Red Room 2 – 2000 – The Sequel
If you liked the first Red Room, chances are great that you’ll like Red Room 2 also. On the other hand, if you thought the first one was lame, you’ll probably feel the same about the sequel. There’s really not so much you can do with the premises. It’s more or less the same thing all over again. There are four people collected in a room to play a game. In the first, we had some dynamics with a married couple. Daisuke Yamanouchi reprise that idea here. I think that is a good thing. If it had been exactly the same it would’ve actually have been much worse.
Plenty of Violence
But there are plenty of things that are exactly the same too. We have four strangers playing the game. There is plenty of sexual violence and over-the-top gore. Sometimes it’s a bit too much which leads to comedic effects. I do think however that it suits this sequel better than the original. It’s not that you go right out and laugh at the platter violence but there are occasions where it’s really funny and not really expected to play out the way it does.
This sequel does an as good a job as the first movie about not having to blur our genitals. There is gross sexual violence done to female genitals and it’s not on camera. But it’s still made with such emphasis that you almost think you get to see more than you are actually for. I think that is a good trait. I was certainly watching these movies for the violence and if I feel robbed of that ingredient, it’s of course a letdown for me. That the movies, either Red Room 2 or the first one, could have any social commentary didn’t even occur to me. But maybe I should reconsider this now when I have seen the second installment too. No, it’s not a social commentary, but it involves some Science Fiction and possibly a glimpse of the future.
Catharsis
My feelings about Red Room 2 are that it was a pretty unnecessary sequel and that it didn’t bring anything really new to the table. But thee are also some differences. I think the first movie was only done to explore some crazy Japanese ideas about a gameshow more or less. In this sequel, there might be a theory of catharsis. Once you hit rock bottom, the only way you can go is upwards. Things can only get better and maybe, just maybe, you can even find new hope and love in a bizarre game like this.
