Touches You

Such a frustrating disappointment

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Blistering performances.

Based on true events..In December 1937 the Japanese army defeated the Chinese and entered the city of Nanking. The horrific events that took place over a period of some weeks became known as the "Rape of Nanking". Directed by T.F Mou (Men behind the sun) this really is a high quality film. It has brilliant photography and an epic feel but it's not over long. It's very well directed and if you are familiar with the tragic events of the film you will notice how well researched and accurate it is. The film superbly mixes together real footage from the time and it gives you an almost documentary feel as you witness the terrible horrors of the massacre. Don't expect blazing gun battles and cheesy happy outcomes, this is a long way from a Hollywood blockbuster but it's far superior. "Black Sun" is quite often classed in the horror film genre and obviously this film won't be for everyone as it's very graphic and gory but I still strongly recommend this outstanding film

The original "Men behind the Sun" – the Chinese "Schindler's List", as it is often described – was no doubt a sordid little piece of propaganda and it is unlikely that many people watched it because they were historically interested in the topic of Japanese occupation of China during World War 2. No, most viewers watched it for one purpose and one purpose alone: the violence, the splatter and the (often) realistic and (often) even un-simulated gore. Among the audience were usually horror-fans who had become too jaded to enjoy "harmless" flicks like "Friday the 13th" or "Evil Dead" and had move on to harder stuff like "Cannibal Holocaust", the Japanese "Guinea Pig"-films or pseudo-documentaries like "Faces of Death" (and worst).Those who stayed with the "Men behind the Sun"-series through two sequels, stayed with it for the same reason.Trouble however was, watching hardcore splatter-films has the same effect as working in a slaughterhouse: it desensitizes the viewer. There are so many ways to portray a mangled carcass before the variations run out and the viewer is left with the "I've seen this before, so what"-syndrome. Sure, "MBtS 4" offers some pretty gruesome stuff, both authentic illustrations of atrocities and re-enactments. Perhaps the goriest scene in the movie is the "forced abortion" via a Japanese bayonet but where can you go from pierced plastic-fetuses? You may have noticed that IMDb has among the genre-descriptions "war", "drama" and "history", all which is true but in all that's right, it should have added another: "exploitation". It is that sense of glee with which the atrocities are depicted that sets it apart from above mentioned film by Steven Spielberg (and now just imagine if Mr. Spielberg had used real body parts and the general "reaction" that would have followed).We could say that "MBtS 4" was a prime example of a genre eating its own children. It happened to the Italian Zombie-films, it happened to the Cannibal-genre, it's happening to the SAW-franchise and the whole torture-porn-sub genre right now.As said: this film isn't for those people who are historically interested – plenty of documentaries on the topic for those. This film is for the dissolute gore-hounds among the audience; at least those that haven't moved on to watching shock-sites on the internet.As to giving it points or a rating: always difficult for those kinds of films. One the gorehound-scale it would probably get a 7 or even 8 out of 10, as a "real" film it would probably receive a lot less, maybe somewhere in the range of 3 or 4 points.Truly depraved stuff, so just don't say I haven't warned you.

THE NANKING MASSACRE is another solid piece of work from T.F. Mou regarding the atrocities that the Japanese brought upon the Chinese in WWII. Personally, I felt that this installment lacked the punch of MEN BEHIND THE SUN, but was still very effective in trying to relate the horrors of war and oppression. There are a few "gore" scenes, but to be quite honest, they almost come off a little comically (or i'm just sick...). I found the "forced abortion" and the "baby in the rice steamer" scenes to be pretty hilarious, though I'm sure they weren't meant to be - the FX just looked silly and not horrifying. That's not to make light of the film itself or of what actually happened in China at that time period. All-in-all I found the film to be very moving, and should really be looked at as a history lesson more than as a horror film. I know that "extreme" horror fans will seek this and MEN BEHIND THE SUN out for their notorious reputations as "shocking" and "horrific" gore films, but I think that those who are just looking for blood-and-guts will be severely disappointed. As I stated before, these are neither horror nor gore films, but a fictionalized recreation of events. Either way, I feel that they are both good films, although I prefer MEN BEHIND THE SUN over THE NANKING MASSACRE. Definitely not for everyone due to some graphic material, but highly recommended 7 1/2 out of 10

Arriving at my door, this video, which I had procured from E-Bay.com has many extras and features and is very-well put together, but the film itself, unbeknownst to me at that time, would prove to be my undoing: Quite by accident I'd come upon a dread vision more fantastic than anything from out of Dante; putrified, bodies piled in heaps on beaches in the Chinese province of Xixioung, a, like so many flesh-balloons ripening and bursting in the afternoon sun. On this the camera lingers, unflinchingly -- Pop! a corspe, bursting at the seems, abruptly inflates and then pops open strewing it's organs amid a splash of half-uncoagulated blood, and then another, and then another...Finally, toward evening, this ranch of carnage is set ablaze and we are treated to a symphony of sickening popping sounds and the abysmal sight of what can best be described as a field of human popcorn yielding it's unwholesome fruits. The heat from the resulting conflagration, you see, creates pressure within the floury endosperm of corpse-meat, causing it to explode, and, horrific to relate, turn itself inside out.In addition to a severe case of panic/anxiety disorder, a screening of these terrors, celebrated in this film, "Rape of Nanking-- Solar Disc of Umbra" (literal translation) resulted in something my doctor has told me is called "restrcutring cognitive distortion", a condition wherein brain fluid backflows (refluxes) into the lobular cavities, sometimes getting into the ears, occasionally, I understand, even into the mouth. It produces ultra-intense headaches at least twice a week. Actually. before I started taking Pantroprazole, it was occurring not just twice a week, but more than twice a day. In addition to the nightmares, in a very small percentage of people, including me, it produces nearly impossible to describe creepy feelings like something besides just brain fluid is crawling around in my head.Additionally, it also seems to produce, or, at least, trigger creepy feelings and pressure in my head that vaguely resemble the anxiety I experienced when first watching the terrific imagery presented in this title, but are unlike any headache I've ever had. My doctor says that those headaches have nothing to do with the Nanking Massacre, but I don't believe him.And when dead bodies start erecting themselves, and march out of their graves, or people with crippled skeletons are restored to perfect form, CNN will be there ...