I’m sure the title of this one might not ring a bell to many of you, but I’m willing to guess that number might – Unit 731 was of course the infamous covert lab that conducted all sorts of sickening human experiments during the World War II period. Fans of extreme horror may be familiar with a couple of the movies that these horrible acts inspired, namely Philosophy of a Knife and Men Behind the Sun, which also went to spawn a range of low-budget sequels with even worse reputations than the series opener. So, suffice to say this one did pique my interest when it popped up on my YouTube suggestions – it’s free to watch (and above-board, I should swiftly add!) now on the Alter channel if you do feel inclined to watch it after reading my review. So how would it fare given some of the infamous cinematic offerings that it has to live up to? Room 731 is the confusing story of Wei, a young Chinese girl captured and taken into the Unit 731 base at Manchukuo. There she is ‘treated’ by a doctor and nurse while she drifts in and out of sleep – and experiences in dreams either fantasy or awful recollections of what has come before. I sort of can’t say much more about the plot because A) I don’t want to spoil too much and B) even a few days after watching it I’m not even certain of what happened myself. I could try and tell you and probably be wrong anyway. I think Room 731 has some good ideas, and a few interesting moments too, but the whole thing cuts and jumps around wildly – not just in time and place but also from reality to fantasy and back again. It’s not always immediately apparent which is which, I just know that some change has happened. Characters speak English some of the time and use their native tongue in others, which doesn’t help clarify anything. Another thing that frustrated me was the leaning on jumpscares – given the real-life material that you’re calling upon, it shouldn’t be hard to serve up a horror offering without having to resort to such a cheap tactic. I’ve never been a fan of the device at the best of times, and in a short film like this it feels even more egregious. It’s perhaps an unfortunate comparison to have to make, but what I was put most in mind of was Adult Swim’s recent horror series The Shivering Truth – the seemingly random cuts from one thing to another, the never sitting still, the lack of explanation offered for the latest turn of events, the big ‘twist’ at the end of the story that appeared out of nowhere… I say unfortunate not because I don’t like The Shivering Truth – in fact, I’m a fan of basically everything that team has ever done, including in my view the greatest TV show ever made, the remarkable Xavier: Renegade Angel – but I suspect that Room 731 wanted to be taken seriously, so the fact my readiest analogy was a comedy show probably isn’t a great sign… RATING: 3/10. For a few minutes I was pretty into this one, but it doesn’t take long to rather fall apart and slip into feeling like an absolute quagmire. I’ve mulled and pondered and reflected and reconsidered and I just can’t get to the bottom of Room 731. There’s the odd scene that is pretty effective visually, and a few moments that might even have hit home emotionally in a different context, but it feels like there’s more effort put into trying to constantly make me jump and wrongfoot me as a viewer than there is to tell any kind of coherent story. For all that movies like Men Behind the Sun and Philosophy of a Knife (in particular) make for absolutely grim viewing, they are at least a fairer reflection of the shocking events that took place at Unit 731. This one you could almost have moved anywhere and it wouldn’t have had much impact, which is a final down point on it for me. This one comes in at a clumsy 3/10. Want to watch it for yourself? Check out Room 731 on Alter at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJJC3S2zgy4 TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE [BOOK REVIEW] FEAR BY ROB BLISS the heart and soul of horror movie reviews |
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