Deep Blue Sea

Amazon.com

With a voracious trio of mako sharks wreaking havoc, Deep Blue Sea dares to up the ante on Jaws, but director Renny Harlin trades the nuanced suspense of Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster for the trickery of the digital age. In other words, why build genuine terror when you can show ill-fated humans getting torn into bloody chunks? The aforementioned makos have been lab rats in an effort to harvest a miracle cure for Alzheimer's disease from the brains of sharks, but the research has an unfortunate side effect: the sharks get smarter, and they're determined to break out of Aquatica, the deep-sea complex where they've been penned.

Model-actress Saffron Burrows plays the researcher; Thomas Jane pulls double-duty as shark expert and action hunk; Samuel L. Jackson's the corporate sponsor who chooses the worst time for an Aquatica tour; and rapper LL Cool J is nicely cast as Aquatica's cook and comic relief. Michael Rapaport, Jacqueline McKenzie, and Stellan Skarsgård round out the cast, most of whom are turned into shark food as the makos turn Aquatica into a floating junkyard. Harlin takes devilish pleasure in providing sudden, unexpected shocks--no small feat in such a derivative thriller--and as a series of action set-pieces, Deep Blue Sea never disappoints. It's inevitable that Burrows should end up in her underwear like Sigourney Weaver in Alien, but even then the movie offers a credible reason for the strip-down; that Deep Blue Sea can be simultaneously ridiculous and sensible is just another one of its shlocky charms. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Best "monster"-movie in a long time.......2007-08-23

After "jaws" there was long time nothing in cinema in this genre of shark or monster movies with an interesting story and enough suspense.
I am a big fan of Samuel L. Jackson, who is once again outstanding in this movie. I also liked the performance of Thomas Jane, who gave his character enough credibility.
The movie is not 100% realistic, but which one of these movies is?
4 stars for suspense and interesting story.

2nd Best Shark Film Yet.......2007-07-12

Of course every shark film made after 1975 will get compared to Jaws. Jaws is a classic from start to finish. I dont consider Deep Blue Sea a classic, but its still a very good film. It shouldnt be compared to Jaws because its really NOTHING like it other than having sharks in both movies. Ive always enjoyed the films acting and its furious pace. Its really an action packed thriller. Thats the best way to describe it. Deep Blue Seas special effects have been talked about ever since the film came out. Of course, opinions vary on if the effects are good or bad. I personally havent seen a movie where the CGI stuff looked 110% real. Nevertheless, I think the sharks look pretty cool. Maybe not completely real, but they look really good. I thought the effects as a whole were always awesome in this. The effects are some the factors that make the film good but they arent what make it great. What makes this great is the pace and action scenes during the entire film. It doesnt stop with the action, the whole film is like one huge ride. Its pretty much nonstop. Like I noted, the acting is good too. The actors certainly did the best they could with what little dialogue they had. Thomas Jane played his character very well and I loved his performance. Ive seen the film numerous times and every single time Ive been entertained to the fullest. Thats what its meant to be is entertaining, not a huge epic. I loved this from the first viewing. I think that its underrated and deserves a lot more credit. I recommend it to those who like a good thriller or action movie.

It's no "Jaws", but it has TEETH just the same!.......2007-07-05

Amazon's review and product description say enough about the film, so need to repeat it here. The storyline has enough to make you suspend your disbelief so that you can enjoy this underwater rollercoaster ride. The acting is better than most in this genre and by actors we grow to like and understand. Thomas Jane (Dreamcatcher), the film's hunky hero, looks incredibly like Christopher Lambert of Highlander fame and is very convincing in his role. For you folks who like fun facts, he is currently married to Patricia Arquette of TV's Medium. Model and sometimes actress Saffron Burrows is surprisingly believable as the driven scientist who is motivated by noble reasons, saving people from Alzeimer's Disease, but who will sacrifice everything and everyone to do it. Michael Rapport, The 6th Day and Men of Honor, and Samuel L. Jackson (do I really need to list his credits????? --lol), offer very solid support as does the comic relief of LL Cool J.

Renny Harlin, no stranger to the action genre with hits like Die Hard 2 - Die Harder and Cliffhanger, keeps the pace exhilarating and managers to offer thrilling surprises in a somewhat tired genre. In addition, the effects are impressive although obviously CGI. The music is appropriate and even the absence of music at key moments enhances the suspenseful elements within the film when an over-the-top, pulse-pounding score might have been employed.

While any shark film will inevitably be compared to Steven Spielberg's Jaws, this one should be judged on its own merits without that cumbersome comparison. This is a fun, somewhat sci-fi, action film. It doesn't take itself too seriously; therefore, we shouldn't either. This is plain, old-fashioned, popcorn fun.

Avoid!.......2007-05-31

This movie is so unbelivably bad, I have to force myself to even watch it 5 minutes!

The movie is obviously set up for a disaster, you have the building which looks very high tech, but once the sharks get mean there's like no place to hide and no weapon to defend yourself with.
It will collaps if too much pressure on it. Helicopters can't land when it's a storm outside. It's highly explosive. The doors can't keep sharks out.
The whole building just screams "You will die here!", it destroys the feeling of the movie.

And the characters... couldn't they have chosen a worse heroine?
Our "lovely heroine" has the emotions of a psycho-maniac-serial killer, she dosen't care if people die because of her, she dosen't care they die in front of her, she only cares about her stupid experiment.
If I would have been in the movie, I would have pushed her into the water and let the sharks eat her!!
I was so mad when she was portrayed as innocent.
Another character also annoyed me, she sees her husband die in front of her eyes - and she dosen't care!
Only later she shouts "No!" and that's it.

Where is the emotion in this movie?
There's only dialog, talk about god and faith, bad jokes and sharks that are supposed to be super-smart, but instead appear super-dumb.

IT'S NOT JAWS BUT IT'S PRETTY DAMN GOOD!.......2007-04-08

This is one of those movies that you think will really be bad. It turns out it is a pretty good little thriller with some sci-fi thrown in. The biggest weakness is that the sharks don't always look that realistic. I am a hugh fan of Jaws and this is not in the same league, but it does deliver the goods.

Average customer rating:

punecious, voclacious rip roaring fun
Who are the real weasels here?
A Real Party Gem!
Grindhouse classic?

Weasels Rip My Flesh
Starring: John Smihula , Fred Borges , Fred Dabby , Jody Kadish , and Steven Kriete
Director: Nathan Schiff
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00016XNRK
Release Date: 2004-02-24

Description

One dark night, a NASA probe returning from Venus crash lands near the wilds of Long Island and unleashes a radioactive curse upon the nearest living creature, a rabid weasel. Unbeknownst to the innocent residents, this mutating menace transforms into an

Customer Reviews:

punecious, voclacious rip roaring fun.......2005-09-23

...This DVD was a wedding gift from my mother-in-law. My husband insisted we watch this on our wedding night. Since then i have given up men and am living with my partner Florence.

Who are the real weasels here?.......2005-01-22

Who are the real weasels, as in who released this awesomely bad piece of junk to DVD and sold it for more than $1.99? I am a great fan of bad movies with unintentional entertainment value, but this is just bad in every way with none of the yucks that make some bad movies viewable. First off, the sound quality is hideous and cuts in and out. A lot of what you see is 'transformations' I guess, like a rabid weasel coated with radioactive gunk that's mutating, but when about 1/4 to 1/2 the film is like this and you can't tell what the hell you're looking at....well, it stinks. I guess there was imaginative use of props, like a tiny model rocket & some weasel incubators (which looks suspiciously like mixing bowls) but overall this is just so bad it's painful. This is the kind of film that you maybe make when you're a kid and show to your friends, but whoever had the brilliant idea to push this on the general public should be shot. This is the sort of film that needs a warning label....nothing like 'gore, drug use, violence, sex' but just something like 'juvenile mentality and no talent'. Ptoeey.

A Real Party Gem!.......2004-03-04

Oh my! Was I just devoured by a gigantic mutant weasel? Or was it another one of my many LSD induced flashbacks? Where do movies like this come from? And what interesting chemicals were the filmmakers on when they created "Weasels Rip My Flesh?" This obviously zero budgeted home movie caught me unawares, like the oversized rodent of the title. Actually, the surprise here was the sheer enjoyment to be derived from this convoluted tapestry from the five and dime store. I have never heard of the films director, Nathan Schiff before, but since Image Entertainment has seen fit to release three of his movies curiosity got the best of me. The plot has gooey slime from Venus brought back to Earth in a rocket that looks like it's about the length of a Cuban cigar. Two kids find the glop and poor it down a weasel hole after one kid is bitten on the foot. Naturally, the goo turns the harmless little rabid weasel into a gigantic, mutated and equally harmless monster. The beast skips around town, ripping various peoples flesh. Two detectives investigate and are captured by a mad scientist, who plans on using the mutant weasel blood to create more mutant weasels, and...oh yeah, to attain immortality! Eventually, there is a showdown between the good guy, the bad guy the monster weasel, and a monster weasel man (!) where people are shot, heads cracked and limbs ripped off. The ending had me skipping back to make certain what I'd seen was not just another one of my flashbacks.

To be frank, I have never seen a movie as financially bankrupt as this. Apparently it was shot on super-8 when Schiff, the director, was a teenager. The amazing aspect here is that it's thoroughly watchable and quite imaginative. I've seen mega-budget Hollywood movies less enjoyable. This DVD is loaded with extra's, and listening to Schiff and his cast discuss making the film under such adverse conditions, I wondered what the same film would have turned out like had it not been so cheap in all departments. I recommend this movie only to fans of crazy no-budget wonders. The 4 stars are for the generous nasty laughs the film delivers.

Grindhouse classic?.......2004-02-29

After watching Nathan Schiff's first full length filmed on Super 8mm motion picture, 1979's "Weasels Rip My Flesh," I fervently prayed for my own death at the paws of a pack of rabid weasels. The movie has to be the worst film I have ever seen, light years beyond the badness of a Herschell Gordon Lewis film. In fact, Schiff's use of music, effects, and plot makes Lewis look like Cecil B. DeMille. Why Image Entertainment released what is essentially an hour-long home movie on DVD is a mystery which ranks right up there with the Nazca lines or UFOs. Even more surprising, Image punched up the DVD with a boatload of extras. Why did they do this? Some research on the web turned up a few interesting tidbits about Schiff. Apparently many hardcore horror fans consider this movie, along with a couple of others he made in the 1980s, cult classics. Schiff fans point to the heavy gore quotient as proof of this claim, conveniently overlooking the grainy Super 8 film Schiff used, the horrific sound quality of the movie, and the downright ridiculous plot execution. I'm speaking about "Weasels Rip My Flesh" since I haven't seen the other two Schiff opuses recently released. After watching this film, though, you just know the other two will plumb the same depths as this one.

"Weasels Rip My Flesh" centers on the bloody hijinks that ensue after a space probe returning from a mission to Venus crash lands somewhere in Long Island. Two kids find some vials floating in the body of water where the probe crashed, open them, and promptly dump what turns out to be highly radioactive sludge into a hole in the ground. The result? A weasel mutates into a huge, hideously deformed beastie that begins rampaging through the area. The animal kills the two kids amidst great gouts of ketchup and cranberry sauce blood effects before moving into town. At some point in the narrative, two cops enter the picture to investigate the killings. These guys run into another chap who wants to use the infected weasel to achieve immortality. Since the weasel had rabies when the boys exposed it to the toxic waste, the blood of the animal is "impure." Therefore, this psycho wants to use the blood of humans to achieve his nefarious aims. "Weasels Rip My Flesh" degenerates into a lame chase scene replete with gunfire, exploding squibs, and a "surprise" ending that will leave you howling for the blood of anyone associated with the film. The movie is cheesefest city with capital letters, folks. It's so bad that it attains a sort of metaphysical awfulness. I feel less of a person for having watched this film.

Before I hand down a death sentence on the film, I should list a few of the movie's mitigating circumstances. Schiff was a senior in high school when he made most of the film so condemning him harshly is somewhat unfair. In a few respects, he did o.k. with what he had. For example, Schiff used miniatures to show the rocket probe taking off, a cheesy scene laughable in its implications. To show the rocket soaring into the air, he took the camera, held it up to a light, and then pulled it back fast to simulate a diminishing flame trail. Not bad for a young kid. A few of the gore effects looked acceptable, especially when one of the characters loses an arm in a gruesome way and has his head bashed into a wall resulting in a huge splash of blood. Schiff mastered the use of tubes to suggest squirting arteries and actually rigged up a few crude squibs employing blood packets and firecrackers. "Weasels Rip My Flesh" occasionally manages some gross out scenes even as it fails to engage as a whole.

The giant weasel is funny to watch. It looks like Schiff and company made the thing out of felt and used paper for teeth. Obviously, the director was aware of the inherent difficulties in showing such an amateurish creation, so he relied on quick cutaways and other editing tricks to minimize the effect's onscreen time. I think the biggest problem with "Weasels Rip My Flesh" isn't the largely lame effects, but rather the poor film stock. The picture looks awful, just as you would expect from Super 8mm film used in the late 1970s. Moreover, the audio alternates from ultra tacky, distorted music to background noise captured by the cheap camera. I kept thinking how much better the film might have looked if Schiff had used better equipment. "Weasels Rip My Flesh" is too reminiscent of a home video to take seriously; it is the 1970s equivalent of some of those atrocious shot on video films you see floating around from time to time, e.g. "Camp Blood," "Hunting Season," and others.

The extras on the disc take a lot of time to watch. An interview with a somber looking Schiff runs for well over twenty minutes. Three trailers adorn the extras menu, one for each of Schiff's films. There's a commentary, too, along with interviews of two of the actors who appeared in the film. AND there are several short films made by Schiff when he was a kid that are unwatchable. I am torn about how many stars to give the movie. On one hand, one star seems unfair considering the points mentioned above. On the other hand, "Weasels Rip My Flesh" is an abomination of a film. I'll give it three stars with an attached caveat: if you have little experience with zero budget gore films, don't watch this movie. And if you DO have a history of watching zero budget gore films, rent instead of buying.

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Charlie Rose with Paul Wellstone; Will Shortz; Piero Anversa (July 16, 2001)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose, Inc.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000HBL6HS
Release Date: 2006-08-15

Description

Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, a Democrat and a liberal, talks about the divide between liberals and conservatives in today's politics and his new book, The Conscience of a Liberal, which chronicles his journey from professor to politician and makes the case that the Democratic Party must reclaim its liberal agenda in order to go forward. Then, Will Shortz, the editor of the crossword puzzles in The New York Times, talks about the art and science of crossword puzzles. Finally, Dr. Piero Anversa, professor of medicine at New York Medical College, on an exciting medical possibility: the idea of regenerating cells in the heart.

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Shadowy and brilliant
A Gritty Melodrama With A Timeless Message.
Two Important Films of 1915
Incredible Film Experience!
Two fine films from 1915

Regeneration/Young Romance
Starring: John McCann , James A. Marcus , Maggie Weston , H. McCoy , and Rockliffe Fellowes
Director: Raoul Walsh , and George Melford
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00005QBYZ
Release Date: 2001-11-27

Amazon.com

New York gangs have rarely been as realistically depicted as in this vivid, grungy 1915 melodrama. Aside from its status as one of the earliest gangster pictures, Regeneration is the first feature in the long directorial career of Raoul Walsh (White Heat), whose marvelously energetic and manly adventures brightened Hollywood's Golden Age. The plot is a stock tale of a hood (Rockliffe Fellowes, who has a true mug's face) reformed by a social worker (Anna Q. Nilsson, a silent star with some resemblance to Leelee Sobieski), but Walsh got the grime of the slums into the very grain of the photography. He once explained, "I went down around the waterfront and around the docks and into the saloons and got all kinds of gangster types, people with terrible faces, hiding in doorways." You can almost smell the beer slopping out of the pail when the hero (as a boy) brings home his cruel stepfather's alcoholic sustenance from the tavern. --Robert Horton

Description

The first full-length gangster picture ever made according to its director, Raoul Walsh, who would later make "The Roaring Twenties," "High Sierra," "The Bowery" and "White Heat." "Regeneration" (72 min.) is a powerful slum melodrama produced in 1915 on location in the lower east side of New York City, with a gaggle of authentic low-life types performing alongside professional actors. As an added bonus on this DVD, "Young Romance" (58 min.), also released in 1915, is a recent rediscovery that forever silences the claim that refined comedy cannot be conveyed via the screen. This disguise plot, worthy of an Elizabethan drama, was written by William deMille (brother of Cecil, father of Agnes), and directed by George Melford ("The Sheik," the Spanish "Dracula"). "Regeneration" is in the Library of Congress National Registry of essential American films.

Customer Reviews:

Shadowy and brilliant.......2006-08-27

There was more to the Silent Era of Film than the sugary Mary Pickford reels and the slapstick of Chaplin, Keaton, and the Keystone Cops. In "Regeneration", Raoul Walsh, who was also an accomplished actor, took a cue from D.W. Griffith and used film as a means to first confront the public with issues that breached contemporary sensitivities, and then present a potential solution and, for good measure, the consequences of ignorance.

"Regeneration" (1915) was not shot in an elaborate Hollywood studio, but on the gritty streets of New York. Real tenements and their Dickensian dwellers figure prominently in the background AND the storyline. Owen, a gangster boss, and Marie, a society girl who finds her true calling as a social worker at a slum district settlement house, push each other toward their ultimate destinies: he recognizes the evil of the life he has been leading and 'goes straight', while she becomes of a victim of the violence that she has been selflessly working to eradicate. It's not the type of 'happily ever after' picture that was being churned out by the hundreds during the golden age of filmmaking, and its effect is unsettling even by today's standards.

"Regeneration" is especially noteworthy in that the bit players were, for the most part, New York low life. Alternately uplifting and depressing, this movie deserves an upper spot in any list of the previous century's most powerful films.

A Gritty Melodrama With A Timeless Message........2006-08-20

Gee, where does one begin to write a review for this film? The location shots are astounding. Shot in New York in 1915, this film follows the story of an orphaned boy growing up in the Bowery.

The timeless aspect of this film is its story of how one person can find redemption in even the worst of circumstances. A poor child is orphaned and taken in by a drunken curmudgeon and his wife. The old drunk treats the boy like a slave and so, predictably, the boy grows up cynical with a knack for crime.

On the other side of town is a wealthy young lady who discovers our "hero" and tries to save him (hence the title "The Regeneration"). While somewhat predictable in 2005, this must have been a very powerful movie when it was released ninety-one years ago.

The utter desolation of life in the Bowery, circa 1915, lends a realistic air to the story. The buildings look like multi-level shanties and the "extras" (an authentically scary looking bunch of characters) were likely the real life inhabitants of these or other similiarly pathetic dwellings.

Now for the bad news. If this film weren't almost one hundred years old then it would be panned as your typical "rich liberal do-gooder tries to save a down-and-outer from his fate and eventually loses her life while saving his" movie. A modern reviewer might say "it's been done before". Well, prior to this film it hadn't been done before so if you look at it from that angle, you won't mind what has become a hackneyed storyline.

"The Regeneration" is a brilliant film. If you are a silent film buff then this is a "must-see". I can't comment on "Young Romance" as I do not own this particular release.

I really liked this film but more because of the authentic (and depressing) location shots than any one aspect of the plot. Old films such as this are great time capsules of how things used to look.

Two Important Films of 1915.......2004-07-09

I was very pleasantly surprised by both "Regeneration" and "Young Romance" on this DVD. Firstly, I was expecting more of a gangster movie in "Regeneration" as the introductions said, but found it to have a much deeper, spiritual meaning overall, making it far less sinister than I had imagined. The main theme of the story is based on the idea that many gangsters are only the result of an unhappy childhood in a rough neighbourhood, and when given a chance, they can become decent, respectable citizens. The film begins by showing the sad child in miserable surroundings which lead him to become the leader of gangsters. Everything looks very realistic, including characters - some of which were apaprently real-life slum dwellers - adding to the atmosphere of the drama. The hopelessness and heaviness of it all dramatically change when a woman from the upper classes devotes herself to helping the slum dwellers, and whose kind deeds transform the gangster leader (who, as we see before already, isn't really all that bad to begin with anyway). Not only is it a bitter-sweet story with a hopeful message, but for a 1915 feature film, it is very well made, and there are only a few short segments of film damaged beyond repair or restoration.

"Young Romance" was written by William C. de Mille, older brother of the more famous Cecil, and whose films have all but been lost, it seems. This is probably a real shame if this film is anything to go by, because the story is clever, yet nice and charming. It is a light-hearted story about two young people with the same dream of being wealthy upper-class socialites just for one week, and their consequent misadventures and resulting romance. It moves along at a pleasant, happy pace and is easy to follow, and I enjoyed it immensely. It has a lovely musical score by Robert Israel, and the picture quality is very good throughout. It is only about an hour long but leaves you feeling good and satisfied, mainly perhaps due to the excellent photography and editing which, along with "Regeneration", I'd say are exceptionally good for 1915, and therefore well worth adding to a silent film collection.

Incredible Film Experience!.......2002-03-07

I have raved about this really astounding movie to all my film buff buddies. When I first saw it a year ago, it was one of the great movie-going experiences in my life. The male star, Rockliffe Fellowes, is so dynamic and masterful, that it's a tragedy his career never went anywhere. You'll be amazed at how much he resembles and acts like Marlon Brando. Even though his co-star is the beautiful Anna Q. Nillson, you can't keep your eyes off Rockliffe who is so charismatic in his performance I'm surprised there weren't mob scenes because he is so ...sexy and magnetic. I urge my younger film buffs to watch this movie and see what incredible work was being done nearly l00 years ago in the American cinema. This movie belongs in the library of any serious movie buff. It's also fascinating as a piece of visual Americana since it was filmed on location NY"s Bowery and actual inhabitants were used, giving this work an amazing sense of realism. Don't miss this one! Especially now that it's on DVD.

Two fine films from 1915.......2001-12-24

The two films on this DVD are both well worth seeing. They show how quickly film- making had developed by 1915. Both films are sophisticated and tell their stories with flair and invention. Regeneration is one of the early films of Raoul Walsh, a truly great director, who would go on to make such classic films as The Thief of Bagdad, The Roaring Twenties and High Sierra. Walsh clearly knew how to make a crime drama, which is not surprising for, with Regeneration, he virtually invented the gangster film. The story shows a young orphan boy growing up in New York tenements, brutalised by his environment and turning to a life of petty crime. The film provides us with a fascinating and authentic view of real life New York locations. Many of the extras were recruited from these tough streets and it shows. The faces of these people seem to be marked by the conditions of the life they lead and the slums in which they live. Even the star of the film, Rockliffe Fellowes, is not exactly handsome. He looks rough, someone not to be messed with, and plays his part very well with an understated method of acting which fits in with the character and the story. Anna Q Nilsson plays a beautiful society lady who falls for Fellowes and sets out to lead him away from his life of crime. She is convincing in a difficult role.

It would be grossly unfair to complain about the quality of the print of Regeneration as it is a miracle that it survives at all. It was found in1976 in a soon to be demolished building in Montana and is almost certainly the only surviving print of this important film. For most of its running time the colour-tinted print is very clear and sharp, but periodically, and thankfully briefly, the print shows some serious decomposition. That said, it is always possible to follow the action on the screen and the print damage does not distract from the enjoyment of the film. Philip Carli provides a good and appropriate piano score.

Young Romance is something of a revelation. I bought the DVD for Regeneration, but enjoyed this extra film almost as much. It is the story of two shop workers who separately and coincidentally decide to masquerade as rich people in a resort in Maine. Although they work in the same shop they don't know each other and of course they meet up in the posh Hotel and start to fall in love. The plot is a delight; with the farcical difficulties these people have trying to act out the role of the rich. This is especially the case when they try to order dinner and have difficulties with the menu. Edith Taliaferro shows her skill as a comedienne and is a pleasure to watch, while her co-star Tom Forman, although a bit wooden, is good at acting bemused. The colour-tinted print of Young Romance is first rate and shows hardly any damage. Robert Israel provides a nice score which really fits the style and period of the action. These two films are good examples of the quality of films that were made in 1915. It is a pity that so few films from this period are available today.

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Potent Biology: Stem Cells, Cloning and Regeneration

Manufacturer: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000LY3D1I

Product Description

Do stem cells really hold the key to understanding and curing many diseases? What's the connection between embryonic development and tissue regeneration? Doug Melton and Nadia Rosenthal are leaders in stem cell research, working primarily with mouse and human tissue. They will discuss where embryonic and adult stem cells come from and the biology of how they supply the cells the body needs. Stem cells are fundamental to biology. In the course of embryonic development, stem cells generate all the specialized cells that populate body tissues like muscle, the nervous system, and blood. In adults, reserves of stem cells repair and regenerate tissues damaged by disease and wounding. Because of the potential of stem cells to generate fresh, healthy cells, there is a huge interest in cultivating them to treat various diseases. This year's Holiday Lectures will explore exciting progress toward the goal of harnessing stem cells to treat diabetes, nerve damage, and heart disease.

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Classic Japanese horror film
Great Movie, Became A HUGE Fan! But You May Not
Tomie: Rebirth fantastic film
Great Tomie; Bad Movie
Why not remake THIS? It can only be an improvement.

Tomie
Starring: Miho Kanno , Mami Nakamura , Yoriko Douguchi , Tomorowo Taguchi , and Kouta Kusano
Director: Ataru Oikawa
Manufacturer: Adness
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0000UX5YI
Release Date: 2004-02-03

Description

A police investigation into the murder of high school student Tomie Kawakami (Miho Kanno) uncovers a history of mysterious deaths of girls with the same name going back to the 1860s. Detective Harada (Tomoro Taguchi) tracks down a classmate of Tomie named Izumisawa Tsukiko (Mami Nakamura), an art student who is being treated for amnesia. She has no memory of the 3 month period around Tomie's death, and is starting to suspect the cause might be supernatural. Meanwhile, Tsukiko's new neighbor, her former high school teacher, Yamamoto Tanabe (Kenji Mizuhashi) is rearing a peculiar baby-like creature. Over the span of a few weeks it grows into a beautiful teenaged girl with orange eyes and responding to the name Tomie Kawakami. And Tomie will not die.

Customer Reviews:

Classic Japanese horror film.......2007-07-05

Tomie is a slow, moody adaptation of a popular Japanese horror manga. Rather than directly ape the comics, the director took the themes he found most interesting (jealousy, obsession, competiveness between women) and went with them. He purposely leaves things vague, mysterious and unexplained.. letting our imagination go to work. He succeeds in creating an atmosphere of dread and hopelessness I found quite chilling.

The cast is excellent, especially Tsukiko, Tomie and the female doctor... this film has a gritty indie-film look and feel that works for it.

If you are looking for fast action, senseless violence and endless explanations... this isn't the film for you. But for the intelligent and open-minded film lover, there is much to admire here.

Great Movie, Became A HUGE Fan! But You May Not.......2005-05-31

Tomie is a compelling story about this "demon" girl that makes men go mad with jealousy over her. I am one of the unfortunate people who have not read the Manga comics, but watching the movie made me an instant fan. I have become a huge fan. Though not scary, this horror movie is more of a suspense and mystery movie. Not much horror at all, but it's a different story with the sequels. Everyone talks about the theme song to the movie, and I have to agree, it's one of the best theme songs for any horror movie I have ever heard, it's very memorable. It's as memorable as the theme from Halloween.

This movie is awesome, but don't watch it if you want to see a movie that will scare your pants off, because not matter how good this movie is, it's not scary. The sequels, on the other hand, are more horror oriented and you know you're watching a horror movie. If you want a thought provoking, intelligent movie, this is for you. Unfortunately, because the people who made the movie assume you have read the comics, you will walk away from the movie confused at some parts. It's a 100% guarantee that if you haven't read the comics, you will have some confusion. The movie asks so many questions, but gives so few answers. Despite the confusion, the movie still comes off as a great movie. This is for anyone who loves Japanese movies. If you're like me, you will become an instant fan of the film series. I love it!

Tomie: Rebirth fantastic film.......2005-05-30

known as The Girl Who Will Not Die - to an art student's loft for what she thought was a modeling job. The student makes the unwise decision to murder her, and eventually realizes that Tomie has been haunting him and his friends ever since which make this great somewhat mysterious mind play endieved slasher film .Makes this a superior fine piece of work that should be remade .but by far articulate good film which I very much enjoyed and anyone would be greatly entertained by this movie ,and should go out and buy it,

Great Tomie; Bad Movie.......2004-12-15

The fourth film attempt at the "Tomie" saga borrows a bit from the "Painter" chapter, as well as the "Hair" chapters. Unfortunately, as Tomie movies go, this one is no better than the three before it. While the direction was interesting, the cinematography above average, and the chills effective, the film ultimately suffers from a cast of really.. well, bland characters. Don't get me wrong -- the movie had arguably THE BEST Tomie out of them all in Miki Sakai, and the supporting actors did the best they could with the limited material the studio provided, but -- the lack of actual captivating characters and working plot really halts the whole movie from realizing its potential. Hideo was the second most intriguing person after Tomie, and he was gone within the first 10 minutes. I think the final product would've been much more entertaining had the script followed more into the Hideo and Tomie's "relationship", as opposed to his boring and dull friends. A straight adaptation of the manga chapter, in other words.

And then there's the "trademark" slow pacing that seems to plague every single Tomie film in existence. I don't know about you, but I really dislike how the characters seem to slow down to an almost zombie-like state once they become involved in the main plot -- it happened toTsukiko in the original, it happened to Yumi and Fumihito in "Replay", and now it's happened to Hitomi and Takumi in "Rebirth". And with the lack of an actual coherent plot, this slug race becomes much less tolerable, and borderline irritating. Only Tomie herself should be allowed to move in half-dead fashion because that's essentially what she is, but for everyone else? Oh, God.

Nevertheless, it's not all lost; the movie redeems itself by casting Miki Sakai as the beautiful bakemono we've all come to love. Right away, she had the traditional look that had been missing since the original film (it seriously sucks that they didn't get Miki back for "Forbidden Fruit", by the way), and her portrayal of the character was much more lively and spunky than seen before. My only gripe here is that Miki's Tomie is slightly older than the ones from the previous movies and the source manga (she was 16-17 year old there; she seems about 20-ish here), but then again, it's almost a non-issue when you consider the rest of the characters also look to be in their early 20's as well. Had to bump Tomie up a few years to fit her in, I suppose. The gore and psychological scares have also been amped up slightly, although "Replay" still reigns as the better "Tomie" film in that department.

All in all, if you're a fan of the "Tomie" movies so far and had little to no problem accepting them as what they are, then you will enjoy "Reborth". If your introduction to the character is from Junji Ito's manga, and you hated all the movies so far... well, things aren't much better here than before. If anything, watch the movie for Miki's performance -- you'll see why she's arguably the best Tomie thus far.

Why not remake THIS? It can only be an improvement........2004-11-14

This movie must be great, since they made so many sequels, right? All, I can make of that is that they saw it, and just had to save the bizarre and fascinating manga from the fate it suffers here, so they had to do it again.

There was so much potential here. A story of a beautiful and terrifying girl who is repeatedly murdered by men who "love" her, and she always comes back. A detective in the movie has been investigating her murder when he realizes that for many years, there have been murders reported with a victim named Tomie Kawakami, but none of the bodies have ever been found. (It says on the back of the DVD that the murders date back to when Japan first became industrialized, and while I'm sure that's probably a pretty significant plot point, I don't remember them mentioning it anywhere in the actual movie.) When the detective realizes what is happening, instead of finding the murderer, he instead becomes obsessed with finding Tomie Kawakami. He knows she must really be a smokin' hot babe to drive all those men insane with passion to the point of killing her so many times. This subplot is centered around the main character, who's boyfriend ditched her in high school for, you guessed it, a recent incarnation of Tomie. Then he cut her head off. Of course, she has this memory blacked out, like it's supposed to be some sort of a mystery we're trying to solve, but come on! We already know that Tomie has been murdered a bunch of times. So what else could it be?

I find the character of Tomie interesting, because she is like the hot babe in the slasher flick who gets iced in a way that many feminist theorists have interpreted as misogynist. The girl serves a purpose of looking good (sometimes getting naked) and then dying a violent death for our entertainment. We don't know anything more about her beyond our voyueristic viewing pleasure. But Tomie is the beautiful slasher victim come back to life to terrorize her killer, not by actually DOING anything, but merely by living, and unnerving him with her unshakeable presence.

There is a lot here to explore. There are so many unanswered questions about Tomie for us to ponder. For example, we know that Tomie is immortal, but why does she end up killed so many times? She seems to have an energy that causes men to fall in love with her, and go mad. But why does she use it? Does it amuse her to go back and stand in front of the person who saw her die by his hand? What is also interesting is the brutal way in which she is killed. You usually don't see her shot, poisoned, or hit on the head. The one who decides to kill her usually chops her up into pieces. So why do ordinary men all decide to do this? Does she want them to? We see her regenerate from a single chopped up body part. Does she want to be dismembered so that she can replicate herself? Or does she love to freak people out by appearing as a talking severed head? Tomie stays young forever, but does she need to be killed in order to keep from aging?

The manga explored many of these themes, but in a way vague enough to not give us any true answers. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't explore any of them, and plods along with some dull character development and minimal gore. Now, if you're reading this, and saying to yourself, "This chick doesn't understand Japanese horror subtlety, and just wants to see a bloody slasher flick," you're wrong. I love the subtlety of Japanese horror, and between gore and plot, I will always opt for the latter. But this doesn't have either one.

There is one interesting thing it does have, however. The main character is very beautiful, and I don't mean that in a geeky, "watch this cuz it's got hot chicks!" kinda way. But it gives more insight into what Tomie actually does. The main character had a boyfriend in high school who fell in love with Tomie, and I found it quite interesting how much more striking she looked in contrast to Tomie. In the behind the scenes footage, the actress playing Tomie was much prettier than she was in the film, which made it seem that making Tomie less attractive than her romantic rival was a conscious choice. It seems that Tomie has the power to manipulate people, specifically males, into falling in love with her, and believing her to be the most beautiful woman in the world, when in fact, she's not.

Of all the Japanese horror out there, why did this one come out in the US before Uzumaki? This is one film you'll never hear anyone begging Hollywood not to remake.

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Tomie:The beginning

Tomie - Beginning
Starring: Rio Matsumoto , Asami Imajuku , Kenji Mizuhashi , Nahana , and Maya Kurokawa
Director: Ataru Oikawa
Manufacturer: Tokyo Shock
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000EOTU08
Release Date: 2006-05-30

Description

With beauty that sets hearts on fire and a chilly stare that can freeze people in an instant, Tomie captivates and wields her supernatural power. When she transfers to a new high school, the students become possessed and soon realize that behind this beauty is a powerful evil. They cut off her right ear, it then scurries through the grass and regenerates. Driven to insanity, several of the boys attempt to execute her by pushing her off a cliff. To be certain that she cannot return, they dismember her body and dump pieces in different locations. But Tomie, the beautiful monster, can regenerate from a single drop of blood, and returns the next morning laughing - ready to lure her next victims into lunacy.

Customer Reviews:

Tomie:The beginning.......2007-09-10

Another great movie to add to the "Tomie collection".
This movie takes place right before the first Tomie movie started, Basically a prequel.
Tomie arrives as a transfer student from another school, and one by one begins to terrorize and hypnotize her teacher and classmates with her good looks and evil ways...
I wish that they would keep the movie series going. I remember hearing in the movie that investigators said the Tomie murders dated back to another era in japan. This would/and still could be a great storyline and area to start off with, Unfortunatly they chose not to.

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Classic Japanese horror film
Great Movie, Became A HUGE Fan! But You May Not
Tomie: Rebirth fantastic film
Great Tomie; Bad Movie
Why not remake THIS? It can only be an improvement.

Tomie: Forbidden Fruit
Starring: Jun Kunimura , and Aoi Miyazaki
Manufacturer: Adness
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00020W00G
Release Date: 2004-07-27

Customer Reviews:

Classic Japanese horror film.......2007-07-05

Great Movie, Became A HUGE Fan! But You May Not.......2005-05-31

Tomie: Rebirth fantastic film.......2005-05-30

Great Tomie; Bad Movie.......2004-12-15

Why not remake THIS? It can only be an improvement........2004-11-14

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Great Movie~Especially For Fans of this Series
creepy, but incredibly slow
Wow....
Very tedious. Watch UZUMAKI instead.
"Replay"? Oh yes, definitely...

Tomie: Replay
Starring: Sakaya Yamaguchi , Yôsuke Kubozuka , Kenichi Endo , Makoto Togashi , and Moro Morooka
Director: Tomijiro Mitsuishi
Manufacturer: Adness
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00012FXSQ
Release Date: 2004-02-17

Description

A young girl is hospitalized. When an ultrasound examination reveals that there's something moving inside her, a surgeon operates only to find himself faced with - not a baby, but the disembodied head of a beautiful girl. Her name is Tomie, and she is in the process of regenerating herself. Though you may try, Tomie cannot be killed. She will return to seduce and to kill. The surgeon disappears, infected by Tomie's blood, leaving his daughter Yumi, to find out who Tomie is and what happened to her father.

Customer Reviews:

Great Movie~Especially For Fans of this Series.......2005-05-31

Now I enjoyed Tomie, but Replay was 100% better than the first movie in the series. The acting, the suspense, the overall eeriness was here and a lot of that was missing from the original movie.

Even though this movie is more eerie than its predecessor, it still isn't a scary movie. Agreed, some parts are chilling, but nothing to really make you jump out of your seat. But I must praise the movie anyway, it was awesome. Tomie's evil side really does start to come out in this movie. All I can say is that every thing is better in this movie, almost no confusion haunts this movie, this movie can almost be seen without watching the first one, and it's a very stand alone movie.

Very excellent special effects. The opening scene is quite memorable. The acting was excellent as well. Watch it! Get it! You will love it, but don't expect to be scared out of your pants, because once again, you probably won't be.

creepy, but incredibly slow.......2005-03-06

this was an interesting concept. i haven't seen the first tomie yet, so i didn't know what really to expect out of this. it is a really interesting and original concept. a head grows in the body of a 6 year old girl and once removed it starts sprouting its own body. everyone who comes in contact with tomie is pretty much screwed.

the story really starts off good, but continues on at a snails pace. this isn't a movie where things just pop out of nowhere which is somewhat of a relief, but there are some welcome gruesome scenes that really caught my interest, *little spoiler* such as the point where the guy who took tomie out of the hospital fell in love with tomie and when he talked to his friend tomie wanted to meet his friend. so he gets jealous and beats her to death with a telephone then drags her body into the bathroom and cuts her head off with a saw (required 2 saw blades to get all the way through).

some parts are pretty graphic which pretty much redeems it for its lack of speed. i also should have payed attention to the fact that it isn't english dubbed. you have to turn the english subtitles on in the specials menu. i didn't mind, but i know a lot of people who don't like reading that much. that is why they don't like foreign films. aside from that little complaint, check this movie out if you are into the japanese horror flicks. if not get something else.

Wow...........2005-01-17

The first one sounded cool and I rented this one by mistake. Well it wasnt much of a story......and was kinda bland....so if you want an ok movie and you're bored out of your mind

Very tedious. Watch UZUMAKI instead........2005-01-16

Why do people like this movie? The whole thing is silly. A six-year-old girl is admitted to the hospital with a gigantic swollen belly. The doctors start to cut her open when out pops a woman's full-grown head. And it's alive. Obviously this is not based on a true story.

They stick the head in a glass fish tank and within a few months it's grown a body. Around that time the doctors and the nurses that were in the delivery room start to disappear.

Some teenage geek who's at the hospital one night takes the girl home. He gets upset, crushes her head in with a telephone then dismembers her in the bathroom. But that's not enough to keep her down, so she reassembles herself and chases him around the apartment. Even crawling on the ceiling. Yikes! After that she chases around one of the doctor's daughter until I started to get real sleepy.

That might sound interesting , but its slow, slow, slow. The only good thing I can say about TOMIE: REPLAY is it's better than SHIKOKU. Now that was a stinker!

"Replay"? Oh yes, definitely..........2004-12-12

Finally saw ADNESS's release of Tomie: Replay, and I'm happy to say that this is definitely the best Tomie movie I've seen so far. Having already seen three other [bad] Tomie movies before this ("Tomie"; "Forbidden Fruit"; "Another Face"), I went in with low expectations, and got out a very satisfied fan. The movie is very heavily influenced by Ringu, and the plot itself borrows some elements from the "Medical" chapters of the manga, although it should by no means be considered an adaptation of said chapters. Cast-wise, I was plesantly surprised to find Yousuke Kubozuka from the GTO drama as part of the main cast, and he plays his character with a calm, cool, collected approach. Sayaka Yamaguchi made for a cute lead, and I couldn't help but sympathize with her. The other supporting actors did their parts well, with Shun Sugata being the best of them. As for Tomie herself... well, unfortunately, every movie has problems and she's where this one lie. Mai Houshou, while a total babe, just isn't Tomie. Her acting was good and she's no doubt very attractive, but, in my opinion, she just didn't have the right type of beauty for the role. Her hair was all wrong and she lacked the trademark big, round, almond-shaped eyes. I suppose she's still miles above Ando Nozomi from "Forbidden Fruit", but I think the movie would've probably been even better than it is had the directors casted either Miho Kanno or Miki Sakai instead (both actresses, of course, appeared in the original "Tomie" and the sequel to this one, "Tomie: Rebirth" respectively).

I'm also not entirely sure what my stance is on Tomie actually transforming into a monster. In the past (both film-wise and manga-wise), Tomie's appearance has always been portrayed as a very human school girl with an enchanting beauty -- any deformity (post-mortem resurrections aside) that would occur were shown to be purely in the point of view of her victims; ie, Tsukiko's photos, Mr. Mori/Hideo's paintings, etc. The ugly monster marks that would occasionally pop up on her face in this movie were quite new and a somewhat different take to the character -- whether the addition is good or bad is fairly debatable.

Nova/Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Potent Biology: Stem Cells, Cloning, and Regeneration

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Nova/Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Potent Biology: Stem Cells, Cloning, and Regeneration
Starring: Douglas Melton M.D. , and Nadia Rosenthal
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000Q4DYIK

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