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Reviews2
lymanvunk's rating
TOMIE: ANOTHER FACE (1999) 7/10 72 minutes Director - Toshiro Inomata Cast Runa Nagai, Akira Hirai
Tomie: Another Face is the V-cinema version of the long running Tomie series based on Junji Ito's magna. This would be the director Inomata's only work behind the camera. This low budget J-horror attempt beats the previous and later forays into the character. This is similar to the Ju-On series where the J-cinema adds to the overall creepiness. It is an anthology that has three stories linked together by a man who is hunting down Tomie after having a ghostly encounter in a morgue (the third story). J-horror was still in its infancy when this came out and they were still experimenting with the imagery. Nagai captures the Lolita aspect the character very well and the movie can be seen as a warning with getting involved with young girls. In the second segment where the photographer meets up with Tomie, kills her and then comes back to life, in the scene in the car where her hand reaches from the back seat is very effective. Takashi Shimizu would use this again in Ju-On the Grudge 2 (2003) and the concept of multiplying Tomies (substituting Kayakos) in Ju-On the Curse 2 (2000). Incidentally Shimizu would take over the reins in the next installment Tomie Rebirth (the best of the cinema versions).
Tomie: Another Face is the V-cinema version of the long running Tomie series based on Junji Ito's magna. This would be the director Inomata's only work behind the camera. This low budget J-horror attempt beats the previous and later forays into the character. This is similar to the Ju-On series where the J-cinema adds to the overall creepiness. It is an anthology that has three stories linked together by a man who is hunting down Tomie after having a ghostly encounter in a morgue (the third story). J-horror was still in its infancy when this came out and they were still experimenting with the imagery. Nagai captures the Lolita aspect the character very well and the movie can be seen as a warning with getting involved with young girls. In the second segment where the photographer meets up with Tomie, kills her and then comes back to life, in the scene in the car where her hand reaches from the back seat is very effective. Takashi Shimizu would use this again in Ju-On the Grudge 2 (2003) and the concept of multiplying Tomies (substituting Kayakos) in Ju-On the Curse 2 (2000). Incidentally Shimizu would take over the reins in the next installment Tomie Rebirth (the best of the cinema versions).
SWEET SIXTEEN (1983) **/***** 86 minutes Director Jim Sotos Cast Bo Hopkins, Susan Strasberg, Aleisa Shirley, Patrick Macnee, Dana Kimmell
Fifteen year old bad girl Melissa is new in a desert town and it isn't long before folks around her start dying off. The detective has to put together the clues with the help of his Nancy Drew good girl daughter played by Friday the 13th alumni Dana Kimmell. The local Native Americans are prime suspects since they seem to upset the prejudiced townsfolk. These events all lead up to the revealing of the killer at Melissa's sixteenth birthday party.
This below average slasher isn't too memorable. It has a made for TV feel, without much score besides the title character's own corny theme song which plays a couple times throughout. Lines like "the killer will turn us into coleslaw." Fit into standard eighties slasher screenplays. Marci calls Melissa a bad name then somehow immediately they develop a friendship. Apparently Marci sees how hard it is to fit in because Melissa knows how to wear make-up. This movie would be hard-pressed to be made today with the main character being fifteen and the director inserting multiple gratuitous close-ups of her. The social commentary on Indians wasn't developed enough to be taken seriously. I am too surprised at the fairly high rating this movie gets. Both Sweet Sixteen and Ed Hunt's Bloody Birthday had the potential to capitalize on that time honored tradition of the birthday party to create an intense sequence of carnage but I feel failed to deliver. But on the bright side releasing obscure movies like this on DVD gives hope that others will follow.
Fifteen year old bad girl Melissa is new in a desert town and it isn't long before folks around her start dying off. The detective has to put together the clues with the help of his Nancy Drew good girl daughter played by Friday the 13th alumni Dana Kimmell. The local Native Americans are prime suspects since they seem to upset the prejudiced townsfolk. These events all lead up to the revealing of the killer at Melissa's sixteenth birthday party.
This below average slasher isn't too memorable. It has a made for TV feel, without much score besides the title character's own corny theme song which plays a couple times throughout. Lines like "the killer will turn us into coleslaw." Fit into standard eighties slasher screenplays. Marci calls Melissa a bad name then somehow immediately they develop a friendship. Apparently Marci sees how hard it is to fit in because Melissa knows how to wear make-up. This movie would be hard-pressed to be made today with the main character being fifteen and the director inserting multiple gratuitous close-ups of her. The social commentary on Indians wasn't developed enough to be taken seriously. I am too surprised at the fairly high rating this movie gets. Both Sweet Sixteen and Ed Hunt's Bloody Birthday had the potential to capitalize on that time honored tradition of the birthday party to create an intense sequence of carnage but I feel failed to deliver. But on the bright side releasing obscure movies like this on DVD gives hope that others will follow.