Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness
Release Date - 4/8/1995
Country of Origin - Japan
Directed by Shimako Shatō
Starring - Kimiko Yoshina, Miho Kanno, Shu-Ma, Naozumi Takahasi, Ryôka Yuzuki, and Mio Takaki
Live action adaptations of comic book movies are gigantic now and back in the 90s they were still making waves, even if they weren’t that frequent outside of Batman and some more random choices (that or independent work). But while America was slowly bringing its big guns on to the screen, Japan was still slowly getting into the swings of things. This isn’t to say they never did live versions of comics, because they did. However these usually were exploitative sex and violence romps from the 70s and early 80s or a few horror adaptations in the late 80s. Even today, comic adaptations in live action format aren’t too frequent unless it is a more down to earth type of story. It makes me wonder if it came as a surprise back in the 90s (and today when people see the film for the first time) when a horror comic from the 70s got an adaptation.
Eko Eko Azarak (which is an actual Wiccan chant) began life as a comic in 1975 and was created by Shinichi Koda. I’m not sure how popular it was back then, but it must have been popular enough that a sequel series was created.
The title’s main claim to fame came in 1995 though with the release of Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness; a film which combined the supernatural aspects that were beginning to become prominent in Japanese horror, the comic’s pool of witchcraft and satanic magic, as well as the teenage slasher film. Wizard of Darkness is a melting pot of what was going on in horror at the time in both Asia and America and the end result is, well we’ll get to that. But as far as Japan goes the movie was a hit, it winning a couple of awards and spawned a franchise that includes multiple movies, TV shows, and a video game. For many westerners the movie has become a staple of the J-Horror scene and is considered a must watch for those who are new to it.
Has the enchantment the film has had with the audiences over the years as strong as some make it out to be? Or is it a badly done spell? Step into the circle and we’ll find out.
When a woman is mysterious killed one night, wizards and witches hatch a plot to take over the world and revive Lucifer. Enter Misa Kuroi, a teenage witch who goes city to city, school to school to take on and out any dark forces that are at work. Once at her new school she finds herself to be ostracized for being new and weird, one student believing that something is rather off about her.
Everything goes off however when a number of students are trapped inside the school and slowly begin to perish one by one. It is up to Misa to figure out who or what is causing these murders and to stop them before it is too late.
The story of the movie is rather straight forward; shit goes down in magic town, kids die, yadda yadda yadda. On paper this is a very cliché and simple story which has been done countless times. However I find that Wizard of Darkness offers more to the story than what it appears at first glance to be; a body flick. Essentially it is a slasher film; just replace the slashing (well some) with magic. But the magical aspects make it a bit more fun to watch and interesting. I personally know jack shit about that sort of thing, but it is entertaining to watch. The film is paced rather quickly which is expected, however it never feels too fast.
Moving on to the characters and we’ll see your typical horror movie fare. While we have some of the usually stereotypes they aren’t that entirely forefront, as the only ones that come off as what you may see in any other movie are the boys. Even then it isn’t pushed too hard save for really one scene in the beginning. The girl characters (aside from Misa and the teacher) all come off as being the same. As for our lead, Misa is portrayed as rather cold yet warm character, the actress having described the Misa of the movie as simply being lonely. The teacher is just all sorts of fun to watch as she runs a gauntlet of emotions. Character development isn’t really here in individual doses since most of it is the development of the relationships between the characters. It’s handled well and towards the end leads to some rather emotional moments. All of the actors do a nice job in their roles with actors Naozumi Takahashi and Mio Takaki standing out the most for me. In general the characters and the acting are handled well if a little indistinguishable in some cases outside of physical appearance.
Now with the technical aspects we come to a bit of a weird place, more in how to describe part of it, that being the cinematography. Now the movie has some very lovely shots, but the quality is kind of odd. It has this grain and almost murkiness to it, but is sort of clear. I’m not really sure how to explain it. Yet this section does bring us to the perfection of the movie; the musical. Sweet lord is this score amazing. It’s gothic and mystical with some soft melodic bits that fits ever situation it is in from heartwarming to putting dread in you. Wizard of Darkness also makes use of some CGI effects. Two of them are done pretty damn well while the others are pretty dated and odd looking. One of them simply looks like a painted drawing that was composited in to the film Sam Raimi/TV style. And as for the gore, damn, this film has some brutal balls. Simply put, the technical aspects have some cons to them, but it has enough good to outweigh them.
Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness in theory almost sounds like a mess of a movie. Combing the aspects of supernatural horror, slasher horror, teenage dramas and romance sounds like it could lead to a very chaotic and bad film. Yet the film makes it work, and work well. It’s a movie that has some real dread to it as well as some well done tender moments. Even if the characters aren’t all that defined you still care for them in the same way you may care for the characters in another body count movie. They come off as genuine (in the director’s words they’re genuinely in love with themselves) and the knowledge that you know something’s going to happen to them makes you connect with them a bit more (thought that connection is rather short). Its story is short and straight to the point and injects you with doses of intrigue, horror, and warmth. True the CGI is rather laughable in spots, yet the two cases of it being good are really good, and the practical effects are simply astounding. Not to mention the perfection or the musical score.
In short, if the characters could be given a bit more of a personality and some of the CGI were to be fixed up, this would be a pretty perfect movie. But even as is, Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness is a damn good film and is but a few steps away from being as perfect as a total package as its score is.
A
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