Cheap Suicide Club (Suicide Circle) (DVD) (Shion Sono) Price

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Customer Reviews of Suicide Club (Suicide Circle)

A Hellish Nightmare You Soon Won't Forget
I never knew about this whole subculture of Asian "shock' cinema only until I happened to have stumbled on the film "Audition" and ever since I've been hooked. This whole line of films from the Orient has to be the most original, bizarre, violent and intriguing films on the market today which for the most part, unfortunately, will probably never be seen by the public. That is until its Americanized and bastardized, which is unfortunate. Well, enough of my ramblings. Let me tell you about my latest delve into this underground market, the "Suicide Club", which is a pretty sick and twisted look at today's youth. There are a few scenes that don't particularly work well and some will leave you wondering, "what the hell?", but overall this is one helluva ride that's pretty dark and disturbing.

"Suicide Club" opens right away with a bang and never lets up right up until the very end. It begins as 54 school girls waiting on the subway platform all clasp hands, count down to three, and then jump in front of an oncoming subway car!
Even as the boxcover told me this I really didn't know what to expect and it still came as a complete shock as blood and body parts are strewn across the train, passengers, and onlookers. Gruesome to say the least. This though is only the beginning as more teens begin throwing themselves off buildings, sticking their heads into ovens, and just a frenzy of various suicides. As the suicides mount the police are drawn in, especially after finding a carry-on bag with the contents I'll leave up to your imagination. The police are led then led to a mysterious website, by an unknown caller, where it has been keeping track of the deaths by colored dots and nothing more.

Thrown into the entire mix of this is a pre-teen pop group that seems to be popping up all over and on everyone's tv's! This madness continues to spiral out of control and then in a slight twist midway we are introduced to a bizarre cult, led by an even more bizarre leader. This part of the film took a turn that just didn't quite fit in but it was still dark and edgy as this cult leader was one of the sickest villains I've seen in quite a while. I won't give away any details but let's just say that his victims are kept tied up in oversized cloth bags on the floor in an abandoned bowling alley! Sounds bizarre? It is and its even worse then that!

The suicides mount until the ending culminates to what you would think would be a clean and tidy ending but kudos to Shion Sono who takes us onto this dark journey only to leave us in the "middle of the road". You'll know what I mean after seeing it. This film is totally not for everyone, the faint of hear, or those with a weak stomach. I found it fascinating, intriguing and couldn't wait to see where I was going to be led next. Bravo for yet another Asian horror film that dares to overstep the boundaries and take the viewer on a hellish nightmare or a ride! I read where this film was a response by the director to bring Japan's rising teen suicide rate to the forefront but whether it was or not I'm not sure. It surely doesn't voice an opinion but rather uses that as a stepping stone for its decline into madness. If you like graphic, violent, twisted films check this out, its one you won't soon forget!

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Gory but half-hearted social commentary
Beneath the surface, Suicide Club is more than just another stylized blood bath. The director Sion Sono's vision of a bleak satire/commentary on the state of modern Japanese culture is apparent throughout the film. However, the underlying themes are so poorly executed and unstructured that they are eventually lost among the bits and pieces of plot/characters/limbs scattered throughout the film.

As far as gore and shock value goes, Suicide Club won't disappoint fans of Audition or Battle Royale. The first 5 minutes of the movie inside Sinjuku station set a reverberating macabre tone throughout the movie with promises of wall-covering blood, strewn limbs and human-skin rolls (wink wink) to come. Director Sion Sono (also a noted gay porn director and experimental poet) does an excellent job creating and maintaining the creepy and sinister undercurrent throughout the movie. The problem is, the undercurrent simmers and simmers but never boils. The plot is at best non-linear and mostly illogical, peppered with characters with unclear motives, an out-of-nowhere Rocky Horror-esque musical number, and existential soliloquies that fans of Neo Genesis Evangelion would instantly identify. There are plenty of impressive moments throughout Suicide Club, but it is unclear whether they serve to enhance or befuddle the main mystery of the suicides.

It's really a shame because Suicide Club is really a social commentary with underlying themes that cut deep into the Japanese psyche. The suicides baffle police detectives partially because the truth is hidden somewhere in bubble gum pop music, internet message boards and instant messaging, phenomena on the other side of the generation gap. The suicidal slogan "To connect yourself to yourself" while trite to us Americans post-teens, is nevertheless an important commentary on the Japanese society that is historically obsessed with community and nationalism at the cost of individual liberty and identity. Perhaps the real horror of Suicide Club is that the premise of the movie, in the eyes of all the over-studied students, over-worked salaryman, and over-disconnected families of Japan, is not really that far fetched.

Unfortunately, all its earnest intentions at social satire are mostly drowned in the blood of Suicide Club.

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Genesis is hotter than YOU!
there were a few times during this movie that i had to walk out with my friends and smoke a cigarette just to chill out a bit. i know alot of people can just watch wave after wave of psyche-defying mutilation and giggle, and i thought i could, but i really can't. honestly, people say the message this movie offers has nothing to give to an american public. i disagree. i find the message all too relevant.

i liked the movie. not so much for the particulars of cinematography or linear plotline, but for the awesome GEEK moments. i hope that if i ever jump off a building and land on my wife on the way down, she'd go and get a cup of coffee afterwards. that and if for nothing else, you must see the character called GENESIS. HE IS HOTTER THAN YOU!