#122 -- Foreign Movie Challenge: Bloody Reunion (2006)

Director: Dae-wung Lim
Rating: 4/5

This is my last entry in the foreign movie challenge. Sadly, I didn't get one in every day like I'd planned, but I still had a pretty interesting week of movie viewing. Today's choice was a Korean movie called Bloody Reunion (also known as "To Sir, With Love" though I'm not really sure why. Bloody Reunion actually fits the story better). It's an interesting movie with elements I've never seen in an Asian horror movie. It is about a group of people who go to visit with their old elementary school teacher, who is very ill. Their teacher, Mrs. Park, was apparently horribly cruel to them when they were in school, and they all came back to see just how she could live with herself knowing what she'd done to them. Mrs. Park had a deformed son who the children were all scared of when they were young (and whose deformity also caused her husband to commit suicide). When the group starts dying in grisly ways, it seems that the deformed child of Mrs. Park is the only one to blame.

THE GOOD

There were many good things going on in this one. First and foremost, the gore. This is the most gore I've seen in a serious Asian horror film. There are those that are meant to be silly, and they are almost always full of gore. But the more serious ones, the ones meant to actually frighten, usually rely on jump-scares and an eerie atmosphere. In that way, Bloody Reunion was very different. Also, it was a slasher movie! I have never seen an Asian slasher movie, so that was refreshing. The rabbit mask. Mrs. Park's son wore a bunny mask to cover his deformed face. It sounds kind of silly on paper, but it was actually pretty frightening. I also liked the character development. Each of the kids' stories concerning Mrs. Park were interesting and I was able to relate to them. Each of them felt put down by her; they were made to feel as if they were not good enough, and they grew up trying to change themselves to fit the image she had set in their minds. She ruined their lives. The story was a good one, but that's nothing new with Asian horror. And I must say: the kills. This little rabbit-man was truly vicious! He looked to be small, but he definitely was not weak.

THE BAD

The only bad thing I could say about this was that it didn't go into very much depth about the horrible things Mrs. Park did to her students. They each gave a vague speech about what happened to them, but I would have liked to see more. One student was told that she was too fat, and she grew up to become obsessed with her image, and she eventually spent all of her money on plastic surgery (which left her with a pair of messed up eyes). One was made to feel lousy because he lost a race, which caused him to focus his energy on becoming more athletic; this caused an injury that would effect him for the rest of his life. One girl who was poor gave Mrs. Park a homemade gift that she only laughed at because it wasn't as good as money, though she didn't seem to have any lasting difficulties because of it (I could be wrong, though). And one student seemed to have been sexually abused by Mrs. Park. They were easy to relate to, I just would have liked more description so that I could have felt that more. It's a very small point, and it didn't take away from the movie's overall entertainment.

I also didn't care very much for the ending. It was somehow good, yet disappointing at the same time. All the way through the movie, I was thinking "Hey! This is different" because I'd never seen an Asian horror movie quite like it. But at the end, it was just another revenge story. The story was good, and it explained a lot of things that had happened earlier. I didn't hate it, but I was hoping for a full-blown slasher movie. Also, at the end, the deformed child seemed to have disappeared. The ending had a twist that didn't involve him, but his role in everything was dismissed, it seemed. I wondered what happened to him, because I kind of liked him. I can always relate to the "freak."

THE STRANGE

I know I already said this in the "good" section, but I believe it belongs here as well: the rabbit mask. It is definitely strange, but in a most awesome way. Overall, Bloody Reunion is a great movie, with elements not typical for Asian horror, and it was a nice ending to the foreign movie challenge.

After a small break, I'll be starting a Classic Movie Challenge, where I'll watch nothing but old movies. So stay tuned for that! As for this challenge, I  enjoyed it and look forward to doing it again in the future.

#121 -- Foreign Movie Challenge: Funny Games (1997)

Director: Michael Haneke
Rating: 2/5

Today's choice was a German movie about a rich family spending time at their vacation home. Their vacation goes horribly awry when two young men from next door (supposedly) show up and cause mayhem. It all starts when one of the men asks the lady of the house--Anna--to borrow some eggs. After dropping and cracking the eggs a few times, Peter's accomplice--Paul--shows up and asks to try out one of Anna's husband Georg's golf clubs, which he uses to kill their dog. They keep them hostage in their own home, claiming that they want to play some games. This is what kept me interested in the movie. I was curious to see just what sort of funny games they wanted to play. But they games were not funny, nor were they interesting. One they called "Kitten in a bag" or something like that. They put a pillow case over Georg Junior's head, while making Anna strip naked. They didn't touch her; they just wanted to see if she had any flab. Next, they used the "eeny meeny miney mo" tequnique, using Anna's age to count, to figure out who they would kill first. The lucky winner was Georg Junior. Peter and Paul left after killing the boy, and Anna and Georg figured it was time to skedaddle. But Georg was badly wounded, so Anna had to go out all by herself. She stupidly decided to hitchhike, and was picked up and Peter and Paul once again. Their next game was called "The Loving Wife." They would let Anna decide how they would kill Georg--with a shotgun or with a knife--or she could take his place.





There were some very strange parts of this movie. Paul kept looking at the camera, as if he were talking to the audience. Once, it was just a wink. Then he asked what we thought Anna should do, whether or not she should play along with them. I think this was an attempt to make the audience feel like they were a part of these sick little games, making them even more uncomfortable than they already were to begin with. That, or they were trying to make the audience feel like voyeurs, watching these terrible things and doing nothing about them. I think it's an interesting idea, and could have been good if they had kept it going. But it only happened a few times, and that just made it weird. There was no suspense in this one; no horror, hardly any action whatsoever. The only thing that kept me going was interest in the games, which never became interesting. From the synopsis, it sounded like it could have been an interesting and depraved movie, but I was disappointed. I'm not saying these guys weren't depraved; they certainly were. The scary thing about it, though, is that this sort of thing actually does happen. That was the one redeeming quality here: that it was believable. The actors all did an amazing job, and I believed every bit of it. It just wasn't interesting. It was boring, especially the bit where Anna sits on a chair and stares into space for about five minutes. Then she gets up, turns the TV off, and stares into space for another five minutes. That's unacceptable in my book. Movies are supposed to hold your attention, not make you twiddle your fingers waiting for something to happen.

I found out that there is an American remake of this movie starring Michael Pitt, an actor that I thoroughly enjoy. I actually would like to see this, because I'm used to seeing Mr. Pitt play introverted characters who are easily pushed around. If he does indeed play Paul, this should be a nice change for me. If he's Peter, it won't be much different. But I digress. This movie was disappointing, and it definitely isn't for everyone. It's a little disturbing, but not enough for me.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED

• Georg is pronounced much differently than I thought it was.
• Beware of skinny-legged golfer boys and their chubby accomplices.
• Don't let anyone borrow your eggs--EVER.

#120 -- Foreign Movie Challenge: Sick Nurses (2007)

Directors: Piraphan Laoyont & Thodsapol Siriwiwat
Rating: 4/5

A male doctor was dating a man who wanted to marry him. He told his boyfriend that he couldn't marry a man, so the boyfriend had a sex change. Instead of marrying him/her, like he promised, he started sleeping with his/her sister--and all the other nurses at the hospital too, it seems. Oh, and this was kind of a mad doctor, because he sold corpses to some unknown buyer. When the boyfriend/girlfriend found out about his infidelity, she went crazy and threatened to uncover their sick little business. Instead of going to prison, they all decided that she'd become their next sell. They killed her and tried to sell her; however, the buyer didn't show up on time. One of the girls mentioned that, "a soul will return to the one they love after seven days." Seven days after she died, she returned to seek vengeance, in some pretty grisly ways. The ghost possesses the girls' hands/arms and makes them harm themselves.




I love Asian horror. I've had it freak me out or just plain scare the shit out of me. But I've never watched one that grossed me out. I don't get grossed out by typical things, like most people. Decapitation and evisceration don't bother me. Actually, I think they're pretty awesome. It's simple things that I can imagine happening to me that weird me out. I can't imagine how it would feel to have my head cut off; but I can definitely imagine how it would feel to have a needle shoved down through my finger. This is the first Asian horror movie to have that effect on me, which is cool. The only thing I didn't like was that it jumped around a lot. It was in present time one minute, and all of a sudden it went to a flashback. I got kind of hard for me to keep up with what was happening, and what had already happened.

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR

• A woman is forced to cut off her own jawbone, and then she is choked by a pickled fetus.
• A woman has her cell phone embedded into her cheek.
• A woman is forced to dig through trashcans.
• A woman is almost strangled by hair.
• A woman is forced to knock her teeth out with her toothbrush.
• A woman has her head turned into a purse.

There were a lot of weird things going on in this one, as you can tell.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED

• If your friend will have a sex change so you will marry him, you should probably run away from him.
• Selling dead bodies is risky business.
• Sleeping with your girlfriend's sister is even riskier business.
• Asians have very strong hair.

This was pretty good. The gore was wonderful, and that hospital was definitely painted red. There were some good gross out parts (for me, at least), but not very many real scares. The ghost wasn't very scary, especially when she sat provocatively to watch her handy-work. But overall it was a good movie. I mean, sexy Asian nurses? How can you go wrong with that?

#119 -- Foreign Movie Challenge: Let the Right One In (2008)

Director: Tomas Alfredson
Rating: 4/5

I saw the American version, Let Me In, before I saw this one. I really enjoyed the remake, but for some reason I liked this one better. It is the story of two twelve year-old kids in Sweden. The boy, Oskar, is tormented and bullied by his classmates, leaving him more than a little disturbed. Eli (pronounced kind of like "yelli") is a vampire. Eli lives with an older man who acts as a father figure to her, keeping her safe and acquiring meals for her. But he is starting to slip, which ultimately leads to his death. That leaves Eli with no one else to turn to but Oskar. They develop a friendly relationship, being that each really has no one else in their lives. When Oskar discovers Eli's secret, he is surprised and treats her with a little bit of disdain for a short while. Eventually, though, he comes to terms with his new girlfriend's identity, and they begin helping each other. Eli helps Oskar deal with his bullies, and Oskar helps Eli relocate so that she can continue living. The relationship between them is beautiful, in that "alone together" type of way. They're both outsiders, but they've got their own little secret club, so to say.



I found out while searching the web that this was actually based on a book by a Swedish author named John Ajvide Lindqvist. There are some disturbing things in the movie (murderous children, childhood sexuality, etc.), so I can only imagine how the book must be.

One thing I really liked about this one was Eli. She didn't talk much, and she didn't show feelings with her facial expressions. But there was something about her eyes. Maybe it's just me, but I could feel everything she was feeling by looking into her eyes. The actress portraying her did a wonderful job with that. And I can't deny that the language appealed to me too. I love hearing foreign languages, and it just makes it seem so much more exotic to me. I thought this movie was beautiful. It's interesting because it shows a sensitive vampire who still manages to be vicious and frightening. It's almost like Eli is Oskar's protector, because we know nothing can harm him as long as he is with her. And in a way, he is her protector as well. He protects her from her loneliness.

#118 -- Foreign Movie Challenge: Dead Snow (2009)

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Rating: 5/5

I'd been wanting to see this for a while, but I put it off for reasons unknown to me now. I studied German in high school, and I fell in love with that language. My teacher kind of dumbed it down for us, though, so when I hear German people speaking regularly, I'm totally lost and can't understand a word of it. I also love zombies, as you know. So, a German zombie movie was pretty much a must for me. But add into that that they are zombie freakin' NAZIS, and it gets a whole lot better. Nazis were pretty vicious to being with, right? So imagine undead Nazis hungry for flesh.

Back in the midst of World War II, a group of Nazi soldiers occupied the small town of Oksfjord. During a period of three years, they tortured the locals and stole their valuables. After a while, the locals became very irritated and ambushed the Nazis. Those who were not killed, ran off into the mountains and were assumed to have frozen to death. Those valuables stolen by the Nazis ended up in a little cabin in the mountains of present day Oksfjord, where a group of friends were spending their Easter vacation. They were patiently awaiting the arrival of another friend; but little did they know that their friend had become a zombie cheeseburger. Slowly the zombies showed up and started killing the group off one by one. The horror movie lover was the first to realize that they were being attacked by zombies, and he was obviously terrified; he was also the first to die (by having his head ripped in half). The reason for the zombie Nazis' uprising had something to do with those valuables in the cabin, but I'll leave you to figure that one out for yourself.






These zombies were fast, and they were ridiculously strong. Also, here's the kicker: they were actually smart. They still acted like an army, taking orders from their captain and all that jazz. Also, they had a motivation other than hunger. The hunger was definitely there, but that wasn't the only thing keeping them going. It was interesting, and a new spin on zombies, which I loved. And the gore was amazing! Who knew there were so many different ways to kill zombies out in the snow.

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR:

• A man goes to the outhouse to take a dump. As soon as he wipes his ass, a girl rushes in, takes all her clothes off and jumps his bones. When they're finished, he leaves, and she's pulled through the dump hole by a zombie.
• A girl watches her own guts being torn out.
• A man bites a zombie

WHAT I'VE LEARNED

• German outhouses have hearts carved into the doors, rather than moons.
• Getting bitten by a zombie will turn the victim into one of the undead. But biting a zombie just leaves a bad taste in their mouth.
• Germans are awesome (though I already knew that).

My final words are these: WATCH THIS MOVIE!

#117 -- Foreign Movie Challenge - Muoi: the Legend of a Portrait (2007)

Director: Tae-kyeong Kim
Rating: 4/5

I've seen many bloggers doing challenges. I wanted to do one, but I couldn't find any that were still active, so I decided to do my own. For the next seven days, I will watch nothing but foreign movies. If you'd like to join me in this challenge, just let me know so I can check out what you're doing and follow you if I haven't already. Today's entry in the Foreign Movie Challenge is Muoi: the Legend of a Portrait.

One hundred years ago, a girl named Muoi fell in love with a handsome artist. He starting painting a portrait of her, but was unable to finish it. Muoi found out that her lover was engaged to a jealous wealthy woman. His fiance tracked Muoi down and tortured her; she had one of her legs broken, and poured acid on her. Instead of facing her lover when he returned, she hung herself and swore vengeance. Her spirit was banished into the unfinished portrait, where it remained for a short time. The seal was broken, however, and her spirit was unleashed. Her lover returned to where her portrait hung. It was said that a person could wake her up, and ask her to seek vengeance on someone who has wronged them. But there's always a price to pay.

In the present time, a young novelist from Korea--Yun-Hui--traveled to Vietnam to visit with a friend--Seo-Yeon--for help researching her second book. Her first book was about Seo-Yeon, and it was based on terrible rumors. While learning the legend of Muoi, strange things began to happen. Yun-Hui was having terrible dreams, hearing strange noises, and she started to believe in Muoi's legend. Seo-Yeon was angry because of Yun-Hui's book, and she was never able to forgive her. She wanted revenge. There was only one way to end the curse-either Yun-Hui or Seo-Yeon had to die. Or so she thought...



I really liked this one. I'd never heard of a haunted portrait, so that was new to me. It definitely had its terrifying moments, and I loved the story of Muoi. The terrible betrayal between Seo-Yeon and Yun-Hui's friends was tragic and sad, and made everything that much more understandable. The only problem I had with this one was that it took a little too long for the action to start. I love Asian horror, with all those jump-scares, and women with long black hair crawling around. It definitely had some of that, but it just took too long for me. The ending was wonderful, in an awful kind of way. I know one thing for sure: I will never betray an Asian person--EVER. Almost all the movies I've seen involve betrayal and a vengeful ghost, so they must be big on trust. Their ghost might not haunt me, but I'm sure there'd be hell to pay in some other fashion. So if there's one thing to learn from Asian horror movies, it's to be very nice to your Asian friends.