Horror Queen

Trapping a ghost isn’t as easy as it looks.

PLOT

Silk starts out with a creepy couple hiring an Canadian man to do ghostly research and take spirit photography at an apartment building. The next day they arrive to find him dead and one ghost picture in the room. That fills them with glee in an odd way. The couple lead a group of researchers back into the building where they manage to capture a ghost. They’re hoping to find a way to defy gravity and bring in another man by the name of Tung to help with their mission. Tung starts to figure things out, but he’s caught up in his own life and his own problems.

TRIVIA

The Menger Cube discussed in the movie has its basis in real life scientific fact.

THOUGHTS

Silk was a little slow moving and a little slow to get to the point. I was getting antsy through a good portion of the movie just because I wanted something to happen. I also didn’t find this one as creepy or off-putting as I thought I would, given my love of foreign horror movies, particularly Asian ones. It felt like the movie was just kind of plodding along and hoping that you followed it. Unfortunately I thought it was a little confusing and some of the scenes felt familiar, like I’ve seen them before. At the same time though, I wouldn’t be surprised if this one gets an American remake soon.

Not as good as I expected.

PLOT

Yoshimi decides Ikuko into an old, decrepit looking apartment building where the rain constantly seems to flow. It’s her only choice as she’s in the middle of a bitter divorce and needs a home to gain custody of her daughter. Once there, she starts to notice odd things like water stains on the ceiling and a little girl that no one else sees. Yoshimi realizes that she needs to find out the truth about the old little girl if she hopes to save her own child.

TRIVIA

Hideo Nakata who directed this movie, also directed the original Ring and Ring 2.

Based on a short story called Floating Water.

THOUGHTS

I was actually a little surprised to discover that I didn’t like the original Dark Water. In fact, I actually kind of like the American remake a lot better. Yoshimi is completely worthless here and she just kind of floats around the whole time. Her roof’s leaking and she calls the super once to complain and then kind of forgets about it. She also seems like a pretty horrible mother and the authorities probably should have given her daughter to the father.

There’s also the ridiculous and pointless ending, which thankfully they left off the Dark Water remake. It made me roll my eyes and reach for the remote. However, the cinematography is great and some of the scenes are actually a little creepy at times.

We ploughed her down!

PLOT

Jane and Tun are out with a group of Tun’s friends and after he has a little too much to drink, she drives home. On the way, she hit’s a woman in the street and Tun urges her to drive away and leave the girl there rather than risk getting in trouble. It causes a strain in their relationship and Jane has a hard time being around him. Tun has problems of his own since a large number of photographs he takes end up with a strange white streak through them. Strange things begin happening to the couple, not to mention Tun’s friends…

TRIVIA

Shutter was remade twice, once in 2007 in Tamil and the 2008 American remake.

THOUGHTS

I just want to say that this is a creepy little movie. I saw the remake, kind of liked it and figured this would be fairly similar. While the remake didn’t scare me at all, this one had a few scenes that actually made me jump a little. The scene where Tun sees a woman walk into his darkroom, starts talking to Jane and then heads upstairs to answer the phone and finds out she’s running late was one of those scenes.

The thing about these Asian horror movies like Shutter that are so good is that it’s not just one thing that sets up the mood. It’s the lighting, music, acting, setting, camera angles, the whole nine yards. I wasn’t exactly looking under my bed after I saw Shutter, but it was definitely one of the creepier movies I’ve seen in awhile.

Apparently CPS doesn’t exist in Japan.

PLOT

A group of cops find the body of a woman trapped in a shipping container of hair extensions. At the morgue, another man cuts off the hair and sells it, not realizing that the hair is cursed. When the woman’s body is cut open, they discover hair everywhere, covering her internal organs and even over her tongue. Another chipper young lady is working at a salon and planning to become a great hair stylist one day. Her good for nothing sister drops off her daughter who she beats frequently and after a fight, she decides to keep her niece with her permanently. The man ends up taking the body home where it keeps growing hair and cuts it off to use as extensions. He takes them to the salon and the first woman who gets the hair extensions finds just how serious the curse is…

TRIVIA

Director Sion Sono also directed Suicide Circle, which was regarded as one of the most controversial movies in Japan at the time.

THOUGHTS

The problem with Exte as a horror movie is that it takes way too long to get going. The first half of the movie is basically pointless. Yes it sets up the rest of the movie, but it takes too long and it almost feels like a different film. Once it gets going, the action pretty much maintains, which is a good thing.

After we find out why the hair is cursed, this becomes a better movie. There are some truly squirm inducing scenes such as the woman pulling hair out of her eyeball. If you look too closely or pay too much attention, you’ll start to notice the special effects, which makes it hard to stay in the moment. Exte wasn’t as good as I was expecting, but it wasn’t that bad.

Forgot about it!PLOT

There’s a man who can go into the dream world and help those who need it. Don’t look for any names here because I really didn’t learn anyone’s name. A female detective is working on a case where people commit suicide, but only after dialing 0 on their cell phone. She’s looked down upon by those around her because she just recently transferred into the group. Eventually she and her team have to turn to the dream walker from the beginning for help. They hope that with his expertise, they can uncover what’s really happening.

TRIVIA

There’s actually a sequel supposed to come out soon, with some of the same characters returning.

It was released theatrically in Japan, but went straight to DVD in the US as part of the Dimension Extreme line.

THOUGHTS

I sat down to watch this movie one night and about the 15 minute mark I realized that I’d seen it before. I have no clue when or where I saw it, but I’m assuming it was about a year ago when I was going through a heavy Asian horror obsession. The sad part is that I didn’t like it then and I liked it even less the second time around.

Nightmare Detective has a lot of fans. It’s got a lot of gore and a few fairly gruesome scenes, but for me the whole thing is too slow paced and not enough happens. I had a hard time relating to any of the main characters and I didn’t like any of them.

Bitchin’

PLOT

Ace is heading off to see his favorite band Guitar Wolf play at a concert. Unfortunately aliens land and bring the dead back to life as zombies. He seeks out Guitar Wolf and they go on a journey to kill the zombies, or at least in theory. The movie’s really about a bunch of random scenes thrown together of completely random events like motorcycles racing down the street, naked women, transsexuals and just about anything else you can think of.

TRIVIA

Guitar Wolf is actually a real band that starred in another low budget horror movie from Japan.

THOUGHTS

I only added this movie to my Netflix queue because a guy I was interested in liked it. He’s now gone from the picture so by the time it came in the mail, I didn’t know if I’d even sit down and watch it. I did and it actually wasn’t that bad. Wild Zero is fairly zany (I think that’s an appropriate word for a movie that has a subplot about a love affair between a dorky guy and a transsexual). However it has some off the wall moments that I really liked. I’m surprised this isn’t better known.

Oh. My. God.

PLOT

In a near future Japan, teenage girls are turning into zombies. When they reach the age of 16, they experience a “Near Death Happiness (NDH)” that turns them into killer zombies. A group of other teens form their own mercenary squad, to kill the girls that their families can’t. Another group of people are also killing the teens, while a doctor hopes to find a cure or at least has fun experimenting on the technically dead girls.

TRIVIA

Makes references to both Bruce Campbell and George Romero.

THOUGHTS

It’s been a long time since I saw a horror movie that made me laugh this much, but I couldn’t tell if it was intentional or not. For days after we saw the movie, my friend and I would just look at each other, say NDH and start giggling hysterically. The NDH itself seems like a reference to sex, or at least a first orgasm, but they never identify that for sure. There’s also an irritating subplot about a girl who hasn’t yet turned that just seems to turn up and giggle a whole lot. The ending was ridiculous too and a little creepy or gross if you give it too much thought!

Don’t pick things up in the sewer…moron.

THE PLOT

A local artist is depressed since his wife left him and turns to his art for comfort. His art has a dark slant to it and he finds himself wandering through the sewers for inspiration. On one trip he finds a mermaid stranded there and decides to take her home, remembering him from years before when he saw her in the local river. He decides it’s his mission to paint her and ignores all signs that something isn’t quite right.

FUN TRIVIA

I’ve also heard this referred to as Mermaid and a Manhole, Mermaid in a Manhole or even the Man and the Mermaid.

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS

What is with men and the whole mermaid fantasy? You do realize that a mermaid isn’t exactly anatomically correct, don’t you? Maybe you’re content with blow jobs for eternity, but as much as I love oral sex (giving and receiving by the way), I’m sure as hell not willing to give up real sex forever.

As for the movie itself, there is a disturbing little scene of a dead baby in the sewer and you know by now how I feel about dead kids. The mermaid is also pretty gross looking and that’s before he notices her sores, lots of dripping puss and fish scales that don’t look healthy at all. Once the sores get worse, I got a little icky feeling. I probably shouldn’t use that word, but it’s how I felt.

The movie is a little gory at times, but I really didn’t like it. The scene where the mermaid tries to drain her own sores was sufficiently gross and the man’s nosy neighbors served to break things up every now and then. There was just something about this movie I didn’t like, something I can’t put my finger on. I know it has a lot of fans, but I guess I’m just not one of them. I will say that there are some great special effects in the movie, especially given the time and a fairly unexpected ending.

I’m not even going to attempt to say/write the foreign name of this one!

THE PLOT

Masatosh is devastated when his girlfriend dumps him, so devastated that he decides the only option is to kill himself. Unfortunately he’s something of a wimp and when the movie opens, he tries to slit his wrists but stops because he can’t handle the pain. He then puts on a punk record to set the mood and flashes back to his life. He worked at a menial job and hated every aspect of his life. After his girlfriend dumps him, he holes up in his apartment for four days, not leaving even once and starts to act a little crazy: talking to the television, drawing people on his feet and basically just loses his mind. He slits his wrist and realizes that the bleeding stops quickly and that he can’t feel anything. To test his theory that he can’t die he does a variety of things including stabbing himself with a pen. Then he decides to payback his ex-girlfriend with his newfound abilities.

FUN TRIVIA

Also billed as Guinea Pig Part 3 in some areas.

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS

This was an odd little movie. He Never Dies isn’t quite a horror movie, but more of a parody. There is some blood, but not that much considering how much he actually does to himself and all the characters are fairly one dimensional. There is one scene where Masatosh calls for help only to have them think he’s crazy and then talks to himself about who else he can call. His decision not to call one friend because he “has a bad back” was mildly humorous.

One minor thing: Masatosh calls a friend who’s just had sex in a twin bed (which oddly enough, I’ve never done) and discovers that his friend is sleeping with his former love. As they talk the girl gets up and gets dressed, and even puts back on her pantyhose. Really? Does any woman actually do that or am I the only one that would leave those suckers balled up on the floor? Ah, guess it doesn’t really matter since I prefer the bare look.

The ending is a little funny, especially since one of the actors spends 5 minutes in a rubber Elvis mask, but it really isn’t anything special. The movie isn’t very good and it doesn’t have a whole lot going for it. When Masatosh’s head was sitting on the table and still talking though, that was a pretty good scene. Oh well, at least it’s a short movie.

Not really a sequel…

THE PLOT

Joey has recently ended a relationship with Sam, who she still loves in a slightly stalker/obsessive way. She calls him frequently, buys him gifts and even waits outside his office for him. One day she spends a large amount of money, goes back to her hotel room and swallows almost a whole bottle of sleeping pills. Of course if you do that you’re not going to kill yourself, just make yourself sick and that’s what happens to Joey. She wakes to find the dead surrounding her, though she doesn’t realize at first what’s happening. After learning she’s pregnant she finds that the ghosts are real and that they have an unhealthy obsession with the women in her classes.

FUN TRIVIA

As is becoming increasingly popular, The Eye 2 is slated for an American remake. Actress Renee Zellwegger has expressed interest in starring.

THOUGHTS/OPINIONS

When a movie is titled The Eye 2, you kind of assume it’s going to have some kind of connection to the original. If Mun didn’t come back, then maybe they’d do another transplant story. Instead we have an immature young woman as someone who tries to kill herself and starts seeing ghosts. Joey was really hard to root for here. When she goes to the hospital after her suicide attempt, we discover that she’s attempted it before several times. Then she spends hours pining over her ex-boyfriend who she dumped, but now wants back. We’ve all been there before, but sometimes a guy just needs time. And when she learns she’s pregnant, her first thought is to have an abortion.

Slowly I started to feel something for her. Her doctor tells her that she’s had too many “procedures” in the past and he won’t approve an abortion because it will prevent her from ever having children in the future. At first I was thinking she needed to learn how a condom works, but then the doctor points out that she’s only had one abortion in the past so then I realized he just needs a few more years in medical school.

Then there was a scene where she’s brutally attacked by a stranger that drugs her and carries her to a local park. She seemingly blacks out and comes to in the hospital. The nurses ask about her medical history because they need to tend to her victim. In her black out state she apparently attacked the man, biting his face so severely that he needed over 40 stitches. She learns that he was a serial rapist and sees her destructive side firsthand.

It was a little odd that everyone seemed to know just by looking at her that she was pregnant, even before she knew. Random strangers kept commenting on it and she’d just smile or say she wasn’t because she literally didn’t know she was pregnant.

The horror here is a little subtle and I have to admit that I wasn’t crazy about the movie. I really loved the original version of The Eye and someone recommended this one to me, claiming it was even better. Yeah, not in my eyes. There is a point to this movie, but it takes a really long time working up to that. It’s about life and death and reincarnation, but the movie is already ¾ of the way over by the time it gets there.

There is a nice little twist in regards to the ghost following her around, which I should have seen coming. I didn’t expect it though so it was fairly surprising. The ending was pretty unrealistic and a little silly at times, but I guess it was the way it was supposed to end or probably the only choice they had. I’m not a fan of this one, though I can see why others like it.