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Living Hell (2000)
aka Iki-jigoku
Written and directed by Shugo Fujii

The gory cover art and promise of "A Japanese Chainsaw Massacre!" imply that Living Hell will be an over-the-top bloodfest, but there are no chainsaws to speak of, nor all that much gore, nor any scares whatsoever, nor even a semblance of coherence. The only "living hell" you encounter is the one you yourself are in while watching it.

The opening moments feature an elderly woman and a mute girl brutally murdering a married couple, but the film quickly loses steam in pursuit of psychological twists and would-be homages to Brian DePalma; none of it makes sense, and even as a spoof it lacks ingenuity of any kind. It's one of the worst films I've seen in a long time, and probably the all-time worst Japanese film I've ever seen.

It looks homemade, and the writing is shit. They got me with a well-designed DVD box, I'll give them that; but in all honesty Living Hell almost justifies another atomic bomb attack on Japan … or at least a mutant viral-bomb that might disable all the fucking videocameras there in the hands of inept filmmakers.

this shit blows

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by La Fée