The central idea of the narrative is fascinating, and the execution of the aesthetics is remarkable. Re-Cycle is a story about a female author working on her latest novel: a supernatural thriller sharing the title of the film. After many false starts, and the goading of a pushy publicist, she soon finds herself experiencing strange ghostly occurrences. After a hellish elevator ride dumping her off just this side of hell, she leaves the world of the familiar and is lost in an otherworldly dimension. In this dimension, the Dimension of the Abandoned, is all the stuff forgotten by time and people: discarded toys, lost lovers, abandoned plot ideas, forgotten knowledge, and the forgotten dead - even aborted babies, are strewn about like so much grotesque garbage. Every level of the dimension is like a different kind of hell for the abandoned things and creatures, as they haunt the landscape and hunt for those who have forgotten them.

If the Pang Brothers excel at one thing, it is setting up a sequence with amazing visuals and striking audio. Once the heroine enters the Dimension of the Abandoned, there is something new, beautiful, frightening, and shocking to see or hear around every corner. Much of the fun of watching this film is anticipating what might be thrown at the screen next. As the heroine moves between levels, we see the forgotten walled city of Kowloon, complete with devilish inhabitants; she then visits an abandoned amusement park and playground of the damned, followed by a trip through a forest adorned with the bodies of those that committed suicide. This is, in turn, followed by a trip through a land made up of discarded, old and rusty toy trains, dolls, and wind-up mechanisms. Each of these visually arresting sequences is coupled with audio that perfectly captures the tone and atmosphere.

While these sights and sounds may appear terrifying at first, the Pang Brothers accomplish a remarkable paradigm shift towards the end of the film - a shift that somewhat changes how one views the terrors witnessed by the heroine. After a remarkable and frightening journey through the Embryonic Cave, a detail is revealed about the heroine's life, and this detail becomes a hinge upon which a heavy burden weighs down with grim ferocity. This hinge is also in control of what appears to be layer upon layer of alternate realities and parallel earths, each with its own version of the heroine's life.

If only these ambitious and imaginative ideas were coupled with a real quest and narrative, Re-Cycle could have been an amazing achievement. However, there just isn't enough of a story, or conflict, to create the necessary tension and drama needed to fully engage. Everything about this film resides on the surface - what we see is what we get, a ton of eye candy and very little substance. Even with the added hard-hitting and topical emotional punch towards the end of the film, the narrative never feels fully fleshed out. The presence of evil is also felt, and seen, throughout the film, but the evil is never given the personification that creates an immediate and real threat to the heroine; it too exists only to showcase another special effect or beautifully imagined sequence (however I must add that the final effect shot of the evil presence is absolutely astounding - you have never seen ANYTHING like it).

Lofty ideas do not, in and of themselves, create an engaging narrative. However, with enough visual allure and technical prowess, the Pang Brothers have, in fact, created a film that is infinitely watchable, and is not soon forgotten. The film’s visuals and ideas linger on the mind far after the final credits have passed, and continue to haunt for days to come. I truly wished, and hoped, that Re-Cycle would be an amazing film, but, as it stands, it is merely a film full of lofty ambition and creativity, but one marred by a missed opportunity to tell a real story.

Watching the movie at first it seemed alright, but then film introduced annoying kleshae (Spelling??), the 'scary girl with long black hair', yes the same character that can be seen in The Ring trilogy, The Grudge movies, Dark Water and so on. It has now became a curse on horror movies, people will not enjoy horror movies if you keep making the scary little asian children as the evil spirits.

The film does have some good parts to it, like the relationship between Chu Xun and the little girl, Ting Yu. The stunning computer graphics, the amazing cinematography, hell the movie even has Zombies! But it's just so damn confusing and strange! On minute she's running up hill, the next she's fallen into a tunnel made up of 'aborted' childen, which is a little sick in my books, I felt a little bit ill watching that giant baby thing, eww yuck!

Apperances include a aging Lau Siu-Ming (most people will remember him from the Chinese Ghost Story movies as the Old Dame). Siu-Ming apperances as this mysterious old man who tells Lee that she shouldn't be in this world. Lawerence Chou makes brief apperances Lee's agent. Rain Li makes a short appearance as her mate and sister of her ex-lover.

Final thoughts, the film does have some heart, the CGI in the movie is amazing it has some great fantasy/supernatural sets, but the Pang brothers have chosen Style over Substance and it shows.