Back From the Dead: Audition

Hello fellow horror fanatics, tis I, Secret Geek, guest-blogging for DarkHolme Publishing in what I hope will become a regular weekly slot (if there's enough interest). We all know that the best horror comes back for one last scare, so this blog is dedicated to vintage horror (well, pre-2010, anyway) getting a resurrection in the coming week on 4K.

For my first foray into the formless void of antiquity, we're going all the way back to the 20th Century (just about) and the genre defining Audition.

For those who have seen Takeshi Miike’s 1999 J-horror Audition, little is needed in the way of introduction. I came to it through a friend of mine who was big into his J- and K-horror, and let me tell you, I’ll never look at feeding your pet a bowl of chow in the same way again (IYKYK). 

For those of you who may have escaped what is certainly one of the most disturbing, yet oddly relevant horror films of the end of the 20th Century, the plot summary may make you wonder why I’m writing about it at all on a horror fiction site.

A widower, Shigeharu Aoyama, advised by his son that it’s time to find a new wife, enlists the help of his friend — a movie studio producer — to hold a fake movie audition to find a potential new mate. In the post-Weinstein era, you might be forgiven for thinking that the movie descends into a horror-revenge cycle of The Wronged Woman, getting back at her alleged attacker. You’d be dead wrong. 

When Shigeharu meets the 24-year-old Asami, he becomes instantly besotted with her and sets about making her his wife. Asami has other ideas. And other hobbies it would seem, also... 

For those who have seen the film, I have just two things to say to you: 

1). “Kiri, kiri, kiri…”

2). Go and google what 1). actually translates to. I’ll be over here. Waiting patiently. With the mind-bleach. 

The movie is a fascinating, if deeply disconcerting, exploration of obsession, control and the relationship between men and women. It manages at once to be both a feminist rallying cry (okay, maybe there is a little of the wronged woman insinuated through Asami’s past), and a misogynistic cautionary tale about dating and stranger danger in the modern world.

Despite being from over a quarter-century ago, the film’s themes, and its portrayal of gender and desire, feel universally relevant, making it just as disturbing now as it was in its fin de siècle hayday. Which is probably why it’s getting a 4K special edition release. 

Already out on Blu-Ray and DVD, the limited edition 4K offers the same plethora of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage as earlier versions, as well as a new interview with the actor who plays Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi), and a 4K mastering of the original 16mm negative with lossless stereo sound (if you’re into that kind of thing). 

Whilst Audition is not necessarily the sort of film that lends itself to a 4K restoration (not being big on spectacle or even remotely effects-driven), the improved image quality allows the viewer to savour every sickening frame of Shigeharu’s torment and enjoy what the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called a “shocking, scabrous, satirical… stomach-turning masterpiece.”

The 4K version is out in the UK on Monday, 15th June. Just don’t eat dinner with it… especially if dinner is chicken soup. 😉 

~Secret Geek