Romantic

Warm Bodies Review

May 21, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2013

Director: Jonathan Levine

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Synopsis: (from IMDb) After R (a highly unusual zombie) saves Julie from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world.

My Short Review: Warm Bodies Left me with mixed feelings. On one hand I could not stand the many contradictions the movie had (the biggest one being the zombie hero reminding us that zombies are slow just to show us a scene where zombies are running as fast as humans if not faster) and on the other hand I was drawn in, especially towards the end, thanks to the likability factor of the 2 main characters (and kudos to Rob Corddry’s character as the sidekick zombie who is stealing each scene he is in). To add to the plus list, the Boneys (or skeletons) look very cool and menacing even though they seem to be too easy to get rid of.

There is not much gore in Warm Bodies for a zombie movie but it was to be expected with a PG13 rating and a target demographic of Twilight Fans. So, If you’re a hardcore zombie movies fan you might not enjoy Warm Bodies so much, for others it’s a safe romantic comedy with a twist.

My Rating: 5.5/10

Precut Girl Review

May 20, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2009

Director: Eric Dinkian

Synopsis (from IMDb): A young Japanese girl discovers that she cannot die. From then she will explore the moment of death by killing herself repeatedly.

My Short Review: I was checking out some trailers on Youtube yesterday when a link to another video caught my eyes. This is how I stumbled upon “Precut Girl”. And believe me, I’m glad I did.

This is probably one of my favorite short films of all time. Everything from the acting (Karin Shibata is just great) to the simple but efficient pitch is eerily captivating, so much so that I could not keep my eyes off the screen for a second.

Precut Girl feels so japanese, yet so french in ways that are very difficult to explain. There is a very deep message behind this allegoric movie, about the meaning of love, of life itself, the loneliness, the culture clash. So many feelings went into my mind, I was overwhelmed.

This short made me think about Sion Sono’s movies but the more I think about it the more I believe director Eric Dinkian has found his own voice. He is not a copycat but a real author waiting for his big break. And I sincerely hope that he will find it with his first feature movie. If you wanna help him (and you will after watching Precut Girl hereunder) you can do by helping him finance the full length feature based on Precut Girl: A Story of Life and Death and Love here:

Below is the full Short Precut Girl. Enjoy!

3 A.M. (Tee Sam 3D) Review

May 18, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Original Title: ตีสาม 3D, (Tee Sam 3D)

Year: 2012

Directors:
Isara Nadee
Kirati Nakintanon
Patchanon Thammajira

Synopsis: Three stories set at 3 AM, follow the Thai belief that 3am is the hour that ghosts make their appearances — the hour most haunted by restless spirits.

My Short Review: 3 A.M follows the steps of recent Thai Horror Anthologies, 4Bia and Phobia 2 and offers 3 ghost tales from 3 different directors.

Patchanon Thammajira (Colic) directs the first story, The Wig, which follows two sisters (Apinya Sakuljaroensuk and Focus Jirakul) in a haunted wig shop. It reminded me of the Korean Horror Movie, The Wig, and while that one did not impress me, this short stoy wasn’t better by any means. Very classic ghost tale, lazy script and direction, couple of shots designed for the 3D (the hand reaching shot, that we will find in the two other shorts as well), a weak opening to the movie.

The second segment, The Bride Corpse, gets better though. Kirati Nakintanon directs a story about a man who gets the job of looking after the corpses of a bride and groom. Not many scares in that one again but the story is more original and creepier.

Finally, Isara Nadee (Art of the Devil II, 407 Dark Flight 3d) directs the third story, OT, where two company directors who love playing scary pranks on their employees finally get their comeuppance when they themselves face a real ghost, or do they? By far, the best segment of the whole movie, OT is a typical Thai Horror Comedy when we keep on guessing who is playing a prank on whom and who is a ghost and who isn’t.

As a whole, I would say Tee Sam 3D is good family friendly horror entertainment, better experienced in a theater with friends. It’s never intended to be a classic, there is nothing really original about it but you still have a good time watching it, especially since it gets better with every story and finishes on a high note.

My Rating: 6/10

4bia (See Prang) Review

April 7, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2008

Directors:
Banjong Pisanthanakun (segment “In the Middle”)
Paween Purikitpanya (segment “Tit for Tat”)
Yongyoot Thongkongtoon (segment “Happiness”)
Parkpoom Wongpoom (segment “Last Fright”)

Synopsis: An anthology with 4 stories. “Happiness” is about a lonely girl exchanging text message with what seems to be a ghost. “Tit for Tat” is about a death curse following a group of high school students. “In the Middle” is about 4 friends going camping and the death of one of them will lead into a funny ghost story. “Last fright” is a classic revenge ghost story inside a plane.

My Short Review:4bia is an anthology movie with 4 segments. The stories are different as is the visual style of each 30mn shorts. There are some tiny connections between all of them (will you find them? ;-))

We start with “Happiness” a simple, yet effective, romantic story between a lonely girl and a lonely guy texting each other. As soon as she realises that it is a ghost at the other end, it’s already too late…Yongyoot Thongkongtoon is not an horror director but he did a good job creating a scary atmosphere around his main character. It was, IMO the strongest (yet the most simple) story and put the movie on the right track. Rating: 6/10

The second short is “Tit for Tat” and immediately I was put off by the visual style and the camera work. I haven’t seen “Body” the feature debut of director Paween Purikitpanya but if it is shot the same way I probably won’t be enjoying it either. On top of that, the story (a bullied student put a curse on the group of kids who beat him up) and the poor special effects make this segment the weakest in my book. Rating: 4/10

The third story, “In the Middle” is directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun who made (together withParkpoom Wongpoom) two of the best Thai Horror Movies of the 2000’s Shutter and Alone. Needless to say I had great expectations. I was actually surprised at the general tone, much less serious than the other 2 segments and very self referential (the characters directly quote/spoil the ending of Shutter). I quite enjoyed the story, it was a fun entry but definitively was lacking in scares from a director specialised in typical scary ghost stories. Rating: 6/10

The last story, “Last Fright” tried to bring the scare/creepy factor up a notch but was almost a total miss for me. The direction made it look like a TV movie, and would have been more suited for an episode of The Twilight Zone (the 80s version). This was another Revenge Ghost Story and brought nothing new to the table. Big disappointment from the writer/co-director of Shutter and Alone. Rating: 4/10

So as usual with this type of movies there were hit and miss but I was definitively expecting a better effort from those directors.

My Rating overall: 5/10

Alone Review

April 4, 2013 by Eric S. Leave a Comment

Year: 2007

Director: Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom

Synopsis (from IMDb): A Deceased Siamese twin returns to haunt her surviving sister

My Short Review: After having watched Shutter yesterday, I decided to get my hands on as many Thai Horror Movies as I possibly could, starting with Alone which was from the guys who already brought us Shutter,writers and directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom.

And my problem with Alone is exactly what made me want to watch it in the first place: it follows too closely on Shutter’s steps without getting close to its level of creepyness or scares.

Alone is another entry into the Revengeful Ghost genre, with a twist that is way too easy to see coming. And when it happens, the last 20mns of the movie turn one of the main character into crazed pshycho killer mode and put aside the supernatural part that made the movie mildly interesting up to that point.

There are some great visual ideas here and there (I won’t soon forget the ceiling fan scene) and the siamese twins love triangle is an original idea, but the scenes with the ghost do not have the impact the ones in Shutter had (this time I did not have one jump scare in the whole movie). As I mentioned before, the end of the movie ended up ruining the film even more for me.

Alone is therefore a slight disappointment, and maybe I would have liked it better had I not just watched Shutter (a superior movie) the day before.

With that being said, I would still consider it a good entry in the Asian Horror Movies category and recommend fans of the genre to give it a chance.

My Rating: 5/10