Zero Day is one of the best and most shocking non-Asian movies I’ve ever seen. I saw it during my first year of high school with some friends and I was simply in awe all the way through. One of the things that made it have such an impact on me was the fact that I was told by the friend who brought it, that it was put together from real footage and was something similar to the Columbine shootings. I actually felt sick to my stomach when the two kids Calvin and Andre finally attacked their school at the end of the movie. I call it a movie, because it’s not real, it’s just made to look like it’s real and wow, does it do a great job! I was fooled that’s for sure. Everything in the movie seems so ridiculously real it’s not even funny, but man it’s a fascinating movie.

The movie is called Zero Day, because two boys refer to the day they’re gonna attack their school “zero day”. And I like how they choose the day to begin with; by waiting for the first day they say on the radio that it’s zero degrees outside. That doesn’t happen though because Andre gets sick, which is another thing that sounds so realistic. Anyway, awesome movie.

ZERO DAY was the code-word that two students used to describe the assault they planned for over a year, and which they finally executed on May 1st, 2001.

On that warm and beautiful spring day, Andre Kriegman and Calvin Gabriel, two students of Iroquois High School, walked onto to their campus with three semiautomatic weapons, a shotgun, a revolver, at least twenty explosive devices and several knives.

ZERO DAY, the movie, brings us into the world of best friends Andre and Calvin.

Self-named the “Army of Two” they used video cameras to record everything relevant to their final “mission.” Their video diaries provide a window into their chillingly ordinary lives, and as we get to know them we become seduced by their intelligence, their humor, their directness, the inward and outward expressions of their adolescence, and their terrible single-mindedness.

And here’s a music video set to a song by Rammstein.

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I remember waiting for Battle Royale 2 to come out back in 2003 and it was the most frustrating and excruciating thing ever. After my first viewing of the original Battle Royale it was already my favorite movie, so of course I was expecting quite a lot, whether I wanted to or not, of the sequel of such a masterpiece. My initial reaction to Battle Royale 2: Requiem was that the beginning was mindblowing, I really liked the Saving Private Ryan-esque scene where they are approaching the island and attacked as soon (well before actually) they get off the boats. And the new rules of the game were refreshing as well, since I think it would be stupid to just do the same all over again. This time around if Boy #11 dies, so does his partner, Girl #11. And the collar that they have on, will explode not only if they are in a danger zone, but also if two partners are more than 50 feet away from each other. But then something happened… the movie turned into a regular borefest, which left me with an empty feeling inside, as I slowly began realizing that this was not a movie I’d be watching from time to time, which I still do to this date with the original Battle Royale. BUT, that was the 133-minute “Requiem” cut of the movie that was released back in 2003.

A new version of the movie called “Revenge” has been released and THANK GOD for that! Over 20 minutes of new footage has been added making it clock in at more than 2 and half hours, but it was just what the movie needed. One of the things the original release Requiem was lacking was character development, which there is more time for in the new cut. I must admit that it’s been a long time since I watched Requiem so I’m not entirely sure exactly which scenes are the new ones, although I did see some, but honestly I don’t really care, as long as it made the movie feel more coherent and all around better.

Summary:

3 years have passed since the original Battle Royale Survival Program, and survivors Shuya Nanahara and Noriko have formed a terrorist faction known as the “Wild Seven” A bombing occurs in Tokyo on Christmas Day, which kills over 8000 people, and leave millions homeless. “Wild Seven” are giving the blame.

After the incident, Shuya Nanahara sends a video via Internet to all world leaders….”We declare War on all Grown Ups” The Japanese government, once again, become desperate, and create ‘The Millenium Anti-Terrorism Survival Programme’ better known as BR2.

On a bus journey towards a Ski vacation, a random school class of low lifer’s are gassed and taken to a military base, and are told the rules for the “next game” Finding out the hard way, the class realise they all have a partner, a boy and a girl with the same class number, and if there partner dies, there necklaces around there necks will also detonate. Most of the class are scared and confussed, all except Shiori Kitano, daughter of the teacher involved in the BR three years ago. She signed up by herself, no for bloodlust, but for revenge, revenge on her father’s death, the detah in which Nanahara was responsible.

After graphic persuasion from there ring leader, all but 2 of the class are geared up and are taken to the island where “Wild Seven” are based. The time limit is 3 days, the target is Shuya Nanahara, let the game’s begin….

This release was supposed to be released back in August last year, but has been postponed several times. Lucky for me, I just found out about this release a few months ago, so the waiting hasn’t been that bad. Some people think that it might be because of the act of terrorism in the movie. I’m inclined to agree with that, because the destruction of the two towers (that resembles the twin towers quite a lot) may not be new footage and Battle Royale 2 HAS been release before (and now I could kick myself for owning two copies of both movies), but as seen in the trailer below these words are spoken: “This is september 11″. Which is a pretty bold movie in my opinion.

And just like my tin DVD of Battle Royale this one is packed with awesome subbed (!) extras. I’m a sucker for behind-the-scenes material, so this is definitely a big plus and worth spending some extra money on.

I’m not sure, but I think the sister side-story involving sexy sniper Natsuki Kato (pic) and a student in the BR2 program is new. I don’t remember it at least, but if were to name one character, which I’d like to hear more about it would be her. I mean a gorgeous girl sniper, who kicks ass, c’mon that’s awesome. She’s the Mitsuko (from Battle Royale) of BR2.

“Champion of the most recent Battle Royale program, Saki is the sniper of the group, thanks to her trusty Dragunov rifle. She is the sister of Haruya Sakurai, who turns out to be one of the students forced into BRII.”

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Ju-On 2 is just as “enjoyable” as the original! If you consider getting scared the living daylight out of you enjoyable that is. There were several times during the movie where I jumped, the scary parts were really effective. If you liked the first you really can’t go wrong with this one.

Little Toshio and his mother Kayako are still on the prowl, haunting their family home and driving any hapless visitor into insanity and death. This time, a TV crew invites disillusioned schlock horror actress Kyoko to present a staged report on the bad vibes in the deserted Saeki homestead. Although she’s supposed to fake the reception of signals from the netherworld, Kyoko starts sensing something is seriously awry before even crossing the doorstep. Creepy sounds from the attic and black stains on the floorboards are only an omen of what is to come as the TV crew are visited one by one by the vengeful ghosts.

One of the things I was most surprised about was the fact that the story was easier to follow and overall just less confusing. Like with my last post about Ju-On here’s a timeline of the movie:

Some scenes that were really memorable to me was the Tomoka episode with the “thump… thump” part that was truly awesome, the wig scene, the birth scene, copier scene and also the Chiharu episode, which jumps back and forth but it was really cool and some other scenes of course as well. That’s what I like about these two movies; there’s SO many memorable scenes compared to other horror movies I’ve watched.

I liked the movie because it was easier to follow, but if I was really forced to choose between this and the original I think I’d go with the original. There were some scarier parts in my opinion. But then again, the 2nd one has its fair share of cool scenes too and a better pace, which actually made it more enjoyable in a way. I really don’t know. I’ll rate them the same, 9.5/10, because they are the scariest horror movies I’ve seen so far, but the sequel really is different from the original, which is rare as it seems like sequels are usually just released to make more money, since the original worked, but this… this is different. Can’t wait for Ju-On 3: The Grudge, which I hear should be released around October this year!

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First of all, I’m sorry about all these high ratings I’ve been handing out to this and that movie or tv-series… but it’s simply because I really like them. When I do see what I consider a poorly executed movie I will rate it as such, but Ju-On is simply not one of those. In fact it’s the best and scariest horror movie I’ve ever seen! I didn’t think that any horror movie would beat The Eye, which used to be my favorite horror movie. I can’t believe it took me so long to actually watch it though.

A volunteer home care worker, Nishina Rika (Okina), enters the home of a bed-ridden patient and discovers a strange ghostly presence lurking behind a door sealed with duct tape. Her discovery unleashes a horrible evil which baffles police investigators, who find that a whole series of people have gone missing from this particular house. Further investigation leads to Izutni Toyama (Uehara), a former detective who handled the case of a man who murdered his wife in the house, but whose son was never found. But when the angry “Ju-On” spirit of vengeance that has infected the house reaches beyond its boundaries to kill Toyama and his daughter, Rika realizes that the horror is spreading. Worse, unless something is done about it, she feels she may become the angry spirit’s next victim!

There were several memorable scenes. Like the shower scene, or at that damn staircase and a lot more I won’t mention here. I was expecting some of the things that happened because I had seen The Grudge US remake a while ago, but this is much, MUCH better. The Grudge isn’t really that good in my opinion… mediocre at best. The only thing I was disappointed with was the story. It seemed incoherent at times and all in all was pretty hard to understand for me and from what I can understand I’m not the only one out there who feels this way. I’m more than willing to look through that because it simply delivers and entertains and scares the shit out of you.

I found a timeline of the story if anybody, like me, had a hard time getting what was happening.

I found and uploaded the creepy trailer to YouTube. Watch it, and I think you’ll know what I mean when I say it’s the scariest movie out there:

I’m gonna watch Ju-On 2 tonight, which I also bought, but I simply don’t know what to expect from it. Sequels are usually not as good as the original, but hopefully I’ll see more of the same.

UPDATE: I’ve replaced the trailer with the Japanese trailer, which is much better and way more scary. One of scariest trailers I’ve ever seen I think.

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