Sion Sono’s ‘Exte: Hair Extensions’: Review
EXTE: Hair Extensions (Ekusute) (2007) Director - Sion Sono Reviewed by: Darren Cenerini When one thinks of Asian horror films, one can't help but think of the many films in recent years that have suffered from "Sadako Syndrome", by which I mean the abundance of horror films whose villain is a long haired, female spectre with malicious intentions. Luckily for us, prolific director Sion Sono has noticed this trend (and how ridiculous it is) and wishes to turn it on its head; by making a horror film dealing entirely with long black hair. Exte follows the story of Yuko (Chiaki Kuriyama), a wannabe hair stylist who spends all her waking hours practicing her techniques, speaking in a phony dramatic style with her co-workers, and putting up with a lot of stress caused by her half-sister, Kiyomi. Kiyomi is incredibly irresponsible and both neglects and abuses her daughter, Mami. One day after Yuko leaves for work, Kiyomi drops Mami off at Yuko's home and leaves to go hang out in a seedy bar. Yuko now has to try to undo the psychological damage that Kiyomi has inflicted on Mami, while she works and studies for her stylist exam. While this is happening, the corpse of a young female has been found in a shipping crate full of hair. The body is brought to the morgue and is quickly stolen by a psychotic worker with an extreme hair fetish named Yamazaki (Ren Osugi). Yamazaki has discovered that the corpse can grow hair at an alarming rate, and wanting to give the people of Japan beautiful hair, he begins to cut it and give it to hair salons to use as extensions. Unfortunately for anyone who has the extensions put in, the young woman who's hair they're receiving was brutally murdered and her rage lives on through her hair! If it were any other director, I honestly feel this film would not have worked. Sono puts his unique flair into the whole story and once again makes a film that is both incredibly stylish and unnerving from the very moment it begins. Familiar tones are awash in Exte that are present in most of Sono's films, most notably the dysfunctional family and eve present social commentary. Also present is his use of dark, morbid comedy, which at times had me feeling bad for laughing. Watching this I was reminded heavily of the film adaptation of Uzumaki, as I couldn't tell if they were trying to make a serious horror film or were playing certain scenes for laughs instead. I digress, because what Sono gives us is a satirical look at the rash of "Sadako Syndrome" movies which is as much a parody film as it is a homage to the great classics such as Ringu. It's not laugh out loud funny, but it does have a few moments of genuine humour. On the reverse end of the spectrum, it has more than a few scenes which gave me the chills. The special effects, sound effects and set pieces were also very good and added quite a bit to the atmosphere of the movie. I have to say I was most impressed with both the plot and the characters, as both were interesting and kept me sucked in. Besides the obvious plot of the vengeful spirit's hair, the subplot dealing with Mami and Yuko was also pretty interesting and ties in well with the rest of the story. There's even a big shocking twist which adds to Yuko and Mami's relationship and deepens our feelings for them. The reason why our ghost is so pissed off is also quite valid, and the scenes that explain her origin are extremely creepy and beautifully edited. The characters are both believable and entirely surreal. Osugi is especially good as the freak show Yamazaki, and he genuinely comes off as incredibly creepy and incredibly pathetic at the same time. He's one of those villains that if not for the supernatural circumstances, would be the laughing stock of Japan. Kuriyama is also fairly good, and it's nice to see her play a "normal" character again after being exposed to Gogo Yubari of Kill Bill fame. There's only really one complaint I have with the film, and that's that for about fifteen minutes in the second half it starts to drag on and repeats itself. Luckily it doesn't last and soon the story is back on track towards it's logical conclusion. Overall I have to say that I immensely enjoyed Exte. In today's market for horror movies, there's so many clichés and carbon copies that it was nice to see an original (and completely ridiculous) concept be produced so well. Apart from being a pretty distinct horror film, it's also got quite a bit of social commentary under its belt as well, mostly about abuse and it's many forms and how it perpetuates from the giver to the receiver, and then from the receiver to yet another receiver. If you've got an open mind and don't mind investing your time into a wacky concept, please take the time to view this film. It won't go down as a mold breaker, but it is an entertaining piece of film that will likely lavish as a cult classic.
EXTE: Hair Extensions (Ekusute) (2007) Director - Sion Sono Reviewed by: Darren Cenerini When one thinks of Asian horror films, one can't help but think of the many films in recent years that have suffered from "Sadako Syndrome", by which I mean the abundance of horror films whose villain is a long haired, female spectre with malicious intentions. Luckily for us, prolific director Sion Sono has noticed this trend (and how ridiculous it is) and wishes to turn it on its head; by making a horror film dealing entirely with long black hair. Exte follows the story of Yuko (Chiaki Kuriyama), a wannabe hair stylist who spends all her waking hours practicing her techniques, speaking in a phony dramatic style with her co-workers, and putting up with a lot of stress caused by her half-sister, Kiyomi. Kiyomi is incredibly irresponsible and both neglects and abuses her daughter, Mami. One day after Yuko leaves for work, Kiyomi drops Mami off at Yuko's home and leaves to go hang out in a seedy bar. Yuko now has to try to undo the psychological damage that Kiyomi has inflicted on Mami, while she works and studies for her stylist exam. While this is happening, the corpse of a young female has been found in a shipping crate full of hair. The body is brought to the morgue and is quickly stolen by a psychotic worker with an extreme hair fetish named Yamazaki (Ren Osugi). Yamazaki has discovered that the corpse can grow hair at an alarming rate, and wanting to give the people of Japan beautiful hair, he begins to cut it and give it to hair salons to use as extensions. Unfortunately for anyone who has the extensions put in, the young woman who's hair they're receiving was brutally murdered and her rage lives on through her hair! If it were any other director, I honestly feel this film would not have worked. Sono puts his unique flair into the whole story and once again makes a film that is both incredibly stylish and unnerving from the very moment it begins. Familiar tones are awash in Exte that are present in most of Sono's films, most notably the dysfunctional family and eve present social commentary. Also present is his use of dark, morbid comedy, which at times had me feeling bad for laughing. Watching this I was reminded heavily of the film adaptation of Uzumaki, as I couldn't tell if they were trying to make a serious horror film or were playing certain scenes for laughs instead. I digress, because what Sono gives us is a satirical look at the rash of "Sadako Syndrome" movies which is as much a parody film as it is a homage to the great classics such as Ringu. It's not laugh out loud funny, but it does have a few moments of genuine humour. On the reverse end of the spectrum, it has more than a few scenes which gave me the chills. The special effects, sound effects and set pieces were also very good and added quite a bit to the atmosphere of the movie. I have to say I was most impressed with both the plot and the characters, as both were interesting and kept me sucked in. Besides the obvious plot of the vengeful spirit's hair, the subplot dealing with Mami and Yuko was also pretty interesting and ties in well with the rest of the story. There's even a big shocking twist which adds to Yuko and Mami's relationship and deepens our feelings for them. The reason why our ghost is so pissed off is also quite valid, and the scenes that explain her origin are extremely creepy and beautifully edited. The characters are both believable and entirely surreal. Osugi is especially good as the freak show Yamazaki, and he genuinely comes off as incredibly creepy and incredibly pathetic at the same time. He's one of those villains that if not for the supernatural circumstances, would be the laughing stock of Japan. Kuriyama is also fairly good, and it's nice to see her play a "normal" character again after being exposed to Gogo Yubari of Kill Bill fame. There's only really one complaint I have with the film, and that's that for about fifteen minutes in the second half it starts to drag on and repeats itself. Luckily it doesn't last and soon the story is back on track towards it's logical conclusion. Overall I have to say that I immensely enjoyed Exte. In today's market for horror movies, there's so many clichés and carbon copies that it was nice to see an original (and completely ridiculous) concept be produced so well. Apart from being a pretty distinct horror film, it's also got quite a bit of social commentary under its belt as well, mostly about abuse and it's many forms and how it perpetuates from the giver to the receiver, and then from the receiver to yet another receiver. If you've got an open mind and don't mind investing your time into a wacky concept, please take the time to view this film. It won't go down as a mold breaker, but it is an entertaining piece of film that will likely lavish as a cult classic.