‘A troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures.’

This Takashi Miike film was bound to be notorious, as it was directed by the same director who made Ichi the Killer and Audition.

I was also looking forward to this movie, as I love dysfunctional-family movies and had heard it was comparable to Pasolini’s amazing Teorema.

Alas, very quickly I realised that it falls into the trap of films touted to be shocking and transgressive- it’s just shock for shock’s sake.

It’s almost as if Miike had a checklist of taboo subjects and wanted to check them off and include them rather than having a film that actually depicted these subject matters with them being part of an interesting plot.

Characters I didn’t care one jot about, a plot that doesn’t draw in the viewer and rather than being shocking is just tedious instead.

Visitor Q is the cinematic equivalent of a teenager trying desperately to grab your attention and shock you but fails miserably on all counts.

1 out of 5 stars