Red Room (1999)

My rating - 5/10

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Four people, a married couple on the verge of divorce and two young women, one with a secret that will soon be revealed take part in "The King Game" where they all draw cards, an ace, two, three and a king. Whoever draws the king card gets to tell two others to perform a task in the cell. The tasks get more violent, sexual and nasty until only one remains alive and the winner is awared ten million yen.

If you've ever seen a Daisuke Yamanouchi film before then you'll already know what to expect. For those who haven't, approach with caution!. A lightbulb inserted into a vagina which shatters, a hair dryer forced into a mouth, a guy spinning a girl around in a chair over and over until she projectile vomits into his face, a penis bitten off, another contestant forced to open her mouth while another pisses into it, torture, rape, other forms of sexual assault, it's all here as you'd expect.

Filmed on a micro budget in one location this is a fun, if flawed slice of Japanese nastiness. The acting is nothing to speak of, although a movie like this doesn't really need oscar winners does it?. Some of the gore is fairly nasty, the vomiting is gross, but I just came away from this thinking it could have been so much better, again that's mostly down to the budget restraints.

Only for those who can handle the more extreme side of horror cinema. I quite enjoyed it for what it is though I just wanted a bit more. Physical copies (original Japanese VHS tapes or the Unearthed Films DVD release) are long out of print, rare and very expensive so you may have to look elsewhere to see this one.

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