Asian Horror Films (Again) - The Grudge

[eastlondonseagull]

I watched the American remake of The Grudge last night and, much like the remake of The Ring, I thought it was considerably better than the Japanese original. I found it easier to follow, it made a lot more sense, and it was also a bit scarier in places (although neither version was particularly scary, it has to be said).

Not a bad movie, but not exactly great either. To me, the most interesting thing about the film was that Sarah Michelle Gellar looked a little bit ropy throughout. It would seem that time is not being particularly kind to Buffy. Which is a shame.

Anyone else seen it? If so, any views?

Not that this is Japanese, TLB, but have you seen the Korean psyhological horror flick 'A Tale of Two Sisters' (2003)?

If so, any thoughts? I found it a little confusing, but still frightening.

 

[The Laughing Bluebird]

Re: Re: Asian Horror Films (Again) - The Grudge

Not that this is Japanese, TLB, but have you seen the Korean psyhological horror flick 'A Tale of Two Sisters' (2003)?

Yes, I have, and I thought it was brilliant. Visually stunning. Confusing, but very entertaining all the same. When the mystery unravelled towards the end I was still left with a number of unanswered questions, but that didn't really spoil my enjoyment of the film at all.

The girl in the shop who sold it to me told me it would confuse the hell out of me, and she was right. She said she'd enjoyed it very much although she didn't totally understand it, and that's how I felt after it had finished. I didn't find it at all frightening, but I don't think it really tried to be.

I've watched quite a few Asian horror films in the last few months, and A Tale Of Two Sisters was probably my second favourite behind Audition.

I also very much enjoyed The Eye - that had a couple of really chilling scenes. The Eye 2 was rubbish by comparison, Dark Water was slow and predictable, The Phone was great to watch (the two lead actresses are stunning) and very well made, but the ending was bit naff, and I didn't even manage to finish watching Uzumaki as it was just plain stupid.

Another that was interesting was the latest Pang Brothers film, entitled Abnormal Beauty. The subject matter (a girl who becomes obsessed with photographing dead things) was well dodgy, and the plot was also dubious to say the least, but it was certainly worth watching. However, the copy I got was a Thai import and the subtitles were poor. Whoever did the translations obviously didn't speak too much English! Worth keeping an eye out for when it is released in this country on the Tartan Asia Extreme label later in the year.

 

[The Laughing Bluebird]

Chopper was terrifying.

I watched Chopper last night and thought it was very lame. A totally pointless film.