Asian Reviews

SYNOPSIS: The problematic lives of teenager students for whom the singer Lily Chou-Chou’s dreamy music is the only way to escape an alienating, violent and insensitive society. REVIEW: Let me start by stating that this is not a horror film. For those familiar with Shunji Iwai’s previous works this comes as no surprise, as he has a well established career …

SYNOPSIS: A documentary filmmaker explores seemingly unrelated paranormal incidents connected by the legend of an ancient demon called the “kagutaba.” REVIEW: The name Koji Shiraishi is pretty much as synonymous with J-horror as Hideo Nakata or Takashi Shimizu. The film he seems to be best known for here in the west might be one of extreme violence and very little …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: In a world threatened by huge prehistoric creatures and invading aliens, the high-tech Science Patrol defends civilization with its sophisticated weaponry and spacecraft. But, unbeknownst to the rest of the team, patrol member Hayata can transform himself into Ultraman — a metallic superhero who steps in and saves the day when the team is unable to …

SYNOPSIS: This creepy, supernatural thriller revolves around the paranoid belief that those dearest to you may want you dead. REVIEW: “Voices” arrived on the tail end of the After Dark HorrorFest III. It also is the only Asian horror entry in this series. While “Voices” has a pretty strong story base, it also was not high on the scale of …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: There’s something strange going on with the filling in those dumplings the town’s raving about… What the hell are they made of? REVIEW: Director: Koji Kowano Cast: Mihiro Taniguchi, Sakae Yamazaki, Katsuya Naruse, Yusuke Iwata, Miho Funatsu The Examination: You truly won’t believe how the dumplings are prepared in this gonzo sex ‘n splat circus. One thing about Asia’s Cat …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A young man who has been beaten, abused, humiliated and laughed at all his life finds that he has an unusual empathy with snakes. He can talk to them and they understand him, and eventually he finds that he can get them to do his bidding. He decides to use his newfound friends to take his …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A detective and his assistant help send restless spirits into the spiritual world. REVIEW: Based on the three volume manga series by Housui Yamazaki, Mail is a supernatural action drama by the director Iwao Takahashi. It follows detective Akiba (Takamasa Suga) who together with his Assistant Mikoto (Chiaki Kuriyama) goes around helping people who find themselves …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: In the movie, a strange crossword puzzle starts circulating amongst Chiri’s (Rena Komine) friends, and they soon begin getting murdered one by one in horrifying ways. At night, Chiri can seemingly view their deaths in her dreams, causing her to lose sleep. Depressed and confused, she wanders into an old orphanage where she spent her childhood …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A taxi driver with abnormal urges and violent tendencies begins to slaughter women taking his cab late at night, sparking an intense police investigation. REVIEW:  A Category III psychological crime horror film from Hong Kong, 1992’s Dr. Lamb (AKA Gou yeung yi sang) was directed by Danny Lee and Billy Tang and written by Law Kam-fai. …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS A man wakes up to find himself locked in a cramped concrete maze of corridors, in which he can barely move. He doesn’t remember why he is there or how he got there. He has a terrible stomach injury and is slowly bleeding to death REVIEW: Shinya Tsukamoto is a bit of a jack of all …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: A raucous teen boy with a feminine face is teased everywhere, so his odd biker father dresses him as a girl and sends him to an all-girl school. The lad introduces himself as Sukeban, and a classmate, Michiko, takes him to after-school activities. Lessons on humility turn violent when a masked hatchet-wielding woman turns up. Jealousy, …

Rate This Movie  SYNOPSIS: A group of ten children travel to an uninhabited island that many believe to be plagued by an ancient curse. One by one they are stalked and butchered by someone or something. As the mystery unravels, signs show that the killer may be something much more sinister. A shocking twist concludes this tale of terror. REVIEW: …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: This is the classic tale of misfit high school students taking a prank too far, resulting in the death of a classmate (or at least it seems). After burying him alive and torching him, he lashes out from the grave, only to mysteriously disappear just as quick. They had also filmed their attempt at psuedo-snuff, with …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Tax collector Ning, a clumsy and easily frightened man, doesn’t have any money and decides to stay overnight in an abandoned temple. Little does he know that the temple is haunted. He meets a very beautiful lady who seduces him, but he doesn’t know that she is a ghost, usually not leaving any man alive… REVIEW: …

Rate This Movie SYNOPSIS: Kozue and her younger sister are driving through the countryside on the first leg of a camping trip. A minor accident leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere, out of range of mobile phone service. They are soon found by one of the locals, a polite young man, who escorts them to his home. When …