Horror Stories | 무서운 이야기 [ Movie Review ] ★★★

Horror Stories 무서운 이야기

"If you want to be alive, then tell me... Horror Stories 무서운 이야기"

The Pitch

It's hard to find good horror movies lately. After the disappointing introduction to Paranormal Activity franchise, the crave for a good eerie and sensible scary movie still lingers. The trailer for the Korean omnibus of short horror movie segments (that befittingly titled) Horror Stories seems to be a promising cure for the Paranormal Activity 4 hangover.

The setup for the main frame narrative reminded me of One Thousand and One Nights / Arabian Nights. A female protagonist has to resort to telling stories to stay alive. The fable setup might just work in a horror movie.

Plus I am also a fan of the recent Thailand horror movies that were structured in similar omnibus format. Movies like Four, 4bia and it's sequel Phobia 2 remained etched in the mind long after the credits rolled. They were testaments that some good horror stories are most effective when it's short and sweet. They are not constrained in feature length movie time frame and they branch out in different areas of creativity.

Personally, I can't wait to see what the Koreans have to offer with their omnibus of horror stories and Thanks to InCinemas, I will be watching this movie a day before it even sneaks in Singapore.

Sector 7 | 7광구

The Plot

1985. In “Sector 7”, an underwater oil field located south of Jeju Island, Hae-jun’s father goes missing in an unfortunate accident on the job.

25 years passed and Hae-jun is now working as a marine equipment manager on an old oil prospecting ship called Eclipse. Also on board are Hae-jun’s boyfriend and marine biologist Dong-su, fun-loving Sang-gu,a clueless new recruit, Hyun-wu and captain, Jeong-man

Jeong-man suggests conducting some drilling one last time before withdrawal of the ship. One day, Hae-jun takes Hyun-wu underwater, but he sinks to the bottom of the sea when the equipment fails. Evidence suggests that it was not an accident but sabotage. Shortly crew members begin to turn up dead, one by one, their bodies viciously mutilated to make matters worse, the ship is isolated in a typhoon.

What the few survivors soon discover is a transparent underwater creature. The viral monster infiltrated the ship through the drilling pipe and has been feeding on the crew to survive. Hae-jun and her colleagues’ frantic fight for their lives begin.

(Plot Outline taken from Cathay)


Coming Soon ( 6 Oct 2011)

Sanctum [ Movie Review ] ★★1/2

The Pitch

No, James Cameron did not direct this movie. But looking how this movie poster and other form of advertisements are pasting his name in big unmissable fonts, you might just be mislead into thinking that he directed this "base on a true underwater cave exploration survival story" movie. James Cameron is just the executive producer for Sanctum.

It's also well known that James Cameron is a big dive fan and perhaps there something about this underwater caves diving expedition gone wrong story that attracted him to put his name on it. So if James Cameron put his name in this film project, it must be good then? Well not necessary ... read on.

The Plot

Millionaire Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd) and mountain climbing expert girlfriend Victoria are going to visit an underwater cave exploration site that set up by Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh). Together with them, they brought along Fank's son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) which made Frank upset.

While the visitors were settling down at a base camp inside the caves, Frank and Judes (Allison Cratchley) went to explore an unexplored section of the cave. Accident happened and Frank ended up dragging Judes body back. Josh started blaming his father for the death of Judes and wanted to leave the expedition.

But before he could leave, a major storm broke up on the surface and enclosed the survivals in the caves. They could not sit and wait for rescue as the water is rising. They must find a way to escape from the rising water and the only option would be the unexplored section of cave that Judges had died in.

The Perspective

Having James Cameron name on your movie poster could be a double edged sword. While you get the extra attention to draw folks to watch your movie, you would also invite comparison between James Cameron direction and yours. Incidentally Avatar and Sanctum are both stories that been done before. The only difference would be that James Cameron is a good story teller and the director of Sanctum wasn't good enough to make a mediocre plot great.

From the introduction, to the conflicts and bonding between characters, Sanctum didn't do a good job in merging them into a story that would make us feel for the characters. Instead they became characters that you don't want to be stuck in a cave in and you probably wouldn't care less if anyone of them die from this freak storm.

The treatment between the father and son (Frank and Josh) were the most uneven one. One moment, Josh was all upset with his father for "killing" his dive partner and the next, he looking at him with admiration. But when things go wrong again, Josh couldn't wait any second to whine about how terrible his dad is as a human being.

Those are the issues with the story telling aspect of Sanctum. There are some technical aspects of the movie that stood out as a sore thumb Personally, I have done some some diving trips, climb a mountain (and a few hills) and watch a couple more documentaries on this sort of extreme sport expedition. Some of my personal complains were that how people who participate in such sports could behave in such stupid manners.

The first unbelievable issue would be  how Victoria refused Frank's advice to put on a dead woman suit. Although she had never dive before, she was a expert climber who had earlier mention about the dangers of mountain climbing. She of all person should know that when participating in such extreme sports events, it's rather important to listen to the leader's advice at those crucial moments. Her rich boyfriend and expedition bank roller Frank said nothing to try and change her mind. Instead he shone a light in her face at another crucial moment. That is of course the unlikely behavior of people who does outdoor sports. 

There's also another issue of how Judes's air hose snapped and had problems sharing full face diving mask to buddy breathe. I never used a full face diving mask before but won't the protocol for such emergency be swimming up for air? They had just discovered a new caves with lights above. Wouldn't be a survival instinct to swim up for the precious air? Or didn't it even occur to them to off the tank that's containing the leaking hose and use the remaining  air like what Frank's son did at the end of the movie? It's really hard to believe that a hardcore dive expedition leader like Frank would just freeze like an novice diver facing an emergency.

The real life story that Sanctum is based on was not filled with stupid decisions like those that were just mentioned. It's equally scary but people don't make silly novice mistakes here and everyone got rescued. I can't help but wonder why didn't they just make a movie that truer to the incident that had occurred.

It's likely that this movie is made for audience who had not tried scuba diving, mountain climbing and other various extreme adventure sports. This movie thrilled the female audience sitting beside me while I was shaking my head in disbelief. I got a feeling that she is going to enjoy the technical aspect of this movie more than me. There's also the weak characterization and story flow that marred all that's good about the movie. It's a pity because both the actors and the cinematography were good.  I couldn't recommend this movie but neither am I thumbing it down ... too much.

Beyond The Movie

Read Andrew Wright actual account of the real life story that Sanctum is based on here.

Stunt Diver Agnes Milowka who did the stunt double for the two female characters in Sanctum died when she run out of air in one of the caves dives. The incident happened shortly after the film was released. Her life and more on the incident that took her life could be found here.


Worth the 3D price?

Oddly enough, you would think that with producer James Cameron in the project, the 3D effect would at least be a notch better than those movies that jumped onto the 3D bandwagon simply for the extra financial incentive. But there really nothing 3D about Sanctum. Not even a gimmicky throw at the audience. Most of the time, the setting is either in the dark underwater or in the dark caves and there not even much gradient effects to talk off. Seriously, save the extra money if you really do need to watch this (which in the first place would be unnecessary).

127 Hours [ Movie Review ] *** 1/2

After winning big with Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours seemed to be the perfect film project for Danny Boyle to direct. Drastically different from his previous movies, this might just be a good challenge for his film making career. Director Danny Boyle not only rises to meet the challenge and it exemplify his talent in making films that are entaining and absorbing, even if the protagonist  is stuck in one place for the bulk of the movie.

127 Hours is based on Aron Ralston (James Franco)'s ordeal of getting his arm stuck with a boulder in an isolated canyon with not a single soul anywhere near him. His water supply was running out and there's no way of lifting the boulder. It's either he resign to his fate or do something so drastic that most people won't have the stomach for. Folks who are aware of this true life story would probably know how this movie would end. But the only way to have a better understanding of what Aron Ralston went through in that 127 hours, would be to watch this movie.

It started with a montage of Aron Ralston packing for a weekend trip and unknowingly left out some crucial items that foreboded the events to come. He gave his mom's call a miss and left on his trip. While trekking, he met up with two female trekkers and brought them to visit the big drop in one of the canyon. After which, he left them and went on his way.

Photo by Chuck Zlotnick

Things were fine and he was skillfully navigating through the canyon terrain when the "unexpected" happened. A supposedly unmovable boulder that he was holding on gave way and both of them fell into the depth of the canyon. He soon discovered that his right arm is stuck between the boulder and the canyon wall. There's no way to pull his arm out of the boulder and it would take more than one man to lift this boulder. There's no one around and he told nobody of his plan for the weekend.

The movie then went on to showcase the choices that Aron Ralston made to free himself from the predicament with the equipments he got with him. It covered how he exhausted the various options of dislodging his arm from the boulder. It also showed what he went through to survive when he was running out of water.

In order to make this movie more than just the survival manual of Aron Ralston, it examined his mental state at that time. He started to rethink about his life and how he treated his love ones in the past. Under the state of dehydration, he started to have hallucination and premonition.  In short, it's a thought provoking 94mins of his 127 hours ordeal.

Photo by Chuck Zlotnick

James Franco gave one Oscar worthy performance in this largely solitary act.  From the over confident laid back mountain climber to a helpless being who is coming to terms with the bad choices that he had made, James Franco performance made it reverting to watch. Especially the scene where his Aron Ralston started acting out as a TV host interviewing himself. The humour and painful self realization all hinged on James Franco's performance and he pretty much made it an unforgettable performance.

But while 127 Hours is entertaining, there's something about the treatment of the movie that holding me back from truly embracing it. The fancy editing, split screens and flashback montage of his thoughts were a double edge sword for me. On one hand, it kept things all jazz up and breezy to follow, leaving not a single moment of boredom. On the other hand, it does not really fully submerge the viewer into the agony of Aron Ralston predicament. All the fancy fimmaking devices used in this movie became ironically a distraction. The triumphant of the mind over matter didn't felt that triumphant and even though it was an extraordinary experience, it felt like it was missing something. Nevertheless, 127 Hours is a fine piece of work and it's likely to get better upon repeated viewing (as most Danny Boyle movies are).

Beyond the Movie

Potential Spoiler (scroll over to read)

According to imdb, it took 13 men, a winch and a hydraulic jack to raise the boulder that trapped Aron Ralston high enough to retrieve the arm. According to Wiki, the amputated arm was cremated and Aron Ralston scattered the ashes at the accident scene as he felt that there's where they belong.

(end scroll)

127 Hours received 6 nomination for the upcoming Academy Award and they are

Best Picture, Best Actor (James Franco), Best Adapted Screenplay (Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy), Best Original Score (A.R.Rahman), Best Original Score ( A. R . Rahman, Dido & Rollo Armstrong for "If I  Rise") and Best Film Editing (Jon Harris)

Saw 3D [ Movie Review ] ***

In the 7th installment, there's basically two stories going on at the same time. The main story would be on Bobby Dagen, a man who claimed that he is a JigSaw game survivor and learned to embrace his life more after the traumatic experience. His book made him famous and he started reaching out to the other survivors. Obviously that didn't please Jigsaw and soon, Bobby Dagen found himself "back" in the games. This time, it's a series of games which he must accomplish to save his colleagues and his wife.

Meanwhile, Jill Tuck (Jigsaw's ex wife) is trying to escape from the latest Jigsaw killer. After the incident in the previous movie, she seeks help from the police and the Jigsaw is trying to find ways to kill her. The thing is that his identity had been revealed to the police and he could no longer use the perks of being a police detective to achieve his mission as Jigsaw.

The thing about this installment would be that it's a last ditch effort to regain the high turnover at the box office as the previous five movies did. To entice the audience, the filmmakers are throwing in the 3D gimmick and removing the 7th from the movie title, hopping that unsuspecting folks might just get the tickets without knowing that there's a long history.

Bad news for those unsuspecting folks cause the whole Jill Tuck's story arc is somewhat rooted in what went on during the first 6 movies subplots. To understand why the latest Jigsaw is so hellbent on killing Jill Tuck, you need to know what happened in the climatic finale of Saw 6. Then there's the return of Dr Gordon, a character from the 1st Saw movie that had not appeared since then.

Fans of this series might be disappointed too. The return of Dr Gordon felt like an awkward insertion to the storyline. Not much is done on the part that he play in this franchise except the possibilities of expanding this series further with the involvement of this character. If fans had embrace the previous retcon (Retoactive Continuity) as a mean to deepen the series mythos, the retcon of Dr Gordon just felt rather repetitive and tedious.

Similarly Bobby Dagen's journey felt like what happened with the main "victim" of Saw 6 and Saw 3. One solo guy going through a series of sadistic tests to save others who are trapped in deadly contraption. It's all been done before and in more interesting fashion.

If this is the final chapter to the Saw franchise, then the series had ended not with a bang but a whimper.  There are still some open threads ways that would allow another sequel to be made but it would take a movie with a calibre of the 6th movie to make the Saw franchise interesting again.

Ironically the director of Saw 3D is the same as Saw 6. It just make one wonder how did he did such a bland job out of it. Perhaps he is still unhappy about being pulled off from Paranormal Activities 2 to direct this movie. Or perhaps the 3D technology took time away from crafting a stronger story (refer to Saw 6). Or even perhaps the script was that weak that the director couldn't do much to savage it. There might be hope that a Saw VIII might give the Saw franchise a proper finale but given the poor box office collection, that unlikely to happen. It's just a pity that the series would end with such an average installment.

Was it worth the 3D price?

There's some gimmicky 3D tricks of having some body parts and blood flying towards the audience. It was more comical than gruesome. The depth of field is nothing worth mentioning and watching this movie without the 3D gimmick would have been better. In fact  Instead of making it 3D, more effort could have spent on making this one heck of a finale. Save that extra 3 bucks.

Buried [ Movie Review ] *** 1/2

Here is the million dollar question... Is it worth the ticket price to watch one actor stuck in a confine place for the entire length of one movie? Deprive of various elements that make up the usual movie, can Buried be entertaining while working in such confinement?

The short answer is yes.

The premise is simple. A man waking up in an enclosed place. Discovering that he had been placed there for million dollar ransom that's beyond his or his family capability to raise the money, he made calls to various authorities for help. The problem here lies in the difficulties in getting any real help when he is unaware of the location that he is buried.

Right from the start, the film put the viewers into the shoes of Paul Conroy(Ryan Reynolds). Opening the shot in pure darkness. Confused and unsure of what's happening, the viewers slowly adapt to the situation as Paul Conroy starts to figure out his surrounding and the impending task. It was a slow start but as things start to unravel, there's plenty to keep the viewers on the edge of the seat.

Such as the number 1 concern. Should Paul Conroy do exactly as his captive tells him to or should he seek help elsewhere. Then there are the last contact with love ones if things do go horribly wrong. There's hardly any dull moments as the filmmakers threw quite a few elements to keep the pace of the film movie. Impressively, they did it all within the confine of a coffin. Buried function well as a pure escapism for those who like to imagine the worst case scenario without actually having to personally go through such hellish experience.

Would everyone enjoy this movie? I wouldn't think so. While walking out of the theater, I overheard a young lady telling her partner that it was a stupid show. It's the same type of respond that I had heard for Open Water. Perhaps it was the way that it had ended that does not appeal to everyone's requirement for a movie watching experience but hey, Buried is definitely not your usual movie. It's a slow boil but the movie will get increasing suspenseful and doesn't let up till the very last frame. Highly Recommended.