1
heartaem
England
I’m really mad with this film… It started off really well, held a very interesting premise but just… couldn’t hold it. It felt like a director and writer started this and then gave up after the first 10-20 minutes and handed it over to a completely different duo. It feels like a mash up and rip off of Ju-On and Pulse (2001). In fact, this most definitely ripped off Infection (2004) for sure.
By the end of this, I was working on data editing, not paying attention, looked up at random points and still completely understood what was going on. This film is an hour and seventeen minutes, yet you can literally watch 20 minutes and completely understand what’s going on, what’s happened, etc. 20 minutes of the entire film.
This had a brilliant premise, but for some reason it got completely screwed up. I want to see this again, but with a decent director and decent script.
There’s really not much to say on this… That’s it. This review is it.
Mediocre at best, a ton of ripping off and 1.5 of 2 stars are only for Wada Soko and his gothic-like presence on my screen. That’s… literally all I have to say. My friend owes me a drink. Try a different 2000s era Japanese horror, anything else is better than this.
I definitely won’t be watching anything else by Hayama Yoichiro willingly and not any time soon in any aspect of the idea of time.
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This review may contain spoilers
So, here I am. Two years on the site and 3 years watching South Korean media and I finally watch “Descendants of the Sun”. With an average rating of 8.8/10 over 36,639 users, this seemed like it would be an amazing watch.Now, it was pretty good, but not amazing.
First of all, I really, really did like this series. I thought it was pretty good for a few reasons.
The main reason, in fact is that, romance is not my genre. At all.
It is not something I willingly sit and watch (and truth be told, I did only watch this for Lee Jin Ki as Lee Chi Hoon). Now, normally, I’d have thrown the towel in as the romance started going, rolling my eyes, sighing heavily and coming back to this after a few months and struggled through it for the sake of completing it. For “Descendants”? I found there was actually a lot of other sub-plots going on that allowed me to remain glued to my screen and involved. The action plots were pretty superb, the medical knowledge was pretty on point with very little mistakes, and the disaster line made me cry over three episodes more times than I can count.
However, I have some qualms that really knocked the rating down for me.
On the “Descendants” media page, we’re given the tag ‘strong female lead’. I’m sorry but Kang Mo Yeon hating most men until she falls in love, meanwhile being a horrendous jealous pathetic woman constantly talking behind other’s backs just because they’re more successful than her is not in any form a strong woman. This was exhausting and I actually cared less about her than most of the characters. Romance wise, all I cared about was the third story line – not the second leads, but Song Sang Hyeon and Ha Ja Ae. I felt I connected more to their story than I did the whole fall in love romance line going on with Yoo Shi Jin and Mo Yeon. Eye rolling and boring, if I’m totally honest.
This goes the same for Dae Yeong and Myung Ju… why are they acting like cat and mouse and they despise each other when? It made no sense, and they were all boring save for Sang Hyeon and Ja Ae.
Secondly, again, the romance was just everywhere. She hates him, she wants to go on a date with him, he tells her he has a very important job, she respects he has a very important job, he goes to do his job, she gets annoyed, and breaks it off, then suddenly they’re paired up again and falling for each other all over again? Come on, at least be slightly more realistic than this. As much as I loved the acting from these Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo, I really didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters and it drove me up the wall. I also felt Jin Goo and Kim Ji Won had no chemistry between their characters; save the one hazmat scene, I didn’t feel any other feelings for them.
Other than these two points? I loved the drama. I loved the rest of it, I loved the characters, I loved so much about this. It’s just a shame that the two main points let me down quite a bit, but I would quite happily rewatch this in the future. A solid 7.5/10.
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This is a hard review to write and I'm trying to be nice but... this film was just boring. It has a very interesting premise and the actors are mostly solid enough to bring it around but it just... fell flat. I found myself bored, focused more on editing data on MDL than I was on the film, I couldn't focus on it, and almost fell asleep once or twice. The incorporation of the Grudge like sounds seemed much like a grab at trying to keep the audience listening – maybe it was inspired somewhat by the "Ju-on" films, maybe it was the same sound editor, but either way, it also fell flat. I really did try to like this but the only nice thing to really say is, "hey, this didn't 100% suck and come in at 1/10".
I'm a really big fan of Shiriashi Koji, and it pains me a little to be writing a mostly negative review for him, however, this is a nice look into where he started and how he developed and adapted when it comes up to films released after this.
More of an insight into a director rather than a horror film, "Ju-Rei" just left me wanting more and wishing I'd picked something else.
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Short 2: The Vampire Lives Next Door To Us
Director: Im Sang Soo
Rating: 4.5/5 [9/10]
The Vampire Who Lives Next Door follows a vampire who works in a morgue. He’s brought the body of a young woman who drowned at sea
Usually, I don’t review shorts unless I’m sure I’m going to be writing about them in the future so my thoughts are there on paper ahead of time, but for this one, I had to sit back and write a review.
One of the first things I noticed in this film, is that the vampire (Han Chang Ho – played by Ji Sung), is very “Johnny Depp-esque” in character. If you’ve seen some of Depp’s films such as Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, Sleepy Hollow, etc, you’ll know what I mean. This intrigued me greatly – it’s not a character role often played in films like this and it is something I enjoy. In fact, I’d even say Ji Sung pulled a Johnny Depp better than Johnny Depp in this aspect. It added a level of comedy to the film that was just right; enough to have a giggle but not take away fully from the serious aspect of what was going on.
All 4 actors in this – Ji Sung, Park So Dam, Kim Eung Soo, Jung Woo Joong; yes, even the more-support like roles – did absolutely stunning. I highly look forward to seeing more from all four of them and will be browsing their filmography in the future.
There’s been plenty of South Korean vampire pieces from 2010-2019 and a lot of them seem to blur together after a while, almost indistinguishable from one another. The Vampire Lives Next Door To Us is refreshing, comedic, and has its own symbolism that truly will stick in my mind for a while to come – and a reminder that sometimes, it’s better to go for a short than it is a feature length.
Im Sang Soo did absolutely wonders for this, and he is definitely earning a place on my favourite directors list for this one.
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Country 3: Philippines
Film: Sukob [The Wedding Curse]
Director: Chito S. Rono
Rating: 2/5 [4/10]
Sukob follows two women who get married only to find that a curse follows them, causing people in their lives to come to a tragic end or to simply disappear.
Sukob had a very good opening, including being one of the first horror films to jump scare me in about… 5 months? But after a promising first 20 minutes this film just… starts going downhill. This film becomes bland, not something desperately keeping your interest but just enough to keep it on whilst doing something else. I ended up doing laundry and cleaning my living room as I watched this, not really wanting to pay attention to it, but also not really wanting to turn it off either – one of those average films.
I didn’t really like any of the characters; they all felt boring and pretty underdeveloped. There wasn’t any character I wanted to see survive the film, or do well for themselves in anyway, and the cast didn’t really feel like they were giving it their all either.
I can’t remember how this film ended, if things were resolved, I’m pretty sure I forgot the entire last thirty minutes of the film – and I definitely watched it to the end credits. With the plot? Forgetting an entire quarter of the film doesn’t exactly bother me, either – I won’t be losing sleep over the fact I can’t remember that one defining plot point.
This started off a decent 6, maybe even 7, out of 10 film, but slowly drifted down into nothing but a 4 and with little to hold it from dropping lower. I won't be checking out the director's other works, either, not with this being the first film I was introduced to him with.
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I do want to say - the actress was very good but when it came to her main horror piece of acting and her death scene... it was utterly terrible.
It is also really nice to see a female lead that isn't a floundering mess and can actually work towards her survival without this usual premise of being capable but making such bad mistakes, etc.
However, the rest of this film once it turns to the main lead is wonderful. With moments that had me watching the edge of my screen due to tension, making me laugh nervously and swallow anxiously, Kawanaka did save this. Whilst I do not like the mid-way part of this at all, the beginning and ending have very well done directing that really did get me like a horror film should. I just wish my rating could be higher, but the terrible acting ruined the entire mood and it took time to recover from it.
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This was a film that I originally wasn't sure how I felt about it. Originally, I only wanted to watch this for the films really cool poster. I'm easily pleased that way. All I really knew about this what that it is considered one of the iconic Japanese horror series that have shaped the genre - and I'm all for movies and series like that.
I felt pretty excited for this and ended up... really bored. I was let down by a Shibata Issei film already today, and this one makes the second in a row. This isn't necessarily bad, however. Whilst I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to, it's still getting a pretty solid 6/10 from me.
Whilst this is pretty fun, has a good sountrack and is a solid movie - it's a lot like any other parallel universe films out there. I watch this and I think of other parallel universe films I haven't even seen and ones I have. I'm also reminded of Battle Royale come the ending, and I feel like there isn't enough uniqueness in this film to fully hold on its own - how this film has a 7 part series, honestly I'm not sure - but it doesn't make me excited to watch the whole series.
A pretty average film that took me by surprise how average it was.. that's all I really have to say about The Chasing World. There's nothing particularly special to take into account, nothing that really shocked me, etc. It's a good film, but I feel the Sion Sono make of this film is probably going to be a much better take.
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It's time to exorcise Sadako and allow her to be free
You would think with eight films in the Japanese series already, including crossing over with The Grudge ghost Kayako, that The Ring series may be reaching a level of overexposure. With the original director of the first two films returning for Sadako, one might think that there is some hope for the latest addition to the series.This was... a very average film. There wasn't anything special about it that made it stand out; it didn't add anything new to the series. It's just Sadako haunting another bunch of people with a new plot line. That being said; average for the ninth film in a franchise isn't so bad. At this point, looking at other franchise, it should be pulling a low average of one to three. A four out of ten is relatively decent for this point in the franchise's life span.
Sadako has very good tense moment that had me glancing away from my screen uneasily, feeling anxious and getting my heart racing. The suspense is still something that remains strong throughout the franchise and I feel that is partly due to Nakata Hideo returning to direct this. With a mix of an urban legend mixed with a curse-ghost haunting plot line, this is really the only thing that stands up against it. Hideo continues to prove he's a master of suspense and, honestly, it's the only reason I'd think about watching this again - for the few moments that Hideo provides us that makes the heart race.
With a ending worthy of the cringe-worthy award, especially with the final two moments, Sadako doesn't really hold up to the legacy that the Ring franchise has held for so long. I kind of wish they'd let Sadako haunt her well in peace and let her be at this point.
With a slightly underwhelming ninth film, it's definitely time to exorcise Sadako, let her move on from her cursed state, and throw the towel in with this one. Sadako barely holds up - a tenth would be physically incapable of holding up anything else.
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This was absolutely brilliant. It's got an amazing balance between the initial horror and comedy. The main actress - Mai Kanda - does an absolutely brilliant job. The two male leads are stunning with what they have to do. The plot is absolutely stellar.
I laughed so hard during this and I really wasn't expecting to. The story was great, the comedy was genuine and somewhat relatable and I'm really glad I watched this short. I can't wait to watch the other parts of this short horror film series.
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The Red Shoes is one of those rare, not quite a hit but definitely not a miss movies.
At first, this movie held me with a lot of intrigues. Based on the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson where beautiful red ballet slippers will force the wearer to dance until they die or to cut their own feet/legs off in an attempt at survival, I was highly excited to see where this film took that original line. With the number of remakes and basic plot rip-offs of 'The Red Shoes', I was excited to see a film that took the premise but made it original for once. With some parts, inherently the same as the story and others completely changed around to make it the director's own.
Kim Yong-gyun has definitely succeeded in making something on this. I was whisked away into the whole new world of the red shoes story. I found myself gripped and gasping for a lot of the first half of this film.
The acting was stunning, from all the actors and actresses. I want to give a big shout out to Park Yeon-ah and Kim Hye-soo who play the films prevalent mother-daughter combo. They were convincing, there wasn't a moment I doubted these characters weren't real and weren't living through this on the other side of the world. I cannot fault any of the cast in this film and the main and support role actors, I will definitely be watching more of their filmographies just from their performance in this film.
However, I have a couple of complaints about The Red Shoes as much as I have praise for it.
Firstly - and this sounds nitpicking and petty - but the shoes aren't even red. They're a magenta, some would even argue a pale pink in some of the lightings. Now, I understand that this was a choice based on Kim Yong-gyun's decisions to make the film his own. I'm not against it, I quite liked that choice to take it one further step away from Anderson's story and to make it into Yong-gyun's story. The reason I have an issue with this mainly is that keeping the title and such as it was, as "The Red Shoes", looks to me that they were relying on the name of the original story to fill out theatres a bit more. Again, that's fair and it's a commonly used marketing strategy with some films like this. However, it feels a little to me as though they might have been doubting the film's ability to stand on its own without that basis. This could have easily been named The Pink Shoes and been its own story without the comparison to Anderson's story; it would be similar, but wouldn't have been fully linked.
This is more of a personal grievance and it doesn't really affect much within the movie, but it did make my eye twitch a few times through the film - each to their own pleasures and grievances, I suppose.
My second issue with The Red Shoes was that... this isn't a horror film. Yes, there are parts of it that are genuinely scary. There are parts of this that only fit into the horror genre aspect. However, when it came down to it, it really wasn't so scary. As a horror fanatic, this kind of horror is just "infantile" for a lack of better word. This is the horror that directors make to appeal to NON-horror fans rather than horror fans themselves. Word spreads, people who are easier scared go to see the film, they pass on word of mouth, etc; whilst horror fans find themselves struggling to sit through the entire film. This is much more of a bloody slasher thriller than it is a supernatural horror - and it's painfully obvious that Yong-gyun was aiming for supernatural horror, not a gory thriller. This film used so many cliches that are ripped from successful films before it of it's attempted genre that it's almost laughable.
This all being said - I did enjoy it to a degree. I think the idea and the plot line was refreshing. I think the acting was spot on. I liked the twists in the story much more than I have a lot of horror plot twists. However, I feel like this lacked in just as much as it did well.
If you aren't such a massive horror fan, then this will probably be a terrifying film to you, or will definitely make you quite paranoid about what shoes you're trying on. If you are a die-hard horror fan like myself, I think the only reason you should really watch this is that it has a refreshing new take on a fairy tale that's been used in so many horror mediums before. I appreciate Yong-gyun's efforts with this film, I do, but he missed the mark quite severely on quite a few things. I wish my rating could be higher, but there's too much lag for me to consider an extra half a star or two.
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Corpse Party: Book of Shadows is a live action movie based on the events of the horror game, Corpse Party. It's a sequel to the first live action movie based on the lore of the game (which was. Terrible, to be quite frank) but I think this one really hit the mark for what a live action of this franchise should have been.
Book of Shadows follows the two survivors of the first movie in this series as they return to Heavenly Host Elementary once more to try and save their friends as they arrive in the past.
This was exactly what the franchise of live action needed. The acting in scenes is much better and less cringe-worthy although some scenes definitely could have been done better (i.e. close up stabbing scenes just looking someone twisting something sharp very lightly across a dummy).
The return of an original villain from the original lore into this reimagined was also done amazingly and was something I was annoyed with the original film for missing out.
I really like the angle this film took. I think it was just far away enough from the lore of what I knew of the franchise personally and did it in a way that seemed reimagined. It didn't feel like a rip off for quick money like the first and it could stand alone as its own movie if flashbacks had been edited in.
The ending itself in this was absolutely spectacular - I didn't expect it at all until the very last few seconds before the main reveal and I think it was done wonderfully. Book of Shadows is a movie that I am definitely interested in watching again and I definitely recommend just skipping the first live action and coming straight to this one. It feels much more realistic and more composed than the first.
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One Missed Call is probably the medium that started that old email chain mail - remember how paranoid you used to get recieving an email saying if you don't pass it on to so many people some scary thing will kill you during your sleep? Welp, if that terrified you, you probably want to stay away from this movie. Meanwhile if paranoia creeping down your spine everytime you hear your phone ring or vibrate is something you want, then watch on.
I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from this movie. I knew the general premise and at first, it seemed more like Final Destination than anything else. It's not really until the third character that anything really starts to happen, and things get spooky.
Maybe I'm more desensitised to horror than I originally thought. The music didn't do me justice personally, nor the acting; none of these actually scared me. It wasn't until we see the things happening that things got scary for me. That was more all down to the darkness effect used for me, more than anything. I think if I hadn't seen as much horror that uses the same effects, I would have been more scared by this and more on edge.
There were two different plot lines occuring nearer the end and it got quite confusing for me to figure out what was going on between all the characters. There was a lot happening, and I think the second plot line could have been dropped or made much simpler.
I probably wouldn't rewatch this. Maybe once if I don't watch the sequel/s until further into the future and I want to remind myself what happened in the first; that would be the only reason. The ending for the first film alone ends it all very well, and doesn't leave much room for another movie; I'm not sure if I'm excited to see where they'd take a second movie, or if I want to leave it rounded off as it was.
Overall, this does have a good scare factor. It's enjoyable, the plot is well enough that you can sit through it without being bored even if it's not scary to you. It's a good movie if you haven't seen it, and I definitely recommend it.
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Yikes. Oh yikes. How I regret the last one hour, twenty eight minutes and twenty one seconds of my life. That's right. I even regret the twenty one seconds.
First of all, despite it's seeming connections and/or similarities to Train to Busan, without even having watched Train to Busan, I can very confidently state this is nothing to do with it nor does it even come close to Train to Busan's level of horror. This is crude in its performance and has a plot that could be guessed by a five year old.
First of all, around three quarters of the way through, the entire scenery becomes red and orange and yellow. It's almost impossible to actually see anything except the subtitles – which actually makes these scenes even more confusing. The editing is almost as thought they've super imposed the entire film section across just blood red film. It's sore on the eyes and very convoluted as to what's happening.
The acting. Some did very well, some did very bad. Some made their characters very believable people. Others made me just sigh and roll my eyes so hard I think I sprained a muscle or two in my eye.
The plot was basic and boring and if I say train of dead (ghosts), I'm pretty sure you could guess the entire plot and majority of what happens correctly.
The writing made me feel quite sick. I don't know much about Thailand and their attitude towards LGBT, etc. But one of their characters being a transvestite and being every single gay male stereotype you can possibly think of just isn't it. I almost turned it off countless times due to this one character being pretty offensive – at least to me as a gay male. People will find him funny, I thought it was trash.
Overall, I really regret this movie, I really just want to forget about it and I really recommend others don't even try. Find something else. It's worth the time to find something else.
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Rant about the sound aside: this film was pretty good. Despite some very cliche moments, this was a really wonderful story that had me glued to my screen. The cast were amazing; Chihiro was a refreshingly wonderful strong female character and the story between the two Lovers kept me invested. I don't do romance very often, so the fact a short romantic film had me gripped this way speaks a lot for the director's skill.
However, this was very much a one-shot type film; it didn't make me want to see a sequel or a prequel. Whilst the film is only meant as a solo shot, I find that the best short films leave you wanting more, another instalment, another part of the series, etc. I didn't get that with this - I'll forget about it in a few days and move on to other shorts. I feel like this could have been slightly better than it was, but Taketo still brought a very good short to the screen (if muted).
This one does make me want to look for more of Taketo's films and I will be doing that.
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Honestly the only good part about this was Tanaka was hot, the electro music across the battle scenes were pretty decent and it was at least recognisable as Ajin. A shame; this could have been a really good live action, but I feel like directors just use these as cash grab rather than creating decent content for the franchises.
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