Here’s an odd one this time out…. 1977’s Japanese fantasy film, “House”. I’ve been aware of it for over a decade or so, but it’s one of those quirky lil’ films that seemed stubbornly destined to never ever get subtitles or be shown anywhere near my part of the world. Thank goodness that’s now at an end!! UK DVD distributor Eureka has released this one in a new Region 2 NTSC collector’s edition as pert of their “Masters of Cinema” collection. Naturally I wasted no time in snapping up a copy…..

Our synopsis goes like this: “A teenage girl named Angel discovers that her widowed father has recently begun dating again. Worse, Angel’s father has canceled the yearly summer vacation that he and Angel take every year together in order to stay near Ryoko, his new girlfriend, whom he intends on marrying soon. Furious at this situation, Angel invites her friends to come with her to her visit her long lost aunt at her remote country home.

Arriving, they discover Angel’s aunt seems to be sick and wheelchair bound, and they all agree to help fill their time fixing up her run down estate located in the woods. However, unknown to anyone, the aunt is, in reality, a vampiric witch who feeds off the flesh of young virgin girls to sustain her youth and strength. Possessing her niece, the aunt murders the girls one by one with help from her bewitched house. In the end, the aunt takes over Angel’s body so she can continue waiting for her long lost fiancee, who went M.I.A. during World War II, to finally return to her. Will any of them survive the strange horrors and escape alive?”

Wow…. now this one certainly sounds like Neko’s sort of film. I’ve always loved the creepy weirdness of 70’s Japanese ghost stories…. so I’m hoping for something along the lines of “Mansion of the Ghost Cat” or “Kuroneko”. I’ve heard however that this one is…. well… a bit stranger than the Japanese films I’m used to. Will it live up to it’s reputation and still turn out to captivate and entertain me? Guess there’s only one way to find out….

Psssst!! That’s your cue….. it’s time to “Read On”, o’ Gentle Visitors!!

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One of my new Christmas presents, “9″ quickly made it’s way to the top of my “To Watch” pile this last weekend…. (actually I suspect Carolyn might have moved it there so we would watch it instead of “Paku Kuntilanak” last Saturday…. such a naughty, naughty girl!!) and so after an evening’s viewing I’m ready to weigh in with my impressions on it.

Our Synopsis goes like this: “In the retro futuristic post-apocalyptic ruins of a deserted city, a small group of brave little robotic puppets led by a recently awakened “9″, battle evil machines for the right to rule over the lost world of Mankind…. Who will win this curious struggle and ultimately control the new world?”

Although produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov…. much of this film lies squarely on the shoulders of Shane Acker, creator of the imaginative short film upon which this one was based. I’d seen the Trailer of course, but this one turned out to be one of those films that just never made it to my lil’ town… so now that it’s newly out on DVD, I guess it’s time for your Favorite Catgirl to fix that particular lil’ oversight.

So… let’s all “Read On” and find out how this one ranks up, shall we?

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Day 3 and your Favorite Catgirl’s still hard at it… as our new review takes us back to the saffron and curry scented horrors of the Indian Subcontinent. This time, I’ve been lucky enough to score myself a copy of the Telugu Fantasy/ Horror film, “Arundhati”….. my first foray into the wild films of South India.

Our synopsis reads: “Arundhati (played by Anushka Shetty) is a descendant of the Gadwal ruling dynasty. Her marriage is finally arranged and settled with her lover Rahul and his family. A few days before her marriage, she comes to her ancestral home of Gadwal from Hyderabad. There she is drawn to nearby abandoned fort where an evil spirit is lying in wait. Cut to flashback. Three generations back, Jejemma aka Arundhati (also played by Anushka Shetty) kills the evil sadistic womaniser, Pasupathi (played by Sonu Sood) whose eternal spirit vows to take revenge on her and her family. Three generations later, the new Arundhati is destined by fate to face him once again.”

I saw the trailer for this one and was just blown away… It has the look of a great big budget fantasy epic just the way I like them. After many fruitless months of searching, my efforts have finally been rewarded with a nice English friendly DVD at a ridiculously low price…. Yay!!!

So…. will “Arundhati” turn out to be that amazing Indian film I’ll just have to gush endlessly about to all my friends… or will it just be another goofy and confusing musical mess I’ll be embarrassed to admit I even watched?? I guess there’s really only one way to know….

So let’s all pop the popcorn, settle in on the couch and give it a try, shall we?

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Tired of the cold and the snow, we’re off to Japan this time out by way of HK for “Orochi”, the latest DVD release inspired by the works of Kazuo Umezu, who also did the manga that gave us “Tamami, The Baby’s Curse” . If you are a regular visitor then you know I reviewed that one not so long ago here at the ol’ Litterbox. I really liked the Gothic atmosphere, simple, yet absorbing story, and general weirdness of “Tamami”, so will I get lucky again with “Orochi”?

Our quicky synopsis reads: “1950’s Japan. Orochi, a mysterious eternal wandering spirit in the form of a young girl, comes upon the mansion of the Monzen family seeking shelter from a storm, and goes to work there as a housekeeper. The current owner of the house is Aoi Monzen, the Japan’s greatest star of the silver screen in that era. Her life seems a dream come true for a woman in postwar Japan, and she has two pretty daughters, Kazusa and Risa.

But the Monzen family also has a deep, dark secret: the women of the family may be beautiful to all eyes, but once they pass the age of 29 a terrible curse strikes and that beauty crumbles, and gradually they become hideous, rot away, and die in madness.”

Hmmmm… now that certainly sounds promising. But Neko’s been fooled before…. Will it happen again, or will “Orochi” thrill and entertain this lil’ Catgirl? I guess the only way for you to know is to “Read On”!!

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Just in with my latest Malaysian DVD shipment, we have the new Thai Fantasy Romance, “Deep In The Jungle” aka “Naak” from Thailand’s Phranakorn Films.

Our synopsis reads:“Nawin, an army secret service agent decided to withdraw from a scientific investigation because of unlawful procedures that involved International forces. Although he had tried desperately to avoid the illegal acts of the armed forces, it seems the harder he tried the more involved he became. He was constantly under surveillance no matter where he went or what he did which made him realize there was more to the situation that meets the eye.

Jin, a young woman who Nawin once saved from a brutal attack is undergoing a strange transformation within her body as her blood circulates through mutation. This transformation on Jin, is what Nawin believes the International forces are after. The half breed mix between animal and human.

Nawin decides to help Jin by taking her back to her birth place. As he leads her home, her illness seems to subside. They will soon grow close and fall in love. When it comes time for Nawin to choose between her and his life, he awakes to find that it has all been an image of his imagination…or was it?”

Hmmmm? Certainly sounds like this lil Catgirl’s kind of movie…. so naturally I wasted no time in watching it as soon as it arrived. Was it up to my expectations? Let’s all find out then, shall we?

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Here we go again…. it’s yet another chance to peek back to this Lil’ Catgirl’s childhood and find out just what sort of movies kept lil’ Miyuki glued to her TV in those innocent years of my childhood. This time out… it’s 1967’s “The Valley of Gwangi” by the amazing special effects wizard of stop motion animation, Ray Harryhausen.

Ooooohhh!! Cowboys… and dinosaurs!! Frolicking together in the Old West… whooping it up… trying to kill each other…  doing whatever it is cowboys and dinosaurs will do when they manage to actually (and, perhaphs, implausibly) meet up. How could lil’ Miyuki not watch this one?

Our quick synopsis for it reads: “A ragtag group of cowboys find a lost valley in Mexico and manage to capture an Allosaurus, named Gwangi. They decide to capitalize on their exploit by putting it on show as the featured attraction at a fading traveling circus despite the objections of superstitious locals. As with all such plans, it turns out to be a bad… bad idea.”

Yep, even today, this particular film still holds a fond place in my memories… But is it really any good, or am I just remembering it through the marvelous haze of childhood nostalgia? Let’s all take another look and find out, shall we?

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It’s amazing what you can get from Thailand…. their own DVD’s these days are almost completely without English subtitles for reasons and logic that just escapes this lil’ Catgirl.

However, be that as it may,… it actually is a pretty good place to get Russian or European films with English subtitles that somehow missed receiving them in their own country.

My latest such acquisition is the Russian Sword & Sorcery epic “Wolfhound”. I watched it just the other evening, and so now it’s time to wade in with my review….

Our synopsis reads: “The last remaining member of a slaughtered tribe escapes his enslavement and grows up to become a fearless warrior. As he pursues revenge against all odds for his family’s murder, his quest intertwines with a princess’s larger war against a brutal tyrant who would destroy everyone in his path.”

Hmmmmm? It sounds all “Conan-ish” alright, but do the Russians know didddly about that whole barbarian ethos thingee? Will we get sufficient sword swinging testosterone fueled vengeance to satisfy our need for bloody and vicarious thrills? I guess it’s up to your Favorite Catgirl Princess to find out!

So… whatcha waitin’ for? “Read On”, o’ gentle reader!!

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Oooohh!! Another nifty Thai fantasy film…… just what the doctor ordered for this lil’ Catgirl. I’ve been going into withdrawals without getting to see any new Thai stuff for the last month or so. This one has actually been out for quite a while now…. but without subtitles naturally….. (Boooo!! Hisss!!) A proper Fansub for this one finally became available, and as I’ve been wanting to see it sooo, sooo badly, I ordered it up direct from Thailand just last week….

The synopsis for it reads as follows: “In the 1600’s. Queen Raja Heejau of Langkasuka must defend her country against numerous foes when a rogue prince conspires with a coalition of vicious pirates to incite a rebellion and plunder the kingdom. A famous Dutch Cannon maker tries to aid the kingdom by constructing the “Mother of All Cannons” to be used to defend the kingdom against it’s enemies. Unfortunately the pirates learn of the cannon and try to seize the ship delivering it.

The raid fails, and the ship, along with its crew and weapons sink into a deep ocean abyss after an titanic explosion. This fateful incident occurs on the very same day as the birth of “Panee”, born with the amazing gift that enables him to communicate with all the creatures of the sea.

In the years to come and after much training Panee’s uncanny ability would be used to help the Queen and her sisters defeat the merciless pirates that threaten their shores. Panee will call upon whales, giant rays, and dolphins to aide him in the historic sea battle for the fate of the kingdom of Langkasuka.”

Sounds good!! Neko-chan just loves the whole sweeping epic romance angle and the promise of some crazy kickboxing… and if you do too, then I just know you are gonna want to “Read On” for more about “Queens of Langkasuka”!

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Well, this time out, it’s some light entertainment for your Favorite Catgirl, the recent Japanese Fantasy film “Chanbara Beauty” aka “OneChanbara”… with so much crazy Japanese Cowgirl Zombie fighting weirdness to spawn both a video game and a movie. It’s taken some time to crawl up to the top of my DVD pile, but finally, it’s time has come…..

Our synopsis for it reads: “A mysterious scientist, Dr. Sugita, has invented a new medicine which can wake dead people up. The streets are filled with zombies. A beautiful girl, Aya, with a samurai sword who is seeking revenge for the murder of her father, keeps fighting with the zombies day and night. One day, she meets a girl called Reiko. From Reiko, she learns that her half-sister Saki is under the evil Sugita’s control…

Up-and-coming actress Otoguro Eri (from the American “Shutter” remake as well as “Shaolin Girl”) stars as the feisty heroine Aya, slashing her way through the movie in the character’s signature costume – cowboy hat, boots, long scarf, and naturally……a Bikini! To survive, she has to battle the quickly multiplying army of zombies that was raised from the dead by the evil scientist Dr Sugita. Aya is joined in her fight by lone biker chick Reiko (Hashimoto Manami) whose beloved daughter was killed by the living dead and who now lives only to seek revenge, and together they fight the undead army and battle Aya’s half-sister Saki (Nakamura Chise from “Swing Girls”) who suddenly shows up in a schoolgirl uniform with a saber of her own having joined the evil doctor in his twisted schemes.”

OMG!!! So… let’s get this straight now… it’s got Zombies… and a tough, tattooed, bikini clad Japanese cowgirl with a sword (… and you all know how much this lil’ Catgirl loves to play “dress-up”!!) so you gotta see how Neko’s already on board for this one, but it it actually going to be any good? I mean, the whole “inspired by the hit video game” thingee usually tells me a movie is destined to be fairly “crap-tastic”. (Or would that be “crap-tabulous”? Hehehehe!!) I guess I’m just gonna have to wade in and find out!! Why don’t you “Read On” and join me? (C’mon…. ya know ya wanna!!)

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First up in Neko-chan’s new “Lil’ Kitten Classics” reviews, is the MGM/ UA Fantasy Adventure film “The Magic Sword” from waaaay back in 1962. I fondly remember first seeing this on a Saturday morning during my “Sword & Sorcery/ Fairy Tale” movie phase.

It’s a simple film from a far simpler time, and the synopsis I found reads: “In this fun-filled adventure-fantasy, a rookie knight embarks upon a valiant quest to save a princess who has been captured by a malicious magician. Along the way he must battle the usual assortment of dragons, ogres and other mythical beings. He is assisted by a good witch who gives him a magic sword. Unfortunately, the magic fails and suddenly he must find his own magic from within.”~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Mind you… this is a film that was originally targeted for children, much the very same as this lil’ girl was when I first saw it that Saturday morning all those years ago. So if you are expecting the sword slashing savage action of “Conan the Barbarian” or the mystical special effects and epic story of “Lord of the Rings” you are going to be sadly out of luck. However, if you, too, saw this one as a kid, then you’ll be hard pressed not to remember it as a fun film, even after all these years…..

But…. the big question is, does it have enough nostalgic kitsch and quaint goofiness to still hold up after all these years? I guess you’ll just have to “Read On” to find out…..

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