| |
Site Navigation
Main
News
Forums
Games
Games Database
Top 100
Release List
Support Files
Features
Reviews
Previews
Interviews
Editorials
Diaries
Misc
Download
Gallery
Music
Screenshots
Videos
Miscellaneous
Staff Members
Privacy Statement
|
|
|
|
xSamhainx
Paws of Doom
Joined: 11 Sep 2002
Posts: 2192
Location: San Diego |
Ive always been a fan of asian martial arts movies, but I didnt even notice the Japanese horror boom that has produced such cool films as "Uzmaki","Tomie" and great cult-style "Stacy" and "Wild Zero". The Japanese language in itself is well-suited to horror in my opinion, and the asian "horror music" accompanying is equally capable oftentimes.
Most are familiar with "The Ring" based on the Japanese "Ringu", but havent seen the Japanese version. If you havent, youre missing out IMHO. I havent seen Ju-on (The Grudge) yet, but from what Ive read from other horror junkies, and seen on previews, it looks pretty 'effin scary! Unfortunately it doesnt even look like I'll be able to get a copy of the original here before the probably laughable Sarah Michelle Gellar vehicle hits the big screen.
I dont think they should remake the films right off the bat for western audiences, instead release the original on the big screen first. Alot of people dont care about subtitles, and like hearing a different language.
Has anyone seen any of the Ju-on films?
_________________
“Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving.”-Mark Twain |
Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:07 am |
|
|
Amelia
City Guard
Joined: 18 Jun 2004
Posts: 141
Location: Ong's Hat, New Jersey |
I've heard good this of this film. Apparently it's the same screenwriter of the Ring trilogy. Will check out soon.
Wild Zero is a fire film. Definately good viewing. You should check Versus or anything by Takashi Miike(Ichi the Killer, Audition, Visitor Q, Fudoh) if you haven't otherwise. Also, it's out of production now, but if you can find it, Tetsuo The Ironman is a good one.
Edit: Gah! Just noticed titled misspelling!
_________________
The real secret of magick is that the world is made of words. And that if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish. -Terence Mckenna
Last edited by Amelia on Sat Oct 16, 2004 6:34 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:45 am |
|
|
Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
I saw 2-3 Ju-on movies last year. In one episode it is about a young female social worker visiting an elderly lady. She found the lady's house in disarray and something malevolent lingering in dark corners - something that related to the history of the house. The film's plot is quite weak and lack character development. However for people who are new to Asian horror film, or so far only familiar with Hollywood horror films, it provides fresh prespective and new taste of horror. You won't see violence like head exploding, body parts and intestine laying on the floor, but you can feel the dark undertone, hidden malice that pressuring on you. And it does have moments when something suddenly show up or leap out at you.
I would like to suggest another horror film, Dark Water. And as alluded by the title, in the film you'll see water in most scenes!. I am not sure it's as good as Ju-on: The Grudge, but i like more its story - a divorced woman with small girl move into a cheap apartment, looking for a job, trying to be responsible mother, fighting for custody of her girl, and resurgent of her childhood bad memory. As these are not enough now she has new problem: the apartment she just move in. The water is constantly leaking from ceiling, water pipe problem, and strands of human hair coming through faucets. Something is not right, right?. Indeed. The film has minimal violent, but tries a lot of things to make you paranoid, creep out, and depressed.
Lastly, i haven't see but heard quite a lot people mentioned The Eye, a Chinese horror film, with the supposed "classic elevator scene". The story basically about a woman who blinded since childhood, but can see again after cornea implant. Unfortunately, she now see more than she supposed to - things in another dimension. And that causing nasty and uninvited things coming her way. I saw its sequel, The Eye 2, but it's not that good: disconnected characters, no depth in plot, although the cinematography are quite good.
_________________
 |
|
Wed Sep 15, 2004 3:08 pm |
|
|
Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
Sounds interesting.
Are there places in the US to purchase/rent these movies or are you guys importing them?
_________________
IMHO my opinion is humble |
|
Wed Sep 15, 2004 3:28 pm |
|
|
xSamhainx
Paws of Doom
Joined: 11 Sep 2002
Posts: 2192
Location: San Diego |
Actually, "Ringu" is the only one Ive had to order online @ Amazon, the rest have either been at Borders or Best Buy. I couldnt believe "Stacy" was on the shelf @ Best Buy, and actually as soon as I ordered Ringu ther next day I was @ Best Buy for something else and glanced over at horror and they had gotten it in. For 5 bucks cheaper, argh!
There is a place to get foreign films online, but I keep seeing scary warnings about regional coding. Besides, I like to give out my CC# to the least number of vendors possible, so I tend to limit myself to Amazon and other bigger stateside dealers. I have some trepidation about giving my CC# to overseas vendors, but if you are comfortable with that there are several companies that will do it, but watch that regional coding and language subtitles or you may wind up with an expensive drink coaster. Unfortunately, I wont be able to get the Grudge with region 1 encoding off Amazon til November. Who knows, maybe Best Buy will suprise me again, it actually wouldnt really suprise me all that much.
I have to say, Best Buy has really impressed me lately, carrying alot of Troma, EI, Seduction, and Shock-O-Rama, Full Moon, and Redemption USA titles. They are supposed to be getting "Shikoku" any day now, starring Chiaki Yurikama (Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill#1), supposed to be quite good
_________________
“Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving.”-Mark Twain |
|
Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:01 pm |
|
|
Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
I always remove the region restriction from my DVD drives anyway so thats not realy a problem.
Thanks for the info 
_________________
IMHO my opinion is humble |
|
Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:21 pm |
|
|
xSamhainx
Paws of Doom
Joined: 11 Sep 2002
Posts: 2192
Location: San Diego |
"Tomie" I guess is actually a series of films. I just rented "Tomie :Replay" and there were like 3 more with different taglines on the shelf.
Pretty good in my opinion, utterly strange, but I can definitely say I liked it. There is a fair amount of gore in Tomie's adventures, so dont invite her in unless you are ready for a fresh coat of crimson. It's just a different type of horror, I cant put my finger exactly on it. European feels different than American horror to an extent, but to me it seems like it just mainly boils down to more old castles and skin. Asian horror on the other paw is a whole different ballgame, it feels far more low-tech, but that seems to give it more of a visceral effect. It almost feels as if I'm watching 20-30 year old American horror with better effects, back in the day when our industry was still creative. Now we are littered with endless sequels, parodies, and remakes, and though there have been some newer films that are worthy, I find myself heading back 10-20 years for real quality American or Euro films.
Thanks for the recommendation of Dark Water, Remus. Ive read a few really positive reviews of it in the last week, it is definitely on the short list. Sounds a bit like Uzmaki.
As far as Takashi Mike goes, Im pretty disappointed with what Ive seen so far. I grabbed "Ichi The Killer" the other day, and me and my brother literally had a hard time staying awake. It was a boring, pointless, and just annoying movie after about the first 20 mins. When she was S&M-beating him while he's all chained up, the dialogue got too corny even for me. Im gonna try out "Audition" in the next month or so because it looks like a completely different type of film, but I dont think Ill be checking out "Full Metal Yakuza" anytime soon
Hey Chekote, can you take the regional encoding thingie out of my DVD player for me?
_________________
“Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving.”-Mark Twain |
|
Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:33 am |
|
|
Ariel
Harmonious Angel
Joined: 21 Jul 2001
Posts: 432
Location: Germany |
Yea, do try Dark Water. Personally, I didn't find Ringu particularly scary, but Dark Water freaked me out. I still get goose bumps when I think back to one particular scene... And of course, preferably watch it alone / in the dark / with a good pair of headphones.
I, on the other hand, should like to track down some of the movies you mentioned.
_________________
“Through the sounds of falling rain, through the clouds of bitter times
I see the pure grace of your smile, in dreams of the warmth in your eyes” - Tim North |
|
Fri Sep 17, 2004 9:34 am |
|
|
Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
@ xSamhainx:
I dont know how to remove the encoding on DVD "Players", that is, ones that you hook up to your TV. But I can remove the encoding from a DVD "Drive" (In your PC).
If you wanna know how to do that I can give you some info, its very simple.
You will also need region free Software. I think VLC Media Player is region free but I am not too sure:
www.videolan.org
_________________
IMHO my opinion is humble |
|
Fri Sep 17, 2004 2:31 pm |
|
|
piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
For standalone players, just do a google search. Many DVD sites have a big list of "hacks" for standalone players that you can key in on the remote. I don't have a standalone player myself, but we just obtained codes for my housemate's player to remove macrovision, play all regions and play VCDs (and it's a really old model too).
Not sure what the law is in the US regarding importing DVDs from other regions. I buy almost all my DVDs from other regions, but afaik I can't get into trouble for it; meanwhile, a friend of a friend is taking a job in the US, and I was told he's leaving all his Region 2 DVDs behind, as he could apparently go to jail just for owning them. Not sure if that is true at all. Sounds ridiculous.
I would also recommend Dark Water, it's not the best or the scariest I've seen, but it is very, very good. Even when Hideo Nakata doesn't quite acheive the biggest frights, he does tell a good story.
As for Miike Takashi, the first I saw of his was Audition, and it absolutely blew me away (slightly less impressive on the second viewing, but that's just the nature of the film - definitely worth one watch). I have Ichi The Killer and Dead Or Alive, and feel the same way about both these films as Sam did about Ichi. Some impressive/repulsive visuals, but I find them both interminable and messy (so far - I haven't seen either film through to the end yet). I was all set to give up on the guy, until I saw "Happiness Of The Katakuris" and "The Bird People In China" - they are both excellent. The former is a black comedy/musical with claymation, believe it or not. I'd recommend "Bird People..." to anyone, and "Happiness..." to anyone who likes insane comedy and wierdness. They both bear little resemblance to Takashi's bloodthirsty stuff.
A word of warning - Miike Takashi's stuff can be seriously shocking, even if this is the kind of film you're looking for. I wouldn't advise making "Visitor Q" your first stop in this man's bizarre world.
It's a while since I've seen a really good Japanese horror film, but recently I saw a film that's head and shoulders above the other efforts I've seen recently. It's a Korean horror movie, the western title is "A Tale Of Two Sisters." It really is brilliant - not a collection of cheap shocks or gore, but a great story told in an appropriately bewildering way. The film's "scare" moments are all perfectly justified (although it may not seem that way til you've watched the whole thing!) and are, at their best, absolute spine-chillers. This really is a cut above the usual horror fare (from any country) - don't watch it if you're after Evil Dead schlock (for that, check out Versus), but if you like thinking & being frightened at the same time, this is a must-see. |
|
Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:17 pm |
|
|
Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
One quite new Japanese film involving some disturbing scenes; i don''t remember clearly; it's about a man looking for woman but end up with psycho. The movie's poster shows a woman with needle in her hands.
Another rare film; this one is quite old - back to 1980s. I barely remember anything about it, essentially ghost+action movie.
quote:
Amazon.com Essentials: This popular and beloved film, produced by Tsui Hark and directed by Ching Siu Tung, is a standout in the Hong Kong supernatural-action genre and spawned many sequels and copycats. A Chinese Ghost Story stars Leslie Cheung as Ning Tsei-Shen, a timid and likable tax collector. Looking for a place to stay the night, he comes upon a spooky abandoned temple occupied by a tough Taoist swordsman (Ma Wu). Despite his warnings, Tsei-Shen stays anyway. Later he encounters a beautiful maiden (Joey Wang) who he quickly falls in love with. Unfortunately, she is a ghost who is being forced to trap men for an evil spirit who feeds on their souls. A Chinese Ghost Story has been widely praised for infusing the genre with humor, action, romance, and inventive special effects. Memorable images include an attacking mile-long tongue and a cloak opening to dozens of ghastly decapitated heads. The final battle in hell is said to have inspired scenes in Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness. And the film has its share of homage: A group of crusty zombies are reminiscent of the skeletons in special-effects guru Ray Harryhausen's 7th Voyage of Sinbad--and they are eliminated by Tsei-Shen in comedic slapstick fashion, not unlike the style of Charlie Chaplin. Cheung and Wang are a likeable romantic pair, and Ma Wu creates a hilarious character who breaks out into song and a martial arts dance when drunk. The DVD transfer is topnotch\ , with the film's misty mood lighting and fluttering gowns appearing layered and crisp. It's a must-see for Hong Kong action film fans. --Shannon Gee
_________________
|
|
Tue Sep 21, 2004 8:27 am |
|
|
Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green |
quote:
Originally posted by piln
a friend of a friend is taking a job in the US, and I was told he's leaving all his Region 2 DVDs behind, as he could apparently go to jail just for owning them. Not sure if that is true at all. Sounds ridiculous.
That is just plain retarded. I moved to the US a few years ago and I took all of my region 2 DVD's with me. There is no law that says you cant own or import other region's DVD's.
The region protection was created to stop piracy, not to stop you from playing the DVD in other countires. They thought that if they region encoded the DVD's then any pirates wouldnt work in other countires and thus piracy would be contained.
Well they were wrong about that cuz pirate DVD's dont even have region encoding on them. So all they are doing is hurting the consumer (Just as every anti-piracy idea has done since the beginning of time!).
_________________
IMHO my opinion is humble |
|
Tue Sep 21, 2004 2:18 pm |
|
|
piln
High Emperor
Joined: 22 May 2003
Posts: 906
Location: Leeds, UK |
Yeah, I thought it sounded a little far-fetched.
 Maybe somebody should tell him before he leaves...
 ...then again, I could just offer to take all those troublesome R2's off his hands!
quote:
Originally posted by Chekote
...all they are doing is hurting the consumer (Just as every anti-piracy idea has done since the beginning of time!).
Yup. Apparently, outside Europe and US, many countries simply don't bother with the region code. I've bought a lot of (genuine) Japanese, Chinese and Korean DVDs that are region 0, and even some of the ones that are labelled region 3 will play in my PS2 (which is not modified... yet!  ). And I think all the Aussie DVDs I have are region 0 too.
@Remus: that first movie is Audition. Did you watch it? I didn't have a clue what was coming the first time I saw it and it totally knocked me for six. The girl is great.
I saw A Chinese Ghost Story recently too, quite enjoyed it. The taoist guy had some serious anti-ghost powers! A cut above "Turn Undead," I think.
Well... I just received a DVD today called "Kwaidan" which is an old ('60s, I think) Japanese horror - actually a collection of four tales. Don't know much about it, but I loved the cover which shows a man with writing all over his face, but it has received very good reviews on IMDB. And I've got my eye on a couple of others (Long Dream, Uzumaki). Will post here after viewing.
Has anyone watched anything by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to Akira, afaik)? He's done a lot of "cult" horror movies - I've only seen one (Kairo, aka Pulse) and it had some astounding (and genuinely scary) visuals, but I didn't really "get" it as a whole film. Thing is, I'm curious to see some of his others (Cure, Doppleganger, Charisma - not all horror) but reviews are so mixed it's hard to tell what to expect. Anybody familiar with this guy's work? |
|
Tue Sep 21, 2004 9:07 pm |
|
|
Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
Yep, Audition, that's the film!. I just failed recall the title - buried deep in my mind together with many other B-list horror films. It's not so bad or good either.
_________________
|
|
Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:04 pm |
|
|
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3 Next
All times are GMT. The time now is Mon Apr 08, 2019 5:49 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
