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.

Evil Twin - Korea

          Director:  Kin Ji-Hwan

          Year:  2007

          Plot:  “A peaceful Joseon village is disturbed by the sudden awakening of So-yeon, a young lady who has been in a coma after surviving a drowning accident 10 years before.  But So-yeon's identical twin sister Hyo-jin, who also fell into the lake, was not so fortunate.  Unable to rest in peace, Hyo-jin returns as a phantom and a series of unnatural deaths ensues.  Eerie weeping sounds presage the appearance of the "han" or grudge-ridden ghost, who takes one victim after another.”

          More than once, I had thoughts about turning off the movie.  The problem was that this movie was so confusing, I wanted to know what was going on.  That really was the only reason I watched this movie till the end.

          The deaths in this movie were really pointless.  That’s not something I usually say during a horror movie.  They really didn’t add any edge for me whatsoever.  It also didn’t help that our grudge style ghost was in no way scary.  Most of the time it just stood in one spot.  It’s not the grudge like ghost that bothers me, as I love that style, but it didn’t do very much.

          I also have to say that the big secret reveal was a complete flop in my opinion.  I love movies where I can have some idea about the truth before it is revealed.  I love the “Ah!  I was right!” moments, but this one didn’t really give me that.  The fact was so obvious to me that I really didn’t have any doubt as to the characters true identity.

          I must admit that there was one truly good part of this movie, and that was the ending.  No, not because it was finally over, but because I really enjoyed how it was done.  After the big reveal, mother and daughter end up on the dock and daughter ends up in the water.  Things turn into the same situation as 10 years prior and the mother has to choose again.  I love the choice that she makes, as it would be the only right way to deal with a ghost like that.

          I would suggest skipping this movie.  The only way I would suggest this movie to someone is if they were extremely bored and had no access to anything better.

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.

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.

Uzumaki (Spiral) - Japan

          Director:  Higuchinsky
          Year:  2000
          Plot:  "In a small town in Japan, Kirie comes upon her boyfriend's father silently videotaping a snail. He seems unaware of her presence and she thinks no more of it. Later, the mans obsession with spirals becomes more and more bizarre, ending in his suicide in a washing machine which turn his body into a spiral. Soon other inhabitants become possessed with different forms of spirals, one student seems to be mutating into a snail, an other's hair becomes strangely medusa-like. The entire town becomes possessed."


          I am not sure exactly why I liked this one so much.  This is a live action of a Manga of the same name, though I have never read the manga.  I am thinking that I might just have to after seeing this movie.
          Now this is marked as being horror and comedy, but I guess I missed the comedy parts.  Sure, some of the stuff in the movie was a little ridiculous, but I didn't really see where the comedy came in.  The horror part was rather evident.  Not really in a scary sense, though it did get a jump out of me a few times.
          It was more of the fact that with everything going on, there was little the main characters could do to stop it.  You don't even know for sure if they could have escaped if they had known in time.  Now that isn't a spoiler, because I am not going to tell you who or if any survives.  I just mean that the characters might have been able to escape all they witnessed if they left the town.  They may not have been able to though.
          This movie also had its sweet parts.  I have to say that one of my favorite parts was the scene at Dragonfly Pond.  It is such a sweet scene, but I guess it is more of a bittersweet.  I won't tell why I feel this way, but one of the reasons definitely has to do with all they see.  To have such a sweet scene amongst all the death and craziness, is definitely bittersweet in and of itself.
           I also want to mention that if you pay close attention throughout the movie, you will notice subtle spirals.  These can be seen swirling about the backgrounds of various scenes.  This is one movie that is interesting to pay attention to.


          I suggest watching this movie.  It is definitely an interesting one.  I am not sure how good it is to those that have read the manga, but I do know that it was a good movie to me, having never read the mange.    n.n