The Haunting in Connecticut: First Preview

The Haunting in Connecticut is based on the story of the Snedeker family's alleged encounter with the paranormal. The story was also featured in the book In A Dark Place by Ray Garton and an episode of the Discovery Channel series A Haunting. The film was directed by Peter Cornwell and filmed in Teulon, Manitoba, Canada.

The horrifying tale begin when Sara (Virginia Madsen) and Peter (Martin Donovan) Campbell's son Matt (Kyle Gallner) is diagnosed with cancer, they uproot their family to a home in Southington, Connecticut where they would be near a hospital for his treatment. As the family settles into their new home, which turns out to be a former mortuary, Matt grows increasingly disturbed by paranormal activity that seems to inhabit and possess the house. At a loss to help her frightened family, his mother turns to an enigmatic priest (Elias Koteas) who appears to rid the house of its ghosts-- until the boy's condition takes a sudden and unexplained turn for the worse and their lives are put in grave danger.

(Continue the Trip)

Lake Mungo: Review

Story: Sixteen-year-old ALICE PALMER drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family buries her. The family then experiences a series of strange and inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, RAY KEMENY. Ray discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. A series of clues lead the family to Lake Mungo where Alice's secret past emerges. Lake Mungo is a mystery, a thriller and a ghost story.

Reviewed by: By RUSSELL EDWARDS (Variety)

Ghostly shenanigans are dryly delivered in the ambitious, restrained and well-mounted Oz mockumentary "Lake Mungo." A 65-minute slow burn to one impactful scare, pic brims with ideas along the way. Joel Anderson's feature bow falls short of Lynchian labyrinth, but his collaboration with talented lenser John Brawley is an atmospheric gem that signals clear potential for bigger and darker things. Pic could be difficult to market unless auds are willing to fall for the "Blair Witch" stunt twice, but will make a classy entry in fantasy events or fest sidebars. Local release date is currently undecided.

The credit sequence is illustrated by spooky Victorian-era B&W photos that hint at spiritualism, with teenage Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) fearfully speaking of impending, but unspecified, events in v.o. When the pic begins in earnest, narrative uses faux TV news and docu interview footage with Alice's parents, Russell (David Pledger) and June (Rosie Traynor), and brother Mathew (Martin Sharpe), to reveal Alice drowned in a lake (not the titular lake, however) near the family's home in the country town of Ararat.

Family members and friends outline their memories of what transpired in the days between Alice's disappearance and the retrieval of her body. Soon, Mathew's already evident interest in photography and cinematography (his video camera supplying some of the background material for the docu-within-the-mocku) begins to consume him.

When a murky figure turns up in photos taken around the scene of Alice's death, Mathew sets up his vidcam to see if he can capture the phantom on video, and a ghost resembling Alice is evident in playback.

The mock-docu framework comes dangerously close to becoming an overexposed conceit when Anderson slips in some unexpected plot reversals. A couple of these enrich the narrative but others suggest Anderson didn't know when enough was enough. Nevertheless, pic's structure shows that, despite some exploratory dead ends, helmer had a very precise idea of what he wished to achieve overall.

A substantial amount of the movie is shot on handycams and mobile phones in often under-lit locations, with even an early sequence on Super-8 for no apparent reason. Helmer makes smart use of 16mm for interview sequences, and of glorious 35mm for time-lapse sequences. Latter are well-served by Fernando Corona's moody music, which complements the main score by David Paterson. Combination imbues pic with a visual grace and restful pace that enhance the plethora of edgier, video formats.

Thesps were given plot points to hit, but no actual script, and it shows. Actors improvise well enough but frequently use language inconsistent with their characters.

Sound design by Craig Carter is impressive. Title refers to a dry lake 500 miles west of Sydney that's archeologically and geologically significant.

(Continue the Trip)

14 Beyond: The First Preview

Thai based movie site Deknang recently had added one poster that looks like a teaser one to a possible sequel of 2006 Thai blockbuster psychological thriller "13 Beloved" (Thai: 13 เกมสยอง or 13 Game Sayong, also 13: Game of Death). "13 Beloved" was No. 1 in Thai cinemas on opening weekend and it was hailed critically as well, with the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee calling it a "smart, ambitious commercial film" with shortcomings that "are the results of risk-taking rather than of incompetence."
Maggie Lee, writing for Hollywood Reporter, called 13 Beloved "one of those accomplished suspense thrillers that mount the tension stage by stage without running out of steam at the end, it is also an unyieldingly cynical exploration of the human heart of darkness with an oedipal climax that makes it a field-day for Freudians."
A short film prequel, "12 Begin," was also made as part of the film's pre-release promotional campaign. It was shown in limited screenings at SF Cinema City theaters. A sequel called "14 Beyond" has actually being planned and with this poster, it seems they have finally made it happen.

(Continue the Trip)

The Fatality: Review

By Ho Yi
Staff reporter of Taipei Times

LANGUAGE:
In Mandarin and Thai with Chinese and English subtitles

RUNNING TIME: 97 MINUTES

Touted as Asian horror’s first Thai/Taiwanese collaboration, The Fatality aims to tap the international reputation of Thailand’s renowned ghost cinema. But the film turned out a rudderless befuddling mess, perhaps because of the curiously large number of directors involved.

The film begins with He Zhi-rong (Wu Ke-qun), a grubby-looking man who has lost the will to live and drifts aimlessly through the streets of Taipei. After attempting suicide He mysteriously wakes up in a hospital in Thailand as a man named Asanee. Assisted by Stanley (Matt Wu), a doctor who initially seems unconcerned about his patient’s welfare, He gradually settles into the life of Asanee and soon has everything that he didn’t in his previous life: a beautiful wife, Nakun (Pichanart Sakhakorn), and a stable job as a public servant.

Life is good until Asanee starts seeing ghosts and other supernatural sights. He realizes that by the power invested in a birthmark on his arm, he is fated to seal death certificates for the soon-to-be deceased in an office-like space within the ghost world, which he can access because of his supernatural powers.

It doesn’t take long before Asanee, who has become the bureaucratic incarnation of the Grim Reaper, begins abusing his power by taking the lives of terminally ill patients who beg for his help to end their suffering. Meanwhile, Nakun secretly plots against her husband with her lover while the omniscient Stanley waits to come to He’s rescue.

Audiences are likely to starting fidgeting in their seats 10 minutes into this film, filled with the unsettling feeling that they are watching a movie made up of nothing more than far-fetched plot twists and dull images that barely support the narrative. The viewer begins to question whether even one of The Fatality’s oversized ensemble of directors had any sense of how to construct a story.

Looking either sullen or bewildered throughout the film, the performances from Mando-pop singer Wu Ke-qun, Taiwanese actor Matt Wu and Sakhakorn of Thailand are consistently dull.

A word of advice to aspiring directors in the music video and television commercial business such as Kuang Shen: before venturing into cinema, think twice about your goals and, at the very least, develop a directing methodology that suits feature films.

(Continue the Trip)

My Bloody Valentine: Second Preview

The second short trailer of the upcoming horror remake "My Bloody Valentine 3D" has been arrived. The marketing behind the movie is looks like heavily (over?) promoting the 3D gimmick... It should maybe focus on the plot. The awesome news is that this is definitely getting an R rating - and considering that then, yes, I can’t think of a more fun date movie. Blood and guts with modern day 3-D tech? Check the trailer after the break

My Bloody Valentine 3D is a 2009 remake of the 1981 Canadian slasher film of the same name. The film will be directed and edited by Patrick Lussier, a long-time horror editor and director of "Dracula 2000" also "White Noise 2: The Light". the film stars Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), Jaime King with Kerr Smith, will have a 3-D theatrical release on January 16, 2009. The story is revolves around Tom Hanniger (Ackles), who returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of the Valentine's night massacre that claimed the lives of 22 people. Instead of a homecoming, however, Tom finds himself suspected of committing the murders, and it seems like his old flame (King) is the only one will believes he's innocent.

(Continue the Trip)

Epitaph: Review

Review by: Ulises (Quiet Earth)
Rating: 8 out of 10

The Bottom Line: A beautifully shot and choreographed Korean horror flick that certainly elevates the genre but also stays predictably true to it.

The Jung Brothers’ Epitaph has, apparently, drawn rave reviews from critics worldwide. And when you look at this film from a purely cinematographic point of view, it’s not hard to see why. This is a movie that does away with the murky shots, the B+ movie production values, and the occasionally campy aspects of not just Asian horror, but horror in general. When you think about it, horror isn’t exactly the most respected cinematic genre, all too often relegated to the fringes of mainstream tastes, embraced by folks like us who think there’s nothing wrong with blood, guts, gore, and the occasional chain rattling.

Epitaph is what a horror movie would look like if horror films were regular participants at the Academy Awards. Because the Jung Brothers have crafted a three-part, interwoven ghost story that presents some of the most beautiful cinematography and surreal expressionism to ever grace the genre. It elevates Asian horror to a new level of respectability, separating itself from the usual Red Shoes, Ghost, Ju-On, and Ringu fare by treating its subject matter with a poetic visual aesthetic and melancholic sensibility.

Unfortunately, it never really breaks free from the very horror conventions it’s separating itself from. And although its three separate stories are compelling in their own right, as an interwoven narrative, they confound and confuse, and they rob us of any chance of caring too much about any one character.

Epitaph is, essentially, a flashback to Korea in 1942 under Japanese occupation. As an elderly college professor learns that Anseng Hospital is about to be demolished, he flashes back to the time in his life where, he says, his life ended for all intents and purposes. Thus, we are taken back to his life as a young intern in Anseng. And thus, we are introduced to story one.

The first story involves Dr. Jung Nam, a wet-behind-the-ears intern who’s got a little problem. Not only is he assigned morgue duty for a week, but it turns out he’s been forced into an arranged marriage. With, of all people, the hospital director’s daughter. Like all youngsters being told they’re going to marry a person they only met once when they were kids, Jung Nam isn’t exactly jumping at the prospect. But when a suicide victim is brought in—a lovely young woman, an angel, as one of his colleagues describes her—something stirs in Jung Nam’s numbed mind. Fascination, for one. He admires the dead girl’s wedding band. He admires her beauty, and the fact that her corpse isn’t aging. He draws a portrait of her. And he visits her each night. So in other words, he starts acting like any well-adjusted, non-necrophiliac wouldn’t.How will this story end? Let’s just say, the arranged marriage is going to happen one way or another.

Story two involves a small girl named Asako, who’s been in a terrible car accident and brought into the hospital, blood-soaked, screaming, yet miraculously unhurt. Unfortunately, the car accident killed her mother and Japanese stepfather. But when Asako starts having grisly visions of her dead mother every night, another doctor, Soo In, becomes her guardian angel. As an empathetic survivor of his own childhood trauma, Soo In tries to discover the root of Asako’s horrific visions, and her crippling sense of guilt. She insists the accident, and the death of her parents, was her fault. How could it be, though? She’s just this sweet, adorable girl.

How will this story end? Well, let’s just say, Dr. Soo In probably wants to rethink his whole “I’m going to be a loving father figure to this poor girl because she obviously loved her mom and dad, especially her dad” approach.

Story three involves a serial killer who begins by butchering a Japanese soldier, then kills a young Korean soldier, then kills a nurse. The local Japanese Army commander wants answers from the doctors at Anseng working the autopsies, a married couple, Dr. In Young Kim and Dr. Dong Won Kim. But it’s not long before Dong Won suspects his wife, In Young, is the serial killer. You see, there’s something kind of odd about her: she doesn’t cast a shadow. And when he stumbles upon the horrific truth of things, it becomes a race against time to stop the next killing. Or so it seems.

How will this story end? Well, let’s just say, you know what they say about the main thematic differences between Korean horror and Japanese horror? Yeah, that.

So how do these three stories relate? Aside from the fact that they all happen at Anseng, and that Jung Nam is witness to all of them, and that their respective events casually intersect with the events of the other two stories, not much. And therein lies one of the problems with Epitaph. On the one hand, its non-chronological narrative presents its usual vertigo of confusion so endemic to Asian horror. Starting off in 1979, the film then goes back to 1942, but then each story takes place one day before the previous, and so it’s hard to keep track of what’s happening when and how it’s relating to the current story.

The confusing chronological sequence isn’t the only aspect of Asian horror Epitaph recycles. In an unfortunate way, films like Epitaph are victims of the genre’s success. Because while the long-haired female specters popping out from dark, creepy corners were creepy as hell the first few times, now, they’ve become formulaic and standard. And if you’ve seen Korean horror films such as A Tale of Two Sisters and Red Shoes, or if you’ve read David Kalat’s book, “J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond,” then one of Epitaph’s big twists isn’t just predictable, but a bit corny once it tries to take it to another level. So while Epitaph’s few scares are decent, you’ve probably seen them both before.

Still, Epitaph isn’t your typical “let’s make you crap your pants with fear” Asian horror flick. It’s a ghost story that explores the bonds we keep between ourselves, and the forces of fate that determine how those bonds will be maintained. It’s a tragic exploration of love and guilt, loss and companionship, and of the supernatural forces that sometimes play a hand in them. So the scares are secondary anyway; the film’s real emotional drive is its narrative of loss, and it relies on its somber, poetic cinematography to make that narrative felt.

Whether it’s a dissonant contrast of red rose petals against a pale white snowfall, or an open book dream sequence where we follow the characters from different perspectives, or a surreal portrayal of In Young and Dong Won’s eternal-honeymoon domestic life, Epitaph infuses each scene with real emotion and melancholic beauty. With a color palate more reminiscent of epic set pieces, and a directorial style more American Beauty than American Gothic, Epitaph doesn’t even look like a horror movie. And maybe it’s not trying to be. For example, Asako’s story is probably the scariest, yet it’s also the most touching. The film tries to horrify us when it reveals the truth about Asako’s actions, but it tries to tug at our heart’s strings with its final, bittersweet resolution between mother and daughter. Horror films aren’t supposed to scare you one moment, then make you want to cry the next.But there, again, lies a problem, and maybe it was the biggest problem I had with the movie. Even if I could agree that, with another viewing or two, the confusing chronology and intersecting storylines would make sense, I think the three stories spread our emotions pretty thin. And by that, I mean that it’s really hard to get emotionally invested in any of the main characters, because we simply don’t get to see them long enough. With each of the stories taking up an almost equal amount of screen time, each character—Jung Nam, Asako, Soo In, and In Young and and Dong Won—has precious little time to win our sympathies. Even little Asako can’t fully win us over, because we learn so little about her, and it’s hard to really feel as emotionally invested in her as the story is.

The ending, too, as gripping as it seems it could be, suffers from the film’s attempts to do too much in too little time. Sure, it’s poetic and bittersweet, and sure, it’s emotionally jarring to envision the possibilities it suggests—that the emotional connections between us really do traverse time, space, and even death. But do we care enough about the characters to empathize with their respective losses? I don’t think so.

With its brilliant cinematography and direction, Epitaph certainly elevates Asian horror to a new level of respectability. But in some ways, it can’t escape the conventions of Asian horror it tried to elevate in the first place. And with a confusing three-way narrative that sacrificed character development for scope, even its cinematography can’t hold the film afloat alone. Still, Epitaph is a beautiful film to watch, and an even more beautiful film to contemplate, and certainly recommended for anyone who enjoys Asian horror.

(Continue the Trip)

Thai is still hot with their politic issues and their gory horrors also. Here are some revealing posters for the upcoming Thai gory fest, "Meat Grinder," that probably want to follow the success of "Art of the Devil" trilogy. The film is being made by local movie production house Phranakorn film (who've released some pretty good upper end B-horror movies in the past) and apparently due for release, sometime early in the new year.
(Continue the Trip)

Thirst: Second Preview

Via 24fps, here is the new synopsis for Park Chan-wook's "Thirst." Hey, there's also some behind-the-scenes footage of Park directing and showing off some Thirst storyboards for those newshounds over at CNN like you can check below or here. "Thirst" is currently slated to open in Korea next summer, exactly on May 09.

Synopsis: Sang-hyun, a small town beloved and admired priest who serves devotedly at a hospital, volunteers for the new infectious disease, F.I.V.’s, vaccine development experiment and goes to Africa. The experiment fails and Sang-hyun gets infected by F.I.V. but he ends up being miraculously cured and returns home. News of Sang-hyun’s cure from F.I.V. spreads and people start believing he has the gift of healing and flock to receive his blessing. From those who come to him, Sang-hyun meets a childhood friend named Kang-woo and his wife Tae-ju. Sang-hyun is immediately drawn to Tae-ju. One day, Sang-hyun coughs up blood, dies, and comes back to life the next day as a vampire. Tae-ju is strangely drawn to Sang-hyun, turned vampire, and they have a secret love affair. Sang-hyun asks Tae-ju to run away with him but she turns him down. Instead, they plot to murder Kang-woo...

(Continue the Trip)

Written: Preview

Critics often write about the viewer’s experience of a film, where the actor enables him to “get inside a character”. But is this real empathy or is the relationship the audience has with fictional characters more akin to subjugation or sadistic manipulation? These and other issues are examined in this self-reflexive South Korean film conceived as a complex meditation on the identity of the character in a fictional story. Man A (Lee Jin-seok) wakes up to find he has an injury, he’s in a bath in a strange place, from where he is directed to another place against his will. He then encounters the alter ego of his creator, the actor who plays him, who enters the story as a parasite, and he meets other characters along the way whose own goals are also unrelated to the prescribed screenplay. The film was made in a small studio which, itself, becomes a set inside the film; it reflects upon all levels of the filmmaking process, from the script and actual shooting, to the given film style and the “eye” of the camera.

South Korean director Kim Byung-Woo uses intense cut-ups and surreal environments, to create a Kafkaesque metafilm about a man lost in the blur between fiction and reality. While protagonist A is trying to find his way through a brightly colored cinematic world, the director is portrayed on screen, searching for the missing script that contains the production’s end. At the same time, the writer has written herself into the plot, to warn A against the stalking actor portraying him. With clever acting and a thought-provoking script, the art of moviemaking is dissected to the very core. As a confused A asks his creator and writer: Are you writing me, or am I being written by you? Indeed.

(Continue the Trip)

The Box: First Preview

Based on the 1970 short story "Button, Button" by author Richard Matheson, comes a new horror film which will mark as the first time effort for Cameron Diaz to be the main cast in a horror film along with James Marsden. The film is written and directed by Richard Kelly with the production has began since November 2007 and concluded in February 2008. The film is set for release in March 2009, but in the latest update, the film has been delayed to 6 November 2009 release date. The plot is set in Raleigh, North Carolina in the year 1976. An unhappily married couple (Diaz and Marsden) receive a box from a mysterious stranger (Langella), who tells them that pushing a button on the box will award them with a large monetary sum, and simultaneously, someone the couple does not know will die. The project was funded with a budget of over $30 million by Media Rights Capital. Kelly described his intent for the film, "My hope is to make a film that is incredibly suspenseful and broadly commercial, while still retaining my artistic sensibility."

(Continue the Trip)

Humanimal: Chille Horror

When browsing on the net, I've found there's also a Chilian Horror by director Francesc Morales which stars Ramón Llao, Jenny Cavallo and Sebastián Layseca in its main roles. In this look like a B-horror film, it's all revolves around the clumsy Turtle which is a victim of the smart Fox. When Cat appears, they compete to seduce her. Cat is only interested in the one that incorporates human habits. Turtle realizes he can gain some advantage by feeding a strange creature with animal meat. Sound strange enough? Just check the trailer embedded below.

(Continue the Trip)

Borre: Norwegian Horror

It's time for foreign horror previews today, next is from Norwegian, a horror film titled Børre (Borre). From Quiet Earth site, here we have the synopsis for the film and also the subbed trailer below.

Synopsis: Somewhere, someplace lives a loner called Børre, a man in his early thirties. He's got a boring good for nothing job that he hates, and a Swedish grease ball pig boss he’d love to see drop dead on the spot. To escape the reality of his sad boring life, he finds comfort in his bong. His only friend is a Pac-Man loving, dope dealing, Lowriding wannabe-gangster named Ludo. Børre knows a lot about old porn flicks, and his greatest hero of all time is the great, one and only Charles Bronson… Mr. Majestyk!
Every woman he ever cared for has disappeared from him, into the thin air. His self-esteem is not exactly high. Dr. Kronenberg is trying to help him solve his problems. Now, Børre has met Barbra, a sweet happy go lucky girl with an appetite for life, she is the love of his life. She loves him too. Børre is happy; his life is getting back on track…but something is lurking in the dark.

Check the trailer after the break

(Continue the Trip)

The Rejection: Russian Thriller

Here's the first preview for an apocalyptic thriller from Russia, "The Rejection". Directed by Vladimir Lert - the film stars Sergei Babkin as a man who tries to discover the reason behind his cities impending destruction. As far as we can work out the movie is due for release in Russia, May 09. Based on it synopsis below, this film might be reads like a cross between ‘The Happening’ meets ‘28 days later,’ but however, the first trailer for the film which you can also check below is quite fantastic tough.

Synopsis: The world is falling apart. An unknown metropolis sits under a Jade green sky. Abandoned in a hurry, belongings lay piled high and the roads are clogged with Cars and columns of Tanks sitting idle and empty. The few remaining inhabitants reel aimlessly through the streets behaving erratically, screaming - unable to control their own actions, whilst all around them a rapidly growing green mold is sucking the life out of every living thing.

Source: 24framespersecond

(Continue the Trip)

Top Ten Best Asian Horror Films

Philip W. Chung has listed some of the finest in the Asian film's horror fever. Below is the list started from the tenth position.

10. Song at Midnight (1937, China)
Director: Weibang Ma-Xu
Considered China’s first foray into the horror genre, this is a film that would be at home alongside the American monsters who were gracing the screen in the 1930s-Dracula, Frankenstein and their ilk. Weibang wrote and directed this story loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera about a young Chinese opera singer mentored by a disfigured “monster” who pines for his lost love. Originally marketed with the tagline “Please don’t take your children” after a rumor circulated that a child died of fright while watching the film, Song at Midnight was finally introduced to Western audiences in 1998 and instantly proclaimed a classic of Chinese cinema.



9. Shutter (2004, Thailand)
Directors: Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom
Forget this year’s lousy American remake; check out the original. Yes, it’s another film about a pissed-off female spirit with long black hair out for vengeance, but Shutter tries hard to make the otherwise familiar proceedings fresh. The filmmakers create a conflicted protagonist who isn’t your standard goody-two shoes, allowing for a depth usually not seen in characters in this type of movie. But what really sets Shutter apart is how the directors milk the film’s spooky concept (ghosts appearing in photographs) for all its worth, using both striking visuals and an incredibly effective sound design to heighten the chill factor.



8. Matango (1963, Japan)
Director: Ishiro Honda
Directed by the man who gave us the original Godzilla, with its allusion to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this cult classic may be one of the strangest and bleakest films you’ll see. When a yacht encounters a storm, the passengers and crew take refuge on a desert island where they discover an abandoned research ship, wild mushrooms growing everywhere and a bizarre presence that would confound even the hardened castaways of TV’s Lost. The film’s Americanized title-Attack of the Mushroom People-says everything you need to know about what’s coming next but what elevates this film above standard B-movie shlock is its unflinching take on the horrors modern man inflicts on himself.


7. The Echo (2004, Philippines)
Director: Yam Laranas
Horror films from the Philippines may not be as familiar to Americans as those from its Asian neighbors, but The Echo is the perfect place to start for those unfamiliar with that country’s recent wave of excellent genre entries. The Echo is a throwback to old school scare flicks like The Innocents and the original The Haunting, eschewing modern visual effects and “slasher” moments to create terror the old fashioned way: by suggesting it through vivid storytelling, committed performances and the use of subtle visuals and sounds. When a shot of a door slowly creaking open can send chills down your spine, you know you’re in the hands of a master.



6. Audition (1999, Japan)
Director: Takashi Miike
A film experience so disturbing that several audience members had to be hospitalized and even extreme horror director Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses) had a difficult time sitting through it, Audition is not for everyone. A middle-aged widower holds fake film “auditions” to find an attractive woman to become his next wife. But when he finds himself drawn to an ex-ballerina with a fuzzy past, things quickly take a disturbing turn for the worst. Audition’s most notorious moment is a scene of torture that makes Kathy Bates taking a sledgehammer to James Caan’s feet in Misery look like a Sunday School outing. But if you can stomach the movie, you’ll be treated to a wicked satire on the battle of the sexes that’s more insightful than most serious-minded dramas.

5. Chinese Ghost Story (1987, Hong Kong)
Director: Siu-Tung Ching
An effective mix of genres-horror, romance, comedy and action-A Chinese Ghost Story is one of the seminal films of the 1980s Hong Kong New Wave movement. A young Leslie Cheung plays a tax collector who finds shelter one night in an abandoned temple where he falls in love with the ghost of a beautiful woman held captive by an evil Tree Demon. When he decides to rescue her, he gets more than he bargained for (including a trip to the underworld). Director Sam Raimi (Spiderman) has acknowledged the huge influence of this film on his own work (see The Army of Darkness and select episodes of Xena that include shot-by-shot tributes to Ching’s film). And like Raimi’s work, Chinese Ghost Story’s refusal to be locked into any genre conventions gives it an energy that’s still unsurpassed 20 years later.

4. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, South Korea)
Director: Ji-Woon Kim
Boasting one of the coolest movie posters ever created, this psychological ghost story became Korea’s highest grossing horror film at the time of its release. Based on the Korean folk story entitled Janghwa, Hongreyon-jon, A Tale of Two Sisters tells the story of two teenaged sisters, their sadistic step-mother and the haunted house they’re forced to share. Yes, the film can be dense and confusing if you don’t pay close attention, but unlike most horror movies that have a B-movie feel, Kim infuses his work with a poetic lyricism and a heart-breaking pathos that elevates it to the level of true tragedy. All this and a twist ending that ranks up there with The Sixth Sense.


3. Ugetsu (1953, Japan)
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Considered Mizoguchi’s masterpiece and often appearing on film authority Sight and Sound’s list of the ten best films of all time, Ugetsu may not be your cup of tea if you’re looking for constant scares (the supernatural element isn’t even made clear until the end of the film). But it’s a must-see for anyone seeking a truly transcendent film-going experience. The setting is sixteenth century Japan and a nation in the midst of civil war. Two ambitious peasants set out to make their fortune-one as a potter and the other as a samurai-leaving their wives behind to suffer tragic consequences. This may be one of Japan’s most famous ghost stories, but in Mizoguchi’s hands, it’s also a powerful examination of the horrors men foist on women and the ways in which the women survive those horrors.

2. The Host (2006, South Korea)
Director: Joon-Ho Bong
All due respect to the monstrous stars in the recent big screen incarnations of Godzilla, King Kong and Cloverfield, but the creature at the center of South Korea’s all-time box office hit literally blows them all out of the water. Inspired by a real-life scandal that involved the U.S. military illegally dumping chemicals into Seoul’s Han River, director and co-writer Bong imagines what may have happened if those chemicals had created a new life form that resembles a cross between the monster from Alien and a large prehistoric whale. While the film works as a commentary on the U.S. presence in Korea, the hysteria over SARS, the plight of Korea’s working class and as an examination of the modern dysfunctional family, at its heart it’s an entertainingly kick-ass creature feature that will make you feel like a kid again.

1. Ringu (1998, Japan)
Director: Hideo Nakata
The one that started it all. The huge success of this film kicked off a new wave of stylish Asian horror films that made its way to our shores with Dreamworks’ own remake of Nakata’s masterpiece. If the Hollywood remake attacks you like a feral animal, the original burrows slowly under your skin, building a sense of Hitchcockian tension until it climaxes in one of the most memorable moments of cinematic terror that rivals the shower scene in Psycho. The plot is deceptively simple and utterly genius-anyone who watches a mysterious videotape ends up dead in exactly a week. From this concept, Nakata expertly weaves a tale that finds the horror in the most mundane corners of our modern technological culture. Much imitated but never equaled, this is not just one of the best Asian horror films, but one of the best films from Asia. Period.

Which one is your favorite?

(Continue the Trip)

4 Days Preview

It's like Agatha Christie mystery meet the goriness of 'Saw'. This new horror thriller from South Korea will tell a story about a group of 11 people which convinced that they no longer wish to live. Meet at a deserted schoolhouse and they start to make a suicide pact. However someone or something else in the school begins to gruesomely kill off the visitors one by one and the survivors are quickly convinced that they want to live and must fight for their lives. This story, directed by Seo Min-yeong is exactly the same as his previous work Behind in 2006 which never saw a theatrical release. His earlier attempt starred TV personalities trying to make the jump to the big screen. This time he has cast Jeong Woo-taek (Friends), Lee Jae-yong (Someone Special, Save the Green Planet) and Im Ye-won. This horror/thriller will be released on November 27. Below is the trailer for the film.

(Continue the Trip)

The Wolfman: First Preview

The Wolfman is a remake of the 1941 classic of the same name, it's directed by Joe Johnston and stars Benicio del Toro as the wolfman, with Anythony Hopkins will likely play the wolf man's father. After originally scheduled for February 13, 2009 (a Friday the 13th) release, the film now set for release on April 3, 2009.

Plot: Lawrence Talbot's childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother's fiancée, Gwen Conliffe, tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector named Aberline has come to investigate.

As he pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. Now, if he has any chance at ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love, Talbot must destroy the vicious creature in the woods surrounding Blackmoor. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself, one he never imagined existed.

Trivia:
# Mark Romanek was going to direct but left the project over budget disagreements.

# 'Benicio del Toro''s Wolfman make-up took approximately 3 hours to apply and 1 hour to remove.

# When Rick Baker, who became a makeup artist because of The Wolf Man (1941), heard that this film was being made he called Universal to tell them he had to do the makeup. Universal told him that he was their one and only choice but that they didn't have anyway of making contact with him.

# Budgeted at estimated $100-million.

# The film will supposedly have new twists and characters to take advantage of today's new visual effects technology.

(Continue the Trip)

Coming Soon Review

By KONG RITHDEE

Someone should compile an anthology of Thai horror movies - it would make an obscenely thick volume. Our constant lust for a fix of fear seems influenced by history and climate; equatorial demons are more sensational than, say, the effete vampires of Europe. They just suck blood; we rip our chests open and show we've got guts, literally. On top of that, Southeast Asia's passion for horror films is instinctive: we want to see ghost movies because we believe in ghosts. We're not traditionally logical people. That's why ghosts (and stock market) fit snugly into our psyche.

This penchant for seeing dead people on screen is the genesis of the new ghost flick Program Nah Winyan Akhart, or Coming Soon. It's not super-scary, with recycled shock tactics that work technically but not psychologically. But it must be noted that Coming Soon, written and directed by debutting Sophon Sakdaphisit, cleverly dabbles in a shot of meta-analysis of the graveyard-rush to create ghost movies, and of the audience's obsession with manufactured on-screen horror. Had it been a little edgier, Coming Soon could have come across as a disturbing critique of our endless appetite for ghost films and of the filmmakers' increasing recklessness to give us just that.

The film also exploits the architecture of the modern cineplex to good effects, from those plush red seats, eerie in the half-light, to the claustrophobic exit corridor. Best of all, the movie takes us into the projection room and lets us see the rolls of 35mm film - supposedly containing the images of the movie we are seeing.

That's because our main guy, Rashane (Chantawit Thanasewee), works in the projection booth of a typical Bangkok multiplex. A junkie and a gambler - though he looks too healthy to be both - Rashane agrees to pirate a new ghost film that's about to be released, called Winyan Akhart (literally, "Vengeful Spirit"). We actually see this film-within-a-film, a based-on-a-true-story account of a madwoman who kidnaps young children and who's later hanged by the mob of villagers. In her death, half-putrid and angry, the woman returns as a ghost to haunt them.

Rashane screens the film for himself in order to make a bootlegged copy, but the ghost in the movie manifests to wander the multiplex, hell-bent on spooking the living daylights out of the projectionist. The freaked-out bootlegger's sole confidante is his ex-girlfriend Som (Worakarn Rojanawat), who works at the cinema as an usher. When Rashane tells her about the ghost that's no longer just on the screen, Som does what most characters in modern horror films do to solve the mystery: she Googles it. And of course, she finds all the information she wants!
Both Rashane and Som seem to have only one facial expression throughout the entire proceeding: not of fear, but of someone who knows he/she's in a horror movie. They're scared even before we are, and that's not fun. I also wonder why the two ushers can skip work at will to go unearthing the truth behind the "true story" of the film, not to mention their breaking into a building with the ease and skill of professional robbers.

But ghost films don't exist for us to nitpick. They're here to frighten, and Coming Soon succeeds only partially.
What interests me more, nevertheless, is how the director toys with the idea of "seeing" as a form of transgression. This is not original: Ringu, the mothership of Japanese neo-horror, popularised the concept of an ill-tempered female ghost that escapes from the screen to haunt you if you dare watch the movie containing the image of her death. Film - 35mm film - is a physical limbo in which her soul is trapped. When you breach the boundary of the two worlds by watching the film, the act permits the ghost to breach the same border - marked by the screen - to tax revenge from you on this side.

Coming Soon warns us, though its conviction is rather feeble, that our ruthless taste for horror is in a way a show of disrespect to the dead, and that it could backfire.

That's an irony, because the film does all of this not because it wants to caution us against seeing ghost movies. Instead, Coming Soon wants us to see more, starting with itself. And many of us, I'm sure, will comply.

(Continue the Trip)

The Beckoning: Second Preview+Trailer

Continuing the first preview of this film, here we have the trailer for the second horror feature of "La Hora Fria" (The Cold Hours) writer / director / producer / effects whiz Elio Quiroga. And here also the official synopsis of the film:

"The film tells the story of Francesca, a young pediatrician who has been traumatized by the loss of a child through crib death. When the family moves to a new home in the country, supposedly to help her recover from the experience, she begins seeing completely inexplicable things. Even worse she gradually faces the possibility of going completely mad because of the visions and apparitions she continuously witnesses. The answer to Francesca’s problem is hidden in some “secret No-DO’s”, news programs made in the forties to inform Church leaders about miraculous happenings in Spain, and which are thought to have disappeared."

(Continue the Trip)

The Appeared Preview

Here come a Spanish/Argentine co-production horror film Aparecidos (The Appeared) that will mark as the first feature length project of Spanish director, Paco Cabezas. The screenplay was written by Cabezas himself and it stars Ruth Díaz as Malena, and Javier Pereira as Pablo. December 12th has finally been set for theatrical release of the film.

Primarily the film is about a brother and sister who head back to their home town in order to sign papers to turn off the life support machines for their Father who is near death. The daughter doesn't get on with him at all, but the son has fond memories of a past together and wants to relive them by making one last trip home before they say goodbye to their father. They head back to their childhood home in their father's old car, and on the trip the son sees a little girl struggling to get something out of the back wheel arch. He goes to help and when he lifts his head she's gone, meanwhile he finds an old diary stuck inside the bodywork. The diary tells of the murder of a number of people, carrying photos and descriptions, and without much thought they head off to the hotel described in the diary. From there the supernatural world and theirs become entangled and their lives are put in danger.

(Continue the Trip)

Thirst: First Preview

South Korea will be soon releasing their own blood sucker film, it was directed by internationally acclaimed director Park Chan-wook who is most famous for the phenomenally kickass film “Oldboy.” Here the director once again exploring various human vices in his works with the film that has been titled with “Thirst”.

In the story, there’s Sang-hyun, a beloved pastor who devotes himself to his work at a local hospital, has a secret crush on his friend's wife. When he becomes infected with the F.I.V. virus, he dies a horrible death, and comes back to life as a vampire. His newfound supernatural powers free him to pursue his repressed desires, and he finds himself in the middle of a truly dangerous liaison.
This film was originally called "The Bat" to convey a sense of horror - after all, it is about vampires. But it is also more than that. It is about passion and a love triangle. I feel that it is unique because it is not just a thriller, and not merely a horror film, but an illicit love story as well.

"Thirst" already wrapped up filming on October 9 after five months. Director Park Chan-wook's film was shot in Korea and Australia. Around the world, anticipation is high for the vampire film, and PARK himself has been quoted saying that "Thirst" might be his finest achievement.

PARK's international fame also led to "Thirst" being co-produced by Hollywood major studios Universal and Focus. Thirst's post-production will take a couple of months before the film's release in early 2009.
Thirst stars Song Kang-ho (from The Host and The Good the Bad and the Weird), Shin Ha-kyun (from Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), and Kim Ok-bi (from Dasepo Naughty Girls) as the leading lady.

(Continue the Trip)

Eden Lake Review

Eden Lake is an UK horror film written and directed by James Watkins and starring Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender. According to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus holds that the film is "a brutal and effective British hoodie-horror that, despite the clichés, stays on the right side of scary". The site rates the movie as "fresh", with a score of 79% based on 19 reviews.

Here is one review by Steven West from Horror Review:
Writer-director James Watkins - who co-wrote the equally despondent MY LITTLE EYE and has the unenviable task of scripting the upcoming THE DESCENT 2 - has made a nihilistic, relentlessly intense hoodie-generation variation on WHO COULD KILL A CHILD? It takes a well-worn survivalist-horror approach to socially relevant, incendiary material, complete with a blood/shit-caked heroine triumphantly fending off an increasingly brutal enemy and a score by THE DESCENT’s David Julyan that, for a while at least, reinforces her spirited triumph-against-the-odds. It also, however, destroys any sense of conventional hope and subverts the traditional path of the survivalist horror movie, with an uber-downbeat ending that’s as much of a kick in the teeth of the audience as Serrador’s ironic conclusion of CHILD.

While EDEN LAKE is a vastly superior suspense-horror picture in its own right - and among the year’s finest genre outings - it also works as an escalating middle class nightmare scenario exploiting modern Britain’s tabloid-enhanced paranoia about yob culture. Violence begets violence in the authentically bleak world of EDEN LAKE and the generation gap has never seemed so huge. We’re willing our heroes to survive against the all-too-real threat facing them, but Watkins never lets us enjoy their triumph and offers no easy answers or resolutions.

Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender are a nice, white, middle class London couple (the film’s depiction of the class divide, notably via an early, questionable scene of them passing by a pub, bothered some) enjoying a romantic weekend break. Fassbender wants to propose to school teacher Reilly at the picturesque lakeside spot of the title. Both are undeterred by ominous graffiti at the entrance that reads “Fuck off yuppie cunts”.

Enjoying a pleasant bit of beach sunbathing, the couple are disturbed by a group of pallid local youths led by an outstanding Jack O’Connell (and their Rottweiler). The gang play their abrasive music loud, leer at Reilly’s bikini-clad body, let their dog shit near where the couple are laying and generally act obnoxiously. Fassbender uses all his will power to avoid acting out of turn, but finds himself unable to stop himself confronting them. This expression of distaste leads to an unending series of increasingly fraught confrontations between the couple and the gang, beginning with trivial vandalism (slashed tyres) and soon escalating to deadly serious. Triggering a grim turn of events in the second half, one of the most upsetting scenes of this movie year involves Fassbender tied up with barbed wire while the gang take it in turns to stab him with switchblades and Stanley knives. (This sequence would have got the movie either banned or heavily censored in the not too distant past in the UK).

Watkins’ harshly violent, deliberately provocative film creates a powerful sense of discomfort by lingering on genuinely cringe-inducing injuries and torture : FX artist Paul Hyett adds to his growing list of impressive credits (THE DESCENT, WAZ, DOOMSDAY) by contributing a horrific spike-through-the-foot, close-up open slash wounds and a truly jolting arterial-spraying throat stabbing involving THIS IS ENGLAND child star Thomas Turgoose that proves a catalytic event in the final stages. The film also realizes the power of suggested violence : one distressing beating is conveyed largely via sound and a single, disquieting reaction shot. Even more powerfully, the final fate of a key character is conveyed via a shot of a closed bathroom door and the sound of horrendous screams. The audience gets to fill in the horrible blanks.

Watkins cleverly manipulates the audience, like Serrador before him, by firing us up and making us yearn to see this callous group of thugs get their comeuppance. When the time comes, however, he refuses to give us the easy option of satiating our bloodlust : the quietly devastating final scene suggests the gang’s ringleader will get away with what he has done. Just as notable is the LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT-inspired twist of fate that makes the concluding act a truly upsetting diversion from expectation.

To some extent, the script relies on coincidence and contrivance, but you’ll be too gripped and scared to even notice much of the time. The callous youths at the core of the story, who progress from animal torture to single mindedly pursuing the innocent people who could land them in jail, are a terrifyingly credible threat and almost everything that happens feels convincing in our fucked up society. Reilly and Fassbender make for likeable, sympathetic victims.

It’s well shot (repeated aerial shots add to the sense of isolation and desolation), unrelenting and uncomfortably graphic : the briefly glimpsed, off-hand burning of a young Pakistani boy provides at least one indelible image. The harrowing denouement, meanwhile involves the movie’s most overt collision of chase-horror movie and social realist drama…and the effect is utterly horrifying.

(Continue the Trip)

Dying Breed: Review

The little hype surrounding this Australian feature is probably better left unnoticed, as while I found it solid it doesn't pull any out punches we haven't already gone through before to leave an impressive imprint. Hey it reminded me of an other Australian horror film 'Wolf Creek (2005)' and maybe 'The Hills Have Eyes (2006)' remake, but this time the escalating terror is found in the beautiful forests of Tasmania as a group of young adults head out searching for the supposedly instinct Tasmanian tiger, but actually earth up something more horrifying about the area's local history.

For me this film really came out of nowhere, as the striking poster artwork (featuring a half eaten pie with an eyeball and finger within it) caught my attention and some rave reviews can feed your appetite. Sadly though, I was only one of four who were at the cinema to see it. I probably could've gone without seeing it and waited for it to hit DVD, but there's nothing quite like watching a horror film on the big screen.

What this story sets off to be is a little unsure, but about midway through you know where it's heading (Psycho territory with cannibalistic currents). I might sound like a broken record, but really this isn't nothing new compared to much modern horror focusing on the visual torture and torment of its victims. While it might not be as abundant, it still lingers and has a really nasty side. It has explicitly raw moments with pockets of vicious intensity, but it was not the violence that unnerved but the ominously remote woodland backdrop with constant eerie imagery.The scenery is gorgeously lush, but lurking beneath the gracefully hypnotic setting is the true grotesque horror that's hidden very well. The nocturnal, but surprisingly also the day sequences can get under your skin. The cinematography is professionally catered for with it drawing upon the atmosphere and setting. Editing is brisk, but well infused.

As for the story it uses actual facts and spins them in to total fiction. The main base of the story centres on the history of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, which some still believe exists and combining that legend of the cannibalistic Irish convict Alexander Pearce that managed to escape from the penal colony and headed for the wilderness to only be hanged in 1824. Then we hit modern times with a group of four after the exclusive photograph of the Tiger, but one of girls lost her sister within the same area they're visiting in a supposed drowning. Now cue those articles of missing backpackers. But when they meet the creepy locals, the inbred jokes flow. Still we're flooded with flashbacks, piled on to flashbacks. Even if the set-up is clichéd and obviously formulaic, these back stories do give it a little more background and depth, and lessens the idea of turning in to something meaningless.

The pacing is rather leisured, and I can see many complaining about the slowness of the opening half (think of the criticism that 'Wolf Creek' copped). But I thought it was milked out accordingly and with a purpose, to hit you hard when it finally changed direction. Featuring heavily is that it centres on mood, visuals and sounds than that of tearing and ballistic actions. Even when it does break out from it's causal handling, it still doesn't burst out and only adds tension with jolts in scattered slabs and formulated rushes. When it comes to the end, I found it to be stumbling there and results not entirely satisfying. But it still keeps that glum feel throughout.

Jody Dwyer's assured direction is slick and stylish. Maybe too so, but it's a brash display as his not afraid to bare gore and flesh… usually the latter in recent times sees little daylight in the mainstream horror releases. Even animal lovers should be aware. The performances are workmanlike, but no real empathic edge was created. Well not for me. One thing though it never seemed like they were ever aware in what type of situation they were or could be in, but when it unfolded it didn't entirely changed the perception. Leigh Whannel, Nathan Phillips, Mirrah Foulkes and Melanie Vallejo play the unlucky party.

A basic, but durably crafted genre effort.

Reviewed by: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party (IMDB)

(Continue the Trip)

Pulse: Invasion DVD

Hitting DVD December 30th, this is the third series of Japan remake "Pulse" which seems doesn't work in the big screen but keep coming in the DVD shell. It is now seven years later and the survivors on Earth have settled into a primitive lifestyle completely void of electronics. The clusters of human survivors live together in refugee camps as the phantoms have taken over the cities. Justine is now a teenager and she escapes to the city to try and make a life for herself where she is not a drain on her adopted family (her parents both became phantoms in part one). She heads in to the city at the urging of Adam, a seeming survivor in the city that lures her with promises of understanding and friendship.

Set to film back-to-back with the second film Pulse: Afterlife on September 3rd '07, this one is the third film to complete the Pulse trilogy.

Release Date: December 30, 2008 (DVD)
Studio: Dimension Extreme
Director: Joel Soisson
Screenwriter: Joel Soisson
Starring: Rider Strong, Jamie Bamber, Georgina Rylance, Noureen DeWulf, Laura Cayouette

(Continue the Trip)

Night of the Demons

Inspired by the 80's cult classic of the same name, and featuring makeup by the Academy Award® winning Drac Studios (Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mrs. Doubtfire) began principle photography on Friday, October 3.

Maddie Curtis and her friends Lilly and Suzanne are ready for a great Halloween night. They’re going to a party thrown by their friend Angela at the notorious Broussard Mansion in New Orleans. Over eighty years ago, six people disappeared from the mansion without a trace – and the owner, Evangeline Broussard, hung herself.

The dark history only serves to enhance the Broussard Mansion’s appeal on Halloween. At the decadent, out-of-control party, Maddie and Lily run into their exes, Colin and Dex, while Suzanne parties it up. Good times end, however, when the police bust up the party. After the rest of the guests leave, Angela, Maddie, Lily, Dex, Colin, Suzanne and their friend Jason discover a horrible secret. Their cell phones don’t work. The mansion gates are now mysteriously locked. Soon it becomes clear that supernatural forces are at work at the Broussard Mansion, and that there may be more to the tale of Evangeline Broussard than anyone knew.

It turns out that the Broussard Mansion is home to demons that need to possess seven vessels to break free of an ancient curse. One by one the guests fall victim, transforming into hideous creatures. Only Maddie, Colin and Jason remain – but can they make it through the night and keep evil forces from spreading into the world?

(Continue the Trip)

Coraline: First Preview

Based on Neil Gaiman's international best-selling book, "Coraline" is the story of a young girl (Dakota Fanning) who unlocks a mysterious door in her new home, and enters into an adventure in a parallel reality. On the surface, this other world eerily mimics her own life - though much more fantastical. In it, Coraline encounters such off-kilter inhabitants as the morbidly funny Miss Forcible and Miss Spink, and a counterfeit mother (Teri Hatcher) - who attempts to keep her. Ultimately, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home.

As an animated stop-motion fantasy film based on Neil Gaiman's novella of the same name, it will be animated and co-directed by Henry Selick and Mike Cachuela and is scheduled to be released in theaters on February 6, 2009.
Laika Entertainment House (formerly Vinton Studios) has funded the film with around $50 to $70 million. Coraline is the first stop-motion animation to be shot stereoscopically with a dual digital camera rig for digital 3-D exhibition.
New tools are being developed which will give the stop-motion creators the same flexibility as CGI animators, making it possible to push objects forward and back in post-production. The characters' hands were made to be interchangeable, so more than 1000 different pairs of hands were made.

(Continue the Trip)

VIY: First Preview

A big budget Russian horror which was an adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's popular 1835 short story about the demon Viy -- whose gaze was deadly if met eye-to-eye -- it was scheduled to be released in 2009 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Gogol's birth. The film ‘Viy’ is first and foremost intended to be a thriller/adventure movie packed full of stunning images and vivid characters all of which are given extra flavour thanks to Gogol’s own brand of mysticism and his feel for a sense of terror.

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world. Even in his worst nightmares our materialistic scientist could not suppose that he was going to meet devil’s faithful servant.

(Continue the Trip)

The Beckoning: First Preview

From Spanish director Elio Quiroga, here’s come a ghost story with international title “The Beckoning” aka “No Do”. Quiroga was well known before with his film “La Hora Fria” (The Cold Hours), a stunning little post apocalyptic genre bender revolving around a small band of humans trying to survive in an underground bunker after a catastrophic event unleashed both aliens and zombie-like hordes upon the earth.
With a story that revolves around ghosts, the Spanish civil war, and a series of secret, hidden documentary films the basic synopsis sounds equal parts Flicker and The Devil’s Backbone, here’s the relevant bits of the press release:
Shot in Spanish with substantial high-tech effects, “NO-DO” is a horror story in which a woman sees ghosts. The explanation to their appearance lies in an old NO-DO newsreel (i.e., one of the state-sanctioned documentaries made during Franco’s regime).
The film speculates around the little known “Secret NO-DOs”, made in the 40s for the Catholic Church in Spain. It is told that those confidential films were used by exorcists to document supernatural events using a special film emulsion designed for this purpose. Some “Secret NO-DOs” are rumored to be stored in subterranean vaults in the Congregazione del Santo Uffizio, Rome, but its existence is officialy denied by catholic church leaders.

(Source: Twitch)

(Continue the Trip)

The Grudge 3 (2009)

Get ready for another "Grudge" of Kayako and Toshio in "The Grudge 3". If you’re a fan of this franchise, you’re in luck, because Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures is putting out “The Grudge 3″, which directly to DVD this time. During Comic Con 06, Sony first officially announced plans of creating the sequel. Takashi Shimizu stated he was offered to direct the sequel but would rather produce the film instead. Moviehole reported that the film was putting out a casting call for new actors to play Kayako and Toshio, since Takako Fuji (Kayako) and Yuya Ozeki (Toshio) have passed on the opportunity.

Here's the plot: A compassionate psychiatrist beaming with intelligence, Dr. Sullivan is in charge of treating Jake, a terribly disturbed boy following the massacre of his family. He vehemently believes that the woman who killed his family will find and kill him as well. Not a superstitious woman, Dr. Sullivan believes it is all in Jake's mind, until she witnesses the unthinkable. Thus begins her research into his family's death and a Japanese curse that she comes to believe is real and very much alive. With Naoko,a Japanese woman, Max, the big brother of her patient Jake and Lisa, a younger sister of Karen and Aubrey, she confronts the ghost of Kayako to save her soul from her impending tragic fate.

Starring Shawnee Smith, Marina Sirtis, Johanna E. Braddy, Beau Mirchoff, Gil McKinney, Aiko Horiuchi, Matthew Knight, and Emi Ikehata. Toby Wilkins (”Splinter”) taking Takashi Shimizu's place to directs. the direct-to-dvd sequel will be released in March 2009, meanwhile the trailer has recently been released and you can check it out below.

(Continue the Trip)