(Review originally written at 23 February 2009) I don't like all of Takashi Miike's movies but I found this one to be pretty enjoyable, despite it being quite an odd movie. But well, that's just Miike's thing, so be sure what to expect before watching this. Miike's handles all kind of different styles and themes and blends them together into this movie. It has lots of crazy characters, a bunch of violence and also a large amount of sex and nudity this time. This gets all combined with its absurd story, that strengthens all of its other themes, making this an odd as well as an unique viewing experience. Despite all of its heavy visual themes, with violence and sex, the movie is above all things also strangely entertaining to watch. Miike puts in his trademark comedy, that often makes this movie a light and pleasant watch, despite all of the heavy things that are happening on screen. He knows to put in the comical touches at the right place and at the right time. Of course it often is a hard movie to understand and follow because of all of its unusual themes and not so every-day common characters. It therefore also really isn't a movie for just everybody but if you are willing to give this movie a change with a clear mind and don't try to think too much about it all, until afterward when things start to seem to make more sense to you, changes are you might end up enjoy watching this movie. It's a movie that gets better as it progresses. At first it all is one big blur to you but later on things start to clear up more and you're able to understand some of it's themes and intentions of Miike. Everything starts to come together to you and suddenly what normally seems strange now seems perfectly normally, once you're drawn into Miike's world. A movie worth giving a go. 7/10 Watch trailer
(Review originally written at 26 September 2008) To be honest I expected to really love this movie, since it seemed to feature all of the ingredients needed to please me; Gore, violence and this all done in a typical Japanese manga style. However "Koroshiya 1" is a mess of a movie and more than halve of the time I really didn't knew what I was watching. It's confusing, odd and just not entertaining enough in all, to watch. Takashi Miike is a real cult-director but I guess his work is just not my kind of thing. I doubt if I'm even willing to watching more movies by him now. The movie is good looking and yes also well directed, as weird as it might sound for a movie that I didn't liked watching at all. However some good story telling is a whole different thing and Miike doesn't seem to really handle this directing discipline well. The movie has a true unique style of its own and it mixes bold action with humor. It's filled with some real gruesome sequences and the movie literally features gallons of blood (as well as sperm). It will please the gore fans as well as the fans of Japanese manga. The movie is also based on a comic by Japanese artist Hideo Yamamoto. For me the movie was just almost completely unwatchable for the mess that it was. However I know that there are people who can appreciate this movie and it's style, so simply go judge for yourself whether you like it or not. It's really a matter of taste. If the movie still feels 'right' for you after 10 minutes in, keep watching since it will definitely be your thing. Or else just switch it off, like basically I should had done as well... 3/10 Watch trailer
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