CAT III- Asian

SYNOPSIS: A woman wakes up on a hospital bed, choking and writhing in agony. She quickly realizes that wherever she is, it sure as hell isn’t her local clinic. The place is dark, filthy and full of video cameras – all pointed at her. She seems to be hallucinating, and soon attracts the attention of a doctor and nurse. They …

SYNOPSIS: During a visit to Thailand, somewhat bizarrely set in the 21st century, a group of four friends, Bon (Kwok-Pong Chan), Kong (Tsui Kam-Kong), Kent and Nam are chased out of a brothel in a dispute over payment for one of the strippers. Fearing for their lives, they come across a deserted house and take sanctuary, only to discover it …

SYNOPSIS: A group of three disenfranchised young men, Lung (Lung Tin Sang), Ko (Che Bin Law) and Paul (Albert Au) set off a bomb in a movie theatre. Fleeing from the scene of the crime, they run into the beautiful but dangerous Wan-chu (Lin Chen Chi), who spends her days torturing animals and arguing with her neighbours. Wan-chu threatens to …

SYNOPSIS: Kana tries to end her starring role in an abusive P*rno. For her, the end comes only after she’s been reduced to a “Tumbling Doll of Flesh”. REVIEW: Tamakichi Anaru is a Japanese director with a very disturbing vision. I really can’t think of a better way to start this review, so I’ll just reiterate that this man has …

SYNOPSIS: The title Assault: Jack the Ripper is slightly misleading. This is not a film about Jack the Ripper or a variation thereof, but rather a demented Japanese version of Bonnie and Clyde with knives instead of guns and a great deal more sex and less love. Here, a withdrawn chef in a restaurant hooks up with a bossy and …

SYNOPSIS: Rampo Noir is an omnibus comprising of four short films based upon stories by Edogawa Rampo, Japan’s foremost proponent of the erotic grotesque or ero-guro genre and founder of the Japan Mystery Writers’ Club: Mars Canal (Kasei no Unga) directed by Suguru Takeuchi, Mirror Hell (Kagami Jigoku)  directed by Akio Jissoji, Caterpillar (Imomushi)   directed by Hisayasu Sato (director of …

SYNOPSIS: In The Realm of the Senses is based upon a real-life incident which took place in Japan on 17th May 1936. This incident was the particularly gruesome murder of Kichizo Ishida by his lover, Abe Sada: after having choked Ishida to death, Sada cut off his penis and carried it around with her until she was caught two days …

SYNOPSIS: A nameless underground doctor who is given the moniker of ‘Devil Doctor Woman’ by her patients introduces nine of her most unusual cases in the form of a video diary. These ‘case studies’ include a family whose heads explode when they are subjected to insults, a man with a tumour with a human face, an internal organ-cum-stalker, a zombified …

SYNOPSIS: Hideshi, a typical salary man, is not having a good week. His beautiful girlfriend, Kyoko, is sleeping with a colleague, Nakamura, and his boss at the computer company where he works has been berating him for not doing a good job. He locks himself in his flat, and not even his boss bothers to ring him up to see …

SYNOPSIS: During World War II, the tyrannical Judge Murayama uses his military power to imprison and torture innocent people. Suspected of helping an anti-government movement, the lovely Namiji Kikushima is captured, along with a local kabuki actor. Helpless and unable to escape, the two are subjected to a grueling series of tortures including rope bondage and physical assault. As the …

SYNOPSIS: A ruthless governor with a girl’s name turns against his former friends after his lust for pretty young Lotus takes a turn for the more sinister. Now in a position of great power, he has the lot of them violently tortured and brutalised. With power, said a great man (I believe it was Uncle Ben, the rice salesman) comes …

SYNOPSIS: Three Extremes is an omnibus of three tales of the supernatural from South Korea, Japan and Thailand. Memories by Kim Jee-woon concerns a domestic haunting in which a wife attempts to find her way home, not realising that she is in fact dead, while her husband struggles to remember why his wife has suddenly disappeared. Nonzee Nimibutr’s The Wheel …

SYNOPSIS: Set in the Tokugawa (or Edo) period, the first in Teruo Ishii’s Joys of Torture series opens with a montage portraying a succession of women being decapitated, burnt alive at the stake and torn in two by oxen. The film then adopts a portmanteau approach of three short stories which all culminate in lengthy torture sessions REVIEW: Director Teruo …

SYNOPSIS: The Beauty’s Evil Rose is a great title, but rather misleading – The Beauty’s Evil Parasitic Penis-monster would have been more apt, as the plot – such as it is – involves a Satanic female cult who seek to take vengeance on men, for perceived and/or real wrongs, using a parasite which is transmits deadly poison through sexual contact. …

SYNOPSIS: Brother of Darkness begins with a young man, Toh (Hugo Ng Doi-Yung) on trial for the brutal murder of his brother, Wah (William Ho Ka-Kui). As the court case unfolds and witnesses take the stand, a horrific tale of sibling abuse, domestic violence and all-round thugary ensues. We discover that Toh was subject to frequent attacks by Wah whenever …