The Happiness of the Katakuris (2002)

Directed by Takashi Miike. Starring Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka, Naomi Nishida, Shinji Takeda, Testurô Tamba, Kiyoshiro Imawano. [R]

Cheerfully grotesque and utterly absurd horror-musical where even the phrase, “made by Takashi Miike,” cannot sufficiently prepare someone for what’s in store. What passes for plot depicts the multi-generational Katakuri clan housed beneath Mount Fuji. After they decide to turn their home into a bed and breakfast, the guests have a funny way of dying in bizarre ways, so the Katakuris conceal the incidents and bury the corpses behind the house. A surreal nightmare and chirpy family soap rolled into one, powered by demented chutzpah and bric-à-brac stylizations—everything from karaoke-style sing-alongs to claymation—and unleashed in a random-inspiration-generator sort of way where audacity and consistency cannot possibly co-exist. I was restless at times, galvanized at others, frequently bemused and/or confused, and even those who won’t groove to this beat—and there are plenty, no doubt—can at least admit it’s a pretty unique approach to horror movies and musicals. Educational on the latter count, too, since it never quite occurred to me that, really, there’s no reason why every song-and-dance musical shouldn’t incorporate the newly-risen undead into at least one routine…but this one could have used at least a couple more songs to go along with its correct number of zombies. Debuted in 2001 at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

66/100