This sounds like an interesting story with potential, but the execution is incredibly amateurish from everyone involved. The description says that the film is creepy, funny, and strange. The creepiest thing about the film is the natural appearance of some of the actors which is far more repulsive than any ghost. There is nothing worth laughing at here--in fact the attempts at comedy just made me cringe and are capable of making someone scream louder than if there was a ghost in the back seat of their own car. Finally, the strangest thing is how such a large group of terrible actors and actresses was assembled in one movie and why Tokyo Shock thought it would be a good DVD release.

Welcome to the bargin bin, Taxi Tonight.

Okay, I'll try to make sense of this film's past. This film's alternate title is "Heroic One", which is not to be confused with "Heroic Ones" (1970), Chang Cheh's Shaw Brothers classic starring Ti Lung. This was made in Taiwan in 1981, but it's confusing since Chan Hung Lit (played main villian in King Hu's 1966 classic "Come Drink With Me") directed a film in 1973 called "The Inheritor Of Kung Fu". "The Inheritor Of Kung Fu" (1973) was filmed in Hong Kong and is also known as "Two Graves To Kung Fu" and has a very similar cast. This film, "Inheritor Of Kung Fu" (1981) also has a co-director named Pao Hsueh Lieh which directed "Hero At The Border Region" (1982) and also features a similar cast. I'm led to believe that "Soul Collector" was a generic title given by a certain DVD company since I can't find anything on that title.

A possibility on why this movie makes no sense is that it could have been edited together with another film...maybe "Hero At The Border Region", since Pao Hsueh Lieh is listed as co-director.

The Caucasian man with the ridiculous leap from the river is named John Ladalski and he is a American-born kung fu master that was in films such as "Armour Of God", "Bloodfight", and "City War", and has a school in Hong Kong.

Finally, with all the confusion, this film is terrible and is only recommended for diehard Ti Lung fans and people that want to see something so terrible it's funny.

Geez, where do I start? Well, how about the stupid anti-American attitude that is very blatant and seen throughout the film. I don't mind people being critical of U.S. foreign policy as long as it is intelligent and honest. "Battle Royale 2" fails on both accounts not to mention trying to have some deep message that is never even explained. Its quite obvious the adults (the teacher and Japanese government) are made to symbolize the Americans and the oppressed children are the terrorists with hearts of gold. They even go as far as showing beautiful scenery and a bunch of happy shining faces in Afghanistan which I guess are getting killed by B-52's of the great Satan whom the film says bombs dozens of countries, even naming them. Apparently the survivors of the previous film, Shuya & Noriko, escaped to Afghanistan where they learned how to shoot an AK-47, rubbed elbows with Al-Qaeda, and taught them the art of the haiku. Give me a break! Even Shuya's Wild Seven headquarters resembled an Afghan cave as they were fully equipped with that style of clothing. In reality, Japanese kids in Afghanistan would be kidnapped by terrorists, tribal leaders, or drug lords just like the South Korean missionaries that were killed there. The fact that the mission was held on Christmas seemed like they were not only taking a shot at America, but Christianity as well. "Battle Royale" served as a brilliant case study on stereotypes and Japanese society, but the story here has no substance and its preachiness is pointless and unwarranted. Ok, enough politics its time to go on to why this film really sucked.

The absolute worst aspect of this film (beyond the stupid political message) was the total lack of character development which was really what made the original great. In "Battle Royale 2" we learn nothing about the 42 students other than they are delinquents, some lost relatives in the bombing, Shiori Kitano (Ai Maeda) is the previous teacher's daughter, and the main character from Shikanotoride junior high, Takuma (Shugo Oshinari), was dropped off at school by his mom. Equally frustrating was that every time a remotely interesting character emerged they were killed off almost immediately leaving a generic looking group of individuals by the end of the film. The remaining girls were attractive, but looked alike never standing out in the film mainly because they had no character development. Why be so quick to kill off the punky looking plump chick, guy that resembles Keiji Maeda from Samurai Warriors, and the scared little fat girl that pissed her pants? Hell, I was rooting for the girl that pissed herself because she was the only relatable character in the film! Not only didn't we find out much about the junior high students, but we know next to nothing about the Wild Seven group either. Instead of the who'll-die-next-and-how suspense of "Battle Royale", we get a roster of students that are nothing more than a body count.

Another awful aspect of "Battle Royale 2" is the atrocious acting. Another strongpoint of the original was that everyone did a terrific job in their roles which is not the case here at all. I think Shugo Oshinari and V-film star, Riki Takeuchi (the teacher), turned in two of the worst performances I ever saw. The overacting from these two is just ludicrous as I keep thinking of Riki Takeuchi snarling in the camera with a mouthful of aspirin. There were also a few scenes of sappy melodrama that were poorly executed.

The action wasn't all that terrific either as many scenes were shot too close as blood spurted on the screen. To make thing worse, the students wore full battle garb and helmets so I didn't even know who was dying most of the time. This resembled a poorly shot war movie more than anything else. The mission's opening scene of the generic students storming the beach like Normandy was laughable. If the filmmakers think America is so bad then why are they adding a 3rd rate Omaha beach scene straight out of "Saving Private Ryan"? I was cringing as I watched the students running around aimlessly under a storm of gunfire as few got hit. It reminded me of the old GI Joe cartoons where the Joes and Cobra would trade gunfire for hours as no one got hit. Since the student's collars was linked I think most of them would never of got off the beach, like the real Normandy.

As my rant of the year is coming to a close (although I could go on for hours), I must admit that I liked the concept of the linked necklaces even if the film gave a lame explanation for it. But, Unfortunately, this wasn't used to its full potential and was even discarded halfway through the film. Some of the production values were decent, but really not praiseworthy.

Even if I never saw the original masterpiece, I would say "Battle Royale 2" was a very bad film. I would also nominate this abomination as one of the worst sequels ever made. I wish the Japanese government never set up this game and just bombed the terrorist compound so I never would of seen this crappy movie. I will give it a 1 1/2 stars mainly out of respect for the "Battle Royale" legacy.

Thoroughly not recommended!

The story is pretty straightforward but nothing really groundbreaking. This is a very low budget Thai film that has a direct-to-video look to it. The overall execution of nearly every aspect of the film is very amatuerish, ranging from the bargain basement fog machine to the plastic axe that is used to somehow dig a perfectly rectangular grave. The acting also ranges from mediocre to downright awful. The attack of the garden hose scene is particularly laughable. The special effects and make-up are also pretty crappy, and there are no real chills or scares at all. At times it even resembles another poorly done "Ju-On" rip-off.

"Diecovery" is the Thai horror equivilent of a bad Sci-Fi Channel original movie and should be approached with caution.

One positive note is the brutal action from the villain (Panna Rittikrai) as he tore up everyone in sight (including Jaa). How can the DVD company sleep at night with their blatant false advertising by putting Tony Jaa on the cover with his 5-min cameo that would be missed during a piss break?

Only recommended for Panna fans and people who collect DVDs with falsely advertised covers....or pretty boxes....

Like many westerners, I'm not knowledgeable enough about the background and rules of Chinese ghost stories and afterlife procedures to fully understand everything that was going on, as many things seemed contradictory, but that didn't damage the entertainment value of the film. The film offered romance that was never too sappy and added some other interesting elements, such as singing, opera, and some bizarre ghost antics in the final scene that are definitely good for a laugh or two.

"Spiritual Love" is far from a must-own classic but can be entertaining and is recommended for people who enjoy seeing the great chemistry between Chow Yun Fat and Cherie Chung.

I know they were poking fun at the martial arts genre, but I found the ridiculously sped up action to be a distraction and waste of Sammo Hung's talent, which seems to be a trend in "Eagle Shooting Heroes".

It's possible some of the humor was lost in translation, but I did not find this one very fun, as each scene went from lame joke to another, many of which seemed to have gone on forever. There were a few chuckleworthy moments, but not enough for me to recommend this film.

There are some positive aspects, such as high production values, great sets and costumes, and an all-star cast, even if many of them gave awkward, subpar performances considering their previous work. My personal opinion is that people should be cautious before purchasing this (the back cover of the DVD makes it sound like it's a quintessential comedy classic), but a weekend rental would be fine.

Donnie Yen does a good job with the martial arts side of the film, especially when working with the other two lead actors (Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue) who do not have a martial arts background. The action was a bit over the top with too much wire-fu for my taste, but that can be expected from a fantasy film based on a comic book.

The director, Wilson Yip ("SPL", "Bio-Zombie") has always proved to be innovative and gives some impressive visuals in this one, but even that cannot fix the film's many shortcomings.

It's hard for this type of film to succeed without a strong villain, which was clearly the case here. Why should anyone care when he's that generic looking with no background information and doesn't even show up until 45 minutes into the show? He totally mailed it in until he kicked Turbo Shek and Tiger's ass resulting in Dragon (Donnie Yen) thrashing him later, which made all three characters look weak. In fact, Turbo and Tiger looked inferior the whole film. But why? Does Donnie Yen need that much of an ego boost after winning awards for "SPL"?

I know this is a film that you need to shut off your brain when watching, but that can be hard when it is not very entertaining. The worst thing that could have happened to this one is the high expectations that resulted with the insane comparisons to far superior films such as "Storm Riders" and "SPL". It's probably a good idea to skip this and watch "SPL"; and if you've seen that before, watch it again.

Somebody needs to offer an explanation on how this made it to Cannes.

If you can make it through the lame attempts at comedy, "My Young Auntie" does offer some solid action from an impressive cast. The always beautiful Kara Hui (even today as she's nearing 50 yrs old) really gives an award-winning performance and can be quite convincing without having any formal kung fu training. Hsiao Ho is excellent, as always, and in my mind remains one of the most underrated martial artists in kung fu film history. Gordon Liu can even be spotted sporting a ridiculous wig and stache as his talents were really wasted here.

I'm not saying "My Young Auntie" is a terrible film, but a bit of a letdown in which the brief but solid action could not make up for all the crappy comedy. This is far from one of Lau Kar Leung's best efforts and even further from a kung fu classic.

One point of interest for me was the casting choices. I thought it was odd that Chen Kuan Tai (fully equipped with the badass grey hair) played a good guy as the wise teacher and Lau Kar Leung stepped in the villain role. It seems natural that those two roles would be the opposite, but the theme of this film seemed to be that the legendary martial arts director, Lau Kar Leung, wanted to try some different elements, resulting in mediocre results.

I don't want to say this is a bad film, but definitely not a highlight in the career of any of the talented performers involved. My main recommendation is not to expect too much going into this one, especially in the kung fu department.

The action was as good as was expected from Wu Jing and the other fighters, and Ronald Cheng did a nice job too. My only gripe in this department is that there could have been more fights and less wirework.

The story was so-so, and I think they tried to add too many other elements to a film that should be purely martial arts, coming up with messy results. The melodrama was very forced and unneccesary, especially towards the end.

Finally, when will Hong Kong filmmakers cast female actresses based on talent rather than looks? My patientence is growing thin with these cutsey hello kitty catalog girls that are in way over their heads with little upside. There has to be a young Bridgette Lin or Maggie Cheung out there somewhere...

As expected in his films, the martial arts--and especially the stunt work--was top notch as he continues to push the limits of the amount of damage the human body can absorb. I liked how he paid tribute to the Hong Kong heroic bloodshed era (John Woo) in several scenes, and the opening sequence that was very reminiscent of the classic opening scene of "Police Story". The fighting was intense and brutal, and the stunt work was even crazier as people were set on fire, crashing down on hard objects from high places, and inches away from getting their head squashed by a semi. Add in some nice scenic visuals and that sums up its positive aspects.

The major problem of the film is that it has a very weak story, which should be expected when the majority of the 97-minute runtime is one large action sequence. We don't learn much about the supporting characters, which gives me nothing to care about anything other than the mindless violence. Hell, we don't even get any details on the origin of the drug cartel/terrorist group, other than that they are mean people. Are they Thai? Are they Burmese? And how the hell did they get a nuke and why do they want to blow up Bangkok? Thank God it's not that easy to obtain a nuke in the real world.

I also thought some of the action was cartoonish, and I do have a bias against films that try to combine martial arts and machine guns. Does anybody really think that martial arts, gymnastics, soccer balls, and bouncing off a wall flipping 25 times would stop a band of killers running around with heavy duty military hardware? Of course not.

"Born to Fight" has many great elements. I would give the stunt work 5 stars, but the plot dosen't deserve more than 2. As a complete package, I believe "Born to Fight" is overrated, but is recommended for people looking for superb and dangerous stunts with lots of action but little substance.

I still found this to be a good, entertaining film that could have used a little more polish in certain areas. "House of Traps" is far from a dud, although it is not one of Chang Cheh's or The Venoms' best works. But even a mediocre outing from these individuals' careers would be a highlight for another.

Oh yeah, and where can I buy one of those umbrellas?

This film tries to be stylish but often comes up empty. It really has no resemblence to the original except for some of the charcters, a charity donation, and Lau Ching Wan enjoying a bucket of chicken after failing to capture his suspect. The previous ultra catchy theme song was also brought back and given a French sounding remix. There were some good scenes, such as the bike ride on a rainy night, but I thought the ending was a complete letdown and never fully understood the use of the bald eagle.

This is still a decent film, as Johnnie To appears to be incapable of making a total stinker. It can be recommended but never compared with the original.

I do really like Tak Sakaguchi's screen presense and action sequences showing great promise when he figures out a believable story is important. The action scenes were intense and very believable since he would really hit people with his padded hands that were covered by his costume sleeves.

This film also included fun but very over the top action such as bazookas with homing missiles, zombies?, and strange pale people similar to the ones in "Seven Swords".

Still this film is fun but it comes back to questions like who are these people, what's the purpose of those girls, where did that weapon come from, etc...

Many people who like mindless violence and mayhem like I do will have a great time if they are able to put their mind on stop and "Death Trance" on play, but to people who ask questions during movies--beware

"Deadly Duo" does have several free for all fighting sequences packed within a short run time of 77 minutes. It can also be said that the choreography is not up to the standards of Tong Gaai or Lau Kar Leung, although there are some really cool moments with the trademark Chang Cheh bloodiness. The film also had some mistakes such as men jumping from a river somehow remaining dry and how the heroes had such an easy access to the fort as they made their escape. Then a plot was drawn up to get close to the Mongol leader which had no chance of success and raised the question why did they sacrifice their friend and just fight from the river which would of had a better result.

All of these issues with the film and the short run time makes me think that the people were short on time as Chang Cheh, Ti Lung, and David Chiang made six films together that year. It might not be up to the standards of the participants but still has entertainment value.

It is obvious from the opening scene that this is an extremely low budget Hong Kong flick. It is largely plagued with very amatuerish acting and awful action scenes. The action always seems to involve machetes and are annoyingly in your face and slowed down and sped up to mask the lack of training of the actors. The only person involved with this film with any name recognition is the director, Ivan Lai (of cat 3 fame). Although slow at times, it maintains a solid story and level of interest that could have been much more with more seasoned actors and a larger budget to work with...still not too bad.

Anyone who watches this instantly recognizes the laughable acting by the entire cast, but I was more let down by some of the equally laughable action scenes. Some of the opening scenes were very good but then started to spiral into some really cheesy eye rolling stuff. The director needs to learn from this film and go back to the bone crunching realistic choreographer he's known for instead of the ridiculous flying and standing on your opponents head while he has no idea how to counter.

This film does have several positive aspects such as excellent audio and visual qualities with clever uses of the wind. The women are nice to watch due to their beauty not acting ability or lack of. It was also nice to see the legendary Cheng Pei-Pei ("Come Drink With Me") working again and needs a better role in future films.

Excusing its flaws this is not a terrible film and may appeal to cheese lovers, girls with guns fans, or anyone interested in beautiful girls in skimpy outfits.

The story is solid, but fairly basic never adding any plot developments that haven't been seen before in similar old school films. Topics such as brotherhood, training, and revenge are a common theme in kung-fu flicks, and this film is no different. There is also some kung-fu comedy that tends to take away from the film's otherwise serious tone. Some of these scenes are decent, but not necessary, and don't add much to the film.

The action choreography is pretty strong and there is a lot of different styles on display. Some of the action scenes range from the mixing of different styles to acrobatic scenes.

The highlight of "The Mystery of Chessboxing" is definitely the villain. The Ghost Faced Killer (Mark Long) is one of the best badasses in Kung-fu history. This guy has an artistic quality to him mayhem as he chucks colorful metal medallions at his next victim before he totally ruins their life with his deadly 5 elements style. This guy is so thorough he comes fully equipped with the best evil laugh that money can buy and a menacing soundtrack to let everyone know he has arrived to do battle. I'm still trying to master that phenomenal laugh and can only wish I had some killer music play every time I stepped into the room so I could be as cool as the Ghostface Killer. Without this character, "The Mystery of Chessboxing" would be just an average old-schooler.

My main complaint about "The Mystery of Chessboxing" has nothing to do with the film producers or performers, but with Ocean Shores Video. I hate alternate titles and Ninja Checkmate is one of the worst in history. I understand that Ocean Shores was trying to take advantage of the popularity of the ninja in the west (never understood why ninja flicks were popular either), but "The Mystery of Chessboxing" has nothing to do with ninjas or anything Japanese.

With the bogus alternate title aside, "The Mystery of Chessboxing" is a good old school kung-fu film that is worth viewing for the legendary villain alone.

Recommended!

Ted (Jackie Chan) is a police officer who has dreams of becoming a sailor and seeing the world, but is unfortunately straddled with his mentally challenged brother, Danny (Sammo Hung). Danny mistakenly gets caught up with a gang and some stolen jewels resulting in Ted having to come to his rescue further delaying his personal aspirations and adding to his burdens....

"Heart of Dragon" is similar to Jackie Chan's "Crime Story" as both receive some criticism from fans who didn't enjoy Chan trying something different. I admire Chan for wanting to improve his dramatic acting skills and I believe he did a fine job. "Heart of Dragon" is probably more of a Sammo Hung film as he was the director and did a bulk of the action choreography. In my opinion, Sammo also was the better actor playing one of the best mentally challenged characters in Hong Kong film history rivaled only by Lily Chung in the shocking CAT 3 film, "Red To Kill", and Kent Cheng in "Why Me?". Sammo did a terrific job portraying a helpless, but sympathetic character.

The action is very limited except for the end where Jackie Chan and Dick Wei beat the holy tar out of each other. The few action scenes are well done and extremely intense fitting the mood of the film perfectly. It should be noted that "Heart Of Dragon" is not all gloom and doom as there are some comedy scenes that are very effective at lightening things up a bit.

"Heart Of Dragon" has many other noteworthy appearances such as Chin Kar Lok, Melvin Wong, James Tien, Lam Ching Ying, Meng Hoi, Phillip Ko, Lee Hoi San, Cory Yuen and a brief cameo by Yuen Biao.

"Heart Of Dragon" may not always get the respect it deserves from all Jackie Chan fans, but it did do well at the box office winning several awards and is well worth a look for anyone that would like to see Jackie and Sammo try something different.

Recommended!

The story involves a young man (Cheung Kam Ching) that own a barbeque restaurant in Hong Kong that doesn't get many customers, beyond a low level triad (Jamie Lik Kim Ming) and a mischievous cop named Officer Lazy Boots (Anthony Wong) that always loses his gun. Aside from his rocky business, Cheung also has marital problems as he cannot "make it" (as the film describes it), and his nymphomaniacal wife takes all his earning to go shopping to impress her new boyfriends that can "make it". Cheung is a nice guy with absolutely no self esteem because of his crappy life and the fact that everyone knows his wife is cheating on him and he is worthless in bed. But Cheung's life gets a bit more interesting when his wife (Yeung Faan) invites her cousin (Paulyn Sun) to move to Hong Kong from Mainland China. Cheung is totally oblivious to the fact that she witnessed the massacre of her entire family and she is totally insane. She quickly notices that Cheung is a great guy and his wife treats him like dirt, leading her to take matters into her own hands to carve out a new life...

"The Untold Story 2" bares little resemblance to the original, aside from Anthony Wong and people being served for dinner at the crappy Hong Kong restaurant. Anthony Wong does a decent job playing the dimwitted, Officer Lazy Boots but is no comparison to his brilliant performance in "The Untold Story". The highlight of the film is definitely the acting from Paulyn Sun and Cheung Kam Ching. Paulyn Sun accurately portrays a loveable, sometimes innocent looking girl that is really a total nut job. Cheung Kam Ching is even better as the sympathetic loser that can get nothing right as his inefficiencies in the sack and passive nature result in him falling into Paulyn Sun's trap. What makes this film creepy is not the splatter used for a shock value, but the slow transition of Paulyn's character, along with the other solid performances and the eerie nature of the events. This is more of a psychological thriller than a splatterfest.

"The Untold Story 2" is not as groundbreaking as the original but well worth a look, unless you have a weak stomach.

The story is fairly decent, but has a lot of problems. First off, I got the impression this wanted to be more of an epic martial arts film, incorporating historical political issues on a more grand scale, but this goal fizzled out quickly, which may or may not be the fault of a limited budget. Another problem is that the filmmakers tried to add an element of intrigue which completely fell flat. We are introduced to a female ninja (Fanny Wang) that is an agent of the Ching Emperor, wearing a pendant around her neck. In a better film, the viewer would be left guessing who this individual was, resulting in her showing up at an opportune time. Instead, we get a female (the only female in the film) that shows up immediately after that scene whom we are told has Japanese ties, with tattoos reminiscent of Yakuza artwork. If that doesn't make it obvious, killing the element of intrigue, she drops her top in a gambling hall, revealing her pendant, among other things. I'm all for adding female nudity in kung fu films, so that scene does get a star or two out of me.

The acting was mediocre at best, but the action scenes were pretty strong. I'm not a huge fan of Wang Tao, although he seems to be in the best shape that I can remember and his martial arts skills are very solid here. The problem with him as the leading man is that he has the charisma of a Buddhist statue, breathing no life into his character. John Liu is impressive as always and probably does the best acting work in the film, accurately portraying a smart-ass loner. Liu's kicking skills are very good in "The Death Duel Of Kung Fu", as he even manages to avoid his tendency to completely miss his opponents, which can be seen quite a bit in his other films. Eagle Han Ying did a decent job as the lead villain, but in my opinion he is nowhere near the elite class of kung fu baddies. His hair is ridiculous, which didn't bother me that much in the dialogue scenes but became a real distraction in the battles where he is extensively doubled.

"The Death Duel Of Kung Fu" has its pros and cons, but I believe it is not John Liu's or Wang Tao's best film, let alone a kung fu classic worthy of mention or a rating comparable to all the great Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest films of the era.

With that said, "The Death Duel Of Kung Fu" is a solid bargain basement addition to any collection.

All three films in the franchise have very basic plots, but I believe "Erotic Ghost Story 3" has the strongest storyline. This is probably the only aspect in which this film triumphs over the previous two installments. This is a beautifully shot film but doesn't quite match Part 1's lighting and cinematography or Part 2's star power and wackiness. With those comparisons aside, "Erotic Ghost Story 3" is a fine addition to the franchise and a solid film in its own right.

Of course the highlight of the film is all the extended sex scenes that are very well choreographed with a sense of purpose. "Erotic Ghost Story 3" has just as many scenes of gratuitous sex and nudity as the previous films. This film also has several comedic moments, which is another element to expect from the series. Of course much of the humor is as raunchy as one would expect from a Hong Kong CAT 3 film of the early 90's. There are also some solid scenes of swordplay choreographed by Phillip Kwok of Venoms and "Hard Boiled" fame.

"Erotic Ghost Story 3" is a very solid sex/spirits/swordplay flick that is recommended to fans of the series or anyone that is interested in Hong Kong CAT 3 mayhem.

I get the sense that the filmmakers wanted to immediately capitalize on the success of "The Machine Girl" and forgot to present a sensible story, as much of it seems kinda' mashed together and unorganized. Another vital piece of the puzzle that is missing is the charm and the kinda' wink-wink approach to gory filmmaking that was seen in "The Machine Girl".

With that said, I still believe "Tokyo Gore Police" is not a serious film, aside from a few scenes used to push the story of Ruka's (Eihi Shina) father being murdered. Although Ruka dosen't speak much and never cracks a smile, her level of destruction is so absurd that the director is obviously looking for laughs. There is no way some of these scenes could have any purpose other than being purposely over the top. One example is when Ruka runs her car through a pile of bodies that were obviously mannequins. Another is when the police chief gets his legs cut off as his knees spew so much blood he takes off in the air as if he's wearing a jet pack, spinning around and getting chopped to bits even more.

My favorite aspect of the film was all the public service announcements and commercials that were thrown in at random to act as a break from all the gory nonsense. Of course, they were also violent, but many of them were very funny. The best one was definitely the "Wrist Cutter G". I may be a little sick, but somehow the director convinced me that three Japanese girls parading around with cute little wrist-cutting devices resembling a Nickelodeon commercial is hilarious, resulting in my rewinding it several times. The young schoolgirls assured us that wrist-cutting is cute, stylish, and blood starts to taste good. Who thinks up this crap?

It seems that "Tokyo Gore Police" is the product of the successful "The Machine Girl" flick, as the filmmakers decide they needed to up the blood, guts, and bizareness to an even higher level but unfortunately lost some of the charm with a unpolished, sometimes incoherent plot.

Recommended for people that like films that are gory for the sake of being gory, like me! And remember, more gore is on its way! Great, thanks!

I thought the director did a brilliant job setting the mood throughout the film as the suspense and terror gradually grew to the mind-bending climax. Other elements that had a powerful effect were the lighting, use of fog, close-ups, fetishistic killings, and of course the eerie music. The work of the crew was excellent, but the same cannot be said about the cast that seemed amateurish at best. You know that the budget is low when you hire a couple of porn queens and ask them to go beyond their obligatory sex scene and actually give acting a stab.

Some people may consider "Evil Dead Trap" a classic, but I don't for one simple reason and that is the ridiculous ending (or multiple endings in this case). I would have loved this much more if they stuck to the lonely serial killer storyline instead of plunging into the supernatural or whatever it is they did here. After my initial viewing I was very upset and disappointed, but after that I expected it in my second trip through the "Evil Dead Trap", actually paying attention looking for answers that explain the madness. Unfortunately, I only came up with a few theories, many of which center around a multiple personality disorder based on having a Hideki. I won't go into any more detail to avoid spoilers, but I still never figured out exactly what the hell is the Hideki or where it came from. I guess some things are better left unexplained...

"Erotic Ghost Story 2" is definitely the wackiest film in the franchise and at times can be pure Hong Kong Cat 3 gold. The main reason for this is of course the presence of resident slimeball Anthony Wong, who apparently loves these sleazy roles and really rises to the occasion. Wong plays a sex-crazed demon that looks straight out of an 80's rock video, fully equipped with a plastic sword and a tail that resembles something I'd rather not mention. He gets into his love making so much that he can be seen doing some impressive growling, biting, teeth baring, and even ripping a girl in half. He must really love his job and is definitely in the zone for this role.

Aside from the many lengthy sex scenes, "Erotic Ghost Story 2" also adds many other interesting visuals such as eyeball licking, laughable special effects, and a midget Buddhist monk that is green for some unknown reason and can turn himself into a fireball, to name a few.

Like the previous installment in the series, "Erotic Ghost Story 2" is beautifully shot, which is quite surprising for films of this genre. I thought part 2 was definitely wackier than the first and recommend it anyone that is interested in this type of mind-numbing, no-holds-barred filmmaking that can be a very entertaining experience.

After dismissing the audio issues, I found "Sukiyaki Western Django" to be a solid film and couldn't wait for the near 20-minute gun-blazing finale that didn't disappoint. This film seemed to be an ambitious, risky, but admirable project that should be viewed as successful.

Well worth a look.

The first half of the film highlights the bumbling idiots and their quest for jujitsu immortality as an army of zombies begins to throw a monkey wrench in their dreams. These idiots hardly take the zombies seriously, giving the impression that this is designed to be a buddy comedy, not a serious zombie movie. They think then can survive on potato chips, smokes, and of course jujitsu. There was even a scene where Fujio (Tadanobu Asano) was searching through a desk and didn't even bother to grab the gun and boxes of bullets in plain view. This guy is a certified dumbass for sure. Soon after, they meet up with a foul-mouthed shrew of a woman that constantly calls them dumbasses and idiots, which is harsh but accurate. After this, some zombie madness ensues and the film takes a turn for the worse.

Fujio and Mitsuo (Show Aikawa) get split up and the film fast-forwards five years to where the Tokyo survivors are crowded in a region blocked off from the zombies beyond. Fujio apparently developed a relationship with the shrew girl, resulting in a daughter who is mute. The woman is as nasty as before, as she constantly calls him idiot and dumbass while throwing bags of potato chips at him, cursing the shrine Fujio built for Mitsuo or the old bald guy.

The theme of the film changes drastically in the remaining half, as it takes a more serious approach and tries to highlight social problems and class differences while trying to remain funny, but most of the gags fall flat. I found myself losing interest as the film was moving along, hoping for a good ending. After a fairly weak 40 minutes, I must admit the final 10 were pretty funny. The little girl takes an important role and has a funny revelation that was undoubtedly influenced by her often critical mother. I recommend watching this scene with the English dub because the dubbing is hilarious.

"Tokyo Zombie" was a pretty entertaining buddy comedy and Tadanobu Asano and Show Aikawa exhibited great chemistry together. Unfortunately, the middle to end of the film felt awkward and out of place. For that reason alone I believe "Tokyo Zombie" is a good movie but far from great. This film often reminded me of Wilson Yip's Hong Kong film "Bio-Zombie", which also featured two buddies doing goofy hijinx with a large supporting cast of zombies.

Like "Bio-Zombie", "Tokyo Zombie" is an entertaining and often amusing lighthearted film that is recommended.

I believe the film can be summed up with a series of "S" words: some story + stripping + sex + swordplay + sex + spells + sensual seduction + sex + sorcery + sex + special effects + of course still more sex = strange and sexy stuff. The only thing worth noting other than the sex/nudity is the extremely comical special effects that may be a reason to watch on its own. The image of the three-headed demon devouring his sexy and nude prey as he rips off her face is very ridiculous and will stick in the viewer's mind for a long time.

"Erotic Ghost Story" is a must-see film in the grand realm of HK CAT 3 mayhem and should not be missed by anyone interested in this type of strange but erotic filmmaking.

Unfortunately, I found some aspects of the film that I didn't enjoy as much. I know this is a Wuxia fantasy, but I thought the wirework was a little excessive, and it seemed as if every action scene was either sped up too fast or in slow motion, taking away from the beauty of the rest of the film. I also found the evil Siamese twins to be annoying. I read that this film opened a lot of doors in the acting career of Francis Ng, which I still can't figure out. Luckily for him, he does get better roles.

It's easy to see why "The Bride With White Hair" has become an arthouse favorite, but I still think it is a little overrated, although I still recommend it, as many people have different viewpoints on this one. I'm still stuck on whether it deserves 3 1/2 or 4 stars, so I'll unofficially give it 3 3/4.

This is a pretty bizarre film that is often more grotesque than scary, featuring a full cast of nasty critters. Some of the highlights of the film include snakes, worms, maggots, cockroaches, digging up corpses, dismembering corpses, severed teeth and fingers, LASER shows, forcefields, puppet heads, lactating, and some T&A added for good measure. That is quite a lineup, resulting in quite an odd film which is really amped up by a disorientating and head-pounding soundtrack.

As far as the performances go, I would never accuse Ti Lung of phoning one in, but he clearly seemed out of his element in his first horror film role. Lo Lieh also did not clock in his finest hour of screen time, but it is funny to see them dressed as if they were going to a disco. The two best performances easily go to Tanny Tien Ni as the bitchy seductress and also the always entertaining Ku Feng, who has mastered the art of portraying a sleazy black magician.

Although "Black Magic" may have lost some of its shock value over a 35 year period, it should be commended as a film that paved the way for even more deliriously weird horror films from Shaw Brothers in the following years. Definitely worth a look.

The simple plot involves a young college student named Mai (Azumi Suzuki) that describes herself as not being very bright but good at life. How is she good at life? Well, sleeping with her professor and anyone else that comes on to her, of course. Mai is obviously sleazy but seems to understand that and who she is, making her into a relatable character that I'm sure everyone knows in real life. Although Mai is very sweet, her sexual openness lands her in trouble with her school and her sexually deprived roommate, Hiromi, after she sleeps with her boyfriend that took her virginity on the couch that was supposed to be a sex-free zone due to Mai's previous adventures. This resulted in one of the many hilarious lines of the film, when she said that after finding out, "she totally hit me hard".

Due to her slutty behavior, Mai is forced to manage an absolutely awful sumo team and get them into a competition. Sweet Mai transform from barely even knowing what sumo wrestling is, and stating that she "hates fat people", to enjoying her job and newfound friends. When the film comes to its conclusion, you feel like Mai may have learned her lesson and has even started to take out the trash on a daily basis.

Good film, but I feel like it could have been better with a longer run time.

Fun, sexy, and recommended!