Audition

Format: Blu-ray

Release: October 6, 2009

Rated: Unrated

Runtime: 115 Minutes

Reviewed by Drav3n

The Movie:

This 1999 controversial and disturbing Japanese horror film comes from director Takashi Miike (Ichi The Killer) and is about a widowed father, Shigeharu Aoyama, who decides to take his son's advice and begin to date again. With the son about to finish up at school and plans on moving out, he doesn't want to leave and have his father be left alone. When Aoyama's friend, Yoshikawa, suggests they hold a fake audition to lure beautiful women to try out for a "part" in his new television show, Aoyama accepts and they begin the audition process

It's not looking good during the audition until the final girl arrives, Asami, and catches Aoyama's eye. When Aoyama finds things from Asami's past are not what she has told him, he soon realizes the actress he chose may be an even better actress than what he had hoped for.

Miike is able to very realistically show the dangers involved when dating, especially when it comes to those with a lonely heart. It's easy to fall for someone. You want to believe you know everything about that person and allow yourself to get close without seeing the warning signs, or just ignoring them because of what you now have. It's always the beginning of a relationship that usually has the best memories. But what happens when things cool down and you finally begin to see the person that they really are. As in this case, a psycho.

This movie can be broken down into two parts, with the first part being considered a romantic drama-type, while the second part shifts into a horror movie. Normally movies that start out as one thing and shift into something else are never executed well and always come up short. There's always that feeling that something was left out and the viewer is missing something. This movie does the transition perfectly. It's actually easy to watch the first half of the movie and start to believe that there's no way this is a gonna be a horror movie.

When Aoyama picks the girl he thinks is right for him from the auditions, everything seems to go along in a storybook fashion. But in the second half of the movie, when things begin to unravel and the truth comes out, there are so many scenes that will get under your skin. But also be warned, this two hour movie is slow paced. Everything that happens is building towards the very satisfying finale. For people that have never seen this film, they are in for a real treat.

Presentation:

This film is presented in full 1080p and with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. While some of the image looks good, unfortunately the image is still an underwhelming transfer. The good thing is that skin tones look really solid and colors can be very dominant. Other than that, it goes downhill from there. There is alot of grain present throughout the film, which can get really distracting and take you away from this excellent film. You can also see hiccups (film damage) present throughout the film as well, leading to an overall disappointing experience on blu-ray.

Audio:

This is where the disc shines. You are given the option between DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 and Dolby TrueHD. It also has English PCM 2.0 for those that prefer to listen to it dubbed. The audio sounds great. You can definetely hear the difference between the audio on the dvd compared to the new audio treatment here on the blu-ray. For the most part the dialogue came through very clear, except for a few small scenes. The sound effects come off sounding so strong and bring the creepiness of this movie to life.

Bonus Material:

This two-disc release isn't too pleasing. Disc one is the blu-ray disc and contains the audio commentary, while disc two is a dvd disc that contains the special features.

• Audio Commentary - Featuring director Takashi Miike and writer Daislike Tengan. I have alot of respect for Miike because he doesn't come off like your average director. He doesn't believe that just because he is successful that he is better than anyone else. He comes off very appreciate and thankful for the fans that have made him the successful director that he is today.
• Interviews (Runtime 1:14) - There are four different interviews with Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Renji Ishibashi, and Ren Osugi.
• Trailers - The International and Japanese trailers for Audition

For a ten-year anniversary for this film, I was hoping to see some more features, like a behind the scenes featurette, deleted scenes, or something else. Unfortunately this disc comes up short in the bonus department.

Bottom Line:

Audition is psychological horror at its best. While it might have a lackluster presentation, the audio is great, the interviews and audio commentary is worth checking out, and most of all the movie is top notch. Fans of foreign films, or horror films (or both), will be very pleased with this movie. And if you are able to spot at this an affordable price, this blu-ray sells itself. Highly Recommended!