Art of the Devil (khon len khong) - Movie Review

ART OF THE DEVIL

Synopsis:

Art of the Devil tells the tale of a young Thai girl (Boom), who begins an affair with a married man named Prathan and sooner finds herself pregnant. Whe she breaks the news to Prathan, he tries to settle for giving her a sum of money in exchange for her silence. But, he then wakes her up in the middle of the night saying he had the right to share her for that large amount of money. Prathan recorded a video as his friends chase the terrified Boom out of the room and apparently gang rapes her. Later, booms shows up at the restaurant where prathan's daughter is celebrating her birthday and tells him the money he paid her is not enough but he pulls her outside and hits her tossing cash at her and warning her to not come near his family. Mad, Boom seeks help with the aid of black magic user to revenge on her ex lover and his entire family causing the eldest son to shoot his girlfriend, little sister and own self. Boom is later hit by a car and she loses her baby. Prathan's first wife inherits his fortune and Boom again uses black magic to kill this family of five to claim the inheritance but a young reporter becomes suspicious so Boom also arranges for his death. Boom killed herself by jumping from the roof of the hospital upon seeing her daughter's ghost while only the eldest daughter and youngest son survived the massacre.

Review:
One word to describe Art of the Devil: HARDCORE. Do not watch this film while eating or after eating cause it would definitely turns your stomach upside down. This is one of the most disturbing films I have watched, ever. It's not only about the gore, but the brutal and gruesome presentation of torture and sadistic dismemberment.  Characters die in the worst possible death. Though it does not possess those hair raising feelings that the film "Shutter" gave me, it gave me unique chill, that made me close my eyes or feel  something in my stomach.

The Lords of Salem - Movie Review

The Lords of Salem

Synopsis:
The Lords of Salem tells the story of Heidi who is  a DJ on a radio station in Salem. She received  a strange wooden box containing a weird recording that triggers flash backs of bizarre occurrences in the town's past. Is Heidi just going mad or there is a much darker force behind these strange flash backs.

Review:
The Lords of Salem is created by the singular mind of Rob Zombie. I have seen two of his other experimental films: House of 1000 corpses and the sequel The Devil's Rejects - both with graphic violence. I can say that The Lords of Salem is less violent (nearly) but more gory and more twisted. While the other two are about Psychopaths going madder and ending up torturing people, this latest masterpiece of Rob Zombie comes from a darker and more twisted imagination. I saw lots of Satanic stuff like public burning, filthy witches, bloody rituals, sex and weird chants, masturbating priests, mass suicide and many more gory stuff. The story line is also not hard to understand for everything is told and explained. Though this film definitely would get negative reactions especially from normal audience, I gotta give credit to Rob Zombie and his twisted imagination. I don't know how to rate this movie but I must say I like the other film of Zombie more than this.

Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp - Movie Review

DEATH BELL 2

Synopsis:
A group of High School students and teachers got locked in their school where their swimming instructor was murdered. Two years ago, a high school student and swimmer (Jeong Tae-yeon) was found dead in the swimming pool and it was believed that she committed suicide. Tae-yeon's step sister (Lee Se-Hee) is haunted by a nightmarish visions and is bullied in school. Thirty students including Se - Hee are selected for an elite study camp to be held at the school during the summer break. The school's swimming trainer is murdered in the showers and more deaths will follow.

Review:
I was a bit disappointed with this follow up movie to the first Death Bell. While the story is far related to the first movie, the concept is the same, it's all about pay back time. There are some creepy shots with DB2 but I like DB better. Also, the characters in DB2 are sooooo boring and less interesting compared to the entertaining cast of DB. Finally, this is an average slasher movie and it did not exceeded my expectations.

Death Bell - Movie Review

Death Bell

Synopsis:
A group of twenty elite high school students who taking a special class for their college entrance exam are held captive and force to play a sadistic game of question and and answer. The TV screen switches to the image of the Top 1 student Hye-yeong in a fish tank slowly filling with water. A voice announces that her life depends on the questions he sets for the remaining students. A student will die for every incorrect answer to the questions. Trapped with the students are their teachers Hwang Chan-wook and Choi So-yeong. The main character (I-na) later discovered that they are killed through their rankings in class, and she is fifth in ranking. She with other classmates must discover who is behind this killings but the only fact she's sure of is that this is related to the incident which happened two years ago when a student was murdered. 

Review:
Death Bell is one of Korea's top grossing films of 2008. Personally, I like this movie more than other Asian slasher films. The deaths of the students are creatively staged, when I say creative think of the deaths in the SAW Franchise. Well, after taking a day off with Sadako-like ghosts or Twisted psychological Asian horror movies, Death Bell is a good diversion. Knowing that there's a real person behind the sadistic deaths pumped my heart beat a little. I also did not predicted that it's the guard who's behind the gruesome murders because of what happened to her daughter two years ago, The only thing I disliked about the film was the Death of kang Hyeon (Kim Bum), after all it's not always a happy ending. 

The Cabin in the Woods - Movie Review

The Cabin in the Woods

Synopsis:
Five friends travel to a remote cabin in the woods for a holiday to become victims of a stereotypically horror slasher plot.

Review:
I did not see it coming. This film do look like a typical slasher horror movie but man, I'm telling you, this is more you've bargained for, and there's always even more to the unexpected turn out of events as the film climaxed. I tried to not make any review of this film the minute I finished watching it, even though it

completely blown my mind and kept me paranoid for a couple of hours with "what lurks in the darkness," fro I decided just to keep it to myself for a while and let other people discovered alone what is buried deep in the storyline. The Cabin in the Woods is scary as the same time comedic and intriguing. The fact that the kids are being watched (by the people in the secret laboratory under the cabin) and their fates are decided by an uncontrollable force they do not know makes me think of movies like "Battle Royale" but infused with horror and other scary stuff. This is the movie for horror fanatics who are tired of predictable storyline and standard horror narrative scenes. Better watch the movie without knowing nothing about it (like what I did). End point is it's very satisfying for me and this is one of my favorite movies in the genre. I'm torn apart by the high unpredictability and electrocuted by the messed up turn out of events. I mean, I already know what happens to every horror movies I've watched, really bad things happens, twisted scenarios and gooey stuffs, but not like this where all the demons and scary entities were all in the same movie, hungry and excited to torn apart unsuspected victims. I am not even sure what type of dub genre this movie will fall. I super enjoyed this movie and I've never really seen anything to compare it with. There are plenty unanswered questions but it's better to leave something for the imagination. 

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia Movie Review

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia

Synopsis:
The film is based on the true story of the Wyrick Family, whose daughter, Heidi, began seeing allegedly ghosts from the 80's when they moved to a rural house. Heidi apparently befriends "Gordy" whom at first her parents believed to be her imaginary friend. She also sees another ghost named Con who tried to kidnap her. Her father (Andy) investigates and he finds out both men are dead. His wife (Lisa) on the other hand is a struggling medium who is going crazy due to sixth sense overdose. Lisa's sister (who also has 6th sense) moved on the Wyrick's property in a trailer van. When Heidi was taken, her parents will uncover the truth about the haunting which is connected with the underground rail road and an evil racist taxidermist.

Review:
Considering the creepy environment where the movie was shot, it should have been really frightening BUT except for the hanging scene of Lisa's sister, all the jump scare parts are very predictable. The staging of this movie was quite boring. While the cast seemed solid, acting was good and they tried to overpower the script, the problem is the film itself is hard to get through. I'm not saying to make it more like the unexpected turn of events that happened in Cabin in the Woods or add more gore factor like that of the Evil Dead but when a film uses a location like a small house on the woods, it's hard for the audience not to compare and expect for MORE EVIL, SCARIER, MORE GORY scenes. I'm not saying it's a bad movie it is just one of those typical movies I've watched that did not registered in my mind.

Bangkok Haunted 4 - The Child's Eye 3D Movie Review

Bangkok Haunted 4 - The Child's Eye 3D

Synopsis:
Six young vacationists from Hong Kong, Rainie and Lok who are a couple on the verge of breaking up, Siblings Ling and Rex, and another couple Ciwi and Hei, are stranded in Bangkok after a riot erupted and the airport is occupied by demonstrators who want to oust the prime minister. The driver takes them to a run down hotel called Chung Tai Hotel whixh is run by Chuen. Strange things start to happen as soon as they arrive. Rainie was haunted by a female ghost and Ling was attacked by a disembodied hand. At dinner, the three men mysteriously disappeared. The three girls, helped by a younger girl and her ghost seeing dog set out and tried to find their missing companions in the hotel's underground passages where they will soon discover a mysterious monster and the dark past encircling him.

Review:
 I heard that this film is the first 3D movie from Hong Kong but but sadly it didn't exceed my expectations. While it tries to level up with the Asian Horror stereotype it failed to capture my full attention. Why? It's because the idea of a human-dog hybrid, haunted hotel, revenging woman ghost don't fit with each other resulting to a very mixed up storyline. The staging of the claustrophobic slash jumpy scenes were also ineffective, thus, the staging of the riot outside was the better part of the film rather than the horror side of it. The acting sucks. They should have focus on the relationships more to make the story more likeable. I mean, besides Ranie, other characters especially that of the guys were mere back up, the story could go on without them, really. They should have given them more script or add some funny characters. The cause of everything was not explained, I mean. the story was very basic, wife killed their dogs and husband accidentally killed his wife when they argue, their hybrid kid grew up like an animal, ghost of the wife haunts and takes guests of the hotel... It doesn't makes sense and as I force my eyes to open and finish watching the movie, I ended up disappointed by the underwhelming finale. By the way, when I watched this movie it was dubbed in English adding up to my irritation for it sounds like an anime series rather than  a scary horror movie.

Evil Dead 2013 - Movie Review

EVIL DEAD 2013 

Synopsis:

A group of friends meet at an old cabin at the woods for a getaway that will support Mia in her attempt to stay clean after having an overdosed that almost resulted in her death. Upon entering the cabin, they discovered a door to the cellar where they found hanging corpses of animals, a shot gun and a book. Eric then inspected the book and read a passage aloud despite of the warnings written in it. This then casts  a demon that haunts Mia and the beginning of their nightmare. 

REVIEW: 

Evil Dead 2013 is one of my anticipated horror movies this year. And I am loosing my patience waiting for the screening here in the Philippines, and when I heard that Ayala Malls will be showing this film I immediately went to Trinoma (alone) to have a glimpse of this gory masterpiece. Well, it's R-18 rating definitely suggests that this is not for kids. I think it's not also for the people with weak heart and weak stomach haha. 

With comparison to the 1981 original, there were some things that were not exactly presented the way as it was. This remake was the first in the Evil Dead Franchise that was not directed by Sam Raimi, but  in the end even with a different director, this remake was produced by the same brains in the original Evil Dead trilogy. So I did expect to see a lotta of gore but was surprised on how good the movie was staged. 

This movie is full of crazy stuff like self mutilation, graphic violence, disfigurement, tree rape, bloody death scenes, and literally it rained blood as the movie climaxed. 

I can say that this remake exceeded the original when it comes to presentation of scenes - which is the realistic gore unlike in  the 1981 original which is more laughable

because of the lots of goo produced by the cursed characters. The acting was also damn superb. There were various jumpy scenes and lots of disgusting  parts where I almost throw up half way the film. I definitely recommend this film to all the hardcore horror/gory films fanatics who want to experience a new level of freaking and disgusting stuff.

The only thing I sort of dislike about this film is the ending, I mean, yes it is really a different ending  compared to the original because it's the possessed girl who survived (and I don't expected this scenario for I thought when that Idiot (Erick) recited a verse from the book they are all doomed to die.) Anyway, this is a great gory movie. 

Epitaph (2007) - Movie Review

EPITAPH - Movie Review
A photo album that dates back to 1942 into the intern days of Dr. Jung Nam at Ansaeng Hospital triggers the dark memories of his life. The memories include an arrange marriage and a fiancee who committed suicide, his encounters at the morgue when he was assigned to monitor it late at night, and his love escapade with a corpse that later will be revealed as the fiancee (whom he had never met). Other mysterious events soon takes place at the hospital: A young girl haunted by the ghost of her mother, and a psychotic serial killer targeting Japanese soldiers.




Review: 

While Epitaph is not that popular English speaking audience, I am sooo lucky to experience its commendable hair thrilling craft. The movie consists of three interwoven stories (that intersects with one another) which are presented in a very surreal genre of horror. The cinematography is extremely creepy. Though the plot which sort of have a dissociative identity disorder twist, confused me a lot, well it doesn't matter as long as it scares the hell out of me.  Story one is basically about a necrophiliac young intern, it mainly revolves inside the morgue. Story two is about a girl who survived an accident that killed her mom and step dad. One word to describe story two: incestuous! Story three is about a serial killer (or so it seems) who is targeting soldiers and later killed a nurse. Later the doctor will discover about the unbearable horrific truth.
It's really hard to keep track of every event happening in the movie due o it constantly jump from one period to another but the horror scenes were perfectly executed that's why you will never really get bored. Epitaph cannot be lined with the typical J-horror or other Asian horror films that stage creepy images of a ghostly woman with long black hair covering her face or distorted figures creeping and crawling everywhere. It has this deep dark force that will bond you with the characters especially with that of Asako's. Asako's story - my favorite of the three. This is where the ghost of the mother is beautifully presented -- gave me a hell of a nightmare for 2 nights :) 
Epitaph tried to elevate itself from the usual Asian Horror and it almost succeeded. I recommend this movie for anyone who wants to experience the creativity of Asians when it comes to the horror genre.