Lugaru
Sous Chef
Well as you guy's know Im a big fan of asian horror movies and shopping in chinatown and well I've got a MAJOR recomendation for you guy's which can also be found on e-bay in case you dont have a local chinatown. Im sure you can get this dvd for $15 or less...
It's called three... extremes
Basically the title is a reference to "these are 3 directors who are part of the extreme asian cinema" or those horror movies that go well beyond what we are used to seeing (audition is probably the most famous example). Either way we wend up with 3 40 minute (give or take) shorts that go as far as they want to go in their quest to freak us out.
The first one is called "BOX" and it's by Takashi Miike (audition, hapyness, ichi, dead or alive, gozu and some sicker stuff) and well one never know's what to expect from this guy, he's alternately made musicals, gorefest yakuza parodies and even a touching comedy here and there. This one is unexpectedly "mainstream" actually, as it draws upon the current fad in asian horror which means slow, dark and suspensful. In that sense it's great, it mixes some "perfume comercial" style arthouse visuals with some downright nasty psychological themes and very crisp and clean camera work. In the end there is little that would make this short R rated, but it's probably the most disturbing of the 3. Hardcore film freaks will notice a few "composition" references to Peter Greenaway and Felini and the story just screams "Edgar Allan Poe".
On to china! I had never heard of Fruit Chan who seems to be a chinese horror director. I was expecting an oldschool gorefest out of "dumplings" but all in all his story had the most developed and interesting characters, althought there's a reason behind that. You see unlike the other directors involved he decided to "play dirty" and chop down a feature lenght film into a 38 minute (the shortest of the 3) feature. Its great, it touches a kind of horror that Im unfamiliar with all in all... the kind where something terrible is happening, everyone involved know's it but they just seem to have gotten used to it. In this case, eating dumplings made with aborted fetuses to maintain one's beauty. The short also juggles more themes than I was expecting... there's the original "stem cell" metaphor that I picked up on but then mini spotlights on themes such as feminism and even our own carnivorous nature comes into play. Not the best of the 3, but here none of them are bad.
Our final stop... Korea! "Cut" is directed by Chan-wook Park who is one of the most "hyped" international directors thanks to simpathy for mr vengance and oldboy. I havent seen either yet but MAN this guy is dynamic, he's got a lot of Tarantino coolness, a lot of Rodriguez camera work, a lot of Miike grusemness and all in all is almost a stereotype of the "hip young director" type (althought he's hardly young but that's a different story). This short is about a director too, a very nice guy director who must prove to a deranged extra that he can be evil, and every 5 minutes it takes him to do so causes his wife to lose a finger. While this short is initially more "clever" than gory in the end it really delivers making it the only "extreme" entry out of the 3. Also it's got such a funny toung in cheek wink at the camera feel to it that you cant help enjoying it, cheap CGI zooms and all.
Well, have yourselves a great night! Im not sure If Im going to bed any time soon... not so much because of being afraid but because a good dynamic movie always get's my blood pumping!
It's called three... extremes
Basically the title is a reference to "these are 3 directors who are part of the extreme asian cinema" or those horror movies that go well beyond what we are used to seeing (audition is probably the most famous example). Either way we wend up with 3 40 minute (give or take) shorts that go as far as they want to go in their quest to freak us out.
The first one is called "BOX" and it's by Takashi Miike (audition, hapyness, ichi, dead or alive, gozu and some sicker stuff) and well one never know's what to expect from this guy, he's alternately made musicals, gorefest yakuza parodies and even a touching comedy here and there. This one is unexpectedly "mainstream" actually, as it draws upon the current fad in asian horror which means slow, dark and suspensful. In that sense it's great, it mixes some "perfume comercial" style arthouse visuals with some downright nasty psychological themes and very crisp and clean camera work. In the end there is little that would make this short R rated, but it's probably the most disturbing of the 3. Hardcore film freaks will notice a few "composition" references to Peter Greenaway and Felini and the story just screams "Edgar Allan Poe".
On to china! I had never heard of Fruit Chan who seems to be a chinese horror director. I was expecting an oldschool gorefest out of "dumplings" but all in all his story had the most developed and interesting characters, althought there's a reason behind that. You see unlike the other directors involved he decided to "play dirty" and chop down a feature lenght film into a 38 minute (the shortest of the 3) feature. Its great, it touches a kind of horror that Im unfamiliar with all in all... the kind where something terrible is happening, everyone involved know's it but they just seem to have gotten used to it. In this case, eating dumplings made with aborted fetuses to maintain one's beauty. The short also juggles more themes than I was expecting... there's the original "stem cell" metaphor that I picked up on but then mini spotlights on themes such as feminism and even our own carnivorous nature comes into play. Not the best of the 3, but here none of them are bad.
Our final stop... Korea! "Cut" is directed by Chan-wook Park who is one of the most "hyped" international directors thanks to simpathy for mr vengance and oldboy. I havent seen either yet but MAN this guy is dynamic, he's got a lot of Tarantino coolness, a lot of Rodriguez camera work, a lot of Miike grusemness and all in all is almost a stereotype of the "hip young director" type (althought he's hardly young but that's a different story). This short is about a director too, a very nice guy director who must prove to a deranged extra that he can be evil, and every 5 minutes it takes him to do so causes his wife to lose a finger. While this short is initially more "clever" than gory in the end it really delivers making it the only "extreme" entry out of the 3. Also it's got such a funny toung in cheek wink at the camera feel to it that you cant help enjoying it, cheap CGI zooms and all.
Well, have yourselves a great night! Im not sure If Im going to bed any time soon... not so much because of being afraid but because a good dynamic movie always get's my blood pumping!
