redrobin62-321-207311 Maybe it's just me, but it sure was hard to keep my eyes off the eye candy that was the school teacher. I don't know where Takashi Miike got him from but I hope he gets signed to do American films. Wow, he's gorgeous.OK, now that the gushing is over, let's have a look at the movie. This one confused me at first because of the editing. It almost seemed as if the editors were in the editing room drinking sake all night, yards of film accidentally fell on the floor, then someone came in behind them and spliced the pieces back into the movie, continuity be damned. As a result the film wasn't linear, but that's okay. At least the filmmakers are willing to stretch out past the point of predictability, a welcome task in any event.Sometimes, with Asian horror, you just have to swallow the overblown acting as presented. The screaming and crying and shivering and stunned looks can get a little irritating especially when those elements are given too much screen time. I know if someone suddenly bursts into this room shooting off a shotgun I wouldn't stand there open mouthed and flabbergasted while he has a bead on my ribcage. In other words, run mother*cker, run! I actually liked this movie. The shooting special effects stunned even ol' me. They did a good job with that. Some of the scenes were just unrealistic, though. I guess it is what it is. And now, to the controversial part, the ending.This movie could never be made in America. Memories of Columbine would prevent it from being green-lighted. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised they allowed a film with such student carnage to be made. And, because Miike was at the helm, gruesome as hell. The film is daring because it has it all - pedophiles, Norse legends, an interracial gay relationship, serial killer bonding and betrayal, etc. Give it to the foreigners for making challenging cinema. They're definitely pushing the boundaries there. I would've given this movie a higher rating, but it was flooded with so much clichéd caricatures that it only looked like just an ultraviolent anime come to life.

CinemaClown From the highly prolific but also controversial Japanese director, Takashi Miike, who's made virtually all kinds of movies in his filmmaking career so far, Lesson of the Evil arrives as yet another twisted thriller but unlike Audition or Ichi the Killer, it's a mostly dull cinema whose only strength is its blood-soaked massacre that goes on throughout its third act.Based on the novel of the same name, Lesson of the Evil tells the story of a very charming high-school teacher who is loved by his students & respected by his peers. His flamboyant personality however is only a mask that hides his true face, which ultimately surfaces when he decides to tackle the issue of bullying & bad behaviour among the student body with his own deranged plan.Written & directed by Takashi Miike, Lesson of the Evil has all the bizarre elements that one usually expects from this notorious director but the story is just all-out flat, vapid & lifeless despite all the gore content it packs in. For the majority of its runtime, it's just one segment placed on top of another with no idea of where it's supposed to be headed until it arrives at its extended climax, where it redeems itself a little.It's in the last 30 minutes or so where the movie finds its sure footing but it's a long wait to get there. The entire climactic segment has blood smeared through each n every frame and is possibly the only entertaining segment in the story and while it has the ability to shock & upset the newcomers, it's also fun in its own wicked manner for those who are pretty much used to this director's works. If only it was like this from the start.On an overall scale, Lesson of the Evil is a brutal, violent & disturbing nightmare if one only takes the final act into account for the remainder of the story only turns it into a very boring thriller. There are plenty of interesting elements scattered around and the lead character is undoubtedly an intriguing creation but a more cohesive structure, better editing & stronger characterisation would've improved the whole experience by a significant margin.

Leofwine_draca Another high school-themed thriller from Japan, based around extreme violence and death, and directed by maestro Takashi Miike, no less. LESSON OF THE EVIL is no BATTLE ROYALE, however; it's nothing like an entertaining action movie, instead more of a suspense thriller along the line of CONFESSIONS. The story sees an idealistic teacher at a school who goes out of the way to see that things with his pupils are running smoothly. God forbid you get in his way, however....LESSON OF THE EVIL starts off deceptively slowly, although the plotting is never less than engaging. The first hour is a slow burn, building up realistic characters surrounded by some extremely dark sub-plots where bad taste seems to be the order of the day. It's typical Miike, in fact; difficult to define and fresh-feeling throughout. It's towards the climax where things go absolutely crazy with endless, jaw-dropping violence of the variety that would have been instantly banned by British censors back in the 1980s. These day it passes uncut with nary a word...how times have changed, eh? And thank God for Miike for his consistently high-quality direction and film-making skill.

Snaggletooth . By now I've settled well into the view that good horror comes with a non-English soundtrack. It just gets proved so often that the USA can't compete with what's coming out of foreign shores (shown too by it's remaking of many of these) . Of course this isn't 100% guaranteed, and sadly Lesson of the Evil fails to deliver apart from the last 15 or so minutes.The film is slow. I accept we need to experience the character development of the protagonist here but at times it's like watching some late night oriental drama that has nothing going for it. True, by now I know that many Japanese, or Korean flicks start off slow and then hit you like a shovel in the face with a barrage of blood and gore, but LOTE climaxed with a series of gunshots which was OK, but just not that amazing.I expected much more from this movie as it was highly recommended to me and it cost a fair bit of money to buy. But the pay off just didn't do it for me, and the way it ended was plain daft too with it looking as if we are getting a sequel. If you can get it cheap on VOD by all means give it a watch, but don't pay out any big money for it. You could even skip to the last 15 or 20mins too if you get bored and want to see the good stuff.