Customer Reviews

Crazy Lips

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I say this is a vile and nasty film, I'm saying that as a recommendation. For what I perceive to be a very polite and mannered society, the Japanese certainly crank out some of the nastiest and ugliest horror films you (n)ever wanted to see, and this one is no exception. This one, however, has some comedy to it, and it's not exactly slapstick but a couple scenes come kind of close, in a twisted way. A family is plagued by reporters and police because supposedly the son is a serial killer, and one girl enlists the help of some psychics to help find the real killer, because she knows he's innocent. However, the psychics turn out to be psychos too, and subject the family to all sorts of indignities, which is putting things rather mildly. There are some goofy FBI agents (in Japan?) and some headless zombie girls wandering around, not to mention a bunch of way nastier things that go on. One girl even sings a song while she's being tailed by Lucy, the blond Japanese FBI agent....most weird. At any rate, if you love the new wave of weird Japanese films out there then this is truly worth checking out, it'll mess with your head.

Holy smokes, this is a warped movie, certainly original as well. There are so many combinations of styles from horror to comedy to kung fu, even a musical number. It's almost a retro homage and works totally. Each character has a different flavor and you will never guess what they end up doing. The craziness never ends here. Another aspect that held my attention was the fact many parts caught me completely off guard. To name a few surprises- rape, incest, necrophilia, just watch and enjoy...

Not since high school have I had so much fun not knowing what was going on.

Two cute teenage girls and their mother are being harassed by the public and hounded relentlessly by news crews because their missing brother has been accused of decapitating four girls. That's the only thing I figured out 100% cause after that things got wackier than Takashi Miike on mushrooms including necrophilia, three rape scenes, a scalping, headless zombies, a musical number, lots of screaming, vomiting, violent telekinetic murders, brutal fight scenes with axes, incest and even a nuclear explosion!

What does it all mean? I don't know and I couldn't care less. I just know I couldn't peel my eyes from the screen in anticipation of what was going to happen next.

If you enjoy the more frenzied moments of films by Miike, Tsukamoto or Lynch then you should check out the unpredictable CRAZY LIPS. "What is truly happening in this house?!"

Twisted, twisted, twisted. Thats the best word I can describe this movie with. FIRST, its not a traditional horror, more like a multi-genre movie. It starts as most J-horrors do, slowly, but once it starts gaining momentum it doesnt let up till the end. More confusing than any other movie, I found myself with my jaw on the floor, saying "No, they can't do that!". Way, way over the top in its attempts to be cruel, I really enjoyed it. You had better be pretty tough to endure some of the stuff they throw at you. Some parts will sicken you to the core, and others will make you laugh. For fans of J-horror, you MUST see this, just to get a handle on these reviews. It is made by a fantastic group, but takes a far different path than most.

The first thing you need to know about "Crazy Lips" is that it isn't a horror flick. Don't be fooled by that cover. Oh, there are some horror elements, to be sure, and some good old fashioned axe murders, but anyone looking for a good scare isn't going to find it here.

What "Crazy Lips" ("Hakkyousuru kuchibiru") is, is just...over-the-top. Extreme. Weird. It is a film that doesn't know what genre it wants to be, and tries to be all of them. Spooky ghost story? Check. Action super-powered fighting? Check. Axe-murdering slaughter fest? Check. Sweet musical number? Check. Utterly bizarre pink film where you see a girl raped, taking a dead body in the front while her own father takes her from the back then laughs about how she is going to have a hard time sitting down? Check.

There is a story here, of sorts, but it takes so many wild twists and turns that it hardly seems worth mentioning it. A family is hounded by the press because the eldest son is a suspected serial killer. The family, desperate to clear their name and help the son, retains the services of a powerful psychic who summons up the headless bodies of murdered girls to go and look for their killer. The psychic, however, is not exactly what she appears to be, and a Japanese-girl-in-a-blonde-wig-and-a-bad-accent-trying-to-be-an-American-FBI-agent is hot on the case. Hijinks ensue.

And while the situations may be extreme, none of the sex or violence is. For sex, there is nothing on the level of Entrails of a Virgin, and the nudity never goes above topless. For gore, don't expect Ichi the Killer. It just isn't that kind of movie. The director wants to go over the top, and he seems to have made the movie depending on the whims of a given day rather than following any sort of plan or plot.

Strangely enough, "Crazy Lips" has some good players in its cast. Hiroshi Abe (Hana & Alice) is one of my favorite modern Japanese actors, and this is a very early flick for him. Hitomi Miwa (Ju-on) is a Japanese scream queen, so it is no surprise to see her here doing what she does best.

I wouldn't really be in a rush to recommend this to anyone, unless they are in the mood for something really weird. I had a good time with it, but a sober viewing might not be the best.

I really don't get all the positive reviews on this movie; it simply wasn't that good. Basically, it is an extemely bizarre and violent film which attempts to blend extreme horror with dark comedy, but ultimately fails in both areas. Movies this strange are sure to gain some cult notoriety, but with all the five star reviews I expected so much better.

If you are really looking for something strange, pick up All night Long instead. It succeeds in every area where this one fails.

Bought this DVD since the description was interesting, as well as recently having watched Versus, Pyrokinesis, Uzumaki, etc. has carved a respect from me to watch Asian Horror movies post the popularity of Ringu. I thought this movie would have some substance and at least some art put into it, but none, nada, zilch kaput of anything near my expectations.

This movie has NO plot whatsoever, it does not even accomplish anything that is remotely "thrilling", and if you are into gore (I am not), this movie doesnt have any of that. If you are into necrophillia, perhaps. There is a scene here that was downright DUHHH, when the evilly hypnotized mother and her daughter hang a dectective while the detective is an arousal state. Then these two force the other daughter (our protagonist) into having sex with the now-dead detective. Now what was the point of this scene? Nothing.

And then in the end when the relationship between the protagonist and the long lost brother is revealed, I wonder if the writer was suppose to wow his audience by irrelevant revelation. At this point, I didnt care anymore. I wished all of them were dead so I can turn off the movie.

I think what made me held on to the movie to the very end was absolute denial that I was watching something as stupid as this movie, and then later on vaccillating if I hung on out of morbid curiosity that the story would get any stupider.

One last note, I thought the Asian (being an Asian myself) had gotten rid of the "girl singing in the middle of the movie" parts? Here is something you dont see in Western movies that the Asians seems to have a copyright on. Can you imagine Kate Beckinsdale singing right in the middle of Underworld with music in the background? This cheesy tidbit Asians throw in never assimilated with the West. Well, in this movie, you get a taste of it. Happy fast forwarding!

Here we have a movie that aggressively makes no sense - I'm not buying the "cultural dissociation" thing. It makes no sense. Rather it has a stream of consciousness feel, like someone was detailing the highlights of some really complex dream, but periodically boring themselves with it, so they kept wandering off into largely self-contained tangents. We start with a mystery whose ultimate resolution satisfies no one, yet it's impossible to feel disappointed as quite early one you realize the makers of the movie never really cared about anyway.

It's almost as if the creative team felt the need to say something about... anything... but then realized they really didn't have anything. So they just kind of throw a lot of stuff against the wall, and act as if not waiting to see if anything sticks somehow is sort of like being half-successful.

But hey; if you watch this all the way through and aren't scarred for life from the woman pretending to be an American singing the Star Spangled Banner, well, you're made of some pretty stern stuff. The entire movie may be a failed attempt to film dream logic, but there they have the nightmare part down pat.

Writing a review for 'Crazy Lips' is so hard, because the movie is practically indescribable. It's the kind of hyperactive weirdness that only the Japanese can make.

It starts off like a serious horror film...but grows progressively strange as it moves on. Lots of sex, gore, kung-fu and off-key musical numbers are thrown in. Normal characters turn completely insane and do wildly unpredictable things.

It's a fun, shocking ride...but definately not something everyone will enjoy. If you like exploitation or just plain offbeat movies, then you won't do better than this little gem.

By director Hirohisa Sasaki, the film "Crazy Lips," is about as bizarre and demented as they come. When I first purchased and viewed the film, I thought: What the hell is this? Sure, I like offbeat and strange films that try to be different--especially if they succeed in entertaining me. But this film, while starting out pretty good, veers into a tangled mess that takes you everywhere, and yet nowhere. The constant scenes of rape depicted in the film got to the point where I asked myself--What is the director out to prove in this film? Is this creative film making? Or is it just an excercise in "Let's see if we can be different." The director tried to put as many shocking scenes into film he was able to, until I guess he just ran out of film. Either that, or the actors were just too embarrassed to go any further with this film mess. And I DO NOT buy into the rationalization that this is a great film because it is going to be a cult classic. I find quite a few cult classic to be very stale.

Now, as for the film. Is it worth the purchase? No. Is it a good film? No. So, what then is this film? Well, if extremely bizarre and strange films are your taste, then you might like this film. However, if you like good films that you would recommend to your friends and family, then this is not the film. Sure there are a few good scenes in the film. But not enough to make this an interesting or worthy film to add to your collection. I do not even know if I would recommend that you rent it first. However, on second thought, maybe I would, just so you can see that not all so-called foreign cult films from Japan are that good. And I have seen some very horrendous ones from Japan in my life. But, if you see it on the video store shelves, and were curious to find out just how bizarre and weird a film can be, then I would say go for it. Just don't expect much from this film and you will not be disappointed.

Also, this is NOT a horror film. In fact, I really don't think there is a genre for this particular film. So, I will just refer to the film as "IT." Now, "IT" is a film that centers on a family [a mother and two sisters] who are being hounded not only by the citizens of their community, but the police too. The mother and two sisters are being harassed due to their brothers connection to the murder and decapitations of four people. The family hires a medium who winds up being more of a menace and threat to their well-being that the citizens and police combined. However, as I wrote in the beginning, the film veers into every sort of strange and bizarre type of genre that you can think of. I like actor Hiroshi Abe, and knowing his eclectic filmography, I was not surprised to see him in this film. And in fact, was the reason I initially bought the film. Also, I do like actor Ikko Suzuki, who portrayed the police inspector. But the film was a failure to me. Anyway, to wrap it up, I do not recommend the film. I have friends who like this film, but one viewing is enough. However, you might want to rent it for curiosity sakes!