A classic of torture-porn before the explosion of torture-porn; a red-room before the meme of red-rooms, also a one-will-survive game
14 November 2023
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!
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