Asian Horror Movies

The Road Review

April 24, 2013 by Eric S. 2 Comments

Year: 2011

Director: Yam Laranas

Summary (from IMDb): A twelve year old cold case is reopened when three teens are missing in an abandoned road. In the course of the investigation, deeper and gruesome stories of abduction and murders are discovered. After more than two decades, the secrets of the haunted road may finally be revealed.

My Quick Review: I had read a fairly high numbers of positive reviews for “The Road” and it even has a metascore of 71/100 (at the time of this review). On top of that it is a Horror Movie from the Philippines, and I had never watched one from this country before. I thought it would therefore be a nice change from my current diet of Thai Horror Movies. Well, I was wrong! I do not know how “The Road” got so many positive reviews when I was myself pushing fast forward many times during the course of the movie.

The Road is divided into 3 parts, taking place in 3 different times (1o years apart each) and linked by recurrent characters and a similar location, an abandoned road. My biggest complain here is the pace, the first act takes too much time before bringing in the ghost scares (3 teenage friends take a car to drive on this abandoned dirt road and are soon facing a ghost car) while the second story (2 girls get kidnapped by a deranged young man) is even more boring and too tame to really make any kind of impact.

Finally the third story, maybe the most ambitious one drama-wise, shows us a family with a castrating mom, a useless father and a psychologically abused boy. The acting is better in this part and the story, more interesting, but un-original as are the other stories.

I can not recommend this movie to anyone and if you guys have better recommendations for a good Filipino Horror Movie, I’m all ears.

My Rating: 4/10

Bloody Reunion Review

April 21, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: Seuseung-ui Eunhye

Year: 2006

Director: Dae-wung Lim

Summary: Bloody Reunion is about a group of elementary students who return years later to visit their former teacher-who has recently took ill-in the countryside. Once there, we learn that Mrs Park (the teacher) had quite a cruel side to her and that all her former students have murderous intentions towards her. Meanwhile, someone is systematically getting rid off each student in quite a gruesome way.

My (very) Short Review: Let’s start with the positive points of Bloody Reunion. First of all, it is a korean slasher and this is rare enough to applaud, especially when back in 2006 the screens were full of ghost movies with long black haired girls. Secondly, there is an OK twist at the end (which is always to be expected in a slasher movie). Finally, for the torture porn lovers, you will find a couple of imaginative kills ( too short though IMO).

Everything else, unfortunately is below average: the acting, the script (too many loose ends) and the pace (it takes way too long for things to get interesting and when it does, the kills are happening way too fast for us to care). For this reason I can’t really recommend this movie but do hope to see more slashers coming out of Korea.

My Rating: 4.5/10

Death Tube Review

April 19, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Titre Original: Satsujin Douga Site

Year: 2010

Director: Yôhei Fukuda

My Short Review: There are so many bad reviews of Death Tube that I was almost reluctant to watch it. Well I’m glad I did. To be faire I’m a big fan of the Saw Series and of F***ed up Japanese Movies so the story behing Death Tube was definitively tailored for an audience like myself. What rubbed a lot of people the wrong way (the cheap set, the bad acting, the bear costumes…) was, for me, part of the whole fun.

If you watch a lot of japanese game shows, you do have those funny/creepy costumed characters, funny voice over, whole people’s reactions splattered in text on the screen. Death Tube in that sense is very Japanese and very traditional in the way those types of elimination games are being played. The twist here is that, if you lose, you die, and it is being streamed live on the internet.

I did not think the acting was that bad, it’s all part of the over the top reactions found in other japanese movies or, once again, game shows. The bear costumes are really creepy and play a big role in the movie’s mood. The games are silly but interesting enough to keep you guessing. There is even an attempt at moral issues (the main character is part of the game because he did not help one of the contestant of a previous game..)

My only disappointment was within the actual deaths. I would have liked more gore or more imaginative way of killing the losers. The best kills happen early in the movies (one contestant is beheaded and another one is being drilled in the head) but for the others it is quite boring (poison, gunshots…).

Apparently a sequel was made and I have to say I can’t wait to watch it if I can get my hands on it.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Dorm (Dek Hor) Review

April 15, 2013 by Eric S. 1 Comment

Year: 2006

Director: Songyos Sugmakanan

Synopsis: In Thailand, the young Chatree is sent to a boarding school by his father. He immediately feels like an outcast and becomes scared with the ghost stories his new schoolmates tell him about. He quickly becomes friend with another lonely boy Vichien, who disappears everyday after class.

My Short Review: I was coming into this movie expecting another scary ghost story from Thailand. After all, Dorm is directed by Songyos Sugmakanan who made the very enjoyable segment “Backpackers” in Phobia 2.

Unfortunately, this movie is more a drama with a twist (an easy-to-see-coming one) than a scary movie. After 30mn or so, the ghost scenes are almost forgotten and the story focus more on the mystery of Vichien and the friendship the main character shares with him.

Not even the very good acting from most of the kids could make up for the very slow pace and lack of genuine scares and horror. To summarize, I was bored and quite disappointed.

My Rating: 4/10

Cold Fish Review

April 14, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title:Tsumetai nettaigyo

Year: 2010

Director: Sion Sono

My Short Review: I’m a big fan of f***ed up japanese movies and therefore had heard a lot of good things about Cold Fish and of course its director Sion Sono, most famous for “Suicide club”. I’m a big Miike fan but was never exposed to Sono’s filmography. He seems to be very busy as well with no less than 25 movies to his credit in the last 15 years.

Cold fish introduces us to two men whose attitude’s towards life and the people around them lead them into opposite direction despite having so much in common.

They both have hot young wives (especially Syamoto’s played by gravure model and Sion Sono’s own wife, Megumi Kagurazaka), but Syamoto’s wife wished she was out of this marriage while Murata’s respects him. They have the exact same business (Exotic fish shops) but one is struglling while the other one is a millionaire. Syamoto’s daughter hates his guts and gave him no respect while Murata has plenty of young girls (including Syamoto’s daught) working with him and enjoying his presence.

What makes them different? Well, for starters Murata is a psycho killer who disposes of his enemies or the people who rubbed him the wrong way, by making them “invisible” (which consists in chopping them into small pieces of meat and burning the bones). While Syamoto is failing his life by being too passive and reluctant to changes, Murata is bullying people into loving him or being scared of him.

The movie will follow Syamoto in his journey, reluctantly following Murata’s steps and if Cold Fish is too long (I could have done with 30mn less), the end is well worth the wait with Syamoto realising his potential and trying to get his life back on track.

It’s a disturbing ending to an already disturbing movie (and sometimes sick one too) and if Shion’s other movies are similar I am quite looking forward to seeing more of them.

My Rating: 6.5/10