Creepy hide and Seek! A great game to play if you have no friends and don't mind the possibility of being spirited away

Creepy Hide and Seek (Hitori kakurenbo gekijo ban  ひとりかくれんぼ　劇場版 ) is one of those films that I think every low budget horror film maker should see.  Not because it great example of the genre but that it holds together very well even though it is a low budget picture. One of the problems with American Horror cinema is that the movies have no atmosphere.  Mood is just as important to a film as the story.  If filmed the right way this can even make up for a lack of budget.  Many J-Horror films are adept at this and Creepy hide and Seek is no different. Check out the trailer below:

            Back, before I became a man of leisure, I used to work at BlockBuster Video.  At the time, the horror movie was at an all time low.   Most Horror movies seemed to go straight to video and it occurred that BlockBuster criteria when purchasing these movies was how inexpensive they were.  Then when they didn’t rent well, the suits could say that people are not interested in Horror movies or at least take comfort that the company didn’t spend much on them.  As I like Horror movies and must be a glutton for punishment I rented a lot of them.  (at least as an employee, it didn’t cost me anything)  Anyway to get to my point these films had no money, poor production values and often times a weak script.  But if the directors had seen a film like Creepy hide and Seek, then they might have learned that moody music, and lightning can cover up a lot of a films flaws. A good example of this is the scene in the original Japanese Ring ( or ringu) were Sadako crawls out of the TV and kills Ryūji. Compare it to the end US remake and while Hollywood spent a lot more money on makeup, I still think the original Japanese one is scarier.  Sometimes not showing you something is more scary than seeing the entire thing.  Of course sometimes not showing something makes it look like you couldn’t afford to show it…so even if the effect is not within your budget, the director has to make it look like her could have showed the whole monty but chose on purpose to hold back.   And it is that skill that I think more American filmmakers need to learn and Creepy Hide and Seek does this very well. 

            While the movie itself is B movie material and is filled with every Japanese Horror Movie stereotype around (it has troubled angsty teens, creepy long haired ghost girls, concerned teacher and the old occult know it all), I was impressed with the mood of the piece.  The movie is very somber.  The music is somber and creepy, the sound effects deliver the same message, everyone wears washed out and dark clothing, even the buildings are dank and paint chipped like they themselves are depressed.  I will point out that pacing of film is slow. I didn’t mind this, as it seemed to fit hand in hand with the somber oppressiveness of the narrative itself.  I think this may turn some views off though. 

            I also enjoyed the “modern spin” on the concept.  Basically, Creepy Hide and Seek is a game of tag for people who have no friends to play with.  The players perform an occult ritual to summon a ghost and then play hide and seek with the ghost. Bad thing will happen if the ghost tags you it.  In the movie the people who play this game are on the internet. The players only communicate through texting, email and chat rooms.  It is often said that computers are casing people to become more isolated, so it seems fitting that these isolated people would choose to play a game of tag by themselves.

            While I can’t say it is the best of the genre, still I say it is worth a watch. While it doesn’t break any new ground, I think it does accomplish what it sets out to do.  I also think it is a lot better than most of the B horror films that are produced inb the states these days. If you don’t want to sit through the movie but you do want to play tag with a ghost then check out this blog here as it tells toy how play Creepy Hide and Seek http://sayainunderworld.blogspot.com/2008/09/one-man-hide-and-seek.html

Hurricane Irene

I decided to start this blog to get myself writing again. My intention was to publish something every week.  I spent most of August timing subtitles for volume one of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (忍者戦隊カクレンジャー ) For those that do not know this is the show that was used to create third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers. I even actually entertained the idea of writing about creating the subbed DVD and posting the ISO on this very blog. Of course that meant I would have to break up the ISO file into several small files and upload off of those to megaupload or something 1rst… I might still do that. Well I also started to write about my feelings of English dubs vs subtitles, which I was planning on posting but then the hurricane came along.
            This isn’t my first hurricane, I had been through Gloria before, back in 1985 but that was quite some time ago. Most of my memories of Gloria were about how long it took the power to be restored in my area and the fact that school was canceled for a while. I also remember seeing a bird attempt to fight the gale force winds and eventually being swept away by the strength of the hurricane. If I had a camcorder back then I would have liked to have recorded that and then use the wicked witch theme from the wizard of oz as the soundtrack. Anyway, I sort of knew what to expect out of Hurricane Irene.

       My father bought some wood and as much as I wanted to do stuff that weekend, I knew my days would be consumed with prepping the house for the storm. I did want to post my blog before that happened and while trying to write about English dubs I got a knock on my door. Chanel 8 News was there and they wanted to interview people about the impending hurricane. I really hope that wasn’t my “15 minutes” because (a) it was barely 15 seconds and (b) they misspelled my name. My family and I rode out Hurricane Gloria at home and I was hoping to do the same for Irene but we were told to evacuate. I really didn’t want to “live” in the local highschool that the town of Saybrook was using as a shelter and I was unhappy that the shelter didn’t allow pets. I didn’t want to board my two cats at the pound. Luckily my family and I didn’t have to go to a shelter and we weathered the storm at my Uncle David’s house. The cats knew something was up and we had the hardest time getting Rory, they little orange cat, into his kitty carrier. He hid in every conceivable place and even a few inconceivable ones as well. For a while I thought we had lost him only to discover he was in my dresser drawer.

We finally got Rory into the cat carrier, were all packed up and ready to leave our boarded up home to be ravaged by the elements. I admit I was worried about the safety of my friends in New Jersey as I saw on the news how bad they were hit, for me most of the really “scary” stuff happened while I was asleep and by the time I woke up the damage was done and the worst had passed us by. I know kind of anticlimactic. But then again so is life most of the time…so what do you expect. I have attached some photos showing the devastation that befell Clinton, Connecticut (where my Aunt and Uncle Live) and Old Saybrook Connecticut.

My back yard shows the aftermath of Irene

And now some artistic visions of devastation :

Is it just me or does this remind you of the aliens in Claws of the Axos

Claws of a Downed Tree or Roots of Evil

History Made in New Jersey! Mercedes Martinez vs Lexxus

I have to say I never expected Lexxus vs Mercedes Martinez to be a Match of the Year but it was.  I always knew Mercedes was MOTY material but I was not sold on Lexxus.  I was surprised that she won the Uncensored Rumble and felt that this match was just something to keep Martinez looking strong until it was Jessicka Havoc finished her feud with Alicia….Was I ever wrong.  Lexxus completely won me over and stood toe to toe with Mercedes and took her to the limit. Lexxus vs Martinez was amazing. This match made world history as the longest woman’s match ever!

                In the beginning, even Mercedes didn’t seem to see Lexxus as a threat.  She was playing with her. But no matter what Mercedes did, Lexxus would not stay down for the three count.   Martinez then got serious.  I was waiting for it.  The triple suplex made famous by Eddie Guerrero.  When Mercedes hit that I thought it was over…but it seemed like nothing would keep Lexxus down.  She either got her shoulder up or was able to grab the rope.  Both Lexxus and Mercedes put each other in several painful submission but neither of them would tap. Lexus even reversed the Fisherman Buster! This match really had it all.  It had technical wrestling, some highflying, and they even fought in the crowd.  And they did it all 83 degree heat!

                Several times the girls either threw water at their opponent or drenched themselves with it.  If this was the WWE or TNA, this would have been an excuse to exploit the women and get ratings with Wet T-shirts, but this is WSU and the women didn’t do it to “be sexy” they did to keep from dehydrating. I am not certain if WSU stocked water from under the ring or they grabbed from thirst fans. They got it from the section closest to the concession stand.

                Both girls were exhausted and on more than one occasion when they were both on the matt, I thought it might end in a double count out but they always managed to get to their feet. And then after 60 minutes the bell rang.  And I was like…after this incredible match…It is going to end in a draw due to a time limit??  TNA pulls that crap all the time but this isn’t TNA, this is WSU.  While the crowd chanted 5 more minutes, the Referee made the call to have the match restarted! We got out wish and Mercedes and Lexxus battled on for another 13 minutes.  Finally after a grueling 73 minutes  Mercedes hit the Fisherman Buster and pinned Lexxus for the one two three!