ERos in Hell

[Ted Mills]

Hi,

I just finished this book (Eros in Hell: Sex, Blood, and Madness in
Japanese Cinema; Jack Hunter, ed.; Creation Books, 1998), and since
nobody's mentioned it, I give some brief comments for those who've seen it
and are curious.

Creation Books produces a line of cinema books examining fringe cinema
(their other ones have dealt with Hammer horror films, Freak films, etc.)
so this book looks at Japanese exploitation cinema/video, with chapters on
Pinku Eiga, Koji Wakamatsu, S/M films, "Ai no Corrida", Hiyayasu Sato,
Ultraviolence (films such as Guinea Pig, All Night Long, Evil Dead Trap,
etc.), Takao Nakano, and underground/experimental/cyberpunk films.

The book is hit or miss. The interview with Wakamatsu is essential for any
non-Japanese speaker into his films (it's the only interview I've seen),
and, having not seen any of the other interviewed directors' works, I would
imagine this applies also to Shojin Fukui (Rubber's Lover), Sato, and
Nakano. Interviews are by Romaine Slocombe, who makes medical-fetish art
(among other things).

Other chapters only seem to exist for a few lengthy descriptions of films
actually watched (yet another "so-graphic-it-must-be-documented" synopsis
of "Guinea Pig"--see "Mondo Macabro", which I need to pick up), passing
references to other films one knows the writer *hasn't* watched (the
descriptions read like video jacket copy), and graphic photos (some without
captions!)

The essay on Ai no Corrida seems out of place with the tone of the book,
like somebody's unpublished dissertation, though its analysis is okay,
bordering on the pretentious.

Another bad point: no filmographies!

To sum up, this book may be the closest some of us get to seeing some of
these films (if we'd want to!), some excellent interviews, and

I'm curious about Hiyayasu Sato. the author compares him to David
Cronenberg in terms of examining psycho/sexual/biological extremism. I
wonder if anybody has seen his work (especially 1996's Naked Blood) and
would agree/disagree on this, and if these films are valid above the level
of cheap exploitation.

Ted

p.s. Any other lengthy English writings on Wakamatsu exist, apart from "To
the Distant Observer"?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ted Mills
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Stoopid ol' USA                             your weakest link"
>>mills at rain.org<<                              - Mark E. Smith

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