You just knew that I couldn't stay away right? This one is a little while coming actually. I just needed time to process...
In case you did not read the review of the original film, this is the sequel...but it is really a prequel. What are you, Infernal Affairs II? Weirdos.
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A few years previous to Wizard of Darkness, our young lady is a bit more normal. She still has the weird habit of going from a 'scared Japanese girl' face to an 'Audition-looking psycho' face. At least we get a little back-story on this phenomena here.
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She lives a fairly normal life in a Tokyo apartment with some friends and attending school. This ends quickly when a possessed man shows up at the door and bashes her friend's head in. As you can see, the series' love of sudden, random gore is still prevalent. She arrives home too late to save her buddies and nearly gets killed herself.
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A mysterious young man saves her with a bat and they flee. Questions are raised when the man is killed by them and he turns out to be a mild-mannered scientist. This plot thread is ignored when more people show up in a similar way. Time to run away some more!
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This movie goes into full Buffy-mode and it is far more transparent than in Wizard. When I watch Part 3, I almost expect her to fight kung-fu using vampires. We cut from slow parts with her and the guy talking to people doing weird Satanic rituals and back again. What other movie can you say that about? I mean, besides Satan's Slave. All of this builds up to a big battle against the mysterious wizard.*
I have to admit that my interest was fairly waning at this point. The movie was just so 'same old, same old.' That changed when Misa manages to cast the ultimate black magic spell and summon Satan himself. The Prince of Lies shows up in full 'Goat-mode' and kills the villain. That is a pretty good finale. Our heroine sets off alone with a new pendant of power and right into the first film. The End.
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This movie could have been a lot better. The pacing is all over the place and you can never quite get used to it. This comes from it being a mix of J-Horror and teen horror films. Maybe you should not mix things all the time. Not every mix will be as good as Doritos and Chocolate Pudding. I still have two more of these films to do eventually. Don't rush out these DVDs on my account, Tokyo Shock.
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Another throwback segment tomorrow. I just cannot escape the Macabro. Stay tuned...
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