Gozu has been called a Japanese gangster horror movie, but it’s horror in the same vein as Eraserhead. Rather than offering spooky scares and monsters, we’re increasingly unsettled by visions of a bizarre world. The central character Minami has been ordered to dispose of his brother Ozaki, who has apparently gone insane and threatens their controlled yakuza lifestyle. The small town where Minami goes to dump the body is populated by unusual people that are a little too eager to please. Through the course of Minami’s stay, he lives a David Lynch nightmare of cryptic encounters, unnatural free-flowing substances, body transference, and an intimate meeting with a minotaur. I’d think the whole town was conspiring to drive Minami crazy, if they weren’t all at each other’s throats. Is he nuts, in Hell, or just too inexperienced to deal with the world without his older brother’s protective guidance? Director Takashi Miike isn’t known for providing easy answers to his surreal situations, and in his typical style, the last few minutes of Gozu are more disconcerting than many entire horror films.

There are no comments yet. You could be the first!