Armin Meiwes (English pron.: /ˈɑrmɪn ˈmaɪvəs/ ar-min my-vəs; born 1 December 1961) is a German man who achieved international notoriety for killing and eating a voluntary victim whom he had found via the Internet. After Meiwes and the victim jointly attempted to eat the victim’s severed penis, Meiwes killed his victim and proceeded to eat a large amount of his flesh.[2] Because of his acts, Meiwes is also known as the Rotenburg Cannibal or Der Metzgermeister (The Master Butcher).
Inspired by real life German cannibal Armin Meiwes – seen above.
Sushi. A Japanese delicacy which numerous people fear to digest because the fish is raw and cold and that which is raw and cold usually disgusts us. I should know – I was one of those ignorant people. However, being exposed to sushi for four years now, I’m confident in my opinion that sushi is exceptionally tasty and good for you without all the mayo-like sauces that are sometimes put on top of the rolls. But I can not say that I’ve had the pleasure of dining with a sushi spread laid out among the smooth and creamy body of a young naked woman. Though the idea sounds novel and sexually stimulating, the idea that someones dirty body touching my sushi makes me more nauseous than the raw and cold of the sushi itself.
This brings me to Sushi Girl from first time director Kern Saxton and Saxton has become an impressive director just from his work on this revenge crime thriller. Fish has spent six years, five months, and 17 days in prison for diamond heist crime. In all that time, he did not rat out his accomplices and in return, Duke, the ringleader of the heist, holds a special naked girl sushi dinner for Fish and also invites the rest of the gang. After the pleasantries are quickly established, the truth becomes clear among them that bad blood on the botched crime those many years back have spoiled their beliefs in one another and each wants a cut of the diamond profits and they suspect that only Fish knows where the diamonds are since he was the sole bag man.
Sushi Girl doesn’t pull any punches and his with such ferocity you’ll inch to the edge of your seat to figure out how the situation will all turn out. The trust is thin among the group and rightfully so as the characters in this game of chess are personally all different. Six years ago, Fish is a rookie looking to score big, but when he does his stint in prison and is released, all Fish wants to do is go home and wash his hands clean of the everything. The other characters don’t see it that way. Max is the hasty muscle of the group and can barely maintain his psychotic nature, most likely caused by his mountain of daddy abuse issues. Crow is also a psychotic individual, but a different kind of species; Crow’s wit, flamboyant, and sadist qualities make him a sheep and wolves clothing. Francis is like Fish by trying to come clean, but this former coke addict doesn’t have the fortitude to save anybody nor save himself from his addiction. And then there is Duke. Duke is educated, suave, a con man, and a killer. He can control the wound up Max, he can out wit the wolf Crow, and he can get under the skin of recovering druggie Francis. Fish is the only character who can stand up to all three of them, but the scenario is nothing as it seems.
I never thought Mark Hamill could be a character actor. Hamill, to me, will never break away from being Luke Skywalker – I mean he is even rumored to be in J.J. Abrams Episode VII – but Crow could be Hamill’s saving grace. Hamill’s range as an actor has expanded two folds and I have a theory that Robot Chicken and the animated superhero movies have helped Hamills out by utilizing his voice talents. The character has become the most unique character I’ve seen in a year. Good for Hamills as he has earned my respect as an actor. As for the other cast, well they’re a bit overshadowed by Crow, but they’re still worth mentioning. I’ve always had a soft spot for James Duvall ever since I saw him play another drug addict named Jimmy in Cornered! Duvall is like Tracey Walter in the sense that Duvall is a great supporting actor for any film – big or low-budget. Candyman himself Tony Todd, also executive producer, handles the role of Duke with ease. The man is a pro at being heartless, ruthless, calm and collective. His tall stature and baritone voice doesn’t hurt either. Plus, Courtney Palm, the sushi girl, has a drool-over body to die for.
Don’t be fooled by advertising that state this film has the Robert Rodriguez line up of stars like Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, and Danny Trejo in it and though the statement is true, their total screen time is about three minutes at the most..? I did read on IMDB’s trivia page that Biehn waved his acting fee due to a favor for smoking hot actress and Sushi Girl producer Electra Avellan (aka Babysitter Twin in Planet Terror). But these brief scenes of great actors don’t make Sushi Girl the greatest cult crime thriller since The French Connection, no. Saxton creates tension between the main characters, in a small room, with sushi on top of a naked woman and he delivers such a twist at the end, you won’t see it coming. You know there will be one, but what exactly the twist is will be unexpected.
Sushi Girl is brutality at it’s bare-bloody-knuckled best and really does resemble a sort of Reservoir Dogs feel with the trust issues amongst the group and the terrific torture scene goes without saying. Magnet Releasing has yet another winning release. Pick up your copy today!
Remember my video post a few days back? (See Evil Mail Call! post) You just recall me blabbing about Lethal Ninja (aka For Hire), you know, the Blue Laser title DVD with a really neat retro nineties look with a white boy ninja, holding a sai and is reflecting a half naked woman? Well, I had the time to pop in the disk and try to see how lethal this white nina with a mullet really is?
Chinatown is overrun by kung-fu expert gangs who are controlled by the mob. The mayor weak footed stance has him unsure about what to do and it doesn’t help matters if the cops don’t want to patrol Chinatown in fear of losing their lives. The mayor receives mysterious notes at every turn and read “For Hire” and a 555 telephone number. The mayor mustards up his last bit of hope and calls the For Hire number. J.D. Makay answers the mayor’s prayers as he uses his ninja abilities to clean up Chinatown from the foot troops to the head of management, but at the stake of the mayor’s family.
We begin Lethal Ninja with early nineties hip-hop james and dancing then a gang comes up and starts to throw fake punches, knocking people down. All this happens even with the hip-hop band still sings and dances turning it into an In Living Color musical introduction. This is just one of the instances that doesn’t make sense in this direct-to-video film. We have random imagery of J.D. Makay practicing his movie hyped ninja moves. Every time a for hire card is exposed, J.D. Makay throws a karate chop or a round house kick. What scene really disturbed me was when Bambi Swayze, who plays as Rachel – family friend to the mayor and his family – is riding the main boss’s crotch. He twists his lips and eyes into some contorted mess that I can’t really explain what is really going on. He chants “obey me” while images of his son Sonny come on and off the screen. Oh, and by the way, Sonny is shot in the gut in the cemetery scene and still lives and is walking around just fine. Literally, shot in the guy with the bullet going through his body leaving a bloody shirt tail at his back. But that twisted face will leave me with nightmares for the rest of my days.
The character J.D. Makay just isn’t an assured action hero. He can’t seem to protect the mayor’s family, he is saved a quite a few times by the mayor’s youngest boy, and can’t even tell that a cross-dressing hit man creeping around the burial ceremony. Makay’s skills are a joke. If I put Barney Fife in the Octogon with J.D. Makay, Barney would surely win by the first round. Unfortunately, director Stefan Rudnicki just didn’t have the budget to afford better actors and special effects which would have aided the passable DVD cover. It’s a good thing I only paid $1.86 for this DVD. I couldn’t see myself paying the retail of $15.99 or more and if I did, I should just give away all my money – perhaps donate it to the veteran ninja society for the disabled. I still look for to the other Blue Laser DVD Boiler Room. I imagine it’ll be just as glamourous and thrilling like Lethal Ninja.
Lethal Ninja is an enjoyable film with lots of booze and many humorous compadres. You won’t be able to teach yourself the ways of the ninja or learn the responsible ways of running a city as a mayor, but you’ll have your joke vault filled for the rest of your life. The gullibility of the writing is incomparable. I’ve seen Paul Naschy movies better than this, but I guess we all inspire to have a little ninja in us every once and awhile and that is why we make movies about them no matter how much money we don’t possess. If you don’t want to catch this awesome flick on DVD, you can watch the cliff notes version below!
Tonight I thought I would discuss two very different kind of horror films. Trying to dissect and compare horror films to each other can be enlightening to others; to help them explore new territories in horror. Also, this idea gives me to chat to be a blabber mouth about obscure, retro movies that most of the younger generations don’t know about. Hell, I’m almost 30 and I probably still need more horror movie schooling.
First I want to talk about Ted Post’s 1973 exploitation film The Baby. A social worker seeks out and becomes hired by the Wadsworth family to oversee the mentally ill child of the family who goes by the name of just Baby. Besides the retardation, Baby is an average boy who plays with toys, sucks on a bottle and cries when his diaper is wet with the exception that Baby is a 20-year-old man. The social worker plans for Baby seem genuine – to try to progress Baby’s ability to walk and talk like everybody else. However, the Wadworth family holds a dark secret that if anybody gets to close to that person ends up disappearing, but little does the Wadworth family know, that the social worker has alternate means for Baby than what she cares to divulge.
The Baby is a unique exploitation for me. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The fact that the mentally ill, a man, and the mind of a child are being exploited beyond rational means. When you (in this case when I) think of the exploitation genre, I imagine women being used for their body or just a person being exploited for violence. In The Baby, the man and the mentally ill is being abused for his body and the man and the mentally ill is being exploited for violence. During the duration, there is no grasp on who might be the hero and who might be the villain. The roles are a virtually reversed between the Wadworths family and the social worker and even at the end of the movie, you still don’t know how to process the information and end up second guessing the hero and the villain. The Baby will imprint in your mind and sear into your brain making The Baby a well executed film just by script alone. Director Ted Post and The Baby David Mooney do a remarkable job even if the 70s film does come off outdated and corny. Gerald Fried’s score is also pretty amazing and that is worth listening to as well.
Second comes The Prowler. A maniacal killer runs rampant on Avalon Bay, NJ dressed in WW II fatigues carrying a pitchfork, bayonet and a handheld shotgun. The killer reminisces about Rosemary, the love of his lift who gives him a Dear John letter for his time in military service. His longing forces him to kill.
Tom Savini has mentioned that his work on 1981 The Prowler was his best work ever. I don’t know if I could agree with Mr. Savini or not on that as his effects for The Burning are superb, but anything Savini touches is gold so The Prowler is a shining example of his gruesome work. The problem or problems rather with The Prowler is the entire storyline as it was far too choppy and incoherent. I pieced the story all together sans the movie and I get that the audience sometimes has to make their own interpretation, but come on! I feel as if The Prowler character just didn’t have enough back story like Jason Voorhees who had a tragedy as a child seeing his mother beheading and seeks revenge on the free-spirited, sex crazed teenage campers and consolers.
Two very different movies. Two different styles. All with in the realm of thrills and chills. Exploitation and slasher genres have gained knowledge from these two prime examples, yet we still build and build upon each genre. We don’t see them too much in theaters anymore which is a shame since both genres really put you in the center of the worlds most delicate issues of the world. People kill people. People exploit people. These issues will never go away but they will never been renowned as popular because the subjects frighten us way too much.
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