Exte: Hair Extensions (2007)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I found this film very entertaining. There were parts that were very emotional, and some parts that were really scary. The scares were very original. Most of the special effects were good though some were really bad. The scares were terrifying and very unique. The two most terrifying scenes being pulling the hair out from the eye and from the tongue, and the scene where the hair strangles the main character made me jump. This show was more touching than scary to me. Its a movie with tons and tons of hair. This movie is a bit slow at the beginning, but when it grabs you, it really does. This movie, like all other Sion Sono's films have a very great ending that makes people feel happy after watching the film. This movie has the happiest ending in comparison with Noriko's dinner table and also Suicide Club. Everything in this movie is clear unlike suicide club. This movie is entertaining in various ways. There were lots and lots of character development between the characters in the movie. The special effect where the hair attacks the main character and her sister was creepy and interesting. The effects just looked so real. The storyline was great and touching. However, there are still some flaws in this movie. This movie is relatively slow in the first ten to twenty minutes. This movie has some poor special effects as well. The effect where the man became an elf, to me was really bad. This movie has got so many entertaining scenes throughout the second half of the movie just concerning how the hair attacks people. Some of the scenes were just so creative and gross. The part where the girls hair stands up and sticks to the ceiling, than became bald, was just awesome. I like how this movie deals with themes such as "Love" and "Child abuse". The scary scenes mainly occur at night which was great. There are many memorable scenes and really gross scenes in this movie. Hair just comes out from anywhere and attacks people by tieing them up or strangling them. This movie is very original and I personally found it more interesting than shows such as Noriko's dinner table. However, this movie would be more effective if they reduce the comedy for this movie and make this movie scarier. Because the funny parts for this movie are not funny at all, they are just ridiculous. Other than that, this movie is emotional, scary, gross and very entertaining. Score:8/10

Ever since the wave of Asian suspense films started in the late 90s, the horror genre regained its mainstream popularity. The Asian market spawned an overload of long-haired ghosts, the European market followed with some fine gorefests and nail-biters and across the ocean, Saw conquered the theaters and kick-started a whole circus of remakes, rip-offs and sequels. In short, horror is hot again.In between all this genre work are still a few films that dare to be different, coming from directors that are more interested in the genre itself than the hype surrounding it. From the beginning, Sion Sono was a director who failed to fit the specific horror mold. Even though his first fan favorite, Suicide Circle, was marketed alongside films as Ringu and Ju-On, he never quite fitted in with the typical J-Horror wave. Apart from the social themes found in his films, it's the general weirdness that separates him from the generic horror template. With Ekusute, his latest effort, he's back to take revenge.Ekusute is a film about hair. Long, dark, mysterious, Asian hair. One of the most commonly used elements in the Asian suspense wave. Needless to say, the storyline is as crazy as it is fun. When a girl is tortured and murdered for her organs, they also cut off her hair. Obviously, the hair doesn't agree and starts to grow back from her dead body. A local morgue attendant with an extreme fixation for hair finds out and takes her home with him. He starts using her hair for a hair extension business he's been running on the side, at which point the hair extensions go on a murdering rampage. Hell yeah! To make things "worse", Sono contacted Ren Osugi to play the part of the perverted hippie hair fetishist. I still remember the first time I watched Osugi in Hana-bi and Sonatine. Back then I figured he was a normal actor playing an uncharacteristically strange role. We are now several years later, and I know better. Osugi might look like a normal, older guy, in reality he is one of Japan's most insane actors, taking on whatever perverted, quirky and twisted role he can find. He goes completely over the top in Ekusute, giving the film its final nudge into insanity.Ekusute is for the biggest part a parody on Asian horror flicks, playing around with a bunch of clichés and plot points. The whole hairy background story is crazy, Osugi's performance completely off the charts. Sono manages to be quite creative with the elements at hand, coming up with some interesting death scenes and original plays. But beside all the madness, the film works on another level. Sono integrates a side story about a tormented little kid which gives the film some extra grit and depth. It's the mix of all these elements that makes Ekusute quite dark and unique.Visually, the film is quite unstable, with rather plain visuals in its dramatic moments. But whenever Sono plays the horror (or freak) card the visuals become top notch. The scenes in Osugi's room are marvelous, making excellent use of lighting and hair effects to create shots that linger on the eyes. In between scenes Sono even tries some Tsukamoto-like magic, with rapid-fire editing of images filled with hair and accompanied by distorted sounds. As a whole, the film is visually pleasing, though it would've been nicer if it had been a little more consistent in its style.The film remains a strange mix of elements. In the beginning it looks like a simple parody on the J-Horror genre, but after a while other elements creep in which make the film more disturbing than it should have been on first sight. It never plays on scares, but still manages to become a dark and brooding film, topped with some craziness and surreal moments (mostly those with Osugi). It's a bit hard to recommend, as Sono's characteristic blend is rather unique and contains many tricks that might put people off. Still, I enjoy his films as they always succeed in bringing something new to the table.Ekusute might feel like his most commercial film to date, but that is mostly a disguise. It's a fun, crazy and surprisingly eerie film. 4*/5*

I have to say that i had to laugh when i first read a brief summary, which only focused on the hair-horror part. "Killing hair?! what the .. ?!", i thought. But after seeing "Suicide Circle" and "Strange Circus" i knew that there has to be way more than this ridiculous story."Exte" is obviously a parody! But there seems to be an awful lot of people who expected something like the grudge or the ring and are now pretty disappointed. Well, the scenario is pretty cliché and the ending was pretty gruff; nothing has been really explained at that point. Well, there are a lot of indicators which show directly towards parody! ;) At the very beginning for example: all these ultra-cliché dialog which was narrated in an obscure way in third person; the hair-salon which was named after a french serial killer (had to look that up); etc ...BUT!! This film is still pretty scary ... and i don't mean only the hair, which .. was also scary (yeah, i was kinda scared ;) Human were the most scary/pitiful part here: The girl who was abducted and then used as a source for organs; The mother who abuses her child incessantly; then the child itself, of course; the hair-otaku, a real pitiful psycho; the main character (kuriyama) who carries a heavy burden of the past; all these people who don't care at all where this hair is coming from; just focusing on their beauty .. and all these other side-characters who might also have some sort of a problem.Well, why then the hair-horror-part? Isn't abuse horror enough? ... you might ask. Well, i was wondering myself a bit ;) I mean .. from my perspective it worked out pretty well! .. anxiety, fear, panic, anger, frustration and in the end some sort of relief. It was there! Maybe because the hair-horror part made it easier to grasp the part about abuse etc. In my opinion "Exte" is some sort of an homage and at the same time a critique, that most horror flicks tend to be very superficial and are not trying to imply more than pure scare; some thought-provoking stuff; for example abuse .. ? ;)Anyway: Cast was great!! Especially Osugi was really amazing! Art/direction was also a real feat! The Soundtrack wasn't that impressive but however the sound-design was stunningly good!All in all an amazing film! Especially for J-horror fans with a little bit of humor and for those who have an interest in social relevant topics.Too bad that so many people have been irritated by it .. ;)

*mild spoilers I just saw this movie at Fantasia tonight and since there is no review yet, here's a first.This movie will definitely please Sion Siono's fans. It's more lighthearted and not as disturbing as Strange Circus. The plot is in the B horror movie tradition and centers around a dead girl's cursed hair. But there's also the parallel storyline of hairdresser Yuko and the cute Mami-chan.This movie doesn't take itself literally and that's an understatement. Siono knows his audience very well and incorporates many gags that will certainly please j-horror fans. Ren Osugi's acting is theatrical and completely outrageous. He delivers a crazy and fascinating performance. It also doesn't hurt that the production values are very high. A must see for fans of the burlesque and horrible.