Ah! I forgot I also watched Cinderella on the Sundance Channel! That one was pretty interesting...

I actually have been watching a lot of Asian horror lately so I'll throw my two cents in.
First I had to catch up with all the more popular movies that I had not seen so I watched Ringu, Ringu 2, Ju-on (both versions), Ju-on 2, Shutter, A Tale of Two Sisters, Three Extremes, and Oldboy (although I don't think that is horror but I'm sure there's another thread about that around here somewhere).
Then I started watching less well known stuff:

Haunted Apartments - This one is from Japan if I remember correctly. I loved it. I really like the revenge ghost thing. It has a corny title but I thought it was really good.

Forbidden Floor - I think this one was from Japan as well but won't bet the house on it. It is another apartment building type movie although it is about the unlucky floor. North Americans don't put a 13th floor in their buildings, Asians don't have a 4th floor. I also really liked this one.

Apt or Apartment - from Hongkong if I'm not mistaken (hmmm I think I have an apartment theme going here). I've actually watched this one twice. I liked it so much I had to show a friend.

Body #19 - Thai I think. I was surprised at how good this one was even though there was a LOT of CGI. Ghosts, revenge and a twist ending that wasn't too unbelievable.

The Red Shoes - Korean Horror movie based on a Hans Christian Anderson story. I felt it was quite thin in the plot department. Not really worth a re-watch.

The Victim - Thai Horror - Was left scratching my head and saying Huh? a lot. I suspect I lost a lot due to cultural differences. It is about a woman who plays the victim in crime scene re-enactments. I couldn't understand why they re-enacted these crime when they had already caught and convicted the perpetrator. Apparently I don't understand the legal system.

Exte - Japanese Horror movie about . . . Evil Hair Extensions! I spent the rest of the day laughing about the Hair Monster and making jokes about the terror of split ends. Yes it was horrible and not in a good way.

I have become quite the addict to Asian horror - I love it! I do have a small rant so please allow me to spit out the poison. It is this: If I am watching a movie with subtitles, it is likely because I don't speak the language. If I don't speak the language, chances are I can't read it either. It so pisses me off when they show a newspaper article or diary entry with the Answer to the mystery and they don't tell you what it says. I get grouchy about that. Second - why can we not have yellow subtitles? White subtitles written across the character's white shirt tends to lend itself to a difficult reading environment (I remember something about this in an Austin Powers movie).

Ok rant done.

king boxer
36th chamber of shaolin

"Ong-bak 2" 5/10

Tony Jaa's first and hopefully last attempt as director. Coz damn!

Way too few spectacullar stunts ( I think i remember 2) to make me bear over with the mess of a story and story-line.
Not that the stories in his former movies were a whole lot better, but at least they had tons of over-the-top stunts to entertain me throughout. Besides the stories were executed much better, due to much better directing by Prachya Pinkaew, who's also superior in both choreography and camera work. Not that Tony hasn't learned a lot from Pinkaew, but he still has a long, LONG way to go it seems.

So what Tony needs to do now is to crawl back to Pinkaew for another team-up and forget anything about directing another movie in a looooong time..


I'm pissed. :mad:

Tales of Terror: Haunted Apartment (2005)

>>: C

Tokyo Zombie (2005)

Black House (2007). A very well done, and well paced, Korean horror flick. Ashe.
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Bright Future (2004). Loved the clean cinematography of this flick. A simple story told brilliantly (needed no major twists to carry it). Acting was great, almost too heart-felt at times. Not sure i understood the whole thing, but that was probably from cultural differences. Ashe.
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Noriko's Dinner Table (2005). Not the easiest movie to get into, but it was worth the effort. The story was told in a rather disjointed but effective manner. Powerful exposition of how fake our lives really are. Ashe.
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tokyo gore police

One Missed Call.

I liked it a lot, but it didn't blow me away like many other Miike films have- particularly the ending. I really felt he cheated with that last scene.

Chocolate (2008)

A Thai Martial Art action film from the director of Ong-Bak and Tom yum goong. Bit dramatic but the fight sequences were quite satisfying for any martial art fan..specially liked the final fight on the balcony & billboard!

>>: B

Sympathy For Mr. Vengence. Obviously, a great movie. Not sure, but i may have liked it more than Oldboy. While Oldboy may have been a better movie (if just slightly), Sympathy really moved me.




My only complaint is that i felt the last scene did not need to be explained. i thought it pretty obvious who the killers were and why they killed him. Brutal killing as well. Piercing/stabbing is the most intimate form of killing (aside from strangling, i guess), with dark sexual overtones. Awesome stuff. Ashe.
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Tetsuo: The iron Man. Freaking bizzare. Glad to have seen it; could not watch it a second time. Pretty impressive camera work. i could not imagine listening to that soundtrack. Ashe.
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"Chocolate" 6-7/10

I have to say... didn't love it.

Compared to Jaa's movies, this was almost martial art in slow motion. I actually got a lil tired of watching the fight scenes. ME?!!!

One Missed Call. Miike can definitely make a creepy movie without being over-the-top. i agree with with Neverending, though, that the very ending was kind of a cheat. Ashe.
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Reincarnation (2006). Really liked this one. Almost rates up their with Pulse/Kairo. There were lots of scares, and most of them were quite original. i thought that the story was well-crafted as well. Ashe.
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Yah, Reincarnation is one of my faves.

Izo. i can see why a lot of people would not like this one. There must have been a lot of symbolism that got lost between cultures, but that is not going to stop me from taking a stab at what this movie was trying to say.




Mu guess that what Miike had in mind is that man created a culture in which man himself was to be worshipped. Anything that got in the way of man's self worship was to be annialated, which in turn became a self perpetuating cycle of violence and absurd destruction. Now this may have two implications. First, i think that a major tenet of Bhuddism is that to become one with God one must annialate the self. In parallel but to the contrary, i think that Miike wanted to show that in man's drive towards apotheosis he must annialate God as well, which would have been all well and good except for the fact that is was only man's ego that desired to become God. In the end, man's/culture's destructive tendencies will only get him close enough to God such that he will be destroyed by the Almighty himself. Anyway, that is what i took from this flick. Admittedly, i could be way off the mark here, but what the heck. Ashe.
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Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

Art of the Devil- The dubbing was so bad that i could not make it through this one. Maybe i really missed out, but i doubt it.

The Eye 2- This one by the Pang Brothers was awesome. The spooks were relentless, but they never lost their effectiveness nor did they detract ya from the main story, which was also solid. i also found the main character difficult to like, but in a good way.

Joint Security Area- A fine great war drama that centers on the power of friendship. It also centers on one of my favorite themes of human nature- hatred of strangers or those living outside of our arbitrary bounderies. Good stuff. Ashe.
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neighbour no. 13

Seance. Pretty good flick. Not necessarily scary, but the story was good. This week's theme seems to be decent people making horrible choices. Ashe.
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Yes you did, that film and its sequel are very cool, gruesome flicks. Watch it with subtitles.

Thanks. i will try again then. i could not get the subtitles to work the first time around.
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Acacia. Pretty good flick. Not really scary, but like other Korean flicks, the story is pretty meaty.


i am starting to get the hang of the Korean penchant for using flashbacks at the end to fully explain the story. Ashe.
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Hey Mods/big cheeses, i am sure not to be the first to say this, but shouldn't this forum name be changed to "Asian Horror?" Just sayin'.
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The mods don't have that ability. Sorry.

This one's for you, Neverending!
 

Zebraman. Sounded too corny to be any good, but alas, i was wrong. Great flick. Except for saying that this flick is just great fun, a review here would be pointless. Corny? Yes, and perfectly so. Ashe.
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Oldboy
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TGHS: Lynch Law Classroom. Not really a fan of exploitation flicks, but i still had to check this one out. It was ok i guess, but as said, not really a fan so take this with a grain of salt. Ashe.
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Death Note. Reading the jacket on this one made it hard to believe that it would be any good. Instead, it was great. Pretty twisty, great story, and a brilliantly simple ending (the very, very end, that is). Ashe.

ps This forum is beginning to fell like the Omega man.

R-Point. Sort of confusing Korean flick, probably due to translation and cultural reasons. While the premise is creepy, the movie was not all that scary, not that it needed to be. Overall a good watch. Ashe.
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Premonition. Pretty descent flick, though the father seems to overact in every stressful scene.

Re-Cycle (Gwai wik). Starts out a little slow, turning into your everyday Asian ghost story, and then Bam!, not so typical. Loved it. Visuals were stunning, and i loved how the ending tied most everything together. The story does sort of try to stuff its main point down your throat, but this does not take away from the story (unless your are uber guilty concerning the point of the story, that is). Ashe.
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Well, Chrono will disagree with you on the story, but I loved Re-Cycle.

Yea, me too.

One of my favorite asian horror movies.

I just thought it was too heavy-handed. The "resolution" was predictable and cheesy.

However - Quite possibly one of the more beautiful and inventive films I've seen. I think next time I watch it, I'll do so without subtitles and make up my own story. :D

13 Beloved aka 13: Game of Death (2006)

A Thai thriller about a salesman named Phuchit who receives a phone call on the same day he loses his job at a music center. The man on the line gives him a strange offer: complete 13 different tasks and win 100 million Baht. Chit agrees to take part in this 'game' and his missions commence. . . ranging from the trivial (swatting a fly) to the unthinkable & most disgusting..:mad: ...you'll see! The biggest catch: He must complete ALL the tasks. . . or lose all the money!

Tasks were weird but overall, it was a time passing 'okay' entertainer with a bit disappointing ending.

>>: B-

sparrow
fist of legend