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THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS ONE OF AN ADULT NATURE.  PARENTAL DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

SUMMARY

Five years ago, Chihiro was gang raped by three men who lived in her home town.  Now, one of them, a man named Hirokawa, has tracked her to Tokyo.  Forcing his way into her home, he tells her that Baba, the leader of the gang, is being released from prison, and that the rest on their way.  He also threatens her that if she tells anyone about what is going on, he will spread the photographs of the rape to everyone she works with, and tell them that she made a porno film with them.

Hirokawa beats her, forces her to have sex, and begins to invade her life. When Hirokawa tells her boyfriend that she is a whore, that is the last straw.  While he is taking a bath, she bashes him on the head, and drowns him.

With the other members of the gang coming to see her, she has only one recourse.  

Fortunately, she has this really big freezer.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The DVD is fairly decent. There are a lot of wrinkles, but since the film is so grainy, you really don't notice it unless you go looking for it.

AUDIO: Well done for both the English and Japanese Dolby 2.0 tracks. The English track is louder in volume, but the Japanese language track has a fuller sound.  On both versions, the sound is crisp and rich.  

EDITS: First they use the clean close with English credits.  Then they show the original Japanese closing credits.  No edits to the movie have been made.

EXTRAS: A brief Takashi Ishii biography, the Freeze Me trailer, and trailers of Takashi Ishii movies released by Media Blasters.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: This movie is not for the faint of heart.  Takashi Ishii story pulls no punches what so ever.  It's very graphic, very disturbing, and highlights a major problem in Japanese society.

ACTING: I was amazed at the acting talents of Harumi Inoe, model extraordinaire.  The way she conveys the terror, helplessness, and eventual anger at what was done to her character is totally believable.  She has some serious acting abilities, and I hope to see her in more movies.

Naoto Takenaka is well known for his comedic roles.  Seeing him play a total sociopath is a shock.  I will never look at him the same way again.

The English dub is not bad, but to truly get the emotional impact of this movie, you have to watch it in the original Japanese.

FAN SERVICE: None I would call enjoyable.  While the sight of Harumi Inoe nude has long been a dream of many fans, this is not the way they hoped to see her.

CONCLUSION

Very few Japanese films have shocked me.  Freeze Me is one of them.  Along with Visitor Q, this movie had on the edge of my seat, waiting for the next shocking incident.

I was amazed at how different this movie was from "Black Angel".  While "Black Angel" was a stylish action film, this one is a raw and powerful movie.  The murder scenes were as close to real as I want to get.  Even the bodies were twitching after she smacks them with a hammer.  There is nothing beautiful about this movie.  It's like Edgar Allen Poe had been reincarnated in director Takashi Ishii.

Takashi Ishii is a master of suspense.  He uses the fact that you all ready know what happened to Chihiro to help keep you on edge.  There are a lot of red herrings he throws in, designed to keep you jumping.  This movie is a slow burn, that builds up to the inevitable conclusion.  Adding to she suspense is the fact that almost the entire movie takes place in Chihiro's apartment, or apartments as it were.  These are small, claustrophobic places, where escape is impossible.  It makes the already tense situations even worse.

I am a huge fan of Harumi Inoe, and have been since I saw her in 82nd MPD.  However, this was not a "buddy cop" movie, and I was not sure if she would be any good.

Boy, was I wrong.

I could not fathom anyone else playing the part.  Every scene she was in was riveting.  She slowly changes from terrified victim, to vengeful spirit, to a woman so twisted by the events in her world, she does not know who she is anymore.  I can't wait to see her in something new.

There is a message in this movie.  While it may be a bit heavy handed and extreme, it says something about how rape is ignored in Japan.  Where a man can say "She wanted it!" and the police will side with him.  If she could have told people about what happened, then she might have spared herself years of pain and fear.  Instead, she has to leave town, and hide, keeping this horrible event from everyone, including her family.

Freeze Me is not one for the causal viewer.  It's a disturbing, brutal, and powerful film.  The superb cast, taught writing, and suspense will leave you sitting in stunned silence when it is over.

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