Ab-normal Beauty

Name: Sei Mong Se Jun (HK), Ab-normal Beauty (English Title)

Director: Oxide Pang

Release Date: November 4, 2004

Introduction:

Unlike some of the earlier films I've reviewed, this movie is directed by only one of the Pang brothers; in this case, Oxide Pang. However, the Pang brothers completed two movies as part of this set, the other being Leave Me Alone directed by Danny Pang. The two movies share only one thing in common: the car crash in both movies are the same one. The rest of the separate movies have nothing to do with each other. Leave Me Alone is more of a thriller while Ab-normal Beauty makes a foray into the horror genre.

Synopsis:

Jiney is a self-absorbed rich-girl-turned-tormented-art-student suffering from parental neglect. The only one that truly cares for her well-being is Jas, her close friend and possible lover (kinda strange, considering how the two are actually SIBLINGS in real life). There's a boy that's interested in her, but she pays him no mind, unless it's to act out her own perversely morbid fantasies. After happening upon a car accident, she is fascinated by the dead body of the woman and takes pictures of the gruesome scene with her camera. Afterwards, she develops an unhealthy obsession with death, which ultimately leads her into a the hands of a murderer.

Review:

Visually, I would say that Abnormal Beauty is stunning, the colors especially. Oxide Pang certainly has a thing for greens, yellows, and reds! The acting was fairly good, considering how the two female leads are originally singers and not actors. To me, the lesbian undercurrents between Jiney and Jas could have been more developed if Oxide Pang had decided to go that route. The plot was a little simplistic IMHO. I would say that the movie focused more on the horror moments than the storyline as a whole (there could have been way more development). Aside from that, I would call this more a thriller than a horror. It was fairly entertaining, though I got a bit bored at other times. I do give it points for being refreshing in teh sense that hey! No creepy long haired ghost thing!

Ratings:
Entertainment: 6
Scares:5
Gore:7

Video:
LINK: Watch Ab-normal Beauty

The Eye II

Name: The Eye II (USA), Gin Gwai 2 (Hong Kong)

Director: Pang Brothers

Release Date: March 18, 2004

Introduction:

The Pang Brothers decided to made a sequel to their well-received movie The Eye, and this was the result. The movie stars Shu Qi, a Taiwanese actress who has made a rather eclectic collection of films, including some soft-core porn. Though it appears that The Eye II is a sequel, the only way that this movie is related to the first is that both of the main characters can see ghosts after some sort of major even that happened in their lives. As I've mentioned before, The Chinese name literally translates to "seeing ghosts," which makes the premise of the sequel seem more logical.

Synopsis:

Joey is a woman with man troubles. After being rejected by her boyfriend, she tries to commit suicide in a hotel, but gets her stomach pumped. However, her brush with death through suicide enables her to see ghosts. Along with this disturbing discovery, Joey also realizes that she is pregnant. though she considers an abortion, she becomes tormented with her thoughts and becomes unstable. Joey notices that she is constantly haunted by a strange woman. Thinking that this ghostly woman means to harm her baby, she is scared of her and determined to discover her origins, leading to rather troubling results...

Review:

The Eye II was a decent enough horror flick, but it lacks the polish and cohesiveness of the original. All of the key plot points are present, but I feel like there's something missing, like a finally barrier separating the audience from the film. I don't feel like Shu Qi's character is particularly likeable. She seems cold and unstable, so I ended up not liking her as much as I liked Mun from the first movie. Some of the scares were just not effective. They struck me as being incredibly fake, and I felt like the final climactic scene was just too long and repetitive, causing me to lose interest.

On the other hand, there was an interesting back-story and an novel take to reincarnation. The movie was well paced, and fairly engaging storyline. I liked the rape scene, but I wish that there could have been more character development. All in all, it was worth a watch, if nothing else. I had higher expectations because the first movie was SO GOOD (go watch it!!), but I would say that The Eye II was decent. Save it for a evening at home with some friends. Quite good with popcorn, but not so much if you're grossed out by fetuses.

Ratings:
Entertainment: 6
Scares: 4
Gore: 6

Video:

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Cinderella

Name: Cinderella

Director: Man-dae Bong

Release Date: August 17, 2006

Introduction:

As I'm sure you've heard, Asian women have a fat for plastic surgery, and chief among these are South Korean women. Lately, it has gotten to the point where even Korean men are partaking in this commonplace after school activity. New eyelids are given as graduation presents; jaw shavings and nose jobs as birthday presents. Of course, common surgery can easily be viewed as a rather expensive method of self-improvement, but in this Korean horror film, plastic surgery can also be deadly to both your physical and mental health. This is the second movie from director Man-dae Bong.

Synopsis:

The film opens a flashback of a birthday gone horribly wrong, then immediately flashes to an incredibly inaccurate plastic surgery performed on a young Korean women seeking a jaw reduction. The surgeon, Yoon Hee, has a lovely daughter who is friends with the girl being operated on. The daughter, Hyeon Su, is not obsessed with facial reconstruction, unlike most of her friends. The two of them seem to have a wonderful and close mother-daughter relationship, until Hyeon Su's friend that was operated upon begins to be tormented by visions of a vengeful ghost with long black hair (we haven't seen that before...) Soon, it becomes apparent that Yoon Hee is hiding a deep dark secret, and trouble brews as it slowly begins to surface...

Review:

I kind of enjoyed this movie. It seems to lack a certain depth though. I mean, really good horror movies tend to pull you into them so that feel like actually in there witnessing all of these events. A really good movie in general has you sympathize with the characters and become genuinely interested in the happenings of their lives. Cinderella lacked this sense of depth. Also, very bad title choice in my opinion. You can sort of draw the stepmother-daughter-stepdaughter connection a little, but for the most part, no. It doesn't work all that well. The main characters themselves were portrayed by fairly decent actresses, but they still left me feeling incredibly cold (no ice pun intended, if you see the film, hehe). The pace is also *quite* slow and the character development was a bit limited for my tastes.

I know, kind of harsh, but that doesn't mean that I hated the movie. For one, the visuals were quite pretty, so it was a pleasant movie to watch, and I ultimately did become emotionally moved by the plight of the two girls, though that was largely due to the incredibly tragic storyline. The scares though, were CHEAP. At the end, they put in this half-hearted attempt to scare you that mostly did not work at all. I am easily frightened. The X-Files once scared me so hard that I couldn't sleep for five weeks. This movie did not scare me all that much. I slept fine.

All in all, it had a good plot-line and back story, but I feel like the director didn't let it live up to it's full potential. Basically, a possibly good movie with incredibly bad editing.

NOTE: The ending is incredibly ambiguous and maybe it's because I spaced out while attempting to watch this, but if you can figure it out, leave me a message/comment, I'd be glad to discuss the two interpretations of the end that I came up with.

Ratings:
Entertainment: 6
Scares: 4 (unless you're into the overdone long haired ghost thing)
Gore: 7 (lots of knives into faces. and the ice thing....why would you DO THAT??)

*watch it if you're bored, just get ready to be incredibly confused*

Video:

Online Videos by Veoh.com

You have to download this in order to watch it if you don't speak Korean because it's not subbed.
I am including the CrunchyRoll version as well, though the video quality is not so good.

Cinderella Crunchy Roll Video Link

Shutter

Name: Shutter

Director: Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wangpoom

Release Date: September 9, 2004

Tagline: Have you ever carefully looked at your pictures?

Introduction:

You have all heard that the camera can capture your soul in a photo, but what if it could capture the images of those already dead? This Thai movie explores this concept of ghostly images captured by an unsuspecting photographer, leading to chilling results. I would say that this is probably one of the best films to come out of Thailand. Although they seem to mass-produce horror films, most of them are rather cliche and not all that enjoyable. Another film I will be reviewing in the future is called 13 Beloved, which is another very good example of Thai cinema at its finest. Shutter is being made into an American remake, so if you don't want to read subtitles, I'm sure you'll get the general gist of it with the American version. As always, I strongly urge you to see the original first.

Synopsis:

Tun is a photographer that lives with his girlfriend Jane. While driving home from a wedding, they accidentally hit a woman on the street. Fearful of the repercussions of their actions, they drive away from the scene though Jane is reluctant to leave the woman behind. Afterwards, Tun begins to see ghostly figures lurking in his photographs. Also, he has a mysterious neck ache that doctors cannot seem to find the cause of. Soon, Tun's friends begin to kill themselves off one by one. There seems to be a dark secret shared between Tun and his friends that has finally surfaced to come and haunt them all...

Review:

Shutter was a well-paced movie for the most part, and I would say that it's probably one of the scariest that I've reviewed so far. The images of the ghost were truly, truly disturbing. *shudder* Also, you can't help but feel a little sorry for Tun, and especially for the poor little ghost girl. I might close my eyes and see her crawling up my bedsheets, but I still want her to find happiness eventually.

A very good film from Thailand, so good, in fact, that the Americans have stolen the idea *again* and made a remake which recently came out in theaters. As you all know I'll say, watch the original! And Asian chicks are totally hot, so you might as well see one here :)

Ratings:
Entertainment: 9
Scares: 9 (omg, I freaked out so hard...don't watch this with the lights off!)
Gore: 6....ewww things in jars.

*Highly Recommended*

Video:

Online Videos by Veoh.com