Asian Horror Movies

Modus Anomali (2012) Review

August 14, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: A guy wakes up in a shallow grave in the woods with amnesia and has to work out what’s going on. He finds a cabin and the mystery begins to unfold. (from IMDb)

My Review: Modus Anomali is a strong entry into Indonesian horror cinema. Joko Anwar’s (The Forbidden Door, Dead Time:Kala) 4th movie has a simple but efficient pitch that maintains the tension high throughout the whole movie.

By keeping the camera very close to him, Anwar creates a suffocating feeling making us as lost and wary of the surroundings as his main character. While some of the scenes in the forest tend to be a bit on the lengthy side, as soon as something is happening, we are right back in the middle of the action.

On the negative side of things, I wasn’t a big fan of the use of english throughout the film since this is not the actors first language. Why make such a decision, especially since there aren’t that many lines in the film anyway.

The violence in Modus Anomali is raw and sometimes unexpected with the right amount of gory effects while the mystery surrounding the killer(s) in the woods offers a satisfying conclusion. The last reel actually kept me on the edge of my feet.

Once again Joko Anwar is proving that he is a director to definitively keep an eye on and, together with the Mo Brothers (Macabre, Killers) and Gareth Evans (The Raid:Redemption) belongs to an exciting new wave of young directors out of Indonesia..

My Rating: 6.5/10

Director: Joko Anwar

Origin: Indonesia

Pee Mak Phrakanong Review

August 6, 2013 by Eric S. 4 Comments

Synopsis: Mak served in the war during the beginning of the Rattanakosin Dynasty. At war he became friends with Ter, Puak, Shin, and Aey, whose lives he saved. Once the war was over, Mak invited his four friends into his home in Phra Khanong town and introduced them to his beautiful wife Nak and his newborn baby boy Dang. But A rumor is going around in the village that Nak had died giving birth to her stillborn baby, Dang and lingered as haunting ghosts .

My Quick Review: From famed director Banjong Pisanthanakun (Alone, Shutter) Pee Mak is the first film that I have watched in 4D. I have to say that past the first minutes of surprise when your seat is moving and you receive small splash of water in your face, it is really gimmicky and brings nothing to the movie (it’s actually quite distracting).

Nevertheless, I had a blast. Pee Mak is the Highest Grossing Thai Movie of all time and when walking in the streets of Bangkok, you can’t miss all the billboards full of advertisement starring the actors of the movie.

For fans of asian horror comedies with a touch of romance, Pee Mak brings a sense of nostalgia and evokes the golden days of HK ghost movies such as “A Chinese Ghost Story”. There are brillant comeedy scenes (mostly physical but also plenty of wordplay jokes that might be a bit difficult to catch if you don’t understand Thai).

But don’t fret, you do not need to be familiar with the Thai culture or language to get all the jokes and laugh at the situations and the awesomess of the main characters. It does help that there is a very strong chemistry between all of them, already estabished in the best segments of 4Bia and Phobia 2.

If there is one reproach we can make towards Pee Mak, is that there is not much in terms of scares and the movie definitively pushes towards a full out comedy/parody. So if you are looking for another Thai Scary movie, you will be disappointed, but if you just want to spedn a good time at the movies, you will have a blast watching Pee Mak again and again.

My Rating: 8/10

Director: Banjong Pisanthanakun

Origin: Thailand

Pee Mak is now available on DVD Import from HK with english subtitles Here!

Art of the Devil II (2005) Review

August 1, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: ลองของ (Long Khong)

Synopsis: A group of high school friends reunite after two years when one of their fathers’ committed suicide. They all spend the night at their friend’s place. When darkness falls, strange things begin to happen to them one by one. It is as if someone is using the black arts on them in revenge for an act this group of friends committed together back in high school.

My Quick Review: Long Khong’s english name is misleading as there is absolutely no connection with the first Art of The Devil. Western distributors just named the movie Art of the Devil 2 as it does share common use of Thai Black Magic.

Art of the Devil II is a much more graphic movie than the first one and actually ends with one of the hardest to watch torture scene ever put on film (there are some similarities with Audition since we have the pretty girl inflicting pain here as well).

It is a pity then that the script is completely uninteresting and quite confusing in its plot lines.

What could have indeed been a Torture Porn classic ends up short of greatness because the gory/creepy scenes are surrounded by bland storytelling and poorly defined characters.

My Rating: 4.5/10 (5.5/10 for torture lovers).

Director: Ronin Team

Origin: Thailand

Invitation Only (2009) Review

July 29, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: Jue ming pai dui

Synopsis: Five people arrive at a party, fully unaware that the special night is just a cover for an evening of torture and murder.

My Quick Review: I remember when Invitation Only was released in Asia a couple of years back, everybody was talking about the presence of Maria ozawa (one the most famous japanese porn star) in the casting. Many went to see the movie in the hope to see her naked (and rest assured, she is) while other (mostly women) complained that she wasn’t a good actress and not even good looking enough to play a model.

I had forgotten about all of this controversy when I started watching Invitation Only and it just came back to me when I first saw Maria Ozawa on screen.

But enough with the gossip. Is Invitation Only a good horror movie?

Unfortunately, not really. The script takes its inspiration from other torture porn movies such as Hostel (rich bored guys get their ultimate thrills by torturing/killing people) but never rises above its source material. The acting is pretty bad across the board and I was starting to be really bored past half point of the movie.

If you’re into gore though you’re in for a treat, Invitation Only never shies away from the grossy stuff. But apart from a few torture/kill scenes there is nothing noteworthy in Invitation Only (unless you’re a die-hard fan of Maria Ozawa ;-)).

My Rating: 4/10

Director: Kevin Ko

Origin: Taiwan

Red Room (1999) Review

July 20, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: Akai misshitsu (heya): Kindan no ôsama geemu

Synopsis: How low would you go to win a million dollars? Just how desperate are you for the cash? Desperate enough to enter the Red Room?

Quick Review: You got to give it to the japanese: they know their shit when it’s about showing weird twisted human depravity.

Red Room is a typical game of survival where the last one standing wins 10 million yen. 4 People are playing the game (a married couple on a verge of a divorce, a schoolgirl and a young business woman) and they all have their own reason to be there.

What happens during the next 65mn (average running time for japanese direct to video movie) are game/torture scenes that mix soft porn and gore (especially in the last 15mn). It is not as outrageous or bloody as some other similar movies out of japan but twisted enough to make you look forward to the next sick game.

Red Room is an extremely cheap looking movie (that makes Death Tube looks like an hollywood production) with 4 people in a room for most of the duration of the film, but this format actually works in favor of the movie’s whole atmosphere.

Thanks to its short running time, enjoyable and sometimes imaginative games (great uses of a blow-dryer and a bulb) and above average acting, I did enjoy Red Room and would definitively recommend it to fans of Japanese twisted movies and survival games.

My Rating: 6/10

Director: Daisuke Yamanouchi

Origin: Japan

Warning the trailer below is definitively NSFW and spoils most of the movie!!