Foreign

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!!

Dark Water Review

June 22, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: Honogurai mizu no soko kara

Synopsis: A mother and her 6 year old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water. [from IMDb]

Neoli’s Review: I can’t believe Dark Water is more than a decade old–eleven years to be exact. That would make the little girl who plays Ikuko a grown-up now–about the age where her teenage version in the film visits their old watery apartment. (So technically, the real life Ikuko can now star in the sequel, but I’m digressing.)

In the hands of Hideo Nakata (Ringu) who wrote and directed Dark Water, the film takes on a slow, easy-going pace that gets creepy as you move on. There’s too much wetness going on here, which is enough to make viewers feel drenched and possibly shivering–from the rain-soaked outdoors which the little girl braves with her tiny umbrella to the waterlogged ceiling caused by the leaky apartment above them. (Maybe it was Dark Water that brought ugly water stains into classic horror imagery.) As for the American remake, we love anything Jennifer Connelly stars in, but the original is still the winner.

Anyway, Ikuko’s mom, played by the lovely Hitomi Kuroki, beautifully flits from being serene and frantic. She’s calm as she struggles to win custody of her child and raise her on her own, but in the end she unravels too as she discovers the source and reason of the mysterious leaks. The last scene of the film, the sacrifice scene in the elevator, is the most haunting of all—that look on the mother’s face—a combination of surrender, relief, joy, and regret–which has no English equivalent as yet but which the German might have–that look is unforgettable. And of course the sadness of Ikuko, now all alone in the world, is just infinite.

So this is what Japanese horror films were all about back in those days: filled with moral dilemmas and irrevocable consequences—no serial killers or school kids pitted against each other and other carnage-filled flicks. Just the simple theme of mother and daughter. Cheesy as it sounds, Dark Water is a horror film with a heart. Albeit one which will haunt you for years, even decades to come.

Neoli’s rating: 10/10

Click Here to Own and Watch Dark Water Now!

Director: Hideo Nakata

Starring: Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi, Fumiyo Kohinata

Released: 2002

Origin: Japan

Atrocious Review

June 15, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: Two teenage siblings endure a terrifying experience while investigating a rural legend near their family’s vacation home.

My Short Review: Atrocious is another movie surfing on the success of found footage movies such as Blair Witch, Rec or Paranormal Activity. Blair Witch especially comes to mind when most of the proceedings in Atrocious are being shot at night in a creepy forest.

Nothing surprising here and the script is as thin as cigarette paper. In the hands of a more capable director, Atrocious could have risen to a very respectable entertainment. In the hands of Fernando Barreda Luna though, it’s a different story.

To make a good genre film, the viewer must be maintained in a growing sense of tension that will keep him to the edge of its seat until the final credits. He must as well feel emotionally involved with the characters and their misadventures. To do this, you need two things: a suffocating cinematography spreading doubt and fear, and talented actors to make every emotional step credible.

Unfortunately, in Atrocious none of that is present on the screen. The actors are not conveying any sense of fear and emotion while the cinematography is just bland.
The result is a genre film clearly built to cash in on a lucrative trend. A Movie with a total lack of originality or genuine scares.

My Rating: 4/10

Year: 2010

Director: Fernando Barreda Luna

Origin: Spain

Trollhunter Review

June 13, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Synopsis: (from IMDb) A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.

My Short Review: While I do believe TrollHunter is a bit overrated, it is still one of the better entry in the Found Footage genre. At times, the movie reminded me of Cloverfield, other times Blair Witch (during scenes in the forest) but Trollhunter adopts a funnier tone than those 2 movies. I would actually not put it in the horror category but more in the Fantasy/Adventure ones.

First of all, the design of the Trolls are very fantasy-like (they are Trolls after all) and never really feel like scary creature. Actually, we kinda feel for them as they are being killed and you can tell Hans, the Troll hunter has respect for them and remorse (especially after the massacre he was part of in the 70s).

There is also plenty of humour with Christian references, Troll “scent”, government cover-ups (gotta love the fake bear traces…).

As a result, Trollhunter is an enjoyable mix that do not always work (some scenes are a bit overplayed and the movie would have beneficiated from 15mn less running time) but I really commend the filmmakers for taking a completely new approach to the genre. Not a great movie but a refreshing one.

My Rating: 6/10

Original Title: Trolljegeren

Year: 2010

Origin: Norway

Director: André Øvredal

Click Here To Own and Watch TrollHunter Now!