Asian Reviews

SYNOPSIS: An anthology film consisting of five different episodes of violation, torture and genital mutilation throughout Japanese history. REVIEW: Cruel History of Women’s Torture, under any of its similar monikers and literal translations of the original Japanese title, treads a similar path to Teruo Ishii’s notorious The Joy of Torture (1968). Both films adopt the portmanteau structure of Japanese horror …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Twenty years ago, an inexplicable mass suicide occurred in the millionaire Yang household, where the entire family hanged themselves at the exact same time. Only one member survived. To this day, the case remains unsolved. Now, a distant relative inherits the house and moves in with his fiancee. Mysterious events begin to disturb their lives and …

SYNOPSIS: A troubled assassin, who works by orchestrating “accidents”, suspects that an accident that happens to his team is not an accident at all. REVIEW: Accident, a new release directed by Pou-Soi Cheang, is quite unlike many film premises I’ve come across. This Asian thriller takes on a few new angles while following in the tradition of noted cult filmmakers. …

SYNOPSIS: A strange man known only as the “metal fetishist”, who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese “salaryman”, out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body …

SYNOPSIS: “This is essentially eight separate short films, though with some overlaps in terms of characters and thematic material – chiefly that of man’s relationship with his environment. Sunshine Through The Rain: a young boy is told not to go out on the day when both weather conditions occur, because that’s when the foxes hold their wedding procession, which could …

SYNOPSIS: A man looking for the release of a long-time prisoner takes a police officer, his daughter, and a group of strangers hostage. REVIEW: I’m not a Jackie Chan fan. There, I’ve said it! My old Wing Chun tutor was always name-checking him when we accidentally asked him if he’d worked on any films recently and one of my friends …

SYNOPSIS: A martial arts instructor from the police force gets imprisoned after killing a man by accident. But when a vicious killer starts targeting martial arts masters, the instructor offers to help the police in return for his freedom.

SYNOPSIS: So-Yeon, by request from police officer Joon-Suk, takes a cat home after the owner was found dead. Shortly after, So-Yeon starts to see a mysterious young girl. She becomes frightened. Then, So-Yeon’s good friend Bo-Hee is found dead. Near Bo-Hee, there is a cat which Bo-Hee recently adopted from an animal shelter. So-Yeon now fears for her own life. …

SYNOPSIS: A college film club goes on a trip to an abandoned cabin to research a film. The two girls in the club aren’t alone however since they have also brought the drama club, a teacher chaperone and her suspected lover, a young girl who is the same age as the rest of the group. No one but the film …

SYNOPSIS: Tang Sanzang, a Buddhist trying to protect a village from three demons, his emerging feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who helps him repeatedly, and Sanzang’s trans-formative encounter with the Monkey King. REVIEW: Sitting down to watch a foreign-made film is always a bit of a crapshoot. Some are breathtaking in their breadth and scope, others are wastes …

SYNOPSIS: Cheung, a happily married businessman with an adoring young daughter, comes home one day to find his wife being boned by another man. While drowning his sorrows alone in a bar that night, he starts a conversation with a hooker; in his completely drunken state, he ends up unintentionally hiring some gangsters to kill his wife and her lover. …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: After a robbery,a group of thieves meets up with the Yakuza at an old abandoned factory in order to exchange money and jewels.However unknown to them the factory was an old military facility which was working on reanimating the dead.And they succeeded,meaning the factory is loaded with bloodthirsty zombies.”Junk” is slowly getting a minor cult following,because …

SYNOPSIS: An army recruit was found dead during a 24km road march. After the death of the recruit, strange things began to happen, haunting all the soldiers in the barracks. REVIEW: Originally released in Singapore a few years ago, writer/director Gilbert Chan’s “23:59” is just arriving on our shores thanks to the good people at Magnet Releasing and while it’s …

SYNOPSIS: There are 666 portals that connect this world to the other side. These are concealed from all human beings. Somewhere in Japan exists the 444th portal…. The forest of resurrection. REVIEW: We all like to whine and wring our hands about how there’s too much choice these days, entertainment-wise, and how a lot of the time you just can’t …

SYNOPSIS: A young couple are living a quiet and happy life, until the husband suddenly begins howling uncontrollably. REVIEW: Oh dear. Here we have a film so infuriating in its waste of potential that I almost don’t know where to start. The disparity in quality between the beginning and end is so dramatic, so baffling, that I almost thought that …