"Have you seen 'Audition?'" is always a question certain to be asked when the subject of Japanese gore films is discussed. For anyone who is unfamiliar with director Takashi Miike's style and reputation, the heart-stopping turn of events in the blindsiding plot twist of Audition will leave them shaken to the core. In the manner of Hitchcock's Psycho, a seemingly simple drama leads to unimaginined terror. In Audition, a woman's nightmarish hallucinations merely hint at the real horrors to come.

And yet, though Audition is certainly Miike's most widely seen and popular film, it is shockingly not his most dark, disturbing or violent one. Ichi the Killer and Dead or Alive explore the sadistic violence of the Japanese yakuza, and Visitor Q is a disturbing vision of sex, violence and corruption within the twisted circle of a dysfunctional family.