Aku no kyôten (2012) Reviews

• Awesome!

  ebossert2013-07-11

  Note: Check me out as the "Asian Movie Enthusiast" on YouTube, where I review tons of Asian movies. Lesson of the Evil (2012) (Japanese Horror) A popular high school teacher concocts an extreme plan to deal with the rise of bullying and bad behavior among the student body in this film by Takashi Miike. Right off the bat, this film offers something interesting by having the antagonist as the main character. There's a lot of interesting content here, which includes story and character development. The viewer really needs to pay attention to the details in order to understand everything that is going on, which creates a thought-provoking experience. The pacing script does do a good job of slowly revealing the anti-hero's personality - which is oddly charismatic. I've never been a fan of Hideaki Ito, but even I'll admit that he gives a fantastic performance here. The structure of the film also makes it difficult to predict which students will survive (if any). Miike is perhaps at the most assured phase of his entire career as he has become one of the most reliable directors in the world today. Needless to say, the direction is solid. Now, there may be some controversy regarding the long-sustaining finale that uses a certain kind of graphic violence against school kids. Despite the somewhat repetitive nature of the deaths, they do have a disturbing essence due to similar real-life events. Most ironically, there's also some dry black humor present, which could offend some viewers. In any case, the finale is deliciously entertaining and exciting. If one adds "Lesson of the Evil" to "Goosebumps: The Movie", "Horror Stories", "Kotsutsubo", and the final installment to the "Hellsing Ultimate" anime films, it looks like 2012 is going to be a strong year for Asian horror.

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• Unnerving and deeply disturbing

  MOscarbradley2015-08-24

  As psycho-killer movies go "Lesson of the Evil" is up there with the best of them. It's by the Japanese horror maestro Takashi Miike and is set for the most part around a school where handsome young teacher Hasami, (Hideaki Ito), has his own somewhat extreme methods of dealing with rule-breakers. Miike's genius is to treat everything so matter- of-factly the film is almost banal to begin with before letting rip. Although extremely violent, this isn't torture porn but a brilliant slow-burner than builds to a fairly devastating and disturbing climax. I certainly can't see this playing in parts of America where school shootings have become almost common place. By making the villain someone who, in another film. should have been the hero Miike neatly subverts the genre, (think "Dexter"). There's also a nice self- depreciating streak of humour running through the picture, not to mention several great recordings of 'Mack the Knife'. Excellent, if very unnerving.

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• Best psychopath film I ve ever seen. Miike delivers again!

  killahdelfin2013-12-06

  Funny? Comedy? Satire? Please... Whe live in such a morally degraded time that a psychopath cold bloodedly slaughtering his studends is regarded as ''funny''. To all people that aren t morally crippled I want to say that this is not a funny movie-not in the slightest. Miike shows us a portrait of a psychopath and does so in his his best master-filmmaker tradition. Intense , shocking ,gripping , and exiting. A serial killer , the charismatic teacher hunts down his students in a locked down school. You can almost barely sit in your seat rooting for the students to survive-but Miike is unpredictable as always Acting - excellent , SUPERB cinematography (!) , intense sound and unforseeable plot. ''To be continued?''-can t wait for the sequel!

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• lesson of evil

  grahamrwilliams-091302016-10-09

  Firstly let me say this is a film not for everyone.personally i loved it , acting was superb direction editing all spot on. as with all films of this genre from japan and and other Asian countries it will be remade (badly i may add ) by the more popular outlets of ,lets just say western money making studios. OK the plot is a bit of a slow burner at the start but soon picks up into an easy to follow story line (some might find the subject matter hard to stomach )but the acting is superb and the gory violence very believable at times. it is hard to compare another film like this where the acting and dialogue go so well together and the lead actor is a joy to watch (perfect casting).in my opinion better than battle royal and probably my fave film due to the acting and crisp and psychotic performance a gem.

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• Sinisterly funny

  R-P-McMurphy2013-07-06

  A very cool movie, its also hilarious, but definitely not for everyone. It might just be Takashi Miike's most mainstream movie of his that I've seen, but still pretty crazy as always. Its basically a thriller comedy about a likable teacher who goes on killing students and parents making it look like a suicide. Before you watch it, you have to know what you're in for, its one of those movies that doesn't take itself seriously, its satiric for most of the time and it knows just when to be funny. The story is pretty ridiculous, but it manages to be unexpected and thrilling, its also gory and pretty funny, it had the whole audience laughing. On the other hand, it was kind of messy like every other Takashi film, but these messy sequences and flashbacks are relieved by other scenes with interesting music choices that fit perfectly into whats going on, even adding a little humor to it, and some dance moments and funny dialogue by the students at the wrong moment. It felt similar to the first "Scream" and reminded me in some ways to the ridiculousness in Robert Rodriguez movies. I'd recommend it to people who liked "Django Unchained", "Battle Royale", "Machete", "Videodrome", "A Clockwork Orange", or any Takashi Miike film.

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