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Crazy Lips
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List Price: $19.99
Our Price: $16.95
Your Save: $ 3.04 ( 15% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Adness
Starring: Hitomi Miwa, Kazuma Suzuki, Ren Osugi, Hiroshi Abe, Hijiri Natsukawa
Directed By: Hirohisa Sasaki
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0634991184328
Format: Color
Label: Adness
Manufacturer: Adness
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Adness
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-08-17
Running Time: 95
Studio: Adness
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Oh, this is crap...
Comment: This movie is crap with a capital CRAP. All cult movie enthusiasm aside, it's truly bad. It's for people who think things like "Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill!" are great cinema. It's not as funny though. I laughed one whole time, when Ms. Lucy hocked up a super-loogy while rambling around in the woods with an assault rifle. Otherwise, my main purpose in watching the whole thing was an ongoing disbelief that it could get any worse. I was wrong, it just got worse & worse all the way to the end. If you've got time to waste on this instead of the hundreds of much better Asian horror flicks out there, go right ahead and let it take a dump on your eyeballs. Like I said, crap, crap, and more crap.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The lips are totally crazy
Comment: The first thing you need to know about "Crazy Lips" is that it isn't a horror flick. Don't be fooled by that cover. Oh, there are some horror elements, to be sure, and some good old fashioned axe murders, but anyone looking for a good scare isn't going to find it here.
What "Crazy Lips" ("Hakkyousuru kuchibiru") is, is just...over-the-top. Extreme. Weird. It is a film that doesn't know what genre it wants to be, and tries to be all of them. Spooky ghost story? Check. Action super-powered fighting? Check. Axe-murdering slaughter fest? Check. Sweet musical number? Check. Utterly bizarre pink film where you see a girl raped, taking a dead body in the front while her own father takes her from the back then laughs about how she is going to have a hard time sitting down? Check.
There is a story here, of sorts, but it takes so many wild twists and turns that it hardly seems worth mentioning it. A family is hounded by the press because the eldest son is a suspected serial killer. The family, desperate to clear their name and help the son, retains the services of a powerful psychic who summons up the headless bodies of murdered girls to go and look for their killer. The psychic, however, is not exactly what she appears to be, and a Japanese-girl-in-a-blonde-wig-and-a-bad-accent-trying-to-be-an-American-FBI-agent is hot on the case. Hijinks ensue.
And while the situations may be extreme, none of the sex or violence is. For sex, there is nothing on the level of Entrails of a Virgin, and the nudity never goes above topless. For gore, don't expect Ichi the Killer. It just isn't that kind of movie. The director wants to go over the top, and he seems to have made the movie depending on the whims of a given day rather than following any sort of plan or plot.
Strangely enough, "Crazy Lips" has some good players in its cast. Hiroshi Abe (Hana & Alice) is one of my favorite modern Japanese actors, and this is a very early flick for him. Hitomi Miwa (Ju-on) is a Japanese scream queen, so it is no surprise to see her here doing what she does best.
I wouldn't really be in a rush to recommend this to anyone, unless they are in the mood for something really weird. I had a good time with it, but a sober viewing might not be the best.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Downside of Creative Freedom
Comment: Here we have a movie that aggressively makes no sense - I'm not buying the "cultural dissociation" thing. It makes no sense. Rather it has a stream of consciousness feel, like someone was detailing the highlights of some really complex dream, but periodically boring themselves with it, so they kept wandering off into largely self-contained tangents. We start with a mystery whose ultimate resolution satisfies no one, yet it's impossible to feel disappointed as quite early one you realize the makers of the movie never really cared about anyway.
It's almost as if the creative team felt the need to say something about... anything... but then realized they really didn't have anything. So they just kind of throw a lot of stuff against the wall, and act as if not waiting to see if anything sticks somehow is sort of like being half-successful.
But hey; if you watch this all the way through and aren't scarred for life from the woman pretending to be an American singing the Star Spangled Banner, well, you're made of some pretty stern stuff. The entire movie may be a failed attempt to film dream logic, but there they have the nightmare part down pat.
Customer Rating:
Summary: strange film that ultimately falls flat
Comment: I really don't get all the positive reviews on this movie; it simply wasn't that good. Basically, it is an extemely bizarre and violent film which attempts to blend extreme horror with dark comedy, but ultimately fails in both areas. Movies this strange are sure to gain some cult notoriety, but with all the five star reviews I expected so much better.
If you are really looking for something strange, pick up All night Long instead. It succeeds in every area where this one fails.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not A Horror Film, But Strange And Twisted
Comment: By director Hirohisa Sasaki, the film "Crazy Lips," is about as bizarre and demented as they come. When I first purchased and viewed the film, I thought: What the hell is this? Sure, I like offbeat and strange films that try to be different--especially if they succeed in entertaining me. But this film, while starting out pretty good, veers into a tangled mess that takes you everywhere, and yet nowhere. The constant scenes of rape depicted in the film got to the point where I asked myself--What is the director out to prove in this film? Is this creative film making? Or is it just an excercise in "Let's see if we can be different." The director tried to put as many shocking scenes into film he was able to, until I guess he just ran out of film. Either that, or the actors were just too embarrassed to go any further with this film mess. And I DO NOT buy into the rationalization that this is a great film because it is going to be a cult classic. I find quite a few cult classic to be very stale.
Now, as for the film. Is it worth the purchase? No. Is it a good film? No. So, what then is this film? Well, if extremely bizarre and strange films are your taste, then you might like this film. However, if you like good films that you would recommend to your friends and family, then this is not the film. Sure there are a few good scenes in the film. But not enough to make this an interesting or worthy film to add to your collection. I do not even know if I would recommend that you rent it first. However, on second thought, maybe I would, just so you can see that not all so-called foreign cult films from Japan are that good. And I have seen some very horrendous ones from Japan in my life. But, if you see it on the video store shelves, and were curious to find out just how bizarre and weird a film can be, then I would say go for it. Just don't expect much from this film and you will not be disappointed.
Also, this is NOT a horror film. In fact, I really don't think there is a genre for this particular film. So, I will just refer to the film as "IT." Now, "IT" is a film that centers on a family [a mother and two sisters] who are being hounded not only by the citizens of their community, but the police too. The mother and two sisters are being harassed due to their brothers connection to the murder and decapitations of four people. The family hires a medium who winds up being more of a menace and threat to their well-being that the citizens and police combined. However, as I wrote in the beginning, the film veers into every sort of strange and bizarre type of genre that you can think of. I like actor Hiroshi Abe, and knowing his eclectic filmography, I was not surprised to see him in this film. And in fact, was the reason I initially bought the film. Also, I do like actor Ikko Suzuki, who portrayed the police inspector. But the film was a failure to me. Anyway, to wrap it up, I do not recommend the film. I have friends who like this film, but one viewing is enough. However, you might want to rent it for curiosity sakes!
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