1
heartaem
England
Welcome to the world of Junji Itou
So, I can see straight away why a lot of people weren't too keen on this on their viewing; it's weird, it's zany, it's grotesque and it's a massive "what the fk is going on here" all at the same time. It's not hard to see why a lot of people didn't like it or got confused (and if you're someone who got confused, I recommend reading Uzumaki by Junji Ito - the source material).However - holy sht this is one of the best J-horrors I've watched in a long time. This is ultimately everything the manga is; it gave me the same feelings of confusion, the same shocked horror, the unnerving feeling creeping up my spine as I turned pages (or in this case, watched on). There were some really good jump scares in this that I can't even be angry about the cheapness of some; it all worked so well with the general theme that Ito gives throughout his works.
The sound track in this was very original and very out of the mold and I adore it, it adds so much to the film as does the bad acting at times - something I first thought would annoy me, but only goes on to be a defining part of the film as everything else.
All in all, I would say for sure, read the manga and then hop into this - don't mind the reviews and make your own viewing assumptions as you go along. Easily my favourite film of 2020 and I cannot wait to watch the rest of the works from this director and the cast. Brilliant, brilliant film, cannot wait for the eventual rewatch!
Was this review helpful to you?
Ju-On Origins
Ju-On Origins definitely isn't any form of terrifying in terms of ghosts and ghouls, but to be totally honest in this review — that's what I love this show for.The entire Ju-On franchise has been based on ghost horror, focusing on how supernatural entities prey on the living but Origins brings us a whole new look around to the legend. Origins does this in a new way, showing us how ghosts can affect the living to bring out the worst in humanity, how easily we can be twisted along with the horrors humans cans do ourselves with little input from the beyond.
This show was brilliant in terms of how it interacted with real life, showing actual cases of what has happened in Japan in the same time frames and areas being shown and really helped immerse us in ways that aren't very well explored (or maybe they are pretty explored and I haven't seen enough media). Either way, it was done really well in this aspect and I have to give a massive shout out to the team for that.
The overall feel of this show felt more like the game Fatal Frame in a way, more than the Ju-On series which was refreshing. The original film series had a lot of the same feelings throughout all the movies so a change was a brave thing to do for the series but also very well played.
There's quite a few plot holes that did annoy me and I'm hoping we get a second season later on that will explain these but past that, this was really well done.
It's understandable a lot of horror lovers might not like this for the way it's been presented, the changes, plot holes, etc but for what the show is, they did it extremely well. Brilliant change of pace and definitely worth the three hours.
----
Trigger warnings (and potential spoilers):
Just be warned — there's a lot of triggering content in this series including rape, abuse (both domestic and child) and others I'm forgetting.
Was this review helpful to you?
Highland: Thailand's Marijuana Awakening
1 people found this review helpful
This was… a very interesting documentary and not just on Thailand but it also focuses on drug laws in other South Eastern Asian countries. This also touches briefly on the Vietnam War and how the American soldiers often become addicted due to the potent opiates in the area and how it became a staple in America – which in turn has effected Thailand’s culture around the drug.
I had no idea just how vast the drug culture in South East Asia was and this really opened my eyes to a lot. Checking the statistics after viewing they were all correct for the time (2017) and the information they give on medicinal uses was actually really astounding. I had no idea on a lot of the information that this documentary gave beforehand. I’m pretty sure I just learned a lot more watching this than in those “don’t do drugs” science lessons and social lessons and that’s quite alarming, actually.
An extremely interesting and eye-opening piece, curious and intriguing, I definitely recommend giving this documentary just an hour of your time. Whether it’s just to learn more, educate yourself on marijuana, or other reasons, this is definitely 100% worth the watch on an education point of view.
Was this review helpful to you?
Country 4: Japan
Film: Impossibility Defense
Director: Shiraishi Koji
Rating: 9/10 [4.5/5]
I'm not too big on crime like films, especially when it comes from the 'adapted from a manga' tag. I usually find that directors do too much or too little during crimes, or there's too many sub-plots they try to do, but all in all... This was pretty solid.
It was dark, creepy, there was enough there to make your own guesses, and the acting was all stellar. There wasn't really anything I didn't like about this besides I thought some scenes were just a bit too much or needed some better explaining, but other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Matsuzaka Tori's portrayal of The Man in the Black Suit was absolutely stunning and I will for sure be going on to read the manga this was adapted from from his performance alone.
Sawajiri Erika's performance is the reason 'strong female lead' was created and I adored both these mains in their roles.
I cannot wait to read more of this universe and I am wholly excited for the future of discovering more about the world shown to us in Impossibility Defense.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
It’s hard to fully summarise this as it is a compilation piece with each episode following a different story line but I’ll do my best.
Story wise, all but one of these stories captured my attention, made me shiver or grimace, and one or two even made me jump. Bar episode 4, I’d love to see full-length films on all of these stories and follow them in even more depth and detail (probably a bad idea for some of these, 45 minutes definitely suited a lot of these) but it does make me wonder what the directors and writers could do with a longer time frame to play around with.
Acting, some of the kids weren’t amazing in some of their roles. Most did a very good job but one or two let the series down further on and it was a bit unfortunate. I would happily watch 98% of the cast in their other works and it is something I am considering.
Thankfully, in the stories that I didn’t like, the acting was stellar, and the ones where I didn’t like the acting, the story/horror was well done and I still enjoyed them, mostly.
Overall, I’d recommend this to both horror and non-horror fans alike. Whereas they’re scary, they’re not scary enough that someone who’s easily scared or hasn’t had much interaction with the genre would be absolutely terrified. A solid horror favourite of mine, I definitely want to rewatch this in the future when I’ve forgotten the plot twists.
Was this review helpful to you?
Oh boy, I absolutely adored this.
This drama took me to the edge, it reeled me back in and then it chucked me in the deep end. Full of wonderful twists and turns, surprises, harrowing moments and as equally sweet moments, it’s hard to summarise this fully. I’ll keep this as spoiler free as possible since there’s a lot going on and each was a wonderful moment on it’s own, spoilers definitely take it away.
First of all, I’m not too much of a fan of crime or time travel. I find often that directors tend to do too much or too little in both genres and it never maps out the way it should – especially in content that is both crime and time travel. Ho boy, we did not have any issues with that here. We stuck with one plot that divided into one or two sub plots, but each had it’s own place within the content, didn’t seem out of place, nor did it come across as being odd in the drama. This is pretty rare from my few encounters with time travel and/or crime dramas.
Secondly, the casting was absolutely superb. I find often with time travel/flashbacks/etc, the children don’t really much look like their adult counterpart. This was not an issue at all with any of the cast of “Boku”. Every cast member looked like their child/adult counterpart and it wasn’t hard to imagine any of the children growing into their adult versions. The cast all also did absolutely stunning. Again, all the personalities of the children and adults matched their character and the children didn’t seem out of place for child counter parts of the adults we’re introduced to. It all felt finessed, and like these children genuinely grew up.
These two points alone are enough for me to give it such a high rating, but I also want to take a moment to speak on the cinematography as well. Cinematographer Kiyokawa Koshi made such beautiful shots in this they absolutely took my breath away, left my jaw hanging open and left me glued to the screen. I definitely want to go on to watch everything this man has choreographed because it was just pure art. There’s no other word for it – the shots that Kiyokawa made are just pure art.
All in all, after watching this, I want to watch the live action movie, watch the anime and read the manga. This is pretty rare for me – usually when I watch one part of a universe’s content, I’m done with it from then on. For me to want to go on and consume every piece of media of this that is available to me… this is probably only the third piece of media to ever do this for me.
Give this drama 6 hours of your life and give it a go. I cannot recommend it more highly enough.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
The symbolism in this is utterly beautiful; Lee Hyeon Soo has creating such a terrifying and harrowing nine minutes that follows the social pressure forced on students as their SATs come up. The gore in this was absolutely stunning for a short – I’ve seen blockbuster feature-length films struggle to come up with gory shots like “a function” did. The writing was beautiful – almost every single thing shown was a metaphor for something, and each one spoke truly wonderfully and horrifically as everything begins to click into place.
This is a solid favourite and I will be watching this numerous times in the future and I will definitely be waiting for the next film/short/etc of Lee Hyeon Soo.
I’ll keep the review short and sweet for a very bitter short, but absolutely stunning. I definitely recommend giving this one a try.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
Country 2: Thailand
Film: Still [Die a Violent Death]
Director: Poj Arnon; Tanwarin Sukkhapiait; Manussa Vorasingha & Chartchai Ketnust
Rating: 1/5 [2/10]
Die a Violent Death is a Thai horror film following four stories that were based off of four main headlines from the country. With four directors bringing something different to each segment, you’d think at least one of these would be good.
I was sorely mistaken. I don’t want to go on a rant, so I’ll keep it short.
This fil’s CGI and special effects were absolutely tragic. The acting was poor at best by most of the actors. You couldn’t feel any form of emotion from the directors – no form of love, or care, for their segments. The last segment portrays trans people as sexual predators. The ghosts weren’t even believable as ghosts.
2 stars only for the nightclub segment and the prison segment was half decent.
I will not be watching anything from these directors willingly; I will not be looking forward to seeing these actors in anything else – and after watching this, I’m taking a long break from Thai horror because damn did this suck massively.
This film could have been good, funny, more comedic, but they tried too hard to be serious with a horrendous budget. Not a good look for Thai horror or for anyone involved with the film.
Was this review helpful to you?
Country 1: South Korea
Film: Derailed
Director: Lee Song Tae
Rating: 4/5 [8/10]
Derailed is a film that follows four runaway teenagers – Jin Il (Choi Min Ho), Ga Young (Jung Da Eun), Bong Gil (Lee Yoo Jin) and Min Kyung (Baek Soo Min) – as they try to survive on the streets. Amidst their stealing for food and money for survival, they end up stealing the car of Hyung Sik (Ma Dong Seok) who doesn’t take too kindly to their actions. Ga Young is taken by Hyun Sik and Jin Il, Bong Gil and Min Kyung – wanted by the police – must do everything they can to get her back.
Derailed is a film that isn’t something I usually watch; crime thriller isn’t a genre set that I regularly enjoy. I purely watched this to write some articles on Choi Min Ho more than anything – and I found myself truly liking this film much, much more than I expected.
This film was dark, it was gritty, it was stressful. With numerous members of the cast giving stunning performances, I was easily swept up into this horrible – and, all too real for some teenagers – world. This had my heart racing, I ended up chewing on my lip and pausing at times to take a break. The pace in this is well done; we go from seeing the teens resting and okay, having fun despite their predicament to their entire world turning upside down.
Watching them struggle to desperately survive the newest issue thrown at them was harrowing. This was dark, bleak and painful. My heart bled for them, I found myself crying at parts and I couldn’t get enough or finish this film quick enough.
The characters in this are extremely interesting – Seong Hoon (Kim Jae Young) took me completely by surprise and even days after finishing this film, I constantly think about him and what made his character the way that he is.
Lee Sung Tae, writer and director, did a splendid job with this film; I definitely want to watch more from most of the actors – this film has solidified me as a fan of them with ease. My eyes are on Sung Tae and what he does next and I’m eager to sit and watch through his other films to see just what else he can get me to enjoy.
All in all, Derailed was a brilliant film and I cannot wait to discover more from those involved in the film.
Was this review helpful to you?
This film essentially broke me. I rejoiced, I cheered and then I cried – very hard – for half an hour. I was emotionally numb after this film to the point I literally just laid down and cried, it was all I could do.
This film is a masterpiece.
The acting, the cinematography, the editing, everything about this was just stunning. Honestly, it takes me by surprise I’m saying that – war films aren’t my forte, and I think the only one I’ve really seen is “Hacksaw Ridge” after the recognition and attention it received during the awards season.
There are two particular things I can think of that made this film just slightly more stellar and which piqued my interest:
1) The contrasts between the student soldiers and the more advanced, trained soldiers. There are numerous times where we see the student soldiers having a bit of a laugh and not taking things 100% seriously when they have down time – this is contrasted against seeing the more seasoned soldiers having a laugh but still being very on guard, cautious and taking things a little more seriously. This was… painful. It was such a clever trick on the directors’ part to remind us that these are children – the Jangsari soldiers were made up of 15, 16, 17 with reports of even 14 year olds being present on the beach. It’s painful, and it is such a well done small trick of the camera that just made my heart bleed.
2) At a few points in this film, the camera technique makes everything very disorientated during battles. The camera jerks as if it’s dodging a bullet or the butt of a gun, we can’t see through the fog, marring our views and we feel all round a little overwhelmed with the added sound editing of screaming and explosions. Usually, I would complain about a technique like this as they make me feel quite motion sick – “Jangsari” does this in a way that makes us feel like we’re on the field with these soldiers, not just viewing a movie as the scenes play out. I’ve never really seen this trick done in a way that doesn’t make me feel dizzy – with the added reasoning of not getting motion sick during these sequences, these scenes were absolutely stunning.
All of the cast played their roles with such respect and with such grace that it was hard not to see them as the actual people they’re representing. There were times I had to pause to sit and sniff and wipe my tears and remind myself ‘this is just acting’. I have such high respect for all the actors involved that created this stunning piece.
The final ten minutes were so beautifully stressful; I was stressed, I was panicked, but in the safety of my own home with no reason to be stressed or panicked – another brilliant job by Kwak Kyung Taek. The ending on Jangsari – not the full ending of the film – was utterly stunning, beautiful, and found me pausing to sit and cry.
I will say, my rewatch value is rated lower because, personally, I can’t see myself watching this again. It’s so emotional, it really hurt – I cried so hard, my dog had a panic attack trying to figure out what’s wrong – and I think a lot of the scenes would also have less enthusiasm a second time around.
All round, emotional, heart breaking but still so somewhat cheerful that really made me sit and think, “Jangsari” is my second film of 2020, but already I’m not entirely sure that something could beat it. A true masterpiece; half the actors have gained me as a fan and Kyung Taek has got my eyes focused on him and his films for a long while.
Was this review helpful to you?
