Japan's Suicide Forest is IRL scarier than anything that has ever come out of Japan

Insano Steve sent me this little Vice documentary on YouTube during work hours which I watched in it's entirety in one sitting. Truly fascinating stuff in a weird, morbid way. I had heard about Japan's infamous Aokigahara forest and did a bit of research myself and found the most disturbing pictures which you can find here. There are more graphic photos just by Googling.

The documentary is fascinating in it's tale. According to the description via Vice:

The site holds so many bodies that the Yakuza pays homeless people to sneak into the forest and rob the corpses.

Clearly this must have been the inspiration for Ryûhei Kitamura's Versus as convicts escape to a forest full of Yakuza zombies and do battle.

Other Japanese movies (some by Takashi Miike) have shown bullying in Japan is catastrophic more than it is in America. What's baffling is the men and women who've taken their lives were inspired by a the novel Kuroi Jukai, in which a young lover commits suicide in the forest which resulted in people started taking their own lives there at a rate of 50 to 100 deaths a year.

We'll never know why one does the unthinkable but the remnants of these lives in haunting pictures will without a doubt leave a lasting impact.

In the doc, they visit the forest in the day and I must admit, I'd be scared shitless to do that. What's more scarier are the ribbon trails so people wouldn't get lost. Would you follow a ribbon to the end?

If I ever visit Japan, I know one place where I'm NOT GOING. Such a peaceful place to have a horrible reputation.

You can watch entire documentary below.






Let me know your thoughts!

When Roommates Attack: 2LDK (Watch the entire film!)

How do I find some of the movies I watch? It's usually via 6 degrees. You watch one film from a director (in this case Kitamura) and that leads to another film which leads to another, etc. Or then again, I ask Insano Steve what he's been watching.

2LDK is one of those films.

Part of the Duel Project (read about that here) Yukihiko Tsutsumi's 70 minute roommate versus movie is part black humor part chick on chick violence. And it's fuckin awesome on so many levels.

So what's this about?

Nozomi and Lana share an apartment in Tokyo. They have both auditioned for the same role in a movie, and know that the shortlist has been cut down to just the two of them. As they wait the night before finding out who will get the role, their personality clashes erupt into an all-out battle.

Just pure hatred by Nozomi and Lana as they fuck up each other's shit and battle until the last woman is standing. Seriously, this is a hilarious, twisted flick on so many levels. If you've ever had a roommate, you know what its like to have somebody get under your skin. But usually it doesn't involve katanas, chainsaws and knives.....or does it?

Enough talk. Somebody has put the entire movie (with English subtitles!) on YouTube. Shhhhhhhhhhhh. Now you can watch it too. I've posted all the parts below. Get your katana out and slice and dice!

First, the trailer.

OK here is the entire movie. Tell me what you think if you watch the entire movie. It's only 70 min!