Sensei Sensibility

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...

*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...