Marronnier
(Elite Entertainment Region 0 NTSC DVD)
(2004)
 review by Brad Caffeine

Alright, listen up Horrorview readers, I'm going to tell you the truth here: I am not a fan of Japanese horror. Though Fangoria has decided that Japan is the new horror Mecca, I have yet to be convinced of such a theory. And before you get ready to send me e-mails arguing that I haven't given the genre a fair chance, I should tell you that I have. I've sat through films like "Suicide Club", "Tomie", "Saint John's Wart", and "Ringu", always far from impressed. Luckily for me, Horrorview's own Head Cheese has insisted that I review "Marronnier." (ed note- That's right, beeitch!)

The Japanese horror films that I have seen have always fallen into one of two categories: boring or disgusting. "Marronnier" seems to find the perfect balance between both extremes. It is the story of a serial killer who is apparently obsessed with dolls. So guess what? When he kills people, he turns them into dolls. That's right, dolls. So the movie itself becomes exactly what you might think: shots of ultraviolent sadism, corpses or suffering bodies with ropes coming from their arms and legs, and women dressed like dolls. If I knew anybody that I would suggest this movie to, I would do my best to not know them.

Between the shots of decapitations and eyeballs, there is lots of shots of people doing mundane things with very little dialogue. When there is dialogue, it's boring. The film itself looks like a digital home video with the trusty old "smear" effect thrown in to
look like camera work. And yet, probably my biggest complaint with this film is that it was released by Elite. Remember when Elite put out good films like "Evil Dead" and "I Spit On Your Grave"? Me too. I miss that.

As far as extras go, there is actually an interesting supplement that talks about some of the puppetry used in the film. In fact that extra alone is probably more fun than the movie. In fact if you want to see a good movie about gross puppets, just watch "Meet The Feebles".