The Heirloom (Zhaibian, 2005)

The godsend known as Tartan Asian Extreme delivers Leste Chen's inaugural effort The Heirloom to North America, yet this real live throwback to American's slasher past doesn't arrive as one their most savory releases. Welcome, yes — good, not exactly. Surprising since all of the elements are there (no bare–breasted twenty–somethings), but the semi–pedestrian direction and slasher formula are. At issue is the presence of misplaced long–winded explanation–based dialogue. The movie isn't that complex...

A secluded house teaming with young professionals (as opposed to absent–minded lovable losers) plays host to Chen's plat homage, where a guy inherits a somewhat dilapidated house and soon a mysterious force begins to plague the he and his freinds. The single intriguing aspect of this movie involves the 'mysterious force' which moves people from one place to another (purposely vague), but this is a short–lived feature. Although it may seem early on that Heirloom is on the right track, but as time moves on there's little chance of it redeeming itself. However, the chance of it accidentally transforming into an unofficial spin–off  of the Friday the 13th series was high. Heirloom isn't woefully bad, it's just nothing we haven't seen before.

Theeviravaathi (The Terrorist, 1998)

In 2000 (a la Quentin Tarantino), actor extraordinaire John Malkovich introduced a lesser-known Indian film surrounding the 'martyrdom' of real life Tamil Tiger, Thenmuli Rajaratnam, of Sri Lanka's LTTE guerilla forces. The 19-year-old suicide bomber (she was reportedly 17 according to LTTE), Malli (so-called in the film) is the envy of her peers as young women and men alike battle the Indian military, who are occupying Sri Lanka as part of a larger "peace-keeping" effort during India's real-life Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's reformationist rule. Malli uses her Kaiser Soze-like disposition to win a coveted role as the person who will "sacrifice [her] future for the sake of [her] people" by suiciding at the feet of the arriving Prime Minister.

To save the reader from hackneyed, peer-reviewed hyperbole or dittoed parallels with today's (and past) Mideast tensions, I'll simply say Terrorist is a rather subdued, but cogent look at a young (dare I say, impressionable) girl who chooses to become a hero for her cause, to her people, and for her country. Malli's personal awakening, through several flashbacks, makes up a vast majority of the film's content and is appropriately signaled with Malli's proximity to water, in one form or another. The water detail is a major but evident one; and it's played nicely. As a final note, and after a historical comparison, the film does stray a little from actual events but it's a diversion which agrees with me. My guess is that most would agree.

Zodiac (2007)

Whether in stark contrast to the dreck of a lot of modern movies (a slight over-exaggeration) or simply a modern masterwork, David Fincher unleashed his nearly 3-hour reference gem, Zodiac, on the unsuspecting public this weekend. Robert Downey Jr. is The Chronicle's crime reporter, Jake Gyllenhaal is recognizable as the real-life Zodiac expert Robert Graysmith, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards (of ER fame) take center stage, upon their arrivals, as the real-life inspectors David Toschi and William Armstrong. These two draw the short straws (in retrospect) when a series of letters to the San Francisco Chronicle become to much for the editors of the paper to handle. Ruffalo is brilliant as the grounded, realistic lead inspector who wants to act but is bound by procedure. In fact, the entire cast (supporting and otherwise) hold steady as Zodiac's time line stretches beyond the decade. In particular, Downey Jr.'s character is quite the spectacle. [As an aside, I've come up with a concept that this character can be easily extrapolated into the dystopian future of A Scanner Darkly, where Downey portrays a drug-soaked schizo, who's "fall" might have very well begun in ways portrayed here! I humor myself....sue me.] Fincher's direction, per usual, is off the charts good.

Not only does Fincher capture, with mind-boggling accuracy, every aspect of the given "era" (I wasn't around then...in the interest of full disclosure), and he spins such a wise and sober yarn as to almost be bland or unsavory (have you read Journal of the Plague Year?). It's certainly not cool (although claiming to be un-cool has long been a way of doing so). Fincher simply presents well-established facts and long-held notions that the case was bungled from the beginning. What's more is, sworn testimony offers evidence that The "Zodiac killer" was well aware of, and seemed to invite, an investigation. What compelled me to see the film twice in two days was Fincher's genius, almost diabolical pacing.

Two other films immediately came to mind which seem to pen the film itself as a character to be considered. With Zodiac, the real life murderer's spree was marked with fits & starts, with long intervals of stagnation (ditto for the investigation). As the investigation makes way for dead ends and glimmers of hope, Fincher's departures from the investigation, into the characters lives (a la Heat), create avenues for drama and intensity beyond the sometimes soul-shaking violence in the Zodiac's world. Zodiac shan't be relegated to a best-guess-ending-for-an-unsolved-crime category, it works in too many ways and really doesn't pretend to solve the case anyway. Like Oliver Stone's JFK before it, Fincher works with facts, alongside supposition (fast and loose in some areas), to make a credible case and a brilliant movie. Interestingly enough, this mirrors the media/law enforcement kerfuffles of today. Unlike JFK, there really aren't alternatives laid out; reasonable doubt isn't an aim, it's a hindrance, the aim here is to draw parallels and expose. "There's more than one way to lose your life to a killer.", the film's tagline reads; there's more than one way to lose a killer as well.

The Eye 10 (aka The Eye Infinity, Jian gui 10, 2005)

The Eye 10 is the third movie of The Eye series and stars a cast of relatively unknowns; which strangely reminds me of every other "I Know What You Did Last Summer"-like line-up ever employed and immortalized in one movie or another.

A group of Thai friends get together, most from Bangkok, travel to a rural Thai village to meet another friend who sort of leads them on a sight-seeing trip through the Thai countryside. On the return trip, they hop a bus that passes by an accident on the roadside. They witness, and one of them films, a dead body lying under a blanket, surrounded by police who are reconstructing the scene and directing traffic. Later that night, they gather in the living-room of their host, Tak, and begin telling ghost stories. No one is having any luck with their stories, so Tak introduces an ancient storybook called "10 Ways to See a Ghost". In it, are 10 methods to conjure a ghost's presence. After some reluctance, they agree to begin exploring them one by one, to varying degrees of success.

The central theme of the movie takes off after they've tried a few, and move on to a game of hide-and-seek; played at midnight, while the 'seeker' hunts for the rest of the group while carrying a black cat. This method is the most effective so far and one of the group, namely Ko Fai, vanishes, without a trace. The police are brought in, but to no avail. They'll have to rely on the remaining methods in the book and Tak's mother's expertise as a kind of spiritual adviser to find Ko Fai.

The first thing that I will say, is that The Eye 10 isn't very good at all. What it is, is mildly entertaining. Well, there's no way to get around it. Somewhat because of the Pang Brother's cheesy brand of humor, but mainly because of the infusion of Thai folklore/mythology. In particular, a scene in a Bangkok apartment building where a possessed young man provokes a break-dancing showdown with two local punks in an upper hallway. I laughed so hard, but I've never felt so ashamed for doing so. Now for the bad. For starters, the story is barely believable, and the 10 methods from the book are a tad wacky and, in terms of the film's layout, they're told in a heavily disjointed and episodic manner. The folklore angle does puts a nice shine on them though. As far as the story-line, it was linear, but came across as jumbled or on-the-fly. No weight to it. So much so, that I wouldn't have been surprised to see a Carrot Top cameo or a 'Thriller-like' choreographed number. Not the way I like my horror.

Eye 10 isn't so much the second sequel to The Eye as it's a spin-off, in my opinion. I have a feeling it took some finessing to manage a germane link the audience would buy. Other than the title of course. In the end, there are some eerily effective scenes, (as short-lived as they are), and two or three genuine shocks. I wouldn't turn to The Eye 10 for a horror fix though. In that regard, it's wholly disappoints and comically underachieves.

The Locker (Shibuya Kaidan, 2005)

* spoilers ahead *

Kei Horie's Shibuya Kaidan, a.k.a. "The Locker", is decidedly a new run with the flavors of a few old favorites of Asian Horror; built around the premise of a small bank of public pay lockers in Shibuya District, which hold a horrific secret. Just south of famed Harijuku, Shibuya is a perfect locale for our clique of callow friend's that return from a weekend camping trip and visit that bank of lockers. The girls in the group routinely store books and clothing in them, as it's proximity to home and campus make for lighter travel between the two points.

While in the country, the six friends (3 ladies, 3 gents) consume a beer or two and attempt to tell ghost stories, which fall completely flat and digress into roaring laughter . It's quite the light-hearted night with friends. (And I laughed also because I could identify; I think we all can.) Things get going when one of the group, Keitarou (Yuge Tomohisa), takes the opportunity to scare the hell out of the group with a stone infants head he finds when our protagonist, Reika (Mizukawa Asami; grown-up Ikuko in Dark Water), had just heard faint crying near the adjacent lake. But she was the only one. Reika pleads with the group to listen for the cries, and as they concentrate, Keitarou produces the stone head which sends the group into screams. Even Keitarou couldn't believe his fortune on this prank. The next morning, on the return trip, another of the group suddenly hears those same faint cries, and upon their return (and subsequent visit to Shibuya), he and another girl disappear. A week later, they're found... but it's not pretty. Soon, the haunting escalates and the entire group faces a disturbing, and sometimes wacky, fate. But those wacky moments pass fairly quickly. Reason being, the characters themselves don't seem to be affected by them.

After two more of the group are killed or missing, the remaining trio of friend's make the association between the deaths, the locker in Shibuya and a certain sacred site that one or more of them had unknowingly desecrated. Just as they prepare an attempt to satisfy the spirit's wrath, their friend is found slumped over in a playground by a very young boy and she's taken to a hospital to recover. The police and doctors monitor her for any signs of improvement, so as to collect information about how and why she came to rest, comatose, in a city park. This is where it gets quite a bit better and makes up ground from the previous half, in terms of genuine scares. A major factor is the spine-cringing sound effects and to maybe an equal extent, a nice bit of editing near the end. The direction as a whole takes a huge step up here also. The camera work goes back & forth between Blair Witch-esque handy-cam to full-on classic Asian Horror style, but at all the right moments. And by this point, it settles into a nice groove. The remaining members of the group face their own fates. One of the group follows the trail back to the Shibuya Locker.

The things that work for this movie is the B-movie feel, the way it doesn't pound us over the head with intensity (it's really not that type of film), and the genuine urban-folklore angle. Similar to a famed, particular bathroom stall haunted by a young woman, this lore has enough weight to carry the movie. Those, and a couple wicked-nice scares and one pretty freaky scene midway through. What worked against it? Several aspects. In particular, a laundry list of familiar elements that quite a few other Asian Horror classics gave birth to and often suffering from being wholly unoriginal altogether. I'm also pretty sure the producers choice to go direct-to-video was partly due to the 'imitation factor'. In the end though, I found it entirely entertaining as a whole. The Locker is a film that has to be appreciated as a "sum of it's parts" type movie. As Herman Yau's Dating Death ('04) has to be. It has a little of everything, and as a viewer, I was kept on my toes and never bored and it's put together well. I couldn't ask for much more. I'll also relay my disappointed at the distribution company's choice for it's original release DVD cover. I think it spoils the movie a little. The Region 1 cover makes amends though. So finally, my score is probably one or two points higher than it should be, but there it is. Have fun with this movie, and you'll be fine.

Ringu 2 (Ring 2, 1999)

Reiko and her son Yoichi are back in Ringu 2, but after more of her family succumbs to the cursed tape she left with her father, they find themselves under suspicion and wanted for questioning by the police. Reiko decides to go into hiding to save her son. Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani; Ringu, Chaos) returns, as the film's lead, to investigate the her boss' death in conjunction with Reiko's disappearance. She meets a local television reporter Okazaki (played by the somewhat nondescript Yanagi Yuurei) who discovers the cursed VHS continues to be circulated, begins tracking it's use and the deaths that surround it. The joint mission becomes first to find Reiko and her son and next to find the solution to end Sadako's Curse.

The trouble I have with the film, (and I honestly tried to not immediately cut into it), is that during, and as I revisit the movie, my takes tend to manifest as direct comparisons to Ringu. It's inescapable, and I apologize in advance. We have people watching the VHS. They pass it on in an attempt to save themselves. We have some purposefully watching it, and we have some accidentally seeing it. Warnings are given about it's content. We have an investigation. And again, someone returns to Sadako's home for a finale. Sound familiar? Add in a visit to a mental institution to interview a survivor of "the tape", where the Mai & Okazaki meet a doctor who seems to have an inside track on solving Sadako's Curse, and you have your sequel in a nutshell. I won't say it's a predictable movie by any means. I can say however, that with few exceptions, surprise will not be the order of the day. If an extra 20 minutes were added to Ringu, this film might be rendered unnecessary. Or better yet, I would be satisfied that the complete story was told.

The better portions of Ringu 2 are definitely the scenes concerning the VHS and it's history. There is nothing more chilling than watching the grainy, stuttering flashes just before "The Well" appears! And we all know what happens after that... The remainder, I'm afraid, succumbs to Nakata's hurried screenplay; which, is saddled with forced material. (Let's not mention the failed first attempt at a sequel; "Rasen"). Which is unfortunate. The oft written about pressure to follow Ringu with a rock solid and timely sequel is most assuredly spot on.

Ringu 2 isn't as bad as all that, if only for the simple fact that it's visually magnificent and sports a monster soundtrack. My sub-woofer was working overtime on the deep effects during those creepy Sadako scenes and those shots of the VHS sent chills down my spine! Again, the scariest moments surround the tape and the short visit to Sadako history, once Mai travels back to the Yamamura home. In the end though, it's barely a sequel that needed to be made. It's also a sequel I wouldn't spend an inordinate amount of time tracking down. At the very least, make sure you've seen it's infinitely better predecessor.

Shadow of the Wraith (Ikisudama, 2001)

Ikisudama (a.k.a. Shadow of the Wraith) is a pair of supernatural thrillers told in two parts. Part One takes place in one of the many fine Japanese schools that Asian horror fans have come to recognize, and by now, may be able to recognize on sight. It begins as Ryoji and Mariko, a pair of high school 'lovers' get to know each other in a vacant gymnasium. When, during class, another student, Asaji, mistakes an act of kindness from Ryoji as as some sort of declaration of love and begins to follow/stalk Ryoji around school. Asaji's behavior quickly extends beyond the walls of their school. Ryoji becomes suspicious of Asaji's intentions and it doesn't take very much longer for Mariko (Ryoji's girlfriend) to join that club. But as they say, two's company and three's a crowd, but Asaji is not the type to take a hint.

The second story is a loose continuation of the first story involving Ryoji's brother and band-mate Kazuhiko, who moves into their older sister and husband's apartment. Someone else is also moving into Kazuhiko's building; a young girl named Naoko. They briefly meet outside the building as he is in the courtyard taking photos. She and Kazuhiko find themselves in the same school and the same class where she tells her class the story of her old neighborhood where a curse had consumed family after family on her street, and Kazuhiko warns her that there are similar event taking place in apartments that share the number 5. Naoko has moved into Apartment 505.

Shadow of the Wraith takes place in two parts; Part One: Shadow of the Wraith, and Part Two: The Hollow Stone. The director obviously favored a two-part system rather than integrating the stories into a single story. Why? Only he may know. The stories might have been more compelling as one. There's seemingly little or no time issues to prevent this other than they needed a separate story for the other "star". The juxtaposition of the two story-lines would have most assuredly held my interest better.

Ikisudama plays like the candy-coated thrillers of yesterday such as Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and so many other tame MTV-style suspense films. Style over substance. With a partial reprieve for The Hollow Stone 'episode', as it was the more actualized and convincing of the two. Part One plays more like a Twilight Zone episode, but not a classic Rod Serling episode; more like one of the new Forest Whittaker hosted, remade, regurgitated episodes with today's "stars". Or more precisely, like Fatal Attraction. I think I rolled my eyes so many times that it must have looked as if I just hopped off of The Riddler's Revenge at Six Flags! Low budget special effects, manufactured and transparent suspense aside, the final nail in the coffin for Part 1 was the cheesy pop song that robbed the music from 'I Only Want To Be With You' as we get a look at the band Marshall Law, which in real life is an actual brother-brother duo known as Doggy Bag. Who by the way, get top billing in the end credits and individual, widely spaced mentions. Something their agent(s) probably insisted on.

This movie was clearly a vehicle for the duo. There's very little positive about Ikisudama other than one short, tense scene in Part One and the premise in Part Two is interesting but not fulfilling. Horror fans will want to see it just to see it, but they shouldn't expect anything new or exciting. Or maybe just pass on it all together.

Dating Death (2004)

Dating Death is certainly a throwback to the early days of slasher who-done-its. It has that relentless attack on a viewers' senses that early 80's classics like April Fool's Day and Return To Horror High treat us to. People are dying left & right, nobody can get a grip on what's happening to them and yet the fact remains that there's a killer among them! Sensibilities are discarded and rational judgment is throw out the window. In Dating Death, people are thrown out the window with after it.

A group of long-time friends are partying together and someone has the clever idea of playing Truth or Dare. Immediately, someone shouts "truth" and volunteers another to answer the question "Who do you admire?" (As the English translation is a little sketchy, I assume a more literal translation is a playful and coy, 'Who do you have a crush on?') Around the room they go and each of the five guys choose Sophie, a wealthy girl whom everyone of the group trips over themselves in a vain attempt to get her to "notice" them. This doesn't sit well with Lily, Sophie's friend, because one of the five is her secret lover Ken. Ken reluctantly, out of respect, proclaims that he adores Sophie as well, but only after Sophie had called Ken's name earlier in the game. This really rubs Lily the wrong way and she storms off. The other four guys who are gunning for the affections of Sophie don't take this well either (for some odd reason). Later, the guys head downstairs to shoot pool and one of them disappears...and the game begins.

** spoilers **

In the morning the group waits in the lobby to catch the boat back home from the island resort, but one of the group, namely Ken, is still missing. A quick search of the hotel yields nothing and they head to Ken's room but are shocked to find a river of blood leading from the window to the bed and a severed hand at the foot of the bed. No sign of Ken anywhere. A year later, the group reunites at a dinner party hosted by Sophie at a posh restaurant, but competition for Sophie's attention hasn't subsided in the least. The guys spend the entire dinner shouting at each other and posturing. As the dinner ends and the friend's disperse, each of them find a mysterious invitation slipped in their pockets and purses calling them back to the island resort. And of course, they go.

The group arrive at the resort, the boat leaves and there's no way off the resort island until their boat is scheduled return days later (how convenient!), they curiously head to Ken's room and find a black hand print on the ceiling. Sophie's uncle, the caretaker, has tried to remove it with dozens of methods but to no avail. The group is left wondering who left the mysterious palm print, and soon suspicions of one another resurface and of the whereabouts of Ken.

** end spoilers **

One by one they received an invitation, one by one they stepped off the boat, one by one they they entered the building and one by one they'll die.

The simple, calculated premise of Dating Death is what makes this movie work. It's the classic 'Don't go in there!' or 'Don't open that door!' that draws us into the film. As if we're put in the position of participants in the film. Quite refreshing if you ask me. Dating Death has the elements of the classic blood & guts slasher and the suspense of even earlier classic films like 'And Then There Were None' from which it borrows the formula, I'm sure. Each disappearance more disturbing than the last, each more tense and suspicious than the last, and when you've got it figured out, you'll be wrong. Dating Death hold out until the very end. Other than a cheesy farewell sequence, it's a totally engrossing and more importantly, fun movie as far as slashers go.

Sure it's low budget, formulaic (to a point) and a tad campy. But for crying out loud, it is called Dating Death! If it sound like I'm defending it, it's because I am. Not many seem to get this movie and feel the need to hold it to unreasonably high standards or take it much too seriously. That's my humble opinion. The only bug I have with it is the DVD's subtitles. The English subtitles, to be specific, on the Mandarin Films release. They get the the point across well enough, but the studio might benefit from a better translator or simply to clarify the dialogue. In the end though, it's a horribly good movie.