Just Watched Movies (2015)

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Poseidon Rex-While working off the coast of Belize, a deep-sea diver unearths a giant prehistoric dinosaur and must team up with several locals to help put an end to the creature's rampage through the area. Frankly this one turned out a lot better than expected and had a lot going for it. One of the main aspects here is the fact that this one goes for a much-more involved action-packed storyline than expected which is quite fun here with that generating a drive throughout here to really get this one going. There's a lot of fun in the early attacks on the patrol-boats and the gangster's attack that are quite fun due to the lack of survivors for each that keeps the creature's initial appearance a shock from the heroes. That then makes the creature's appearance at the party-boat in front of the hordes of locals all that much fun by showing it in full-view and ready to attack the party-goers stuck there makes for a rather fun scene as it sets the stage for the film's two big highlights. The first encounter in the ocean which is the battle with the armed forces who attack it with patrol boats and guns is pretty exciting as the resulting carnage attracts it to land where it attacks the series of sea-side attractions and establishments while the second is a lengthy car-chase to try to get away from the creature while there's plenty of gunfire to keep it at bay, several attacks on the car itself to get at them and finally leads into the chase through the dense woodlands which has some chilling moments to try to prevent the creature from getting to them. These are all quite fun and manage to make for a rather enjoyable time here as this allows the film a nearly non-stop relentless pace to keep on going forward. Surprisingly, this also helps the fact that the creature itself, which is clearly modeled after a true dinosaur but endowed with features and characteristics that none known dinosaurs actually possessed, to look far better than expected here when the beast isn't running around like crazy as some of these shots are far better than expected and manage to let it look pretty convincing. Still, there's the ever-present flaw in many of these movies where the creature doesn't really mesh all that well with the CGI being glaring and apparent for the most part. There's very little true interaction with the surrounding elements when it's on land and comes off rather obvious during these segments. Likewise, the fact that this one seems to be a dinosaur that features sea-monster characteristics, from the tail-webbing and spiked hands that were never a part of any dinosaurs' anatomy does make it odd about what the creature actually is or how it survived since there's nothing given about that aspect, but overall this one was quite a bit of fun.

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- Persona (Sweden, 1966. Dir. Ingmar Bergman). Nurse Alma is assigned to watch over Elizabeth Vogler, a famous actress who has mysteriously lost her voice (they weren't able to find any physiological reason for this, and the head nurse suspects it's psychosomatic). The two women rent a beach cottage and Alma starts confiding in Elizabeth, figuring she has an attentive audience. But as time goes by, Alma finds herself pouring more and more of her life, including deeply personal (indeed, deeply traumatic) stuff. And is Elizabeth really as passive as she seems at first? Why does Alma find herself gradually absorbing Elizabeth's own life traumas? Is this an intense case of cabin fever or is something far more sinister going on?

One of director Bergman's most haunting movies, at once a complex character study and one of the subtlest vampiric movies ever made. The many experimental filmmaking techniques on display alone are worth the admission prize, as are Bibi Anderson and Liv Ullman's (two of Bergman's favorite actresses, in fact) powerhouse performances. Capped off with a surprisingly violent (yet enigmatic) resolution. Recommended... but for patient viewers --despite the movie clocking in at roughly an hour and a half, it is slow moving and hermetic. Yet the payoff is certainly worth it.

[Fenril]

- The rite. Michael Kovak is about to quit seminary school just before receiving his final vows (in truth he had never intended to be a priest, just wanted to get away from the family business, that of mortician); his superior, Father Matthew, coerces him to attend a course on exorcism taught in Rome (otherwise, he'll register Michael's scholarship as a student loan and leave him with a $100,000 debt. So much for well-meaning!). Once in Rome, Michael is placed under the tutelage of veteran exorcist Father Lucas, whom he accompanies to a series of largely unimpressive exorcism sessions. Once Michael teams up with reporter and fellow exorcism student Angelina to produce a report on possession phenomena, however, they find themselves confronted by an actual Cannaaite deity (well, a demon in this movie, as per the Dictionnaire Infernal) who has been directly involved in a few traumatic events in both their lives.

Rather dull thriller from director Mikael Håfström (of "Strandvaskaren", an equally disappointing slasher / ghost movie), who simply cannot seem to create suspense or a convincing jump scare. As an horror movie there's only one or two moments of interest (and to be fair the makeup used in the climax isn't that bad; it's not memorable, either). As a religious-themed drama, ehh, it's yet another movie based on reasonings such as "the proof of the devil's existence lies in the fact that he leaves no definitive proof of his existence (except for providing possessed people with ESP, which the devil doesn't hide because... because)". It's not exactly a theological debate. Then there is the cast that seems to sleepwalk through most of the film (to be fair, they aren't given much else to do). Loosely based on a book by Matt Baglio, itself based on the experience of real-life Father Gary Thomas... which reminds me of what somebody wiser than me once said: "Supernatural movies claiming to be based in real-life cases ought to finish with the disclaimer: 'Actually, the preceding story was 100% horseshit'."

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Lake Placid vs. Anaconda-Attempting to harvest local crocodile genes, the release of giant anacondas forces the town sheriff and a wildlife officer to try to hunt down the deadly creatures rampaging through the local community. Overall this one was quite the enjoyable and entertaining offering. Despite being the fifth entry in each series, the fact that this one manages to incorporate the aspects of each one is quite impressive, managing to go through the snake series with a marginal recap of what happened there and keeping the events that transpired so as not to truly forget the efforts of that franchise while keeping the location and set-up from the final crocodile effort in place so as to ensure that there's some cohesive logic between the two. This makes the meeting of the two all the more logical and enjoyable by putting them into the universe which allows for a lot of great parts here as the action between the two creatures brings in a lot of fun. The opening attempt to conduct their experiments that results in the creatures getting loose is quite fun with the croc getting loose and forcing a host of defensive tactics to free itself, the baby crocs get a really nice scene where they stalk and attack a poacher in the forest, the initial assault on the sorority initiation is quite impressive as the attack on the wake-boarder leads to the boat attack and subsequent massacre on the beach at the same time, the chase through the woods and finally the attempts to flee in their cars results in some really enjoyable and exciting suspense scenes with the attempts to break into the car to get at them and the chases once the girls are free makes this one quite the highlight. The nice gore and kills here certainly aren't that bad either, and the comic relief from the ineffectual deputy takes on some goofy charms here that manages to feel in tune with the rest of the film here which makes for it's positive points. There's a few small flaws here, namely the fact that the titular creatures only get one real battle here to come together, and it's barely worth mentioning with the majority of the time anyway taken up with the pleas between the two human parties both for killing and saving the animals. That's not all that impressive here and really could've given the snakes more time in the story with them barely appearing anyway as the crocs get more of the screentime, and with a few small re-writes could've removed them from the story altogether and made this a sole killer crocodile film. While the CGI again looks pretty bad and gives away both the inconsistent size and appearance of both creatures, the last flaw here is a slew of unresolved and unexplained encounters that are never picked up or explored again leading to question why a ton of time was spent on their inclusion. Still, for the most part this one was a lot of great fun.

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Added uncut copies of Wishmaster and Wishmaster II: Evil Never Dies to the collection.

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Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies-Leading the Union in battle, President Lincoln discovers the return of a deadly disease that revives the dead has afflicted a small community vital to his efforts and leads the charge to cut them down and win the Civil War. On the whole this one was a highly enjoyable and exciting effort with a lot to like about it. One of the best aspects to this one is the fact that there's a lot more historical importance placed here than would otherwise seem weird or forgotten in such a situation that gets placed throughout this to make for an entertaining time. This in turn leads to a ton of action throughout here that tends to come off rather nicely with the opening barn attack and the exciting shootout to overtake the fortress being quite enjoyable at not only being fun scenes but also managing to feature enough historical appeal to come off better than expected. Still, the biggest aspect here is the zombie encounters as there's a rather fun voyage into town that manages to feature some blazing shootouts and some thrilling suspense with the ever-growing hordes slowly approaching the group and forcing some old-school defensive tactics to keep themselves from being attacked. There's also the impressive finale as their plan to take out the swarm in town comes with plenty of exciting scenes of zombie carnage as well as body dismemberment that includes far more gore than expected which helps to make this one all the more enjoyable by mixing together all the different influences and sources quite nicely. Likewise, there's the over-the-top finale which manages to feature some exciting action, plenty of gore and rather thrilling moments in the race to get out of the fortress before it blows up which all make for a great time throughout here as well as the fun times with the zombies. Not only is there a coherent and logical motive for the introduction to the word into the film by tying it to the African folklore brought up by the black slave which makes the most sense but also they're treatment here features the rather novel idea of using sound as their prime motivator and allowing the squad to easily maneuver around them if they don't make too much noise which is rather nice that ties into the viral condition of their origins, and when placed alongside the fine make-up effects come off rather nicely overall. These here more than make-up for the film's lone problem which is the utterly inane amount of re-writing it does to try to make the action historically accurate. The actions of the Confederate spy are the biggest which makes no sense, and attempting to place the actions of the real-life figures to their true fates comes off rather lamely. Aside from some shoddy CGI, that's about all this one has going against it.

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The Dinosaur Project-Trekking in the African Congo, an expedition into the area finds the area inhabited with long-lost dinosaurs and must try to find a way back to civilization to report their claims. Initially saw this thinking it was a horror film but instead this is a total adventure film based on the perilous challenges and obstacles that this one presents despite two rather impressive suspense scenes featuring an attack on their hideout by the giant birds and a great chase sequence through the underbrush against giant bats. The CGI actually looks really nice here and doesn't come off as fake or disingenuous which really helps to sell this one quite well, the action is pretty constant and it's short enough to zip along without any real flaws beyond some rather questionable logic choices here and there, but otherwise this was quite fun.

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Silent Hill: Revelation-Troubled by strange dreams, a teen and her friend go on the run from a series of strange creatures and visions which prompt her to visit a dreaded town of eternal darkness in hopes of finding an answer for her journey. For the most part this one wasn’t all that bad and really had some good parts to it. What really tends to make this one work is the fact that there's an exciting slew of scenes here that not only help with the action but also manages to help the story make more sense coming off the original which is quite surprising. Though the original does good enough with what's presented here, this one really fleshes the story out more by going all-out for the two features by managing to convey the mysterious voices in her head, her strange dreams and constant fleeting visions of shadows stalking her in the first half as being quite important to the film. Not only are they great suspense-builders at generating rather creepy scenes, they also come with a special point that's slowly revealed about her true destiny and how that all ties into the initial escape here which is quite a novel concept here at using scares to sell the story. That also leaves quite a nice balancing act in the second half as the first half tends to run more on the suspense route while the second one comes off more as an action-packed showcase with a large amount of thrilling action scenes all centered in the titular town which is the best part to this. The initial walk-through of the deserted city streets, the attempts at avoiding the patrols in the amusement park and the main sequence of her trying to get out of the underground tunnels filled with strange monsters and deformed mutants down below is really exciting and packs enough action, gory kills and fantastic visuals to make for a stand-out sequence that's wholly enjoyable while still managing to combine the earlier tactics of focusing on the action to tell the story. These are more than enough to hold off the one main flaw with this one, as it's easily the 3D workings throughout here. This is painful to watch in 3D with camera angles purposefully tilted at odd angles simply so claws, blades or tongues from the different creatures can be thrust into the screen in utterly-shoddy CGI that never looks realistic or enjoyable. It's a lame tactic that never works well and always manages to ruin the scene whenever it's featured, which makes those scenes distracting and obvious, hurting what would otherwise be a rather enjoyable entry.

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The Devil's Dagger-Told by a storyteller, a demonic dagger passed throughout a small village starts to disrupt the lives of those it comes into contact with and causes them to turn on their friends and loved ones before attempted to be destroyed. This was quite a decent effort with a couple of problems in it overall. The film's biggest issue is the fact that this one is told as an anthology effort with three different stories intertwined about the deadly device which really causes this one to loose focus a lot during here. The stories here are so short anyway that it's really hard to get into them because they're so short and it really tends to amount to the same thing over-and-over again due to the inability to really get anything going throughout here in how the stories come off with the first two segments really needing a lot of work to get to anything good while the last one is easily the most straight-forward and determined of how to go about things. Still, hardly anything here really amounts to how cheap and low-budget this one is, with the whole film's shot-on-video look coming across so well that there's barely anything here that really allows it to exhibit any kind of class or really any horror. The laughable special effects that show the demonic possession, the lack of blood or even graphic kills, the crude sets and even the work done on the dagger itself all come off as cheap and very low-brow which manages to make this feel all the more cheap and yet never manages to turn this into fun as everything comes off a little too serious for something of this caliber. While all these flaws might lower it a lot there's still enough good points that this one does become quite good at times, and this is mainly centered on the supernatural properties of the dagger itself. Accompanied by flashing eyes, a tilted head and an utterly creepy low, droning voice chanting in Latin throughout its' scenes here this one does manage to make it somewhat fearful of a device at times, especially in the first segment when the couple are convinced there's something in the apartment with them as the shadowy keeper is briefly glimpsed in the background or the scenes in the bedroom with their friends in the second story. Likewise, the third story attempts to explain and destroy the dagger for much of the running time leading to a rather fine and action-packed sense of urgency that's missing from the other segments. While not enough to combat the flaws, it's enough to make it more than watchable for this type of effort.

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Shock-After moving into an old house with her family, a mentally unhinged woman begins to increasingly suspect her former husband still haunts the property and tries to save her son from his presence. Overall this was an incredibly enjoyable and exciting effort with a lot to like. One of the best qualities here is the incredibly strong central premise of being stuck in the old house and why it was designated to return there, having such a strong connection with the location that's spelled out here in the convoluted back-story that grows increasingly more disturbed with each layer effectively making the stay there quite unwelcome in the first place and readily setting this one up right from the start. The way this one really digs into the psychosis of it all, that back-story giving a plausible excuse for all manner of really inventive scares from a hallucinatory attack by a floating razor-blade that follows her every move, a series of visions about a strange brick-wall that appears out of nowhere and the growing fascination her son has with either molesting her or her personal undergarments that altogether combine into a classy yet effectively sleazy affair in the greatest Italian traditions. The use of the child being possessed and whether that in itself is simply another form of her overall madness really makes for quite an intriguing premise throughout this that really makes the most of the time given to it with a rather intense and quite shocking series of events that may or may not be all in her head that continues on here and really helps to make the first half all that much more chilling as it lets the story unfold. When the second half really lets loose, this one tends to favor the action as the centerpiece is a massive ghostly attack throughout the entire house as it continually hurls furniture and belongings at her from an unseen force while demonic howls and screaming continually make their way throughout the scene which is long, intense and quite chilling overall which sets up the best part of this one. While this one did have a few small flaws, the only really damaging part is the factor of the first half here being a bit more relaxed in pace as the majority of the events play with her psychosis to the point that those are the only points of interest and that leads to a somewhat plodding, lumbering march to get going. It's all quite fun, but it doesn't match the relentlessness of the later half of the film and is really all that holds it back.

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Rats: Night of Terror-Hundreds of years after a nuclear war has ravaged the planet, a biker gang happens upon an abandoned building out in the countryside that’s under attack by giant rats and forcing them to put up a fight against the creatures to survive. This is no doubt an incredibly cheesy film, and it reveals in it. From the outlandish dialog that is simply laugh-out-loud to the bad retro-futuristic clothing and post-apocalyptic setting along with the general premise itself, this is one cheesy film. That alone gives it its most powerful plus, as by keeping it light and fun, the edge is taken out and the incredibly goofy tone can be appreciated. The pacing is also a pleasant surprise, as it starts out fast and doesn’t really slow down all that much as the gang arrives at the house within the first five minutes and the first attack comes shortly after that. From there on, it’s non-stop and does an excellent job of keeping the interest on the screen either through its intense action scenes or the cheese on display as both never fail to entertain. The attacks themselves are quite nice and brutal, and result in some nice scenes down in the basement during the examination of the harvesting conditions on the site, the battle in the bar that features scores of creatures approaching them as well as the numerous scenes where the rats fall from the ceiling or the walls and overwhelm the victims which are some of the most suspenseful attacks being full of spectacle and action. The other sequences in here are just as action-packed, including some flame-thrower use and some grenade attacks, coupled with some bashing and running around, move the film along with the action make it a fully action-packed film. That, though, highlights the fact that this one does manage to feature enough suspense to counterbalance the cheese that it really comes off even better than the initial impression, with sleeping bag death being a prime example as it’s enormously cheesy and provides the movie with some gore as well as scenes of the group noticeably trying to get away while down in the basement and must maneuver through a swarm mere inches away or the highlight piece of them trying to force their way into their hideout against the oncoming swarm as the others debate the merits of letting them in or not. These are much better than expected, and along with the cheesy gore and bloody deaths provide this with plenty of positives against the few, non-detrimental flaws. The film’s biggest turnoff is the fact that at times this is pretty much a series of rip-offs and imitations from elsewhere, and while the premise is exactly like several other films thrown together there’s enough remnants present to give that feel. The second half is exactly like any number of zombie films, the opening evokes many different post-nuclear war road films, and the final five minutes is pretty much like every virus-containment film around and doesn’t do much to hide itself under these influences. The other big problem is that the film really doesn’t make too much sense, as the explanations are so vague and out-there that it's hard to really get a sense of what's going on. Other than the cheese not being for everyone, this isn’t all that bad.

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Scourge-As bodies start piling up, a couple realize their small town is under attack by a strange parasitic organism that feeds on it’s host and then savagely kills them, forcing them to find a way of stopping the menace. This was a pretty decent overall effort that doesn't really have all that many flaws about it. Among the better aspects here is the rather nice nature of the body-swapping parasite that attacks here which manages to keep this one with an air of mystery about it as to who is the next host of the dangerous creature, and the mythology surrounding that is rather nicely accomplished here. That also leaves the attacks to be developed quite well with the film resorting to simply miscommunication and obscure behavior at the beginning to really letting loose and showing off the deformed bodies as the parasite's activities get more pronounced and aggressive resulting in stellar action scenes as well. There's the fine jailhouse ambush that results in the police chase through the streets upon the escape, a wonderful stalking scene in the bowels of a hockey arena following a great confrontation in the locker room and the finale in the motel room is really enjoyable with the change from the supposed seduction offering plenty of creature fun with the escaped creature switching around bodies trying to escape while the few known containment tactics are put to great use. Still, there's a few small flaws here starting with the silly need for the film to go so far into their back-story history that it tends to really grind the film to a halt since the initial outbreak and possession by the creature is done in the film's opening scene which is setting this up for a thrilling pace only for the love-struck romance to get featured and pull that down. As well, the decision for each of them to be in romances that are thrown away simply to bring them back together doesn't make much sense beyond adding to the body count and there's so much missed opportunities to be had from the fact that they stumble upon the creatures solely because their possessed activities are mistaken for cheating on them and then get swept away from there. As well, there's the film's incredibly lame and really unbelievable CGI present which doesn't make much sense at all and really does tend to expose the cheapness and limitations of the story by not really featuring all that many impressive attributes to the story whenever they're featured for its' not just for the creature and the gory aftermath of it's attacks but also for some really explosive action scenes which really highlights those issues. Otherwise, this one wasn't all that bad.

The Bay-Retelling her story to the authorities, a reporter who initially survived a deadly encounter narrates the footage of an attack on a small town by a mutant parasite and what actually happened during the incident. Overall this was quite a nice surprise that really offers some enjoyable moments here. One of the better elements within this is the rather impressive manner in which the found-footage aspect of the storyline works here, taking it along a more documentarian style rather than the straight-forward one-shooter aspect so prominent in the genre to tell a far more wide-reaching story than would otherwise be possible. Allowing the different sources and their origins here, from skype and video-chat to security camera feeds, home video and much more here, this one not only feels more like a genuine, authentic movie by being able to notice different vantage points and styles quite easily which does help to take out the isolated and impersonal approach taken with the usual found-footage tactics. That also allows for some rather intense and brutal sequences here, as the initial attacks along the film provide this with the a more realistic and thrilling form of outbreak here with the rash of bodily disfigurements and general trauma as well as the more severe outings like the vomiting and bloodletting from the different orifices give this a truly ringing naturalistic feel that comes off incredibly well while providing this with tons of outstanding gore and thrilling attacks. The constant nature of the rampage across town makes for some more fun as well, and there's a lot to like about the final half that manages to up the intensity of the encounters significantly, adds the right amount of scientific explanations for the creatures and how to handle them and manages to feature some really thrilling moments that are quite suspenseful and chilling while keeping the action quite exciting. There here are more than enough to hold off the few small flaws here, which does start with the storyline here. The main issue with this one is the fact that there's no real basis here for how exactly the creatures end up appearing in the area as the fact that this one expends so much time on the biological aspects of their origins that there's just no reality to how they would end up there. The series of circumstances and flawed rationale in order to make that a reality is quite absurd and really seems to be about telling the ecological principles more than the actual horror of the creatures attacking, which is really troubling to get into and doesn't make much sense. Likewise, the found-footage aspect of this is a little hard to get into with this one tending to revert back to a lot of the problems associated with the format, and as a whole these drag this down enough to keep it from where it could've been.

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Ju-On-Following a series of strange deaths, a group of detectives learn they are linked to those who entered a house with a cursed history and race to stop the deaths from continuing. Overall this one was highly impressive at times and got some good points out of it. The biggest factor for this one is mainly from the scares, which are prevalent throughout here as it works through several impressive elements. As is usual for the Asian ghost genre, the majority of that comes from the quite creepy and definitely scary ghost popping up whenever you least expect it in areas that are quite shocking to see it come from, definitely giving this one a feeling of dread and terror that very few actually manage to accomplish at all yet this is utterly masterful at. There’s moments within this one that are all about extreme jump-scares as the ghost appears long before actually interacting with the victim which sets off the scares quite well so scenes of the lone girl in the apartment being tormented by the ghostly doppelgangers of her friends, the showing of the brother and his wife who succumb to the curse and the reporter in the hotel room are all outstanding sequences that work very well because of where the ghost finally pops up and how creepy it is seeing this. When it decides to backtrack and focus more on the suspense of the slowly-approach ghost just utterly terrifying the victims, like the ambush on the security guard at her workplace, the first scenes showing her caring for the grandmother amid the ghost-boy and cat as well as the police detectives in the house during the crime scenes and finally the true meaning of the curse at the end where the hand-trick all-throughout the film finally gets explained, generates some rather creepy moments from time-to-time which causes this to definitely be worthy of its stellar reputation. There’s also the generally demented ghostly-look for them throughout here, which is just unnervingly chilling and creepy that serves this one quite well. Unfortunately, it's also slightly problematic as there’s a small-but-noticeable flaw here. The only real issue is that the film is plagued by a plot that's far too disjointed to make any sense as we constantly zip around to view the dozen or so different stories that are told within, making it nearly impossible to keep track of who's-who here and what time period we’re in since this doesn’t go chronologically with that either, and then because we learn so late in the film what's actually going on, it's far too late to really care. When it sticks to the ghosts, it's great stuff all around and is certainly highly enjoyable.

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Ju-On 2-When she joins a TV special shoot about a purported haunted house, a popular horror actress and her friends fail to realize doing so invokes the malicious spirit trapped within and it sets upon killing them off in gruesome manners. This was an incredibly fun entry that has a lot to like about it. One of the best points is that this one has a lot of really impressive camera- work which puts the ghost in the scene that allows the scares to come across rather well. This is nicely done in the opening car crash, where it cleverly inserts the ghost amongst the car's passengers yet doesn't make it obvious it's there, makes the scene quite striking, and follows up with a nice vehicular accident following the scare is a good plus. The tactic also works well in the movie-shoot scare since it's not known that we're on a movie-set at the time so the scare works there as well. Another big point is the usual standard high-impact haunting scenes that are usually so much fun, and it doesn't disappoint here at all. The small subplot about the couple in the corner apartment complex being continually tormented by the thumping from the open wall of the building is gloriously creepy, and the ghost attack is just awesome from the appearance on the ceiling and then the dual murders being carried out in incredible shock cuts is one of the best parts of the film as a whole. Another fantastic segment is an extended sequence inside a gigantic, old-school house as it makes for a great scene during the terror and chaos that emerges from within and the brutal ending also helps out, making it all the better for its inclusion. Perhaps nowhere is this more prevalent than during the extremely creepy resurrection sequence, which is just all-sorts of chilling and creepy as it slowly appears in front of the hapless and terrified victim, making for a truly startling sequence that works incredibly well here. There's also some quicker deals here, from a menacing photocopier scene and the ghost appearing slowly from underneath a table through isolated limbs only is a great scene as well as the great ending, which is a lot better than expected and really gets a perfect twist in that is really shocking. These here make the film work as there weren't a real lot of problems here, but they were somewhat important. The main flaw to it is that the film becomes a confusing mess through its different plot points, which makes this difficult to understand. As it shifts between five different events that all intermingle at one point or another, that's where the main problem comes from as it goes unexplained why certain events from one of the stories finally gets an explanation in another story much later on. That the film manages to feature five different stories also hurts this as large portions of time go by without offering up anything about what happened. The last flaw here is the an incredibly confusing scene where one of the characters is shown to be attacked by the ghost in about twenty different variations where it's hard to tell what happened at all, and then it keeps on replaying over-and-over as some of them are different takes on the same solution, and it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. These here are the film's main problems.

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3 Extremes-Three Asian horror stories: A woman learns the truth about a neighbor's curative dumpling meal; a director and his wife are held hostage by a fanatic extra; a woman is still haunted by her twin sisters' death. Just an overall bland, near worthless anthology that barely has anything worthwhile going for it. The opening segment is really the only thing that doesn't get overwhelmed by it's massive flaws as the true revelation is quite creepy and has the best horror elements throughout, yet even that one has some flaws in some troubled logic throughout here. The second story is just utterly abysmal, with a rationale that makes no sense and is just a lame reason anyway, the trapped couple are completely unlikable and the entire comeuppance is filmed from an angle that neuters it rather than reveal in the aftermath, and that's even before getting to the twist ending. Part three is just utterly abysmal as well with no horror elements within, a pace that just drains the life out of the segment and a way too art-house feel that renders this utterly bland and forgettable. When your best segment is below-average, there's problems.

3 Extremes II-Three more Asian horror stories: A man is troubled by his wife's strange disappearance; a series of cursed puppets plague a small village; a man is held captive by a neighbor waiting for his dead wife to awaken. This one was slightly better overall as pretty much all of the segments feature at least one positive element within them, but once again they're all pretty much flawed. Part one has a fantastic segment near the end of a ghost materializing in front of him and pulling a bullet out of her head as well as a chilling rationalization for the events, but these are not enjoyable with more of a drama feel taken for the search and his quest to uncover why he's experiencing such discomfort, and they lead in the twist so sure-handedly that it's not really a surprise at all. The second story is the clear winner for best segment with a gorgeous atmosphere and more engrossing horror mystery about the cursed puppets befalling the village which leads to a more frantic pace here with this one really coming along nicely until the final half which tries to make the events more dramatic by slowing down the camera to get longer sequences that don't quite work all that well. The third one has a great mystery spoiled by the more sentimental and touching storyline that never really makes this feel like horror at all, and overall this one was still a pretty troubled effort.