Waste of time

Very best movie i ever watch

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Kenta Fukasaku isn't the most focused of film makers. So, with film dealing with multiple narratives around the same time, it's a jumpy and patchy horror that could have been told straight. Still, it allows him to chop up some bits and pieces and assemble some moments that would seem obscure otherwise. Mainly, the scissor wielding woman whose presence is enjoyable, but befuddling. The rest of the film is a Wicker-Man with cellphones, which is interesting, but leaves you wondering why the police aren't phoned more often/at all. The performances are suitable and sometimes border on emotional, which adds to the scenes of real horror. Towards the end the pace levels out but remains furious.

"X-Cross" sort of surprised me, as I had assumed it would be another one of those countless gory splatter movies that have made it out of Japan in the recent years. However, "X-Cross" was far from it. It was actually a really great suspense/horror movie.The story is about Shiyori (played by Nao Matsushita) and Aiko (played by Ami Suzuki) who travel to hot springs located at a very remote village. But things are not all as they seem; not in the village, not with the people, not with the friendship. Shiyori and Aiko find themselves stranded in a remote village with no one but themselves to trust, or can they?I found the story to be really great because it builds up the suspense so nicely, letting the story brood and seep in, then flash back and show you other sides of occurring events. Now that was a thing I thoroughly enjoyed about the movie, it was so nicely done, and it really unravelled my theories by shedding new light on situations that I just saw in the movie. And the plot kept shifting, so it was not possible to predict what was happening or what was going to happen. The ending of the movie, well that was really bad, in my opinion. I didn't care for that ending at all. Actually the entire movie was great, but the last 20 to 30 minutes was sort of fighting an uphill battle, the movie started slipping during that time and becoming anti-climatic and just downright stupid.The people they had cast for the various roles in "X-Cross" were actually doing good jobs with their given roles, and the characters were really fleshed out as believable and realistic. Well, what happened to Reiko was just a bit too much, it was so over the top that it stopped being realistic."X-Cross" has a really good mood to it, the environment was well used, and you sit with a sensation of being trapped and isolated out in the woods, so they managed to capture the right setting for the movie.So looking away from the last 20 to 30 minutes of the movie, then I found "X-Cross" to be a really nice movie, and it was nicely build up leaving you guessing as to whom did what and who can be trusted, then only to completely unravel your theories as you are given new bits and pieces of information.The IMDb genres labeled to this movie are action, adventure and comedy. That kind of makes me wonder, because I didn't find the movie to be that at all.

I almost feel bad about not liking X Cross all that much. Its not that its an impeccably crafted film that I simply don't enjoy, no sense of guilt here, but for a film feted by most reviewers as great fun and pretty righteous stuff, it had little impact on me. Two girls head to a remote mountain village for hot springs and relaxation, one has recently suffered a bad breakup and her more free-wheeling friend is with her to help cheer her up. Unfortunately the village is home to a crazed cult with bad things in mind… It's a nifty set-up and for the first half hour or so the film looks as if it'll power up into a neat little suspenseful chase film, but this never quite materialises. The big problem is that while the film handles its build up well, the townsfolk are never menacing and their appearances or scenes of pursuit are never well directed. What should be pulse pounding stuff is simply a big fat meh, and excitement is mostly provided by a subplot involving a very angry lady with over-sized scissors and a grudge against the heroines friend. These scenes are a lot of fun and have all the action and dynamism that seems absent from the cult encounters. Fortunately, though director Kenta Fukasaku may be flawed in this respect, he does seem to have inherited some of his dads playful style and flair for intrigue. There are perspective shifts a-plenty, fast rewinds and intertitles, plus shifting loyalties and twisting character motivations, which combined with the fast pace give the film a fairly compelling grip that works beyond its actual quality. Plus Ami Suzuki and Nao Matsushita are pretty decent as the two leads, Matsushita as the disheartened Shiyori and Suzuki as her outgoing yet somewhat insensitive and inconsiderate pal. The setting works well too, a sense of uncanny semi luxury what with the remote location, hot springs and multitude of picturesque cabins, though the best moments of the film occur in a toilet and a junkyard. Handy set designs, workable atmosphere, everything is set up just right but the film remains resolutely a damp squib outside of the aforementioned scissor-lady. Its never bad exactly, just weak, though it has a few fine spots and a suitably wacky ending that goes out on just the right note. So altogether, about a 5/10 or so. Maybe I'll like it more on a second view, but for now its simply pretty average.

Now unless you completely know nothing about this film You probably know this movie has it all. Laughes, scares, action and best of all... LOLITA GIRLS WITH GIANT PAIRS OF SCISSORS! The great thing is the movie did a great job of blending them all into each other without it seeming too out of the baseball field (well for J-horror anyway) The actors Suit their roles like a glove in appearance and mannerisms and the sets where Spot on. Now this movie has a habit of rewinding and showing you the same story through a new perspective. now some have complained about it being repetitive but rarely does it repeat anything exactly the same. Every time it does you see what was going on in the story from another view and it works perfect! Now why not a 10? because though i loved it sometimes the support actors kinda... killed it just a tad.