J-Horror at its finest: Exte Hair Extensions

C'mon, a horror movie about hair extensions? I've seen some dreadful J-horror in the years following the massive successes of Ringu and Ju-On, most notably The Locker, an abysmal horror flick about evil ghosts that haunt a particular high school locker, and the kids who die if they are assigned it. It even had a sequel. But Exte: Hair Extensions has one thing in its favor, the main reason that drew me to this film: it is directed by Sion Son, the man responsible for two of the most uncompromisingly disturbing and beautifully shot films of this decade, Suicide Circle and Strange Circus. So I took a chance on it, and I am glad I did. This is one of the best horror films I've seen in a long while. Chiaki Kuriyama (actress known best for the vicious schoolgirl roles in Battle Royale and Kill Bill) stars as Yuko Mizushima, an aspiring young hair stylist who is working at a local salon. She has an older sister, Tsugumi, a terrible and abusive mother to her daughter Miku, and spends her time drinking and making love to a local pimp. Tsugumi arrives unexpectedly one day to drop her daughter off while she goes out for a night of binging and trysts. Yuko doesn't know what to do with Miku, especially since she has to go to work. She is disturbed to find bruises covering Miku's body, and the young girl's subservience and manner are hallmarks of an abused child. Yuko tries to connect to her and break through that barrier, but it is slow going -- Miku accidentally breaks one of Yuko's mannequins, and spends the rest of the day cowering in the corner, afraid of what her aunt might do to her. In the meantime, a female body is discovered in a freight crate, covered in hair. An autopsy is done, and she is listed as a Jane Doe. The coroner, however, has a hair fetish, and develops a disturbingly close relationship with the corpse, eventually stealing her from the morgue and taking her home. The corpse continues to grow hair at a super fast pace. The coroner decides that he can make some money by selling the hair as extensions, and he goes off to sell them at the local salons. At one place, the owner purchases some and goes to apply them on a customer. Touching the hair causes a telepathic flashback to the corpse, and how the woman dies. She was kidnapped, raped, and stripped of her hair, eventually left to die. This connection causes the barber to go psychotic, and she kills her customer and herself. The police find a connection between this and the corpse because of the hair. The coroner sells the hair to the salon where Yuko is working. One of her coworkers likes the hair so much she tries it on herself at home, and is killed. Yuko brings some home to practice on. She has also bonded with Miku, despite the girl's accident, by getting her interested in hair cutting. Tsugumi barges into her place one day and over Miku's objections, steals some of her younger sister's clothes and the hair extensions. Tsugumi and her lover are killed by the extensions. The police interview everyone at Yuko's place, and Yuko herself is a person of interest, especially since her sister's death. But it is the coroner they are after, and the police begin a manhunt for him. Yuko realizes that she has left Miku alone with the extensions, and rushes home. Opening the door, she is confronted with a pile of hair which has filled up every square inch of the apartment. Diving in, she rescues Miku, but both are overwhelmed by the hair, and she fall unconscious. Waking up, they find themselves at the coroner's place, but before they are killed, the police come storming in, and in the ensuing chaos the coroner is killed, and the corpse's vengeful spirit laid to rest.

Like I said, this film is nuts! But the inventiveness and direction by Sion Son makes this a classic horror film, taking all the cliche elements of J-horror and putting such a spin on it that it becomes something original. Highly recommended!