Akai misshitsu (heya): Kindan no ôsama geemu

Over here in Europe Japanese or eastern gore flicks are hard to get. Mostly we have to order them from the US or straight from Tokyo. So for us it's sometimes a bit of gossip to try to catch a much acclaimed flick. This here, Red Room is one of them. I've got it straight from Unearthed so that means full uncut but what a disappointment that was. The storyline is very simple but didn't work, four people being locked up in a red room have to play the King Game. The one with the King card has to say what the others have to do. Of course things start of easily but slowly they are trying to get revenge onto each other. That fact starts with a hair dryer put into a mouth for 3 minutes while blowing hot air until hitting each other just to the fact that they have to make love to each other. It never is explicit, I mean, you see a light bulb going into a vagina and of course it breaks but you never see it going in. Does it? No, put with the reputation of eastern flicks you guess they would show it. And the most annoying part is the sound the added. If a girls underparts would make that sound or when see gives head and it makes that noise surely it would be a turn off. There isn't that much blood in it, no gore, but a lot of boobies. The cover of the DVD is rougher than the movie. Just to say, on the DVD there are trailers for other flicks, one of them you lust try to catch. I guess you never will but I have it, that's the real stuff, I'm talking about Mu Zan E.

"Red Room" is a low-budget, shot-on-video movie that is a "Guinea Pig" for the late-nineties. Despite a slow start, the film soon enters familiar territory as we see four players of the ultimate reality game show carry out acts of depravity, physical humiliation, violence and rape on one another in an attempt to win 10 million Japanese Yen (around $85,000).

While most of the unpleasantness will be nothing new to regular viewers of J-Horror, it's the plot of this straight-to-video production that makes the difference. A psychological exercise as well as a graphic one, "Red Room" actually manages to deliver a well-aimed punch to the viewer's senses.

Some people will hate this film due to its slow pace and lack of gore. The film has a slow-burn delivery of its content and it rewards the patient viewer.

Somehow, this politically incorrect film manages to titillate and appall at the same time. It's not to all tastes but is a tentative recommendation to fans of the "Guinea Pig" films and transgressive horror in general.

Curiously, while the unsavoury delights unfold on the screen, an up-beat, porn soundtrack is used. On top of this, the audio during scenes of intimacy is superbly vile, with over-the-top slurping noises used to great effect.

On the strength of this little film, I'll be checking out further Daisuke Yamanouchi movies in the future.

7 out of 10.

"Red Room" series is clearly inspired by the reality TV craze.Four people are locked in a large 'red room' with a jail cell like structure in one corner.They play a card game(consisting of four cards only)where it appears the winner of each game gets to choose which two players enter the cage and what they do with/to each other in the time allowed..."Red Room" has the production values of a porn film and indeed it looks to have been produced(or at least distributed)by some Adult Video company.The film is filled with scenes of extreme sadism,humiliation,gore,sexual violence and cruelty for example one guy is made to screw one of the ladies with a lightbulb and gets a little mad,shoving it too far inside her and shattering it.She passes out from the excruciating pain whilst pissing a river of blood across the floor...So if you are seeking an alternative to the "Guinea Pig" series give "Red Room" a look.The sequel is even nastier and sicker,so be prepared.

Red Room invites people to participate in a game to win money : the "King's game". It is not excluded that this film could have influenced quite a few elements of popular culture of the 21st century. I don't want to draw any conclusions, especially since it was very underground when it came out (it still is, to a certain extent), but the similarities are sometimes surprising. If you look you might see what I mean. I think at least that it was able to contribute to the myth of the Red Rooms, as certain films contributed to that of the Snuff movies.

It's a film that I really like, without being my favorite of Daisuke Yamanouchi. I'm actually a big fan of this director, he's one of my favorite Japanese directors and even one of my favorite directors in general.

What do I like about Red Room?

First, the story: it has many twists and turns, the dialogues are very well done: the film is a psychological thriller in addition to being a splatter and torture-porn. Without being ultra-gory or extremely graphic, or even ultra-violent (one of the least brutal films of Daisuke Yamanouchi in my opinion) it still contains cruel, perverse scenes, which explore the pain of the characters in a captivating way. And there are some original things that I don't want to reveal!

I would say that another quality of the film is its accessibility: there is nothing experimental, we are in a more traditional work, with participants who compete to survive, around a card game.

I wanted everyone to survive, but as you can imagine, there were deaths. The ending was successful in my opinion.

There are quite a few other things to say, but my memories stop there and the essential is said.

If you want to discover some extreme Japanese cinema, give it a chance!

This is one of those movies that the reputation (gore) is not representative of the actual movie. Yes there is blood & guts though it's tame by horror movie standards. Don't be put off thinking it's an extreme horror.

Four people are locked in a red room to compete for (10 million Japanese Yen) $100,000. (Most movie descriptions say a $million but the characters say 10 million yen which in 1999 converts to about $100,000) They each draw cards with the person drawing the king gets to say what one person will do to another. The object being to get someone to quit. Each draw & action hopefully will reduce to the final survivor that wins the money. Of course, the action demanded starts rather tame and is never real outrageous but how it's performed is what goes much further.

Along the way we learn a bit about each character which are an interesting mix. More importantly we learn why they are willing to do whatever it takes for the money.

The cast was good. For Yuuki Tsukamoto who was very good you might notice this as her only movie. She has made a number of movies but those were adult videos. That does not mean this movie is more explicit though.

There are several sex scenes although none were particularly erotic yet they were important to the story.

This had the potential for being a great movie. First problem was one character was unbelievably stupid, way over the top. The other problem was some of the characters at times seemed to forget they were playing for $100,000. Really? Last, some of the sound effects added were horrendous. Especially when French kissing it made those scenes intolerable.

Still, it's one of those movies that you are kept on your toes watching for what happens next. Even some scenes that you think you know, you are surprised by what happens. It's not a long movie but it went by quick. I'm looking forward to watching Red Room 2. I say, check it out.