Review of "Freeze Me" (DVD)

"Freeze Me", or "Freezer" as it is also known, is a revenge/horror flick from Japan. It's written and directed by Takashi Ishii (Evil Dead Trap, Gonin, Black Angel, etc.) and stars the beautiful Japanese model/actress Harumi Inoue. Several of the stars of this film, including Inoue, have also appeared in films by Takashi Miike, so if you're a big Miike fan you might want to check this out for that angle.

The basic premise of "Freeze Me" is, "Hot girl gets assaulted, will she get her revenge?" It's been done before, but can this accomplished director find a way to put a new spin on it, or at least make it visually interesting? The images are pretty, but as I watched I kept getting the feeling that I had seen a lot of these same situations in other movies.

As the film begins, we are introduced to Chihiro (Inoue). She seems troubled, and it doesn't take long to figure out why. She was assaulted by a group of men five years before the main action of the movie takes place. If it wasn't bad enough what they did to her, we soon learn that they even filmed it and sold the tapes via mail order. Chihiro moves from her hometown to Tokyo to get away from what happened to her. She lands a good job, meets up with a seemingly cool guy who she plans to marry, and moves on with her life. But no one is going to live happily ever after in a movie like this. Her old "friends" (one of them just out of jail) from back home are planning a visit to the big city. Will they finish her off or will she get her revenge?

As we are introduced to the main character in the beginning of the film, we see a variety of locations and people. As the film goes on, though, we spend most of our time in a tiny apartment, which starts to feel claustrophobic - not is a scary way. What goes on in the apartment? Without giving away too much, a lot of undressing, some serious violence, and a few electrical problems.

Our heroine, Chihiro, spends much of this film without any clothes on. She's a great looking girl, so that's not a bad thing. However, this is a movie about a group of men assaulting a woman, so as is typical in these type of movies, the director goes for the exploitation angle, and then you wonder if you are supposed to feel a little guilty for having noticed. The assault scenes themselves aren't extremely explicit, but even when there isn't any of that going on, Chihiro is pretty good at finding reasons to take her clothes off.

The male roles in this movie are a bit disposable. There is the boyfriend, the boss at work, and the guys who committed the crime against Chihiro in the first place. Of these, the guys who terrorized her are the ones that get the most screen time (some of them get to show their bare butts for equal time exploitation). The thugs in this movie are decent actors and when they are on screen, it helps keep the movie interesting. Watching Chihiro interact with them is a bit like watching a train wreck, and you are left wondering why she doesn't just call for the police or some other help. As in similarly flawed films, if the main character did the obvious thing that most people in a similar situation would do, it would kill the plot of the movie.

The violence in "Freeze Me" is pretty brutal and it's shown explicitly with plenty of blood splattering. The movie could have been improved with a little more editing. There are a number of shots/scenes that go on too long. The director probably could have cut 10-15 seconds off of the beginning and end of a bunch of different scenes and shortened the movie by a good 10-15 minutes. After a certain point, the ending sort of meanders too. The acting is decent, except that the main character's actions/motivations are hard to understand at certain points (call the cops, damn it!) and the part of the movie that has to do with the title ("Freezer") just sort of seems thrown in to add a "hook" to the film. You might be left wondering, "why?" more than once.

If you are a big fan of gorgeous women taking showers, blood splattering, women getting revenge for crimes committed against them, or electric freezers, you might want to check this one out. Otherwise, you won't be missing anything life changing if you decide to skip it. On a scale of one to ten I would give this one a six for the exploitation/gore elements.

"Freeze Me" is available on DVD in Japanese language with English subtitles. If your favorite DVD store doesn't carry it, try Poker Industries Asian DVD Store.