Dark Water - Japan

          Director:  Hideo Nakata
          Year:  2002
          Plot:  “A mother and her 6 year old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water.”


          I have been wanting to watch this movie since I read The Ring by Koji Suzuki.  This is of course based off Dark Water, one of his other books.  I was finally able to see it, and I am happy that I got to.  It turns out that you can really tell that it was written by Koji Suzuki.
          This movie wasn’t scary in anyway.  The thing is though that it really didn’t have to be for me.  I had already expected not to be scared.  Many people had already told me it wasn’t going to be, so I wasn’t too surprised. I was also told though that it was also a very slow movie.  This one though didn’t really come into play.  Sure it takes awhile to get to the resolution, but it certainly has a lot of things to keep you interested in what is going on.  At no point did I consider turning off the movie because it was slow.
          The ending to this was kind of sad actually.  This isn’t something that is unheard of in Asian horror though.  I wasn't as surprised to find a sad ending rather than those I am used to in many American horror movies.

          I do suggest this movie to many.  If you want something scary though, I suggest you save this for another time.  It is a really good movie, but it lacks any real scary parts.  This is one that you should watch when you just need something to occupy you, not something really scary.

Phobia (4bia) - Thailand

          Directors:  Banjong Pisanthanakun, Paween Purikitpanya, Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, and Parkpoom Wongpoom

          Year:  2008

          Plot:  “4BIA is a Horror Anthology. The first segment, "Happiness (Lonely)" is about a lonely girl who corresponded with a stranger over hand phone text messaging and soon discovered something strange about this new stranger that she is attracted to.”

          Seen as this is an Anthology, I think it is just fitting to talk about this movie as each of the parts rather than talk about the movie in general.  So, First off is what was subtitled as Happiness, but used the same characters as Lonely.

          As far as this section goes, I really enjoyed it.  I have mentioned before that I really enjoy subtle hints that allow the viewer to guess what is going on before it happens.  I’m sure some people might not like this, but it is one of my favorite things.  This one definitely had a few hints that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I especially loved the “cramped” comment.  I won’t say more than that.

          I have to say that I would be really scared in the girls situation.  I definitely wouldn’t take it calmly, and neither did she.  Though I knew something was going to happen near the end, it still made me jump.  One of the reasons I love Asian horror.

          Now for Tit for Tat.  This one was good as well.  The only thing that I had an issue with was the CGI.  Now normally, bad CGI doesn’t get to me in Asian horror movies.  This is due to the fact that I know that there CGI isn’t very refined because they do not usually use it as much as in American movies.  With this one though, I couldn’t get over it.

          The CGI just took me out of the movie because it was a really big part of the last half of this section.  With bad CGI, it is better too show as little as possible, and not to have it as the focus point of too many shots.  That is another reason I can over look bad CGI in most Asian movies, it isn’t usually on screen for long.

          I did like the rest of this section though.  The deaths were pretty interesting though because I watched it on YouTube, it was fuzzy for much of it.  Still, it was pretty good.  I really wasn’t expecting the ending though.  I thought it was going to turn out differently, but was rather happy with how it unfolded.

          In The Middle, was rather entertaining to me.  It took many things from other movies, but it didn’t just copy them, they actually mentioned where they were from.  Usually I don’t think I would like a movie to do this, but because they did give credit, I actually kind of liked it.  I will say that if you haven’t seen The Sixth Sense, The Others, or Shutter (either Thai or American) don’t watch this as it will bring up some major spoilers.

          There were some pretty humorous parts to this one.  I couldn’t help but laugh when they started to freak out in the tent.  It comes at a point that is pretty tense, and I just felt it looked way too funny.  I don’t know why, but I really didn’t see the ending coming.  Looking back, I know I should have seen it with all the movie mentions and all, but sadly I didn’t.  I mean I didn’t even see it coming until they turn it over.  

          I guess I actually liked this section without even really knowing why.  It wasn’t really scary, but neither were the movies The Sixth Sense or The Others, which this movie mentions.  All three however were rather good movies.

          Finally, Last Fright.  I have to say that this one got to me.  It isn’t too often that a short can get me to jump more than once, and that’s for a good short too.  This one though got me at two different points, and was just pretty well done for me.

          I do have to say that the ghost was pretty disgusting.  I have no problem with blood, decapitation, amputation, sticking things in eyes, and so on, but I couldn’t look at this ghost for more than a few quick glances.  I think if I would have looked for long I would have felt sick to my stomach.

          I have too say that I didn’t really feel completely sorry for the woman.  Sure the Princess was a rather cruel but to actually ignore such a warning is just wrong.  I mean yeah, she was being horrible, but that is only because the attendant did something wrong first.  Maybe this should be shown as a warning to some people.  n.n

          Anyway, I actually liked this section.  It did start off a bit slow, but in the end it turned out rather good.

          I would definitely suggest giving this anthology a shot.  It definitely surprised me that this movie turned out to be as good as it did as a whole.  Now I am going to have to watch Phobia 2.