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Reviews
Premutos - Der gefallene Engel (1997)
Like "Braindead" - but without the talent
I enjoyed the previous Ittenbach movie that I'd seen, "Burning Moon". But while that movie was rather grim and nasty, "Premutos" seems to mostly play it for laughs. While its admirable how Ittenbach made this movie with no money in his spare time (and the DVD documentary is worthwhile to see this), I found myself constantly battling not to fast-forward to the next gore scene. Sure, there's gore, and if that's all you want then go ahead and enjoy. But be warned: there's an inordinate amount of lame comedy and tedious story exposition. Many are comparing this to Peter Jackson's movies, especially "Braindead". But looking at what Jackson did on a similar budget in "Bad Taste", it's clear Ittenbach is lacking one thing that Jackson has - talent. 3/10 (for pretty good and plentiful gore effects, and for getting the most out of limited resources - but not worth the money I paid for it)
Zzikhimyeon jukneunda (2000)
I Know What You Did Last Summer in Korea
These days, Asian horror films are among the best in the world, noted for their atmosphere and reflection of contemporary society. This is not one of those films! Instead, "The Record" is a mediocre slasher movie highly derivative of American movies like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Scream". The plot is familiar - 5 teenagers accidently commit a terrible crime, but cover it up swearing to secrecy. One year later, they're being stalked by a knife-wielding maniac (with the decidely unscary disguise of a hospital sterile mask and an orange jumpsuit). It doesn't help that the teenagers are a generally unlikable group (this is one of those movies where the killer's motives seem pretty reasonable) and there are numerous stupid plot setups to keep the story going. The direction of the movie is unsubtle, more influenced by MTV than by current Asian horror films (like "The Ring"). The last third of the movie isn't too bad though, delivering some decent suspense scenes, though there is probably one "twist" too many in the end. 4/10
Sorum (2001)
Not quite the ghost story it appears to be
South Korea is rapidly gaining on established Asian moviemaking countries like Japan and Hong Kong by producing a number of distinct high caliber films in recent years. Though it's advertising makes it seem like a horror movie, "Sorum" is probably more accurately described as a psychological drama/ character study.
A young man moves into a run-down apartment building and soon gets into a relationship with a neighbor. Both the characters and the building have traumatic histories, and over time the ghosts of their past come to light. Viewers expecting a horror movie are likely to be disappointed, but "Sorum" is a subtle and atmospheric drama highlighted by fine direction and action. My main criticism would be that the "secret" of the main character is rather obvious, and telegraphed early on. But this is a minor point, and "Sorum" is recommended for those open to a creepy and challenging drama. 7/10
Versus (2000)
2 hours of gory zombie martial arts - and that's about it
Somewhere in Japan is the Forest of Ressurection - where the dead have been coming back as zombies for centuries. In the present time, 2 escaped prisoners run into a group of thugs and a kidnapped girl. Bloodshed erupts, the dead rise, swords slice, guns shoot, and it appears that the one prisoner and the leader of the thugs have been battling for centuries in various forms, fighting to open a portal to the afterlife.
I really wanted to like this movie, since the idea of a hard-core gore, sword-fighting, martial arts, gangster, hyperkinetic Japanese action/horror movie sounded like it couldn't miss. The movie delivers on blood and the action scenes are well-done and exciting. But things quickly get repetitive - uh oh, the heroes being attacked by ANOTHER zombie ... they're fighting... fight's over ... look, there's another zombie ... and so on and so on. This movie would have benefited from tightening up the running time and some character development so we actually care about the people we're watching. It's rather like watching someone else play a live-action version of a horror fighting video game for 2 hours. A little more information about the story would have made things more interesting as well, since the framework is there but not really used. There were some cute humorous bits (particularly with a running gag involving the hero knocking out the girl before every battle so she wouldn't get in the way). But overall, I was expecting to be blown away but "Versus" falls far short of that for me. But they don't really make many movies like this, so fans of zombie movies and action-horror will probably want to check it out to see for themselves. 5/10
Jing sheng jian jiao (2001)
Painfully unfunny HK horror/comedy
Joe and Herpes (yes - that's really his name, if you can believe the subtitles) are a pair of struggling writers. They team up with Yan, a beautiful ghost-hunter, to track down a killer, who they believe is a zombie infected with a strange virus.
It's pretty much a given that any HK horror is going to have a large dose of silly comedy. This is about 90% comedy and 10% horror, and the humor is generally on the level of a preschooler. Perhaps this film would have faired better as a children's movie, but as a Category IIB it seems a difficult sell to an adult audience. I don't think bad subtitles are to blame (though they certainly were bad) since many of the jokes were visual. For a much better zombie horror/comedy try "Bio Zombie" (also with Sam Lee). 2/10