Ekusute (Exte: Hair Extensions) (2007)

With fewer possible resolutions than recent J-horror ringtones and video cassettes, 'Exte: Hair Extensions' goes nowhere surprising.

Oh my God, Sion Sono, how do I feel about you? I'm so confused. What an unpredictable director he is - I can't find much information about Exte on the web, but if I had to guess, Toei probably just asked him to make a marketable horror film and this is what came out. This is probably the most conventional thing that will ever come out of Sono, but that's not saying much at all; even by the standards of madcap horror-comedy that Exte operates by, it is an utterly bizarre foray into the genre, made all the more delightful by it. Even at its basic level, Exte seems to cannibalize the genre that it comes from - when I say J-horror, what do you say? Long black sentient hair, of course. It only seems natural that Sono would take this trope and beat it so far into the ground that it brings us to realize how meaningless the obsession actually is. It's a pretty great approach on a parodical level, but in terms of generating its own laughs, the hair succeeds as well. This would make a great companion piece to Drag Me to Hell, in many ways its closest contemporary. The shocks are just as legitimately effective as the laughs; the first murder we see is a fascinating, wonderfully acted, sickeningly compelling bit of scene work. An almost visually indecipherable, rapidly cross-cut bit of vengeance killing seen through the eyes of a hidden observer is perhaps even more awesome. Exte is maybe a little deficient in its horror set pieces, as there's a surprisingly heavy preference for drama and character discourse here. It works, but it's melodramatic, as you'd probably expect from a Sono film. Unfortunately, the movie falters whenever it focuses on its maniacal antagonist, who's overdoing it like the rest of the cast...but for him, it just doesn't seem to work. He seems to be fulfilling the prerequisite Sono role of the character who breaks out into arbitrary song and dance routines, which have never exactly been the director's strong point, as much as he'd like to think otherwise. This sad little mortician doesn't have any dimension, except for "grating." And as the last fifteen minutes of the film put him directly in the spotlight, it so follows that its ending absolutely grinds to a halt. It's really a shame, because he figures much more smoothly into Exte when seen in short bursts; it's only here that he actively interferes with the story's momentum.

With Asian horror's slight obsession with the hair of wronged women, this film was bound to be created. As long as you don't take it too seriously (particularly the hair effects) it's an enjoyable film, more comedy horror than anything else despite the quite horribly realistic portrayal of child abuse.