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Zatoichi: The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) Up there with the Yojimbo series, but not as amusing (in the funny sense). Lots of honor and being true to oneself. Fighting is brief. Ashe.
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Infection (2005). This flick is all atmosphere, all the time. The actors all emote an unnerving, underlying tension throughout. The way it builds up the feeling that something is definitely wrong with the hospital could nary have been better. Then things start to get creepy. Seemingly random scenes become less random, and finally ya just wish that something would scare ya for a cathartic release. Downcast and nihilistic enough to almost capture the flavor of Kairo, but unique in its own way, this one was great until the very end, where i think it tried to intimate its abstruse existential message but failed. Otherwise a great watch. Ashe.
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Samurai Assassin (1965). Lots and lots of dialogue, so get out your reading glasses. This was set just before the Shogunate fell. Ironic that these Samurai were conspiring to bring down a political system that was repponsible for their livelihood, after which of course their status and way of life was drastically reduced. Mifune delivers yet another great performance of an over ambitious Samurai wannabe. Great story, intrigue, and even a love tale gone horribly awry. Ashe.
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FINALLY got around to watching...
Kairo (Pulse) I had actually seen its American remake prior to the film, so it was especially interesting to note the differences between the two. While the American remake focused on the physical horror of the apparitions, the original tale focused more on pure alienation, isolation, and disintegration. Kairo is definitely more a romantic gothic film in that it's melancholy, desperate and incredibly moody. Definitely strikes a creepy and sad tone in its viewer as it shows how technology does not unite the world but rather isolate it. I thought that it was slow at times, but it could be that I was expecting more of a Ju-on ghost tale as opposed to this brilliantly sad piece. That being said, my boyfriend loved it, which says a lot as his attention span generally doesn't last the whole two hours of an Asian horror film. 3.75/5 |
Charisma. Pretty tough subject matter to base a movie around, but Kurosawa pulled it off. One must give some license to the subject matter in this flick, for it was admirable to even consider tackling this story in a movie. i don't know if the intent here was truly understood by the makers of this flick, but to me it centered more around man's self imposed apotheosis and hence role in world domination, included that of nature itself, rather than being directed towards answering the never ending debate as to which is the more important, the forest or the trees. Ashe.
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House of Flying Daggers. Absolutely spectacular. Visually stunning, this is one incredible love story with lots of great action. The use of wires is not over the top to the point of absurdity, and that dagger! Stunning. Ashe.
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Long knong (Art of the Devil II)
First off I have to give a big FUCK YOU to Netflix for only having this movie available on Instant in its DUBBED form. The dubbing was AWFUL and completely pulls you out of the movie. But regardless of that, I thoroughly enjoyed this flick and plan on getting the subtitled version to show to my boyfriend. I haven't seen a lot of Thai horror films and, to tell you the truth, in reading about them was never very interested in them as a lot of their subject matter seems to be drawn from voodoo curses (which to me, just seemed "silly" and "lame"). Well, I'll stop being closed-minded about it because I thought that Art of the Devil combined its voodoo curse with some brilliant bloody tortured scenes and created a pretty creepy atmosphere. While some of the special effects are definitely cheap, I was able to look beyond them and just enjoy the suffering of our protagonists. And, again, I'm surprised how easily I was able to suspend my disbelief, even with a voodoo curse being the main evil force in the film. The only other issue that I had with the film is something that seems to occur in a lot of Asian horror films: A non-linear storyline cut with awkward editing of flashback scenes. They were obnoxious at first (of course, the poor cheesy dubbing didn't help at all), but eventually I got used to it. Overall, a decent flick. Looking forward to seeing the non-dubbed version. 3.75/5 |
Lady Snowblood (1973). A very 70s feeling revenge flick replete with geisers of blood. Some of the in-your-face c/u camerawork was pretty impressive, and the over-the-top acting in every "startle" scene, ablaze with eyes bulging, was quite entertaining. A pretty standard story with twists all in the right places, this one is worth a watch. Ashe.
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Incident at Blood Pass (1970). Mifune's last portrayal of the Yojimbo character turned our to be quite the story of love, betrayal, and code of honor. Great flick. Ashe. d
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Death Note II: The Last Name. Pretty cool followup to the first one, though the forseight that the antagonist and protagonist utilize is absurdly unbelievable, making the twists and turns unbelievable as well. Still, fun to see these two geniouses battling wits, and the second addition adds some fun new elements into the fray.
Chocolate (2008). This was a rather romantic, almost fairytale like story told with lots of martial arts violence, and great violence at that. The most impressive thing to me came after the end where some of the behind the scene making of the movie was shown. Ouch! Overall, a good flick. Ashe. d |
Tell me something (1999)
If they could do 'something' more for the confusing similar faces & names of the victims and the plot holes with that unclear ending, then it'd be a pretty damn good serial killer thriller. >>: B- |
Harakiri (1962). Great story centering around the time when the once noble Samurai were finding themselves jobless and destitute. Honor, or lack of it, is the key to this one. The Harakiri scene was pretty brutal. Ashe.
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Voice Letter (2005)
The fourth & best installment in the Whispering Corridor or High School Girl's Ghost Story series from South Korea. All four films of the series linked by themes rather than by ongoing characters. Each film is set in a high school 'with a history', and involves suicide, lesbian relationships, and schoolgirls haunted by their dead friends. Whispering Corridors (1998) got the series off to a mediocre but reasonable start. Memento Mori (1999) & The Wishing Stairs (2003) were very average or rather disappointing in compare to the other Asian horror of their time. But this one comes with a pretty decent story that has few scary or creepy stuff but holds everything quite nicely with an emotional bond. Though still there were one or two things didn't come up with a clear explanations but I like to recommend it for its fine story & reasonable characterization. To me this is the only worth watching film of the series. >>: B |
Natural City (2003). Pretty fun sci/fi flick where the protag's obsession over a futuristic, forbidden love sets the stage for disaster. Good thing he is a complete bad-ass fighter. Ashe.
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Hero (Ying Xiong). Well told story(ies) set in warlord torn China. A visually stunning flick with beautifully choreographed fight scenes. Wire use is a tad heavy in the fight scenes though. The characters just get better and better with time. A beautifully tragic story of love and neo-patriotism. "Our land." Ashe.
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The Wig (2005)
There are few scary scenes but the atmosphere, production value & the cast made it worthy enough for a decent watch. Don't expect any usual Asian girl with long black hair trying to scare you....instead to some extent the story is interesting & has a different approach than other 'Hairy Asian Horror'. >>: B- Muoi: Legend of a Portrait (2007) A joint Korean-Vietnamese production which is Korean in style and direction but the nice settings and good visuals are flourished by Vietnam. Though the story centers on a 'curse' but it deals with it quite differently than 'Ringu'. The melodrama & horror are nicely blended together to keep the viewer engaged. A good effort was put into the period set flashbacks, in particular in terms of the costumes, and this too pays off, giving the film’s back story and curse a convincing origin. The film focused more on slow-burn chills rather than sudden frights, and so it doesn’t feature too many real scares, aside from a few odd visions. But they are spooky enough and impressive than those of other similar efforts. Overall, Muoi: The Legend of A Portrait has a solid script, appealing visuals and well done performances. The film doesn’t break out of the formulaic nature of the horror genre, yet it does enough things right to make the film stand out from the crowd. It isn’t the type of movie to scare the hell out of you, but there is an intriguing story set within Muoi, along with a loads of mystery running throughout the film. Recommended to Chrono and Angra.:) >>: B |
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972). The first in the series, a tale of a samurai that turns into a human demon in order to exact revenge. There are a couple of scenes here that really exemplify Occidental puritanism. Ashe.
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Unfortunately Netflix doesn't have this one, so I'll have to wait. :( I've added a couple of Whispering Corridors to my queue, though (Netflix has 1 & 3 available) - thanks for the recs. :) |
Ugetsu monogatori [Tales of Moonlight and Rain] (1953)
A film of rare spiritual lyricism. Visually and emotionally moving, it underlines the beauty and eternity of love & relationship over material wealth. A genuine masterpiece with some stunning camera-work. Camera is in constant motion, symbolize not only the era and the central characters but, by implication, all of human life in the film. Especially in the long panning shot (almost a 360 degree shot) of the reunion near the end, adds a deep emotional impact to the story. >>: A |
Whispering Corridors 3: Wishing Stairs (2003). i liked this one much more than the original instalment. Intense childhood friendships, jealously, teenage awkwardness, and the desire for acceptance flavor this one which uses as its backdrop a school legend whose underlying message is to be careful of what ya wish for.
Body #19/Body sob 19 (2007). Very creepy Thai flick of post-mortem revenge. Pretty twisty plot that comes to fruition in the end, but then goes on when there appears to be no story left. Almost felt like there was some Korean influence in the story-telling style of this one. There were some pretty enjoyable special effects to boot. Enjoy. Ashe. d |
Silk--It was okay. I'm a little numb to the "spooky kid" stories anymore.
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Death Bell (2008). Starts out promising, then gets rather slow in building up the premise, get a little more interesting, after which it takes off like a demon rocket. This turned out to be a pretty brutal and twisted Korean flick that kept me guessing till the very end. One plot hole is still bugging me, but i probably just missed something. Definitely worth a watch. Ashe.
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Oneechanbara (2008)--Not a good movie. But it does feature a hot girl in a bikini hacking up zombies with a katana, and copious amounts of blood, so I enjoyed it immensely anyway :)
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1. Bloody Reunion
2. Dorm Bloody Reunion had some twists and turns that I didn't see coming and it entertained me. Especially, since the director seemed to fancy Hitchcock, evident in the shot choices, story elements, and the use of mulitiple personality disorders :) Dorm was cool. The young actor in it was great. Dorm sort of reminded me of The Devil's Backbone. |
Whispering Corridors 5: A Blood Pledge (2009)
The newest addition to the series. Dark, wrenching, and creepy but mediocre at best. Some nice camera works and the cute Asian girls made it worth watching. >>: B- |
Samurai Rebellion (1967). Toshiro Mifune portrays a stalwart samurai whose obedience to cultural duty and to his his lord are unquestionable. Until, that is, he is forced to choose between the honor of his family's name and his son's felicity. Incredible flick about how far a resolute man can be pushed. Ashe.
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Chrono- ya can watch them free online at asian-horror-movies.com. Enjoy.
Ashe. d |
D-Day aka Roommates: 4 Horror Tales (2006)
The story follows a bunch of girls who attend a private school to get special coaching for college entrance exam where strict discipline make difficult for them to adapt to the stifling atmosphere of the institute. The school is haunted by a fire that took place 3 years ago and that killed all the students. Strange patches drip blood from the ceiling and some girls are witness to scary phantomatic apparitions of former students. The tension builds up as the girls get closer to their final exam. Will history repeat itself? Not bad but not so great either. The cast delivered nice performance in this less creepy/scary but atmospheric horror. >>: B- |
Epitaph (2007). Lots going on in this Korean horror flick. With many stories going on at once, it is easy to get lost, but not impossible to keep up. At times visually arresting, then creepy, sentimental, and then dicombobulating, i really liked this one. Ashe.
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Noroi The Curse (2005). i really enjoyed this one. It would be best to check this one out without any review. Ashe.
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Truck (2008) Things go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye in this tense and unpredictable Korean thrill ride. A truck driver is working hard to support his ill daughter who has a bad heart, but he's fast running out of options. Desperately in need of money to pay for his daughter's surgery, he tries his luck at a gambling den, and ends up walking in on a gang killing. In exchange for his life & money for his daughter's treatment, he agrees to help dispose the dead bodies for the gang. Hitting the road with a truck of corpses, Cheol Min...the innocent everyday man truck driver runs into some unexpected predicaments when a serial killer hitches a ride! Despite being a completely original Korean creation, you can see it got some of Hollywood's favorite thriller elements - a serial killer, an empty countryside highway, the innocent everyman, a truck, and a whole lot of dead bodies - somewhat like a Korean version of a Hollywood B-movie. Overall Truck delivers a decent time passing entertainment. >>: B |
Sick Nurses (2007)--Pure exploitation flick shot like an art house film. Plot non-existent, character development zip, but the chicks are smokin', there's some good kills, and the cinematographer had a field day.
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Bunshinsaba: Witch Board (2004). This Korean flick did not enjoy good reviews, but i liked it. It is a typical Korean horror flick, twisted story and all. IMDb only gave it a 5.6 out of 10, which i thought was sorta low. Either way, it is worth a watch. What is it with so many Korean horror stories revolving around schools? Glad to have gone to school here in the states. Ashe.
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Battle Royal. One of my all time favorite movies EVER!
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