Another Hole in the Head Festival 2009

DETECTIVE STORY is an expert blend of horror and mystery, with Miike’s signature oddball humor alongside a rollicking gusher of blood, gore and wriggling maggots. Raita, a Japanese IT professional, just moved into an apartment building. His neighbor is Raita Kazama, the private eye. Brought together in spite of rather extreme personality differences, this odd couple winds up attached at the hip. Beginning a bizarre series of murders, one of the detective's potential clients is killed and has her liver removed. The next victim has her kidneys removed, and the third turns up missing a chunk of her lung. The two Raitas follow the gory trail to an eccentric artist, whose paints appear to be made with human blood and organs. DETECTIVE STORY is funny, fast-paced, compelling mystery that doesn’t fail to amuse and disturb. (There’s also some sly fun with double entendres in Japanese words and kanji characters.)--Mike Skurko

A horror/grindhouse throwback to the ‘80s, with a zombie twist. While pursuing the usual sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll, a group of medical students develops an obsession with the medical files of Wilma and John Hopper, serial murderers. A psychic connection, possibly inspired by their psychotropic drug experimentation, releases the beast… Hallucinations and flashbacks create a visual landscape of terror as gruesome murders begin to multiply. With a keen sense of fun and incredibly well-crafted special effects, the demons and their lust-filled mania brutalize their victims and terrorize their small college. Horribly funny and graphically compelling, this film brings out the hellions and takes our intrepid drug adventurers to a world of disturbing gore. SOMEONE’S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR is a wicked cocktail from hell that will have you laughing maniacally as you dance with the devil.--Mike Skurko