Hana-Dama: The Origin (2014) (Blu-ray/DVD Review)

Hana-Dama: The Origin (2014) (Blu-ray/DVD Review)
Directed By: Hisayasu Satô
Starring: Tomori Abe, Shun Asada, Kei Fujiwara
Rated: UR/Region A/1:78/1080p/Number of Discs 2
Available from Olive Films

Bullied Japanese high school student Mizuki (Sakuragi Rina, Girl’s Blood) has the ultimate revenge on her teenage tormentors in this horror-fest tinged with dark humor. Possessed by a powerful spirit, Mizuki sprouts a mysterious flower from her head which empowers her with deadly skills to exact revenge, with bloody consequences, against the bullying classmates led by mean girl Aya (Nakamura Eriko, August In Tokyo).

I’ve seen my fair share of weird and artsy Asian movies, so I had a bit of a heads up over your average person who may go into seeing something like 2014’s Hana-Dama: The Origin. A movie that at the very heart of things is a tale of a few poor kids getting picked on that somehow turns into something of the likes David Lynch would have dreamed up before everything is all said and done. There is dark humor, there is even some blood here and there along the way, but one has to question if the weirdness of a film like this might be placed in the way of eventually telling a fulfilling story overall. I watched and was confused by some scenes, I snickered at others as well, but once the credits did roll, I just don’t know if the movie did enough to make me think too much more about it, even if the art driven nature of it surely was asking me to do so. Maybe the worst mistake a movie like this does is it doesn’t dive enough into those weird spots? Outside of the last part of the movie it is certainly a slow-build to that point. Or maybe the heart of the story is a bit too flawed to connect with the viewer? Something seems off, but I’m not sure just what. You can be all artsy as you want to be, but if you fail to make a connection with the viewer it is all for not. That seems to be what happens here.

Now don’t get me wrong, it is a good last act of the film. That is where things stop dragging and really get rolling overall. Blood flies, weird things happen in a classroom, and you start to wish more of the movie might have been this way more often. If you aren’t going to make a connection, you could at least toss everything else against the wall after all. There is still some creative choices to take a peek at here in Hana-Dama: The Origin, but I don’t know if anyone will get what they are looking for overall. Johnny-Come-Latelys to the genre will be turned off by what they see and pros to it will be bored for the most part and wishing more of the film was like the last part. So, I see some good to it, but can still see why some might want to just wait for the next wacky Asian mind-trip that might come down the pike. Olive did give us both a Blu-ray AND a DVD here, as well as some extras. Extras are something we don’t see as often with Olive, so I hope that is a new trend. The combo pack is also a nice touch as well.

Extras

– Backstage and Behind the Scenes
– Interview with Director Sato Hisayasu and Cast
– Trailer

Quality of Transfer: 78%