Asian Reviews

SYNOPSIS: Researching a book that takes her to Bali and the black magic cult of Leák, Cathy meets an evil witch which promises to train her in the dark arts. Tricked, Cathy is turned into a Penanggalan; a flying vampire with internal organs hanging from her neck. It is now up to the local holy men who are then enforced …

SYNOPSIS: Three years after the failure of the last BR program, a second act is forged and a class of students are sent to an island with one objective: kill international terrorist Shuya Nanahara. REVIEW: If you do a casual search for “best Asian horror movies,” there are a handful of titles that will appear on nearly every list. Oldboy, …

SYNOPSIS Two obnoxious slackers are forced to grow up and learn to take responsibility when a zombie outbreak occurs in their mall. REVIEW: While in the middle of writing this review of Bio-Zombie (1998), I learned the devastating news of George Romero’s death. It’s almost fitting that I would learn of this when I did, as Bio-Zombie was so inspired …

SYNOPSIS: Shinichi Sanada, a young high school student, attempts to kill himself by jumping to his death. Shinichi survives but is seriously injured. Hayato Fujiwara (Yusuke Yamada), the High School Student President, senses there’s more to this than just Shinichi being bullied. Hayato decides to talk to Shinichi’s teacher Kyoko Aizawa. Hayato can’t get many answers from Kyoko Aizawa except …

SYNOPSIS: Nick Cheung plays a streetwise exorcist who becomes an overnight sensation when his extraordinary exorcisms are recorded and go viral on the internet. However, this attracts not only the attention from the media but also creatures from the underworld. REVIEW: Directed by Nick Cheung Movies that declare themselves as a certain genre are usually designed to provoke a specific …

SYNOPSIS: When humans are cast into an epic war with reptilian monsters, an anti-monster agent falls in love with the enemy. REVIEW: Set in Hong Kong near the turn of the last century, Wicked City (1987) is a Chinese adaptation of the first of a series of Japanese speculative horror fiction novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi. Directed by Peter Mak, …

SYNOPSIS: A surreal series of loosely connected and often absurd comedic vignettes touching on themes including alien life, relationships, and the dangers of interpretive dance. REVIEW: 2005’s Funky Forest: The First Contact is less an anthology than an arthouse collection of long-form shower thoughts, anecdotes, and tiny fever dreams. Directors Katsuhito Ishii, Hajime Ishimine, and Shunichiro Miki have assembled a …

SYNOPSIS: The first part in the live action La Blue Girl trilogy. REVIEW: One of the great things about writing horror film reviews and, as a result, watching lots of horror films is that moment when you stare at the screen as the end credit roll and mutter to yourself, “What the hell did I just watch?”.  This reaction can …

SYNOPSIS: A teenage girl (who just happens to be a member of a dangerous cult) is taken to Hell by a mysterious older woman and witnesses what happens to the many poor souls that end up there for all eternity.  REVIEW: Jigoku (which translated means “Hell”) is a weird little fever dream of a movie and while it may not be …

SYNOPSIS: High demand for tattooed geisha generates an entire industry for their “production”. Europeans pay more for tattooed beauties. Against this background, and considering the gorgeous tattooed women develop the history of confrontation between two highly skilled masters of tattoo. REVIEW: Directed by Teruo Ishii Starring Teruo Yoshida, Asao Koike, Masumi Tachibana, Yumiko Katayama, Mieko Fujimoto My first thought watching …

SYNOPSIS: After being disfigured at the hands of her sister’s ex-boyfriend a young woman’s life starts to fall apart. To make matters worse those around her are being killed off one-by-one by a mysterious woman who uses a pair of scissors to slaughter them. Will she be able to figure out the identity of the woman and stop before she …

SYNOPSIS: After his brother is paralyzed by an opponent after a boxing match a man seeks vengeance only to find himself mixed up in a weird situation involving black magic, dead wizards, and reincarnation (I think). REVIEW: Wow. Where do I even begin? Without a doubt The Boxer’s Omen is one of the strangest movies I have ever seen and to be honest I …

SYNOPSIS: Wong plays an unassuming nightclub employee in Macao who alienates a gang of drunken men (led by Shing Fui-on). They tail her after her shift, and mount a gang assault. She attempts to enlist the aid of her former brother-in-law (Lam) – an ex-triad now confined to a wheelchair. A lounge owner in HK, he hires her as a …

SYNOPSIS: “In Tokyo, Shigeharu Aoyama is a widower that grieves the loss of his wife and raises his son Shigehiko Aoyama alone. Seven years later, the teenage Shigehiko asks why his middle-aged father does not remarry and Shigeharu meets his friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa, who is a film producer, and tells his intention. However, Shigeharu has difficulties to approach to available …

SYNOPSIS: A woman who has fled her hometown to escape a violent encounter in her past is tracked down by her assailants five years later and must resort to her own brand of violence in order to survive. REVIEW: As someone who generally tends to avoid rape-revenge films, this was an oft-uncomfortable viewing experience for me. But it was also …