Audition: A Collector's Edition DVD of a Demented Gem!

Out via a new collector's edition DVD is Audition. The prolific crackpot Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike has put his own inimitable stamp on many genres -- Ichi The Killer (violent gangster movies), Zebraman (graphic novels), Happiness Of the Katakuris (black comedy/musicals), The Great Yokai War (children's movies), Sukiyaki Western Django (spaghetti westerns), but this 1999 ghoulish shocker was what put him on the map and still chills the blood. The film starts out slowly about a middle-aged widower (Ryo Ishibashi) who is encouraged by his teenage son to find a new wife. With the help of a film producer friend they advertise for actresses for a nonexistent movie so he can check out the prospects. When he meets the shy beautiful Asami (Eihi Shiina) he is immediately smitten. But what’s with that twitching tied-up burlap sack in her apartment? The last 20 minutes are so horrifying, hair-raising and outrageous you won’t believe what you’re seeing. This demented gem has been given the special treatment in this wonderful two disc special edition -- with a beautiful anamorphic transfer, audio commentary by Miike and interviews with the female star Shiina, who went on to star in Tokyo Gore Police.