1. The Elevator: late at night a young woman comes home: in the elevator of her building, there is a whole family of weird looking people, 'going down'. Belatedly, she realizes that they were... a) Zombies; b) Werewolves; c) Poor relatives; d) Ghosts; (you circle the most likely option).

2. School Excursion: In a hotel where her class is staying, a girl sees an apparition in the toilet... No, nothing is wrong with her digestive tract: the apparition is of the familiar, grudgey kind...

3. Kengo Nishioka : a lone wife hears someone in the next room: a certain Mr Nishioka, existentially challenged, claims that her husband is responsible for his demise, but for unknown reasons keeps tormenting the housewife instead. In the end, she duly informs us that her husband innocent. Yeah, right...

4. The Visitor: someone's knocking on the apartment door; a little girl refuses to open, but her elder sister does. The little one hides in the bathroom, but the ghostly hand with bright red nail polish opens the door and... teaches her the ways of manicure? It's anyone's guess after the abrupt cut, but -- someone must've been left alive to tell this 'true' tale to the objective producers of this series, right? Right?

5. Covering the 100 Tales: A reporter at a temple hears the stories of ghosts who narrate rather uninteresting tales of how they died. Then, they ask her what's she doing among them. Really, that's an answer I'd like to hear.

6. Cassette Tape: A member of an amateur rock band hears the last message from another (recent suicide) member on a cassette tape... Or is it just the result of poor tape-playback quality? Naah! It must've been ghosts!

7. Spilt Water: Mother and daughter, walking in the park, realize that their deceased husband/father is still 'watching over' them... How sweet. Nothing extraordinary happens. They just 'become aware' of his presence. The case immediately entered all annals of world's greatest unsolved mysteries!

8. The Backward Suit: A girl mocks her often drunk father and his explanation of how he ended up dressed backward -- until one evening she takes the same detour and comes home -- with her clothes backward... Did she go to the same 'haunted street', or the same liquor store as her dad -- I guess we'll never know. A true mystery!

Review: One thing needs to be clarified immediately: this is NOT an omnibus. This is NOT a collection of FILMS. Even a short film has to have a story. It has to have some twist, some climax, some kind of point. The short pieces presented here (averaging at 5 minutes) have none of that. Their 'structure' is as simple as they get, and can be reduced to a formula: person X meets/sees/is confronted by a ghostly manifestation and -- then nothing. It just happens, with no lasting consequence, other than turning the 'witness' into a lifelong reader of National Enquirer (although most of them must have already been regular readers of similar material!)

One might expect that the reduced running time, coupled with the let's-get-to-the-business approach, would produce the all-meat-and-no-bones result, something like a show-reel of the best of Japanese scares without the 'boring' interludes of character development and/or ambiguous, slow build-up of thick atmosphere. Not so. The stories lack suspense, precisely because there is no build-up. One moment you see a person, the very next 'a ghost' is banging on her door; after some unoriginal fumbling with the door and crawling on the floor -- the story ends. And that's it. Move to the next. The stories also lack the morality that is inseparable from the omnibus format: there is no punishment of the wicked, there is no revenge motif, there is no subtext whatsoever to what you're presented with.

This collection perfectly corresponds to Homer Simpson's legendary retelling a story as 'a bunch of stuff that happened': but the problem is not so much in the fact that 'it's full of sound and fury, signifying nothing' (to borrow a quote from a slightly more academic source than Homer). The problem is that 'the sound and the fury' are so lame. The apparitions here are pathetic, unmotivated, ephemeral in the most literal sense. They just don't matter. There are some minor creeps in the School Excursion segment, but even there the horror is spoilt not only by the ridiculous environment, but also by the ridiculously 'twisted' ghost itself (her head appears, horizontally, where her belly should be). And that's the closest to horror you're likely to get in this anthology of the nonsensical and shallow 'true encounters'.

You'll have to be twice as shallow to go for this DVD: first of all, you're supposed to buy the whole 'true' angle; second of all, you're supposed to pay some real money for measly 40 minutes of uninteresting short 'films' plus 11 minutes of even more pointless talk from Ichirô Nakayama, who collected these (and then some) stories. For unknown reasons (compassion towards viewers?), this selection is made up of only 8 tales. There is at least another edition, also available at HKFlix, titled Tales Of Terror From Tokyo And All Over Japan Vol. 1 . In that one, you're treated to no less than 15 of these! And if that does not satisfy your craving for 'true' tales of quasi-terror, there's more where these came from... However, if your mortal life's minutes are dear to you, and if you have any love for your hard-earned dollars, keep them for stuff that's worthier than... this cheat!

Review: It appears my hunch was right on this one, but since I’m such a fan of mystery and watching youngsters uncover a diabolical scheme, I went against myself and decided to view this film. Honestly speaking, I had a much better time watching late-night Scooby Doo cartoons on the Cartoon Channel than this less than after-school level movie. I remember taking Japanese class in my high school days and watching some uber-cool ghost and mystery shows on Fridays. The class would watch and actually be entertained at the sheer pleasure of being spooked. However, Shinjuku Boy Detectives fails in all departments.

Sosuke is the scooter-riding protagonist with a rebellious side. His best friend, Him Tae Ron, is a computer geek whose mother forbids him to hang around Sosuke. Mei Hang is a TV commercial model who is forever haunted by the press. She meets another girl, Honji, who quickly becomes her best friend. This motley crew of teenagers make up, please excuse what I’m about to say, the sorriest bunch of detectives ever known to mankind. All four characters have their background stories, which I didn’t care for much after even two viewings. You see, I gave the film two viewings just to give it another chance, but what a waste of time that was.

The movie’s plot I’m sure is the cause to my disinterest. The character development tried very hard to explain itself, but it just didn’t flow well enough for the viewers to become involved. It seemed like a short TV show elongated with some scenes that shouldn’t have been printed at all. I was left with this sort of clueless look on my face, something I don’t do normally unless pushed to the very limits of my tolerance for stupidity. Well, despite the mess this film had become and also jumping into my all-time worst movie list, there were a couple high points to the film. The Mei Hang character is very cute indeed and the other high point is of course we are treated to NO sequels.

If you’ve been with Kung Fu Cult Cinema for a while and have read some of my reviews then you would know I never give a bad recommendation nor do I not suggest a viewing of a film. I believe that viewers are given the opportunity to watch a film for themselves and have their own thoughts and opinions, but trust me on this; you may want to stay away from this movie as far as humanly possible. You can be doing something more useful with your time and money like buying the Region 1 DVD version of Versus.

Review: If you enjoyed the first EVIL DEAD TRAP, you must've asked yourself: a) why is the third part of that series still unreleased in any English-subbed format? and b) why are we, in the West, not seeing more of its director's stuff? Other than his pinku classic, ANGEL GUTS: RED PORNO, the rest of his opus remains woefully unknown. Well, here's one step towards getting to know Mr Ikeda's work.

Unfortunately, this two-part film is aimed at a different demographic than Ikeda's best work –namely, at the young adult crowd which may enjoy a mild spook or an ounce or two of gore once in a while, but is more comfortable with a sappy teen-romance-drama that's more reassuring than disturbing. This means that you should not expect Ikeda's trademark shocking visuals, elaborate gore or disturbing and perverted sexuality (minor traces of those are seen in an occasional tilted angle or filtered shot, an OK impalement, or a succubus-induced wet dream). What you get is, basically, a Japanese equivalent of a PG-13 horror aimed at teenagers, based on a manga which tries to ape the success of RINGU and JU-ON, but without the imagination, terror or dread of those films.

This is most obvious in the fact that the two male leads are real-life brothers, otherwise known as the pop-rock band 'Doggy Bag' (!?!): their sweet-looking faces and even sweeter excuse for pop 'music' are exploited to the max, thus revealing the true agenda behind the flick. If you came to SHADOW OF A WRAITH hoping to see what this whole thing about Japanese horror is all about, you may be slightly bored by being subjected to at least three full songs performed by the Doggy Bag, which serve no valid purpose within the film's storyline, but are there merely so that their female (and other) teen admirers can enjoy ogling the boy-band turned into movie-'stars'. To be honest, the boys are not too bad as actors, but that's mostly because they're not given much to deal with in the first place: as one-dimensional, ordinary teen characters they are doing just fine. They are joined by two sisters whose pretty faces may be more familiar to horror fans: the Miwa sisters acted together in JU-ON: THE CURSE, and appeared separately in MISA THE DARK ANGEL, UZUMAKI and CRAZY LIPS. They have a more physically demanding roles, but don't expect high drama here – nor any erotic exploitation either, considering the tame origin and purpose of this product.

Ikeda proves to be a pro by working bravely and honestly within the limitations of this production, and delivers precisely the kind of thing he was hired to: a watchable, decent, but ultimately generic ghost flick aimed at younger audience, with restrained gore and solid mild frights. It looks like a TV movie, with most of the shots resembling your ordinary TV flick, only occasionally reminding us that it's coming from the guy who delivered the slick, polished, over-stylized Argento-like EVIL DEAD TRAP. This is a fine choice for something to see with your girlfriend who does not particularly like strong horror, or at least with your younger brother if no girlfriend's around. If you prefer stronger stuff, you'd better pray that the third EVIL DEAD TRAP be released soon on a R1 DVD. After all, there's more than enough of American PG-13 horror: someone better import stuff that's lacking in the USA – really shocking and gory stuff that Ikeda is best at!

Review: Thanks to the success of RINGU, the demand for creepy Japanese films starring villainous girls with long black hair has been plentiful. But sadly, most of these movies are cheap rip-offs that have milked every little aspect of RINGU in lousy attempts at recreating the largely successful horror film. SHIKOKU is no exception. Someone has got to put a stop to this!

The word "shikoku" can mean one of two things, depending on the type of kanji used. The first being "four countries," and the second is "land of the dead." Very clever title indeed since it suits the story of the film to a tee.

SHIKOKU was based on a book written by Masako Bando. It should be noted that Bando had nothing to do with the screenplay and is probably embarrassed as hell that this film was ever made. What may have once been a good story has now become a piss-poor horror film of the ages. Don't let it tarnish the good man's name!

Director Shunichi Nagasaki (SOME KINDA LOVE) is a filmmaker that has never been apart of any reputable films, so it's kind of hard to go in with grand expectations. Just after the first five minutes, you can see how weak the film is going to be with the ghetto handheld camerawork and cheesy lighting that clearly displayed the fact that it was definitely amateur night.

It is really frustrating when you see a horror film that lacks the horror part. Understandably, audiences today are much harder to scare than fifty years ago, but at least put some effort into it. Come on! There was not a single character that I was rooting for, or wishing dead. It's unfortunate when you lack any and every emotion for all of the films participants, especially when the story is supposed to be one with deep content. SHIKOKU failed to create enough character and relationship development as well as the reason for conflict. The lack of these things doesn't mean that the film is hard to follow, because it's definitely not (it's pretty formulaic). Instead, we are left with is a hearty and overwhelming dose of boredom.

Obviously many people have the desire to see SHIKOKU because it stars Chiaki Kuriyama (KILL BILL, BATTLE ROYALE). But don't let this be the sole reason you seek out this one because she simply offers nothing to the movie. Her acting ability is below average, (which fits in nice with the rest of the cast since they have nothing special to offer either) and her character barely has any screen time in the film until the end, despite the fact that the whole film is based around her. Actually, it was a good thing that we didn't see much of her because she was quite irritating (seemed as if she suffered from mild retardation) and not even her supposed sex appeal could save her.

Yui Natsukawa (ONMYOJI) and Michitaka Tsutsui gave equally dull and awkward performances and had no chemistry whatsoever. Luckily Ren Osugi (UZUMAKI, HANA-BI) was there to save the day with his role as Hinako's father. But wait...oh that's right! He only had about 3 minutes of screen time with almost no dialogue. How could I forget?

With a weak cast backed by an even weaker crew, it was inevitable that SHIKOKU was going to suck. Rarely do I find a film this lifeless and intolerable. It may have been one of the most boring films ever made. There aren't any real positive aspects that come to mind, which is too bad because it would be only fair to touch upon those things as well. If a film (especially horror) has a weak story, at least make up for it with some kind of fun and entertainment, a good cast, something -- anything. It's easier to forgive and forget when you have something with which to work. But with these things in mind, if you choose to skip this one...you won't be missing out.

Review: For most Kung Fu fans, there is something special about the few films in which Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao share the screen. However, in the case of ‘My Lucky Stars’, there is some false advertising in effect, because for the most part this movie belongs to the ‘Lucky Stars’, a gang of comedians who fail to amuse.

The film kicks off with some promising action. Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao chase Lam Ching Ying through Hong Kong and into a theme park. There is a quick burst of fighting, and it’s easy to fool yourself into thinking that we are in for a treat. We then hand over to Sammo Hung, and just as things seem to be heading in the right direction, the Lucky Stars turn up and the plot grinds to a halt, wallowing in a sticky mess of forced and desperate comedy. Sammo himself is usually on screen, but seems to hide at the back worrying about how to rescue his movie from the hands the Lucky Stars and their farcical cack. They lust after Sibelle Hu, they order food in sign language, and they make the average Westerner reach for the fast forward button. One ‘joke’ involves Eric Tsang losing some money outdoors, but he is searching the floor for it indoors. When asked why, he explains that it’s too dark to look for it outside. Sorry to spoil the joke, but please try and read the rest of this review through your tears of laughter. The box office profits in HK for this film were huge, but maybe that was more to do with the famous names attached to the project. Most of them are cameo roles, but just look at that cast list!

Finally, after an eternity, there is some decent action. Jackie finally resurfaces, and chases the bad guys through a spooky funhouse. It’s reminiscent of Sammo’s comedy horror output, but with a modern day setting. The climax of the film is a nice chunk of kung fu action, with Dick Wei showing up for a rumble, and Sibelle facing off against Michiko Nishiwaki, but the fight against Lam Ching Ying that we have waited for lasts seconds.

My Lucky stars certainly isn’t as good as it’s sequel, ‘Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars’, which was average at best, and is nothing more than a plotless ‘comedy’ book-ended by some half decent Kung Fu action. The action scenes in ‘My Lucky Stars’ are worth checking out, but to claim that this is a Chan/Biao/Hung movie is simply a lie. For the 20 minutes the trio are on screen, it’s fun, but the antics of the Lucky Stars are irritating rather than funny, and the movie is well below the high standards that Sammo Hung usually sets.

Review: The original 'Once Upon A Time In China' trilogy are undeniable classics, but when it came to creating the fourth entry in the series, Jet Li and Tsui Hark had apparently sworn never to work together again after an argument. Not wanting to put the series to bed, director Yeun Bun helmed this film, and the legendary starring role was handed over to Chui Man Cheuk. OATIC4 isn't the worst film ever made, but the magic of the first three movies is absent.

The very first scene seems to try and calm our fears about the new leading actor. Wong Fei Hung stands in front of hundreds of martial arts students, and spends a couple of minutes going through a kata routine. It's almost as if they are proving that Chiu Man Cheuk is more than a match for Jet Li. The problem is, while the guy is an evidently an impressive martial artist, he lacks Li's star quality, charisma and authority. Li was always a little too young to play Wong Fei Hung, but Cheuk looks practically pubescent.

The action is more stylised than previously, relying heavily on wirework, elaborate death-traps (fighting atop a giant domino rally is a brief highlight) and Lion dancing. In fact, seeing as the Lion dance was the focus of OUATIC3, you have to wonder why this film simply revisits old ground. The foreign invaders bring huge 'lions' shaped like various giant creatures. Among the creatures are an Eagle, a Dragon, a caterpillar and strangest of all, Flamingos. Basically, the climax of the film entails a bunch of guys floating around on wires with giant paper-mache animal heads. It's just too silly to take seriously. If the foreigners want a war, why not just start a war instead of a costume party? At least then the audience might get to see Wong Fei Hung kick some ass, instead of feeling like this is some peculiar Chinese version of Disney's 'Lion King on Ice'.

'Once Upon A Time In China IV' is a weak entry to a classic series. It suffers from poor casting, a contrived plot which serves up weak excuses for more Lion dancing, too little regard for the themes of the series, and nowhere near enough Kung Fu. Hardcore devotees of Wong Fei Hung will probably still want to see this, but for anybody else, this is not so much 'Once Upon A Time In China IV' as 'Once Upon A Time In China Too Far'.

Review: 'The Ghost Snatchers' is a mid 80's comedy ghost story that recalls events from so many similar films ('Haunted Cop Shop', 'Beauty of the Haunted House') that throw slapstick scares into the most ordinary of situations. Televisions come to life to ensnare couch potatoes, pot noodles turn into worms, and those with certain gifts can see the sinister demons lurking amongst the living. Without giving too much away, the devices used to frighten us have been seen before, especially for those of us who have seen more than a couple of HK horrors. It's a mixed blessing. There's little new here, but that depends on how much you love HK horror (or not).

It's a real shame, because director Nam Nai Choi was responsible for the insane pleasures of 'The Seventh Curse', but 'Ghost Snatchers' is more akin to 'The Cat', in that the whole never manages to be the sum of its many crazy parts.

It's not all that bad, though. Wong Jing is unusually likeable in the lead role, and his self-penned script provides plenty of laughs for those who appreciate his off-kilter schoolboy humour. Jing, who usually casts women in passive, eye-candy roles, really surprises us by portraying the men as damsels in distress, while it's the women who are in control through most of the film.

Of special note is the Mah Jong scene (it's a game vaguely similar to dominoes). According to 'The Ghost Snatchers', a mischievous ghost turns up to Mah Jong games to unfairly sway the odds in favour of a player. So, a really shoddy puppet shows up to the game. He's furry, he has a nose like a trumpet, and a pair of shades on. The local textiles college must have spent a whole hour stitching it together. Our heroes use magic to reveal its presence, and proceed to win the game by kicking the fur out of the gambling gremlin. It's weird. Very weird.

Check out 'The Ghost Snatchers' if you can, but everyone involved in the production has produced better work. The pacing is initially slow, characters are never fully developed, and instead of being loveably cheesy, the special effects are just crap. This reviewer is starting to give more and more HK horror films bad reviews, and what's really disheartening is the thought that I may have already seen all the good ones. Go see 'The Seventh Curse' instead. It's fantastic, and has a much cooler fight with a skeleton.

Satomi decides to start her own investigation with the help of a strange psychic woman who may know the whereabouts of Satomi’s daughter. However, things will take a strange twist when two undercover FBI Agents involve her into a big political conspiracy in which visitors from another planet are trying to take over Japan.

Review: As the sequel to CRAZY LIPS, GORE FROM OTHER SPACE is another cinematic abnormality from Japanese director Hirohisa Sasaki. However, except for a few aspects such as the style, the actors and the crew, the sequel doesn’t really follow the first one. In other words, it is not necessary to have seen the first film in order understand the second one.

Just like CRAZY LIPS, the movie starts like any other ordinary Japanese horror film, but the aesthetics end up evolving into this weird comedy/cheap sci-fi hybrid. The main idea of the story may sound pretty believable and original on paper, but the execution on screen was not. The development with the Alien and the habitants is not very interesting and became overwhelmingly confusing.

Some of the actors appearing in the first movie also took part in this one. The strange psychic woman is there again but her assistant is this time absent as the actor now plays the role of the police inspector. The main actress who played the role of Satomi has also been replaced by a new one, unfortunately not as charming as the first one. Good points at least is that our favourite FBI agents are back and played by the same duo of actors and are by far the most memorable character of this second instalment.

A major difference between the first and second movie is that the second one had a different approach to the style. As explained by the writer Hiroshi Takahashi, the first one had a very serious script and director Hirohisa Sasaki shot the film as a comedy. The end result, not exactly on purpose, was a very entertaining black comedy. However, this time Takahashi decided to write the script as a comedy and asked the movie to be shot as serious as possible. The final product unfortunately didn’t ended up as interesting.

There are still some very wacky moments in the movie, such as a rather strange fight between a killer and the group of policemen or the ingenious idea Satomi finds to get inside the house where she thinks her daughter is kept. But since it was meant to be a comedy at first, the jokes are not always very funny and end up more awkward if anything.

Don’t get too thrilled about the sci-fi aspect of the movie either as it never goes beyond assuming things. We never witness any Alien or space ships. There are both in the film but Aliens have human appearances, a disguise of course and UFO’s only appear as bright lights. To think of it, that flying house was rather funny and interesting… Well, at least for a few seconds.

At least there were two things that were very enjoyable. First, the cameo of the famous Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, which is rather amusing if you know the man of course and also the surprisingly very elaborate kung fu fight scene near the end of the film. The fight, which was again choreographed by a Chinese team, involves a Chinese prisoner against a group of guards. The fight is very dynamic and looks like those 80’s Hong Kong action flicks.

In the end, this is unfortunately a very average flick. It’s worth a watch if you enjoyed Crazy Lips, but don’t get your expectation too high. If you never saw the first one, simply skip GORE FROM OTHER SPACE and try to catch CRAZY LIPS as it is a much more original and surprising film.

REVIEW: 'Heaven and Hell' certainly sets itself up with an exciting premise, and director Chang Cheh approaches it with the flamboyance it deserves, yet the result never quite achieves true greatness, despite some inventive and often surreal production design.

Episodic in nature, a range of visual styles are employed, but the pacing is awkward, and even some of the ethical ideas which drive it don't always seem to sit quite comfortably with the Buddhist ideology that it is based on.

Starting off in Heaven, the story first seems to be one of forbidden love, and when a young girl drops a peach, the punishment seems quite harsh, especially considering how nice Heaven is rumoured to be. Not wanting her 300 lashes of the whip, she escapes to Earth with her lover, followed by Xin Ling, banished from Heaven for protecting them.

Heaven is all dry ice, blue sky, and white marble, but Earth is presented with a minimalist surreal style. An exterior scene, for example, is shown as a black stage, with nothing but a gate, a window frame, and two men on screen. It's an interesting idea, and to make things stranger, the film turns into a cantopop musical for the first twenty minutes. Listen out for the intro to one song which borrows part of the 'Shaft' theme. When a bunch of Beret and cravat wearing gangsters attack, they mix up their kung fu with some funky dance moves. It's kitsche, camp, retro, and quite frankly, a little bit gay.

Sadly, this style is dropped for some scenes, which are just ordinary exterior locations, and then when the story leads us down to Hell for the bulk of the film, the visual style changes yet again. Hell is a labyrinth of caves lit in blue, red and purple, and occupied by sinners, monsters, and all manner of torture devices.

Hell apparently has different departments for dealing with a number of sins, and many of them are shown as truly terrible special effects. Gamblers are forced to gamble mindlessly for eternity, while alcoholics have to drink forever, and a fighter is forced to fight with himself. 'Plough Hell' is where people are mowed down with ploughs, though it's never made clear what they did wrong.

Late in the film, the plot screams off on another tangent, as a series of lengthy vignettes explain how various hell-dwellers found themselves trapped in the afterlife.

For those of you unfamiliar with Buddhist theology, here is a summary of what the movie teaches us on the subject:

1. Hippies go to hell. Especially suicidal hippies. 2. Heavy Metal album covers are way off the mark. 3. They get through a lot of coloured light bulbs in hell. 4. Illegitimate sons and the poor are damned from the outset. 5. If a ghost tells you he's 'the nice ghost', he's lying. 6. Reincarnation is, like, one far out trip, man. Groovy.

'Heaven and Hell' is an interesting film, especially for fans of the director. The disjointed pacing, awful special effects, wooden acting, and vague plot spoil what could have been a bizarre classic, but there is plenty to see, some decent fights, lots of unintentional laughs, and hell itself is an interesting place in the movie. This certainly won't be to everyone's taste, and newcomers to HK cinema will wonder what the hell is going on, but for the rest of us, it's an interesting but flawed slice of retro madness.

REVIEW:
Women in prison films have a celebrated history of masking the reality of how nasty most women in prison really are. In place of hairy, worn out she-males we have a virtual harem of gorgeous Chinese and American women, wearing the standard "night shirt and panties" prison uniform. In this fantasy world of film, you never know when some girls are going to randomly make out or have a communal shower party. Constant images of Gina Gershon come to mind for some reason. This is the world of "Bamboo House of Dolls", which follows a 70's stash of babes enveloped in the dark and vicious clutches of the Japanese.

In the film, six of the imprisoned women are aided in escaping by an insider posing as a cook for the soldiers. They are faced with the arduous tasks of escaping the prison and finding the hidden gold that will fund the Chinese in obtaining much needed weaponry, as well as dealing with an unknown spy within their group and the burden of outrunning the pursuing soldiers.

The Japanese are downright nasty in this film. Portrayed as sex crazed beasts at times, even the female leader gets in some action with one of the girls via ye olde strap-on. Most of the intense moments are pushed towards the first half of the film, which makes it seem somewhat unbalanced. During the initial entry into the 13th Women's Concentration Camp, the viewer is introduced to the ruthless methods of punishment and torture issued out in the prison. They make the women take turns beating a fellow prisoner to death, and when one tries to escape she gets completely fried on the electric barbed wires. The tension is much greater during these moments, and the situation always seems bleak.

But the film is dominated by faceless characters that serve their typical purpose, such as the blind girl whose heightened sense of sound aids them in a couple tough jams, and the rest of the main group of characters that are easily mixed up and for the most part too quickly forgotten. It's not necessarily a problem that lies solely with the generic performances, but is contributed to by the overall humdrum nature of the plot. The most exciting part of the movie should be the escape sequences. While at first interesting, it ends up turning into a continuous and patience-trying volley between freedom and captivity.

"Dolls" does have it's moments, though, some exciting and some unintentionally hilarious. There are a couple decent action sequences, and a battle between the Japanese soldiers and a group of guerillas ends up with some amusing bloodshed, bright crimson and in the classic gushing Shaw style. Other than this and a few less memorable brawls, not to mention the films first quarter, there isn't as large an amount of violence as one would expect. However, a couple of the choice rivalries created in the movie seemed to beg for some more vindictive action.

A couple moments in the film managed to be funny in a more awkward sense. One image that will forever be burned into my mind is when the prisoners take a public shower with each other. Cue the party music as they rub a dub like they were miles away from any sort of horrible and violent situation. This scene is classic mostly because it's sandwiched so tightly between such serious moments.

As the film nears its climax, it begins to drag like it's running out of steam. Add in an unnecessary romance and a conspicuously clumsy Japanese army and you've got the formula for the last half of "Dolls". It's not an entirely bad movie, it's just got the right amount of cheese to land it in the realm of mildly successful B-movies. Fans of women in prison films should check it out, as it contains a truly astonishing boobs per minute ratio. Those looking for a classic Shaw Studios film may be disappointed by this average outing by director Kuei Chih-hung, and with so many Celestial releases currently hitting the DVD market, you may want to try it before you buy it.

Years ago, Flaming Cloud Devil's master was killed by opponents trying to learn the secret of the Buddha's Palm technique. Flaming Cloud took revenge on those opponents, and then hid away in the cave. He vows to teach JianFei the Buddha's Palm, but when his old opponents learn that he is still alive, all hell breaks loose.

REVIEW
There is a famous story that tells of a young George Lucas taking the treatment for a little film called 'Star Wars' to a studio exec. He was told it would be a good idea, were it not for the fact that he had handed over enough content to fill three films. Had Mr. Lucas not taken the advice, and instead thrown every idea into one movie, then he may have produced something as hollow and confusing as the 'Buddha's Palm'. There's even a light-sabre in it.

'Buddha's Palm' is an early 80's Shaw Brother's wuxia movie. It should be wonderful, but it's like watching every episode of 'Monkey' on fast-forward in one sitting. It's an obvious inspiration for 'Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain' and other wuxia films, but it makes a common mistake for the genre by throwing so many faceless characters and clans into allegiance, opposition and betrayal that apathy quickly sets in. Not a single character is given any casual dialogue with which to build a little background on their character. They just ally or oppose all over the place and we, the audience, are expected to follow who's who. To make things worse, a lot of these relations between clans are explained in numerous sudden flashbacks. If you blink and miss the subtitle that says '…and this is how it happened', then your grasp on the plot is doomed. Then to compound the confusion, a lot of the events are narrated or even mocked by anonymous voice-overs. Brain. Beginning. To. Hurt.

It's not all bad tidings. The film's mixture of hokey animated special effects, cheap but elaborate fantasy/period film sets, and wonderful costumes make this an aesthetic treat (especially on this Celestial remastered DVD). There are some nice ideas in there, even if some of them could really have benefited from elaboration. The 'Foot Monster' is a bad guy with a massively oversized foot, which sits on the end of a stretchy leg, and there is a demonic child who sprays blue acid from a growth on his face. Another nice touch is 'Dameng', a mixture between a Chinese Dragon dance costume, a robot, and that big orange dog from 'Sesame Street'.

It's not that Buddha's Palm is a bad film as such, but only the most hardcore and patient wuxia fans should go out of their way to see it, because it's fairly inaccessible to everyone else. It can be very hard work to keep up with events, and even harder work to care for the characters involved. It does at least deliver a feeling of erratic madness, but the odd structure, clumsy pacing and lack of a central narrative make it hard to enjoy the many interesting ideas and attractive visual that the movie boasts. Go see 'Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain' instead, it's a similar, yet far superior movie.

Review: In a shocking change in style from the first two entries in the film series, RUSH HOUR 3 finds director Brett Ratner and stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker engaged in a complex study of cross-cultural relationships, examining detective work in a post 9/11 globalised world, amid a labyrinthine plot that works on several thematic and symbolic levels.

Of course, I'm lying.

If you've seen either of the previous RUSH HOUR films, you should know the drill -

Cue: the fish-out-of-water scenario - this time Carter and Lee find themselves 'out of their depth' in France.

Cue: the racial stereotyping. At least in the RUSH HOUR films everyone is a target (equal opportunities racism?) but it's also surprisingly, and refreshingly, un-P.C.

Cue: the Asian bad guys (but include an upper class white man to distract from any sense of blanket stereotypes).

Cue: whiny wisecracks from Tucker and a slightly confused look from Jackie Chan.

Cue: the excellent score from Lalo Schifrin.

Then we're good to go.

It's been six years since Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker were last partnered up in RUSH HOUR 2. The latest film in the series kicks off with some singing and dancing from Tucker and it's clear from the outset that there's going to be a reliance on plenty of jokes from the first two films. The idea seems to be that if you found it funny the first time, you'll think it's funny again. This only works to a point – it's a bit hit and miss. The success of the film depends wholly on the familiarity of the two leads doing exactly the same things that they've done before.

This time around Carter and Lee manage to find themselves in France - although the plot and locations of the RUSH HOUR 3 are almost unimportant and are only really there to provide a link between comedy and / or action set-pieces. This works two ways – while it might seem like lazy filmmaking and writing, there's still something quite pleasing about being able to see the jokes before they arrive. RUSH HOUR 3 has its fair share of gags that fall flat (Carter posing as designer 'Bubbles' is a non-starter), but also a decent bunch that no matter how obvious they seem, how old they are or how heavy handedly they're delivered will still have you laughing along with them. While there's no truly 'inspired' moments in RUSH HOUR 3's script – the closest they come is a scene with a bilingual nun – there's also a few moments that are genuinely good quality. The best example of this is the appearance of George the taxi driver. Allaying fears that the Paris setting would just be an excuse for a lot of cheap 'French' gags (which there still are – part of Carter's chat up schtick involves the line 'I wanna shave your armpits'), it's good to see that George throws a lot of American stereotypes back at them. And it works very well.

The cast of RUSH HOUR 3 is certainly stronger than it needs to be and while maybe this adds to some of the appeal - seeing top actors engaging in such silliness - it also feels a bit of a waste. Hiroyuki Sanada proves he can act anyone here off of the screen adding more credibility to his straightforward villain character with a simple sneer than anything in the script. It's just a shame that credibility isn't important here. Elsewhere, Max von Sydow looks a little uncomfortable and is underused, and there's a bizarre appearance from Roman Polanski that's neither funny nor necessary. In the lead roles Chris Tucker seems as happy and whiny as ever and tries to steam-roll every scene, but this doesn't work quite as well this third time around partly because Jackie Chan seems a little too serious and the chemistry is lacking. While there's nothing exactly to criticise about his performance, Jackie will never compete with Tucker verbally and his subdued appearance here sometimes has the effect of relegating him to the background.

Action-wise RUSH HOUR 3 is okay but also pretty lightweight. Previously the series has never provided more than only very average Chan action and that still proves to be the case here too. While a few brief fights are fun you also may get the distinct feeling of deja vu (Jackie rolls around the floor, he flips items over his head, he lifts himself off of the floor in a door frame) and even the finale at the Eiffel Tower (we're in France!) feels a little bit flat. There's a brief moment of above average excitement during a face-off between Jackie Chan and Hiroyuki Sanada, but it's a highlight that's over all too quickly. The action highlight instead appears quite early in the film as a car chase through the streets of Paris. It's slapstick, but it's amongst the more tightly paced scenes in the film.

RUSH HOUR 3 does exactly what you would expect it to do: more of the same. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends largely on your opinion of the first two films. If you hated them then RUSH HOUR 3 won't convert you and suddenly make you a fan. If you liked them then you'll probably find enough here to enjoy – although the formula is wearing so thin you can almost see the numbers. There's nothing here that we haven't seen several times before, but as far as mindless action comedies go - and as long as you enjoyed the earlier films - RUSH HOUR 3 is a still a pretty fun way to spend an hour and a half.

Review: Offerings to the Wu Xia genre have been internationally publicized since the enormous global success of Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGONback in 2000. Following in its footsteps were Zhang Yimou's Hero and HOUSE OF THE FLYING DAGGERS, each garnering global appeal from cinema-goers everywhere. The Promise is the latest film to get movie critics on each continent wet with excitement, but does it deliver the same strong, cinematic standard of its predecessors?

This CGI opus starts off more akin to a LORD OF THE RINGS film than those mentioned above, but then steadily evolves into an entity of its own. Comparatively it contains all the visual bravado of a Zhang Yimou epic, with stunning production design from Tim Yip just about dominating each shot. A gripe, however, was how the CGI tended to distract from this factor. A lot! It's a tool which works best to subliminally enhance the standard and quality of a movie, but this felt like a case of special effects-overkill; and sometimes scenes were spoiled by how false and engineered the CGI forced everything to look.

As far as direction goes, that's undecided. While there were a number of inventive shots, you couldn't help but get annoyed by the consistent manner in which the camera kept panning from one direction to another. It felt like in every other shot the camera was moving. The intention of this didn't seem entirely clear? Whether or not they were hoping it would keep a constant level of action, perhaps? But it didn't really work to that effect. Of the 121 minute running time, I'm pretty sure the camera spent all of 15 minutes static.

For all its faults, however, there's a little pot of gold over that horizon, because it was by no means a bad effort. The acting was suitable, and the trio of Jang Dong-Gun, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Cecilia Cheung worked really quite well off of one another. Their manage et trois gone-wrong became steadily more interesting as the film progressed, with all credit to them. And you can't neglect to mention Nicholas Tse whose character Wuhuan takes about 100 minutes to find his feet, but ends the film in good stead after spending the duration as your typically clichéd villain.

Another plus to take from THE PROMISE is the manner in which the story gets progressively better and better as you watch. You could find yourself struggling for the first 40 minutes, but then as things finally start to develop it will open out into an engrossing movie. That's not to say that this tale is flawless, there are quite a few clear dips in quality sprinkled throughout, but they're out-weighed by redeeming plot evolutions.

Chen Kaige hasn't delivered another HERO with THE PROMISE; as I said, this film isn't without its flaws. But if you were a fan of the former than it really wouldn't hurt you to give this one a try. It's a worthwhile experience if you have the persistence to see it through.

Review: NEIGHBOR NO. 13 is the kind of a movie that can be hurt by false expectations. It is marketed as a vengeance saga (after all – vengeance sells! Don't we all dream of one kind or another?). The DVD package presents it as an over-stylized action flick: you see two cool dudes, one of them sporting a bloodied samurai sword, and the dark blue wall behind them is splattered with blood. Oh, yeah! The fanboys are drooling already. Below the title, you see the magic words: 'director's cut'! (Japanese DVD) 'Aha', you think, 'so there was some other, censored cut? There must be plenty of gore and nudity to be cut from here!' On the back cover (Japanese DVD) you instantly recognize Takashi Miike scowling from a photo. 'Damn! Miike is in this too? This must be cool beyond words!' If you cannot read Japanese, the rest won't tell you much, since there is no English on this DVD cover, but then you go on the internet and find reviews that mention that it's based on a manga ('Hell yes!') and you also find all the talk about 'brutality', 'gore' and... yeah – 'nudity'! Your hand, with a will of its own, is already in your pockets, counting the cash.

Wait a minute.

First you must be warned of the following: I am not aware of there being any other cut of this film, but if anything *was* cut, it must be mere seconds, since there is not much explicit stuff here to begin with. The most 'shocking' thing you'll see is a close up of a big fat turd. The violence is mostly offscreen, or shot from a distance, while its aftermath –if shown at all- can be seen only in glimpses. Of course, that's a legitimate aesthetic decision – as long as you're aware of it, and do not expect something else. Something more Miike-like. Talking about whom – his cameo is the smallest 'blink-and-miss' cameo you'll ever see in your life: he is onscreen for the whole three seconds. And as for the nudity: no, the cute wife (Yumi Yoshimura) does not bare much more than a single shoulder. The only bare flesh you'll see here belongs to the boyish Shun Oguri: of course, this being an Asian film, you cannot expect full frontal (that's still a big No-no!), but you do get to see almost every other inch of his slim bod. If that's your thing – you've been warned.

OK, now that we've discussed the exploitation parts (or lack thereof), let's talk about art. After deciding that this is neither action nor horror film that the package might lead you to believe, how about drama? Is it a 'revenge saga' along the lines of Chanwook Park's vengeance trilogy? Well, not really. The revenge is utterly uninspired and takes the most predictable route. No ingenious and convoluted plans here. Nor is it emotionally searing in the way that Park's films inevitably are. Admittedly, there is some creepiness involving the bully's kid, but that's about it. (Of course, if you're on a strict diet of recent American fare, then you *will* be shocked by a lot that goes on here, but I assume that readers of this site are well versed in Asian cult cinema, and are therefore not easily shocked.) Our protagonist is reduced to a cipher and his 'struggle' with the double (the two of them fighting in a lonely cabin in the wasteland under gloomy skies) is shown in stylized imagery where visuals from the director's commercials creep in. Unfortunately, none of that makes the drama any deeper or more layered – just prettier, especially in contrast with the drab, claustrophobic environment of the tenement building which takes the bulk of the film.

The greatest fault with NEIGHBOR NO. 13, however, is its 'deliberate' pacing. The story is too simple and the characters too conventional to fill the two hours' running time, and the pace is too often too slow. Our debutant director shows signs of promise, especially in instances where he refuses to go the easy way and provide cheap thrills, but on the other hand, a story like this *requires* something more visceral – either in terms of imagery or emotions. The detached attitude (e.g over-reliance on long, wide shots, which place the characters and events in the distance) is not the way to go; when mixed with a really uneven, stop-and-go pace (with more stopping than going) and an utterly underwhelming ending, it all boils down to a solid, if overlong exercise in nothing special, although occasional flashes of quirkiness make it more palatable. The patient viewers will certainly find some rewards in this film, but the common viewer might not be predisposed to enjoy a too-simple story unnecesarily complicated and prolonged.

Review: For such an ambitious thought of a dog falling for his master, I have to actually commend the writers and makers for trying to achieve such a bizarre storyline. The absurdity of the plot just got me so interested, but Dog Star falls short of its sight due to plot holes and the glaringly underdeveloped relationship between the characters. This is exactly what happens when you take on such a daunting task.

Shiro is a blind man’s dog who suddenly fall victim to a car accident. His master dies of the car accident and is given the opportunity to enter Heaven if he helps one soul on Earth. That one soul just so happens to be his dog Shiro. He grants Shiro a wish to become a man and with the new body that Shiro is given, he goes to find his first master which whom he’s always cared about. This becomes the conflict of the film that Shiro and his dead master must overcome.

Well, as enticing the plot may seem, the holes that were created throughout the film was surely a pain. I was unimpressed with the characters and the relationship that was supposedly brewing between this attractive woman and this dog turned male. Shiro was characterized as this stoic male whose emotions were hidden deep within his soul. What didn’t seem believable, however, was how quickly this young woman fell for this stranger. Most of the time, the director would display at least one scene that would glorify this blossoming of love and I was waiting for it all the way till the end. It never came of course. I’m being a bit too harsh, I know. However, when compared to a film like Fly Me to Polaris, where the characters fell in love within this short period of time, I can’t help but realize how unmoving the characters in Dog Star were.

If the creators’ of the film took the time to work in a decent romance and a few more scenes that would convince us of this, then this film would’ve been the magical story I know it could’ve become. This film fails in displaying the power of love overcoming all obstacles because it couldn’t overcome this one flaw; not enough heart.

Review: xForced into the ranks with the many successful contemporary Asian horror films, The Uninvited attempts to bring a different approach to a genre that has begun to grow soggy with the over-saturation of ghastly phone calls, cursed video tapes, and undying grudges. Where its peers have taken the route of the full-on scare, The Uninvited opts for a more psychological journey where the frights take the form of character revelations, making it more dramatic than horrific. When dealing with the supernatural, a film of this sort must rely on either abundant scares, or atmosphere and interesting characters. Fortunately, since its scares are more subtle and greatly spaced apart, the creators of The Uninvited acknowledge this necessity, by presenting the viewer with a plot that is fairly fascinating, despite some dragging through the middle, and central characters who are sufficiently played as to properly convey the haunting theme of the story.

The plot of this film is often at the mercy of scenes that both haunt and bewilder. Fortunately, the digressive pacing of the film is made more tolerable when viewed through the eyes of Jung-Won. We experience the same confusion, fear, and depression that he does, enabling us to better understand the man and the situation. While Shin-yang Park’s performance is in no way award winning, he does an adequate job of delivering when necessary. The cornerstone of his performance is undoubtedly found in his interaction with the characters around him, namely that of Yun. Fans the world over were undoubtedly aquiver with anticipation over the announcement of International superstar Jun Ji-Hyun’s next project. Perhaps fifty percent of that same crowd found their enthusiasm subsiding though, when it was revealed that the picture would be billed as a supernatural horror film. It is also probably safe to say that the remaining fifty percent, after seeing the film, lost their excitement as well when the realization set in that The Uninvited was neither a horror film, nor a predictable follow-up to its sassy predecessor. Now with that knowledge in mind, the viewer is more likely to free himself up for a far more rewarding experience. No, we unfortunately do not get to see our spunky leading lady smacking the love out of her clueless beau; and in all actuality, Jun Ji-Hyun’s performance in The Uninvited would probably be best described as “The Ultra Depressing Adventures of the Not-so-sassy-girl”, as her delivery is dark and lifeless at times. Fortunately though, a film of this variety calls for just such a portrayal, and our South Korean sweetheart delivers her spades by the melancholy truckload. Laden with despair, Jun Ji-Hyun’s role as the vulnerable enigma definitely brings to the picture a certain value, even if that value is based on star power.

Good intentions and sassy girls aside, the film does suffer from some horrible pacing at times, and could have really used a script revision or a more meticulous editor. If a film is going to be an excess of two hours, it should be continually engrossing throughout. Unfortunately, with The Uninvited we see multiple cases where a scene is long in the tooth for the sake of getting a point across or hammering home an idea. Sparingly, this method of story telling is acceptable if not welcome, but when the entire film is built upon a slow burn, you are likely to lose some viewers along the way.

As for the visual aspect, atmosphere is the name of this game. The cinematographer breathes life into his landscape using a palette of washed out hues and dismal textures that effortlessly conjure some of the bleakest emotions to come out of South Korean cinema to date. If you are the type of person who enjoys a rich sense of dark atmosphere in your drama, then you might be able stay afloat during the slower moments based solely on that.

All in all, this film will definitely find mixed emotions from all types of viewers. Some will be able to enjoy its lavishly grim atmosphere, deliberate pacing, and scattered sense of story telling, while others will not be able to get past the slow delivery, occasionally wooden performances, and depressing subject matter. Either way, it is a film that deserves to be seen before judged.

REVIEW
Godzilla X MechaGodzilla (Or Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, or GxMG or whatever else) is a pure Saturday morning slobberknocker. A Kaiju match that is both as intense and straightforward as it can be, and throughout the course of the film, GxMG tries its damndest not to be bogged down by a nature-centric storyline or any overt psychological overtones that tend to creep their way into more recent Kaiju fare. The good news is that it succeeds. It's a fun movie, and it really doesn't need to be much else.

The story is as simple as can be, and has all the pre-requisite stellar entrances by the G-man. This time he pops up behind a reporter covering the horrible typhoon weather hitting the shores, and then goes on to demolish whatever he sees fit, ultimately dipping back into the ocean after taking his fill of lives. This all happens in 1999, and as we flash forward to 2003, we see that he's still in hiding (which begs the question, how do you hide a 100 story beast?). Meanwhile the military recruits Japan's greatest minds for the construction of MechaGodzilla, the country's last chance at finally defeating Godzilla.

The only time the movie ever really slows down is during a few tiresome explanations of Kiryu's functions and a bit of unnecessary dialogue sprinkled here and there. Other than that, you're left with two rounds of complete destruction as the two beasts square off flesh to metal.

The special effects are pretty spot on for the most part. Though not quite nearly on par with the jaw-dropping enormity of the battles in Gamera 3, it all looks pretty damn clean save for some instances of out of place CGI. Present day Kaiju films have really grasped the larger than life, ground rumbling insanity of the situations well, and the fact that rubber suits are still employed favorably over CGI is admirable, and will always make for surreal viewing. Thousands of missiles are unloaded (they DON'T hurt him! Got it!?) Maser Gun Tanks flood the scene constantly, jets hurdle to their flaming demise, and general chaos ensues much to the audiences glee.

The acting and the characters in the film kind of put extra cheese on the hamburger. A single father's (also the man who helped extract the genes from Godzilla's bones) struggle with his daughter and her inability to let go of the loss of her Mother puts the blah in blah. The laughable "connection" that MechaGodzilla and its pilot share can also put a strain on your face with laughter. As dialogue from the pilot comes out as "Kiryu, let's go buddy!" you'll put your hand in your palm and hope it was the translator's error (or joke). But it's all the Miss Daisy of the movie, taking backseat to the knock 'em dead action. You won't care who's the father to what or how things occur once the first punches are thrown. To some that may seem like a bad thing, and perhaps a step back for the genre, but it's not.

The direction is as competent as one can expect. The camera shakes with fury as feet crush the ground below, and a great deal of the devastating imagery is quite memorable. Bits such as MechaGodzilla plowing straight through a skyscraper, and coming out the other side with a gaping dust spitting crater left in the center of the building are just classic.

So Godzilla X MechaGodzilla entertains on the most basic of levels, but provides enough goodness for even naysayers of the Kaiju genre to enjoy. If you want no-holds barred, "Wrasslin's on, go grab the Slim Jims!", "We're outta Slim Jims but we got bacon bits!", "That's cool, bacon bits ain't bad, bring me a beer too." action then it's worth your money. You know you want it. Come on.

After hearing this strange story, Wisely decided that he needed to find the truth behind all this. He will find more than he was expecting when he will discover that the old man and the young girl are in fact aliens from other space and the small black cat is in fact the bodyguard of the girl. They are hiding on planet Earth from another evil Alien who wants to destroy them.

REVIEW:
Hong Kong movies are well known for their imaginative large scale idea but because of the lack of technology and money they usually make these interesting ideas look sometime cheesy and stupid, even if the whole movie is very entertaining. With my personal experience, I know that common people (Hollywood knowledge only) don't like HK movies because they find them too cheesy and unbelievable. On the other hand most of the people who enjoy HK movies love this innovative and unserious aspects and that's exactly what this movie is all about.

The Cat was directed by Lai-Choi Nam who also directed The Seventh Curse and the well known classic movie Story of Ricky. But unlike these two other movies, instead of trying to find a way to shock the audience with extreme gory scenes, The Cat centers more on the Sci-Fi aspect of the story, kind of a non serious HK X-Files if you want. But the movie still has that special touch that makes you wonder where they always find these crazy ideas.

The Cat doesn't have the most ingenious concept ever and the story even looks more like a dumb pretext to introduce you a very weird scene. Even if the story is easy to follow, the biggest flaw of the movie is the fact that there are a lot of unexplained elements in the movie, especially about the nature of the aliens. It's like the filmmaker didn't bother explain to the audience the multiple why, when and how of the story. I'm guessing that those who like their movie storyline flawless wont be able to stand this movie but if you don't mind the story that doesn't take things too seriously, you will probably have a good time. Just keep in mind that the story is rather a vehicle to bring together the most unusual ideas you will ever see in a Hong Kong Sci-fi movie. Like Peter likes to tell me in these kinds of situation: "Don't Ask!"

This is a B movie so don't expect the most incredible actor performance ever. Most of the acting was kind of cheesy and funny but I think that was a good thing, a movie like that with a serious tone would have probably ruined the whole thing. Out of all the characters, the most interesting one was the main character Wisely, he was a kind of modern action Sherlock Holmes. As for the rest of the cast, they were mostly forgettable characters unfortunately. The one who had some potential was the Alien girl with her cat, but since there's almost no info about her background or true nature, it was kind of hard to really understand all of her motivation and feeling.

Sci-fi, action, comedy and horror are elements that a lot of Hong Kong movies have tried to mix together and it seem that only a few directors have achieve a successful result. In my opinion The Cat doesn't belong in the successful category, of course it's not a bad movie but I don't think that any of these genres have been exploited to the max. Too many details are unanswered in the Sci-fi aspect to really understand it, the action is there but nothing that we have never seen before, ok except the cat and dog fight. As for the comedy and horror elements, both of them were present but none of them really impressed me.

The special effects were probably the most interesting thing, because of the very limited budget Im really wondering how they manage to get all these effects done. The most spectacular scene is of course that much talked about scene were a cat (the Alien) and a super dog fight each other. I wont say too many details, but as many people before me have said, just for this only scene makes a viewing of the movie worth it. There are also a couple of nice gory scenes, consisting of Alien eating human bodies and slimy unidentified thing attacking humans. Most of the effects were good for a low budget production, but don't expect to see something like in Story of Ricky.

Even if the movie is far from being perfect it still have some memorable moments and also contains enough interesting elements to keep the interest of any HK movie addict for a whole viewing. If you like Hong Kong movies for their crazy ideas and concept, The Cat is a movie you really have to see, but if you are annoyed by the cheesy factor in HK movies, then stay away from it at all cost.

THE DVD:
[Region Free] The weirdest aspect of this release is the cover; don't ask me why they used a picture of the American movie Bride of Chucky for the cover and Carrie II for the side label. The transfer is widescreen and is far from being what I call a good transfer. A lot of burns and scratches all along the movie, still very watchable but hard to believe it's a DVD. The sound is DD 5.1 only in mandarin, which Im pretty sure it was not the original audio track. The English subs are decent, generally a good timing but a couple of grammatical errors. Still better than a VCD, this WA release is to my knowledge the only available version of The Cat, but the DVD is really cheap anyway. A good thing is that the release comes in a regular plastic DVD case, unlike some other WA release which comes in a small cheap transparent and easily breakable plastic DVD case.

Review: The Chinese Vampire, or kyonsi was once a powerful force in HK cinema, and the success of the Mr Vampire movies and its various spin-offs and imitations produced some memorable horror flicks. Tragically, after China’s most famous vampire hunter Lam Ching Ying died, the genre seemed to die with him, never to be reincarnated. A few recent attempts have jumped out of the grave, but Vampire Hunters (2002) felt a little decomposed and Vampire Combat (2000) was just plain rotten.

As far as bringing the genre back to life, Shaolin Vs Evil Dead may just be the light at the end of the tunnel. It captures the soul of the Mr Vampire movies with some success, in part due to the involvement of Gordon Liu. The former Shaw Brothers star who also appeared in Tarantino’s Kill Bill steps into the dead man’s shoes, and seems to have modelled his performance on Lam Ching Ying’s. There’s something there in his mannerisms that reflects the great man, and assuming it’s on purpose, it’s a fitting tribute.

Shaolin Vs Evil Dead isn’t a straight up rehash of the original Kyonsi movies, though. Director Douglas Kung updates the formula with a few computer generated special effects. Some of the nicest CG out of Hong Kong has left movies like Legend of Zu and a Man Called Hero feeling a little shallow, but by using it sparingly, Kung has ensured there is still a heart beating in the movies chest . The effects aren’t going to challenge The Matrix, and you should expect something more akin to the better effects seen in TV shows, but nothing brings a game of ‘Phantom Chess’ alive like a giant CG scorpion.

Aside from Gordon Liu, the cast aren’t going to attract too much attention from a Western Audience. It’s nice to see ‘Story of Ricky’ star Louis Koo still has a career, and he makes a decent enough bad guy, but most won’t know who he is. The rest of the cast are relatively unknown names to those outside of HK, but for the most part, are an effective ensemble. This is billed as a horror comedy, but it’s ‘light hearted’ rather than ‘hilarious’, and the cast don’t really strain too hard to get laughs, though they are an amiable bunch.

There is one bad egg in the basket, though. ‘Egg Head’ is possible the most irritating character ever created. Child vampires have always been a staple of the genre and they’re always irritating, but Egg Head is in serious need of an exorcism. I know this is a young child actor, but when you only have to say one word over and over again, and you still can’t act, the it’s time to drag your ass back to drama school.

When all is said and done, this is a good movie, but there’s one major problem that leaves you with rigor mortis, and that’s the ending, or lack of one. Shaolin Vs Evil Dead is sometimes a slow boiler, but just as things finally start to get really exciting, the credits come out of nowhere! It seems that the director was so impressed by the two-part structure of Kill Bill that he went and copied it. Yes, it’s a cliff hanger ending, and we have to wait until part two comes out to find out what happens to our heroes. It makes a fair review of Shaolin Vs Evil Dead a little tricky. There is a trailer for the sequel during the end credits, which looks really promising, but then, that’s the idea of a trailer. Have I just reviewed the build-up to a spectacular main event or a three hour lecture on why the dead should stay dead?

REVIEW
'The Buddhist Fist' is an old-school martial arts revenge flick with a smattering of comedy. With Yuen Wo Ping directing, and his brothers helping to choreograph the action, this is yet another Yuen Clan classic, despite the fact that many fans of the genre have probably passed this one by.

It's flawed, so let's get the negativity out of the way. It's the plot that lets Buddhist Fist down. There is reference to a valuable Jade Buddha statue that everybody in China wants to get their hands on, and some superfluous search for a missing man, but any excuse for a story is picked up and dropped faster than an ugly baby. There is a period of about 45 minutes early on in the film where the plot seems to be confusing, until you realise that it's not you that lost the plot, but the writers themselves. As you would expect, the plot is only there to provide excuses to start fights, but we'll come back to that later.

As for the cast, everybody does a sterling job, and the characters are all beautifully cartoonish, just as you would expect from the Yuen Clan. It's easy to tell even the cameo players apart, because in the Yuen universe, everyone has a huge hairy mole, a humpback, buck teeth, or a lazy eye. It's a good job, too, because characters (especially bad guys) often come out of nowhere to provide a fight or set-piece, and then vanish without a trace before briefly popping up later to provide some minor exposition.

Yuen Cheung Yan, for example, pops up for ten minutes as a gangster, hams it up gloriously, has a fight, and then spends the rest of the movie behind the camera. Simon Yuen Senior does the same thing, and its even possible to spot Simon Yuen Jr as long as you don't blink, or have transparent eyelids like some kind of man-fish.

This is Sunny Yuen's (Yuen Shun Yi) movie, though. Usually seen playing maniacal bad guys, he is bizarrely given the role of leading man. His physical abilities are impressive, but apart from the fact that he now seems retrospectively typecast, he just doesn't have the right face to play the wide-eyed and smiling good guy. With his big round head and intense stare, he walks around looking like some kind of evil boiled egg. It's like seeing Vinny Jones singing along with Barney the Dinosaur.

Obviously, there is Kung Fu in the film. Lots and lots of Kung Fu. The fighting rarely stops, and it's dazzling from start to finish. There are no special effects here, and only a little wirework, yet the fighters punch, kick, grapple and contort with breathtaking results, punctuated with moments of humour. Dull choreography can be the death of a martial arts film, but 'The Buddhist Fist' is alive and kicking, unpredictable and inventive. Most impressive is the agility of the older cast members, and Simon Yuen Senior's 'Sleepy Kung Fu' is great. This isn't a movie you would see because of its story, but fans should put this high on their list of essential viewing.

Everything seems to be going to be going well until a group of heavily armed guerillas arrives, with a nuclear missile in tow, taking the sleepy village hostage. The ransom they demand is the release of nefarious drug lord General Yang. The clock is ticking. Can Deaw and the athletes rescue the village from the mercenaries? Can they save Bangkok from nuclear disaster?

Review: The filmmakers who made ONG BAK follow up with BORN TO FIGHT, another action flick that will make you sit up and take notice for the outrageous stunts, which could only be pulled off by a stunt team seemingly bent on self-destruction or a self-fulfilling death wish. ONG BAK set the martial arts world on its ear when it introduced the phenomenal talents of Tony Jaa (Panom Yeerum). This time around, the fight choreographer (Panna Rittikrai) directs and the director (Prachya Pinkaew) produces. BORN TO FIGHT moves to an ensemble cast of athletes to execute the stunts, with tributes to John Woo, GYMKATA and Jackie Chan's POLICE STORY.

BORN TO FIGHT's premise is amazingly simple and the film is, at times, very bloody and violent, as it introduces machine guns, mercenaries and drug lords to a remote Thai village. The screenplay is really just an idea stretched wide and barely fleshed out and only adequate enough as a framework on which to hang the stunts. Director Panna Rittikrai, who provided the hard-hitting choreography for ONG BAK, goes with total out-and-out chaos. There is no subtlety in BORN TO FIGHT.

While there are martial arts in this flick, they take a back seat to the stunt work. Though the athletes do perform martial arts moves based on their specialty, such as the uneven parallel bars or gymnastics (think back to 1985 and Kurt Thomas in GYMKATA). BORN TO FIGHT contains some of the most amazing motorcycle, and other moving vehicles, stunts to be filmed since THE ROAD WARRIOR. I don’t know if anyone died making this film, but there were plenty hurt on the set (see outtakes and rehearsals during the closing credits). The filmmakers understand that some of the best thrills exploit the ordinary everyday occurrences, and that excitement can be generated without relying on CGI (CGI is used with the nuclear missiles), wires, or nets in the execution of the stunts (e.g., a flaming 2” x 4” to the head). Director Panna Rittikrai takes advantage by removing all thresholds to common sense and amping up the action to 11. “Reckless” and “crazy” would be accurate ways to describe the stuntmen. The universal language of pain is used to tell the story, and like its predecessor, ONG BAK, no subtitles or dubbing necessary, just a lot of wincing in acknowledgment: “oh, that must have hurt.”

The two sides are sharply defined: the bad guys are really evil and the villagers and athletes are noble and heroic. The major problem is the script, which doesn't provide enough back-story for the athletes, while treating the villains as blood-lusting sadists. When the village is invaded, each member of the cast is left to fend for his or her self. The crucial scene missing is the one in which the athletes come together to formulate a plan of action. This would have provided some sympathetic link between the cast and the audience. When the villagers and the athletes try to overtake their captors, the melee that ensues is unfocused. The movie slinks into a symbolic venue as the villagers sing the Thai national anthem before storming the guerillas. One villager literally waves the Thai flag for the last 15 minutes of screen time, which may set you off laughing, groaning, or possibly even celebrating along with nationalistic spirit, depending on your particular mood while watching BORN TO FIGHT.

While waiting for the next Tony Jaa flick, TOM YUM GOONG, BORN TO FIGHT is a nice distraction, and at 97 minutes, the film does breeze along at a good clip. Your fingers will get a major workout as you hit the return button on your remote control, going back time and again to view the jaw-dropping action set pieces, like a semi-truck plowing through a shanty town (ala POLICE STORY); a bad guy getting knocked from atop a moving semi, bouncing off a van onto the hard-dirt ground; a motorcycle hits a stationary object at high speed, throwing the driver into the air through a burning wooden structure, from which he crash exits. The list goes on. BORN TO FIGHT isn't great drama; just a series of viscerally painful stunts that will leave you shaking your head in disbelief long after the movie is over.

Review: Jimmy Wang Yu's ONE ARMED BOXER starts out just as any old-school martial arts movie should, inside a tea house. Enter Tien Lung, opposite a gang of bastards and brutes starting a fight with weaker men over some birds. Tien Lung's noble defense of these people sets off a chain of events, and the following fight sets the stage, but not the standard for this 1971 kung fu flick. The standard isn't set because the opening showcases so little of what this Wang Yu flick has in it, whimpering out of the gate with a dull little squabble right out of the bargain bin.

As the movie progresses, though, so does the quality of the fights. This is how a martial arts movie should be paced anyway; who wants to expend all the potential energy right at the beginning? There's not a whole lot of breathing room in here, as brief dialogues are book-ended by fights that are book-ended by even more fights. The range of martial arts styles is definitely the major pro in the 89 or so minutes of running time, with monks meeting Chinese boxing, which in turn gets pitted off against a bevy of other styles from across the surrounding eastern countries.

And thus, fans of the follow-up MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE will notice a lot of similarities between the two movies. Most notable is the aforementioned country-spanning collection of fighters that are set up to challenge Tien Lung's school, and eventually Wang Yu himself. There's a fighter from India that isn't too far off in the ridiculous category from the Dhalsim-like brawler in FLYING GUILLOTINE. The scenes with these fights are the most enjoyable sheerly for the sake of variety. The wicked, long-haired arm-breaker from Okinawa has some stand out moments, not least of which includes the titular cause of Tien Lung's crippling injury. Then there are the obligatory lame duck fighters like the Tibetan monks, with "body pillow" pressure point protection on deck to bring the guffaws in droves.

First and foremost, Wang Yu's presence in the film is a reminder of why he was such a powerhouse star during his work with the Shaw Brothers. Though his independent productions would hit a steeply angled slope, movies like this and its sequel are great showcases of a charismatic kung fu star. He helps brighten the screen among a collection of wax museum villainy as the archetypal revenge hero, even if mid-moments of ONE ARMED BOXER (like the still frames montage sequence) are arguably laughable.

With the help of action director Chen Shih Wei, though, Wang Yu keeps the contents afloat and creates a martial arts flick that pretty much anyone can enjoy. The blaxploitation-esque pure '70s "wakka wakka" theme music seals the deal on the whole package. The action in the latter fourth of ONE ARMED BOXER is reason enough to pop this movie in more than once on an all-night action bender, with the one-armed Tien Lung poppin' up left and right like a speed-junky Nosferatu. Though there are Jimmy Wang Yu flicks of higher priority on the purchasing scale, keep this one firmly on the list at all times.

On another day of cyber bike racing with Jazz, Nova fights and befriends Iron Surfer, a rock and jock, goggle wearing, red haired punk kid who ends up being a key figure in finding the man who killed Nova's father and becomes the love interest to Belle. Dark, an enigmatic figure and detective emerges and all it set loose on the table as an explosive special effects extravaganza hits the screen and becomes an all out martial arts fest driven by Corey Yuen's fight choreography and Andrew Lau's direction.

REVIEW
Sigh.

In many ways, I've avoided writing this review, avoided putting on the hate I have for this film. But at the same time, I wanted to avoid the praise I wanted to give to a film that sucks so bad and hurts so much that it's almost inexplicably cool.

Do you see my dilemma?

Could there be a movie that can be considered the worst film of all time, but also one of the most groundbreaking and interesting films to come out in a long while? I don't know. Maybe I'll be flamed for this, maybe not. Usually, I hate hating on a film as much as most people do. My general philosophy is that every film deserves to be seen, but as a critic, I have an obligation and job to save people's money, to save their hard earned cash and to preserve their waking hours from being wasted on films that could be considered a mockery to filmmaking. Not that "The Avenging Fist" is a mockery, but it's definitely a film that crashed and burned on hype, leaving an after rot of wreckage and despair. Though, much like Pandora's Box, there is a glimmer of hope, because of the high amount of invention and creativity that flows throughout this film.

I've always considered Andrew Lau as being the Jerry Bruckheimer of Hong Kong. He created the first event film with his smash hit "The Stormriders" and introduced Centro Digital and CGI to the world of Hong Kong Cinema. Since then, there have been a slew of films utilizing the new CGI craze, even Andrew Lau himself in his last few endeavors with "A Man Called Hero" and "The Duel." Even though his films have created a definite amount of income for one of Asia's most ambitious director, it seems that Lau continues to overflow his films with more of the same old thing. Though reinvention and ingenuity is a habitual fare for his films, he never learns nor attempts to fix the mistakes that flood his past films.

What ultimately fails "The Avenging Fist" as a film is that it lacks the humanity in its story, damaging the bind the audience may have on the main characters. The sense of tragedy is there by focusing on the development of Nova and his father, Thunder, but the other supporting characters lack any depth to truly be "supporting." The main evil force behind everything, Combat 21, is so excessive as a character, that it destroys every moment of coolness for its actor, Roy Cheung. Who, arguably, played the best villain in the "Young and Dangerous" series.

Lee-Hom Wang departs from being Aaron Kwok's sidekick from "China Strike Force" and jumps into the main lead of Nova. Being somewhat young and almost infantile for the counterpart role of Jin from "Tekken," he lacks the tragic aggression and fury that keeps him from being a true force on the screen. Wang doesn't do too terrible in the later parts of the film when he realizes the truth about his father, but it never surpasses the plateau of melodrama to be of any emotional worth. It's interesting to see though, that somewhere in the midst of all that hair and made up testosterone, lays an actor waiting to come out. For being a famous pop singer, the charisma and magnetism is there, but Wang is going to have to go through some bad roles before he can fully make the most of his favoring characteristics and attributes.

I may be bias with the inclusion of Kristy Yang (Belle) and Gigi Leung (Erika), since I'm in love with them and swear on my life that I will somehow be in bed with the both of them in the near, near, near future, but they played their roles remarkably. As in, being pretty and standing there smiling and looking ferociously hot. I hate to say it, but they were Lau's Barbie Dolls in the film. By dressing them up, and putting them in pretty poses, both Yang and Leung were just one dimensional love interests for both Stephen Fung's Iron Surfer and Wang's Nova respectively. I would have loved it to have Gigi Leung's character to have more insight and back story, since she didn't have any other connections to the storyline other than looking beautiful for Nova, but it's too bad she was wasted in this manner. Even Yang, who played the sister to Nova had some small moments of importance in the film, but ultimately was used as an instrument for unnecessary tragedy.

The main reason most people will want to watch this film will be the re-teaming of the dynamic duo, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Sadly enough, both are used sparingly and almost ridiculously to satisfy the appetites of old school fans. In retrospect, Biao does some pretty impressive CGI fighting, but the silver mask on his face totally kills all expectations for his character. Why put a famous and very likeable star such as Biao in a pathetic role as Thunder when all you're going to do is cover up his face? Even Hung suffered from a terrible character design with the worst use of a trenchcoat matched with a silver, metal hat. The funniest part though, is the cameo role of Ekin Cheng who played Hung's slimmer self during the flashback scenes. It's almost too surreal.

The one saving grace for "The Avenging Fist," though, was the fact that it had Andrew Lau's signature direction all over it. With the sweeping camera movements and the stylish editing of the action and overall scope of the picture, Lau definitely does an amazing job at painting a portrait and creating new worlds of imagination and intensity. From the first shots of the film, you have a technopolis never before seen in any Asian film, filled with flying cars and skyscrapers that never seem to end, obviously paying homage's to Luc Besson's "The Fifth Element" and George Lucas's "The Phantom Menace." But what is most satisfying is the inventiveness and utilization of CGI special effects. For some, it may seem too much and in many ways, an overabundance of CGI can kill any form of real acting and drama from the picture, but can also become eye candy, filled with as much sugar to give cavities to your eyes for a long while.

For fans of "Tekken" out there, this is not a "Tekken" film. Due to the court battles, Lau and company had to remove all the references to the video game. Though some character designs may reflect players such as Jin and Hwoarrang, "The Avenging Fist" does not follow the storyline whatsoever. The film may seem more along the lines of "Star Wars" if anything from the obvious allusions that the film makes to the trilogy, but it ends up being a mess of everything that it never really contains an ounce of originality in its plot when it's attempting to separate itself from "Tekken."

In the end, the extremes of "The Avenging Fist" hurt it the most. The excess and surplus of special effects and CGI titivates the picture, but destroys almost all substance the film carries on its shoulders. It's almost as if the film was attempting to break through the flashy effects and gratuitous action and struggle as much as it can to show the world, that underneath the entire make up and gloss, lays some heart and emotion.

DVD
The DVD from Deltamac is a one-two punch of goodness because of its superior sound. I believe this one of the only handful of DVD's that has come out recently that has both Dolby Digital 6.1 EX and DTS 6.1 EX. If you have a great sound system attached to your television, turn it up, crank it up and you can definitely feel the awesome power that is "The Avenging Fist." The film comes widescreen with awesome clarity (dark in some cases), due to the fact that the film relies on a clear picture to deliver the visuals. The subtitles are a decent fare in English and Chinese along with the original Cantonese and added Mandarin track. Overall this edition is a pretty damn good one if you're interested in seeing this film.

Review: Directed by director Hiroyuki Nakano who was the mastermind behind the classic “Samurai Fiction,” Nakano gives his camera lens another go and tries to bring us something new in the form of his second feature film “Red Shadow.” Going for something new in the ninja genre, we are treated to hip-hop ninjas. Yeah, that's right, hip-hop ninjas! Sounds crazy, and I'm not saying it's not, but I thought it worked out perfectly fine in the end. Red Shadow is basically a ninja movie revamped for the new millennia, and like most movies remade for a new audience, this is follows suit as well. Incorporating nifty new gadgets, CG enhanced scenes and a rockin' hip-hoppish/techno soundtrack, Nakano takes the age old Ninja movie to new heights.

Red Shadow follows the tale of three ninjas brought up from a young age to carry out missions in the name of the empire. The movie takes place in the year 1545 during the Warring States Period. The Kageichi clan who these three are brought up in are known for the Heavenly Steel that they found in a meteor now are under the rule of Lord Togo who give them orders to carry out. Ranging from smaller missions like stopping a general from sending out his troops to much grander missions, the Akakage, Aokage, and Asuka bravely take on formidable forces under the cover of the night. There place in life is to live and die in the shadows. However when Asuka is fatally injured in a mission, Aokage contemplates his life as a ninja and disbands the childhood group. Going on with their lives, they split and go their separate ways. However as the master of the Kyogoku clan passes away in a web of conspiracy, Akakage is caught up in the life of the heir to the throne, Princess Koto. Now working as Princess Koto's personal bodyguard, he is brought further into the web of lies and treachery of the Kyogoku and the puppet masters controlling it all. It is on one fateful night that Akakage and Aokage are destined to meet each other once again, and lead the fight to save Princess Koto and the kingdom of Kyogoku.

How does this new rendition of the ninja genre fare? On paper and storyboards, I think it probably looked and sounded much better than the final outcome we have here in Red Shadow. Typically, ninja films stick to the stigma of being dark and gritty with buckets of blood. With this movie, we're treated to colorful and bloodless fights. With all the visual panache, it really doesn't work out that great as Nakano had hoped. Maybe for him, but it didn't do much for me. Effects such as ninja stars, sparks, flips, and a couple of other things looked a little too noticeable and don't help in bringing all the content together for one cohesive visual experience. Had the effects team worked on this a little more, the movie could stand a chance of being much more than what we're given in the final product. Some nice camera angles here and there serve to give a look of originality, and that helps this one stay afloat a bit. Another gripe I had with is the overall flow of the movie. In the beginning, the film is very lighthearted and there's a bunch of jokes that made me laugh out loud. The characters were constantly engaged in silly situations, one after another. If, and only if this same feeling had been kept for the duration of the entire movie, the movie would have been stronger. However, Red Shadow changes the mood and feels at almost a blink of an eye's timespan. One minute it's a comedy flick, and the next it's a drama with some action scenes mixed in to break up the monotony and serves to push the story forward.

Overall, I suppose this was an entertaining flick. It's purely meant for entertainment purposes only and to just take everything as is with a grain of salt. It's a fun movie, and that's all there is to it. I only wished the movie could have been more solid effect-wise and made up its mind what kind of movie it wanted to be.

Review: Once again, Wong Jing spawns a little piece of madness. If you ever find yourself watching a Hong Kong film with smatterings of smut, jokes about homosexuality and ideas borrowed from other movies, look carefully at the credits and you can find Wong Jing’s name somewhere. At first glance, you might not realise he is involved, and then a little research reveals that he was lurking somewhere in the background. The fact that he produced and wrote ‘Flying Dagger’ is obvious after the first fart gag, but this is one of those movies that makes up for the many duffers in Wong Jing’s career.

Wong Jing attempts to emulate a Stephen Chow style spoof, and while it lacks the flare of the ‘Jim Carrey of HK’, it does pull off a lot of successful laughs. Basically sending up the Wuxia genre, there are enough interesting ideas in here to justify the moments that fall flat or get lost in the weak subtitles. Speaking of subtitles, look out for “I drink your human milk”.

The cast is excellent. All of them are major players from the late 80’s and early 90’s, and it is especially good to see Maggie Cheung and Jackie Cheung playing the kind of amiable characters that they so easily made their own before their careers sent Jackie to concentrate on his singing career, and Maggie to marry a Frenchman and make arthouse films. Jackie and Maggie definitely steal the film as lovable rogues. Jackie plays the usual amiable fool, and Maggie sends up the child-like, pouting doormat roles she so often plays, while still finding time to fall easily back into the tough girl role that she occasionally shines in. Even Ng Man Tat (last seen in Shaolin Soccer) joins in the fun.

The comedy is variable. Attempting Stephen Chow style comedy, it makes sly refernces to a number of HK classics, but sometimes the knowledge that this is a Wong Jing script raises the question of whether this is true spoof, or simply a comedy with the usual Jing plagiarism. Even an Addam’s Family style roaming hand plays part in things. It’s not a new idea, but it fits in well enough among the madness.

The action is handled by Ching Siu Tung, the man responsible for the better parts of Chinese Ghost Story and Duel to the Death, and his influence is not only obvious, but provides some of the high points of the film. Based in wire-work rather than true martial arts, the action is rapid fire, kinetic and exciting. People bounce around the screen like jumping beans, and one of the films early fights, combatants leap from tree to tree, throwing swords through a seemingly indestructible fighter, then a tree is uprooted, and flown through the air to crush an opponent. It isn’t so novel to the hardened HK movie fan, but it’s still entertaining. Wong Jing even works a reference to Ching Siu Tung’s earlier work ‘Swordman II’, with a crafty twist on Asia the Invincible’ in the form of ‘Erotomania Man’ and his ladyboy wife.

‘Flying Dagger’ is a typical Wong Jing film, but definitely one of his better efforts, possibly because somebody else directed it. It was evidently a lot of fun to make, and at a tidy 86 minutes, finds time to include flatulent men with fox tails, a cat woman, spiky bras, treetop battles, a gay kiss (!), and a lot more best discovered for yourself. Considering that this is an inferior imitation of Forbidden City Cop, it very nearly beats Stephen Chow at his own game.

Review: How in the world do I write a review for this film? Where do I begin....

There's always those directors in every era that has such an essence and greatness, that their personality is brought over to their films. An example being Martin Scorcese in the 80's with "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver", you always knew he had something amazing or deep coming. If you slapped his name on a film as a director, you were almost guaranteed something breathtaking. Well, what I'm trying to say is, if you saw Martin Scorcese's name as the director of a film, you wouldn't expect some teenage angst comedy or some whacky porno-esque film, just like you wouldn't expect Takeshi Kitano's name on a sex comedy, right? Right?!?!

A Takeshi Kitano film....about a guy trying to get some? Is this some typo? Did some horny director that happens to LOOK like our beloved Takeshi steal his name and slap it onto his movie full of breast? No. In fact, Takeshi Kitano is very well known for his comedy in Japan. He was part of one of Japan's most famous and beloved comedic duo's. His comedic bits were limited to the Japanese audience. The western audience never got to catch a glimpse of the softer side of Mr. Don't-talk-who-wears-sunglasses-badass. This film, a huge departure from such violent tour-de-forces as "Hana-bi" and "Sonatine", probably wouldn't have helped Takeshi's image much outside of Japan. That would explain why this Takeshi film didn't get passed around much in the international circuit.

Can Mr. Takeshi do comedy? He sure can. This is a fun goofy little film about a guy who's down on his luck and just can't get some. The film starts with one of his fantasies. A guy in a fancy car picks up a girl who's car broke down. With his fly ride and smooth mouth, he woos her into some car sex by basically saying, "You want some car sex?" After the very porno opening, we see our hero....wait wait, he's not a hero at all. In fact, he's downright horrendous. His room is covered with cut outs of naked girls. You'll never meet an protagonist quite like our man here. No sir. But I must say, you must give him a hand for pursuing so hard. You feel extreme pity for this guy, but you also loathe him because he's such a disgusting little pervert. One of the most interesting audience responses for a character portrayal is that you HOPE he doesn't get any.

Aside from being a very different Takeshi film, "Getting Any?" is a huge parody of Japanese pop culture (thus making it Asian-exclusive). If you're working knowledge of Japanese pop culture is at a minimum, then this movie will probably not appeal to you except for the few porno segments and the slapstick humor. Many Japanese movie genres like the yakuza films and samurai films are featured as comedic bits in this film. Now, are the comedic bits themselves knee-slapping funny? Eh, some. Most of the comedy in this film is slapstick. Some parts are genuinely funny, while others make you cringe (half-naked male flight attendant doing's a strip tease anyone?). The film starts off with a bang. Fresh dirty fun is thrown at us and it's pretty damn funny. The second half of the film however, drags on. At some points, the whole motivation seems to be gone! When our man becomes a hitman and an actor, the whole purpose of the film (which is getting some if you forgot) is missing. Instead, we're forced to watch a guy walk around doing odd jobs for no particular reason at all. I mean, that's not to say that those segments are humorless, I'm just saying the whole motivation of the film basically has been castrated, no pun intended. The second half of the film just drags and drags! In the final reel, such classics as "Gozilla" and "Mothra" gets poked fun of, but the segment itself just isn't that funny. That's the one flaw of this film. It starts off with a comedic bang, but runs dry by the time the credits roll. In the end, you're not sure if you want to embrace the movie or spit on it.

Is all hope lost that this has any essence of a Takeshi film?? Don't worry kids. Susumu Terajima makes a cameo as a dying yakuza man....more than once! Ren Osugi pops in as the hardcore killer who can shoot coins with deadly precision. The cameos, if you can spot them, put a little joy in your movie experience. So is this movie funny? I guess. Is it the best comedy ever made? Oh dear no. Is it a good investment? I'd say it is. Will you enjoy it? Ultimately yes, just get past the dragging second half and this could prove to be one of the silliest comedies you'll ever see.

Review: I heard that "Evil Dead Trap" was one of a kind. I also heard that this film is the golden gem of the slasher-gore films (which are just about as common in Japan as the amount of crabs on a prostitute hustling outside a seafood restaurant) (ooh, got you there didn't I? I took you this direction and then BAM, it was really the other direction). So I sit down with what is known to be as a landmark in the slasher-gore films. And oh my, what an experience it was.

Really, there's not much to expect from a slasher-gore flick. The whole system on which the quality is valued is by how creative and gorey the deaths are, and not the intricate and detailed plot that we have all grown to love in slasher-gore films (nudge nudge, sarcasm). Maybe it was anticipation, I don't know, but for some reason I had this preconceived notion that this film was going to be spectacular in all areas including the plot. Sadly the plot is so ridiculously ludicrous that it's laughable. Each character's motives are just plain pointless. You got your horny couple that has their steamy sex scene. You got the one character who's got no real purpose in the film but to maybe be in a sex scene and then die. Strangely though, the acting is pretty stellar for a film like this. But stellar acting can't save a crappy story. Since when did reporters NOT submit videos of a woman getting tortured to death to the cops? Not only this, but the whole team decides to go "Oh hey, no worries, it's probably some prank! If we find the guy, it'll be fun. IN FACT, It'll be funny! Let's do it!" Then of course, they all scream and run around like crazy kids that forgot to take their Ritalin medicine. And instead of being chased around by their mommy's, they're chased around by a deranged psycho killer! OH NO!

Perhaps I'm too harsh on the story. I'm trying to compare this film to the likes of "Battle Royale", but both you and I know that's an intentional fallacy. So I'll take this movie for what it is, a slasher-gore film. Boy oh boy does it get the job done. I'll admit, even though the story was stupid, I was disturbed by the images in this film. There were just those moments in this film that made you cringe. The director gets a standing ovation for his unique camera work and shots, and for his brilliant usage of bullet-time sweeps before it was even know as bullet-time. Oh man, the images in this film just DISTURBED. For example, even though the first eye penetration looked ridiculously fake, I couldn't help but twitch. As for the deaths themselves, oohhh. If you're a gore-hound, then this is like ridiculously good cheesecake in your stomach. Each death is elaborate and creative as hell. I don't want to ruin anything because in between the redundant dialogue and pointless plot development, I was in 'awe'. The one death that will make a lasting impression in my mind is the photographer's death. It's beautiful. Each death is a beautifully orchestrated brutal murder! Basically what I'm saying here is, the evil dead traps in "Evil Dead Trap" make up for the ridiculously plot.

You'll be treated to gore goodness for the beginning of the film, but one problem....MOST OF THE CAST DIES IN THE BEGINNING! Then the "deep and interesting" plot kicks in. I don't know, but I personally lost interest during the un-killing haitus. Luckily, it grabbed my attention right away with the photographer's death! But then I lost it again when the SURPRISE TWSIT ending was revealed. Once again, the ridiculousl-ness of the story was just laughable. But I guess the ridiculous factor had one good effect, the last frame of the film is so terribly disgusting and bad that you can't help but love it. "Evil Dead Trap" ultimately delivers what it promises, but keep in mind, most slasher-gore films don't promise much. So kids, TAKE OUT YOUR SLASHER-GORE CHECKLIST KIDS!

• Hot Asian chicks with 80's hairstyles? CHECK!
• Crazy lunatic killer who's identity stays a mystery until the end? CHECK!
• Able to find the identity of the killer within first 20 minutes? CHECK!
• Deaths that are eligible to be described as "tiznight"? CHECK!
• Stupid victims that die in bloody disgusting ways? CHECK!
• Boobs? Lots of boobs? Maybe a little sex? CHECK!
• Disturbing images that make you afraid to walk down long dark hallways late at night? CHECK!
• A really retarded and pointless plot? CHECK!
• A killer fetus? CHECK!

REVIEW: Even as I write this review, I still have mixed feelings about this film. Maybe because FREEZE ME is more like an erotic thriller than a psychological study on rape in Japan, yet it all feels like one abstract joke from director, Takashi Ishii, in creating one hell of a dark comedy.

What starts out as an atmospheric thriller filled with creeps and beeps and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night turns into an almost different film halfway through and all into the third act. When Chihiro, (Harumi Inoue) begins storing her victims in the titled themed freezers, she transforms from a stable woman living the life into a neurotic killer trapped in an apartment. Not only does she have to confront the demons of her past but she must escape it at the same time without anyone knowing, even her current boyfriend. This could be an interesting concept, considering the particulars of Japan and the way women are generally portrayed in these types of film. If this film was a little more serious on its subject, it could have been frightening and almost uneasy, but when Chihiro begins joking to herself on the phone about new models of refrigerators and talking to the dead bodies of her rapist, FREEZE ME develops into hilariously dark story.

Japanese nude model, Harumi Inoue, known for her curves and vibrant smile sets the tone for the picture by portraying Chihiro in a happy-go-lucky manner. It seems almost natural that a victim of rape would take a similar attitude in her attempts of shadowing the incident from her life. And though I may be unsure of how I feel about FREEZE ME, one thing is for sure, I found a new actress to fall in love with. This is probably the sole reason why I stopped taking the film so seriously after the half. In the beginning, Inoue takes a simple attitude towards her life; she has the job, the nice boyfriend and the cozy wonderful apartment with a Sony Playstation. Though, it's fairly easy to worry for her and to be sympathetic, her defensive attitude is so cute and comedic that you begin falling for her. There is one fascinating scene where she's eating ice cream and talking it out with one of the rapists as they lay dead in the freezer. The camera is on the inside, so the body is in the foreground while she's only seen through the bridge of the neck and it's almost romantic in that sick, unadulterated type of way. It is around this time when the film feels different; an odd transition of what you saw before and what you will see in the end as her form of hysteria radically changes into different shapes and approaches.

The supporting cast of FREEZE ME are all men, stereotypical characters that seem to have no life of their own other than their obsession with Chihiro. You have an unrestrained pervert to a tough talking yakuza that are so relentless in having their way with Chihiro, that it becomes too excessive and unbelievable. Even her boyfriend is extreme in his ways, a soft talking weak-willed fellow used as a metaphor for Chihiro's stability. But maybe that is the point, right? These men are devices of an overall society that objectifies women and Chihiro has to lay down her own justice, empowerment of the killing kind. She is what she is because of them after all.

While the story is simplistic in its structure and typical in plot, the driving force of the film is definitely Inoue and her character examination of Chihiro. She goes through many emotions paralleling the overall flow of the picture, from dreadful to dark humor and back again. The finale is one sinker for it comes from left field and out of the ballpark, but still satisfying enough to intrigue. Takashi Ishii has always been one of my favorite Japanese directors because of his films BLACK ANGEL and GONIN. Though the story is significantly different than those previously mentioned, FREEZE ME still carries his trademark direction and dark, moody cinematography and will definitely entertain, if not in content but in the actress, Harumi Inoue.

The Kalevala is Finland's epic poem, once part of the tradition of folk poems, it tells of the creation of the world and struggles between good and evil. One of its main characters is a heroic smith named Seppo, creator of a machine named the Sampo, a machine with the power to be the source of happiness. In Chinese mythology (according to 'JADE WARRIOR'), Nocktress had nine sons; the ninth, nameless, son is said to have stolen a machine called Sampo, a machine that could bring hell to earth.

Berg and Weckstrom believe they a significant discovery, related to the Sampo, deep in a marsh, clutched by the arms of a mummified man. When this object reacts to Kai's belongings, Berg takes it to him; an act that re-ignites an ancient conflict between good and evil, bringing Kai's destiny, and past, into his life. As the link between the past and present becomes stronger, the life of the warrior Sentai, who struggled against fate, the ninth son and his love for Pin Yu (Zhang Jing-Chu), collides with Kai's, as he attempts to craft the Sampo. Will it be the source of happiness or will it bring hell to earth?

REVIEW:
'JADE WARRIOR' is a strange kind of film. It is the kind of film that you read about then, after it drifts from your consciousness, something will click in your mind and you'll think; 'Did I really read about a director, who had combined a Finnish folklore saga with Chinese wu xia, or was it a surreal dream?' In this case, it wasn't a dream. Another such example would be Yuen Wo-Ping's 'SNOW AND THE SEVEN' which, according to IMdb, is "A re-telling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" set in British colonial China, where Shaolin monks take in a refuge girl." The mind boggles...

Antti-Jussi Annila, the film's writer and director grew up in a small town near Helsinki, as a child he was fascinated by cinema and grew to love Hong Kong cinema, in particular, wu xia and kung-fu films. He wanted to be a ninja, when he grew up but, instead, he studied film, producing a dissertation on the construction of action sequences in Hong Kong film and even making several short films which reflected his passion for the genre. When Annila read about possible links between Finnish and Chinese mythology (thanks to the research of Castren) he decided that his next step would be to combine the two in a film. In 2001, he'd created ten minutes of 'MUNAVALA', which would become his show-reel and a useful tool when trying to secure funding to make a feature length production. Five years later, he finished 'JADE WARRIOR'.

So, exactly how well does ancient Finnish and Chinese legend combine with the story of a couple breaking up in modern day Helsinki? Surprisingly well...

From the start, I feel as if I should point out that this is not an action film, wu xia or otherwise; this is a fantasy-drama, with a couple of action sequences thrown in. If you're expecting the Finnish version of 'HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS', you'll be disappointed. Despite the director's love of the genre, he has only included touches of it, instead, fantasy and drama are at the forefront. The idea behind the narrative, that fate will catch up with those who try and escape it, is not particularly original, but its transposition to the Kalevala and China is and, thankfully, it works well. And, to these ends, Annila has done a good job in constructing a narrative which embraces the past of Sentai and Pin Yu, and the present of Kai and Ronja. The cyclical nature of fate is expressed through the narrative of these two sets of characters, both of whom are struggling to the same ends, battling internal and external forces.

The Finnish cast were completely unknown to me. Tommi Eronen puts in a great central performance, in the dual roles of Kai and Sentai, having spent months preparing for both his action sequences and the large amount of Mandarin dialogue, required for the scenes in China. As Sentai, he is a warrior, isolated from the world, waiting to fulfil his destiny, when he falls in love and finds himself straying from the road that has been mapped out for him: as Kai, he is heartbroken, isolated and lost, when fate catches up with him, pushing him back towards his destiny. The main support for Eronen comes from Markku Peltola and Krista Kosonem, a veteran and a newcomer respectively. Peltola is great as the Kalevala researcher, who becomes a Kai's spirit guide, and brings so much to every frame of the film he appears in. In her debut feature, Kosonem puts in an assured performance, as she struggles to leave Kai behind her. As for the Chinese cast, I'd forgotten that it was led by Zhang Jing-Chu, who you may recognise from Tsui Hark's 'SEVEN SWORDS' or the excellent 'PEACOCK', in which she was fabulous. Zhang is a rising star and turns her talents to the role of Pin Yu with ease, whether she's battling with her feelings, or with Sentai, her qualities are evident.

Complimenting Annila's direction and narrative, along with a great cast, are the film's visuals. The set design, be it Kai's forge or Pin Yu's village, is very impressive and packed with detail yet, somehow, both worlds sit comfortably together. The sets, along with the countryside of a snowy, northern Finland, Estonia (doubling for rural Finland) and China are captured with some quite beautiful cinematography, which is as frequently understated as it is slick. If that makes any sense? All of these elements are enhanced by some extremely well employed CGI, sure there's a couple a moments where its use is a little obvious, but they are countered with elements that I would never have thought were CGI, if they hadn't been pointed out on the commentary track.

And finally, to the action. Choreographed by Yu Yan Kai, who relocated to Sweden, having worked with Sammo Hung and Corey Yuen in his native China, is a nicely stylised take on wu xia and kung-fu. There are several choreographed sequences, all of which are different in style and tone; from a strange confrontation with saplings instead of swords, to a bar fight with some nifty chopstick usage, to a more conventional confrontation, which turns into a mating ritual and a final showdown, where sledgehammers are the weapon of choice. Yu, and the cast, do a fine job.

In summary, Annila et al have produced a very watchable, enjoyable film, which successfully blends drama and fantasy, utilising both European and Chinese aesthetics with great success. I, for one, am interested to see what Annilla does next; he closes his commentary by joking that he'll be back soon with his "ninja musical", I wouldn't be surprised...

Li and Lai Xi will finally meet, but agree to delay their final fight until Li finish his agreement to bring back to safety a caravan carrying a Buddhist monk. However to Li’s ignorance, the monk is secretly carrying a sacred and powerful pagoda that attracts the attention of a region’s ruthless overlord. Followed by his former friends soldiers, Li will face the cruelty of the desert, the region’s barbaric bandits and the brutality of the overlord’s men before he can finally face his ultimate fight with Lai Xi.

Review: The long and old Silk Road, there were always all kinds of people: merchant, foreigners, soldiers, and of course heroes. In a lot of Chinese legends, the west of China, the place forever covered by the sands, where the Silk Road passed by, was always where the knights appeared. This is where this story takes place, it happened in the strongest period of Chinese history—Tang, and the director He Ping used almost 20 years’ preparation to describe it.

There has been a lot of discussions in China about how people compared this movie with Hero directed by Zhang Yimou. Maybe it was because of their similar names in Chinese. I personally cannot see any strong similarity. These are two completely different movies: from the history background, the way they shot, the characters, the story type and whatever. If we must do some comparisons, that is: both movies tried to create big epic story, however Warriors at last forgot the creation of the characters; Hero’s story line was a bit pale, but at least all the characters were plentiful.

In fact, if someone watched the South-Korean movie Musa, they should find much more similarity. Both happened in the desert, both needed protect something to somewhere, both had enemies tracking them and both had a woman as the vase. A strange coincidence? Or an incredible similarity? However, I don’t think the director He Ping just wanted to make a copy, or else he wouldn’t have used 20 years to prepare his film.

If the first half of the movie is a Wu Xia type or 8th century’s police action type, the last half fall in the fantasy genre. Comparing to the ending of Musa, this movie’s ending gave us a lot of unbelievable elements. Seems it wanted to tell us that heroes are not born as heroes but in fact normal as everybody. However, one day they had good luck and God choose to help them, so they become heroes. Does this means that the heroes in Warriors of Heaven and Earth are not true hero but heroes for the situation? Did it want to proof the old Chinese word: “the heroic appears by the current situation”? What exactly are we were really forward to is not very clear as it seem that the director began to fell insufficiency of idea in the middle of the shooting.

This time, I won’t talk about Jiang Wen as there is no doubted about it, he’s an excellent actor. But how about Nakai Kiichi, the famous Japanese actor? I didn’t had chance to watch any of his movies before, except a TV series he played with Faye Wong several years ago. This time, he plays a Japanese emissary who is strong in appearance but soft in heart. He always wants to go home but can’t, so his missing become the words in his letters to his old mother. He always speaks Chinese with very strange accent, but every time he speaks, you can feel the power. He didn’t say a lot, but he is such a good player that you cannot neglect his existence.

Watching this movie, you will get some great surprises in the beginning, but also few disappointments when you reach the end. It’s not a perfect movie, but it is a beautiful movie that shows us the different scenery of the western China. As a Chinese recent commercial movie, Warrior of Heaven and Earth, is a fine example at what we can expect in quality for future Chinese movie.

Review: SHOGUN'S SHADOW offers something not truly seen in many Swordsplay/Samurai films. The movie uses an anime-esque style in its approach to the film, making it a live action cartoon, and it suits it perfectly.

For the record, the connections to anime are numerous: thousands of arrows, an evil governing body, a fallen hero, a unique blend of mercenary heroes, and even the fighting styles. Surprisingly, all these elements are blended perfectly to create an excellent movie that pleasantly surprises and even separates itself from the majority of action movies out there.

But moving off the anime connections, one will quickly enjoy the fight scenes in Shogun’s Shadow. Although they may not be as impressive by today’s CGI-crazed standards, they truly are cool. Making it more impressive is that every one of the mercenaries has their own unique style that plays out well. So, when you find yourself watching a 20-30 minute stretch of nonstop fighting, you won’t be bored by a repeat blend of action. In fact, you’ll probably find each scene just as impressive and unique as the last.

Going along with the unique fighting, the characters in Shogun’s Shadow are exceptional and engaging. The only drawback is that some of the characters’ personalities are underdeveloped, but this was probably due to time constraints (and may have proved to be a bore if they were developed). Sure Ken Ogata and Sonny Chiba’s characters are pretty standard, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t kick-ass. And both actors do an impressive job of doing the little things to develop their emotions and actions.

By far though, the best character is the man with the staff. This silent character may be cheesy but he is reminiscent of the Ninja Turtle’s Michelangelo- which is a most enjoyable connection.

Speaking of connections to other films, one would swear that several American movies must have ripped off certain scenes from Shogun’s Shadow. Whether it’s a battle near a river that is reminiscent of something out of LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING , or an end scene that looks eerily similar to YOUNG GUNS or BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (ok Butch and Co came out before it, but the fact remains) one will see the similarities.

However, despite all its enjoyable aspects, there are a few problems that end up almost crippling it. In one tense part, SHOGUN'S SHADOW suddenly gains an 80’s style Japanese pop soundtrack, which instantly turns the nerve-racking scene into a laughable one. The music, while hilarious, destroys that scene completely- and you’ll be glad if no one walks in on you watching the movie at that point (yes it’s that bad).

The ending also drags on way too long- throwing in back story that could have served the story better in an earlier spot. The end scene also turns into this Springer-type of shouting match where the audience knows the result about 10 minutes before it actually occurs. Unfortunately, it all builds up to a poor ending that leaves a bitter taste in ones mouth.

Looking back though, SHOGUN'S SHADOW is a great film that turned out to be surprisingly clever. If you want an introduction to Sonny Chiba (although he is barely in it) this may be a good start. Or if you obsess over anime, this may be a good film to ease yourself into the world of live action cinema. Heck, if you like American Westerns, or crazy characters or even movies in general I would recommend this. It sports a great cast, an interesting plot, and has more than enough action scenes to keep you entertained.

REVIEW:
I have never been a fan of drama movies; in fact the first thing that brought me to the Asian genre was action and kungfu movies. But since the last few months I decided to give a chance to Asian drama movies, maybe they also have something different from those US cliché movies that I love to hate so much. To my surprise I have been really impressed by Korean drama, I still hardly believe that some titles really touched me in a way that no movies have ever done. In my opinion those who really master the drama genre are the Koreans, with great movies such as Il Mare, Christmas in August and Failan just to name a few. I didn't have the chance to see a lot of Japanese drama, but I decided to give a chance to Aprils Story just to see if they can compete against the Koreans.

I remember a Japanese movie that I have seen a few years ago called "Swallowtail Butterfly", I was not really impressed by the movie but a lot of people that I know really loved it. I was really surprised when I saw that April Story was also directed by the same director: Shunji Iwai. But April Story and Swallow Tail are very different, even if both share a very beautiful cinematography, Swallowtail is a lot darker that Aprils Story which is a drama with some subtitle humor, about a young girl who tries to fit into her new situation. The story is very simple, believable and especially fun to follow. The only down side of the story is in my opinion the ending...I wanted more! It would have been great to know what will happen to the characters. The movie is also really short, about 1H5 min, but it stills a great story and even with the short ending I found it very enjoyable and heart cheerful.

The movie really focuses on only one character, which is Nireno, played marvelously by Takako Matsu. There's a great deal of development for that character and even if the movie doesn't give a lot of screen time to other secondary characters, we are never bored to watch that small girl trying so hard to fit into her new life. It's true that the character was not really original, stereotyped as the beautiful girl who is very shy and doesn't have a lot of friends. But I think that was a strong point of the character, in the sense that the story would not have worked the same way with a girl who would have had a strong attitude toward the life.

Expecting a typical drama, I was really surprised with the humor in the movie, it also ended up being my favorite aspect of the whole movie. But wait, don't expect April Story to be a comedy or you will miss the whole point; the humor is there to only create a balance between the dramatic and comedy aspect of the story. The humor is very light and subtle, in fact very simple and typical Japanese humor. The drama part was also very simple, but it was not the type of love story that tries every trick in the book to make you cry. Instead it developed on the theme that life can be sometime hard but great things can happen when you least expect it.

As much as it can surprise you with the great scenery or by his cheerful story, April Story is a really beautiful movie that has a lot to offer. Maybe those who cant live without bloody action will probably have a good sleep but if you are attracted by this kind of movie, be sure to not miss it.

THE DVD:
[Region Free] The Japanese release of April Story doesn't have English sub, but fortunately for us, a Korean distributor had the excellent idea to release this title with English subtitles. The image quality is an excellent anamorphic widescreen transfer and for the sound you also have a very good original DTS audio track. The English subtitles were of near perfect quality, as for the extra they consisted of a chapter selection, cast & crew section, synopsis, shoot pictures, video clips, music video, trailers and a TV commercial. This is another excellent Korean DVD release; I hope that in the future, Korean companies will release more Japanese movies on DVD, because at least their release has English subtitles.

Review: Japan has a long tradition of stories about boys who refuse to grow up as well as of those about artificial 'boys' unable to fit in their society. With the technological development of this nation, SF was used more and more to express some burning contemporary issues, and so story about Pinocchio was merged with sci-fi motif of the robot, thus making the classic story for kids (written by an Italian author) into a very Japanese, very adult motif – a cultural archetype which obviously resonates with the nation's psyche, since we find it over and over again in both manga and feature films.

Unlike PINOCCHIO 964 (the first title I reviewed for KFCC and thus especially dear to my heart), HINOKIO is a film aimed at kids. The titular character is not an android but a robot whose function in the plot is entirely different. Hinokio is not an independent character at all: 'it' is merely an empty shell, a proxy through which our young protagonist attempts to re-enter the world. Thus, the film's promo material is a bit deceiving: the image on the DVD cover (a boy hugging the cute robot) would make you expect yet another variation on 'a boy and his robot' theme, with a tinge of E.T. vibe suggested also by the nonsensical subtitle ('Inter Galactic Love'). It is not really so. Satoru does not have any relationship with the robot: he has relationships through the robot. Hinokio's origin is not 'inter galactic' but very, very domestic, as it's created by Satoru's father, and the only hint of love in the film is, again, not inter-galactic, but very inter-human...

HINOKIO deals with serious issues, like childhood trauma, abandonment, alienation, suicide, retreat from the world into an otaku-existence in a cyber-world of video-games... In this case, the boy's alienation is triggered by a tragic accident in which he saw his mother die, while he was left temporarily shell-shocked. His key problem (dealing with the rest of the world) divides into three: coping with his schoolfriends (some of whom bully his robotic proxy); creating a real human touch (romance) with a girl; and, equally important, re-establishing contact with his father. HINOKIO does not shy away from the occasional 'darkness' of its themes and cruelties that the boy is subjected to, both physical and emotional, and for something that could too easily (and wrongly) be dismissed as a 'kiddie flick', it is surprisingly mature and honest in dealing with its themes. Some of the situations (especially the scenes in his school) may seem familiar and generic, but even they are accomplished with a real emotion, and manage to be both funny, entertaining and touching. HINOKIO turns a bit too sappy only towards the end (with the inevitable 'dead' boy resurrected by love and sacrifice), but even the over-emotional ending is well deserved by what preceded it.

For a film like this to succeed, the key lies in its convincingness, and HINOKIO packs a wallop in that regard: you'll believe every second of it thanks to the excellent performances of all involved, especially Kanata Hongo who has a difficult task of portraying an emotionally scarred six-grader Satoru. Of course, in a story centered around a robot you'll have to believe 'its' performance as well, and Hinokio itself (or should I say 'himself'?) is made real through an amazing mix of puppetry and CGI. No wonder, since Takahiko Akiyama's experience as an F/X designer (most notably for FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN) comes into play, and will challenge you to spot rare occasions in which you can be sure whether you're watching a robot-puppet or a CGI creation. Other than the seamless execution, Hinokio should be also commended for its design, which makes it/him rightfully take a place in a pantheon of memorable characters for children. HINOKIO is one of those cherished films aimed primarily at kids, but highly watchable for adults as well. In terms of its themes and imagery, it is a Japanese counterpart of what would probably be rated PG-13 in the USA (well, perhaps even PG), and is thus strongly recommended for both kids and their parents. Watching it with your kid may help establish a new connection and deal with some important issues that you may not have come across so far.

Meanwhile, former concubine Li Zhenfei had been sanctioned to live in the forbidden palace, where she may never see the prince, who is truly her son. Coincidence brings the young prince before her, and a sea of deceit and conspiracy is revealed.

REVIEW: Known primarily in the U.S. for the outrageous kung fu films they produced, the Shaw Brothers’ studios also managed to pump out films in just about every other genre imaginable. Inside the Forbidden City is oft-revered as their ultimate “huangmei opera” costume drama, and is based on an old Sung Dynasty story which takes place during the period of Emperor Jen Tsung. The tale which unfolds here is as classic as can be, and ripe with colorful characters and some beautiful music.

The first and foremost noteworthy aspect is the costume and stage design. True to Shaw Brothers fashion, this film excels in all regards relating to the costumes worn and the locations ranging from a hermit-like cave to lush royal palaces. It comes as no surprise, though, as this is an incredibly vital characteristic of Chinese operas and costume dramas. It also seems to be a Shaw staple to create lavish sets that capture the imagination in both their creativity and their effectiveness.

One thing that might turn people off from trying out a huangmei opera in the first place would be an aversion to musicals in general. It should be said, however, that these films and the stage plays that they represent are drastically unlike the typical musical an average moviegoer may have in mind. They eschew fancy song numbers and dance routines in favor of more subdued and personal songs that merely act to advance the narrative. Many characters engage in musical soliloquy in efforts to concrete their dilemma and question the situation. Other instances worthy of song are grand announcements or entrances, central conflicts coming to a rushing climax and other key moments of the story.

Truth be told, the singing in this film seems few and far between. I was relating this movie, while I was watching it, to an old Chinese Opera video we had to watch in class last year. It was called “Legend of White Snake” (Not the band, though that would have been nothing less than astounding), and despite having this epic final battle between the demons, I recall it being liberally peppered with songs in most every scene. Such is not the case with Forbidden City, so newcomers to the genre needn’t be too wary prior to seeing this.

Inside the Forbidden City’s story, with the exception of a few select areas, is one of sorrow and separation. Li Zhenfei is a mother doomed to seclusion and fated never to act as protector of her child, who has been written out of her life and claimed as the child of another. The leading lady’s plight is further accentuated when she is allotted a brief meeting with her son, as he brazenly entered the corridors of his mother’s forbidden area, despite direct commands to steer clear. The child is full of questions, none of which Li can answer with complete truth. Spilling the beans would probably result in her death, though the fate she is resigned to is arguably worse.

The narrative of the story actually begins with an age-raddled Li Zhenfei living in a cave, far from society. She relays her story to the passing Bao Zhen, adorned in bold makeup and togged up in ornate clothing. He agrees to hear her out, and what he heeds is the aforementioned tale of betrayal, a story of competition for one man’s (the Emperor) affection that ended her in ruin. The story told leaves Bao Zhen in awe, finding it hard to believe that such a betrayal could happen within the confines of the palace. He vows to uncover the lies within and set everything right for Li.

Kao Li’s direction is careful and well paced, letting the story settle into it’s own, and giving proper introduction to each character, preventing confusion. It’s much more akin to the flow of an actual live Chinese opera, complete with long static shots that provide the actors center stage. The performances, especially Ivy Ling Po’s, are well executed in a classic fashion, and are for the most part engaging and memorable.

If anything, the story’s conclusion leaves a bit to be desired. Perhaps a story with such a cold-hearted woman as Li Zhenfei’s rival Madame Liu needs more of a payoff in the end. Li’s situation is so dire and she does such a good job making the audience feel for her, that the latter part of the movie seems a bit anticlimactic.

Regardless, Inside the Forbidden City is a classic story put on film adeptly by a talented group within Shaw studios. With a script co-written by the legendary Chang Cheh (pre-blood in your eye, knee to the groin, head splitting kung fu god Chang Cheh, but Chang Cheh nonetheless) and some great performances, you’d do well to give this film a shot. Set aside any preconceived notions you have of the Chinese opera, and you may be surprised.

Review: Easily one of the most prolific directors of our time, Takashi Miike has proven again and again that he is a powerful force to be reckoned with. He has the ability to turn a low budget, and potentially worthless picture, into a gem. Whether by the use of excessive sex and violence, or through mature and competent storytelling, Miike turns heads. That’s a fact, like it or not.

Fans of Takashi Miike seem to know him more from his extreme efforts and sometimes they can be unsure how to react to a movie like THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA. The Miike fan base has grown significantly over the last couple years, largely because of films like the DEAD OR ALIVE trilogy, ICHI THE KILLER, and the infamous FUDOH. Because of this, expectations develop and can easily cloud your viewing experience if his film isn’t totally excessive.

Spawned from a novel by Makoto Shiina and adapted for the screen by Masa Nakamura, THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA sums up much of Miikes' talent to create one of his most compelling works to date. The rate at which he matured since the original V-cinema days is more than obvious if it had not been previously with films such as KENKA NO HANIMACHI and RAINY DOG (only to be surpassed later on by YOUNG THUGS: NOSTALGIA, AUDITION, AGITATOR, and GRAVEYARD OF HONOR).

Gone are the bloody limbs, gratuitous sex and black humor. All that remains is pure, untainted content with a new approach (at the time) by an outstanding crew in a far off place. This is the real thing folks, a real quality film with a new depiction of a traveling theme between many Miike movies – a man in a foreign land forced to contemplate his surroundings, and to seek the very depths of his soul in finding of himself.

As we adventure with Wada, Ujiie, and Shen through China in search for another place to desecrate and industrialize, we are able to sympathize with the characters’ emotions easily. Initially we understand the greed for this potential jade mine, then we see the village near the mine and its inhabitants and feel compelled to put a stop to the evil. The people of the village are above us and are at peace with themselves, which is ultimately the reason they can “fly.” Ujiie finds himself helplessly drawn to the simplicity of things and Wada secretly begins to question his own plans to invade the village.

Masahiro Motoki‘s (GONIN, GEMINI) portrayal of Wada was almost too convincing. As we follow his character through the mountains of China we can clearly see the deterioration of his sense of supposed normalcy. The materialistic needs begin to shatter and his desire for the contrived, polluted world begins to dissipate. Although for Wada this happened at a much slower rate than that of Ujiie, who was excellently played by Renji Ishibashi (DORA-HEITA, 47 RONIN). Ujiee’s need to escape the yakuza life must have been in the back of his mind all along, which eventually becomes more than obvious after he violently tries to put a stop to the discovery and standardization of his new found, secluded love. With these two strong actors, the story unfolds with a copious amount of believability. It should also be noted that the choice to cast Mako (best known for his roles in the CONAN films) was a wise one. Without him, this would have been a whole different movie.

Surely, making the film was an arduous journey full of many difficulties to both the cast and crew. Luckily, the great Koji Endo and Hideo Yamamoto give their signature contributions once again to a Miike film. Endo’s score is beautiful and suiting; Yamamoto’s photography is able to capture the beautiful landscapes of China with ease.

Hailed as an adult fairytale, THE BIRD PEOPLE IN CHINA helps us to momentarily live out each of our own fantasies of a simple life. Rarely does one get something out of a film, and because of this I am thankful. A sentimental, emotional stroll through our hearts’ desire sounds appealing, doesn’t it?

Review: How is it that a Japanese film colossus like Teruo Ishii has only a small trickle of exposure in North America? You'd think his sprawling filmography would have found a home on shelves next to the Suzukis and the Kurosawas (both of 'em even), but that's not the case. If you're looking for Ishii flicks on this side of the ocean, you're probably knee-deep in a Chinatown tent shop or learning Japanese on the quick surrounded by region 2 discs and an empty checking account.

This should be exciting though, not discouraging. From SUPER GIANT (1957) and its sequels to the legendary Edo-era torture flicks and his eventual sans-studio work, Ishii's catalog is ideally set to be the "next big thing." Hell, despite his open disdain for martial arts movies, he made two completely bonkers (read: incredible) EXECUTIONER films in 1974 with Sonny Chiba (which are set for a subbed region 1 release by Adness). Ishii spent so long taking studio orders like "Make Ken Utsui's (SUPER GIANT) package look bigger" and "Make more and more and more ABASHIRI PRISON films (a long running popular '60s series starring Ken Takakura) until your head explodes" that his turn to the independent side with movies like JIGOKU is no surprise at all.

1999's JAPANESE HELL (JIGOKU) is as good a place to start as any. Though Nobuo Nakagawa's 1960 film of the same name set the standard, there are only a few things that Ishii's version shares with the original. The spirit's still there in this remake though; it's the setting that has changed drastically. Multiple tales of the immoral share bookends that visualize Hell as a typically torturous and bleak pit, but these are real people. Somewhere in someone's head, "Back to life, back to reality" is droning in and out to the beat of this scenario.

The details don't fall on the sets themselves, which are really just darkly painted rooms with scattered rocks and smoke machines. The "meat" of Ishii's Hell is thick on the bones of the punished, who enjoy slow and vicious torture sequences. The blood runs bright red and, in contrast to the minimal set design, there's some really outstanding makeup work (especially on the demons). Different levels of Hell are explored, and the sound stage look of the film actually allows for a lot of freedom in other departments. Consequently, a rainbow of colors flow behind the Queen of Hell, rotting heads reflect neon green, and the blue hue of the river styx bounces boldly out of the television set. Hell has never been so sickeningly bright, like a red traffic light welcoming those who cross it to an early grave.

Because of the way this combines with the slower pace of the dramatic scenes, the moral of the story doesn't try for subtlety in any way. Rather, it pronounces its message on a massive, scrolling, electric-neon banner for everyone to see. In an interview in Asian Cult Cinema magazine (no. 28) shortly after the time of JIGOKU's release, Ishii admitted that he had never planned on making a "preachy" movie, or a movie with such an overt and unwavering message, but he made this one the way it is because he was just plain pissed off.

And there's plenty to be pissed off about. Miyazaki (not Hayao) molesters and cult leaders bust out dirty deeds on their inevitable paths to hades. It really helps to be at least somewhat familiar with the culprits in question here, especially the AUM Shinrikyo cult that was most notorious for the sarin gas attacks on Japan's subways. Founder Shoko Asahara is portrayed in the same scuzzy, unkempt way he always appeared. The majority of the movie is spent following his deceptive ways while leading the cult, planning gas attacks and luring women into his bedroom with the promise of enlightenment. It's a bit much at times, a little over the top (as if that's a bad thing), but it drives the point home with no room for argument. This guy is going straight to Hell.

The cast plods along admirably with some made-for-TV style performances that mix well with the barren backdrops/deadly serious atmosphere contrast. The transition between their solemn and slow upper-Earth scenes and the Gwar-esque underworld landscapes of despair is almost comedic. A self-referential nod rounds out the insanity of the film, as Tetsuro Tamba slides onto the screen reprising his role from Ishii's own PORNO JIDAI-GEKI. The short scene is like some savage time capsule explosion; the perfect exclamation point to punctuate the movie with.

If you're into JAPANESE HELL, you'll likely find yourself in a Teruo Ishii snowball right away, searching for import gems and bugging Media Blasters and other companies to hurry up and release more of his movies. That's not to say that this movie is representative of his oeuvre, but it's still a wild (and actually semi-informative) time in the hot, hot heat.

You can love it or you can laugh at it, but don't just sit there during the finale while everyone else dances.

Shortly after this review was written, Teruo Ishii passed away at the age of 81. He will be missed, but his films will keep him alive.

Review:
"Have you got Burning Paradise?"
"No, it’s just my pants. They’re cutting right up my crack."

OK, bad jokes aside, considering that ‘Burning Paradise’ is produced by Tsui Hark, with Ringo Lam taking a break from his usual contemporary movies to direct this dark and sinister period kung fu flick, which despite being absolutely brilliant, remains unseen by many action fans.

Burning Paradise takes place in the Red Lotus Temple, a hellish prison in which people are tortured, killed, beheaded and skewered. There are booby traps, hidden chambers, an arena, and underneath lies a cave full of dead bodies (except for one guy who lives down there). It’s a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there.

The Temple itself reflects the film’s atmosphere, which is dark, sinister and drenched in blood. The stark hyperrealism of Burning Paradise means that it isn’t exactly a fun film, but rather a compelling one. The horrors that unfold provide a real sense of danger, and at times the movie can feel like more of a horror film than a martial arts movie.

Which brings us to the bad guy, Lord Kung. He is evil. Very evil. Eeeeeeevil, if you will. He is a truly warped character, and one of the best bad guys around. He’s particularly scary in one scene in which he shows his power over his concubines, and to say that out of two girls, the one who is raped gets off lightly doesn’t even begin to describe how dark the scene is.

Despite the fact that it didn’t do too well at the box office, Burning Paradise is an excellent film. Apart from some occasional (misplaced) comedy, this movie has an atmosphere you could cut with a very big sword, and a kick-ass hero in the shape of Willie Chi as Fong Sai Yuk. Just don’t expect the same cheeky chappy as portrayed by Jet Li. This Fong Sai Yuk has seen his mates cut into bite sized pieces, and he’s pretty annoyed about it.

Review: When the sixth generation of filmmakers arose in China, Their motto was instantly coined simply as, "Not like the 5th generation". A conscious effort was employed to veer as far away as possible from the works of their seniors, more specifically directors in the class of Zhang Yimou etc. It was this outright rebellious nature that gave many of their films notoriety, and was also a catalyst for the governments disapproval.

Banned most definitely for the fact that it was an independent feature, and not necessarily due to its content, "Frozen" allows an interesting glimpse at the world of various artists living in Beijing. The director of "Frozen" hides behind the pseudonym Wu Ming, or "No Name". The story is told in retrospect, thus allowing the viewer more of a second hand insight into main character Qi Lei's disturbing mental outlook. It's hard to care too much for such a man initially, as he practices a cold point of view that eschews any form of compassion for anyone around him. It paints a common view of the suicidal in that they are driven by selfish thought. Whether or not this is true in every case isn't the point, but it makes it hard to concentrate on observing Qi Lei's life when his distance from it is so overwhelming.

Through the course of the film it becomes easier to stand and get a feel for his emotion and motivation for his art, or lack thereof. Half of those close to him plead to him not to go through with his impending ice burial, as he says plain and clear that he plans for it to be his final performance. Closest to him is his girlfriend Shao Yun. While she mostly begs him not to kill himself, at times she seems fairly indifferent to the whole idea. It becomes apparent that those close to him eventually take his suicide talk with a grain of salt.

Eventually he goes through with the ice burial, which seems to be carried out in more of a documentary fashion than the rest of the movie, dragging a bit, and perhaps not packing the ultimate punch that it needed to. But aside from that the film comes off as haunting to say the least. The original music by Roeland Dol is at times very atmospheric and at others more at home in a Lifetime movie. But when it accompanies the carefully filmed scenes that explore Qi Lei in his solitary state of confliction with life, it most certainly becomes very effective. These are the moments in "Frozen" that completely make the movie. Jia Hongshen, who played Qi Lei, is at his best in these silent brooding moments that ooze bleakness.

Most important in the end is how this film paints suicide so vividly, or at least the psyche of one contemplating it. The entire idea Qi Lei presents of escaping from everything and lifting the everyday burden of life from his shoulders. With the combination of the narration and Qi Lei's own explanations, we are offered a convincing slice of the suicidal mind, or at least the way writer Pang Ming and writer/director Wu Ming envision it.

While at times the films hopeless nature and dark outlook on life can be a bit much to sit through, not necessarily emotionally but more in a "who really wants to kill himself here? Qi Lei or Wu Ming" sort of way, the end wraps everything up completely unexpectedly. Without going into too many details, the end arguably changes the entire viewpoint of the film. "Frozen" survives more on its story than it does Wu Ming's manipulation and execution of it, and is a rare and interesting, albeit not classic, piece from China.

Review: By 1995, Jet Li and Tsui Hark had gone their separate ways, and the ‘Once Upon a Time In China’ series had been handed over to a new star and director. Wong Fei Hung was a real person and not a copyrighted fictional character, so Jet Li produced this movie himself, employing the inconstant talents of Wong Jing as director. While very different in tone to Tsui Hark’s vision, ‘Last Hero In China’ can be considered an unofficial addition to the OUATIC series of movies which succeeds in being very entertaining, despite it’s dishonourable intentions.

In the OUATIC movies, Wong Fei Hung (as a metaphor for China itself) has to adapt to the strange, alien ways of foreigners. In ‘Last Hero In China’, Wong Fei Hung (as a metaphor for the director himself) has to adapt to the strange, alien ways of women. Wong Fei Hung is portrayed as quite misogynistic, spouting such classic quotes as ‘They dress so little and are look bitchy’. Even Aunt Yee is absent from this interpretation of the legend, leaving a largely male cast to slow the plot down and wallow in boob gags, anti-gay humour, cross dressing, and fart jokes. Despite it’s low brow, broad humour, it’s usually quite funny, and one fart gag in particular is so obvious that you wonder why you haven’t seen it before.

So far, you are probably wondering how this movie qualifies as a Wong Fei Hung film. Well, all the series staples are present and correct. The action revolves around Po Chi Lam, where our hero spends his time tutoring his students, including Buck Tooth So (but no Butcher Lam, for some reason). There are loads of kung fu fights, a few lion dances, suspicious Europeans plotting to exploit the locals, and the classic Wong Fei Hung theme. What really clenches it is the inclusion of Jet Li himself, and he is on top form, guided by action choreography of Yuen Wo Ping, as long as you don’t mind wirework and under-cranking. Li performs Fei Hung’s signature moves, including the ‘No Shadow Kick’, and for the finale, goes into a glorious bout of Drunken Boxing, just like Jackie Chan’s portrayal of the hero in ‘Drunken Master’ (same action choreographer, you see). Infamously, he also goes into battle dressed as a big red chicken. It makes sense in the film. Nearly.

Worth considerable note is the presence of former Shaw Brothers star Gordon Liu as the maniacal head of an evil cult. Oddly, he looks older and porkier than in this year’s ‘Kill Bill’, who has a decent fight or two, and spends a lot of time flying around in a lotus shaped lantern throwing an iron claw at people (a supernatural power never explained).

‘Last Hero In China’ shouldn’t work, but somehow this rapid fire fun gun of a film manages to hit the target.. It’s slightly reminiscent of Jackie Chan’s ‘City Hunter’ because, like Chan, Jet Li teamed up with Wong Jing to play an established character, and make an extremely sexist and silly film which splits opinion down the middle. You are either going to love or hate ‘Last Hero In China’, but this reviewer loved it, even with it’s chicken costume on.

Review: Chinese Ghost Story is one film that has a special place in my heart, in fact this is the very first asian movie that I have ever seen. It was years and years ago, long before I knew anything of asian cinema or culture. I was surfing through the channels and came upon this weird movie where this samurai looking guy was shooting fireballs from his hands and slicing up undead and soon after followed by giant evil tongues and sexy Chinese ghost ladies. In a word I was in awe, I had never seen anything quite like it. This was a world apart from conventional north American cinema and perhaps that was the appeal, something completely different.

It would be only years later that I would have the chance to see this movie in its entirety and I enjoyed it as much as the very first time that I caught this movie in the middle. Being an older movie the special effects and the overall look of this film pretty much borders the cheesy factor and this may put off certain viewers who are more used to the modern day state of the art cinema but personally I believe it is that cheesy quality that gives this movie its charm. As I’ve long said it is not the overall visual aspect that will give a movie its soul but good characters, a good story and the resulting on screen chemistry is what give a movie soul.

Chinese Ghost Story manages to have a bit of everything in it, swordplay action with some horror-esque elements along with a love story and some Chinese humor that comes off a little strange; I still don’t get half the jokes. These story genres are well blended together and non really take the forefront, a mixture of a ghost story and love story that works well together. The development and the pace of the story is great, all elements simply fall into place and everything is easy to understand and enjoy.

The characters also play an important role in making this movie as good as it is. You have the young and naïve tax collector that gets involved in this crazy story by pure misfortune, he makes for an unusual central / hero character. Then you have the Taoist swordsmen which is by far the coolest character in this movie, his Taoist magic and swordplay steals the show, it’s a pleasure to watch him kick undead ass and get our lost hero out of trouble. Then there is the ghost, the love interest of our hero, she is the innocent girl stuck in a bad situation. She is not really evil but she is forced to commit terrible acts, unfortunately for her she falls for the hero and is unable to do what she must putting her in great danger. As for the villain it seems to be some sort of cross dressing monster, nothing exciting but it gets the job done for the bad guy role.

Another element of this movie that I really enjoyed was the stormy nighttime scenery; being a ghost story much of the film takes place at night of course. Many of those scenes have a stormy feel to it, leaves and stuff flying all about and trees shaking and what not. It may not look realistic but I find it really provides the proper ambience. I always liked the blue nighttime filming of these over fantasy swordplay movies of this time period, once again it’s the charm element or am I just being nostalgic.

Chinese Ghost Story should not put you off because it is an older film, it is very much of a classic. Be prepared to not see state of the art special effects and enjoy the movie for its good story elements but then you may just consider plastic stop motion undead and an evil giant tongue that attacks people as bonus. Seriously Chinese Ghost Story is worth a try and if your familiar with old HK fantasy swordplay movies like swordsman or bride with white hair I am sure Chinese Ghost Story will very much be your cup of tea.