Black Night - China, Japan and Thailand

          Director: Takahiko Akiyama,Tanit Jitnukul, and Patrick Leung

          Year: 2006

          Plot: "This horror trilogy [anthology] follows the stories of a man who's having an affair, a woman plagued by nightmares and a mother who fears she's being stalked."

          We'll review each section separate as they are different and I would have a hard time reviewing them as one.

          Next Door:  I did enjoy that you can piece together parts of what happened before it is completely revealed, when Joe and Jane are talking when she arrives, and a comment Joe makes to a coworker.  It was overall, pretty good (much better than most US anthologies I have watched).  I did have a problem with the back and forth “It's my fault”, but the actual ending was good.   The promise that was made was kept which was a nice touch to me, though I guess there is some questions about the end now that I have read another's review.

          ------*Spoiler Start*------  Someone said that it was Hosie possessing Jane at the end living out her own dreams, but I am not so sure.   The issue in this belief for me is that when asked her name, she told the other to wait so she could read the passport (or whatever).  Hosie would have known her own name, so I am led to believe that maybe Jane wants to live out Hosie's life for her.  Otherwise apparently Hosie doesn't know her own name and has a weird idea of making sure Jane lives.  Not really living if a ghost is simply walking around in your body living the life she would have.  ------*Spoiler End*------

          Dark Hole:  I wasn't sure what to think of this section at first, but once Hyu was discussed, it got interesting.  This is mainly because until the end, I wasn't sure what to believe.  The question was, is it real, or imagination?   I like stuff that plays with that questions, especially if it plays out well and even leaves me doubting if I am right.  They arguments against the fantasy were really convincing, but the fantasy was also believable in my mind.

          I liked that while childhood memories were missing to the main character, she seemed to still have a connection to them subconsciously.  There is a major connection to water from her childhood.  The thing that I loved is that she works at the information counter at and aquarium.  Even if she couldn't remember, she still found herself connected to water in some way.  I don't know little things like that really make me believe that some real though went into the character, which I love in general.

          The Lost Memory: Maybe I am out of sorts when it comes to Asian horror movies, but I enjoyed this part too as I did not see the ending coming, either one.  I just liked how this unfolded and couldn't help but notice the role of water again.  I think they should have called the anthology Black Water (Dark Water is taken).

          Anyway, the overall story of this section was rather sad.  I mean the woman lost her memory and is struggling to get it back, but of course not all memories are good ones.  In reality, it might be important to get the memories back, but the character lives in a horror movie.  In that sense memories are often better left forgotten.

          As an anthology, I would suggest this one.  I didn't find it scary, but then again most horror movies are like that for me.  You may not enjoy it for various reasons (some acting in the first section wasn't very good), but I did like the stories for each sections and I found it to be better than some US anthologies (haven't found a good one yet).  If nothing else, it will be a use of time, whether good or bad.  I am having trouble finding a trailer, so a picture will have to suffice.

Re-cycle - China

          Director:  Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang
          Year:  2006
          Plot:  "After writing three best-sellers about love story based on her own experiences, the successful writer Tsui Ting-Yin is without inspiration and having difficulties to write her new novel in the horror genre entitled "Re-cycle".  While drafting the text, spooky events happen at her apartment and her former boy-friend of eight years ago visits her, after his divorce.  When Tsui sees a supernatural long-haired character of her book, she is trapped in his world of terror."

          I found this movie to be quite great.  The beginning of it starts off as a pretty typical horror movie with strange things happening in her house.  The things is that the 'scary' stuff rather drops off after she enters the other world.  There is scares still placed in this world, but it didn't even really seem eerie to me.  I guess I was more intrigued by this other world than anything else.
          I loved the idea about the forgotten, or abandoned.  It was all really very interesting and really rather cool.  This idea has been done in another way (can't remember where I seen it before), but I have rather liked the ideas.
          The idea of the aborted babies is a little bit off for me.  I understand it, but it just leads to a lot of arguments.  It makes people argue about whether it is for or against abortion.  I would have rather not opened up a forum post about this movie and seen nothing but 'abortion is bad' or 'I'm pro-choice'.  It is just rather irritating when I am trying to find out more about the movie.  That is pretty much the only issue I had, and it wasn't even really about the movie.  I didn't see this movie as being 'Pro-Life'.  I just seen it as someone going through a rather real situation and feelings.
          I absolutely loved the ending to this.  I know it was a bit confusing for some, but for me, it wasn't that hard to figure out.  I loved that it really tied into the rest of the movie.  It is one that if you really paid attention you will be able to understand the ending, even if you need a little help.  I would be happy to help with that if anyone needs it.

          I highly suggest this movie, though it wasn't scary.  It is an entertaining movie with a really well done plot and idea.  So if you want a straight horror movie, this one probably won't do.  This movie will though be entertaining despite this so definitely watch it sometime.

Help (Qiu Wo) - China

          Director:  Qi Zhang
          Year:  2008
          Plot:  "Jiang Yan, is a psychology student preparing her thesis in hopes to go to the United States.  While having a hard time with the topic she was given, she also struggles with her boyfriend who doesn't want her to go.  After an incident that leaves her boyfriend dead, Jiang Yan begins to see and hear things that frighten her.  Her stress and horror escalates when she begins to suspect that her friend and Professor are plotting against her."

          So as I always do, I went and checked on IMDb to get the plot for this movie and was quite surprised.  This movie only has a 5.0 rating on the site.  This surprised me as I really enjoyed it, but maybe it just had to do with the fact that only 17 people voted so far.  This movie had a 4/5 stars on LetMeWatchThis.ch (my referral address is under the Asian Movie Sites tab, just in case you decide to get a free account).
          Okay, so onto the actual movie.  As I said, I found this movie to be really enjoyable.  I especially loved the fact that this movie got me with the ending.  The only problem was that this movie was not scary.  It didn't scare me at all, but that didn't seem to matter much while I was watching it.
          Like I said, this movie did get me with the ending.  During the movie, I was quite convinced with what was being shown.  The reason I think I was easily convinced was that as it was a horror movie, I had no reason to suspect there would be a twist in the story.  The ending really was one that I did not expect, but looking back, it does fit well with the story line.

          This is a movie that I would easily suggest to someone, but I would definitely add a warning.  This is not the movie to be watching if you are looking to be scared.  This is however a really good movie that I feel will be worth your time.

Gin Gwai 2 (The Eye 2) - China

          Director:  Oxide Pang Chun, and Danny Pang
          Year:  2004
          Plot:  “After a failed suicide attempt, a pregnant woman gains the ability to see ghosts.”


          I finally decided to watch this one.  I really enjoyed the first one and thought this one had to be good.  I am happy to find that this one was in fact good.  It wasn’t scary at all, but the storyline kept me very interested.  The idea was different from the first one which is definitely refreshing.  Some movies that change it up for the sequel fail with the quality.  This one though seemed to do really well, but did lack scares.  Still even if it wasn’t scary, it was worth the time to watch it.  I also enjoyed the ending, they really wrapped it up in and good way.
          It took me all day to watch this movie, not because there was anything that actually made me take that long besides a little boy.  I had to keep putting it off to occupy my nephew, so I don’t have too much to talk about.  The longer I put off my reviews, well the shorter they get.
          I have to say that this woman was really bad at killing herself.  I mean really, it shouldn’t be that hard.  She tries quite a few time and fails.  Also this turned out to be one of those karma type movies.  You do wrong and your life gets flipped upside down.  Our main character isn’t the only one though, but that’s something that you need to see.


          I would suggest this movie, especially if you liked the first one.  Though, you might want to put this one off when you are looking for a scare.  This won’t waste your time entirely.

Naraka 19 - China

          Director:  Miu-suet Lai
          Year:  2007
          Plot:  "A nightmare begins when Rain, a young and beautiful university student, receives an SMS on her mobile phone - 'Do you know what the 19th Gate of Hell is?'  The same cryptic text message goes out to all her best friends, that unwittingly involved them in a deadly mobile phone game - in this chilling game, if you lose, you die. Game over."


          The plot of the movie was intriguing enough for me to give it a shot, and I have to say it wasn't all that bad.  Though it was in no way a "horror" movie in my opinion, it was still rather entertaining.
          The whole point of the movie is trying to see what the 19th level of hell is, seeing as they only know of 18 levels.  Now you'd expect to see all 18 levels during the course of the movie, but that is not the case being that the controller of Hell allows Rain to skip a few levels because she has proven herself in certain instances.  It would have been better if we were able to see all of the levels, but her not doing so does make sense later on in the movie.
          The movie fell apart for me at the very end, but nonetheless it was still rather entertaining.  It's all about which level the characters are going to give in to their conscience on.


          If you are looking for a "horror" movie, skip this one.  If however you are just looking for an decent movie to waste a boring day on, give this one a shot.  You might just happen to like it, but then again you might not.

Gin Gwai (The Eye) - China

          Directors:  Oxide Pang Chun, and Danny Pang

          Year:  2002

          Plot:  "A blind girl gets a cornea transplant so that she would be able to see again.  However, she got more than what she bargained for when she realised she could even see ghosts.  And some of these ghosts are down right unfriendly.  So she embarks on a journey to find the origins of her cornea and to reveal the history of the previous dead owner."

          Well having seen the remake first, I already had the basic understanding off what was going on.  Knowing that however didn't make the movie any less enjoyable.  There aren't too many "scare" scenes, but that is rather normal for an Asian horror seen as it is more about the build up than the actual scare.  Now this aspect leads to more interesting storylines such as this one.  

          The scares disappear pretty much all together at the end, at that point it is more about an emotional connection to the characters.  If you've fallen into the world enough by that point, you will really love the ending.  If it was just about the scares for you, you might be a little disappointed.  I on the other hand really enjoyed this movie.  I have to say that I didn't really like the remake even when watching it for the first time, but this one used my time wisely.

          I suggest this, if you have seen the remake, I still suggest you watch Gin Gwai.  It's a really good movie.  If you haven't seen the remake or this one, watch Gin Gwai and skip the remake.  The original tells a more complete story.