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Yeogo goedam 5: Dong-ban-ja-sal (2009)
good entertainment, but merely a simplistic horror movie
Series of American films, with special emphasis on those concerning the horror genre, are usually known by their apparent tendency to repetition and rapidly exhausting the originality sometimes achieved in the first film. The series Whispering Corridors is however the opposite of this American tendency, being apparently able in five films and ten years after to keep a simple premise and combining differently terror adjacent to ghost stories.
Contrary to some of the previous films in the series, A Blood Pledge clearly proposes itself explicitly as an horror movie, investing in concrete elements supposed to scare the viewer, and limiting in an obvious way the investment in the history plot. The film follows the possibly least interesting and most generic of the arguments registered in the series, although being the first that considers the topic of group suicide among students in Korea. The characters are particularly uninteresting (especially the main protagonist and the ghost), with ineffective and exaggerated acting being often registered. The explanation of the events is done in a slow pace, with no particular final twist (as commonly observed in the current panorama of classic Asian cinema). A Blood Pledge stands out as the first film repeating obvious elements previously used in the series, recurring to a few acceptably well done scares under the clear influence of Ringu. A wide range (not guaranteeing its effectiveness) of special effects is also used, usually with an unreasonable exaggeration of blood and a few laughable moments of attempt of terror (special emphasis on an exploding head...). All in all, A Blood Pledge still provides a good entertainment, but is merely a simplistic horror movie devoid of anything even considered remotely interesting.
Original review : http://asian-cineblog.blogspot.fr/2012/11/a-blood-pledge.html
See prang (2008)
Far from cohesive. One interesting segment nonetheless.
4bia is an anthology of four supposedly scary stories from four different Thai directors. Interestingly, horror movies' compilations allow the viewer to briefly explore and experience the many competences of different directors. Yongyoot Thongkongtoon (Happiness), Paween Purikitpanya (Tit for Tat), Banjong Pisanthanakun (In the Middle) and Parkpoom Wongpoom (Last Flight) delivered, in this particular case, four entirely distinctive segments reviewed below.
Happiness, the first segment, introduces the viewer to the story of a girl who has suffered a car accident, which has left her at home for the past three months with a broken leg. As she feels lonely at home, the main protagonist decides to answer an unknown text she receives in her cell phone. Review. Peculiarly, no dialog is registered during the whole movie and the plot is based for the majority of the film in only one character. A nerve-wracking atmosphere is chiefly well constructed considering the characteristics of the short story. Even though the film aspires to principally create a feeling of insecurity and suspense, the director tentatively cared to include a minimal explanation for the occurring events throughout the movie.
In Tit for Tat, a group of obnoxious teenagers attacks a classmate, eventually accidentally pushing him off of a speeding vehicle. The victim returns nevertheless to punish the ones that have maltreated him. Review. Tremendously ineffective and mind-numbing, the second installment of the anthology seems to be pitifully dragged for more than 20 minutes, making it an exercise in patience. The characters are extremely annoying, the acting is probably the worst of the four segments, the death scenes aren't even original, dreadful special effects, exacerbated amounts of blood coming out of one single body, stains of blood looking like red wine stains and with CGI being probably even worse than the one observed in a 0.49$ video game. All in all, Tit for Tat intends to be a tale of revenge although it only achieves being easily considered the worst segment of the movie.
In the Middle describes the adventure of four friends out camping. After spending the night sharing ghost stories, an unexpected accident happens the following day, as one of them appears to drown in the river. Review. From the beginning, an intended humorous component in the movie is observed, although it may seem out of place and particularly not that hilarious overall. Mentioning Shutter, his previous masterpiece, twice is also peculiarly awkward and quite embarrassing specially considering that the quality of In the Middle is visibly inferior to the referred movie. The stereotypical teenagers are mostly annoying borderlining a childish attitude and the plot is poorly developed. A final twist is registered at the end of the movie although not being particularly satisfactory.
With Last Flight, the viewer is introduced to the story of a stewardess that is chosen to be the only flight attendant on a flight taking home the body of deceased princess. Review. Contrarily to Banjong Pisanthanakun who was also, alongside with Parkpoom Wongpoom, the co-director of Alone and Shutter, the director in this case is able to deliver the most mature and disturbing segment of the anthology. The four installment of the compilation is by far the best developed and most interesting. With the plot being claustrophobically confined to an airplane, the movie is capable of creating an atmosphere of suspense and terror. Notwithstanding a predictable ending and a few well-known clichés in every Asian horror movie, the movie embraces a decent and well-constructed argument. The acting is quite superior as well to the one registered in the previous segments and overall, the short story appears to be the most consistent and solid of the four.
All in all, the movie clearly does not work as a whole, being far from cohesive. Interestingly though, a connection appears to have been created between the four segments, although it almost seems irrelevant at the end considering how distinctive the stories are and how the concept of facing fears is treated in each segment.
http://asian-cineblog.blogspot.pt/2013/10/4bia.html
Rinjin 13-gô (2005)
dark character study wrapped in surrealistic contours of a vengeance quest
The Neighbour No. 13 explores the consequences of humiliation, abuse and torture among young teenagers and children. Juzo Murasaki arrives at a work construction area to take on his new job. Unfortunately for him, his supervisor turns out to be Akai, the one that has previously tortured him when both of them were only young teenagers. After years of repressed memories, Juzo develops a psychopathic alter ego that finally decides to seek revenge against Akai and his family, in a surrealistic journey that dissects the fears and enraged violence inside the human mind.
Review The film is served in an exceptionally slow pace allowing the viewer to be submerged in the intriguing atmosphere in which a considerable number of disturbing scenes simply tend to pile up, notwithstanding no further clue of the upcoming events being expected. The violence in The Neighbour No. 13 is thoroughly presented throughout the movie, alternating with traces of humorous moments and apparently childish scenes. The scenes appear to be fairly well-orchestrated by the director, being presented in a particularly raw and cruel way, thus enhancing a feeling of repulsion since the type of violence and to whom it is addressed is indeed the most disturbing side of the violent behavior in this case.
As the number of flashbacks tends to increase, Juzo is apparently sent into a downward spiral, leaving him desperate to gain control of his own mind. Surrealistic unorganized events, sometimes-incomprehensible perspective and grotesque animated scenes contribute to perfectly illustrate Juzo's disconnection from the reality. Nonetheless, towards the end of the movie however, the last scenes will eventually tie up any loose ends and a possible feeling of confusion that has been build up throughout the film.
The physical characterization of Juzo and his revenge driven created alter ego is also of particular interest as Juzo appears as a delicate young man and No. 13 is better described as a disturbing disfigured emotionless creature. The scenes representing Juzo's mind were particularly well shot and quite bizarre in an interesting way. The remaining characters were for the most part attention-grabbers, even though rudeness and bullying can easily borderline annoyance, which was fortunately not the case in the movie. There is no particular character development for the most part excepting Juzo himself as the film represents his own journey, facing his own fears and demons and finding the necessary empowerment.
Bottom line, The Neighbour No. 13 may be described as a dark character study wrapped in surrealistic contours of a vengeance quest, that as clearly something to say about standing up for yourself and fighting back against anybody or anything, allowing the viewer to explore the consequences and costs when repressed hatred and revenge become a part of anyone's reality.
Asian-cineblog.blogspot.com
Kuchisake-onna (2007)
Disappointing to say the least
After penning Noroi: The Curse, one of the scariest J-horror movies of the last decade, Kôji Shiraishi decided, two years later, to focus on the Japanese urban myth of the slit mouth lady, which has been known in Japan for several generations. The legend has survived and has spread as any other urban myth, with the story of a woman asking the ones who cross her path if she is pretty and consequently showing them the hideous scar on her face and thus either killing them or disfiguring their face in a similar way. Among other terrifying (and sometimes hilarious) details, the slit-mouthed woman is supposed to carry with her a pair of scissors as her weapon, being able to run up to 100 km/h and having a bizarre interest in special Japanese candies. Interestingly enough, the director has however decided to distance from the urban myth, although one character refers the fact that the rumors of the slit mouth lady have been heard for decades. The appearance of the evil entity is, as always, explained on the basis of a cruel vengeful spirit that comes back for revenge, as it became a cliché in the J-horror panorama for the last few years. The plot lacks consistency, and even though the history of the slit-mouthed woman is well explained and detailed during the movie, bottom line, her initial appearance appears to be left to interpretation although a few possibilities may come to mind – the result of an earthquake and the opening of her own tomb, the result of a critical mass of believers sharing the rumors of the story of an evil entity, or simply the fact that her appearance may seem to symbolize an explanation for adult's cruelty towards children.
Unfortunately during the movie, events simply seem to carelessly pile up, with a few scenes being particularly dumb to say the least. No effort is put into creating an atmosphere of intrigue. The repressed memories of professor Matsuzaki simply came back off a sudden when he visited his old home. No crescendos were registered, no increasing tension or hype were observed before each appearance of the slit mouth lady. Something could have been said regarding the abusive treatment and negligence towards children during the film, as well as the consequences of violence and these abuses. Unfortunately, the number of abusive or neglecting mothers would just serve as a way to keep the evil spirit coming back. In fact, violence is somehow excused in these cases as a result of insanity or an abrupt change of the familiar background.
Apart from the female teacher, the remaining characters were particularly uninteresting. The majority of the scenes lacked credibility, the abductions were always particularly random, and no patterns were observed with the slit-mouthed woman usually coming out of nowhere. Contrarily to what is usually common, the present ghost entity exhibited a physical body. For some reason however, the characters would not be able to fight back, being hilariously knocked down unconscious after being slapped by the slit mouth lady herself. Which is usually used to explore supernatural powers, was in this case a sequence of characters staring at the ghost, gasping, screaming and crawling, as the slit-mouthed woman, wearing heels, would continually kick each one of them.
The making-of suggested Kôji Shiraishi didn't put a particular effort or thought into the plot, with the movie being shot in a considerably short period of time. Probably as a result, the film seems to lack consistency and interest for the most part, with a few elements of interest being nonetheless terribly explored.
Asian-cineblog.blogspot.com
Noroi (2005)
Particularly decent as a found-footage movie
Noroi relies on tension building, being expected to be particularly intriguing with a satisfying twist at the end. The movie was particularly hyped as one of the scariest films to be watched. Limited CGI effects and visually disturbing moments were used which allowed the fear to be mainly psychological, leaving imagination to create itself an atmosphere of terror. Dead pigeons acting as a death omen, ritualistic symbols, disturbing videotaped sleepwalking scenes, massive suicides, resurrecting demons, characters simply loosing any shred of sanity they once had, exorcisms and even ghost fetus are all great elements that were effectively used. The camera-work was particularly satisfying inevitably reminding a few The Blair-witch Project scenes, especially towards the ending during a few moments shot at night deep in a forest. Therefore, while Noroi won't scare the viewer per se, an unsettling feeling of insecurity throughout the film will most likely be well appreciated. A large number of loose ends are left for interpretation, which is however usually characteristic of found-footage movies as it allows an atmosphere of desperation to be prolonged as the film becomes to an end.
The construction of Noroi as a found-footage documentary is particularly satisfying. No credits were added at the end for example, the shooting and image quality are distinct during the different scenes and the use of different documentaries and news footage allowed making the story more grounded in reality. A few scenes were however by some means irrelevant. The pacing was slightly off during the first half of the movie, although the editing, the back and forth of a few disturbing moments and a few frozen-frames helped keeping the tension of the movie. Overall, the acting is satisfying as well. Regrettably, a few characters are particularly exaggerated borderlining a feeling of exasperation. Nonetheless, the overall character construction and development allows the viewer to create a connection with the demon itself, as each character appears to develop different ways to connect with the unknown entity, either by being able to hearing it, feeling it or even potentially seeing it.
All in all, the creepiness factor and the editing are all major points that are easily subjective. Furthermore, found-footage movies always seem to exhibit a thin line between credibility and fakeness. The plot, the argument and ultimately each scene shall imperatively be studied in order to allow the reliability of the film to be kept. Unfortunately, the shaking camera is sometimes extremely exaggerated and scenes in which the person holding the camera struggles to keep holding it are somehow extremely implausible or even inconceivable.
Even if considering it one of the scariest horror movies ever may however seem to be slightly overrated, bottom line Noroi succeeds as the movie it attempts to be, with a sense of increasing suspense and rising horror competently culminating in the final scene.
Asian-cineblog.blogspot.com