Exte: Hair Extensions (2007)

About hair extensions that attack the women that wear them.

Directors:

Sion Sono, Joe DiGiorgi

Writers:

Sion Sono (screenplay), Masaki Adachi (screenplay)

Stars:

Chiaki Kuriyama, Megumi Satô, Tsugumi

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Yûko Mizushima
Megumi Satô	...	Yuki Morita
Tsugumi	...	Kiyomi Mizushima
Eri Machimoto	...	Sachi Kôda
Miku Satô	...	Mami
Yûna Natsuo	...	Kondô
Ken Mitsuishi	...	Tatsuo Sugawara
Hiroshi Yamamoto	...	Jirô Tamura
Tetsushi Tanaka	...	Yaguchi
Hikari Mitsushima	...	Yuriko Shiina
Ayaka Onoue	...	Nana Katô (as Aya Onoue)
Ryôsuke Nagata	...	Yûta Sakurai
Erika Mine	...	Sarina Tanaka
Mari Hayashida	...	Yukari Suzuki
Yôji Tanaka	...	Takashima

Storyline

What if extensions carried the grudge of the individual to which the hair originally belonged and started attacking people wearing it at random? Customs agents discover a huge amount of human hair used as materials for 'hair extensions' along with the dead body of a young girl with a shaved head. With the corpse being soon transported by the police, the results of the autopsy determine that the woman's internal organs have been harvested. The possibility is pointed out that she was kidnapped in some foreign country and was a victim of black market human organ racketeering ring. A sinister, fearless smirk comes over Yamazaki (Ren Osugi), the morgue night watchman. Yuko (Chiaki Kuriyama) is a young wannabe hair stylist apprenticing at the Gilles de Rais hair salon. After working late each day, after returning home, she tirelessly practices her skills on head mannequins with wigs. One day, her sister, Kiyomi, forcibly entrusts her eight-year-old daughter, Mami, to Yuko. For some reason, ...

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Plot Keywords:

hair | hair extension | hair stylist | hair salon | stabbed with scissors | 

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Taglines:

What lovely hair you have...

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violent and disturbing content, some terror and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

17 February 2007 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Exte: Hair Extensions

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Central Arts, Toei Picture Company Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972)

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Soundtracks

Haruka
Music by Zentaro Watanabe
Lyrics by Eri Machimoto
Performed by Eri Machimoto
Courtesy of SME Records

User Reviews

Definitely more than J-Horror parody/homage!

I have to say that i had to laugh when i first read a brief summary, which only focused on the hair-horror part. "Killing hair?! what the .. ?!", i thought. But after seeing "Suicide Circle" and "Strange Circus" i knew that there has to be way more than this ridiculous story.

"Exte" is obviously a parody! But there seems to be an awful lot of people who expected something like the grudge or the ring and are now pretty disappointed. Well, the scenario is pretty cliché and the ending was pretty gruff; nothing has been really explained at that point. Well, there are a lot of indicators which show directly towards parody! ;) At the very beginning for example: all these ultra-cliché dialog which was narrated in an obscure way in third person; the hair-salon which was named after a french serial killer (had to look that up); etc ...

BUT!! This film is still pretty scary ... and i don't mean only the hair, which .. was also scary (yeah, i was kinda scared ;) Human were the most scary/pitiful part here: The girl who was abducted and then used as a source for organs; The mother who abuses her child incessantly; then the child itself, of course; the hair-otaku, a real pitiful psycho; the main character (kuriyama) who carries a heavy burden of the past; all these people who don't care at all where this hair is coming from; just focusing on their beauty .. and all these other side-characters who might also have some sort of a problem.

Well, why then the hair-horror-part? Isn't abuse horror enough? ... you might ask. Well, i was wondering myself a bit ;) I mean .. from my perspective it worked out pretty well! .. anxiety, fear, panic, anger, frustration and in the end some sort of relief. It was there! Maybe because the hair-horror part made it easier to grasp the part about abuse etc. In my opinion "Exte" is some sort of an homage and at the same time a critique, that most horror flicks tend to be very superficial and are not trying to imply more than pure scare; some thought-provoking stuff; for example abuse .. ? ;)

Anyway: Cast was great!! Especially Osugi was really amazing! Art/direction was also a real feat! The Soundtrack wasn't that impressive but however the sound-design was stunningly good!

All in all an amazing film! Especially for J-horror fans with a little bit of humor and for those who have an interest in social relevant topics.

Too bad that so many people have been irritated by it .. ;)