The Sixth Finger is a pretty hard film for me to correlate what I'm feeling into words, so I'll keep it brief.

This wasn't an all round amazing movie 10/10 recommend. This was a high average of 7/10 for a few reasons.
This was unique. It was a really intriguing and more modern look at religion within horror - usually the religion used is Christianity, so seeing Buddhism was a breath of fresh air. This was pretty intriguing. The acting was very good and enjoyable.

But I don't quite think Jang Jae Hyun got away with everything he wanted to do.

Some of this fell pretty flat; it felt more like a horror-comedy at times whilst he was trying to keep this a full horror film which did ruin a few moments for me and I ended up knowing a bit of the rating off, however this is still a very good film for its premise.

Definitely a recommend watch for a late night curled under a blanket.

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I'll keep this review pretty short, but honestly this film surprises me. Whilst it's not amazing in any form, coming in for me at a 6 out of 10, I found myself intrigued throughout the film.

Japanese and Korean horror, the two powerhouses of Asian horror, often feed through the same ideas consistently throughout their media but this Filo horror feels very. Different.

This is very regional, almost very proud that it comes from the Phillippines and it catches my attention. I've seen another Filo film (Aurora, Yars Lamaras, 2018) which was also a 6/10, but both movies really caught my eye and made me sit still. They demand my attention in a way that I haven't really experienced before. Their plots are hauntingly and devastatingly beautiful to a degree I have not known in horror.

If you haven't come across Filo horror before, I recommend giving this a try to ease yourself into it (after all, every country has its own format of horror and its something one must get used to as they delve into it to truly appreciate).

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I don't often use the word masterpiece. I've seen 1,040 films in my life, totalling 1,549 hours of filmography. There's maybe 7 I would label a masterpiece with full usage and definition of the word.

The Wailing is the eighth film of one thousand and forty films I very willingly, gladly and without hesitation give the title of Masterpiece to.

I'm not too big of a fan of Asian supernatural horror. Whilst I very much enjoy it and give most films a pretty decent average rating, I find a lot of them bleed into one another with similar plots and a very safe view on the supernatural. In Japan it tends to be curses that have people die in mysterious ways, South Korea, a cursed object that has people murder each other are the most common ones I come across.

When I clicked The Wailing was supernatural, I prepared myself for a 6 or maybe 7 out of 10 movie that was good but wouldn't hold its own too well in the vast expanse of horror.

The Wailing gave me some stunning frames. The cinematography in this is beautiful. The gore frames are gruesome, unadulterated and unapologetic. The ritualism and belief of South Korea are shown in their full glory without fear. Na Hong Jin doesn't shy away from racial tension between the Japanese and South Koreans with a slightly historical take with a beautiful twisting story that left me with my mouth gaping open but still feeling just slightly uncomfortable - something I believe Hong Jin did on purpose. I was shown acting that was so well done, no matter what I watch these actors in from now on, I will always know them from The Wailing. The varying supernatural aspects were unique, something that stunned me, unafraid to step out of genre restrictions and lead the way with something new. With a story line that is intriguing, stunning and just raw, this two and a half hour journey was worth watching.

This is a film deserving of the hype that numerous other Asian horrors got but turned out to be predictable messed. THIS is the Korean horror of 2016, the one that should have lead the forefront of South Korean, or even Asian, horror into 2017. This is a film that shows prowess, promise and skill. Hong Jin treats us to such wonderful skills from not just himself but his script writer, his cast, his editing team, his make up team, etc, everyone involved. You can feel the passion and love and pure dedication that went into this movie.

A full 10/10 is just not enough for this film.

A twisting, numbing, horrifying masterpiece.

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I watched this for Sion Sono's birthday and I should treat myself on directors' birthdays more often, goddamn.

Exte was easily my "most uncomfortable" watch of 2019. I've only watched one other film of Sono's, so I knew he was very good when it came to gore, but I didn't know what to expect from him when it came to ghosts and ghouls.

Dear Christ, I will NEVER be getting hair extensions for the rest of my life.

Before I go into it, do remember, this was 2007. The CGI and such are not going to be amazing and top of the line. Watch this as you'd have watched a film you were going to see in the cinema in 2007 for the best impression of this film.

With a very unique plot - I for one, have never come across a horror film personally that has hair extensions as the main "evil" object. This has drawn me in for quite a while and it's not hard to see why this has become a very influential horror film.
Starting off very serious and dark this film promises quite a lot at the start. This does fade after a little while and we become a bit more upbeat and a little more fun. I'm not faulting the film for this - it must be pretty hard to keep a film about hair extensions murdering people to a degree of seriousness - however, it really does pick up after a while.

Once the spooky things start going down, we get uncomfortable scenes of body horror (I wouldn't really call them body gore, but either way) that made me feel a little queasy and very uneasy. I was rubbing at my eyes, picking my lips and trying my best not to pause the movie and leave it for a while and return to it.

Sono creates such a stunning piece of art that is so uneasy and makes the viewer squirm. Although the plot doesn't seem to make much sense. There's two different plot lines going on at once - the investigation of the woman murdered and a secondary plot following Yuko - and I don't think that the investigation got much attention once it first switches to Yuko. Both plots do eventually overlap and come together, but I just don't think this was done as 100% as it could have been. Everything comes to a close well, but I did find myself wishing for JUST a little bit more from Sono to bring this up just one or two notches. (And that bloody song is gonna be stuck in my head all day...) The ending is pretty vague and more of a horror-comedy piece than a horror, but that's who Sion Sono is, so definitely a plus in this situation.

This all said, I do very much love this film. It's spooky, it's unsettling, it has definitely made me a little uneasy at the idea of having hair extensions. The atmospheric creation of Sono is something that I truly appreciate. The 2000s of Japanese horror have a legacy for their moments of unease and Exte is no different. Truly unnerving, extremely uncomfortable and breath hitching, this film truly is one of the gold films of the 2000-2010 Japanese iconic ghost horrors.
All of the cast were amazing (and I can't imagine some of these scenes were easy to record either), and it really helped develop the film further.

Again, I will never be having hair extensions and secondly, I think I have a new found fear of hair in general. Some of these scenes were just too creepy.

(My only qualm is... doesn't Yuko have to like legally adopt Mami... not just move her into her place?)

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From NARU, Selfie is a 3 minute short horror featuring a malfunctioning phone camera and some spooky happenings.

I didn't expect too much from this; horror concerning mobile phones doesn't have much uniqueness left to exploit. Maybe expecting less from this allowed me to enjoy it more. Following a case of filming and the recording acting strange compared to the real life, Naru manages to make a tense atmosphere within simply 3 minutes. Although not the best ever atmosphere - if this was the case for a feature length, I'd be leaving a very angry review - for a horror short, this is well done.

This had me fiddling in my seat, watching the corner of the screen to ease some tension and try my best not to jump out my skin (which I did, much to my partner's delight). A relatively strong film to start with Naru's directing, I do look forward to watching more from him.

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This is a completely non verbal film from director Nakamura Taketo following a forbidden love between two rival-clanned ninjas. Whilst it's non-verbal, I'm tempted to say it probably should have been silent completely; some of the noises made by the actors and actresses were very awkward with the audio also coming in at strange volumes on headphones and the added special effects sounds were very grating and not quite the easy glide I imagine the director was going for. The sound really aggravated me to the point I had to mute the video - which did give me a much better viewing experience. (Please note my average score is dragged down by rewatch and music rating.)

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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I find myself really disappointed with this short. Whilst this started really well and Kawanaka showed real premise with his directing to make this a good horror film, the acting mid way through just really drops out. There's nothing to hold it. The suspense builds up, you feel anxious and then one of the actresses themselves ruin the moment with terrible acting that just does not hold. I'm surprised Kawanaka allowed this to be the final cut. Everyone but one actress does amazing work in this short and the fact only one ruined the entire atmosphere is really disheartening. A real shame because this had a lot of good premise and felt relatively unique for yet another cursed video piece of media.

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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The Chasing World is a survival horror film with a curious and interesting premise. Everyone with the surname Sato is mysteriously dying across Japan. As it continues and spreads with more frequency, high school student Sato Tsubasa fights to keep his sister - Sato Ai - alive.

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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Please note: This review comes from an avid horror fan; this film is my first interaction with the School Lives! franchise and my opinion is based off seeing this as it's packaged - a zombie survival action-horror and without any prior knowledge.

I knew upon starting this zombie survival horror that it was going to be a little worse for wear around the edges. The cast are a Japanese idol girl group - already I know that this is going to be cliched and a little cringe-worthy. That's nothing on the girls - it's just how they always end up type-cast a majority of the time. Something to take into consideration whenever you watch idol rookie-actor lead films.

I honestly thought this was a horror-comedy, maybe something satirical that was taking the mick of a lot of tropes within horror movies. The surprise when I checked the page to find that this was being pushed forward as a fully serious film was painful.

Every time a zombie shows up, the girls fluster, fall over, freak out, etc and don't seem to have any ability to defend themselves. They way they've survived as long as they have is an utter mystery to me. Not surprising, again, with cute and innocent Japanese idol leads, but disappointing none the less - they could have still done this with grace and professionalism that showed the actresses as cute and sweet, but with some semblance of realism.
Some of the girls deal with mental issues that would be common in an apocalypse - PTSD, being unable to accept reality etc, and this is a really interesting part of the film. Of course, this part of the film they barely developed and had pop up a few times and that was it.

With another cliched goodbye scene nearer the end, this film gets a tick for every possible trope they could have used, and ruined themselves with. Cliches are relatively normal in Japanese horror, don't get me wrong - but this is just taking the mick.

I feel like this is meant to be a feel good horror movie, one that blurs the line between realism and imagination within its parameters. However, even coming to this conclusion mid way through the film, I still feel like it missed the mark on that.

Maybe I would have enjoyed this more if I was a fan of the franchise, if I even knew what the story was about before going into it, or even if I knew how trope ridden it was going to be. Maybe it's meant to be like this in tone, similar to the anime and manga - not something I would know. I've seen a lot of people say this is very true to the source content.
As a horror fan? Someone who was browsing the horror tag and wanted something full of horror to watch?
Definitely one I wish I had skipped and not come across. I swear I've only seen 4 good anime/manga adaptations and there'll all by the same director... It's a massive shock and shame that the director of this was the person who directed The Chasing World.

With a cliche hallway scene, everything suddenly going wrong and another emergency to contend to, this film is honestly the most cliched and trope ridden horror I've seen released this year, worldwide. A film that has left me underwhelmed, bored and knowing I should have sprung for a Korean 2019 horror instead.

Also: one small pet peeve is how do these girls have an unlimited supply of bright white unstained uniforms in their exact sizes every day. It's the middle of the zombie apocalypse. How and where are you washing your clothes? When every other person/zombie in this film has disgustingly grey, ripped, and ruined shirts and pants? (Yes, this is how bored I was.... I was scrutinising their clothes come the ending).

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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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FEEL is a six minute Japanese horror-comedy short by Ryo More that really caught me off guard. I found it by chance just looking up some Japanese shorts and I decided to give it a go since it was shorter than the rest that were coming up.

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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I'm a really big fan of the manga and anime series of this film, so I probably should have gone into this expecting very little of it. The live action remakes of a series are usually quite bad and this one was no different; the plot starts quite a way into the story - giving little backstory, Satou didn't look like his part at all and seemed more like a late thirty-early forty year old man than the archaic person he is supposed to be, and it felt like the entire thing was rushed through.

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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MyDramaList Watch Challenge 2019 - Watch something with less than one thousand members of the site marking it as complete. Completed status: 2

If I did a shot for every dumb or unnecessary, or over the top or just downright ridiculous thing in this movie, I'd be having my stomach pumped and be having a liver and kidney transplant right now.
I'm no stranger to over the top Japanese horror/horror-comedies - in fact, I'm quite a fan of a lot of the over the top horrors (i.e. Tokyo Gore Police, Liverleaf), but an hour and a half of this hour and forty-minute movie was just not needed at all.

This could have been a really decent film if the director has just toned it down a slight bit and it really could have been a serious 3-4/5 star movie. Shame that didn't happen, whoever recommended this to me owes me almost two hours of my life back.

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A Late Night is one of three short films from director Kwak Sae Mi featuring a young woman walking home late at night after murders have happened in her area.

This short film is a prime example of how to drive tension, using numerous techniques that are so simple to drive the atmosphere of something being wrong. This had me on the edge of my seat for quite a bit of it and the twist at the end was really well done. A very strong contender for one of my favourite thriller shorts and shorts overall.

This short alone has got me keeping an eye on Sae Mi and I can't wait to watch her other two shorts and for what she comes up with next. This is only seven minutes long, thriller/horror enthusiasts, I recommend giving this a try.

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#NoFilter was a short film I stumbled across on YouTube when looking for a good horror short to watch and after looking up what it was, the poster and synopsis caught my eye as something maybe worth watching. It was only six minutes, it wasn't long so I decided to go for it and have a look at it anyway - if it sucked, it's only six minutes of my life.

What I found was a short that started perfectly normally and didn't feel foreboding in any way and then, within two minutes, I was taken to feeling uneasy to pure unnerving content being flashed at me that will definitely be flashing back across my eyelids when I go to sleep tonight.

I admit if this was in a full-length feature film; I wouldn't be rating this scene so highly; I'm rating this short so highly because it's hard to bring all these emotions and such across in just 5 minutes and to do so well - many feature-length films struggle to do so across an entire hour and a half to two hours. What Rosario directed and wrote is well crafted and deserves to be noted for that.

With the message as well to stop worrying so much about how you look, as someone who's a bit narcissistic themselves, this definitely made me glance at my phone and think about how much I edit my photos before posting them. Solid 4/5

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