Sensei Sensibility

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to ruin your precious childhood Pokémon memories;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your ghoulish appetite. Fresh off the back of my notorious Horror in Pok é mon panel recently hosted at Akumakon  2023, Galway , I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite creepy Pokémon moments discussed with the (rather rowdy) audience of the panel. The Faceless Ghost of Kalos: Rest for a moment, weary traveller, on this dark and stormy night at the seemingly empty house along the spookerific Kalos Route 14, and you will be greeted by a quaking man in the corner - warning you of hoard of faceless men standing right... behind you!! This is a delightfully odd story your character will be told by a besuited gentleman along said Route 14 in  Poké mon X&Y . While random, creepy moments are now a fan-staple of the Pokémon games, I've always...

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. Rosemary's Baby meets Joko Anwar in Netflix's latest Indonesian release The Womb . ( Inang in Indonesian) Papa Don't Preach, Wulan is in trouble deep!  Poor, young Wulan, sympathetically played by Naysila Mirdad , has found herself landed with an unexpected pregnancy, a job loss and an impending eviction.  The charming young gent who put her in the family way wants nothing to do with Wulan and the baby -  unless it's to pay for an abortion. Financial assistance and compassion are  not to be found in her sleazy manager's office at the local supermarket where she works - unless she's succumbs willingly to his moustachioed, sexual advances. And the animal print shirt wearing landlord of the grotty slums where Wulan lives has had enough of waitin...

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. I recently stumbled across   Lee Chung-hyun's 2020 South Korean thriller The Call . With such a generic title, I had vague expectations of a knock-off of  Ahn Byeong-ki's 2002  top-notch horror  Phone .  Whilst I do always like to be right , when it comes to Asian Cinema, I love it when a movie proves me wrong . Little did I know that The Call was one of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2020. How to define its genre? Thriller, crime drama, horror and, surprisingly, science fiction time travel roller-coaster – The Call is an absolute powerhouse knock out cinematic experience. The main action of the movie is set in 2019, where mopey millennial Kim Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) is dealing with more baggage than a concierge for a Kardashian. De...

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. As someone whose first introduction to the legendary Shinya Tsukamoto was through his off-beat, disturbed acting roles in cult classics such as  Ichi the Killer  and  Marebito , I was apprehensive as to how he would fare behind the camera, as well as in front.  However, having recently seen his iconic oeuvre “Tetsuo Iron Man 1” for the first time, I was expecting a similar, shocking and experimental outing when watching the Third Window Films' edition of Tsukamoto's Gemini . I stood corrected. Tsukamoto's 1999 movie Gemini, set during Japan's Meiji period, is an exquisitely designed and elaborately accurate period piece inspired by author Edogawa Ranpo's short story “The Twins.  Shot with low lighting, off-kilter sepia colouring - gone is the...

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. Junji Ito's iconic Uzumaki - does the 2000 Higuchinsky film adaptation do it any justice or should the oeuvres of Ito just be left the hell alone, in a book, where they belong? I love Junji Ito and I want everyone in the world to revere his genius. Surely the endless film and anime adaptations are a sign that others agree with me, right? Yes, but as I said in my recent review of  Nagaiyume , the intricate and nightmarish works of Ito rarely translate well off of the page. Considering their often cosmic and other-worldly style, how can they possibly be replicated in the flesh?  Let's break it down. It's safe to say that we're all familiar by now with the basic premise of Uzumaki.  Sweet young schoolgirl Kirie (Eriko Hatsune) and her gloomy boyfriend S...

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility!  You  are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema;  I  am the (questionably) knowledgeable  Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. J-horror found footage shocker Occult (2009) by controversial director  Koji Shiraishi - is it scarier than Noroi: The Curse ? That's exactly what we're here today to find out. You may or may not be already familiar with the 2005 J-horror found footage Noroi: The Curse   A supernatural  documentary style  murder-mystery; focusing on ancient demonic entities, enraged at the forward march of time and subsequent desecration of their old sacred sites.  Due to the slow-burn menace, masterful unfolding of the plot and downright unsettling events within the film, Noroi has garnered quite the reputation on the underground Asian horror scene as being the most terrifying Japanese horror of (nearly) all time. Yes, it initially took me three...

*Trigger Warning: The Sadness strongly features many scenes of sexual violence that some viewers may wish to avoid.* Welcome to Sensei Sensibility! You are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema; I am the (questionably) knowledgeable Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. If you’re looking for a film filled with expert character development, in-depth plot progression, providing a fresh take on an over-exhausted genre, avoid Rob Jabbaz's  The Sadness at all costs. However, if you would like to see the most shocking pandemic-themed extremity horror I think anyone has ever produced, then please, embrace The Sadness with open arms and a full heart. The “Alvin Virus” is running amok in modern day Taipei, in a fictional pandemic that initially is almost parallel with our non-fiction one. The one difference between Alvin and Corona is: Alvin has terrifying mutational possibilities, producing violent results not dissimilar to rabies. Let u...

Welcome to Sensei Sensibility! You are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror themed cinema; I am the (questionably) knowledgeable Sensei , more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite. Here on Sensei Sensibility we’ve covered plenty of ghosts ‘n’ ghouls (and even a gangster), no wonder we’re feeling peckish for something more… meaty… and delicious… like juicy, juicy braaaaaaains. (Or cabbages!) The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale , or as it’s succinctly known on Shudder: Zombie For Sale is a 2019 Korean zom-com that chomps away at the genre… and spits it back out. Against the backdrop of a thunderously dark and stormy night, a zombie escapes from a  local big pharma complex. Zombie-ism being an unexpected side-effect of a new diabetes drug, this once-test-subject is now making a beeline for the local village.  That would be a sinister enough opening to any horror movie were it not for the fact that our zombie, adorably played by Jung Ga-Ram , is the most inef...