My favorite is "Dumplings"

Dumplings is great but I think I really liked "Cut" more out of the three.

Just finished watching 'Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman'. It was so-so. I grew restless of the predictability of the plot and the inanity and incompetence of the main characters somewhere in the middle of the movie, and I just let it play in the background while I browsed the web. On the plus side, the movie was willing to get brutal towards children, not a great thing in itself but refreshing as not many movies dare to go there. I also liked the visual aura and thematic milieu of urban legend, much like Nightmare on Elm Street or Candyman, but that aspect was side-lined somewhere in the middle of the movie. After that point it was just incompetent confrontations with a disfigured woman armed only with a gigantic pair of scissors (where do you get scissors that big?) Altogether it was a disappointing movie from the director of the great and original Noroi: The Curse.

Hansel & Gretel (Henjel gwa Geuretel)

"The Locker"
 

I watched a Japanese horror film called "The Locker" tonight. It was a standard Japanese cursed 'thing' kind of movie, in this case it was a small public storage locker like what you see in bus stations. It was just so routine and by-the-numbers that I could barely finish watching it. It didn't have any real flaws regarding the production itself, the movie looked nice enough, the acting was adequate, the direction and editing were competent is a bit slow. The story was just so unoriginal, and the writing so lazy, and the characters so flat, I can barely muster the energy or care to even write about it. Seriously, it was so dull that talking about it feels like a chore.

Cursed object? check
group of non-descript young being picked off one-by-one from the curse? check
creepy killer ghost girl with really long dark hair? check

This movie was a semi professional but witless cash-in on Ringu. On the plus side, it was mercifully short, clocking in just over an hour, and that, combined with how slow the movie moved, demonstrates just how little effort was put into the screenplay and how much the filmakers had to compensate for it.

The disc I received had locker part 2 on it as well, but I didn't bother with that one.

Bedevilled - I LOVED that movie...I also enjoyed The Doll Master.

13b: Fear has a new address
 

So I finally got around to watching this Indian movie called 13B which is streaming on Netflix, out of curiousity as I had never seen an Indian horror film. It wasn't all bad, but apart from the cultural differences, it wasn't exceptional for a horror film, although it did have a neat premise. The plot was a man and his family move into a new apartment, and, of course, this being a horror film, strange things happen. The oddest is that there is a soap opera that strongly resemble his family and his life which only his television receives, and it depicts events that occur in the near future. Outside of that there is nothing that isn't in any conventional horror film.

13b could have definitely used some tightening up. It kept on hammering plot points that any viewer with an IQ over 50 would have figured out without as much exposition. The movie would have been much better were it a half hour shorter. It was also over-directed, with much overuse of shaky cam and rapid cutting to different angles. The characters were cardboard cutouts and had the kind of depth and cheerful performances you would see in an early 90's sitcom. What's more, the lighting was a bit too idyllic, it was a bit too perfect and gave some moments a flat sitcom look. Another thing, I know its a cultural thing for picturesque musical interludes to be a standard inclusion in Indian movies, but that really spoils the mood for a horror film. In fact, it's quite bizarre, and probably the most notable thing about this film.

To sum it it, I think there is the heart of a good old fashioned ghost story buried in this production, but it isn't worth enduring the treatment which that story received. I would only recommend this if you were tremendously curious about what a Bollywood horror film is like.

Today I watched Hansel & Gretal, a Korean movie streaming in HD on Netflix which has very little to do with the title children' story. It's a very dark tale and barely qualifies as a horror movie, its far more along the lines of a dark fantasy. That isn't to say it's a children's movie, it's much too grim for kids. The story is a guy gets in a car wreck in a rural area and wonders off into a forest before passing out. He is found by a girl who takes him to a house with a family that seems just a bit too perfect. Things gradually become more surreal as he finds he is unable to leave no matter what he does. I felt it was a good movie, and I would recommend seeing it without any more knowledge of the plot, in case you are tempted to read the spoilers ahead.

SPOILERS AHEAD:









The story is strongly reminiscent of that segment from Twilight Zone The movie where that boy can generate anything he wants from his imagination. This is not a bad version of that tale, and explores that scenario to a much greater extant than the Twilight Zone did, as well it should with a two hour running time. Even though I had that angle figured out pretty early, I was still glued to the screen, and for some reason I found this film somewhat moving. The story had more depth than simply the terror of a hugely powerful but immature being.

END OF SPOILERS








The production is nicely mounted, the sets and camerawork looks great. The direction and editing were pitch perfect for the story. The screenplay could probably have used a little bit of tightening up, but I was still intrigued by the movie the whole way through. The movie didn't have a lot of visual effects, but what there was was very well done, on the level of any hollywood movie. The acting was good, especially the children actors, which is surprising given the neglect child performances are treated with by so many asian films I have seen. Most asian movies just don't seem to care about the children giving a convincing performance; the kids read their line and look cute, the director says cut, and that's a wrap. That would have been deadly for a movie like this where child characters were so heavily involved. And thank god the children didn't overdo it either, which would have been so easy to do in a Korean movie where performances tend to be on the melodramatic side. The more I think about it, the more impressive it is, the child performances were not too forced, not too sentimental, and well beyond a simple line read despite the actors very young age.

Altogether this movie greatly exceeded my expectations. Highly recommended if you are in the mood for a dark fairy tale along the lines of Pan's Labyrinth.

Reincarnation
 

I finished watching Reincarnation, from Takashi Shimizu, the guy who did Ju-on. Not bad really, but not scary at all. It takes an awful lot from The Shining. Really it is Shimizu's 'remix' of The Shining, but it was too over-directed, too polished, and too over-the-top to be scary. Creepy dolls, creepy girls with long hair, haunted hotel, creepy 8 mm footage, and pretty arbitrary ghost attacks, it is nothing no one hasn't seen before, with plenty of loose plot threads. Also the inevitable ending goes on and on. I grew bored in the middle and never really regained interest because of the predictability of the story. I guess it wouldn't be bad to someone new to the genre and isn't familiarized with all the cliches. It is all very professionally staged with fairly high production values, so it might be worth giving a chance if you really dig Japanese horror, I might be a bit too hard on it because I was hoping for something with a bit more subtlety.

Interested to read feedback on Hansel & Gretel; I've been sort of watching it on and off and, honestly, the stop-motion direction drives me batty.

Is anyone else bothered by that?

Was that intentional? It seemed to happen off and on, and I actually thought it might have been a problem with the streaming, so I didn't hold it against the movie. But yeah, it was kind of annoying.

I assumed it was intentional, but I've tried to Google it to see if that was the case with no luck. Drove me totally nuts!

My latest watch was Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead. Ah, Netfix, I can always count on you to be fresh and relevant.

started watching that one....guess i just wasn't in the mood

This was the last Asian film I watched, but I don't recommend that anybody watch this movie ever. Besides only being created too bring the director's disgusting fetishes to life it is also tedious to watch. Almost everything about this film drags on way too long and is incredibly awkward as it lingers.

I Saw The Devil was the last Asian horror movie that I've seen and I loved it! I'd definitely watch it again for sure!

Tokyo Gore Police, which is claimed to be the craziest and goriest japsplotation horror movie. I tend to agree with those ones who claims so. But the last 30 minutes of this flick are just a comedy - and I'd rather watch something serious.

Agreed! I was on the fence about Asian horror until I saw that one. Totally blew my mind, in a good way, of course. :)

My last Asian film was the J-horror Suicide Club. I saw it a couple of weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, although I was somewhat flummoxed by the ending.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...993-poster.jpg

Funny, touching, well acted and socially important. 9/10

Pulse or Kairo (2001) I wasn't totally taken with this one and felt that the overall concept was too vague to make the plot cohesive.

I loved Pulse, in fact I think it may be one of the best modern horror movies. Sometimes ambiguity can work against a horror movies, sometimes it can work immensely in its favor, and for me Pulse very much did the later.

Agreed.

I think it's one of the best asian horror movies out there, containing one of the creepiest scenes in horror history. The ghost in the hallway. A classic. ::cool::

Watched a Japanese anthology called Stories of Apparitions, also streaming on Netflix. Not bad, really, it had its moments. Like all horror anthologies, it had its hits and misses. Each story centers around a photograph that has a ghost in it.

The first story was about three young hikers who find the dead body of a man who had hung himself, and down at his feet is a strange photo with the words 'help me' written on back. As they try to leave the mountain, strange things occur. The next story is about a bizarre class photograph centering around a young girl who brings a curse to those pictured with her. The third story concerns a christmas party with some young teens and a Polaroid camera which has a habit of capturing unseen subjects. Interesting idea, but this was the weakest of the bunch by far due to terrible execution. A great movie waiting to be made about a Polaroid camera would be an adaptation of the Stephen King story 'Sundog'. The fourth story concerns a man who is secretly obsessed with a woman and takes hidden pictures of her but finds some kind of entity in the pictures with her. The final story has a young woman receiving a unexplained picture in the mail of a family photo with some kind of apparition behind them. The acquisition of this strange picture brings with it a curse which compels her to find the picture's origin.

'Stories of Apparitions' is a fairly routine Japanese ghost movie. It does not have a big budget, it is shot on video, but it looks more polished and professional than most video filmed movies, so I didn't find that detracted from this movie. It goes for the quiet creepy thrills rather than a loud, hectic scream fest. Some segments fair better than others. It is not up there with classics like Ju-on or Ringu, but I have seen worse from this genre.

I just watched Marebito (2004). I really enjoyed the cross-cultural references to subterranean myths/legends and the Lovecraftian elements. Definitely a "slower" film, but it still held my interest. I only wish the main character spent a little more time underground, even if what he witnessed was only a delusion.

I watched The Chaser, a good Korean serial killer movie streaming on Netflix. I might not quite classify it as horror, but it certainly is bloody and brutal enough. An unusual story based on a actual Korean serial killer who was caught in 2004, and who wasn't caught by the cops but by a pimp who was tracking down his disappearing girls. Like many other Korean movies the tone shifts from comic to horror to tragedy to social commentary and so on. Korean movies seem to be dramatically sprawling in a way nobody else's movies are. I used to think their movies were just unfocused, but now I think it might be because they are taking a broader view of characterization. It's growing on me because many of these movies are entertaining as hell. Anyway I can easily recommend The Chaser as a unique and entertaining serial killer movie, it breaks away from so many of the genre cliches and has some terrific performances in it. It has a well paced plot with an involving story, and it is easy to watch, so give it a chance. If you liked Memories of Murder and I Saw the Devil, you will like The Chaser.

Just saw "Cold Fish" (2010). I rather enjoyed the overly-gregarious serial killer. Geez, that guy must drink a lot of coffee, haha. Also, the ending reminded me a little bit of "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas.

29 February, an passable 2006 Korean horror film streaming on netflix. The movie is about a toll booth attendant who is targeted by a ghost of a serial killer that died on that location in a leap year Feb 29 some years ago. Now every leap year that ghost comes back and kills some toll booth attendants. It's basically another 'curse' type horror film, but with a twist in the end. Relatively high production values and some good performances make this film watchable. The story and script is competent in structure and pacing but it's fairly routine. The direction and editing could have been toned down a notch, but it wasn't terrible. It's not a boring movie but not at all scary or horrific either. So ultimately, as with all these aspects of this movie, you could do worse for a Asian horror movie about a curse, but you could easily do better as well.

The Second Sight (2013)

Jet is a man who has a paranormal ability since he was born. But it makes him a freak among his friends.

First 10 mintues of the movie were so funny, I could not stop laughing, I don't know if it was some of the effects, or the thing that meant to be scary but look so silly and bad at times it's was funny.

I don't think 3D effect helped at all in 2D, as the 3D scenes looked really bad in 2D.

The rest of the movie was very strange in odd way, it was not boring, it flowed really well.

I enjoyed the twist and turns in the movie, thought they were decent, ending was very odd.

The acting was decent from the whole, the ghost in this movie, was okay but didn't find them scary at all.

I have no idea what to rate this movie, effect were really bad in 2D but I kind had soft spot for the plot and enjoyed the twist in this movie.

As the movie made me laugh, well for all the wrong reason, I going to give it a

5 out of 10

The Guard Post, also known as 'GP506', streaming in HD on Netflix. As with many other Korean movies, this doesn't feel very focused. Horror, Drama, a whodunit mystery, a disease outbreak movie... All told, not a bad movie though. A military squad is sent to a guard post on the DMZ to investigate the murder of all the soldiers posted there save for one guy covered in blood and holding an axe. A dark and somewhat gory film, it is handsomely produced and acted and was clearly working with a decent budget. It was paced well for the mystery aspect, but I found many of the character's decisions frustratingly illogical. I suppose it could be rationalized that they weren't thinking straight by suffering from a behavior-altering viral infection. If you want to watch a movie about mounting paranoia by a group of men stationed in a remote outpost a la 'The Thing' this isn't a bad example of that genre.

"Reincarnation" for the umpteenth time.

I finished 'Snake Woman's Curse' this morning, a pretty good 1968 Japanese 'Kaidan' movie like the ones I discussed here. In a rural part of Japan during the early 1900's where the economy and culture is still much more feudal than modern, a family is gradually destroyed by a brutal landlord. His cruelty is repaid with a bizarre curse where he becomes haunted by visions of ghosts and snakes. This movie looked great, and was nicely produced and imaginatively directed. It was made by the same guy who did the classic Jigoku, and was well acted with a fairly good screenplay which made it easy to watch. As with many other Kaidan films of that era, it was more darkly lyrical than scary, and it had some gorgeous visuals to match the poetic style of the story. It had a few grotesque images but wasn't nearly as grisly as Jigoku which was made eight years prior. If I have any complaint at all, it would be that some of the characters are frustratingly passive in the face of the landlord's cruelty, but that was likely how everyone was conditioned to behave in that culture at that period, so I can't really hold it against the story. All told, this is a very worthwhile film for those interested in classic ghost fables or just some very nice cinematography.

The Isle (2000)
A Korean flick. I'm not sure if this one could even be technically classified as "horror", although there were some extremely disturbing elements in the film, including some very graphic violence involving fishing hooks. However, I really can't give a objective opinion about this movie, because there was a lot of unnecessary (and real, according to the production team) animal cruelty. I'm not a total PETA nut, but I am a huge animal lover, so I was turned off.

I watched Chawz, a Korean horror-comedy, a couple nights ago, streaming in HD on Netflix. Fun movie, it balances the horror and comedy nicely. The movie is about a killer boar which is driving away tourist business in a little Korean mountain town. It follows the Jaws plot pretty closely, in fact it really is just Jaws on land. The visual effects are pretty good, better than one would expect from a movie of this budget, maybe not as good as the huge Hollywood movies but way better than anything from Asylum for example. The production is nicely mounted and does not look like a low budget movie at all. All the actors were great. Humor isn't the easiest thing to get right but the timing and the characterization from the actors nailed it, and much of the humor isn't just derived from Jaws references. All told it was a breezy way to spend two hours, and a fun movie, so I can recommend it.

I sat down to watch the Thai horror film Shutter. A couple is haunted after a hit'n'run accident on a woman crossing the street. The man of the couple is a photographer and a bizarre smudge begins to show up in his negatives. Not a bad movie, it hummed along nicely with well set up scares and plot turns. Many of the scares are of the 'ju-on' and 'ringu' variety, but they are reasonably well done, so I can't complain too much. This film was heavily inspired by those Japanese horror films, but I think its better than most of the Japanese Ringu copycats. The film is nicely produced and not a visibly low budget film, good acting, cinematography, editing, etc. I understand this movie had an american remake, I haven't seen it, but I can't see how the original would be improved. Although it isn't a huge deal, I think Shutter is a very competent horror film and definitely worth a watch for fans of the genre.

I watched The Guard From Underground, a movie by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who directed Pulse. Supposedly it is a slasher movie, but it certainly didn't have the feel of any conventional slasher movie. The plot is a young woman who is an art expert starts work at company at the same time as a very large guard. The guard is a murderer who grows to have an infatuation with the woman. This is not a whodunit so the fact of the guard's violent nature is revealed right away. Even though it took place almost entirely within a office building in confined office spaces, all the shots were medium distance and not many close-ups, which gave the movie an impersonal feel. Not only that, but none of the characters are given much background or history, another move which I think was deliberate. The result is a sense of detachment which I think is intended to create a sense of absurdity for the scenario of not just this film but all slasher movies.

The movie obviously had a constricted budget, but since the story is not an ambitious in scope, it wasn't that much of a hindrance. The music was pretty cheesy though, and didn't do much to elevate the tension. I don't mind synthesizers, but they really shouldn't be used in a score that tries to emulate real instruments when they don't do a very good job of recreating those sounds. Although there was some cruel acts of violence, the movie wasn't very bloody, so anyone looking for splatter would be better off with something else. The movie is strange, but it is purposed and intelligently made, so the oddity is not a result of incompetence but rather conscious decisions to disaffect the audience. I would say if you are looking for an offbeat, slightly mellow and somewhat surreal horror film, The Guard From Underground will foot that bill, but it is more cerebral and less visceral than most horror movies.

I like this movie. I remember being surprised and shocked at the final twist. But do pass on the American remake. It's not worth the time. I think The Ring is the only Asian horror remake that is good.

Cure
 

I watched Cure, another movie from Kiyoshi Kurosawa, as with Kurosawa's other films, it is an atypical horror film. Random people commit murders with a signature 'X' carved into the throat of the victim which baffles a detective and a psychiatrist who is assisting him. The only thing linking these murders is a man who is suffering from amnesia and can barely even hold any short term memories which further frustrates the investigation. A very non-standard horror film which is only one ellipsis away from David Lynch. The scares are mainly a creepy atmosphere and there isn't many 'shocks' or gory scenes, as Kurosawa is seemingly concerned with something a bit more cerebral.

A theme I see developing in Kurosawa's oeuvre from the few films I have seen is murder or harm stemming from an incomprehensible motive. Since his movies concern malice from a source that refuses rationalization, his movies are a bit more abstract than normal horror. As with Kurosawa's other films, not much effort is made to develop a sympathetic protagonist or victims, and so there is a coldness about the film. The sense of dread doesn't come from suspense involving any of the characters on screen, it stems more from the ideas which the movie suggests and the manner in which those ideas are presented. It is a quiet film with no music that I can remember, no loud sound effects, and no screaming. The locations are all drab, grey muted places, the world as seen by Kurosawa is a depressing place. It reminds me of Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert in its tone and setting.

I liked Cure, but I have to warn anyone looking for traditional J-horror spookiness will probably be disappointed. This movie is much more interested in its own puzzle than scaring the audience, however that puzzle is creepy enough that there is no doubt it is very much a horror film.

My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
 

This past Friday i watched "A Chain of Cursed Murders" 2006. A group of teenage girls receive a text message that if not passed on within 12(?) hours will cause a gruesome death. The text message is about a young school girl raped and murdered years previous and then..well, its gets a little convoluted but still an enjoyable hour and a half.

Mr Vampire
 

I finally had a chance to watch Mr Vampire, a 1985 Hong Kong film I had long heard about but hadn't seen, and I decided to sit down for it even though I was not at all in the mood for what I knew was going to be a silly horror comedy. I must say it did not take long for this movie to win me over. Mr Vampire was a riot, it was nicely filmed, hilarious, and a ton of fun. I wasn't expecting to laugh as much as I did. The story is about some kind of funeral parlor run by a trained priest who uses magic to battle the undead of all kinds, but mostly vampires. These vampires are not like traditional western vampires very much, and the movie gives them a different kind of lore. The battles were amazing, not just in stunts and choreography but in wildly imaginative visuals. Many of the gags were actually quite funny. It was a very colorful and energetic film, as are so many 80's and 90's supernatural films from Hong Kong were. It is certainly one of the better horror comedies I have seen, and it has a lot more comedy than horror. It inspired a lot of sequels and imitators, none of which I have seen, but it's easy to see why this movie became so successful now that I have seen it. If you get a chance to see Mr Vampire, don't pass it up.

Kairo/Pulse (2001) This was my second time viewing it. Still creepy and haunting as I remembered also a little confusing but I did enjoy it's creepiness. Worth watching and pretty absorbing.