Audition (Ôdishon)

Audition (Ôdishon) (1999)

  • 79% of critics liked it
    (66 reviews)

  • 80% of users liked it
    (54,831 ratings)

Controversial Japanese director Takashi Miike creates this unnerving horror film about a widowed TV producer auditioning prospective wives. In his search, one candidate particularly stands out, a lovely ex-ballerina dressed in white. The widower cannot believe his good fortune, until he starts… More

R,
Directed By
Written By
Daisuke Tengan
Genres
Horror, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense
In Theaters
Jan 1, 1999 Wide
American Cinemateque

Critic Reviews

  • Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe

    This movie, at just under two hours, is a long crawl from inception to climax.

  • Patrick Z. McGavin, Chicago Tribune

    Miike is brilliant at transforming the mundane and familiar ... into something sinister and eerie.

  • Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

    A diabolically adroit piece of filmmaking that goes even further than the films of Italy's excruciatingly macabre Dario Argento.

  • Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

    This brazen shocker is never less than compelling -- even when you feel compelled to shut your eyes.

  • Louis B. Parks, Houston Chronicle

    There will be many people who consider Audition an atrocity, and a few who find it a stimulating cinema experience.

Read all 16 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Jeff "


    Audition is an impressive Japanese horror tale that is brilliantly acted and directed. The film is a raw, gritty and tense film that has secured a place for Japanese horror in the horror genre. The story is simple, yet effective. The film has enough good gory moments to please fans of… More

  • Dan S


    A deeply unsettling and skillfully made horror film from the mind of Takashi Miike about a recently widowed man (Ryo Ishibashi) who is encouraged by his son to begin dating again, and how he decides to audition girls with his friend who tell the candidates they are trying out for a… More

  • xGary X


    A TV executive decides to remarry 7 years after the death of his first wife and sets up a fake film audition to look for suitable candidates. This stunningly clever psychological horror leads your perceptions up the garden path and then cheerfully garrotes them with cheesewire; the… More

  • Jon J


    Audition is a particularly hard film to grasp. On one hand, it's a romance. On the other (as can be seen from the cover), it's a horror film. Oddly enough, these two aspects of the film are so intimately intertwined that it's difficult to separate them at all. What… More

  • paul o


    Its not that great UNTIL the last 20-30 minutes. THEN, it gets artsy and painful. This isn't as extreme as others claim it to be, its just a simple concept that goes into the Absurd towards the end. Overall, a dry film that attempts to keep our attention and actually gets you at… More

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

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