Freeze Me (2002)

It's a Japanese rape-revenge flick in the vein of I Spit on Your Grave and Ms. 45. It's got some seriously kick-ass poster art. And it stinks like nobody's business. Somehow this got a reputation for being a seriously disturbing thriller. I'm sad to report that the only disturbing thing about this is how badly it squanders its provocative premise. It's well-directed by Takashi Ishii, as is practically every Japanese film that stumbles onto American soil these days, and it boasts a decent performance from Harumi Inoue as the put-upon heroine. But Inoue's character is barely written -- she's doing her best with a cipher. As for the film itself, it's precisely as chilly and emotionless as you might expect from the title. One or two sequences do manage to muster up a sort of primal charge, but most of it is simply pointless and meandering (occasionally, the film seems to want to morph into a dry black comedy). Not nearly as unnerving as numerous other thrillers, despite the effusive praise lavished upon it by the festival bookers. Hey, Ishii -- I spit on your film!

Grade: C-