Getting back on the dating wagon after being widowed for seven years can be a very trying time. That said, using your movie producer friend to set up mock casting auditions to find the perfect woman to play the part of your new wife might not be the best way to go about things, as Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) soon discovers in Takashi Miike's cult horror classic Audition. The first half of Audition is so deceptively light-hearted, as Aoyama interviews a string of potential spousal candidates, that you could almost be forgiven for thinking you were watching a romantic comedy. When he meets Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina, looking more than a little like an older version of Sadako from Ring) he is instantly besotted, undeterred by his friend's portentous warning that none of her references can be reached. Needless to say, it doesn't take long for the romantic ideal to shatter, as Asami reveals an unhealthy jealous streak (putting it very mildly) which leads to one of the most uncomfortable to watch torture scenes in cinema history. Yet in spite of its gruesome reputation, Audition actually shows relatively little, leaving the audience to guess at the horrors being inflicted on the hapless widower. In a sense, Miike is channeling Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, another classic horror film renowned for its gore which also actually had very little in the way of on-screen blood. After a marathon of anti-Valentine's Day movies you'd be forgiven for wanting a divorce (or perhaps praising yourself for that decision to remain single after the last break up). What are your favourite twisted movie love stories? Feel free to comment and share below.
