EVOL666
HIDESHI HINO THEATER: OCCULT DETECTIVES CLUB-THE DOLL CEMETERYIn this entry of the six-part series-a group of high-school students known as the Occult Detectives Club are investigating the suicide of a student whose soul now inhabits a doll. After one of the club members is attacked by spirits from the undead doll realm-the group transports themselves via some weird ritual to the 'doll graveyard'-where they encounter the 'clown of hell' and numerous zombies (that I think are supposed to be zombie-dolls...but just look like regular-ass zombies...). Something goes wrong while in the doll-realm, and only three of the the members can return to the real world. The vice- president of the club volunteers to stay behind and the other three return home. They determine that the girl who was initially haunted by the doll-ghosts has a doll at home that she must pray over in order to lift the curse. She does so and the hauntings stop. Meanwhile, the president of the club heads back to the doll-cemetery to do battle with hell-clown, and when she beats him-the doll-cemetery is no more. I think...This particular entry in the HIDESHI HINO THEATER sextet was a bit confusing-but anyone that's familiar with Japanese horror-cinema probably knows that's not unusual. I guess this one was semi-entertaining, bit that's mainly because of the short run-time. If this one would have been any longer it would have been tedious. There's a few splattery FX but nothing major, the other digital FX are pretty weak, and I'm assuming that this series is a pretty low-budget affair. Can't say I'd recommend this particular entry too highly-but since this is the first in the series that I've seen-we'll see how the others stack up... 4/10And since there's no listing on IMDb for this next entry in the series-I'll add it here:HIDESHI HINO THEATER: THE RAVAGED HOUSE-ZOROKU'S DISEASEZoroku comes down with an unexplained illness that rots his body and forces him to be all bandaged up like a mummified freak. His parents keep him hidden away in the house- but when a neighbor comes over to borrow some tools and sees Zoroku's condition, he freaks out. The village mayor calls a meeting with Zoroku's dad to see what the problem is-but pops downplays his kid's condition. The mayor is worried that he may be contagious and even offers to help pay for Zoroku to be seen by the local doctor-but dad refuses (something about the whole Japanese 'pride' thing I suppose). After Zoroku and his sister have a run-in with the mayor's son-the whole village comes a-knockin...lynch- mob style. After some taunting-the townsfolk eventually leave, but his parents finally decide that something needs to be done after his condition worsens and he starts going nuts as well. But instead of taking him to see a doctor like they probably should have in the first place-they just decide to kill him instead. The sister thwarts this plan by carrying Zoroku off into the woods-but this plan doesn't work too well either-when they are stopped by a weirdo in a mask (think it might be the mayor's son-I couldn't really tell...) who assaults the sister and beats Zoroku to death with a flaming log. This entry in the series is far better than the doll-cemetery one. The story is more of a sad, slow-burner with an appropriately down-beat ending. Everything from the plot, to cinematography, to acting was far superior in this one. A solid entry in the series, and a vast improvement over the previous segment. 8/10
