Quoting Brude (view post)
Yeah no worries.
But hey, a great Korean horror movie is A Tale of Two Sisters. Check that one out, too, if you haven't seen it already.
Yeah no worries.
But hey, a great Korean horror movie is A Tale of Two Sisters. Check that one out, too, if you haven't seen it already.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Jen loved it. I didn't.
So if I had to guess, I would say that you'll either like it, or you won't. One of those two.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
It took me a while to get used to calling it The Chaser. I'd been calling it Pimp vs Serial Killer for years.
Movie Theater Diary
Meg, cool. I will watch it immediately then.
Thanks for the rec on Two Sisters. I actually have that on DVD. I borrowed it from a buddy and never gave it back.
Watch about 10 minutes and said NOPE NOT DOIN THIS. The whole tone of it made my skin crawl, like I was waiting for some shoe to drop.
Asian horror movies freak me out, mostly in the way they're supposed to. (I thought Ringu was gonna be stupid because of its premise ... And maaaan that was weird and disturbing.)
Asian horror films are a mixed bag for me because I often find they begin with fantastic ideas and then jump the shark and become silly.
Which is weird because the ones that are totally gonzo and silly right from the start, I often find pretty great. I am just not a huge fan of the enormous tonal shift.
I also found the "creepy Asian girl with long dark hair" sub-genre became totally overdone somewhere around 2005/2006. I kind of gave up on that type of horror film, as much as I still really like Ringu and the original two Ju-On films.
If you're at all into Lovecraftian fiction, I strongly suggest checking out Marebito. It's an incredibly eerie, disturbing little gem of a movie. A slow burn, building to a possibly apocalyptic finale. It's great stuff.
And if you're looking for a totally gonzo (yet still very effectively creepy) Asian horror, check out Uzumaki. While hugely inferior to the comics, it's still an original and well-made little supernatural horror about a town being invaded by some strange force that manifests itself in the form of spirals (as in, a literal spiral line).
It's utterly grotesque, and seeing citizens of the town go mad with obsession over these spirals is really unsettling.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Well, that sounds amazing. I'm sold.
Wow, thanks. That's awesome. Maybe I'll have an Asian movie marathon.
Gonna search out those last few recs you made & see if they're available on Netflix or Amazon.
Yes. But usually shitty in a different way to typical Hollywood shitty, so there's that.
For example
- needlessly overlong (my wife says this stems from when Korea was very poor and people thought short movies were a waste of hard-earned money), mainly due to pointless diversions and subplots
- sudden turns into melodrama in previously cartoony comedies
- cartoony sidekick characters in otherwise serious dramas/actions
- random genre mashups from act to act
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
Watched Three...Extremes last night. Could somebody explain the ending of Cut? I...didn't get it.
Good ones, and that first one is especially detrimental to a lot of Korean movies I've seen. It really does seem like they sometimes randomly grafts on a completely different story for no other reason than to pass the 2 hour mark.
Movie Theater Diary
Jen and I dropped by a Zellers in town and found bins and bins and bins of horror films they were clearancing after an apparently unsuccessful Halloween sale.
We picked up a few for $2.99 each...
The Frighteners
Penny Dreadful
The Woods
Scarecrows
Diagnosis: Death
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
The Frighteners AWESOME!
Penny Dreadful Fucking Awful!
That's all the feedback I can provide.
I liked I Saw the Devil a lot more than Memories of Murder. I'd put Devil up there with Oldboy in terms of movies that made me feel something unique and powerful. I felt emotionally exhausted after watching each because I never once felt safe; anything could happen, and it usually wasn't pleasant, and I never knew how far the film would go, or in which direction.
While neither of these are horror films, they made me feel more horrific than just about any modern horror film I've seen.
I Sell the Dead was pleasantly surprising. Not the strongest in the story department, but very entertaining and high-spirited. Clever ending, too.
7/10
You didn't like Memories of Murder, or you just greatly preferred the other two?
I honestly can't imagine not liking MoM. A genuine masterpiece.
Have you seen The Host, and if so what are your thoughts?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Think I'm watching Memories of Murder and I Saw the Devil back to back this week, then.
You introduced me to these three (though I have to give We're Going to Eat You to Jen or else she'll hit me, because she bought it for me :loland I am eternally grateful for all three.
Biozombie is one I wish I could get a decent copy of. Jen and I tried to watch her copy once but it was just awful to the point of being unwatchable.
And the Chinese Ghost Story films are more that are largely unavailable. I wish eBay still sold DVD's from Asia.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I like MoM quite a bit, but it didn't blow me away. Still not sure how I feel about the ending. I get the point of it, but it feels tacked on and out of place.
I saw The Host when it was new, and don't remember thinking much either way about it. I've been wanting to revisit that one.
Be prepared to feel bummed out.
It is weird how hard it is to get Hong Kong DVDs these days. Most of my shops here in Seattle have closed. I can still find stuff on eBay, but the quality is always an issue/concern. The last few I purchased were really bad bootlegs, practically unwatchable.You introduced me to these three (though I have to give We're Going to Eat You to Jen or else she'll hit me, because she bought it for me :lol
Biozombie is one I wish I could get a decent copy of. Jen and I tried to watch her copy once but it was just awful to the point of being unwatchable.
And the Chinese Ghost Story films are more that are largely unavailable. I wish eBay still sold DVD's from Asia.
The death of HKFLIX.COM will forever sadden me.
We're Going to Eat You...wow. What a flick. And Mr. Vampire! I'll never forget seeing that for the first time.
Damn - I miss the good old days of HK cinema.
I miss the days of Chinatown movie theaters that showed first run HK movies, and weird little video stores that had R1 DVDs waaaay before they wee "officially" released in the States. (Bonus points for the shops that were obvious fronts for gambling parlors, haha).
Oh! And college area retro houses that actually had a dedicated "Hong Kong night."
One of the best theater going experiences I ever had was seeing God of Gamblers on the big screen with an enthusiastic crowd.
You can still get good imports in NYC, but it's basically buying at a premium. All the good rental places have either shut down or switched to buy only. It's sad.
Movie Theater Diary
If any of you guys are in the Bay Area, go to Le Video. It's absolutely amazing. One of the best selections I've ever come across. I rented so many obscure foreign movies from them--mostly on VHS! I think I bought a VCR off craigslist just so I can rent stuff from them. Japanese pink eiga films, late 80s HK schlocks, giallos I never even heard of. Oh man. I miss it like crazy. I still have my membership card for nostalgia.
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