Ooru naito rongu: Sanji (1995) Review

IMDB Review: Ooru naito rongu: Sanji (1995)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

So this is not nearly as disturbing as the reviews on this site and others imply.

There's a reason that movies like Deliverence, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Audition and Funny Games are far more unsettling than this one-- quality acting. The cackling bad guy is the least interesting choice a writer can make, and although certainly some real life bad guys have tittered, the villains in All Night Long 2: Atrocity often seem like people who should be fighting Speakman or Seagal in a direct to video martial arts movie. (Though plenty of those are better than this-- eg. Flesh & Bone, Last Man Standing and Martial Outlaw.)

When All Night Long 2 is dry and cool--- much of its first half--- the piece is a somewhat effective and uncomfortable viewing experience. But once the nerd starts smiling at the sadism, it's obvious where this is going-- and that happens very early on. His performance is stiff at best, and terrible and silly by the end. The sort of stuff that ruined Hong Kong movies likes Untold Story and Dr. Lamb (and I saw both of those projected in 35mm on the big screen). The gore is mostly spraying blood, oftentimes with too much magenta and overall this movie is not remotely convincing--- and since it's so contained and bare bones, it really needed to feel authentic. And the sound effects are very loud-- again, making the proceedings feel false.

Atrocity does not compare to other small shot on video sadism like (the serious) Guinea Pigs, nor the first August Underground, much less the wildly creative Brian Paulin movies (Fetus, Bone Sickness) and the early Ittenbach pieces.