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

Death Bell - Korea

          Director:  Yoon Hong-Seung
          Year:  2008
          Plot:   "After Kang Yi-na is nearly strangled and another student throttled in the restroom, the classroom TV screen switches to an image of top-ranking student Hye-yeong trapped inside a fish tank that is slowly filling with water. A disembodied voice announces that her life depends on the exam questions he will set for them, and that a student will die for every question the class gets wrong."


          I have to say that I found this movie pretty entertaining.  The storyline is pretty good and kept together well with the death scenes.  I wasn't however scared by a single point in the entire movie.  It just wasn't scary.  I suppose this has to do with the fact that the deaths and such were very impersonal.  I was however very upset when one of the guys died, not going to say who, but I liked him.  Lately it seems my favorite characters are always the ones who get it.
          Oh yeah.  The thing that kept me interested was the questions that tried to point out the truth about a girl's suicide.  You constantly try to figure out what is really going on when watching the movie, but this isn't possible until the end.  I love movies that attempt to challenge you, though this one is not possible for you to solve on your own before the ending.  Despite that it was still very entertaining to watch.
          The only other problem I had with this movie, other than it not being scary, was most of the students.  They got on my nerves a lot, but that is pretty normal for horror movie characters.  It was the main two students who held the stupidity and craziness of the others in some sort of balance.  Without those two, the story wouldn't have held up with the other students involved.


          This movie is one that I do suggest, though not really for those who are looking for any scares.  However, though it may not be scary, the storyline is interesting enough not to waste your time entirely.

Ju-Rei - Japan

          Director:  Koji Shiraishi
          Year:  2004
          Plot:  "Japanese school girls die violently after seeing a man wearing a black hood."


          So many said that this movie wasn't all that great, but I decided to watch it anyway.  This movie is the lame version of Ju-on.  It isn't anything special, though it did get two jumps out of me.  It still wasn't scary.  The jumps only came because of things popping out of no where.  The ghosts were rather boring.  They have nothing on Kayako.
          The one thing this movie did have going for it, was the way it was told.  I did enjoy the chapter idea where they went from chapter 10 back to the beginning.  This brought about an interesting aspect to a movie that would have otherwise been a complete and utter waste of time.
          I actually stuck around to the end because I wanted to know how the whole thing started.  The problem was that they don't tell that part very well.  Sure they show you pieces through the news clip and the teachers story, but that's about it.  You never really find out about this black shadowed person, just the fact that its scary and going to kill you if it touches you.
          Not exactly the best plot starting point if you ask me.  I think it may have been better if they elaborated more on the original ghost figure and not focused on the mother and child.  The original ghost started everything, yet as far as I can tell, we never even saw it.


          This is not a movie I would suggest.  Sure it got a few jumps but that wasn't because the ghosts were scary.  Also the format of the storytelling was interesting as it was being told backwards, but it didn't save the movie from being average.

A Tale of Two Sisters - Korea

          Director:  Ji-woon Kim
          Year:  2003
          Plot:  "Two sisters who, after spending time in a mental institution, return to the home of their father and cruel stepmother. Once there, in addition to dealing with their stepmother's obsessive and unbalanced ways, an interfering ghost also affects their recovery."


          So I finally decided to watch this one after seeing it a number of times listed on peoples top Asian horror movies lists.  I have to say that it is a good movie.  I don't really consider it horror; there was nothing scary about it.  Now that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the movie, it just wouldn't be on my top list of horror movies.  More like top list of mystery or thriller movies, seen as I reserve top horror for those that actually scare me.
          Anyways, like I said I did enjoy this movie.  It was really well made and the plot kept you guessing until the end, and I am saying this having known what the truth was about the girls, somebody spoiled it for me.  Even knowing that little plot twist, I was still surprised by the results of the movie.  Even though the stepmother or what ever wasn't as bad as she is portrayed, I still couldn't stand her.  The whole thing was her fault anyway.  She could have tried to save everyone from the pain they go through, but instead she walks away.
          The relationship of the girls is touching and leads to a sad movie.  This is another reason I wouldn't classify this as horror.  Though there have been other movies that have been touching and even made me cry, but have still been horror, but that is because they actually had scary scenes.  Like I said, this one did not have any scares in it for me, but the movie was wonderful.


          This is one movie that has been suggested many times, and rather rightfully so.  If you want something really scary, put this one off for later, but definitely watch it.  The story is so well done, it won't be a waste of your time.

Masters of Horror - Dream Cruise - Japan/America

          Director:  Norio Tsuruta
          Year:  2007
          Plot:  "Absolutely terrified of the sea, an American lawyer reluctantly goes on an ocean cruise to be near the wife of a client, with no idea of the grim situation that awaits them all."


          I think i had expected a little more of this movie.  The story was just not put together enough for me.  Sure we got the basics, but there wasn't enough of anything for you to really care about the characters.  I really couldn't have cared less if one of them died, and it did bother me greatly that only one person dies (minus the already dead ghosts).  I have to say that the ghost was creepy, for the first few minutes.  Then the green glowing got really cheesy, and the movie fell apart.
          This wasn't the greatest movie, but then again it wasn't the complete worst either.  I had some time to kill and this did the job.  It wasn't the best, but the ghost of Sean did save the movie a bit in my mind.  The problem is that the ghost of Naomi is a vengeful spirit.  She wouldn't have just stopped like that.


          Unless you have absolutely nothing better to do, skip this one.  Like I said, unless you are really bored this one is not going to entertain you.  It isn't really scary at all.