One of the highlights of the first week of Fantasia’s 11th edition was the Canadian premiere of *Exte: Hair Extensions*, the latest from Sion Sono. In true Fantasia fashion, the film was presented to a very enthusiastic and cheerful crowd. With previous Fantasia favorites such as *Suicide Club*(Most Groundbreaking Film, 2003) and *Strange Circus* (Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film and Best Actress, 2006), and with Sion Sono in attendance, expectations were set high, and to say the least, the crowd was not disappointed, as the weird universe of the director collided with J-Horror cliches, providing very refreshing twists and turns to the genre.

*Exte*’s storyline starts with J-Horror’s most stereotyped motif – the ghost of a young girl with long dark hair. Her dead body arriving to Japan in a container, she grasps the interest of a hair-fetishist mortuary employee (Ren Osugi, in a deliriously theatrical and over the top performance) turning overtly obsessed with her evergrowing hair. As he starts going berserk and providing hair extensions taken from the body to various people, including to a young apprentice hairdresser (Chiaki Kuriyama, of *Battle Royale* and *Kill Bill* fame) who needs to look over her niece molested by her violent sister, weird and supernatural things start to happen.

Using J-Horror elements as a playing ground, Sion Sono provides yet another unexpected and unique entry in his filmography. Defying easy classification, made with a bigger budget, *Exte* is set in a more mainstream territory, while the narrative unfolds into a grotesque horror comedy mixed with conventional drama that focuses on family issues, where Sion Sono surprisingly continues his exploration of some recurrent themes (children abuse, dysfunctional family and cruelty). Of course, there is less emotional power at display here when compared to the devastating depth of such themes in *Strange Circus*, as *Exte* is more audience friendly and never takes itself too seriously. As an exercise and a foray into the surnatural, it brilliantly manages to subvert the genre while delivering the goods with astonishing set pieces (most if not all done with natural hair, as confirmed by the director during the Q&A) that blew the audience away.

Funny, witty, at times touching and visually impressive, *Exte: Hair Extensions *is certainly the most accessible entry in Sion Sono’s demented universe, yet it keeps his personal vision intact. This is a must see for aficionados of the director and for Japanese cinema movie buffs.

REVIEW:
Say what you will about the quality of recent Japanese horror flicks, but if there's one director who stands out in the crowded Asian horror business, it's Sion Sono. This man doesn't care at all about horror movie trends or making his movies mainstream. He takes his visions and turns them into bizarre horror flicks that no one else would ever have even considered making, and for most of the time - it works. Exte pretty much ridicules the current inflated trend with long-haired ghost girls, and it does so with style and humour.

Not only is Exte hilariously funny, but it's also packed with great special effects, some stunning visuals and even a couple of scares. The story revolves around Yoko, a typical Japanese teenage girl with a bubbly personality. While studying to become a professional hairdresser, she also has to take care of her niece as her cousin has been anything but nice to her. One day, a strange man walks into the hair studio that Yoko works at and gives them a bunch of hair extensions. Everyone is eager to put them on, unaware of the fact that the hair has been cursed by the dead girl that the man got them from.

The story may seem somewhat similar to the South Korean horror flick "The Wig", but believe me, it's not. In fact, there's no real ghost girl in Exte, there's just a whole lot of hair that's gone on a killing rampage. Sion Sono has also mixed in some elements of torture porn in here, and even if there's close to no gore in the movie, he manages to make the torture scene quite emotional due to his impressive directing skills. The acting is also top-notch and Chiaki Kuriyama gives us her best performance since Battle Royale. Her character develops and grows in harmony with the story and you instantly root for her.

Exte is a spectacularly entertaining horror film and the best thing to come out of Japan in several years. This movie is without a doubt an instant cult classic and I will definitely be watching this again. I am in awe of Sion Sono as I didn't think that it was possible to make a great horror movie about hair anymore as the concept has been done to death - but if there's one man who can do it - it's Sion. Grab this one as soon as you get the chance as it's a whole lot of fun.

GORE:
Some minor blood, some dead bodies and a lot of hair.

SOUNDTRACK:
The christmas music set a good atmosphere but best of all is the "My Hair" song. God damn that was funny.

BOTTOM LINE:
Extremely entertaining horror flick with a sarcastic tone to it, ridiculing all these pathetic long-haired ghost girl movies coming out these days. If you're expecting yet another generic ghost movie, you're wrong, this is something you haven't seen before. You don't want to miss this one - trust me.