Asian Reviews

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Higanjima is an eerie island occupied by vampires, from where none has ever come back alive. When teenager Akira hears that his missing brother has been seen in the island, he decides to investigate with several friends. REVIEW: Asian vampire movies are usually a love or hate impacting experience for me. On one hand, you have …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: In an ancient world where monsters rule the land while humans keep to their own kingdom, a baby monster, Wuba, is born to a human father and monster queen. When mortals and creatures alike set out to capture the newborn, Wuba’s adventure begins. The cute baby monster Huba is the child of a human man and …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Hoping to make a viral video by streaming a mysterious rope ritual, a couple falls into a deadly curse instead that turns their lives upside down. REVIEW: Directed by Shih-Han Liao, The Rope Curse is a predictable ghost horror that goes to all the places you would expect. Nevertheless, it still manages to provide nominally enjoyable …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Hard man Ricky is incarcerated in a futuristic prison where ultra-violence is his only means of survival in the corrupt, sadistic system. He must battle his way quite literally ‘through’ the feared ‘gang of four’, and undergo multiple tortures before facing the governor in one of the goriest climaxes ever seen. REVIEW: As we open on …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A girl’s life cascades into chaos as everyone around her suffers a gruesome fate while she becomes less certain of who she is and her once-once normal. REVIEW: It is not often you see a film that begins with couple of dozen people being cut in half, but with Sian Sono’s surrealist gorefest Tag, that is …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: An intrepid reporter and her ex-husband investigate reports of a bizarre video which caused its viewer to die within one week.

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: During the Second Sino-Japanese War, in 1940, Lieutenant Kurokawa returns home as a honored and decorated soldier… but deprived of his arms and legs lost in battle in mainland China. All hopes, from the village men and women to close family members, turn to Shigeko, the Lieutenant’s wife: she must honor the Emperor and the country …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Mi-Jung (Seo Ye-Ji ) is a rookie film director and she has been preparing a horror film for the past 8 years. One day, Mi-Jung hears about a movie which was banned. Mi-Jung wants to know about the film. She begins to search for the movie. Her search takes her to meet Jae-Hyun (Jin Seon-Kyu), who …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A recently widowed TV producer is drawn to an isolated cabin in a mysterious woods. REVIEW: Il-gon Song’s Spider Forest is moody psychodrama that blurs the lines of reality to a point of completely confusion, never to really untangle them in a satisfying manner. Recently widowed TV producer Kang Min (Woo-seong Kam) wakes up in a …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A woman finds the key to a room in the attic that her husband forbids her from entering. When she opens the door, she is confronted with the haunting existence of the woman her husband refuses to forget. REVIEW: Matrimony is not your typical Asian horror thriller. While it does focus on the theme of death …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Sara, a young actress, is able to land the leading role in big theater play, but soon learns that somebody or something is trying to end the production at all cost, which puts Sara in deadly danger. REVIEW: If you only know one Japanese horror director, Hideo Nakata is likely to be it. His 1998 hit …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: In the ruthless underground world of the yakuza, no one is more legendary than boss Kamiura. Rumored to be invincible, the truth is he is a vampire-a bloodsucking yakuza vampire boss! Among Kamiura’s gang is Kageyama, his most loyal underling. However, the others in the gang view Kageyama with disdain and ridicule him for his inability …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: When a pharmaceutical company’s illegal experiments inadvertently create a zombie, the strange Park family finds it and tries to profit from it. REVIEW: When it comes to horror comedies, zombies have always been popular subject. The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale, a directorial debut for its director Lee Min-jae, follows many of the rules and convention …

SYNOPSIS: A legendary demon hunter (Jackie Chan), tracking down beasts that enter the human dimension, assisted by a lawman protégé and a motley group of friendly monsters. REVIEW: Jackie Chan stars in a fast-paced adventure full of action, monsters and romance. Based on Pu Songling’s collection of stories, Strange Stories From A Chinese Studio, The Knight of Shadows takes a …

SYNOPSIS: In this prequel to Ring, a young Sadako becomes an actress in hopes of escaping her troubled past. But strange visions and terrifying powers begin to manifest… REVIEW: It’s safe to say that most Americans’ training wheels in Asian horror came with the release of the English remake of Ringu, one of the most popular and long-standing Japanese franchises …