrial monster attacks. Character actor Charles Napier (The Silence of the Lambs) co-stars as a callous colonel overseeing the illicit activities.
Director Antonio Margheriti (Yor: The Hunter from the Future, Cannibal Apocalypse) and writer Tito Carpi (Tentacles, Last Cannibal World) take far too long to get to the alien, but once it shows up, it’s non-stop excitement. The creature is largely represented by a Gigeresque pincer claw that reaches into the frame, giving the picture a ’50s creature feature charm, but nothing can prepare you for its full reveal in the finale.
Set against the backdrop of displaced Syrian and Palestinian refugees, What Is Buried Must Remain is a timely found footage hybrid from Lebanon. It centers on a trio of young filmmakers as they make a documentary in a decrepit mansion alleged to be haunted on the outskirts of a refugee camp. Inside, they find the spirits of those who died there, both benevolent and malicious.
It plays like Blair Witch meets The Shining through a cultural lens not often seen in the genre. The first half is presented as found footage (with above-average cinematography) before abruptly weaving in more traditional film coverage. While the tropes are familiar, the film possesses a unique ethos by addressing the Middle East’s plights of the past and the present alike.
Cathy’s Curse is, to borrow a phrase from its titular creepy kid, an “extra rare piece of shit.” The Exorcist, The Omen, and Carrie spawned countless low-budget knock-offs, but none are as uniquely inept as this 1977 Canuxploitation outing. Falling squarely in the so-bad-it’s-good camp, it’s far more entertaining than The Exorcist: Believer.
To try to make sense of the plot would be futile, but in a nutshell, a young girl named Candy (Randi Allen, in her only acting role) becomes possessed by the vengeful, foul-mouthed spirit of her aunt, destroying the lives of anyone who crosses her path. What ensues is a madcap mélange of possession, telekinesis, teleportation, animal attacks, abandoned plot points, and unhinged filmmaking that must be seen to be believed.
Visit the SCREAMBOX Hidden Gems archives for more recommendations.
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