Tell Me Something. Great movie, but these twisty foreign flicks make it easy to get lost and i end up missing the subtle things. The subtitle translation probably did not help. Also, i still have a hard time figuring out who is who in some Asian flicks. The guys tend to look alike to me, especially when they do a quick flash of a victim and i have no idea who is now dead; not politically correct, but true nonetheless. Still, a great flick. Ashe.
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"Dorm" 6/10

To begin with i thought it was going to be an asian Devils Backbone rip-off, but it turned out to be mild kiddie horror movie. Not a bad watch, but no wauw's.

Ichi the Killer. Still wondering if i liked this one. It was not as violent as i thought it would be. Miike seems to be an over the top symbolic director, and this flick is no exception. It is just difficult to figure out what he is saying in this one. All i could glean is that it has something to do with society's intermingling of pain, eroticism, and satisfaction. Either way, this flick was no disappointment for the Miike lovers in the crowd. Ashe.
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JU-ON. i was really expected this to scare the crap out of me (watched it alone, late at night, on at a rather deserted horse ranch). Maybe i have finally hardened up a bit. Great flick. A tad better that the US version. Crazy way to tell a story. Loved the bleakness (is that a word?) of this one. The spooks were relentless to the point of being predictable, but this was strangely not a problem for me. Overall a great flick, just not as good as i was expecting. [Expectations lead to pain and misery.] Ashe.
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"Phobia" 6/10

A mixed bag.

4 shorts.

First one plain sucked. Mobile horror is out. We've already had One Missed Call 1, 2, 3 and a crappy remake. Find something new.

Second story was nice 'n gory ghost revenge.

Third story was also alright. 4 young guys out on a camping trip that goes quite wrong. Not scary, but entertaining and sometimes a lil funny.

Fourth story about a stewardess who has to serve a wealthy bitch on a private plane, started out being the best of the four, but failed to pull out something surprising or new at the end.

Kagemusha.

One of the greatest films ever.

Lady Vengeance. This one was my least favorite of the Park vengeance trilogy, but it was still a great flick. The ending was solid, and there was one supremely powerful moment towards the end. Only disappointing as Oldboy was incredible and i thought that Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was even better. JMHO. Ashe.
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Silk. Incredible film. A great story that takes a serious peek at some abstruse aspects of humanity, of fear loss by death, of the powerful emotions love and hatred. The story was rich and the acting was clean. Character development was more than adequate. Oh yeah, it happened to revolve around a cool ghost story.

Shaolin Soccer. Pretty fun flick, but a disappointment when compared to Kung Fu Hustle, which was supreme. Still a good flick that had some great moments. Ashe.
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Loved Silk. Very cool.

Hospital

A low budget Thai horror, probably made for TV with a very average & predictable plot.

>>: C-

Suicide Club. "Are you connected to yourself?" i was sorta expecting to be let down by this one because i thought that Noriko's Dinner Table was supreme. Did not happen. This flick was on par with Sion's NDT follow-up. Powerful stuff, complete with that bleak understanding of human nature that American film lacks. The gore factor is pretty thick in this one. Also, the animal lovers in the crowd might find one scene a tad harsh, so be forwarned. Ashe.
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Lady Vengeance (2005)

Doesn't quite live up to Oldboy, but blows Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance out of the water. This is a near perfect film - Chan-wook Park is easily one of the most talented storytellers working today. He tells an incredibly complex story through unconvential methods, and manages to draw the viewer into Geum-ja's quest for revenge.

Amazing visuals, lots of twists and enough moral ambiguity to really give you something to think about long after the credits roll. See it if you haven't.

The Eye 3. Kinda an odd third entry to The Eye series by the Pang Brothers. Hard to tell if they were just trying to jam as much ghost info into a movie as possible, or if the they were just having fun at the viewer's expense. The movie vacillates between kinda scary to goofy. No real message is related in this disjounted flick. i must admit that some if it worked as it was somewhat entertaining, even funny, at times. When all is said and done, my favorite of the series was definitely The Eye 2, with this one at the bottom of the heap. Ashe.
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I'll agree with you on Eye 2- I really liked it.

Spider Forest. This one takes its own sweet time to get going, but it is worth the wait. Starts getting a little twisty, and to be honest, i was a little confused at the end. Strangely this did not detract from the movie. i loved the dark emotional atmosphere. i really liked this one. Korean filmmakers really know how to build a colorfully rich movie.

Ringu. Obviously a great flick, but i thought the US version was more creepy. i think it had something to do with the great effects in the TV scene. The horse scene in the US version also set for a disturbing tone. That said, the original was great. I just wonder how i would have felt if i had seen the original before the US version... Ashe.
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Sword of Doom. Spectacular Samurai flick. Though the ending was somewhat unintentional, it was powerful by chance. i loved the paradoxical antihero. My lack of historical knowledge of this era made for a little confusion, but this of course was not the film's fault.

Koma. i found myself at times mad at this flick for not following the direction that i thought it should be going, which in part made it all that much better. Angelica played her part nicely, but i have to say that the other lead actress faltered a couple of times. i think that a better editor could have done a better job cleaning it up. Luckily, it was not enough to detract from the story. The ending was dark and disturbing. Overall, nicely done. Ashe.
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Onibaba. Obviously, this is a classic, must see, war-torn Medieval Samurai era flick. Ashe.
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the machine girl

Was it worth 96 minutes of your life??? Looks pretty cheesy, so what'dya think of it? Ashe.
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Dorm. This was not exactly scary or what i expected, but i did rather enjoy it. i thought the story was well-crafted, and for a bunch of kids, the acting was solid. i thought the concept of "becoming a man" was also nicely engineered.


This movie had a nice "Let the Right One In" feel to it. Not trying to compare the two, except that it was a nice tale of friendship with some elements of horror in the background. Ashe.
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Carved aka The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007)

Not bad...an average Asian Horror with some decent scares.

>>: C+

nowt wrong with t'cheese







the myth

Mallika oogle-able? Jennifer Lynch's Hisss is next...and getting a lot of buzz.

I was disappointed with Machine Girl. Should have been better. Tokyo Gore Police was better.

Uzumaki. Very twisted-sorry, but i could not help myself. i liked this one. It had a Miike goofiness to it, but somehow this added to the creepiness. This flick had an ingeniously amateur feel to it, though the editing was truly a little lackidaisical. Some of the up close camera shots and goofy, over-acted scenes were perfect for this flick. Ashe.
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Kagemusha. Absolutely incredible. The three hours almost flew by. Ashe.
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Definitely a delight. One of the pillars of world cinema.

Arang. Pretty well done Korean thriller, though the acting was a tad chunky in a couple of places. i know it is sorta cheating, but i still love the Korean penchant for clearing up the main story's mysteries w/ flashbacks at the end. Not as rich as other K-flicks, but this was actually appreciated as i can get lost with subtle foreign Nuances. Good flick with a great story.

Throne of Blood. A Shakespearean story set in Medieval Japan. Definitely a classic.
Ashe.
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Ghost of Mae Nak. This Thai thriller is up there with Shutter, and may have even been better. The acting was solid, the story meandered perfectly, the characters were well developed, and even the ending, which almost had a cheesy Hollywood twist, was still perfect for this flick. i love how Bhuddism has such dark connotations in Asian flicks. Ashe.
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Red Eye (Redeu-ai). i kinda had low expectations for this one, don't know why. Instead, it turned out to be a typical, well told, multi-layered Korean flick that did not disappoint. By my account, Korean flicks have rich stories and cinematography, Thai flicks are very creepy, and J-horror can be rather bleak. i haven't come up with an aspect of Chinese flicks that stands out as distinctive. They seem to be just good and scary. Ashe.
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Phone. i don't know why this Korean flick received such mediocre reviews. i liked it. While not up to par with some of the more incredible S. Korean flicks, this one, which could have easily been mundane, is still a nicely layered story that Koreans seem to excel in. It was not very scary, and the ending was not exceptional, but to me the the story here trumped the ghostly scare factors. Definitely worth a watch. Ashe.
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Ju-on (v-cinema version) 10/10. Even though it is pretty slow at some parts, it really gave me the creeps lol.

Art of the Devil. After having failed to get through this one on the first attempt, i was able to suffer through it last night. Having just returned home from pedalling over "the grade" i think that i was just too tired to turn it off. The dubbing was atrocious throughout. The special effects were cheesy, and some of the action scenes looked as if they done by first graders. That said, the concept was still pretty creepy and the shaman was believable enough to be scary by himself. i hope that the sequel is better after having sufferred through this one. Ashe.
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Yojimbo. Absolutely awsome flick. Toshiro played that part perfectly. i cannot wait to see Sanjuro. Ashe.
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Dark Water (2002) i definiitely liked the original better than the remake (whose greatest attribute was JC). Even though there were not as many scares, the story itself was much better, lacking any Hollywood taint. Ashe.
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Memories of Murder (2003)

Korean horror film directed by Joon-ho Bong.

Never heard of this guy before but I'm REALLY glad I watched this. Not your typical Asian horror movie at all. No tall women with long hair. No creepy kids with big eyes. No ghosts.

This is the story surrounding the investigation of Korea's first serial killer case. I don't know where to start here... Perhaps by mentioning the directorial finesse of Joon-ho Bong. He straddles a line between a very dark humor and deadpan seriousness with the assurance of a master. Expert at creating tension and surprise.

At first we're presented with the world's worst criminal investigative team. They trample evidence. They arrest the wrong people and torture confessions out of them. They plant evidence. When a detective from Seoul joins them on the case, they are jealous of his more sophisticated methods and try and discredit him.

There's a real visual flair to this film as well, along with some stunning visual metaphores. Many key scenes take place in the rain at night and they're shot with perfection.

The lead actor, Kang-ho Song, turns in such a nuanced performance I was awed. He portrayed his role, at first that of a bumbling corrupt cop, that transforms into a very sympathetic caring character. It was probably the best performance I've seen in an Asian movie (what ones I've seen, of course).

The story itself moves along at a brisk pace, always kept me interested, and revealed some deft touches, symbolism and depth.

Needless to say- I was extremely impressed.

Ashe- you will love this- check it out.

You too Chrono!

Glad you liked it, NE:) . I saw this movie years ago but still can't forget anything about it as every aspect of the film was so beautifully portrayed that impressed me greatly. And as you said it's not a typical serial killer movie..it's more than that. Instead of focusing on the murder scenes and shocking images like most other conventional serial killer films, the movie puts much more time and details into the story, characters and the situation of the time the incidents took place. At the very beginning it was said that the case still remain unsolved but I almost started to forget this fact as the story runs with a great flow. The frustration of witnessing the many problems the investigators were facing and the very high tension during the murder scenes kept me hooked all along. Intense humor, brilliant cinematography, excellent character developments with the incredible casts delivered in perfect way by the director Joon-ho Bong.
Not only chrono and Ashe, I also like to recommend it for fortunato and Alky. I'm sure they'll love this Korean Masterpiece.

Yep, one my Asian favs, close to a top ten. Ashe.
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Apt. (2006). This Korean flick had some great scares, plus it was a pretty good story to boot (a tad dark). It is probably one of the creepiest Korean movies that i have seen. Ashe.
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Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto. First of three. So far so good. Cannot wait to see the other two. Ashe.
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