A Flame Among Coals

Originally published at The Pandemonium Project. You can comment here or there.

Introducing Anthony to Bound. “It’s a noir film by the Wachowski brother…and sister…starring the voice of Chucky’s wife, ‘Old Titties’ from Showgirls, and that dick from The Matrix. And there’s fisting!”

I’ve always loved the Wachowski Bros. commentary track on Bound; they rip Jennifer Tilly the whole time. “I told her to act surprised. Would you look at her? And the GAPING MOUTH again. She can’t act and keep her mouth closed at the same time.” Been saying that for YEARS. So, thank you, America, for notifying me that the Wachowski Bros. no longer exist – it is now Wachowski Bro and Ho.

Larry Wachowski is now Lana Wachowski.

That’s Megumi Okina. She’s pretty, isn’t she?
Do you recognize her? I wouldn’t expect that you would, unless you followed her career.
Here, I’ll post a more recognizable photo:

There. Now you recognize her face. Now look back at the first photo and try to see her as anything but a murderous demon with a soul stitched from orphans’ entrails in the bowels of Hell.
Yeah, I can’t, either.
And that is awesome. I want to tear out her heart and eat it so I can assume her power.

I collect certain film series, such as Tartan Asian Extreme, Seduction Cinema, and Troma.
Individual Tromas are hard to find. You’ll usually see them as part of an 8-movie set sold for $1.99. But they’ve got titles like “Tales From The Crapper,” featuring Julie Strain, Ron Jeremy, Trey Parker, Eli Roth, Wes Craven, Kevin Eastman, Jorge Garcia, and a number of other industry favorites.

I love them because USA Up All Night will always have a place in my heart.

Gilbert Godfrey’s in there somewhere, I swear.

And if Rhonda Shear still needed to don spandex and pleather to support her imaginary career in stand-up comedy, Bachelor Party in the Bungalow of the Damned would have been on that show.

Because you can’t give Troma films away, they’re usually boxed with other movies. “Shutter” was also in that ridiculously inexpensive collection.
Some of you may have played Fatal Frame, which has a legacy as one of the most frightening horror games of all time:

There have been whispers of a movie in the works for nearly a decade and horror gamers everywhere have been waiting with bated breath.
In the meantime, Shutter was considered a tribute, an homage, a “film inspired by” the game.
Here it is, in its entirety, for your viewing pleasure:

The American remake of Shutter was significantly less successful than the original, but unlike the original, it starred Megumi Okina.
That, alone, makes it worth the watch.

I swear to god, that woman can carry an entire plot on her slumped, uneven shoulders. She has terror down to an art and I am stricken with awe at the sight of her. Although she continually retires from the film industry, I hope she never fully commits to that promise. The horror industry needs her, almost as much as it needs Daveigh Chase.

Or, as you know her, Samara.

The longer I stare at that photo, the more it feels like she’s going to start moving.

I used to be afraid that the horror industry was dying (like when Spooky and I dressed up as camp counselors for the premiere of Jason in Space), but the Asian film community is in bed with horror in a way that the American film industry may never embrace. There are no “jumps” or “shocks,” just a cold, seething terror that washes over you, quickly and yet seemingly in slow-motion, like darkness in a power failure.

Someday soon I’ll write reviews for my entire collection of Tartan Asian films, but I would recommend that you watch them all – I have never been disappointed, and have – more than once – been frozen to the couch.

Originally published at The Pandemonium Project. Please leave any comments there.