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Da Tang Xuan Zang (2016)
It's about the Journey
My actual rating of this film would be an 8 or perhaps 9 out of 10, but I gave it a 10 because I certainly feel it deserves better than it's current rating of 6. This is certainly not a film for everyone. As previous reviewers have noted, it has a very slow pace and it is not an action movie, but then it never claimed to be. Just because it is Asian does not mean it's going to have kung fu sequences.
This film is about a monk's journey. The why of the journey is really not the main focus, it's about the journey itself. It's about pilgrimage. One can learn about the historical Xuan Zang (and the subsequent fictionalized versions of his life) elsewhere. What this movie captures is more along the lines of films such as the 2006 Russian movie Ostrov (The Island). It is about the character's spiritual journey and the effects he has on those he encounters, as well as how his faith carries him through both hardships and triumphs.
Gorgeously filmed with a beautiful soundtrack, this is a quiet, reflective movie which will not appeal to everyone, and certainly not to people looking for anything fast-paced or action oriented.
Long khong 2 (2008)
A Prequel to Art of the Devil 2
First off let's make it clear that this film is a direct prequel to Art of the Devil 2. It will make no sense whatsoever if you have not seen that film!
With that out of the way, I gave this one a higher score that I normally would. Yes, much like AOTD 2, the bulk is mainly torture , but then if you know anything about this series you should know that going in. Yes there is a strange tattooed villain who contributes almost nothing to the plot and could easily have been left as a breakaway (like the dark magician in part 2).
However, I was surprised that, when all was said and done, this DID explain several questions that I felt were leftover from the second film. Whose corpses were those that the teacher was using for her army of walking dead? Why did she seem to question them so closely as if they were on intimate terms? What happened to Ta's mother? Why did the teacher enter into what seemed such an uneven marriage?
I also liked the motif of the monk serving as a vehicle for both the teacher and Ta working through their karma, although that brings me to one of my main problems with this as a prequel film. Although this is set up to occur one year before the events of AOTD 2, I wish the ending scene (the monk speaking with the souls of the teacher and Ta) could have somehow been after the events of that film.
The message of having to work though and accept the negativity of one's own actions to break the chain of evil consequences is an important one, since part of the "twists" which keep happening in these films is that we are shown that certain characters who began as victims are, earlier and earlier, actually the ones who began using black magic in the first place (indeed, I believe the point has been push as far as possible unless they would like to show us a baby somehow engaging the services of a dark magician!). In other words, as in typical revenge narrative, a character begins as a victim, but then, in the process of revenge, becomes a demon who then inspires feelings of revenge in his or her victims creating a never-ending chain of evil.
The ending scene seemed to imply some remorse and self-awareness on the part of both Ta and the teacher (indeed, I felt Ta came across as a much more likeable character in this film). If all of this occurred BEFORE the horrendous events of AOTD 2, however...well, not much karma was worked out during that year.
So all in all, if you are a fan of this series, don't miss this entry. The central actors are solid and the storyline is in keeping with the previous storylines about revenge, justification, and the nature of how much is too much. Also there's plenty of gore and dead people. Basically a good Art of the Devil film!
Kuchisake-onna 0: Biginingu (2008)
Backstory had potential...all 10 minutes of it
**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!**
I'm normally fairly lenient on films, and the negative hyperbole that usually appears in the reviews. No, this was not the worst horror film I have ever seen, but I was surprised it received as high of a rating as it did.
The pace was slow, not at all necessarily bad or unusual, especially in Asian horror, but there were far too many shots of the main character wandering around and seeing blurry figures off in the distance. Indeed, the bulk of the film consists of such shots. As other reviewers have said, there was gore, but rarely in connection with any actual violence (if that sentence seems to make no sense that's because it didn't make sense in the film either). Unexplained actions also can be used effectively in this genre but in this case they were simply unexplained (why does the policeman always give a goofy smile every time he sees a skeleton?!)
Sadly there was potential with the backstory which could have been explored in interesting ways, i.e. "we become the monster we pretend to be" or "when people view you as a monster you can turn into what they think you are", etc. Alas, this backstory felt tacked into the main film, rather than, as it should have been, the main focus.
I really wanted to like this film, but could only give it 3 stars at the end.
AfterDeath (2015)
Good potential, but ruined
I was very unsure of what to rate this film. As a pure and simple movie it was well done: good acting, decent pace, good FX. Even the premise is promising. However, throughout there seems to be a lot of man-hating, and the end is about as hubristic as one can get. I can only conclude this was written by someone who is still bitter from a strict religious upbringing. The last line in the film seems to sum up its message of despair. Thus I settle on a solid 4. It could have been so much better.
For a better "purgatorial" film, I recommend "Kingdom Come" (2014), which has a much better theological logic to it.
Okaruto (2009)
Good, but no Noroi
I enjoyed this film which, as many reviewers have already said, is of the Noroi "POV" variety, shot on hand-held cameras. I adored Noroi which I think is one of the best horror films ever made, which makes for a bad comparison with this film. The characters are interesting and kept me guessing, which is a definite plus, since most of the movie is from their point of view (i.e. their camera). The bad special effects some have spoken of are short and, while yes they are quite bad, really only serve to drive home the end scene; could've been done better, but you still get the point.
Sum up: Taken on its own, "Occult" is a good POV film, but it pales in comparison to many of its precursors. It's definitely worth at least one watch.
All Girls Weekend (2016)
Not as bad as it sounds
Assuming you've read the other reviews on this page, I'm skipping all the diatribe about that the budget was supposedly $1,000,000. Yes, for that amount of money this should have been much better. However, as a low budget, bare-bones horror film, it really wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I have certainly seen worse films with better reviews. The story is simple, yet ambitious, and if it fails to live up to that ambition, well...better luck next time.
The editing was iffy, the acting spotty (sometimes decent, sometimes bad), but the location is visually appealing and little things made it somewhat enjoyable to watch, if only once. I won't use spoilers, but the progression of the second-to-main character is actually fairly subtle and interesting. If you watch the beginning and the end you'll see what I mean.
In sum, is this a great film? No. Is it the worst possible film ever made? No. I found it on YouTube and the comments there are much more forgiving, perhaps because they didn't read these reviews first.