Art of the Devil - Thailand

          Director:  Tanit Jitnukul
          Year:  2004
          Plot:  “Boom, pregnant from an affair, is told by her lover to leave him and his family alone.  Enraged, she goes to a witch doctor and has him use black magic against her ex-lover and his family.  They all die in suspicious manners.  Just when Boom thinks everything is over, a woman claims her ex-lover’s inheritance and moves in to his house with her family.  Not long after that, unexplainable things begin to happen to them.”


          I put this one off for awhile, as I had seen it mentioned many times.  I never seemed to have the urge to watch it, and now I understand why.  I am not saying that this was a bad movie, but it wasn’t very great either.  This one definitely didn’t really leave any lasting impression on me.  It was decent for the time I was watching it, but not really to see again.
          I have to say I didn’t like the way that this movie was told.  Some movies it is okay to see out of order and actually enjoy it.  This one was just irritating.  It begins by showing the beginning of the end, then goes back and tells bit by bit with adding some bits of the end in as well.  I might not have found anything wrong with this, if the rest of the movie was more entertaining.
          I also didn’t like the fact that the end parts were black an white, they just looked kind of cheap.  I don’t usually like to say stuff like that because many actually cheaply done movies look great.  The black and white scenes though looked very cheap to me while I was watching the movie.
          I do have to say that the scene with Neng in the hospital was rather gross.  It was about the only scene that stuck with me.  All of the other deaths were rather lackluster to me.  The characters were also a little lackluster.  Boom was the worst to me.  The character just seemed a little flat.  Nothing but the Neng scene shocked, surprised, or astounded me.


          I would suggest to skip this movie if you are expecting something thrilling.  It isn’t going to be much to watch, but it might be good if you have nothing else to do.  Though I wouldn’t necessarily suggest watching this movie, it really isn’t horrible, just not good.  Also the relatively poor quality of this movie isn't going to deter me from giving Art of the Devil 2 a shot sometime.  n.n

Rumah Darah (Macabre) - Indonesia

          Director:  Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto
          Year:  2009
          Plot:  “Two newly weds Adjie and Astrid, along with 3 of their best friends decided to have an interstate road trip as a last attempt to reconcile Adjie with his estranged little sister Ladya. Their trip is however abruptly interrupted when they run into Maya, a strange girl out of nowhere, who wanders aimlessly into their path. "I've been robbed" is all she has to say.”


          This happened to be another movie that I have seen mentioned in a few recommendations that I had been putting off.  It also didn’t help that I have had a lot of homework from college and haven’t had much movie time.  When I did get a slight break from my homework, I decided to give this movie a shot.
          As far as the storyline goes, I was rather happy with this movie.  It kept me pretty interested throughout the whole movie.  I absolutely loved the portrayal of Darah.  I have to say she is rather creepy just in herself.  The rest of the movie wasn’t creepy or scary to me.  I am usually not a big fan of slasher type movies, but this one was still rather good.
          As far as the gore in this movie went, it was all pretty good.  There were points where the stuff looked as fake as it really was, but because I was really interested in finding out what was up with Darah, it didn’t matter much.  
          The characters really do hold this movie together well.  Beyond wanting to know about Darah, the best character was Ladya.  Usually I have problems with the standard horror movie theme that also plays in this one, but this one did it very well.  It is always fun to see a girl fighting back especially when it is effective.  


          I definitely suggest giving this movie a shot.  Despite some of the fake looking gory scenes, the storyline is rather good.  Its ending is a lot like a typical American slasher movie, but this one pulls it off better than most in my opinion.

Bloody Reunion - Korea

          Director:  Dae-wung Lim

          Year:  2006

          Plot:  "A group of elementary students return years later to visit their former teacher-who has recently took ill-in the countryside.  Once the group arrives, the film briefly jumps back and forth between the past and present, showing us that this sweet teacher (Mrs. Park) had a cruel side to her.  We also find out that most of her former students have murderous intentions towards their teacher.  And they're not the only ones with murderous intentions."

          The plot doesn't sound too great.  It seems to be a little chaotic with all the information that they suggest in the plot, but the plot isn’t really as chaotic.  It isn’t hard to keep track of things while you watch this movie.

          The storyline of this movie was rather lacking for me.  It had a twist in the end that made me think, "Are you kidding me?"  It wasn't that the story was shocking or anything.  It was that you spend the whole time on something that didn't happen as it is told.  Those kind of movies always make me made.  It just seems to be a copout and is pretty much the equvalent of saying it was all a dream.

          Even though the storyline was rather irritating, there are a few gory scenes that are enjoyable.  I am more of a plot makes a good movie kind of person rather than one who would rather see a lot of gore and a shabby plot.  However, I still liked this movie.  It is odd for me, but the gore really made this movie quite memorable.

          Check out this movie if you like gore.  It doesn't have an over abundance of gore but what it does have might just stick with you.  Though, if you want a clever plot and a creepy atmosphere, you might want to skip this one.