The Tunnel is a movie I hadn't really heard anything about before choosing to watch it. Usually, I need to have something recommended to me before I can sit and devote my time to it; this usually cuts down me watching bad movies or movies I just didn't enjoy. Tunnel, however, was just something that came up on my Netflix after watching many k-dramas. The plot sounded similar to a lot of things (I.e. the western “127 Hours”) and I didn't give it much stock. I decided it would be something I could watch just because I knew I'd put it on my planning to watch list. I decided to kick back and watch it due to a personal goal set by my therapist and wow.

Tunnel is a film that starts off relatively slow, and, at first, I'd given up after half an hour because I didn't think there would be much more to it. Prompted to finish it, again, all I can say is just: wow.

Tunnel takes you across a journey that is utterly heart wrenching, heart thumping, leaves you on the edge of your seat and left me gasping audibly at different parts of the film. It's hard to remember this film is a work of fiction - the cast is simply amazing.

Between their raw emotional acting, the casual gentle humor and the realistic expressions and actions all characters created throughout the film, this was just utterly stunning. For the last forty minutes of the film, I was in tears. My emotions were all over the place, I was stamping my feet with the tense atmosphere, gasping out loud and had to pause a few times to wipe my tears enough to see.

The acting alone in this makes this film utterly worth the while, and I was definitely blown away. Maybe it was because I went into this film with low expectations, expecting it to be another rubbish survival movie but this had utterly everything - atmosphere, acting, soundtrack.

I would gladly sit and watch this again and I'm not someone who watches something more than once unless completely enamored. A solid 10/10 and a high recommendation.

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I stumbled across this by chance when I was browsing Netflix. Catching up on some Western horror films I'd missed that were recommended to me, Aurora popped up as a suggestion for me. I originally skipped past it before realising it was Filipino and I went back to it to watch the trailer. I've been looking to have my first films and dramas in each country on MDL so I decided to go ahead with Aurora being my fist Filo film after clarifying it was Filipino.

My Twitter friends said that it was hyped up in the Philippines but it was commonly held as a bit of a flop within the horror genre.

Now, Aurora is made and is meant to be a horror film. I went into it expecting to be a little spooked, not to a high degree because of the reviews I had heard said it was pretty bad. The few CGI effects to give this the horror theme completely tanked for me, and I won't lie - the horror is pretty bad. It doesn't hold its own as a horror film in any form.

However, the acting in this, the story behind it are intriguing. It kept me hooked in, it kept me rooted in my seat in pure curiosity. This is definitely a much more sad thriller than a horror film. I finished this feeling devastated, with tears in my eyes after the credits began to roll. The acting in this made this utterly amazing, the cast truly brought the feelings in this to life. It felt like this was currently happening in Asia, watching these families go through their loss and watching Leanna and her younger sister was going through hell.
The music in this was as well amazing, it fits the film perfectly; there wasn't a single score in this that didn't help my emotions lift or drop alongside the story.

I think the best way to go into this film is to not expect a good horror film. Expect a sad, chilling thriller that is similar to many real-life occurrences around the world. Not as good as it could have been as a horror film, but definitely give this a try if you like sad films.

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Ethereal. That is the only way I can find to describe this short series.

Six of the LOONA girls (Hyun Jin, Kim Lip, Ha Seul, Hee Jin, ViVi and Yeo Jin) come together to recite short poems each episode. This seems pretty basic, but the work that has gone into this leave this series utterly stunning. Each video's cinematography and editing gives each poem reading an adventure for the senses. You can almost smell the scenes in each video. Following this series is breathtaking, with each girl's video with a serene music track in the background and gorgeous clips of their visuals; it gives every video such a moving performance and it's really worth the twelve-minute watch.
This is so relaxing that I feel like I've been 'purged' of all my negative emotions after watching this, during and after it has finished. It is just so calming, I cannot recommend this enough.

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The Dark Maidens is a film that I did not have the intention of watching at all. I hadn't seen a trailer for it, I had not come across its page on MDL or IMDB, nothing of the sort. I was clearing out my "watch later" list on my YouTube when I came across "Mystery 2017 School Japan Detective Eng Sub" and I decided since I had some time to kill I'd watch it and see why I had it saved in my to watch later.

I think I can safely say that is one of the best decisions I have done when it comes down to watching something because of random chance.

When I first began this, due to the name the uploader had set it as (The Dark Maidens), I believed this was going to be another high school set suicide blood fest horror film living up to many of Japan's horror tropes in their films. After the first twenty minutes or so, I had to pause to come and read the synopsis because I was confused. After reading it, I did think twice about watching it as I don't really go for the whole murder mystery genre; I find quite often Japan doesn't do it as well as they do their high school based horror. Shrugging it off, I decided why not because I'd already started it: and wow.

The Dark Maidens took me on a long, twisting, amazing journey of friendship and betrayal, of life and death. The first thing I picked up from this film was the utterly beautiful connections from well-known murder mysteries - such as Miss Marple and Agatha Christie, of whom are referenced in the film's prominent literature club. Although reminiscent, it still had its own originality that left me glued to my screen - something that is pretty rare for me. Usually, I have to pause quite a bit and rest my eyes due to poor eyesight and having to read subtitles, but I watched this almost entirely in its completeness.
As the twists begin to unfold, the story becomes more and more convoluted with such a shocking twist and turn at the end that was nothing short of smart. I was confused for a short while in this film but the script writing sets it up utterly perfectly for its ending. The writing in this is absolutely nothing sort of genius and I haven't been left this gobsmacked by a twist in a film for a long, long time.

The cast in this was perfectly selected. Every single cast member played their roles perfectly, whilst also giving off such a feeling of ethereal beauty (along with a little help from the gorgeous editing), that made me feel like I was watching a twisted fairy tale rather than a murder mystery. Their acting in this was spot on and they took what they were given with the script and made it, simply, their own.

Every single thing about this film adds up to create something that I would say is nothing short of a masterpiece. There was nothing in this film I can even recall as a fault, nor can I think of anything I would have liked to see more or done better. This is one of those films I recommend everyone try if they can find the time to try it out and I am utterly grateful for whatever choices I made to sit and watch it when I did. This has definitely opened me up to the murder mystery genre; that's something I never thought would happen with how obvious and guessable many are in the genre.

I have seen comments and remarks that this is quite rushed for the film considering this is based off a book and frankly, I' thankful I watched the film first. I didn't know this franchise existed and I will definitely be reading the book later this year after watching this. I would say, having not read the book, if you want a full experience for the film to definitely watch the film first. I don't think if I had read the book first that I would have enjoyed this as much as I had done and although it spoils some of the book, from what I have seen, there is a lot more content in the book that is free game to discover brand new even after watching the film.

Note: My rewatch value rating is pretty low, but that's because after the first time you watch it with all the initial twists and such that - half of the original intrigue is gone. I'd definitely rewatch it again, but I definitely don't think it would have the same all round effect as the first time you watch it. It is definitely not anything against the film at all.

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Then this is just an insult to the word "bad" as a descriptive word for a film.

Spoilers for the first Teke Teke film here; in the original parent story, we see a typical urban legend horror film that's based around finding out what is going on and how to stop it and can it even be stopped. It's quite a cliche for an urban legend horror film and as much as I didn't enjoy it (I gave the original film 4.0/10), it still made me laugh and have one or two tense moments and jump scares.
I did not want to watch the second film, I only did because leaving a film or drama series unfinished irks my OCD. This was more of a chore for me so maybe I liked it a lot less because I already went into it expecting nothing - but even then I still came out disappointed.

Teketeke 2 is set as a sequel directly onwards from the original Teke Teke film and that is exactly where this film makes its first mistake. This film is only an hour and twelve minutes long, there isn't much time to fit everything in without it being rushed - so they decided that the first 5 minutes of this second film would be a recap of the first. This cut down the film time for the second movie to an hour and 7 minutes.
You would think that this film would be rushed with an overall run time of 67 minutes to fit an entire film into, but, you'd be wrong. The first quarter of this film is so slowly dragged out that I ended up pausing and drinking numerous coffees to keep myself awake watching it. There is so much that is unnecessary for many scenes to include in this for the ultimate movement of the film, that cutting out what isn't necessary at all would bring the film down to maybe 55 minutes in actual length. There is so much you can actually skip when watching this, it is eye-rolling.

After the first quarter of the film, things - thankfully - begin to speed up... and then things just start getting way too rushed. Instead of levelling it out, the directors instead slowed it down as much as possible and then just threw everything in at once instead of cutting out unnecessities and adding in necessities in more detail. You would think after what comes across as quite a rookie director mistake that it would get better but... it doesn't.

The special effects in this are even worse than in the first film. The blood is unbelievably fake that they are using for these death scenes that I think if I had been able to care what was going on, I would have laughed so loudly it would have hurt. Thankfully, the CGI is a little better than the original film (if you haven't seen the ridiculous and infamous Teke Teke jump gif, you're missing out) but it's still not enough to even try and save this film. The good CGI was an attempt to defibrillate someone who's been dead for six years and unburied from their coffin; they literally just tried to give CPR to a skeleton and called it a day.

If the too slow, then way too rushed ridiculous blood spraying wasn't enough to thoroughly ruin any enjoyment I could have gotten from this film, then they turned it into the Ultime Cliche. Ultimate Cliche x Ultimate Cliche. Not only do they still follow some of the (more unliked) cliches of urban legends films, this becomes an over the top Asian high school kids bullying revenge royale. They have managed to take unliked tropes from urban legends and include some of the most well-liked cliches from high school horror films - probably in an attempt to save some of the film with well-liked tropes - and somehow managed to make tropes that don't get old fall flat on their face ridiculously hard.

This entire film was a mess from start to finish.

And I'm sad; Teke-teke was an urban legend that I discovered when I was quite young. It used to give me nightmares and make me wake up chilled and pulsing with adrenaline. It used to haunt me under the covers and whenever I had to walk home at night alone. The film series was always so enticing to me because I wanted to be scared, I wanted it to spark back those childlike feelings of paranoia and terror.
Unfortunately, the overactive imagination of an eleven-year-old built a better plot in a nightmare than a director could do for a renowned film.

Definitely just skip this film; the first film can get away with a lot of stuff if you let it but the second one doesn't have a chance to hide from a lot of its injustices. Skip this series and watch a different urban legend film; you'll thank me for it in the future when you stumble across this on late night television and realise you were going to watch it long again.

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Ghost Mother is one of the prominent Thai movies alongside films such as Shutter. It is a film that many people recommend within the horror genre; horror fans and non-horror fans enjoy it together and revel in its creepiness and tenseness. I figured it would be one of those gems within Asian horror and if it wasn't, then I ticked off another prominent Asian horror film at least from the extensive list I have of the "OGs" to watch.

And that is pretty much all I got to do with this film. Tick a film name off a list and also catch up on some sleep.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of things, I want to say that the cast in this was amazing. The characters all felt real and three-dimensional. There were no parts where I felt like there was bad acting or anything of the sort. The cast all did amazingly with what they had been given and I'm very interested in at least attempting to watch some other things they've been in.

That's pretty much where my enjoyment runs out.

My issue mostly that lies with Ghost Mother is that it's promoted and shared as a horror film. This is not a horror film. This is a thriller if anything. Although it fits many horror tropes, this film is not relatively scary, nor creepy or unsettling, and I struggled with finishing this - probably wouldn't have if my OCD allowed me to abandon things and not force me to finish them.
There were a few points where I did get a little tense and had my hairs stand up on end, but that was about 7 minutes of the entire film if that. This is promoted as such a wonderful horror film but it's just not. There was a point where I fell asleep for ten minutes, woke up and made a coffee, woke myself up and then almost fell back asleep during the same ten minutes.
The storyline is unique enough for it to have pulled some amazing work out of the bag but it fell short on so many levels. There are moments where I was staring at my screen confused as to what was going on, I couldn't remember some characters relationship to other characters, and all in all this just fully struggled to keep my attention for longer than a few minutes at a time. My mind kept wandering, I kept checking how long I had left to watch, and I just didn't enjoy it at all.

I admit I am sad I couldn't enjoy this film. I didn't go into it expecting a massive amazing 10/10 across the board film, but I figured it would at least be at an average or just above average standard. I went into Ghost Mother expecting a 6-7/10 film but came out of it disappointed with a 4.5/10 and I'm pretty sure I'm being nice because it's such a beloved piece. There are other Thai horror films that are truly scary, are true epitomes of horror and I recommended spending an hour and a half watching one of those, rather than this, unfortunately.

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13 Real Asian Horror Stories is one of those ghost story collection films that are prominent quite a bit throughout Asian horror. Every country has at least one of them, a collection of short stories that are usually based on real-life events that are used to catch the viewer off guard and to make them shiver.

13 Real Asian Horror Stories starts off amazingly. The tense atmosphere and build up had goosebumps rising on my skin and made me somewhat anxious. The starting story seemed amazing even if the acting was pretty bad. I can sit through some bad acting for a good adrenaline rush and I wasn't going to condemn the film for a bit of bad acting before it properly kicked off.
And then I got to 6 minutes into the film where we see our first scary occurrence and at this point, I have regrets within utter split seconds.

This films CGI and special effects are so bad, I honestly thought it looked like it was edited on MS Paint. The first ghost we actually see looks like a superimposed video meme, and that was it. Once the first tense moment is ruined by this MS Paint looking ghost foot, the tension is gone. It struggles to build it back up again and struggles to hold up its premise of a good horror film as everyone so says it is.

There was maybe one story in this I really liked and though the actors held their own in - the music box segment. Even this one, being my favourite easily and maybe even one of my favourite short Asian horror shorts, fell short (no pun intended) in keeping it's special effect up. The ending of the segment itself was cringy and eye rolling.
The rest of the individual stories were just shockingly boring. I understand that these are small occurrences that have happened in people's everyday lives but there was no fear factor to them. To say that these were horror stories, I would even say, is a bit of a reach. These are more slice of life segments or could even be argued as a mock documentary.

I don't want to criticise the actors too much as it was clearly their first proper acting roles for many of them rather than a small cameo or a short guest role in the background of a film or drama, but really the acting just missed the mark completely. The child actors, I understand their issues with being on film a little more than the adult actors, but also a lot of the child actors acted better than some of the adults. I would be interested to watch some of the casts' later roles that they had after this if they did have any, but if they did get anything else after 13 Real Asian Horror Stories, I would be utterly shocked.

Overall, if I go on more about my issues with this, this review is going to end up a short novella - inherently, this has a good premise. This film had a lot going for it but utterly missed the mark completely. There are plenty of other horror story film collaborations that have the exact same issues (small budget, brand new to acting casts, etc.) and have managed to put out utter gems. This took me six hours to watch because I kept struggling to stay awake and find any form of interest in the film after the first 6 minutes. Honestly, skip this, catch a different horror film/story collaboration and enjoy your time watching a film instead.

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South Korean horror is an entire minefield of either being a complete miss and a snooze fest, or they are absolutely stunning and keep you thinking for hours or even days afterwards. Rarely, you come across these gems that are interesting and exciting in a more thriller type way than horror; they're not absolutely blow your mind amazing movies, but they also aren't going to put you to sleep with a pathetic excuse of a plot line.

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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Star Road: MONSTA X was something I discovered when looking for the Star Road entry for a different group. I've been a Monbebe for quite a few years now, but ended up a little out of the fandom and quite behind on them, so I never heard this was airing nor did I get a chance to really sit and watch this episode by episode as they came out. I figured, I loved them quite a lot a while ago so there wasn't much harm in sitting and watching this; recalibrating myself with MONSTA X and reintroducing myself to the fandom.

I am... so happy that I made the choice to sit and watch this through.

Star Road: MONSTA X is one of those shows that is just calm; it's carefree, it's somewhat quiet and you feel relaxed just watching it. Watching this didn't feel like watching an idol group I loved, this felt like I was sat at a table with my friends as I worked on my things and they chatted away. It felt relaxed, it felt calm, it felt like everyone was having a good time. Watching this for the last couple of days has been me destress technique - it's what has been keeping me calm and content. When I felt out of my element I could just sit back, watch a couple of episodes of this and just let everything melt away for a short while.

I wish the episodes had been a little longer - maybe ten minutes per episode rather than an average of five minutes per episode. Each beep signifying the episode had ended made me feel somewhat sad as it meant I was much closer to the end of this roughly 2-hour series. I didn't want it to end, I wanted to pace it out as long as I could but I ended up devouring the second half of it in one night and it's left me wanting yet more of something like this for the boys. I want to see them on Star Road again, or a similar show, in the future. I definitely have been left wanting to watch more content (and it's a good job this is the first of their works I've watched, got plenty to indulge myself in) and I won't be surprised if I rewatch this at least once in the future.

As for being a not so active member of Monbebe, after watching this, I have been more than sucked back in. This was just so pleasant and relaxing, I found myself falling in love with all of MONSTA X once more. This is enticing, it's indulgent in a way that doesn't feel guilty - watching them sit back, rest and just have some time off and to themselves is such a wonderful way to sit and enjoy them without worrying about if they're resting or such. It's somewhat addicting, watching them just relax and be themselves.

If you're a Monbebe who has doubts about watching this, someone who's just stumbled across this review, or someone curious about MONSTA X - or if, you're just anyone reading this - please definitely give this a try. It's only 2-hours in full and the episodes are short enough to end up accidentally binge watching them, and it's more than worth giving MONSTA X some of your time. This was so pure and friendly, I'll definitely be holding other similar shows up to the standard and the impression that this one series has left on me and I'll definitely be using Star Road as a way to discover new groups in the future.

And, the largest definitely of them all, this has definitely reignited my love for MONSTA X, something I thought might not ever happen. This is worth the watch, it's worth the short amount of your time to watch this, I can't recommend it enough.

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When I finished Jennie 'Solo' Diary, I was a little sad and disappointed because I felt like the diary had ended slightly harshly, without a solid closing to it. I felt a little exasperated as much as I loved the original series but happened to thankfully stumble across the Special Ending Episode whilst browsing vLive, bored. I was really glad I stumbled across this - this was the perfect ending to the 'Solo' Diary series.

Watching Jennie just being herself was just pure and somewhat meaningful. I sat with a smile on my face the entire eight minutes of this special episode and couldn't help but giggle each time Jennie did. This was just refreshing, enticing and a relaxing, calming time. I felt like I was sitting in the same room, just casually chatting with her. This showed an adorable side to Jennie and it makes me excited for the currently running BLACKPINK diaries to see more from her. It makes me excited for potential future shows and vLives from Jennie and the girls.

This was just sweet, short and perfect. I cannot wait for future shows from these girls - definitely check this out if you've not seen it and definitely check out BLACKPINK Diaries and Jennie 'Solo' Diary if you haven't! This special, the original Jennie 'Solo' series and the BLACKPINK Diaries have definitely made me a full time BLINK!

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Spoilers contained for the first Corpse Party movie

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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Corpse Party is a franchise that is known throughout almost the entire horror community. When this film was announced, it was definitely a case of either it would be amazing or it would be terrible. Unfortunately, I'm on team terrible.

I've been a fan of Corpse Party for quite a while now, I've gone through nearly all forms of the franchise. The games, the anime series, and now the movies. If you don't know what Corpse Party is; a group of friends who do a small magic ritual to say goodbye to their friend end up trapped in the cursed school of Heavenly Host Elementary, where ghosts haunt the school and kill those who end up there.

Now, my issue with the movie lies within that they kept the exact same plot - but they changed many elements of it. Yet they didn't change enough of it. Instead of it seeming like a fresh new take on the anime and the games, it seems like just a bad market remake for cash in the series. Everything was the same, but nothing was the same if that makes sense - the same plot happened but they weren't separated. Characters died much before their time and it threw the whole timing off. Two specific ghosts instead of three, only one missing item between them both instead of the original three where they should have been two. One of the original villains not showing up (although he makes an appearance in the sequel - which was much better, that's for a review of Book of Shadows).

This entire movie also felt extremely rough paced. They rushed to do in an hour and a half which the anime series did in just under an hour (around 57 minutes) and that was with some of the plot taken out and some of the characters prematurely ended which took time up in the anime in their original deaths. Maybe I am comparing it too much but to change some basic elements and then not enhance anything you've changed just wasn't the best move the scriptwriters and director could have taken.

The casting was really well done - other than Yuka who seemed much younger than her teen years and not in the same way the original lore make her seem - but the reason it's rated low was the acting. Although many characters do their pieces well, some of the scenes were just inherently cringey. It was obvious - for example - where a character is scratching at the floor, the actor was hardly doing it and didn't seem scared at all. It was basic acting in the scenes where it was needed the most. The gore in this was also something that was somewhat atrocious. 2015 had some amazing special effects available to them in makeup and props alone so to see close up, dizzying shots of specific gore scenes where the gore is meant to be the main thing was also just... really eye rolling.

I don't think I could ever rewatch this myself, to be totally honest. The whole thing felt more like a money grab than anything to do with the games or the series or the lore in any sense. Many scenes should have been done better and frankly some of the actors acting ruined crucial scenes of the plot.

This was a live action that was either going to be done amazingly or just terribly and they missed the mark of anywhere near decent by miles. The sequel is a much better movie than this one and I frankly recommend just watching the series with the most basic knowledge of the lore of Corpse Party.

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After being a fan of Asian horror for so long it definitely took me way too long to get to this film. Based on the manga of the same name, this cult masterpiece from renowned director Takashi Miike (One Missed Call), this follows Kakihara on his search for the man who killed his mob boss.

Now this movie is probably well known for the fact is it gory. It is shameless in its cult tropes, including sexual assault, beatings, torture and gory deaths. In fact, when it was first debuted at a film festival, the audience received barf bags with the movie's logo on it as a gimmick. I have no doubts some of those bags were actually used.

Ichi the Killer is dark and twisted. The torture scenes do not leave anything to the imagination in its full graphic imagery. Miike truly outdid himself in this bloody twisted plunge into the yakuza.

But strangely enough, it actually bored me a little bit. When coming into this, if you've seen the trailer for the film, you've pretty much seen all the most horrifying contents of this film - and if you're a gore horror fan this is probably the only reason why you're watching this film. It was disappointing, to a small degree, that the parts of the film that either intrigued audiences to watching or horrified them were already broadcast throughout this film leaving only two or three scenes to truly shock the audience if they've seen the trailer.
That being said, however, the story is intriguing. Although it seems mundane especially at first, the plot line is twisting and surprising at times. I found it enjoyable to go through the story as things began to twist out of proportion, as they didn't make sense before they linked up in unbelievable ways.

Everything about it really keeps the audience captive throughout the movie and I find that's something hard to do in a movie like this. Gore films are usually splatter-horror, disgusting images on the screen to shock the viewer and keep their stomachs twisting with little thought to plot or the plot suffering as an afterthought. Many plot-driven horror films also end up story driven, without much gore or shock-horror within them to make the audience's stomach churn, but Miike truly got the best of both of these aspects into one film.
However, I feel like the storyline became rushed at the end of the movie coming up to the final fight scene and I feel like perhaps they cut some of the script out for timing issues which were a shame. There could have been more to it and things didn't feel quite right when it finally ended. There were also a few loopholes that didn't get closed in the final scenes before the credits which made me hope for a sequel, yet I don't think any plans have been thought up or ever will be.

The acting in this was something special, in my opinion. It must have been hard for the actors to go through these gory scenes without flinching, cringing and such, even with it not being its full content within filming. I can't think how many takes some of the scenes must have taken. Each character is well developed, is completely three dimensional.
Asano Tadanobu and Omori Nao in their respective roles were truly amazing. Each of their characters felt completely real - like these were people who could be living down the street to you or you might pass when walking down to the shops. They truly brought the characters to life in all their sick ways and it was stunning to see.

Overall, I think this is a movie you only really watch once. This movie is a lot for most people and I don't think many people could stomach the thought of watching it again. However, I think this does have a certain rewatch value to it for the gore/slasher horror fans that come across it. It has a certain charm of disgust that chills the soul and sends goosebumps down the spine. It's deliciously wicked in disgusting ways and Miike definitely made a mark in the slasher-horror genre with this. I don't think another movie could ever stand up to the legend this classic has created.

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With items such as the modern movie Tokyo Gore Police and the recentish anime and movie series, Japanese body horror genre isn't something that has gone unnoticed. It's something that has taken hold of its roots and become it's only genre, popular within its own right, making viewers uncomfortable or making our eyes widen with how grotesque things can be.
As a fan of the Japanese body horror genre, having read a lot of manga and seeing quite a few movies, I wanted to take a look at some of the more original, more classical side of the genre. That's how I came across Tetsuo, the Iron Man.

Now, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't what I watched. I both feel entertained and uncomfortable, but also like I came off a bad drug trip. I've just finished it and I have a migraine but you know what? It's actually pretty good.

Now, I genuinely have no idea how to write a review and summarise what I just watched so I'm just going to recommend almost straight away to watch the film, if you're interested.

This is body horror? A definite check.
Does it do its job in making the viewer uncomfortable? 100%
Does it have its ups? Of course
Does it have its down? Definitely.

What's good about this movie is that it does it's job for sure. You're uncomfortable and very on edge throughout the movie. There wasn't much time that part of my body wasn't seized up and uncomfortable from what was happening on screen. The content does incredibly well and I imagine when this first came out, it was truly horrifying.
The soundtrack – if it can be called as such – did an amazing job with causing you to feel uneasy and I even twitched around and fiddled with my ears at times to soften the sounds.
The editing and filming also portray the visuals of this in a way that's unnerving and makes you flicked your eyes away from the screen.

Now, the editing was also something bad. My migraine from finishing the movie was from the constant start stop state of the movie, as thought it were stop motion. It left me feeling quite ill at parts during the movie and made my eyes go cross eyed. Those sensitive to motion sickness, I would definitely advise avoiding this movie.
The soundtrack, although extremely good, is extremely high pitched at times. This went straight through my ears and caused me some severe ringing and discomfort, and irritated the hearing issues I already have. I did have to unfortunately pause it a number of times to take a moment.

Overall, it's very mixed for me. It does it's job and it does it very well, but some choices have left me feeling quite ill when I finished it, and there was definitely no need for it to be taken so far in terms of some aspects. As for rewatch? I highly doubt I ever will, unless it's just to make my friend(s) watch it to see them get uncomfortable.

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