MARRONNIER
2004
Directed by Akira Kobayashi
A.K.A. Six-String Psycho
PlotSome of you out there may recognize the name "Junji Ito". For those that don't, he is the creator of the manga serieses "Uzumaki" and "Tomie". Therefore, it stands to reason that when you see his name on a video box, you'll expect it to say "Written by" or at least "Based on the Manga by" before his name. I was obviously intrigued when I saw that this film was instead not only produced by Junji, but he was also in charge of the visual design of the film! However, this film almost feels like two movies pushed into one in a rather violent struggle. The first half is shot on film, spends a good deal of time on character development, and throws in a couple of creative death sequences, to boot. The second half, on the other hand, mysteriously switches to digital video, and the shots themselves become darker, and grittier, and the gore effects are impressively ratcheted up. It almost gives the impression of two directors at the helm. Perhaps Ito took over at one point? Who knows... Anyways, we meet Marie, a late-teen girl who lives with her big brother. You see, their parents died some while ago. Her brother helps her cope with the loss by using puppetry to cheer her up. This leads to both of them becoming obsessed with dolls and puppets. Marie is particularly attatched to a high-priced doll called "Marronnier", which is part of a line of unique custom-made figures, that even have their own clothing store where owners can get matching outfits for themselves and their dolls. Her brother meanwhile, has a disturbing reacurring dream where he meets up with his girlfriend, only to have her turn into a zombie-like doll that comes after him. Yeah, needless to say, the two have issues.
To make matters worse, Marie has a stalker. ANd not the dirty phone call type stalker either. Instead, he's the get in your face and tell you private details of your life kind of stalker. In one demonstration, he shows her how she brushes her teeth too hard by brushing his own with enough fervor to practically destroy his gums, making himself start drooling whole ounces of blood. Apparently he was the one who gave Marie the Marronnier doll, yet Marie can't bear to throw away something she finds so precious. IN the words of the immortal Random Guy In An RPG, "Sigh, Times are Tough." One day, Marie and her best friend decide to have a night out on the town, shopping and having fun. They stop at the Merronnier shop, and try out clothes, and we learn that the seamstress is in fact the sister-in-law to the dollmaker himself. Later, our giggling duo hook up with a couple of lavicious lotharios (sorry, I've been watching a lot of Vincent Price lately) who clearly want only one thing. After manhandling the ladies a little, the guys somehow get spearted from the girls and gruesomely killed by a black-gloves wearing psycho. At first it looks like this is going to plot out like a standard giallo picture, only to have the killer quickly revealed to be our friend, good old stalker-boy. Wow, what a shocker... What does come as a mild surprise is that Ol' Stalkerino is the assitant of the dollmaker. He inexplicably kidnaps the seamstress and takes her to her brother-in-law's astle up on the dark and stormy hill. (yes, really) Now I guess we can finally learn what's up with these darn dolls. Apparently the dollmaker discovered a special mud that can turn human tissue into a latex-plastic material. That's right, he's turning people into dolls, including his wife, and her sister. Stalkapopolous meanwhile, now knows all he needs to take over this operation, so his well-planned out mind quickly has him kill his boss.
Maria, meanwhile, is slowly going crazy, and begins thinking her doll is coming to life, and is trying to kill her. She attacks the doll, breaking it and snapping herself out of her delusion. Well poop, now her doll is broken. Her BFF agrees to help her take the doll back to the creator, since they can't seem to locate the seamstress for help. Stalky, mweanwhile, has kidnapped Big Brother's girlfriend for some reason, who then sends an SOS to her boytoy's cellphone, forcing him to come to the rescue at the castle up on the dark and stormy hill. It's at this point that the aforementioned downshift in tone occurrs and I really don't have the heart to mention any of the glorious insanity that follows... |
RatingI give Marronnier: 
Three and One Half Rotting Shambling Corpses out of Five |